292 RECOLLECTIONS OF FORTY YEARS. 



Nor will his Highness forget that in a document of 

 1840, published by Mr. Urquhart, First Secretary of 

 the British Embassy at Constantinople, the English 

 Ambassador, Lord Ponsonby, wrote to the Grand 

 Vizier, that the policy of England and the Porte should 

 be to drive Mehemet Ali and the whole of his family 

 naked into the desert. There can be no doubt that 

 although this idea, now impossible of realisation, is 

 only now to be found in a few very wooden old heads, 

 it is desirable to guard against the irritation which 

 the approaching execution of an enterprise destined to 

 have the very opposite effect will provoke. As long 

 as a partisan of the policy which consists in weakening 

 Egypt is at the head of the English Ministry, it is 

 necessary to paralyze its evil intentions by acting with 

 extreme prudence, by continuing to enlighten public 

 opinion, by marching prudently and without undue 

 hurry towards the achievement of the fact. The 

 Viceroy will see in my advice and my conduct the 

 best proof of my desire not to compromise him. If I 

 thought more of the canal than of him, nothing would 

 be easier for me than to make the affair over to large 

 capitalists, who would carry it through much more 

 rapidly; but I am determined that he shall remain 

 the master of it, and that it shall serve to consoli- 

 date and fortify his political situation. 



"Even if there had been no canal scheme, the 

 Viceroy may rest assured that there are certain 

 Englishmen who would have found some excuse for 



