Egypt and the Sudan 329
settlement of the status of the Sudan will have to
recognise that a condominium, in the sense of a co-
partnership in Government, never was established, does
not now exist, and cannot in the future be entertained,
The fact is that the British are reconstructing the
Sudan from the devastation and barbarism left by
Mahdism with even greater swiftness and success than
they rehabilitated Egypt from the bankruptcy and
distress left by Ismail; and that this task is quite be-
yond the power of Egypt. As we are here concerned
with Egypt, and have only to take cognisance of the
Sudan in so far as it affects Egypt, the remarkable
resultsjrf this British reconstruction do not come within
our consideration. We have only to examine how far the
interests of Egypt are involved in that reconstruction.
Such an examination will show that these interests are
confined to two economic factors, which are only in-
directly affected by the form of government we have
set up in the Sudan. Those two factors are cotton and
water.
The development of cotton, as the staple product of
Egypt, and the recent deterioration in the quality of
Egyptian cotton, have been already noticed. Both these
circumstances combine to make Egyptians very nervous
as to future competition from the highly organised
British cotton-growing enterprises in the Sudan. The
attitude of Egyptian Nationalists towards such British
competition is that a Great Power has by force and fraud
taken from a small nation its natural hinterland, and is
now using this stolen territory and its own superior
scientific and financial resources to create a competition
that will deprive a weaker rival of its livelihood. Further,
that this cotton-growing in the Sudan is the artificial
creation of foreign capitalist syndicates exploiting servile