take definite steps. Just before Mr.
Roosevelt's arrival, Boutros Pasha, the Prime Minister, a native
Egyptian Christian, and one of the ablest administrative officers that
Egypt has ever produced, had been brutally assassinated by a
Nationalist. The murder was discussed everywhere with many shakings of
the head, but in quiet corners, and low tones of voice. Military and
civil officers complained in private that the home government was
paying little heed to the assassination and to the spirit of disorder
which brought it about. English residents, who are commonly courageous
and outspoken in great crises, gave one the impression of speaking in
whispers in the hope that if it were ignored, the agitation might die
away instead of developing into riot and bloodshed.

Now this way of dealing with a law-breaker and political agitator is
totally foreign to Mr. Roosevelt; even his critics admit that he both
talks and fights in the open. In two speeches in Khartum, one at a
dinner given in his honor by British military and civil officers, and
one at a reception arranged by native Egyptian military men and
officials, he pointed out in vigorous language the dangers of
religious fanaticism and the kind of "Nationalism" that condones
assassination. Newspaper organs of the Nationalists attacked him for
these speeches when he arrived in Cairo. This made him all the more
determined to say the same things in Cairo when the proper opportunity
came, especially as officials, both military and civil, of high rank
and responsibility, had persistently urged him to do what he properly
could to arouse the attention of the British Government to the
Egyptian situation. The opportunity came in an invitation to address
the University of Cairo. His speech was carefully thought out and was
written with equal care; some of his friends, both Egyptian, and
English, whom he consulted, were in the uncertain frame of mind of
hoping that he would mention the assassination of Boutros, but
wondering whether he really ought to do so. Mr. Roosevelt spoke with
all his characteristic effectiveness of enunciation and gesture. He
was listened to with earnest attention and vigorous applause by a
representative audience of Egyptians and Europeans, of Moslems and
Christians. The address was delivered on the morning of March 28th; in
the afternoon the comment everywhere was, "Why haven't these things
been said in public before?" Of course the criticisms of the extreme