In the House Of Commons on the same evening, Mr.
Gladstone founded our responsibility on the active part which the British Government had taken in inducing the Sultan to depose Ismail and to set up Tesvfik ; and on our requiring, in 1879, that the British and French ControllersGeneral should not be dismissed without the consent of the British and French Governments,. which really made us responsible for the policy which the Control dictated. He did not deny at all the immense profit which Egypt had reaped from the Control, though be passed no judgment on the grave step of establishing it. Once esta- blished, however, and our faith once pledged to Tewfik, of whom he spoke in the highest terms, we could not possibly let Egypt lapse into anarchy, as she is now doing, without restoring order. England had. been most desirous to proceed in this matter with- out awakening the jealousy of the other Powers in Europe, he intention being absolutely disinterested, and contemplating the. development of Egyptian prosperity and of Egyptian liberties and government, as the main drift of her policy. For the notion of the patriotic nationality of Arabi's policy there was not a shred of evidence. In conclusion, he summed up our objects in the following fine sentence :—" Our purpose will be to put down tyranny and to favour law and freedom, and we shall cherish something of the hope that it may yet be given to Egypt, with all her resources, and with the many excellent qualities of her peaceful, peace-loving, and laborious people, to achieve in the future, less, perhaps, of glory, but more happiness, than she did once achieve, when, in a far-off and almost forgotten time,. she was the wonder of the ancient world."
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