DIFFICULTIES OF THE ENGLISH MINISTRY. 9

At the same time, as we have seen, the attempts of the Egyptian

torces to relieve the garrisons at Tokar and Sinkat, and to protect Suakim, had been entirely inadequate, and Baker Pasha was

preparing to proceed against the rebels in the Eastern Soudan with what proved to be another inadequate force.

It was then that our ministry was being assailed not only by opponents in parliament, but by a large section, if not by a majority in the country, and by many of the more influential newspapers. Public opinion appeared to be changing if that of

the government was not, and it cannot be denied that the position which the ministry had assumed was one exceedingly difficult

if not altogether untenable. We had an army of protection, if not

of occupation, in Egypt, where the government of the country had been remodelled under a scheme of reformed administration

which they had initiated. Our influence was paramount, so that the

" advice " to abandon the Soudan provinces was followed by a resignation of the Egyptian ministry, and the appointment of another cabinet ready to carry out the behests of the protecting

power, which was thereby compelled to take a more active part in

Egyptian policy. Our representative at Cairo, Sir Evelyn Baring (who had succeeded Mr. Malet), was ready to insist on advice

being followed, though it was opposed to the wishes and senti-

ments of the khedive and most of his ministers, and not in

complete accordance with the opinion of those who had had

most experience of the country, including Sir Samuel Baker and General Gordon. The policy of our government was strained by the force of events, and the refusal to take some further

measures for the relief of the imperilled garrisons grew fainter.

No government could have foreseen the extraordinary spread

of the Mahdi's insurrection. Any government would perhaps have been justified, at the time of the intervention to suppress

Arabi, in announcing that the occupation of Egypt by their troops would be solely for the purpose of protecting foreign residents; and as it had been asked for by the Egyptian government, and

complacently endorsed by the European powers, that its purpose was defined, and should not be changed into that of affording