Page 185 - The interest of America in sea power, present and future

1 66 The Future in Relation to

ural forces, the impulse takes the direction of
least resistance, but when in its course it comes
upon some region rich in possibilities, but un-
fruitful through the incapacity or negligence
of those who dwell therein, the incompetent
race or system will go down, as the inferior
race ever has fallen back and disappeared be-
fore the persistent impact of the superior.
The recent and familiar instance of Egypt is
entirely in point. The continuance of the ex-
isting system — if it can be called such — had
become impossible, not because of the native
Egyptians, who had endured the like for ages,
but because there were involved therein the
interests of several European states, of which
two principally were concerned by present ma-
terial interest and traditional rivalry. Of these
one, and that the one most directly affected,
refused to take part in the proposed interfer-
ence, with the result that this was not aban-
doned, but carried out solely by the other,
which remains in political and administrative
control of the country. Whether the original
enterprise or the continued presence of Great
Britain in Egypt is entirely clear of technical
wrongs, open to the criticism of the pure moral-