288 " MY KINGDOM FOR A HORSE ! " 



March. Their majority was only fourteen. I was finding 

 myself a persona grata among official personages on the 

 Opposition side at that time, and among other notable 

 men I met was Ismail Pasha, who was then making an 

 effort, under the auspices of A. M. Broadley, to regain 

 his lost position in Egypt ; but, said he, "I trusted in 

 England and the explicit promises of English agents and 

 therefore I fell." I must say he impressed me very 

 favourably, and I have often wondered what became of 

 him after he retired to Turkey. He was very bitter 

 about the financial houses who had engineered the various 

 Egyptian loans, and he showed me that the Egyptians 

 had in 1873 received 25,000,000 less than the sum for 

 which they became responsible. 



Dhuleep Singh came to me about that time with his 

 grievances. His income had been reduced to one half 

 of what he considered his due, and he contemplated going 

 out to India and raising trouble there. What benefit 

 he was to derive from me never transpired, but it was 

 interesting to hear all he had to say, and how he claimed 

 the Kohinoor as his property. 



Tom Merry's cartoons in St Stephen's were now varied 

 for a few months by some which were sent in by Matt 

 Morgan, who gained much fame years before on The 

 Tomahawk. His son also was responsible for several, 

 and the " Libretto for Liberals," which was written each 

 week in connection with the cartoon, was growing more 

 and more as if working up to a victory. We produced 

 a first-rate Primrose Number on i8th April, with original 

 MS. of Disraeli in facsimile, and delightful drawings by 

 Phil May. It sold like wildfire and was crammed with 

 advertisements. 



On 30th May 1885 appeared Phil May's representation 

 of Romeo (J. Chamberlain) parting from (the Grand Old) 

 Juliet. On 6th June there came a cartoon by Phil May, 

 entitled " The Welsher " it was Derby week and 

 Gladstone is running right out of the picture, pursued 

 by the infuriated Opposition and the British bull-dog. 



