Page:Distinguished Churchmen.djvu/299

 THE REV. MONTAGUE FOWLER, M.A. 257

At Bishop Blyth s invitation, I decided to go out to Egypt, thinking that if I knew exactly the circumstances on the spot, I might be able to be of some use at home in the promotion of the scheme. Arrived there, I talked to one or two people on the subject, and then received a welcome message from Lord Cromer asking me to call on him. As the result, I found the reason why Lord Cromer seemed averse to the establishment of the Suffragan Bishopric was that the promoters were pushing it forward as a valuable opportunity for carrying on missionary work among the Moham medans, both in Egypt and in the Soudan. He explained to me that the difficulties of maintaining order, and establishing good government among the Soudanese, would be enormously increased if active missionary operations were commenced there so soon after the conquest of the country, as the people would inevitably interpret such a course as being an attempt on the part of the British Govern ment to force Christianity upon them, and it might lead to rebellion.&quot;

&quot; And what happened ? &quot;

&quot; Well, after several interviews and long dis cussions, I obtained Lord Cromer s permission to prepare a draft letter in the hope of effecting a compromise. In this it was pointed out that the suppression of the Bishopric would be a somewhat serious matter, after the united Episcopate had appealed for funds, and had received some ,5,000

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