166 GENERAL SIR CHARLES WARREN, G.C.M.G, F.R.S.^ ON 



development of that power ; and this is a paying concern, as it 

 fits us also for all the duties of life. 



During the years I have spent in contact with primitive 

 people I have found that, underlying the customs which went 

 to make up their religion, there was always a natural religion 

 which seems very much the same everywhere, and which, when 

 you have once got a grip of, you find that you can get along 

 with the people. 



It was on account of this knowledge that, at the commence- 

 ment of the Egyptian Campaign, 1882, I volunteered, with con- 

 fidence, to go on a mission to the Arabs of the east of the Suez 

 Canal, to gain their adherence to our side. I did not know any 

 of them, but having lived amongst the Bedouin of Palestine, I 

 was satisfied that I could manage them. In my scheme, sent 

 from Chatham to London, 10th August, 1882, I proposed to go 

 into the desert with three assistants, to keep watch day and 

 night against the only dangers I apprehended — assassination and 

 poison. On the 26th of August I was on my way to Suez, for 

 work in the desert under the Admiral Commanding-in-Chief, 

 and I was engaged for several months in bringing to light the 

 facts concerning the murder of Professor Palmer and his com- 

 panions ; and I traversed a great portion of the ground occupied 

 by Israel in the Wilderness of the Wanderings. I have thus 

 had some opportunity for forming an opinion as to the effect of 

 the physical features of the country on the character of the 

 people. At the same time, I must point out tliat there are two 

 matters which very much reduce the apparent effect of the 

 physical features upon the people : one is the overwhelming 

 might of the Egyptian and Assyrian powers when in contact 

 with Israel, and the other is the irresistible power of the 

 Almighty when wielded on the side of Israel. 



In the ordinary work of the world we do not know whether 

 there is any direct interposition in favour of nations that try to 

 do the will of God ; but in the case of the Chosen People the 

 action of the Ahnighty is laid bare before us, and of course it 

 transcends all other cause and effect. 



There is another matter which I may be pardoned for alluding 

 to, and that is the question how far people speaking different 

 languages can make themselves understood to each other when 

 engaged on the same work, when it is of a nature agreeable to 

 the Almighty. My impression is that people who are acting in 

 the right way do recognize each other without the necessity of 

 speech. It will often be noticed that in a just cause the most 



