A large portion of the British fleet in the Mediterranean
has this week visited Alexandria, and has been received I y the Khedive with every kind of official honour, his Highness himself going on board the ships. Two thousand men from the fleet were landed on May 28th, and marched through Alexandria, ostensibly, to accept an entertainment offered by the Sporting Club, really, to show the populace of the city that British authority is supported by irresistible force. The effect of the demonstration will probably be most pacificatory. Orientals, as a rule, know nothing of the power of a fleet; but the Alexandrians have seen their fortifications blown to pieces, and are painfully aware that if the guns were turned on the city itself, it would in six hours be burned to the ground. Alexandria is one of the cloaca of the Levant, and the extraordinary mass of ruffians who mix with its quiet population require not only strict government, but visible proof that successful massacre is physically impossible. We do not believe in terror as an instrument of government ; but there are cities in the world where the visible irresistible- ness of the governing power has a distinctly moralising effect. Calcutta would be civilised if there was only one
policeman left ; but Bombay always needs the gentle influence of gunboats in the harbour.
