BRITAIN IN EGYPT.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 244, 20 November 1909, Page 3

BRITAIN IN EGYPT.

THERE TO STAY. A MISSIONARY'S TRIBUTE. The Very Rev. D. J. O'Sullivan, who arrived in New Zealand some weeks since from Egypt on a mission of seeking financial aid, through iiis public lectured, for the missions of his society in British West Africa and in the British of the Nile Valley, is now in Dunedin.

Interviewed by a representative of me Star, Father O'Sullivan gave lor publication the following informauon, which will be read with special inter st at the present moment, in view of the recent cablegrams respecting me Egyption national movement and the British protectorate in the N"ile Vaiiey. He said:

The Society of African Missions, which I represent, has prominently identified itself with Egypt and with British West Africa for more than half a century. A connection of twenty-four years with our Egyptian missions lias rendered me perfectly familiar with the working of the British protectorate iu the Nile Valley, and I have no hesitation in affirming that never since the daya of Egypt's ancient greatness has the country been governed so wisely and so well, and that the success of the socalled national movement in Egypt today would 'be disastrous to the best interests of the country. The withdrawal of the British protectorate at the present moment, or at any future time now in view, would mean the abandoning to the tender mercies of domestic and foreign enemies an unfortunate population of.some eleven or twelve millions of fellaheen, who are no more capable than mere children cither of protecting or of governing themselves; and it would likewise mean the undoing, in a very few years of native rule, of all the immense and lasting benefits which the protectorate has conferred on Egypt in nineteen years. Tt would be equally disastrous to the large European and Christian populations to which Egypt, owes so much. It is a fact of general notoriety in the Orient that bad it not hen for the

STRONG, PROTECTING HaXD OF BRITAIN,

the Lower Nile Valley, from Khartoum to Alexandria, would long since have, been overrun by the fanatical .Moslem hordes from the Soudan, and Christians and Europeans' persecuted and mas-

sa.-rcil. With the withdrawal of the British army of occupation that possibility would loom large and ominous on Egypt's southern frontier again. The native Egyptian rising . under Araln l'asha in 1882 afforded the Christian residents of the Nile Valley an idea of what they -might expect from a purely .Moslem administration, independent of Christian control. One of the features of that rising was the massacre of Christians in Tantah and in other population centres of the delta. Hi that city, where I have spent some jears. during several days subsequent In the massacre the flesh of mui'dcivd Christians was exposed in the market-place. Another item in the programme of that rebellion was' the wholesale repudiation of Egypt's national indebtedness to creditors in England and France. That self-same anti-Christian spirit animates the national movement among the fcllahen population to-day, and is only kept in check 'by the presence of llritish troops. As an instance of its existence I may recall the murder of a British officer by an infuriated mob at the village of Dinshawi, near Tantah, two or three years ago. I was recently informed by one of our niissionaric,' stationed at Tantah that prior lo the exemplary punishment which promptly followed that murder he found it impossible to appear in this village without being insulted, but that since the execution of the .murderers he has always ben able to pass unmolested. It is strange that this should be true of the peasant population of the delta, notwithstanding

THE IMMENSE BENEFITS which the British protectorate bus con ferrcd upon them. The explanation is that, debased and brntalised as they have been by thirteen centuries of Moslem misrule, they cannot appreciate the advantages of good government—something absolutely unknown to thcni and to their forefathers for liuniTreds ol years. And yet during the past nineteen years the protectorate, through the greater security of life and property it has afforded and more abundant quantities of irrigation water it has supplied, has caused the land to treble its value. Never before during thirteen centuries of Turkish or of native rule had Egypt been governed in the best interests of the Egyptians, as it really has been during thos<. nineteen years of British administration. The purely native government of former days is still remembered as' one of bribery and corruption. Backsheesh was 'a publicly recognised motive power in the function of every department of the administration of Egyptian affairs, it was even said that some of the Judges on the bench had their prices. Under siu-h a state of things the

PROSPERITY WHICH EGYPT EXJOVS

to-day would have been utterly and absolutely impossible. Such huge schemes as the Asoiian dam (a gigantic undertaking worthy of the days of the Pyramids), and the irrigation thereby of millions of acres destined otherwise to remain barren and unproductive, would never have been thought of. ] feel absolutely convinced that the nationalist movement in Egypt, if successful, would inevitably mean a return to this oldtime system of exploiting Egypt in the interests of the favored few. The agitators may call their system of government what they pleas'e, but it would infallibly become, sooner or later, what I have described. Even the extremists 'among those agitators would never dream of a constitution extending its franchise (0 the masses of the halfcivilised and fanatical fellaheen. The franchise would necessarily he limited, and 90 lead inevitably to the maladministration of former days. No; the Moslem populations! of Oriental countries are, so far, ixcapable op oovkkxi n v ! themselves. either in Egypt or elsewhere. Tlw only. practical way we have of as-erlain-a-j what thev can do or what fhev are likclv to do in this rcuecl is by >!,,„•,- in- what (hey have ni-lnailv none. We! know what the native govi rnnieut of j Egvpt has been under such ralightened and progressive rulers as .Mahomed AliJ and Ismael Pasha. The 1.-itt'.r plunged.

' the country hopelessly into Ucbt, and under Arabi Pasha, wanted to repudiate the indebtedness. I recently visited two Oriental countries still under Turkish rule—Syria and Palestine—and 1 had an opportunity of witnessing the contrast all'orded by tlie respect for law and order and the security for life ami properly which tlie British protectorate lias i established in Egypt, and tlie shameless [ disorder and wholesale insecurity of life ' and property permitted by Turkish rule lin the countries 1 have just named, hi the month of .May last the steamer in which 1 sailed from Egypt anchored in j St. Ueorge's liay, half a mild from iiey;roul, the chief seaport town in Syria, , north of Palestine. We had scarcely ', anchored, when some lifly boatmen in i Turkish garb surrounded the vessel, swarmed on board, pushed liie passengers aside in rushing up the gangways, isworc at those who remonstrated, co- ! creed passengers into accepting their i services at exorbitant prices, and generally acted as if they had taken possession of the vessel. Cuming, as 1 did, i from Egypt, where such scoundrelly disorder would never he permitted, 1 could not help remarking: "We miss the strong, protecting hand of Britain here.'' During a stay of two days at lleyrout the news of the niassacic- at Ailann audi Alexandre-tie, situated further up the ' coast, just reached us. We also learned from perfectly authentic sources that similar massacres of Christians had been planned and arranged for lieyrout. Damascus, and several other cities of Syria ; and (Palestine. Fortunately for the; Christians, the governors of those cities ; disobeyed the orders they had received. During the railway journey to Damascus, and thence southward through Palestine, every traveller w> encountered went heavily armed. There was practically NO POLICE PROTECTION all'orded by Turkish rule. Those ivlio desire to travel in safety in these countries must take measures to protect themselves. At Damascus 1 visited salons in Christian homes replete With ; Oriental luxury and splendor, but hidden away in some obscure street 'beneath I exteriors of the meanest and humblest appearance. With the .shameless insecurity of life and property under Turkish raule, the rich man, and more especially the Christian, of these countries fives in constant dread of being one day robbed and plundered, and ho therefore prudently conceals his wealth illustration of the malfeasance of Turkish rule, the rich man, and more esdesire to visit the Dead Sea, some 2o miles distant. The route is infested Willi Bedouin Arabs, who are profes-1 sional brigands. To protect himself ag-ainst these ■miscreants the traveller is obliged to employ an armed dragoman and an escort of soldiers. It sometimes 'happens that the escort suddenly demands a substantial increase of pay during tlie journey. If so, the traveller must promptly comply with the demand, for the soldiers are frequently in league with the Bedouins, and would not hesitate to hand him over to their tender .mercies. During my stay in Jerusalem a tourist who had neglected to lake the precaution of an armed escort was robbed of everything he possessed—even of his garments—and left absolutely naked on the route to the Dead Sea. Such are the blessings of NATIVE AND TTHKISII Kul,K in the Orient; and yet, according to the recent cables from (leneva, this is the same Jloslem rule which the so-called representatives of the Egyptian .National party assembled in that city would have to govern Egypt instead of the British protectorate. The monstrous absurdity of the demands of those gentlemen will perhaps be better understood when it is known that the agitators and originators arc mainly. young Egyptian students in Paris, flattered and encouraged in the anti-English political slllulls of that city. These nobJy youths are the veteran statesmen I who' would take the administration of the Nile Valley out of the hands of Great Britain and assume the government of Egypt themselves! This is 'practically what they seek, and they demand, moreover, that the Christian world smile approvingly, like the ladies of the Parisian salons, on their disinterested and patriotic demands. Ami ■why not? Nineteen years ago their own native rule had brought their country to the verge of bankruptcy and to a singe of abject helplessness. Egypt was absolutely powerless to protect herself against the Soudanese, whn threatened her very existence: and now that the protectorate has saved the country from the double danger, those veteran statesmen of twenty-five want the blessings of the native baksheesh government, embellished with Turkish suzerainty, back again! I ieel confident that they -will continue to want it, for Britain is in Egypt to 6tay.