The expected debate on Egypt was raised on Monday night,
when, in answer to Sir William Harcourt, Mr. Carson ex- plained that the Government bad for some time heard rumours of an advance of the Dervishes in large numbers into Upper Egypt, reinforcements in particular being pushed forward into Dongola. Then came the disaster before Adowa, which had excited universal sympathy for the Italians, and had so flushed the victors that danger threatened not only Egypt, but the British in Egypt, and the cause of civilisation. The military advisers of the Government in Cairo therefore advised immediate action, and it had been decided to advance to Akasheb, and ultimately, if that proved expedient, to Dongola, which province was one of the granaries of the Upper Nile. Mr. Curzon declined to enter on further details ; but Mr. Labouchere, by moving the adjournment, succeeded in carrying on the debate. He called the expedi- tion "an attempt to massacre free men," and maintained that the conquest of the Soudan was dictated by financiers who wished us to remain in Egypt. As to assisting Italy, he
loved Italy in Italy, not abroad, and his sympathies were with the Abyssinians. He believed the French Government would be irritated, and thought that some Liberal Unionist of great position was overruling Lord Salisbury. Sir Charles DiIke pressed a different argument, maintaining that the expedition would enormously increase our dangers in Europe, and that Egypt could be defended from Wady Haifa, as it had been before, when we repulsed ten thousand of the Dervishes. In front of the advancing army would be an awful desert, inhabited by "the most frightful fighting Power that existed in the world."
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