country. They have studied the needs of their adopted land, and endeavoured to supply them without any suspicion of partiality in favour of British interests in cases where the latter might appear to clash with those of Egypt. And by so doing they have best served the true interests of the country of their birth, and have kept alive her ancient reputation for sincerity and single-mindedness amongst the weak and down-trodden populations of the earth. At first the Egyptian man in the street viewed with ingrained suspicion our most harmless proceedings, and was constantly imagining—very often at foreign suggestion of a not wholly disinterested character—some secret design in the simplest proposals. Now his confidence has been gained, and whatever view he may take of the measures adopted under British initiative, he is at all events ready to admit that they have been put forward in absolute good faith. That the existence of this feeling of confidence enormously facilitates the work of reform in Egypt goes without saying, and the first care of those who are engaged on that work has always been to avoid anything which might tend to enfeeble it. Further, not only has the Egyptian learnt to appreciate the motives underlying our reform policy, but experience has shown him that the measures themselves are beneficial. Under the new order of things, the daily life of the fellah or agricultural labourer has undergone a complete revolution. He no longer groans under taxation greater than he can bear. The arbitrary extortions of the tax-collector are no more enforced by the whip. The petty tyranny and oppression of the local official, from the policeman to the irrigation officer, have disappeared. The law and the court of justice have ceased to be regarded as evils even greater than all the rest. The equality of all, both rich and poor, before the law; the abolition of vicarious punishment; the suppression of unsound and burdensome taxes; the increased supply of the water by which alone his crops can be matured—these are priceless advantages which even the Egyptian
