LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.
element in the Egyptian Administration makes it almost need- less to quarrel over the mere name of our presence in Egypt. Call it " protectorate," or " friendly guidance," or what you will ; there are the Europeans, armed and resolute. The Egypt of to-day is entirely in their power, and it is impossible for them to come away. Every fresh sanitary regulation, every improve- ment, real or imagined, in the way of doing things for the public good, gives more and more authority to the foreigner upon the banks of the Nile. Do what we will and say what we will, we, the Europeans, cannot come away without a gross neglect of our duty to Egypt. It is a small matter whether four bat- talions or five battalions of British infantry suffice to frighten the Egyptians into accepting European ideas. Even if no troops at all were required to prevent a Moslem revolt—a thing much more likely than some people imagine—there would still be the army of foreign office-holders, which no human power can dispense with. My only fear is that the English may take upon themselves a good deal of unpopularity and trouble and expense, in doing the work that is every foreigner's work in Egypt. Let Europe clearly understand that we represent the merchants and the money-lenders, the foreign shopkeepers and the cosmopolite tourists, in our thankless Egyptian task, and there will be less desire to sneer at poor old John Bull for doing other people's work, as well as his own.—I am, Sir, &c.,
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