ESTABLISHED 1866. The Marlborough Express. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 11, 1917. THE IMPORTANCE OF EGYPT.

Marlborough Express, Volume LI, Issue 84, 11 April 1917, Page 4

ESTABLISHED 1866. The Marlborough Express. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 11, 1917. THE IMPORTANCE OF EGYPT.

■■■', ; ' •■'■'■•? '■ ■■" '■■ ;■ ! Maiiy shoi't^siglited folk; .have* been iipt to iinagine . that the Mesbpoj tamiaii.' campaign Is ;a.. iiseless and . costly .side-show, and that vthe forces engaged therein could have been employed to .much.' more useful purpose on the Western, front. .._,These good people may .be;. interested. ■to know that one of the'tnost eminent and: thouglitful. of Geriirian publicists holds strongly the opinion that Egypt and the Suez Canal are. "nerve centres',' of the British Empire, and that ■, the faihu'e, as it; v?as at one time understood by the enemy to be, 'of the campaign in Mesopotamia' would further weaken British prestige in the East, already, seriously affected, so it was .alleged, by the ill-success of * the Gallipoli enterprise. Tlie publicist, in question is the famous Herr Deibruck, Professor of Modern History at tlie University of Berlin,Vand editor of the Prussian J'ahrbucher, '.-pi, ' leading German review.; %For this' publication he recently' wrote ail article, much more temperately worded than is usual with German literary productions, on "The Position of England." He begins by frankly confesshig xhat the war has given "splendid testimony to tlie construction of the, British Empire of which England is!;, the ceritre of ■'gravity.'" After reminding his readers that the great Dominions of Canada,' Australia, New- Zealandi and South Africa "are ; almost independent, and arc subject* to no compulsion J from ! the Mother Country," and that even tjie Boer Republics have beeii shpplied "with a full -and free Constitution ; after a diflleult and sanguinary war,", he is compelled /too] pay tribatoV, to "the splendid uriahimity .with;; which all the daughter-lands arid even tlie Boer, lands are' fighting for England of their own -free, will." i

The Professor, however, consoles himself with the thought—we may regard it certainly as. a hope—that the Domin ions are •' 'Laying burdens on themselves which will be heavily felt after the war, burdens which will force the question—are the interests of all, so identical that the international policy of the Empire can be safely entrusted to a majority of the London Parliament?" and then pro-, ceeds to theorise on the chances of future separation. We can . make answer at. once 'that the Dominions know perfectly well what .for them is the specially important issue of the war,' namely, whether they are to remain, as Professoi* Delbruck admits they are, practically indepen-; dent communities, or whether they are to t fall .under the; brutally ! tyrannous rule of Germany. Af? t to the financial and other burdens which the Dominions may be incurring, Professor Dolbruck may-rest assured that whatever they be,-and-however heavy they be, they will be, shouldered manfully ,arid cheerfully by peoples only, too grateful to Providence-^ and to the , triumph of the Allies—to be delivered from the horrors of G»rawn rule as they have rend of.- it in Belgium and Poland. We next come to that portion of, Professor Delbruck's article which 'deals with the .Mescpotamian campaign and its relation to'the British •position in Egypt and India. After advancing the theory that the rule and prestige of England in distant continents is due to" victories gained by former generations, which is quite true, he evidently deludes himself with , the quite erroneous thought that the latter-day Ejiglish are a, decadent race, incapable, not only of repeating, if necessary, the conquests of their ancestors, bup finable to retain what they have inherited. Our ancient prestige has been, he contends, irresistibly shattered, by, the "failures in' Mesopotamia and Gampoli." The withdrawal from GalliDpli undoubtedly was calculated to injure the British mana in the. East, but by this time it has been amply atoned for by successes elsewhere: What has happened on the Tigris during the past few weeks has created. an immense effect all through the East. Professor Delbruck's article was, of course, written before the recapture of . Kut : elAmara and the successful advance to Bagdad. His theory of a "shattered" mana has been exploded by the subsequent events in. the Tigris Valley. Consequently^ what he next proceeds to pi-ediot with regard to the future af the Turkish Empire, and of Egypt lias already lost its force. He says: ,

. The nerve centre of our World- < Empire is Egypt and the Suez Canal, and the writer looks forward with hope to the time when Turkey will emerge from the war a State strengthened and full of ; future, possibilities and regain its " lost power on the Nile. This,will be all the easier should Turkey build railways which would connect distant provinces and. permit the entire- military power of the empire to b"e swiftiy concentrated in Palestine. " and. the Sinai tic ( . Peninsula, ~,... . , . All this, to tlie^ German mind, highly-agreeable little scheme has been rendered hopeless- by the smashing of "the Turks,'fet in the Tigris Valley and more recently in Palestine. . So; far irom there being any possibility^ ef Turkey's emerging from theLwar. ";aSra:.Btate strengthened and .fujlr of rfuturej possibilities," a State which .will? f^recover its lost power on tlie Nile," tlie Porte is marching more rapidly to complete ruin than ever,, arid, instead; of there being any chance of. * her regaining Egypt she bids fair fco lose not only Syria but Armenia, as well as Mesopotamia. The railways which are to enable tße'Turki:to?:"cbncentrate his military power ■swiftly in Palestine arid the Sinaitic Peninsula" will never be built by either Turk 'or German. To.-day the Turk is fighting desperately /for- his very _ existence, and, there is scant possibility of Ms evier assuming a new offensive against the Canal. '.But; had it not been for -the success of-"; the Mesopotamian campaign, -i tilings might have beeii very different; aud all this clearly proves that the Tigris expedition has done real- and very valuable seryice to the- Eriit>iie >in that it sensibly diminished;the Turkish offensive powei"; against-'what Professor Deibruck has fcalfed ' £thei nerve-centre of the British Empire." The lesson to be leawit by all who/ study, v the progress, -of the #ar- is that no single sector must be considered of absolutely paramount importance. They are all parts, of"; one 'great whole. Failure in one v .sector may affect the whole, as may^ :6n the> other hand, success. In the ease of Mesopotamia it is that%heI'cariipaigri in that ; r.egion has been; of inestimable though, indirect;;TJ^liie':.it^''-;tno!':Ei&piire.''