1 891] / Argue with Baring 49 



whom fifteen years later Cromer made Minister of Public Instruction, 

 as well as Sheykh Mohammed Abdu's, afterwards Grant Mufti, whom 

 he declared to be the chief hope of Liberal Islam in Egyt. Baring, 

 however, missed his real opportunity by neglecting my recommenda- 

 tion of Hassan Sherei, who politically was of far greater weight than 

 any of them, and who had died before Baring could bring himself to 

 accepting a fellah Ministry. " Baring, however, answers : ' I do not 

 think there is a ghost of a chance of the Khedive forming a fellah 

 Ministry.' Still Baring may come to it, as Riaz has been coquetting 

 with the French, and has brought about a fine diplomatic storm. Our 

 only policy is to wait the disappearance, one after the other, of the old 

 ministers, and sooner or later they must come to us if they do not 

 annex. Sherif is gone and Nubar, and now Riaz seems going. 



" 4th April. — To Cairo and saw Baring. I asked him first about 

 the drink shops, and he said that though he still hoped to be able to 

 issue his regulations, there was great opposition to these for political 

 reasons from the French ; the question of public security was much more 

 important ; it was a difficult job ; he should put an end to it in time, but 

 he hardly knew how ; with regard to the native government it was 

 impossible to get men capable and honest ; things were going badly and 

 were leading to a new smash-up ; he had only to work on as he could. 

 I asked him what he thought would happen if we evacuated. He said 

 everything would go to smash, but we should not evacuate. I said we 

 might be obliged to do so if there was a change of government at 

 home. He said, ' I shall protest against it, and, if it is insisted on, I 

 wash my hands of the consequences.' I said, ' It is impossible you 

 should not be responsible if you do nothing to prepare for it.' He 

 said, 'They are all alike (meaning the Egyptians). I know most of 

 the men you wrote of.' 'And Hassan Sherei?' I asked. 'No, not 

 Hassan Sherei, but they are all alike.' He said, ' The Khedive is in 

 favour of reform.' ' Yes, as long as he thinks you stronger than the 

 French, but if England were forced to evacuate, you would see how 

 soon he would go over.' ' I daresay. My experience of Easterns is 

 all that way, but we shall not evacuate ; we shall have a war with 

 France.' I reminded him of our conversation of 1883, when I told 

 him he could make nothing of Tewfik and the Circassians. He said, 

 ' Whom would you have had ? There would only have been Halim, and 

 it would have been the same thing. At any rate, it is too late now to 

 change.' And so we parted." 



All this is of interest now as showing how little reality there was in 

 the excuse so commonly made for the breach of our declarations that 

 we were going to leave Egypt, and that our remaining on there was 

 thrust upon us against our will. It was only true in the sense that it 

 was impossible to leave Egypt and at the same time remain its lords 



