A QUESTION OF THE DAY. 159 



"But should one of those crises which have so 

 often shaken the East occur, or any circumstance 

 arise which should compel England to take up a posi- 

 tion in Egypt, in order to prevent any other Power 

 forestalling her, it is certain that the alliance would 

 not survive the complications which such an event 

 would bring about. And why should England con- 

 sider herself forced to make herself mistress of 

 Egypt, even at the risk of breaking up her alliance 

 with France ? For the simple reason that Egypt is 

 England's shortest and most direct route to her 

 Eastern possessions, that this route must be con- 

 stantly open to her, and that upon this vital point 

 she can admit of no compromise. Thus, by reason of 

 the very position which in nature she occupies, Egypt 

 may again be the subject of a conflict between France 

 and Great Britain, so that this chance of a rupture 

 would disappear if by some providential event the 

 geographical conditions of the Old World were altered, 

 and the route to India, instead of traversing the heart 

 of Egypt, was put back to its limits, and, being open 

 to all the world, could no longer be the privilege of 

 any one nation in particular. 



" Well, this event, which must be in the designs 

 of Providence, is now within the possibility of human 

 accomplishment. It may be achieved by human 

 enterprise, and may be realised by piercing the 

 Isthmus of Suez an undertaking to which nature 

 offers no obstacle, and to which the capital of 



