ENGLAND'S DI TIES IN EGYPT 477 



civilization. You have given Egypt tlie best govern- 

 ment it has had for at least two thousand years — 

 probably a better government than it has ever had 

 before ; for never in history has the poor man in Egypt 

 —the tiller of the soil, the ordinary laboiu'er — been 

 treated with as much justice and mercy, under a rule as 

 free from corruption and brutality, as during the last 

 twenty-eight years. Yet recent events, and especially 

 what has happened in connection with and following on 

 the assassination of Houtros Pasha three months ago, 

 have shown that, in certain vital points, you have erred, 

 and it is for you to make good your error. It has been 

 an error proceeding from the effort to do too much, and 

 not too little, in the interests of the Egyptians tiiem 

 selves ; but, imlbrtunately, it is necessary for all of us 

 who have to do with uncivilized peoples, and especially 

 with fanatical peoples, to remember that in such a 

 situation as yours in Egypt weakness, timidity, and 

 sentimentality, may cause even more far-reaching harm 

 than violence and injustice. Of all broken reeds, senti- 

 mentality is the most broken reed on which righteous- 

 ness can lean. 



In Egypt you have been treating all religions with 

 studied fairness and impartiality ; and instead of grate- 

 fully acknowledging this, a noisy section of the nativ^e 

 population takes advantage of what your good treat- 

 ment has done to bring about an anti- foreign movement 

 — a movement in which, as events have shown, murder 

 on a large or a small scale is expected to play a leading 

 part. Boutros Pasha was the best and most competent 

 Egyptian official, a steadfast upholder of British rule, 

 and an earnest worker for the welfare of his country- 

 men ; and he was murdered simply and solely because 

 of these facts, and because he did his duty wisely, 



