ENGLAND’S DUTIES IN EGYPT 477 
civilization. You have given Egypt the 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 labourer—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 Boutros 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 them¬ 
selves ; but, unfortunately, 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 native 
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, 
