332 



EGYPT. 



Egyptian estate would be managed by honest 

 and sensible men, and that the creditors might 

 look forward to a respectable liquidation. 



This new revolution created a profound sen- 

 sation in Western Europe, and particularly in 

 England and France, and led to negotiations 

 between these two Powers as to what should 

 be done next. In the first place, the two 

 Governments considered that the bondholders' 

 interests were only a secondary question, and 

 that the principal point was the establishment 

 in Egypt of a good administration, leaving no 

 Power any pretext for intervening in Egyptian 

 affairs on the plea of protecting the interests 

 of its subjects. The consequence of this first 

 principle on which the Cabinets agreed was 

 that a good administration was only possible 

 in Egypt apart from the Egyptian element, or 

 at least with the cooperation of the European 

 element, the exclusion of which seemed to them 

 utterly unacceptable. This conclusion was 

 common to the two Governments. But their 

 views diverged on the question of persons. 

 France would have liked to force back the 

 two dismissed Ministers upon the Khedive. 

 England, on the contrary, had special reasons 

 for not insisting on this point. There had 

 been conflicts between Mr. Vivian, the English 

 Consul - General, and Mr. Wilson, and Mr. 

 Vivian was summoned home to give explana- 

 tions, while Mr. Wilson was recalled from 

 Egypt and replaced in his English functions. 

 In these circumstances the French Govern- 

 ment, of course, had to abandon its wish to 

 make the Khedive receive back his dismissed 

 Ministers, and to content itself with keeping 

 him to the principle of European Ministers 

 cooperating in the administration of Egypt. 

 Another consequence was that, ceasing to ex- 

 act the restoration of the old Ministers, the 

 French Government could no longer require 

 the Khedive not to change his European Min- 

 isters without the consent of the two Govern- 

 ments. The first instructions, therefore, sent 

 to the agents of the two Governments and 

 communicated to the Porte, were that France 

 and England regarded a good administration 

 in Egypt as indispensable to their own inter- 

 ests and to foreign residents, and that such an 

 administration did not seem to them feasible 

 without the presence of two European Minis- 

 ters in the Egyptian Cabinet. The two Gov- 

 ernments, therefore, invited the Khedive to 

 comply as promptly as possible with their de- 

 mand, and to hand over the portfolios of Fi- 

 nance and Public Works to English and French 

 Ministers. There was no question in these 

 instructions of a threat of coercive measures, 

 nor did the note have a threatening tone. An 

 offer was made by the Sultan in the latter part 

 of April to depose Ismail Pasha, and to appoint 

 Halim Pasha, Ismail's uncle (who according 

 to the Mohammedan law of succession was the 

 rightful heir), his successor. This proposal 

 did not find favor with France, which wished 

 to keep the Egyptian and Eastern questions 



separate. The German Government also pro- 

 tested against the action of the Khedive, in a 

 note delivered on May 17th. This note was of 

 the same tenor as that of 1878, containing a 

 reservation of all rights acquired by the inter- 

 national arrangements respecting the interna- 

 tional courts of law and the Commission of 

 Control, and a protest against any arbitrary 

 change of system on the part of the Khedive 

 which might prejudice the interests of Ger- 

 man subjects. This note, which was aimed 

 mainly against the decree of April 22d, was 

 communicated to the other European Govern- 

 ments, and England, France, Austria, Eussia, 

 and Italy all took the same line and protested 

 against the non-execution of the judgments of 

 the tribunals. 



The proposal made by the Porte in April to 

 depose Ismail Pasha in favor of his uncle was 

 repeated in June, when the Powers counseled 

 the Khedive to abdicate, voluntarily promising 

 to support his son Tevfik. The Khedive asked 

 for this promise in writing, which was refused. 

 On June 19th the British and French Consuls- 

 General proceeded together to the palace and 

 formally demanded the abdication of the Khe- 

 dive, who asked to be allowed forty -eight 

 hours in order to communicate with the Porte 

 before giving his reply. To the Khedive's in- 

 quiry at Constantinople a reply was received 

 from the Sultan personally to this effect: 

 " Your abdication is not a question that con- 

 cerns you ; you await our further orders. This 

 is the only reply you can give." On June 25th 

 the Consuls waited on the Khedive and in- 

 formed him that deposition in favor of Halim 

 had been decided upon the day before at Con- 

 stantinople, and would be proclaimed before 

 the Council there that day. They finally urged 

 abdication, promising a guarantee to Tevfik in 

 writing. The Khedive demanded as condi- 

 tions of abdication that his family should be 

 provided for, as was done prior to the cession 

 of their lands, and that the abdication should 

 be made into the hands of the Sultan. The 

 Consuls replied that this last condition broke 

 off all negotiations, that they consequently 

 withdrew their offers, and that events must 

 take their course. The Sultan was still unde- 

 cided in respect to Tevfik's succession, when Sir 

 Austen Layard, the British Ambassador, semi- 

 officially represented to him that if he declined 

 to displace the Khedive the Powers would be 

 compelled to take that step upon themselves, 

 and Turkey would in that case eventually lose 

 Egypt. Sir Austen Layard added that the 

 Powers were firmly determined to establish 

 good administration in Egypt. The Porte ad- 

 vised the Sultan to acquiesce in the course 

 recommended, and accordingly, on June 26th, 

 he signed the firman deposing the Khedive in 

 favor of Prince Mohammed Tevfik. On the 

 same day the Porte addressed a dispatch to 

 the Powers, confirming the Imperial irade of 

 1841, and abolishing the irade of 1873, which 

 authorized the Khedive of Egypt to conclude 



