Evening star., 1923-07-31
RY THE MARaUIsE DE FoNTENO1

RY THE MARQUIsE DE FONTENOY.
ITO those who are disposed to crit
i&ize Field Marshal Lord Allenby for
proclaiming the abolition of the mar
teal law, which he has maintained un-
til now in Egypt, as a premature and
risky measure, it is necessary to draw
their attention to the fact that he
SILL holds the two principal and mas
ter keys to the situation. True, the
F.gyrtian people have received at his
hand their national independence and
a: constitution of their own devfsing,
based on universal suffrage. The con-
sEitution as first drafted reserved TO
the king n absolute veto upon all
legisla ton, and, above all, veto
upon any change in it's provisions.
But, at the instance of Lord Allenby.
tae powers of the king in matters of
legislation were slightly modified in
the more popular sense, with a re-
salt that the field marshal and, con-
ssquently, Great Britain. are no
lenger regarded as foreign tyrants,
but as the protectors of the people
against any arbitrary action and
despotism on the part of their SOW
eseign.
Now. the king is not popular. and
has never enjoyed the confidence and
good will of his subjects having been
educated and brought up entirely in
Italy, during the exile there of his
father, old khedive fshmael of
Suez canal fame. Indeed, King Fued
cannot even speak Arabic or Turkish
without a foreign accent. and his
elementary. 1t is no exaggeration to
state that Fued, who received his
throne from the English, is entirely
dependent for his maintenance there
hxr trn q h
solutely the only effective armed
force-that is to say, the British
army of occupation-in the land of
the Nile, and through him Allenby
can, whenever he sees fit. exercise the
rower of veto over the legislature,
Moreover, since Great Britain re-
tains the sovereignty and the ex-
elusive administration of the sudan.
which is subject to the English in
stead of to the Egyptian flag. Lord
Sudan, may be said to control the
supply of the water of the Nile to the
entire kingdom of Egypt. The supply
H dependent upon the volume which
the English authorities allow 10 pass
ever or through those huge dams and
Irrigation works, which they have
constructed at the cost of many mil
Hons of dollars on the two prancnes
Of the upper Nile above hhartoum
The whole harvests of Egypt. her
srops of grain. OF cotton. and of
sugar. all depend upon the amount
af water which they receive from the
Nile. which is indeed their very life
stream. A low Nile spells to them
Nile means rich harvests and pros
eerity.
What. with her small army of oc-
supation in Egypt. with the control,
in the Sudan, of the northern waters
afthe Nile, needed for irrigation of
Ehe northern valley and of the delta,
and the knowledge on the part of
King Feud that he is entirely de-
pendent upon Lord Allenby and Great
britain for his continuance on the
lhrone. at Cairo, England has been
readily able to afford to abolish mar
aial law in Egypt and to accord to Its
people a constitutional government
and national Independence.
AlIenby's control of the entire
Egyptian situation, though less OBJ
trusiye. is far greater today than
in the days of Lord Cromer and Lord
Kitchener, when Egypt was an auton-
pire, paying tribute to the khedive,
ar when, as during the reign of the
late Sultan Hussen. elder brother OF
she present King Feud, the land or
she Nile was a protectorate: that
fs 10 say, a vassaI state of the British
empire. The only drawback is that
So much depends upon the life and
Health of Lord Allenhy, the victorious
soldier who freed Jerusalem and the
holy land from the blighting and ty-
ranic rule of the Turk, after centuries
oS oppression. But, l suppose, if he
we're to disappear, England would
find some equally capable man to
take his place. When Lord Cromer
was driven, by the condition of his
health. to resign his supreme direc-.
ton of the affairs of Egypt, at the
cIose of a term extending over quar-
ter of century, he was pronounced
ir.replacable. Yet. an admirable sue
cessor was found in the person of
Field Marshal Lord Kitchener, who
understood the oriental mind to an
even greater extent than Cromer. and
Kitchener, in turn, has found an
equally remarkable successor in Field
Marshal Lord Allenby who resembles
hisa in so many respects and of whom
tha natives stand in equaf awe and
regard as the real fountain head of
trae Justice.
lord Eversley. who has just cele-
brated his nipety-second birthday, is
mos onlS thSsto!dest member Of eithsr