TOPICS OF THE DAY.
THE BOMBARDMENT OF ALEXANDRIA.
-EUROPE, in its conflicts with Asia, often displays some- thing of that half-supernatural power which Mr. Percy Greg, in " Across the Zodiac," attributes to his Order of the Star, the guardians in Mars of the tradition of immortality. Whosoever attacked the Order, perished frightfully, but from some cause apparently self-generated,—mania, or suicide, or accidental fall. On June 11th, Arab Alexandria, unprovoked, rose upon her European guests, and for hours murdered and plundered them at will, till they fled en masse as from an earthquake. Europe never moved, hardly spoke, threatened no vengeance, and week after week, as itpassed, seemed only to make impunity more secure. Nevertheless, the thirty-third day had not expired when Alexandria, self-immolated, perished in the flames, attributing her ruin to the Europe she had so recently defied, On Sunday, the 9th inst., the Admiral, finding that the armament of the forts round Alexandria was still going on, and knowing, as subsequently appeared, their already formidable strength, demanded their surrender, under penalty of bombardment, giving, however, the very unusual and dangerous grace of twenty-four hours, during which every ship might have been blown up by torpedoes. The demand was refused, and early on Tuesday morning the shells began to fall. Up to the very latest moment an idea prevailed that the forts might not reply, that the Egyptian soldiers might mutiny, or that Arabi might yield. The extra- ordinary illusion which besets Englishmen whose courage is constant, about Orientals whose courage is intermittent, greatly influenced opinion, and many believed that a shell would be sufficient to produce a surrender. Arabi Pasha, a resolute, though cruel and evil man, had, however, made up his mind ; his troops, especially, it is said, the Negroes, fought like Mussulman soldiers ; and for ten hours the Egyptians, under the hail of gigantic shells from the British Fleet— which, in three marked instances, blew the very cannon they struck into an upright position, muzzle upwards—kept up a constant though useless return fire, and died in heaps round their guns. Courage will not give skill ; the gunners, for all the goodness of their guns, many of which were Armstrongs and Krupps, could not hit the moving ships ; the iron hail, pour- ing on for hours, exploded the magazines, shattered the platforms of the guns, or dashed the guns themselves from their carriages, and by night Arabi knew that further resistance was hopeless. Two forts had blown up, the guns were injured or'dismounted, and most of the trained gunners killed. Had he been a good Mussulman, he would have accepted Fate ; but he is a Mussulman of the bad type—of the type of Nuwab Cossim, or Ali Pasha of Jannina, or Azimoollah Khan of Cawnpore—in which is a streak of self-destructive fury that will sacrifice all for vengeance, and he took a fiendish resolu- tion. Hoisting a flag of truce, he withdrew his troops under its cover, ordered the murder of the Khedive—an order which the soldiery refused to obey and released the convicts from the gaols, with permission to fire the city, and to slaughter and plunder the remaining Europeans. The orders were obeyed ; all night the murders went on, and the fires were kindled, and the wretched citizens with property fled for their lives, or fought their way to the shore ' • and by Thursday, Alexandria, the Liverpool of the Eastern Mediter- ranean, had virtually ceased to exist. The Admiral, who had done his own part of the work with splendid nerve and ability, had but imperfect information gf what was going on, insufficient means for landing in force, and much fear of diplomacy ; and when he landed his Marines, it was too late to stop the con- flagrations. The Khedive, who showed himself perfectly courageous, but perfectly powerless, and who probably owed his life to his reputation as a good Mussulman, went on board a British ship ; and the Admiral, victorious, yet partially un- successful, awaited the arrival of the soldiers, already within twelve hours' steam, who will enable him to take possession in the Khedive's name. We trust that no scruple as to forms, no fear of diplomacy, no dread of Europe, will delay peremptory orders to perform that duty. Our shells have dissolved society, and the duty of minimising the mischief falls to us.
It is impossible to read of such an event without an emotion of natural horror, but impossible, also, for right-judging men to hold the British Government responsible, It was essential, after the massacre of the Europeans, after Arabi Pasha's
defiance, and in presence of the danger to the Fleet, to stop' the further action of the mutineers by force. This was done as mercifully as possible, fire being directed only on the forts ; and had Arabi Pasha been other than he was, his defeat would have ended with the destruction of his military works. There are depths of criminality which the European mind never antici- pates, and the Admiral is as irresponsible for the destruction of Alexandria as is General Havelock for the massacre of Cawnpore.
It is the future we have now to think of. Arabi Pasha has withdrawn his troops—" demoralised," says one reporter, in fair order and still obeying their officers," says another—to a point seventeen miles nearer Cairo, has destroyed the railway leading to Alexandria, and, ignorant of the furious speed with which the Indian Government will throw troops into Suez, proposes to contest the road to Cairo. It is impossible, on moral as well as political grounds, to leave him there, or give up Egypt to an adventurer who began with al mutiny, invented a conspiracy by torturing witnesses— distinct evidence of this is now known to exist—violated a flag of truce, ordered—vide the excellent account of the Telegraph's Correspondent on Thursday—the assassination or kidnapping of the Sovereign to whom his military oath, still bound him ; and finally, released criminals, to destroy the city he was bound, as Minister of War, to defend. It was against us he rose ; we are responsible for much of the misery he has inflicted on Egypt, and we must see that he is put down ; and that Tewfik Khedive, who has stood by us with such passive courage and fidelity, is re- stored to his full legal authority. That is our clear duty, and it is also our best policy. We do not want Egypt, save with the consent of Europe ; but Egypt is the gate of India, and it is indispensable to restore order there in such a way that the gate shall never be shut, and that the people, however much self-governed, shall understand that self-government does not include the right to shut the Canal, to threaten Europeans, or to imperil the lenient government of the 250 millions of souls for whom in Asia we are responsible. If the Conference can devise any rapid method of securing these ends which satisfies its judgment, well and good ; but if not, Great Britain must do the work, and leave Europe to take its course. If France, or Italy, or Turkey chooses to take part in the work, there is no objection to her assistance ; but if not they must stand aside, and be content to reap, without hazard or expense, their full share of the advantages of the pacifica- tion. If they are suspicious, they must suspect ; but the Government must go forward to its clear, and, from the in- ternational point of view, disinterested end—to restore Tewlik to the throne of a pacified, autonomous province, with a small, obedient army, and a guard, either round his person or stationed on the Canal, sufficient to arrest any person who seeks to repeat the ride of Arabi Pasha. If Egypt can pro- duce a Chamber, so much the better ; nor is it our business to force on her European officials, or to manage her Crown Domains, or to limit, beyond definite Treaty bounds, her ex- penditure on herself. But in the last resort, the responsibility for order, and therefore the power of securing order, must rest with the restored Khedive, under penalty of British inter- ference, as mandatory of all the civilised Powers.
The method of the execution of this programme, which we hold to be inevitable, if England does her duty, must depend, of course, for the moment on the attitude of Europe and the Porte, Europe will not, we believe, raise many difficulties. The Powers cannot object to see their own plan, to which they have regularly consented, in the " basis " agreed to by the Con- ference, carried out by a Power which they can trust, which is quite determined, and which can operate instantly, and from two continents at once. With the exception of France, they have no interests to be jealous about, and includ- ing France, they see that about Egypt the British Government and people are in harmony and resolved. Under carefully-drawn conditions, they will, we believe, in the end make Britain their mandatory, and leave the course clear for a campaign which, unless immense blunders are committed, such as long delays, should be short, not san- guinary, and final. But about the Porte we are not so certain. The position of the Sultan is an intolerable one. He ought, on his theories, to fire on us for firing on his city, and to employ us as his agents must be insufferably painful. Any other course may endanger his throne, and that one, if Arab feeling is as ex- cited as the defence of Alexandria would signify, may over- throw it. His perplexity is shown in his long Councils, in his incessant interviews with the German Charge d'Affaires-
who supports England—and in that summoning of the Grand Divan which in Turkey signifies that very great resolutions are at least to be discussed. It is, we believe, the opinion of the best-informed that he will, in the end, occupy Egypt, as man- datory of the European Powers, suppress Arabi, and then begin to negotiate for benefits to himself ; but the best-informed often fail to foresee the action of an individual will, when guided by principles which they do not share. It is foolish to predict, but to our minds, the balance of evidence is in favour of another and fiercer protest, under cover of which the Sultan will leave action to England, receiving an European pledge that his suzerainty shall in any event remain untouched. A revolt in the Egyptian Army in favour of Tewfik, is still an event which would clear away one-half of the compli- cations.
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