ed the extraordinary sum of L89,000,000 in the year 1876, and that, too, despite the increase of the land tax by one-half All the means which oriental ingenuity has devised for the systematic plunder of a people were now put in force; so that Sir Alfred Milner (now Lord Milner), after unequalled opportunities of studying the Egyptian Question, declared "There is nothing in the financial history of any country, from the remotest ages to the present time, to equal this carnival of extravagance and oppression[356]" [Footnote 356 _England in Egypt_, by Sir Alfred Milner (Lord Milner), 1892, pp 216-219 (The Egyptian L is equal to L106) I give the figures as pounds sterling] The Khedive himself had to make some sacrifices of a private nature, and one of these led to an event of international importance Towards the close of the year 1875 he decided to sell the 177,000 shares which he held in the Suez Canal Company In the first place he offered them secretly to the French Government for 100,000,000 francs; and the Foreign Minister, the Duc Decazes, it seems, wished to buy them; but the Premier, M Buffet, and other Ministers hesitated, perhaps in view of the threats of war from Germany, which had alarmed all responsible men In any case, France lost her chance[357] Fortunately for Great Britain, news of the affair was sent to one of her ablest journalists, Mr Frederick Greenwood, who at once begged Lord Derby, then Minister for Foreign Affairs, to grant him an interview The result was an urgent message from Lord Derby to Colonel Staunton, the British envoy in Egypt, to find out the truth from the Khedive himself The tidings proved to be correct, and the Beaconsfield Cabinet at once sanctioned the purchase of the shares for the sum of close on L4,000,000 [Footnote 357 _La Question d'Egypte_, by C de Freycinet (1905), p 151] It is said that the French envoy to Egypt was playing billiards when he heard of the purchase, and in his rage he broke his cue in half His anger was natural, quite apart from financial considerations In that respect the purchase has been a brilliant success; for the shares are now worth more than L30,000,000, and yield an annual return of about a million sterling; but this monetary gain is as nothing when compared with the influence which the United Kingdom has gained in the affairs of a great undertaking whereby M de Lesseps hoped to assure the ascendancy of France in Egypt The facts of history, it should be noted, lent support to this contention of "the great Frenchman" The idea of the canal had originated with Napoleon I, and it was revived with much energy by the followers of the French philosopher, St Simon, in the years 1833-37[358] The project, however, then encountered the opposition of British statesmen, as it did from the days of Pitt to those of Palmerston This was not unnatural; for it promised to bring back to the ports of the Mediterranean the preponderant share in the eastern trade which they had enjoyed before the discovery of the route by the Cape of Good Hope The political and commercial interests of England were bound up with the sea route, especially after the Cape was definitively assigned to her by the Peace of Paris of 1814; but she could not see with indifference the control by France of a canal which would divert trade once more to the old overland route That danger was now averted by the financial _coup_ just noticed--an affair which may prove to have been scarcely less important in a political sense than Nelson's victory at the Nile [Footnote 358 _La Question d'Egypte_, by C de Freycinet, p 106] In truth, the Sea Power has made up for her defects of position as regards Egypt by four great strokes--the triumph of her great admiral, the purchase of Ismail's canal shares, the repression of Arabi's revolt, and Lord Kitchener's victory at Omdurman The present writer has not refrained from sharp criticism on British policy in the period 1870-1900; and the Egyptian policy of the Cabinets of Queen Victoria has been at times open to grave censure; but, on the whole, it has come out well, thanks to the ability of individuals to supply the qualities of foresight, initiative, and unswerving persistence, in which Ministers since the time of Chatham have rarely excelled The sale of Ismail's canal shares only served to stave off the impending crash which would have formed the natural sequel to this new "South Sea Bubble" All who took part in this carnival of folly ought to have suffered alike, Ismail and his beys along with the stock-jobbers and dividend-hunters of London and Paris In an ordinary case these last would have lost their money; but in this instance the borrower was weak and dependent, while the lenders were in a position to stir up two powerful Governments to action Nearly the whole of the Egyptian loans was held in England and France; and in 1876, when Ismail was floating swiftly down stream to the abyss of bankruptcy, the British and French bondholders cast about them for means to secure their own safety They organised themselves for the protection of their interests The Khedive consented to hear the advice of their representatives, Messrs Goschen and Joubert; but it was soon clear that he desired merely a comfortable liquidation and the continuance of his present expenditure That year saw the institution of the "Caisse de la Dette," with power to receive the revenue set aside for the service of the debt, and to sanction or forbid new loans; and in the month of November 1876 the commission of bondholders took the form of the "Dual Control" In 1878 a Commission was appointed with power to examine the whole of the Egyptian administration It met with the strongest opposition from the Khedive, until in the next year means were found to bring about his abdication by the act of the Sultan (June 26, 1879) His successor was his son Tewfik (1879-92) On their side the bondholder