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EUROPE AND AFRICA
Sudan is at bottom only imperialism — the peoples of the
Sudan have not only no common feeling of nationality with
the Egyptians, but the great majority are not even of the
same race and entertain an active dislike for the Egyptians.
Egypt has vital interests in preserving her right to the use
of great quantities of Nile water; but it must not be for-
gotten that the Sudan also has rights, and that Uganda
and Abyssinia, from which come considerable quantities of
the total available supply, have their rights. The water
question has been too often discussed by people who have
apparently never seen a great river in flood and who do not
realize that engineering works far mightier than man has
ever undertaken would be required to “cut off the waters
of the Nile from Egypt.”
The British may well be criticized for several aspects of
their action and inaction in regard to Egypt since the war.
For instance, it does not seem that even a government com-
mission such as Lord Milner’s should require nearly two
years to make a report. But if the British have been
dilatory and uncertain in their policy and too drastic and
not sufficiently firm, it must be said also that the Egyptian
leaders have shown themselves theorists and not practical
statesmen. As so often happens, these politicians have
catered to those voters who believe that the more extreme
the agitator’s demand the greater his ability and the nobler
his patriotism.