14 WITS KITCHESES IN' TSE SOSSAS

“ Supremacy in Egypt has always been the dream of the

French. Had it not been for our command of the sea they

would have obtained possession of the country in Napoleon’s

time. Their intrigues here have for years been incessant;

their newspapers in Egypt have continually maligned us, and

they believe that the time has come when they will be the

real, if not the nominal, rulers of Egypt. The making of the

Suez Canal was quite as much a political as a commercial

move, and it has certainly added largely to their influence

here; though in this respect a check was given to them by

the purchase of the Khedive’s shares in the canal by Lord

Beaconsfield, a stroke which, however, greatly increased the enmity of the French here and heightened their efforts to

excite the animosity of the people against us. Well, I hope

that whatever comes of all this, the question as to whose

influence is to be paramount in Egypt will be Anally settled. Even French domination would be better than the constant

intrigues and trouble that keep the land in a state of agita-

tion. However, I fancy that it will be the other way if an English fleet comes here and there is trouble. I don’t think we shall back down, and if we begin in earnest we are sure

to win in the long run. France must see that, and if she

refuses to act at the last moment it can only be because Arabi

has it in his power to produce documents showing that he was all along acting in accordance with her secret advice.” A week later, on the 20th of May, the squadrons of Eng-

land and France anchored off Alexandria. The British fleet

consisted of eight ironclads and five gun-boats, carrying three thousand five hundred and thirty-nine men and one hundred and two guns, commanded by Sir Frederick Seymour. Two days before the approach of the fleet was known at Cairo,

the French and English consuls proposed that the Khedive should issue a decree declaring a general amnesty, and that

the president of the council, the minister of war, and the

three military pashas should quit the country for a year. This request was complied with.