6 MARCH 1886, Page 7

THE DEBATE ON SIR D. WOLFF'S MISSION.

THE real evil of our position in Egypt is that there seems no end to it. We are spending, as was admitted in the debate of Monday on Sir Drummond WoIff's mission, some £4,000,000 a year in Egypt ; and not only is there nothing to show for it, but there is no indication that there ever will be. Of course, the £4,000,000 a year is not all wasted, most of it being spent on a Corps d'Armee, which would in dangerous emergencies be instantly withdrawn ; but still, we are expending a large sum above what we need spend for an object which apparently comes no nearer. We have not extinguished the Soudanese idea of invading Egypt, and there is no evidence that it will die away of itself for a century to come. Why should it die away, when the Soudanese will always be poor and warlike, and the Egyptians always rich and timorous ? Those relations have not altered since the days of the Shepherd Kings, and they will not alter in our time. We have not made the Khedive strong enough to hold his own, and there is no sign that we shall make him so ; yet until he is strong, we cannot consistently with our promises go away. In fact, it appears as if oun. tutelage weakened Egypt and its Government ; while, without our tutelage, both would perish, either from invasion or revolution. That is surely a vicious circle, yet it is in that that we are now inextricably entangled.

This is the point which Mr. Gladstone missed, perhaps de- signedly, in his speech of Monday. He says we have done much good in Egypt, have cleansed the prisons, reduced or abolished the evil of forced labour, and greatly improved the collection of the taxes ; and we have no desire to contest those statements. We doubt if they would be confirmed by the fellaheen, who feel taxation as much as oppression, and are paying as much as ever ; but let us admit them all to be exactly correct, and still, till we have made a good Govern- ment, we have accomplished nothing. Without such a Government, all the abuses we have terminated will revive the day after we go away ; yet where is the prospect of a good Government ? We see none ; do not even see that there is any effort to establish one. Colonel Duncan, the Conserva- tive Member for Holborn, in the excellent maiden speech which excites such hopes in his Conservative friends, but which was from beginning to end a thoroughly Liberal speech, declares that a national army can be made in Egypt. He says the Egyptians, if properly treated, will make excellent soldiers, and that an Egyptian Army is, therefore, possible. Very good ; he is an expert in that matter ; let us take his opinion, and see how far we get. An Egyptian Army can be made, but will the Egyptian Government make it ? Or, if we do the work for them, will the Egyptian Government use

the Army wisely when made ? If we may trust to precedent, the day after we are gone home, the Government will begin to spoil

the Army, will allow its pay to fall into arrears, will promote incompetent officers, and will take all heart out of its men by small oppressions or neglects, thus compelling them either to become a crowd, or to turn, as Arabi did, against the Govern- ment. Unless, in fact, we can improve the central authority, we crun have no security ; and we do not improve the central authority, but only bolster it up, and keep on waiting, waiting, waiting, to see what will happen in our favour. We are no nearer a stable Government in Egypt than we were ; we are no nearer departure than we were ; and we are no nearer an avowed and strong Protectorate than we were. We have gained a legal foothold in the Valley by a Convention with the Sultan ; but that is all, and that, though useful in allaying Mussulman discontent, does not help us at all in our ultimate object, which is to turn an incompetent native Government into a competent one, so that we may go away without fear lest the resulting anarchy should induce another European Power to interfere. That is the end of our efforts, without which we accomplish nothing ; and that end, so far as the British taxpayer can perceive, we are not attaining. We blame nobody for the failure. The problem is so com- plex, and reasonable action so hampered by European jealousies, that failure may from the first have been inevitable ; but we think the time is arriving when the position should be acknow- ledged. If, as was hinted all through the debate, no good can be accomplished without a change of Khedive. let us tell Europe so, and ask permission to change him ; or, if that is impossible for any reason, let us openly plead that obstacle to our success, and say that we shall wait on, doing the little good we can, till the time for a change arrives. At present, our position is indefensible, for we appear to be consenting to a failure ; and while failing, are locking up twenty-seven thousand men, half at least of whom are seriously wanted elsewhere. We have no definite, or at least no practicable, end in view ; and are using a British Army in pursuit of it. It does not really matter a straw what Sir Drummond Wolff costs ; but it does matter most seriously whether he, and the rest of the English- men now employed in Egypt, are to be of any use.