PROBLEMS OF EMPIRE.
veloped by the construction of irrigation and drainage works, thousands of acres being thus added to the cultivated area. The administration of justice was purified, and official corruption was gradually stamped out. The finances were reformed; much oppressive taxation was remitted; and, as the taxable resources of the country increased, more would have been accomplished in the same direction but for the senseless and irritating opposition of the French representatives on the Caisse de la Dette. Then, again, what is more remarkable than the change which has taken place in the character of the people of Egypt themselves? The despised fellaheen, who, twelve years ago, in the battles on the shores of the Red Sea, threw themselves on their knees, to be slain by Osman Digna's dervishes, have become, under the leadership of a few British officers, the soldiers who have won, or assisted in winning, the battles of Toski, Abu Hamed, the Atbara, and Omdurman. The work done by England in Egypt gives her a claim to a position in that country which no other nation can share; and that work is not yet completed.
Our position on the Upper Nile.What is our position as regards the Upper Nile Valley and the Egyptian Soudan? The dream of extending British territory from the Cape to Cairo originated in the brain of that great empire-builder, Mr. Cecil Rhodes. He, in South Africa, has done his share of the work. Sir Harry Johnston, in Central Africa, has done his. A few English capitalists, under the leadership of Sir William Mackinnon, preserved for us a portion of East Africa, and secured a route for British commerce, free from the protective duties of French or Germans, into the heart of the great Continent, a grateful country repaying them for their patriotic236
