The Times of Tuesday contained some interesting comments from its
Berlin correspondent on the attitude of Germany towards British rule in Egypt. The German Press has
recently been adopting very much the sumo attitude towards Egypt as it assumed towards Morocco, declaring that the country must be treated as an object of common interest to Germany and England. Britain, so runs the argument, is determined to absorb Egypt before Germany has firmly established herself in Asia Minor. Lord Cromer's proposal as to the Capitulations is regarded as the last step in the attempt to transform Egypt into a British protectorate. The Akabah and Denshawi incidents are assumed to have been deliberately provoked, and the recent hospitalities between England and Germany are regarded as an attempt to win Germany's consent to the policy of annexation. Germany, it is argued, has large rights and interests in Egypt, and will abandon nothing unless she receives an equivalent in exchange. Such an equivalent, it is suggested, might be found in a Persian Gulf terminus to the Baghdad Railway. This last proposal reveals the motive of the whole affair. Germany has some very minor trade interests in Egypt, but no political claims of any sort. But she contemplates difficulties in connexion with the Baghdad Railway, and is anxious to secure British co- operation by threatening an international investigation—a la Algeciras—into Egyptian affairs. Sir Edward Grey's last speech will not encourage this attempt at honest brokering.
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