THE EGYPTIAN QUESTION.
Speech at Boscombe, November 10th, 1898.
The favourable attitude of France on the Fashoda question.We have all been glad to read in our newspaper this morning that the conduct of the French Government in deciding to withdraw from Fashoda was allowed to pass unquestioned in the French Chamber, and has not been unfavourably criticised by the French press. The Fashoda incident may be described as closed, but the Egyptian question is not yet settled. I am one of those who believe that it is high time to put an end to our equivocal position in Egypt; and I hope you will not take it amiss if I attempt to review to-night the history of the Egyptian question, and to consider what bearing that question has on British interests in other parts of the world.
British intervention in Egypt in 1882.The rebellion of Arabi Pasha, which led to British intervention in Egypt, broke out in 1882. We asked the French to co-operate with us in putting down that rebellion. M. de Freycinet, who was then Prime Minister, proposed that the French should co-operate by sending 4000 infanterie de marine to occupy the line of the Suez Canal. The Senate, like the Chamber, rejected the Government proposals, and the French fleet withdrew from Alexandria. We were left to put down the Arabi rebellion single-handed, and we have been responsible for the administration of Egypt ever since.
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