EGYPT. 



243 



homes. He called to him a number of officers, 

 among them AH Fehmi and Abdallah Pasha, 

 and announced that he would exercise the 

 command of the army in person. He called 

 upon them to submit to the conditions imposed 

 by the consuls-general. They answered flatly 

 that they would submit to no foreign dictation 

 but that of the Porte. Tevfik sought in vain 

 for new ministers. Sherif Pasha could not be 

 persuaded to take office at this time. Members 

 of the Chamber of Notables came to the Vice- 

 roy and begged him to retract his acceptance 

 of the consular note, and retain Arabi as Min- 

 ister of War. The whole corps of officers came 

 on a like errand, and expressed themselves in 

 forcible language. The military commandants 

 at Alexandria sent word that they would take 

 orders from no one but Arabi, and that they 

 would not answer for the maintenance of order 

 twelve hours if he were not reinstated. The 

 deputies, the officers, and the ulemas met be- 

 fore Sultan Pasha and united in a demand for 

 the retention of Arabi Pasha, while the officers 

 talked about deposing the Khedive. Tevfik 

 was still firm, and told Sultan Pasha, who pre- 

 sented the address, that the officers abused the 

 name of the Porte, since the Sultan had sent a 

 dispatch commending his conduct. Directly 

 afterward he received another message from 

 the Sultan, condemning the military party, and 

 telling him to recommend moderation to all, 

 so as to escape foreign intervention. Deputa- 

 tions from the university, from the native mer- 

 chants, from every respectable body, brought 

 the same request to the Khedive that he had 

 received from the officers, notables, and ulemas. 

 Pressed by all Egypt, he at last gave way, and 

 restored Arabi to the Ministry of War. At this 

 time the Khedive received a telegram from the 

 Porte, in which the Sultan offered to send a com- 

 missioner to Egypt if the Khedive would make 

 a formal request to that effect. Mohamed Tev- 

 fik applied to the consuls for advice. Here 

 again the discordant note in the Anglo-French 

 concord destroyed the effect upon the Egyp- 

 tians and upon the Porte of the ministerial 

 declarations, the common ultimatum, and the 

 united squadrons. Mr. Malet did not object to 

 the coming of a Turkish commissioner if it would 

 prevent disorders, while M. Sinkiewicz was 

 unqualifiedly opposed. France was constrained 

 to give way when the European powers unani- 

 mously approved the Turkish mediation, and 

 confined her efforts to preventing the inter- 

 vention from taking a military form. A note 

 of the dual powers, dated May 29th, demanded 

 that the Sultan should confine himself to ex- 

 pressing approval of the course of the Khedive, 

 and should command Arabi Pasha and the 

 other military chiefs to come to Constantinople 

 and give an account of their conduct. The 

 Sultan refused to serve as the instrument of 

 the two powers ; so that they were restricted 

 to demanding that the action of the Porte 

 should not go beyond the sending of an envoy 

 charged with the mission of inviting the army 



to submit to the Khedive. De Freycinet, in 

 his efforts to preserve the preponderance of 

 France and the anti-Mussulman ends of the 

 Gambettist policy, while avoiding its perils 

 and adventurous aims, was left in the lurch by 

 the British Cabinet, and found France com- 

 pletely isolated. Sustained by a vote of con- 

 fidence against the objections of the Oppor- 

 tunists, he abandoned the policy of exclusion 

 and preponderance, to enter the European con- 

 cert. He proposed a conference of the em- 

 bassadors of all the powers at Constantinople, 

 for the definite settlement of the Egyptian 

 question. A dual note, based on Granville's 

 declaration to the powers of the llth of Feb- 

 ruary, invited the Porte to the conference. It 

 premised the preservation of the status quo, 

 and the existing international engagements, 

 which was unacceptable to the Porte and scarce- 

 ly met the views of the powers. The Porte 

 did not hesitate about sending the commission. 

 Dervish Pasha was intrusted with this delicate 

 business, with Achmet Ratid, Lebib, and the 

 Sheik Ali Metstad, for his associates, and at- 

 tended by an aide-de-camp and a numerous 

 suite. The Sultan then informed the powers of 

 their mission to restore tranquillity, maintain 

 the status quo, and sustain the Khedive. In a 

 second circular on the subject Said Pasha as- 

 serted that the regulation of Egyptian affairs 

 was a prerogative of the Sultan, and that he 

 saw no necessity for a conference. In Egypt, 

 Arabi was still the only minister appointed, the 

 master of the army, and the hope of the Na- 

 tionalists ; while the Khedive was powerless, 

 and despised as the slave of the Europeans. 

 The French consul attempted to constrain 

 Arabi to submit to the ultimatum, and pro- 

 posed to the Khedive to make Ragheb Pasha 

 Prime Minister, and Abdallah Minister of 

 War. Arabi declared, contemptuously, that 

 the threats of France and England were as false 

 as their promises; that if they should venture 

 to intervene they would meet with a vigorous 

 resistance. The Turkish commissioner was 

 received with open arms by the Khedive. The 

 National party professed devotion to the right, 

 of the Sultan, and seemed disposed to place all 

 their trust in the action of the Porte and the 

 conference. Ragheb Pasha formed a ministry 

 which was in accord with the Khedive. The 

 truce in the political conflict was complete. 

 There was every prospect that the appeal of 

 the Egyptians to Europe for administrative in- 

 dependence would be eventually successful ; 

 that the conference would insist on the restric- 

 tion of the Control and the diplomatic agents 

 of the two powers to their legitimate func- 

 tions, as the only peaceful solution of the ques- 

 tion. The popular passions, however, rose 

 higher with the prospect of the deliverance 

 of the Egyptians from their enslavers. The 

 smoldering resentment, hatred, and jealousy 

 of the populace of Alexandria, where the priv- 

 ileges enjoyed by foreigners, their arrogance 

 toward the natives, and the ostentatious display 



