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Show Ulenby 'Strong Man' in Egypt f & 3 & its British Rage at Radical Acts reat General Stands Supreme Su-preme in Chaotic Land of Pharaohs. nivripht. 1319. b" the New York Herald 'CompanyAll nights Keservcd.) opvrUht, Canada, by tho Now York Herald Company.) Dedal to The Salt Lake. Tribune and New York Herald.) By WILLIAM T. ELLIS. AIKO. June 1. The conqueror of Jerusalem. General Edmund H. K. Allenby, O. C. R, G. C. M. G., ,7 special high commissioner to I" crypt, cnnio to his greatest great-ss great-ss by ft deed that made the soldiers d civilians under him gnash their teeth rage. Holy "Writ says that he who les his spirit is greater than he who lies a city. General Allenby surpassed e capture of Jerusalem by trampling derfoot his own instinctive pride of :e, his concern for the prestige of of-ial of-ial action, his care for the opinions his fellow Englishmen and his mili-ry mili-ry dislike for ordering a retreat all at he mig'nt fulfill the finest tradition British justice. All this he did when he solved the rvptian crisis by a single succinct prov-iiation prov-iiation reversing the action of London, d granting all the requests of the Egyp-m Egyp-m Nationalists. That' the crisis did t stay solved was no fault of his; ough "doubtless the club statesmen of I indon will lay upon his shoulders the j sponsibiilty for all that is or may be j the future wrong with Britain's relays rela-ys in Eeypt. That Ids people were not eat enough to play up to their chief I what mado the second state of things I jrse than the first. . mancipation Proclamation. Some day the-world will regard as his-ric his-ric trie soldierly document that came t of Cairo over General Allenby's sig-ture sig-ture on April 7, 1911. Never was greater cision expressed in fewer words the rse proclamation makes one wish that 'tieral AUenbv had been early assigned write the p'eace treaty. I quote his: orlamation in full: "Now that order has been in great easure restored, f declare, in agree-ent agree-ent with his highness the sultan, that ere are no restrictions on travel and at Egyptians who wish to leave the im try" will be free to do so. "Further, I have decided that Saad Pasha Gaglul, Ismail Pasha Sidky, Mohammed Pasha Mahmoud, Hamad Pasha El Basel, all be released from internment and ven similar freedom of movement." In those few words one man caused the j jtish government to execute a swift ;bout face." Good authority says that was entirely upon his own responsl-lity, responsl-lity, and without consultation with Lon-in, Lon-in, that General Allenby took this radi-.1 radi-.1 action, almost without precedent in ttish history. There was no diplomatic libbling about it, no subterfuge or ex-anation. ex-anation. Bluntly, directly, completely, e action of the government was abso-teiy abso-teiy reversed. eneral Accepts Defeat. E?ypt had broken out into really na-nal" na-nal" insurrection because London )nM not permit an E'jyptian deputation go to Paris, and because four na-malist na-malist leaders had been deported to Rita. As a protest, the nation's com-unlcatlon com-unlcatlon and transportation system d been paralyzed toy the natives. Hun-ecls Hun-ecls of thousands of dollars' worth of operty had been destroyed. Foreigners d been besieged. Ten or twelve Brit-ifrs Brit-ifrs and approximately a thousand ryptians had been killed. Violence was rtion-wide. As soon as a lull came in e storm, following two remarkable fu-ral fu-ral demonstrations in Cairo, General lenhv acceded unreservedly to the lypthn demands. No little man could have done that. U old code of the east is, "No white in may ever admit to a black man K he has made a mistake." All the Bdttions of government require that unders shall be sunported or bidden. It never openly confessed; secrecv and worship are the old order's way of (icealinsr or perverting truth. They are It aids to the weakness of a governing Pte. General Allenby had the bicness p the bravery to do what was right, fflrriless of the effect upon prestige precedent. fen Picture of Allenby. jt was a day or two after his return f Cairo as hierh commissioner that I f General AUenbv In his new office ltie residency, "lie is too big for his plr," was my first involuntary thought. P bulk towered above the seat as frutrh President Taft had tried to occu-f occu-f an ordinary chair. This impression 'masslvitv arises from his height and I shoulders, and not from his girth. General Allenby is a tall, stalwart gjer, with the mien of a commander. Pis face is smiling, and he is as gen'al aftahle as anvbodv could desire. He ?e with pleasure of the many letters ia(3 received from Americans concern-,i concern-,i Ms work in Palestine, and the idea, ,l,ch I suggested to him. that America nild give him an ovation should he .t trw states, was bv no means dis-lJnff. dis-lJnff. We chatted of the near-Jtern near-Jtern situation in general, and his oblations ob-lations were of a character that one JOciatcs with a soldier direct, clear i and forceful. His voice is soft and fant, and his opinions ' are tinned "Indllness toward even the trouble in the east. With unaffected ! JPKalltv, General Allenby insisted i Jn taking us into the drawing-room of . 'residency to meet Tady AUenbv, and Wte genially posed for a Herald pho tograph, which proved so pood that ho sent a copy of it to his mother. llu) human likublenesvs of this man and ins unatreoted simplicity and domesticity Like on a tragic interest when it is recalled re-called that his only son perished in action ac-tion in France. The young soldier ro-luse.l ro-luse.l a staff position with his father, pre-orring pre-orring the chances of a warrior on the battlefield. His death was glorious, but there remains an unfillable void in the homo and hearts of General and Lady Al-i Al-i leuby. "I have not come with a gallows and an ax, was his way of expressing ids attitude atti-tude toward the disorders in Euvpt. He , mentioned his interviews with Egyptian I notables and the efforts to promote coun-; coun-; sels of moderation. "We cannot slnugh- tor a whole nation." He was workJne fox , the amelioration of the bitterness of feeling feel-ing and he had held in abeyance the orders or-ders to burn villages adjacent to the scene of any new outbreaks. Although he did not speak of it to me. I know he was : Investigating Hie destruction of a num-; num-; her of towns and villages which had al-; al-; ready ben wiped out by the troops. j Briton of Old School. ; Upon a second visit to the residency I ! mentioned the sentiment of some mod-i mod-i erate Nationalists that Great Britain j should be made a mandatory over Egypt . Instead of a protectorate. "What's the I difference? It seems to me a mere mat-I mat-I ter of words." Reminded that a manda-1 manda-1 tory is temporary and responsible to the league of nations, whereas a protectorate ! may be anything, he still thought the difference nonessential; for his confidence I in Britain's good faith and good will is j too deep to admit of any discussion. In this spirit he promptly granted my I request that I should be given the official offi-cial figures as to the British officials in Egypt by years, to show whether their number is increasing or decreasing, and their salaries, as compared with those of the Egyptians to whom they are "advisers"! "ad-visers"! He also authorized his office to supply me with figures concerning the prices paid the Egyptians for animals when they were requisitioned for war pur poses and the prices at which thev were sold back again a sore point with the fellaheen. Unfortunately, the residency later informed me that the pressure upon the clerical force was too great to enable it to comply with this promise of the high Commissioner. General Allenby embodies the spirit of the growing group of idealists in government govern-ment service who believe in sunlight diplomacy, in the welfare and possibill-; possibill-; ties of the weaker peoples, in the sacred- ness of the British mission as a serving i nation, and in the paramountcy of her real honor. I doubt if anybody has ever heard him indulge in sneers at the "Wilson "Wil-son principles of liberty, safety and self-determination self-determination for little peoples. Empire's Decisive Battlefield. What further drastic action General Allenby will take in order to try to restore re-store his nation to its former estate in Egypt remains to be seen. Nobody thinks he will be swerved by the clamor of criticism that has risen against him amid his own nationals in Egypt. He sees imperially. im-perially. That what Great Britain does or leaves undone at this cross-roads of earth will be within a few weeks bazaar talk in India and Persia and Mesopotamia., and Syria and Turkey, and in the African colonies he understands full well. . As a soldier he envisaged Egypt as the decisive battlefield of British imperialism. imperial-ism. I fancy that he cares less for the comment in the London clubs than for the talk of the Beirut and Bagdad and Bokhara Bok-hara and Bombay bazaars. Nor can he be blind to the fact that -his course mokes it inevitable that high Anglo-Egyptian official heads not a few are to fall into the executioner's basket, and that bone-rattling bone-rattling changes are to be effected in the foreign office in London. When he ordered an official inquiry Into the conduct of soldiers charged with precipitating pre-cipitating the disturbances which nullified nulli-fied his proclamation, turning the spirit of Egyptian good will which he had evoked into the gall of bitterness, he must have known that he was but anticipating larger governmental inquiries which will profoundly affect the conduct of the British Brit-ish empire. General Allenby came to Egypt as a Joseph for an emergency; he may turn out to be a Moses. |