238 RECOLLECTIONS OF FORTY YEARS. 



Council deferred settling the question upon the pre- 

 text of the nomination of a commission of three, who, 

 without concerning themselves with the Suez Canal 

 itself, were to examine with me in detail the clauses 

 of the Egyptian firman. This firman, drawn up under 

 the inspiration of the Yiceroy, almost with his own 

 hand, one may say, already approved by the Cairo 

 Divan, and communicated to all the European Cabi- 

 nets, was the indispensable basis of the undertaking, 

 and was not even under consideration. I could not 

 follow my opponents upon this ground, and I had, 

 moreover, been specially instructed not to discuss it, 

 the Viceroy being quite resolved not to allow an act of 

 deference towards his suzerain to be converted into a 

 precedent which would accustom the Sublime Porte, 

 often subject to the pressure of fanaticism or foreign 

 influence, to hamper the action of the Egyptian in- 

 ternal administration. That intelligent Prince is 

 anxious to set his country a wholesome example, and 

 to create for himself resources as essential to the pros- 

 perity of the empire as they are to the real interests 

 of the empire. Eeschid Pasha seems to me to under- 

 stand the danger of the course he was about to enter 

 upon, and as he is very anxious to remain in the good 

 graces of the Yiceroy, he wants to cast all the respon- 

 sibility upon the Council, behind which he is accus- 

 tomed to shelter himself. I did not hesitate to tell 

 him that this would not suffice, and that he would, in 

 my opinion, be held entirely responsible not only by 



