up some simulacrum of a government at Khartoum, if he reaches it in time to rescue its heroic prisoner, the British general will quickly perform the feat to which our commanders have become habituated, and "retire" from the position which all who know the country declare to be the very key of Egypt. For reasons best known to themselves, the London papers did not report Sir Samuel Baker's striking observations on this subject the other day at Ipswich; but they go so directly to the root of the matter, that we reproduce them, in the hope that even now public attention may be directed to the folly and danger of the policy they expose and condemn. “At this late hour I cannot speak to you much about Egypt, but I look with painful dismay upon the policy of the Government. You must recollect all the history of our associations with that great country. You must recollect that though the Delta has been known for a long time, the Nile upon which it existed was a mystery; you must recollect England first of all won the battle of the Nile-it was England who discovered the sources of the Nile, and it was England who first crushed the slave-trade. And now, when we regard that Delta, and we see that it is comparatively a handful of mud brought down by the river from the fertile regions of the Soudan, and we know that that river upon which Egypt's existence depends flows from this point and can be commanded from Khartoum, I do not see how any Government can be so ignorant as to abandon a point that will command the destinies of Egypt. I can assure you, gentlemen, that upon examining this question, that any hostile power in Khartoum can throw a dam through the Blue-hill and prevent the water from ever reaching Egypt; and the very existence of Egypt depends upon the holding of Khartoum. These are little trifles that our Government do not condescend to notice."1 The whole of Sir Samuel's speech will well repay perusal, and we hope he will give it to the public in a separate form. Four years ago General Gordon expressed his opinion on the question, by describing the Soudan as "the belly of Egypt"; and if Lord Wolseley obeys his instructions, and retires from that country after nominally establishing some makeshift government, as he did in Zululand, the same, or, rather, worse results may confidently be expected to follow. Against such a dereliction of duty, and so glaring an instance of obstinate fatuity, we at any rate raise a protesting voice. By despatching Sir Charles Warren, and placing at his disposal a sufficient and properly equipped military force, the Government have, however tardily, resumed the reins of empire in South Africa, and may fairly ask for at any rate an arrest of judg ment on their past misconduct and abandonment of duty in that unfortunate country. The failure of Lord Northbrook's financial mission to Egypt is now tacitly admitted; and the Government manifest the utmost reluctance to disclose the nature of his report and proposals. It is almost certain that the divergent views on Egyptian policy entertained by the two sections of the Cabinet have been brought to the point of rupture by their recent deliberations, and an open schism on the subject may before long be the result. It is understood that the question in debate is substantially the adoption of a closer, weightier, and more enduring responsibility in and for Egypt or a complete and immediate abandonment of that country after the success or failure of the primary object of Lord Wolseley's 1 Sir Samuel Baker at Ipswich, October 28. expedition has been accomplished. Such being, as we believe, the state of the case, every effort will be made by Mr Gladstone to postpone till next spring the promised announcement to Parliament of the intentions of Government with respect to Egyptian finance. Meanwhile, as we have said, public attention is exclusively directed to the negotiations between Mr Gladstone and Lord Granville on the one side, and Lord Salisbury and Sir Stafford Northcote on the other, upon the vital question of the redistribution of political power in the three kingdoms. The responsibility which has thus been thrust upon, rather than assumed by, our leaders, is very great; and the courage they have displayed in accepting it, and in trusting, after all that has occurred during the past two years, to the good faith and honour of their political opponents, merits from their supporters the warmest acknowledgment, and the most unflinching confidence. If we venture, in concluding these observations on the crisis, to suggest one or two points for their consideration, it is in the belief that in so doing we may strengthen, not weaken, their hands in the performance of their arduous and delicate task. try," as Mr Gladstone called it in his speech on the second reading of the Franchise Bill-Wales, three members be subtracted, and two members be added to the total number of the House, raising it to 660, Scotland might receive ten additional members, and an equitable proportion of representation be secured between the four component parts of the United Kingdom. With respect to the disfranchisement and enfranchisement of boroughs, and the influence of those operations on the largely augmented county constituencies, we are disposed to think that the best means of arriving at a settlement favourable to the fair representation of all classes and interests would be the creation of a new class of constituencies, to be called districts, returning one member each, with a population of about 40,000, and retaining the name of the principal borough merged in it, or, where it contains some considerable unrepresented town, then being known by its name-as, for instance, the Keighley, or Rotherham, or Torquay District. If, however, after full consideration, our negotiators arrive at the same general end by other means, we earnestly hope that, whatever schemes and systems may have found favour with different schools of Conservative politicians, our party will, as a whole, be as ready as we are to sacrifice their preferences for this or that method of redistribution, and give in their adherence to that measure which, in a constitutional crisis of no common magnitude and acuteness, shall have received the approbation, or at least the sanction, of our trusted and triumphant Between the extremes of leaving the present excessive Irish representation intact, and reducing it to its exact numerical proportion of ninety-five, it seems to us that an equitable mean would be found by falling back upon the number of seats allotted to that kingdom by the Act of Union-100; procuring thus five of the seats required, by general consent, for Scotland. If from the other overrepresented" division of the coun- leaders. INDEX TO VOL. CXXXVI. A dinner at the Pavilion, Brighton, 569. Abolition of purchase, 319-its cost, 321 -misrepresentations of system, 324- ALEXANDER NESBITT, EX-SCHOOLMASTER, 632. AMERICAN FINANCE, THE FREEBOOTERS American oil-wells, 346 et seq. American Land and Mortgage Companies, An enigma in Buonaparte's career, 578. ARMY, THE PEOPLE AND THE, 317-rea- Army purchase system, how it originated, 328. ARTIST'S AUTOBIOGRAPHY, AN, 614. BERLIN IN 1884, Part I., 1-habits of 13. CAPITAL ABROAD, SCOTTISH, 468. Central Asia despatches from the Am- Churchill, Lord Randolph, on the Fran- Club-life in Berlin, 238. Colonel Baker, 134-his journeyings in COMING INTO PORT, by W. W. S., 522. CABINET, THE, 765-influence of Cham- 663. moi," 252. 66 Spi, Mladenets County electorate of United Kingdom, Court festivities in Berlin, 235. Court-life in the time of George IV., 569. Criminal procedure, differences between CONCLUSION, 799-efforts to keep England" party, 812-final break-off CURIOSITIES OF POLITICS, 197-the at- 177. Depreciation of landed property, 212. 'Dr Claudius,' by F. M. Crawford, re- DRUSE VILLAGE, Life in a, 705—Dah- 'Dry Nurses" of the Horse Guards, 575. - Egyptian Conference, 392. England, population of, and number of English and Scotch criminal procedure, Extension of the franchise: its true meaning, 526-is it necessary? 528. 667. Germany and France, antagonism be- Gifts of the Terek: "Dari Tereka," 250. BIOGRAPHY, 614-humble origin, 615 Gladstone, Mr, his definition of the "na- state- Grand Canal, Venice, the, 88. GREEN BOUGH, UNDER A, 779. Gulf of Mexico, the "Oil Spot" in the, Herat the gate of India, 142. HERCULES, THE WATERS OF, Part I., 143 Hereford Cathedral, spoiled by the re- Historical parallel, a, 200, 203. Hop cultivation, speculative nature of, Hopetoun, Lord, his impetuosity, 576. House of Commons, deterioration of, 264 House of Lords, a chamber of revision, How to grow thin, 210. HURRAH FOR THE LORDS! 397. INDIA, RUSSIA'S ADVANCE UPON, 125. Irish Land Act of 1881, 664-opposed "Jim Keene," the American financier, -- 116. JOSEPH BARRABLE, THE LAST WORDS OF, Joubert, Joseph, modern application of JUSTICE FOR THE LORDS, 254-functions Kuren Dagh mountain-chain, 133. 'La vita privata in Venezia,' by Signor Landed property, depreciation of, 212. Laurence Oliphant's lodge on Mount Car- Ledbury, Church of St Michael's, 174. Liverpool, Lord, and Mr Sumner, 566. Lord High Admiral, office of, revived, LORDS, JUSTICE FOR THE, 254. Loss of 66 THE ARAB CITY," THE, 106. MALVERN, A SKETCH FROM, 166. MID-LOTHIAN, THE MAHDI OF - 1880 MID-LOTHIAN FALLACIES versus FACTS, Minister for Scotland Bill, the, 395. 79. Moltke the Silent, 12. "Most favoured nation" sham, the, 773. 'Mr Isaacs,' by F. M. Crawford, review- National Characteristics, 577. NESBITT, ALEXANDER, EX-SCHOOLMAS- "Neutral Zone" in Affghanistan, 127. Nöbel Brothers, their works at Baku, 358. Crawford, F. Anstey, J. F. Fargus, 296. ON THE CHOICE OF HIS TOMB: RONSARD, Pamir mountains "Roof of the World," Partisan newspapers, J. W. Croker on, Peel, Sir Robert, correspondence with PEOPLE AND THE ARMY, THE, 317. POLITICS, CURIOSITIES OF, 197. Prince Frederick Charles, the "Red Probate Duty Bill, the, 393. Prosperity" Robinson, Viscount God- Public prosecutors in Scotland, 46. Redistribution the soul of Reform, 661. Rialto, Venice, the, 101. RIGHT HON. JOHN WILSON CROKER, Rock-cut reservoirs of Mount Carmel, RONSARD ON THE CHOICE OF HIS TOMB, ROSALIND, Lady Martin's, 399. |