EGYPT. 



241 



Lord Granville qualified his signature with 

 the verbal explanation that he did not commit 

 his country to any definite line of action. The 

 Porte began, January 13th, to protest and to 

 appeal to the European powers. Other pow- 

 ers insisted that Egyptian affairs were the con- 

 cern of Europe, Italy taking the lead. On Feb- 

 ruary 2d the Porte received an identical com- 

 munication from the Russian, German, Aus- 

 trian, and Italian embassies declaring that the 

 status quo could not be modified without the 

 consent of the great powers and the suzerain 

 power. Gambetta, spurred on by the prospect 

 of European interference and Turkish inter- 

 vention, pressed the English Cabinet to act 

 upon the note when the Notables showed them- 

 selves intractable. French marines were de- 

 tailed for the expedition, and Great Britain was 

 invited to co-operate with Indian soldiers. He 

 urged that England's interest in the sea-route 

 to India and France's position as an African 

 power prompted them to speedy action, of 

 which the powers could not justly complain. 

 Lord Granville would not hear of a joint expe- 

 dition, and, January 30th, proposed that Turkish 

 troops should be employed to re-establish order 

 in Egypt. Freycinet, on coming into the French 

 premiership, was anxious to dispel the fears of 

 an adventurous French policy which Gambetta 

 had created. The attitude of France was imme- 

 diately reversed. The new French minister op- 

 posed intervention, and proposed that the Egyp- 

 tian Nationalists should be allowed to attempt 

 the reforms which they had at heart. In one 

 point the French policy remained firm and con- 

 sistent, in resistance to the armed intervention 

 of the Porte, even as the mandatory of the 

 powers. Any exhibition of the power of the 

 Padishah in Africa was supposed to imperil 

 the peace of the Algerian dominions of France, 

 where dangerous religious passions were al- 

 ready smoldering, and questions of sovereign 

 rights had arisen which had created an es- 

 trangement between the republic and the 

 Porte. The joint note of the four powers gave 

 England and France an excuse for inaction. 

 The British and French Cabinets addressed an 

 invitation to the four powers for an exchange 

 of views. Freycinet, for the sake of pleasing 

 the Gambettists, gave offense both to England 

 and to the protesting powers by sending instruc- 

 tions to Consul-General Sinkiewicz to maintain 

 the preponderant position of France. The in- 

 fluence of France was further enfeebled by a 

 conflict which arose between the French Con- 

 troller and the consul-general, in consequence 

 of which the restless and ambitious De Bli- 

 gnieres was retired and M. Bredif appointed in 

 his place. 



The difficulty between the Government and 

 the Notables came to a head February 3d.* A 



* Why the British Government, if they had no ulterior 

 purposes in view, refused to allow the Notables to attempt 

 constitutional government, is a question involved in Egyptian 

 darkness. Sir Edward Malet, the British consul-general, 

 when interrogated as to the effect of allowing the Notables to 

 vote the budget, replied that they might cut off the salaries 

 VOL. xxil. 16 A 



deputation from the Chamber offered Sherif 

 Pasha the alternative of accepting their project 

 of the powers of the Legislature or resigning 

 his office. Sherif referred them to the Khe- 

 dive, and, when called into the conference by 

 the Viceroy, handed in his resignation. The 

 deputation then requested the Viceroy to name 

 a Cabinet. Tevfik answered that he had per- 

 fect confidence in Sherif, and that they must 

 name their own Premier. After at first declin- 

 ing to infringe upon the prerogative of the Khe- 

 dive, the deputies returned and presented the 

 name of Mahmoud Baroudi, who was invited 

 to form a Cabinet. 



Arabi Bey, the popular leader of the revolt 

 against the Europeans, emerged as Minister of 

 War and Marine. The other appointments were: 

 Mustapha Fehmi, Foreign Affairs ; Mahmoud 

 Bey, Public Works ; Abdullah Fehmi, Public 

 Instruction; Fetme, Justice; Ali Sadok, Fi- 

 nance; Hassan Kerey, Wakfs (Mosques and 

 Charities). On February 6th Mahmoud Ba- 

 roudi presented the programme of the new 

 ministry, a Constitution such as was demanded 

 by the Notables, infringing in no wise on the 

 rights of Europeans and the financial settle- 

 ments which were secured by international 

 engagements. In a few days he announced to 

 the Chamber that the Khedive had delegated 

 to them the right to vote the budget in virtue 

 of the powers conferred upon him by the fir- 

 mans of the Sultan. The Controllers, Colvin 

 and De Blignidres, protested that the khedivial 

 decree of 1879 gave them a seat in the Cabinet 

 and a voice on all questions of finance. Their 

 only legal argument was that the right to give 

 advice implied that their advice must be fol- 

 lowed. 



The resistance of the powers to the consti- 

 tutional demands of the Egyptians, and their 

 threats of military intervention, gave the mili- 

 tary party the lead. Arabi and six other colo- 

 nels were made generals with the title of pasha, 

 and twenty officers were promoted to the rank 

 of colonel. There were 500 promotions made 

 in the space of three months. Arabi talked of 

 raising the effective of the army to 20,000, 

 projected an arsenal at Suez, and planned the 

 fortification of the sea-coast to prevent the 

 landing of European troops. The anti-Euro- 

 pean feeling found vent in the dismissal of Eu- 

 ropean clerks. The Chamber discussed the 

 question of placing the cadastral survey under 

 the direction of natives. 



On the llth of April Arabi Pasha arrested 

 nineteen Circassian officers, and accused them 

 of having formed a conspiracy to assassinate 

 him and the other generals. No Circassian 

 had received promotion, and Arabi was sup- 

 posed to have formed the intention of sending 

 them all to the Soodan. A number of Arab 

 officers were subsequently arrested, among 

 them Osman Zefki, former Minister of War, 



of the officers of the survey, which were not provided for in 

 the capitulations ; so that it appears as though a question of 

 salaries for some of the " locusts" led to war in Egypt. 



