On Thursday, Sir W. Lawson brought forward his amend- ment
which makes it the duty of the Government to leave Egypt as quickly as may be ; but the brunt of the contest fell to Mr. Forster. and Sir Charles Dilke. Mr. Forster, though voting for the Government, stated the case for the Opposition in better language and with much more force than they put it for themselves. He maintained that the Government did not realise soon enough that after the battle of Tel-el-Kebir there was no Government in Egypt save their own, and con- tented themselves with advice, which Oriental statesmen, whose idea is to produce order by strong and often unjust govern- ment, never will take, but yet fear, and being deprived of power by it, sink into inefficiency. The very order kept by the British
only made the native Government in• such circumstances more oppressive. The presence of the English Army alone made the effort to conquer the Soudan possible, and the Government should have seen that, and forbidden the attempt from the first. When, however, we at last forced the Egyptians into the policy of abandoning the Soudan, the responsibility became visible, and the Government should have aided in the relief of Sincat, as it was about to aid in the 'relief of Tokar, which he did not believe would be too late. He thought, in fact, that the Ministry should have seen their respon- sibilities earlier ; but now that they did see them, he believed they would perform them, and they should have hii hearty support. Mr. Forster did not openly advocate a tem- porary Protectorate, but the entire drift of his remarks upon the uselessness of mere advice was in that direction.
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