Occupy in Egypt may be said to be the result of accident.
But it has more than accidental justification. Alike by the
nature of our interests, by the nature of our power, and by
certain special qualities in our national character, we seem
marked out for the discharge of this particular duty.

Our interests in Egypt are absolutely identical with those
of the Egyptian people. We are their principal customers and
they are also very important customers of Great Britain. With
the deficiency of outlets which threatens our vast foreign trade,
the great and growing market of Egypt is evidently not a thing
which we can afford to despise. And if Egyptian prosperity
is British interest, so is Egyptian independence. We have no
desire to possess ourselves of Egypt, but we have every reason
to prevent any rival power from so possessing itself.

must be

The truth is that the idea of a definite date for the conclu- Withdra sion of our work in Egypt is misleading. The withdrawal of if it com Great Britain, if it is not to end in disaster, can only be a gradual gradual process. If British troops were to be withdrawn, it would be more than ever necessary that the position of the British officers in the Egyptian army should be maintained. And not only the position of the British officers, but that of a limited number of high British officials in the civil service. No doubt, in time, even these safeguards might gradually be dispensed with; but that is looking forward to a more distant period than it is of any use trying to speculate about just at present. The circumstances must decide.

As native governing capacity develops, as natives come forward who are fit for responsible posts now held by Englishmen, these posts should be resigned to them. Perhaps some British element in the government would always be necessary. Perhaps the British prime minister would always need to exercise some control on the most important questions of policy, but that control might be, in the end, very light and almost imperceptible.

Let us hope that there may be no more attempts to con- England

379. General Gordon

the bondholder- though, like every other legitimate interes it has been benefited by England's action has never bee

the inspiring motive of our policy, least of all our policy duri recent years. Nothing could be more false than any sugge tion to that effect. The inspiring, the predominant motive that policy is the welfare of the Egyptian people. We hav done much to promote their welfare, but there is somethin yet to do. The desire to complete the work is surely a worth one. It is an effort in which, if we would be true to ourselve we are bound to persist as long as we have the power.

Soon after England assumed "temporary control" o Egypt a revolt began in the Soudan, under the leader ship of the Mahdi. General Gordon, who had once helped the Chinese government to suppress the Taiping rebellion,1 was in command of the British troops. He was surrounded in Khartum and besieged by the fol lowers of the Mahdi. The following letter, sent to him by one of the Mahdi's officers, December, 1884, gives us some idea of the enemies with whom he had to deal, and of the situation in which the English found themselves in attempting to extend their control over the Soudan.

In the name of God the Merciful, the Compassionate. Praise be to the Bountiful God, and blessings be upon our Lord Mohammed and upon his family. We, the servant of God, an officer of Abdallah Mohammed Jifarah, one of the governors of the

warned by a letter from

the Mahdi

(1884)

Mahdi, on whom be peace, on the East, to Gordon, the Pasha of Khartum. You have paid no attention to the counsel and reasoning repeatedly sent to you, but have increased in folly; and the numerous kindly admonitions have only made you more haughty and wayward; since truth enlightens the breasts of Believers, but only increases the oppressors in their degeneration. Your letter has reached us, in which you deceived the population, saying that the British reënforcement

1 See above, pp. 422 sag.

will come

is coming to you in three divisions, and that it will soon reach
you and give you victory; thus your letter betrays the great-
ness of your fear, and anxiety, and alarm, as in your deceit
you have caught hold of spider-web ropes and have feared to
die at our hands. Thou must inevitably die, O thou heathen!
These promises, you have been holding them out since No relief
last year to the inhabitants of Khartum, and have been prom-
ising them that the English will come soon. Your promise
has only increased their sorrows; and now that you are in
straits, and that evil is coming upon you, you are practicing
deceit from the interior of your den in which God has im-
prisoned you, upon him who is in the land of peace and
crowned with exceeding much honor, and who is able to get
the news of riders arriving from the remotest regions. I ask,
do the sounds, winged and free, unfettered, need news from
the like of thee in the sea of billows covered by waves upon
wave, above which are clouds of darkness piled one over the
other. Know thou, O thou enemy of God, that the true news
is with us and not with you, and that the news which has
reached us contains nothing to cheer thy eye or uphold thy
power; on the contrary, there is no escape for thee from death
at our hands, and from death by lack of food.

believers

But it is no wonder that you deny the Mahdiship, for you God is wi did not believe in the apostleship of Mohammed; but the the true wonder is that the learned men of wickedness, who are raised to prominent positions by you, and whom God has left to go astray, and whose hearts he has closed, whose ears he has sealed, and over whose eyes he has put a veil, since they have been satisfied with you as a leader, and have taken you as a teacher, have waged war against Believers, and seek victory for those who believe in more than one God, as though they had not heard the word of God. "If you wage war, war will come upon you, and if you end war, it is better for you, and if you return, God will return, and he is with the Believers."

It is strange how you frighten the people, saying the English are coming, and how you think that the Allies will be

affected by Your false rumors

increase the faith of the Allies, and their steadfastness wo grow in the labor of the siege until God shall make you ta confusion and destruction. Take warning by those who like you, if you are children of intelligence. Before you people of Obeid were longing for reënforcements, like t longing of the thirsty for water; and they too were writi deceitful and cheering letters, more than you have done; an nevertheless, you have heard what befell them.

If you are content to remain as you are, then prepare f what shall come; but if you knock at the door of repentanc peradventure it may be opened unto you.

Peace be upon those who follow after the right way.

ABDULLAH MOHAMMED

[7th or 8th December, 1884]

380. The

view of war

(Voltaire)

Section 107. Influences favoring Universal Peace

The Quakers were perhaps the first to make oppos tion to war a part of their religious creed. William Penn one of the most distinguished members of the sect drafted a plan for a parliament of nations which should settle all disputes without recourse to arms. When Vol taire visited England in 1726 he found himself drawn to the Quakers by reason of their simple religion and manners and their detestation of war. In his Letters on the English he reports, in his amusing way, an interview with a representative of the Quaker faith.

I was of opinion that the doctrine and history of so extraorQuakers' dinary a people as the Quakers deserved the attention of the curious. To acquaint myself with them, I made a visit to one of the most eminent Quakers in England, who, after having traded thirty years, had the wisdom to prescribe limits to his fortune and to his desires, and was settled not far from London. He was a hale, ruddy-complexioned old man, who had never been afflicted with sickness because he was a perfect stranger

its to

Le

had e

ee

more engaging aspect than his. He was dressed like those of his persuasion, in a plain coat, without plaits in the sides, or buttons on the pockets and sleeves; and he had on a beaver, the brims of which were horizontal, like those of our clergy. He did not uncover himself when I appeared, and advanced towards me without once stooping his body; but there appeared more politeness in the open, humane air of his countenance than in the custom of drawing one leg behind the other, and taking that from the head which is made to cover it. "Friend," says he to me, "I perceive thou art a stranger, but if I can do anything for thee, only tell me." 'Sir," says I to him, bending forwards, and advancing as is usual with us, one leg towards him, "I flatter myself that my just curiosity will not give you the least offense, and that you'll do me the honor to inform me of the particulars of your religion." "The people of thy country," replied the Quaker, "are too full of their bows and compliments, but I never yet met with one of them who had so much curiosity as thyself. Come in, and let us first dine together." I still continued to make some very unseasonable ceremonies, it not being easy to disengage one's self at once from habits one has been long used to; and after taking part of a frugal meal, which began and ended with a prayer to God, I began to question my curious host.

ee

We never war or fight in any case; but 't is not that we are afraid, for so far from shuddering at the thoughts of death, we, on the contrary, bless the moment which unites us with the Being of Beings; but the reason of our not using the outward sword is that we are neither wolves, tigers, nor mastiffs, but men and Christians. Our God, who has commanded us to love our enemies and to suffer without repining, would certainly not permit us to cross the seas, merely because murderers clothed in scarlet and wearing caps two foot high enlist citizens by a noise made with two little sticks on a tightly stretched ass's skin. And when, after a victory is gained, the whole city of London is illuminated; when the sky is in a blaze with fireworks, and a noise is heard in the air of thanksgivings, of hells of organs and of the cannon 1170 2422n in silence and