The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 27, 1910. BRITAIN AND EGYPT.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 802, 27 April 1910, Page 4

The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 27, 1910. BRITAIN AND EGYPT.

Fok weeks past, so we were informed by a cable message printed 1 yesterday, tho English papers have been commenting on the seriousness of the unrest in Egypt. Nationalist sympathy with the young man Wakdani, who murdered the Prime Minister; Bodthds Pasha, in February last, is said to be increasing, and portraits of the murderer are being sold having upon them,the inr scription "The Nationalist Hero." When Wardani committed his crime, it was at once suggested- that this was the beginning of a , terrorist movement, exactly like that against which the Indian Government has ! had, tfa take. stringent measures of suppression. Those who knew Egypt best, however, refused to believe that such an extreme interpretation' could be placed upon an act that could be explained by the hatred for Boutros Pasha which was felt • by the extreme members of the Nationalist party. As in India, there is in Egypt a numerous faction of semieducated good-for-hothirigs to whom the British occupation of Egypt is hateful, and whose inclination to copy the methods of the Indian terrorists is cultivated by a particularly villainous vernacular j>ress. . These men, ito quote the Constantinople correspondent of the . Times, consist mainly of students and dismissed and dissatisfied functionaries, • who have formed clubs in .which holy wars, political assassinations arid boycotts have been frequently discussed, and freely; recommended as a means of bringing about the , end of the_ British occupation. In its beginning the Nationalist movement, under the .leadership of Mustafa Kamel, -was not at all fanatical. Ite object was' the establishment of a national Constitution and of vernacular schools. Upon the death of .Mustafa Kaiiel the movement got into'had hands, arid is how demoralised and degenerate. The President of the' Young Egyptian party, : Mahomed Fahmy, was prompt in repudiating the murderer of the Prime Minister, . and declared that the party would not countenance any .violent or revolutipnary act. jAt the same time he. talked of the "oppression instituted by Lord Ckomek," and he hinted that WaSdaniJs crime might be followed soon by others if /England, did not "modify her line of action towards, Egypt." , • .' Britain's .policy towards Egypt has 'beon , the, policy of substituting order and prosperity: for savagery, and hardship. ' ■ Lokd Cromeb changed a desert into a land of .rich promise. When he went to Egypt 1 he found a land in which there was no law, and no safety for life or property; he, left it a peaceful and, civilised country, There has, unfortunately, been a party in the House of Commons to whom/Lord Oromeb has appeared a monster and British 'rule in Egypt a.monstrous system of oppression. $ These mensuch as Mb. Keir.Hardie, Mr. Mac- : harness, the Labour leaders and some of the Irish Nationalists—have lost no opportunity of fanning the smouldering fires of sedition in 'Egypt as well as in India. They lent their countenance to the Young Egypt Congress in Geneva last September even. although, as they could hardly have failed to know some of the Nationalist newspapers in Egypt had openly exulted over the murder of Sir Ourzon Wylie, and that Mahomed Farid, the Na-. tionalist leader, in warning his followers to renounce all hopes of an armed revolution, had reminded them of the results achieved by regicide ' and political assassination in other countries. ,•'. Every difficulty that has attended the' government of India or of Egypt has been hailed with, shrieks of delight by these unhappy men. The British .Radical journals such as the Daily News and , the Morning Leader never display .more zeal than when they seek to embarrass the British authorities and inflame the weak-minded native fan.atics. It is to them, even more than to the Egyptian vernacular press,that the present serious position is due. Against their bitter and disloyal ravings may be quoted the judgment passed by Mr. Roosevelt at Khartum on March 16 last. "Any attempt," he said, in the course of a speech in which he warmly eulogised the British officials, both civil and military, "to upset the present beneficent regime would be a crime not only against the Sudan,, but. against humanity. Britain, by undertaking the task of civilising a country laid waste by a bloodthirsty tyranny, had proved herself true to her great Imperial traditions." And it is to undo this work, and ( to re-establish the old miseries and despotisms, that the Nationalist movements in India and Egypt are unhappily tending.