MR. COURTNEY'S PROPOSAL.
7 E did not recommend the cession of Cyprus, either to its own people or to Greece, because that with- drawal would destroy or even diminish the Continental impression that Great Britain is a selfish Power. It would have no effect of the kind for this simple reason. The nations of the Continent believe not only that every Power is selfish, but that every Power ought to be, and judge the action of a rival, not by applying any senti- mental or moral theory, but according to the effect which that action has on their own separate interests. Germany thinks us selfish for advancing in Africa, and does not care, as indeed her agents avow, what we do in Asia, or America, or Egypt. France thinks us selfish for remain- ing in Egypt while objecting to her absorption of Morocco, but rather bold and purpose-like for subjugating Rhodesia. Russia thinks us selfish for playing dog in the manger in Turkey and in Persia, but would let us have all Africa with pleasure if we would but get out of her way; while Austria, though she wants nothing immediately except quiet, is highly indignant at our selfishness because we are willing to stir a question in which she perceives a probability or certainty of an expensive war. She does not care if we annex half the world, but does care very much, cries aloud, and swears, because she thinks that if we admit the Russians to Constantinople the freedom of the Danube, which is vital to her pros- perity, will be gone. Mr. Courtney says the hatred of the Continent continues because we will not give up enough of our advantages, and suggests that we should retire from Egypt as the clearest proof of our disinterestedness ; but in what degree would that remove Continental jealousy ? It would possibly soothe France a little, because France wants the whole of the South Mediterranean for herself, because she is thirsting for some proof of her own influence in the world, and be- cause such a retreat would repair the effect of a grand blunder in French diplomacy, the refusal by M. de Freycinet to accept the condominium; but what benefit would that be to the remaining Powers ? All they would say or think would be that Great Britain was aware at last of being overloaded, that she had made a concession to France, but that she had not surrendered enough to give the esurient Powers a fair chance. They want bits of the world, not evidence that when Great Britain pleads for Armenians she is entirely disinterested. Tradesmen ask for customers, not for proof that a big rival in business is an exceedingly charitable man, and just now all the Continental Powers, with their heavy expenses, their fear of Socialism, and their rooted belief that semi-tropical or tropical possessions must be a source of national wealth, are in spirit tradesmen. Let Mr. Courtney send a thousand pounds to a hospital, but change his tailor. He will find that his tailor is not one whit less angry because of his liberality to the sick.
The special advice tendered by Mr. Courtney seems to us futile, while its acceptance would involve a grave dereliction of duty. We pledged ourselves to the world if Egypt was entrusted to us to restore her prosperity and enable her to stand alone, and so far as jealous Powers would allow us we have kept our pledge. We have given her good government and taken nothing in return. Her Treasury, which was bankrupt, is flourishing ; her credit, which bad disappeared, is as good as that of most European Powers ; her people, who were slaves, are as free as our own people in Bengal ; her commerce has expanded by leaps and bounds, and her culturable area, on which she more than any other State in the world depends for comfort, is being positively enlarged. We have even given her a powerful Army, a gift, we believe, never yet made in history by a superior to a dependent Power, and one which of itself proves that, if not dis- interested, we are at least sincere in our desire that Egypt shall be as against all enemies a strong State. Unfortu- nately, the sources of weakness, confusion, and corruption in Egypt lie so deep that if we retired the effect of our regime would almost at once be lost, the land would again be surrendered to Pashadom, the Treasury would be emptied, credit destroyed, the Army mutinous, and Egypt become in fact, within three years, once more a fertile but half-ruined and wholly unhappy Turkish province. Have we the right to add so greatly to the misery of a section of the world merely to prove to France alone, and that quite problematically, that the reputation of Great Britain for selfishness has been unfairly exaggerated ? We say with all deference to Mr. Courtney, "No !" that such a course would be to the last degree weak even if not dishonourable. To say that Egypt overtaxes our deficient military resources, or that it makes France our enemy, or that our care for the direct route to India is based on an illusion, are statesmanlike arguments even if we reject them ; but to say that we are to leave a splendid piece of humanitarian work half-done because we shall otherwise be considered selfish and possibly hated, seems to us an appeal to the worst quality of modern Englishmen,—a quality displayed in Ireland as well as Egypt,—their intense desire to be liked, or at all events approved of, by their neighbours. We would not fight all Europe in order to do Egypt a great benefit, because there must be prudence even in the doing of good works, but we would, as we have undertaken the task, risk the displeasure of all Europe by persisting in it to the end, which end would be assured, in our judgment, when Egypt, reinvigorated and fully alive, bade us in unmis- takable and irresistible terms take ourselves away. To purchase popularity by abandoning a duty would, even if the popularity were so purchasable, be at once immoral and weak.
We do not ourselves set much store by the judgment formed by any nation of any other, believing that the invisible crystal wall which separates every human being from every other separates also peoples, and forbids them to enter completely into each other's thoughts. France and England will misread each other more or less to the end of time, just as Brown and Robinson will; but if we strongly desired England to clear herself of the charge of selfishness, we should advise her to make great sacrifices for a cause which obviously was not her own, to save, for instance, a feeble people with whom she has no direct connection, from whom she has nothing, not even a valuable gratitude, to expect, and to do it without asking or accepting any fee or reward, to do it with visible effort and with some danger to the peaceful enjoyment which we are all in one way or another seeking. That seems to us the advice which, in his own way, Mr. Gladstone is offering to the country, which the Unionist Government would offer if it were not afraid of opinion, or possibly divided against itself, and which everybody is offering who agrees with the speakers at St. James's Hall on Monday evening. They all, from Mr. Gladstone downwards, use different formulas, offer different reasons, and suggest different plans, but they all unite upon that one thing, and we confess we heartily agree with them. There is the opportunity plainly before us ; let us take it. Our own plan of action would be to run the risk of a great aggran- disement of Russia, which is clearly not our interest, but which would enable us to act promptly, easily, and with such efficiency that the main object, the rescue of Eastern Christians from liability to outrage, pillage, and massacre, would be secured for centuries. If, however, statesmen perceive a better or less expensive plan, if they think they can rescue the Christians without aggrandising Russia, well and good ; that plan has our adhesion from the first. All we contend is that we should not leave the object unsought because of selfishness, because we think that in certain contingencies saving the Armenians would involve a certain risk to ourselves, a risk, not of extinction, which we have no right to run, but of seeing another Power grow a little greater. To shrink from that risk is not to incur the charge of selfishness but to be selfish, and we regret to see, as we watch the effect of Lord Rosebery's speech, how great the probability that we are selfish is. So far as we see, the result of that speech has been to release all the latent selfishness of the country, and to make almost all men say with one voice,- " Let that Samaritan lie, the thieves may be lurking about, and may go for some of our packages too. After all he is only a Samaritan."
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