Ii8 THE STORY OF THE KHEDIVATE.

and retaining the favour, of the head of the State.

He has no individual responsibility for the acts of his colleagues. He has not the power, even if he has the wish, to modify any policy with regard to matters lying outside his own department, of which he may happen to disapprove. I think it well to dwell on this fact, as I have often heard criticisms passed on Nubar's conduct, on the ground that, being a minister during a considerable portion of Ismail's reign, he ought to share the responsibility for the extravagant expenditure and the exorbitant exactions by which this reign was characterized. As a matter of fact, it would be about as just to say that the chief clerks in our own offices at home are responsible for the War with South Africa, because they were servants of the Government by whom the war was undertaken. If Nubar had retired from the public service in Egypt, because he disapproved of the lavish outlay rendered possible by unjustifiable taxation, he would have failed to bring about the slightest curtailment of State extravagance or any diminution of State oppression. He would also have deprived himself of any power which his •position as adviser of the Khedive, in respect of foreign affairs, afforded him of employing his influence to mitigate the evil brought about by the extravagance which had burdened Egypt with a crushing public debt, and which, as a logical consequence, had necessitated the imposition of burdens heavier than the people of the country were able to bear. To put the matter more tersely, if Nubar had not remained in office