Page:The empire and the century.djvu/803

 SIR ELDON GORST, K.C.B.

story of the Empire would not be complete without some account of England's work in Egypt during the twenty-two years that have elapsed since the British occupation of that country. Much has been written on the subject of the marvellous development of Egypt's material resources during these years of British rule, of the improvement in the moral and physical condition of the population, and of the progress effected towards establishing a sound and stable system of government. It is not here proposed, nor would space permit, to describe in detail this branch of the subject The condition of a country in which, within some twenty years, the revenue has, in spite of very considerable reductions of taxation, risen from nine to twelve millions, in which the value of the imports has doubled and that of the exports increased by 50 per cent., in which the production of cotton—the principal crop—has also doubled, speaks for itself. A few dry facts of this character are more eloquent than pages of glowing description, and bear ample testimony to the results obtained from applying with intelligence to a country endowed with many natural advantages the elementary principles of sound administration.

The first point to which a general survey of the situation directs attention is the change which has quietly and almost imperceptibly come about in the external position of Egypt and in her relations to the 760