Sir Charles Dilke made a powerful speech in reply, in
which• ' he maintained that but for the mistaken policy of Cherif& Ministry in the Soudan, the idea of the British Government in entering Egypt might have been fulfilled. An Army had been formed, in which Sir Evelyn Wood believed; the finances, apart from Soudanese affairs, had been put straight; and the Khedive was, in fact, in Egypt Proper again head of a Govern- ment. The effort to reconquer the Soudan had spoiled all, but if the English Government had interfered too soon, and recalled Hicks after his first victories, they would have been hated by the whole governing class of the country. They acted as soon as they could, and General Gordon had been despatched to arrange an evacuation which be approves as much as the Government does. His mission will, in all probability, be successful, for, as Sir Charles showed by a telegram from the General, the people are everywhere welcoming him, and are- heartily glad to be rid of their union with Egypt. He repeated the explanation as to the delay in deciding to relieve Tokar given above, adding that General Gordon thought the question whether British troops should go to Tokar a very grave one and not wholly free from doubt, and ended his speech by describing the work on hand. The British Government is doing more than it ever undertook to do. It main- tains order in Egypt Proper—where Sir Charles maintains that Nubar Pasha is governing, and competent to govern—it holds the coast of the Red Sea, and it will defend Egypt all the way to Assouan, 500 miles from Alexandria, if not to Wady Haifa, 887 miles. If the Opposition considered the policy of the• Ministrylba,d, it was right for them to censure it ; but, at all events, it was their policy, openly declared, consistently maintained, and steadily acted upon.
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