THE BEGINNING OF A NEW ERA. 121 matters, there was comparatively little practical grievance. The Consular agents and judges of the Great Powers were, as a rule, men of high character, and though so much could not be said of the representatives of the smaller Powers, they had — except in the rare cases, where some influential member of their own community was accused of a criminal offence — no motive for not exercising their authority justly and impartially. In respect, however, of civil offences, the Consular courts were a law unto themselves. Smuggling was, at the period of which I am treating, the most lucrative trade in Egypt, and the headquarters of this trade was Alexandria. By a convention with Turkey, the growing of tobacco or opium is forbidden in Egypt ; and very heavy duties are imposed upon its importation. It followed that if tobacco or opium could be introduced into Egypt, free of duty, the profit on their sale was enormous. The modus operandi was of the simplest. Nothing was easier than to land a cargo on the low and thinly populated coast lying on either side of Alexandria.

The time and place of landing was arranged beforehand between the shipper and the consignee. The landing effected, the cargo was packed on a string of camels, the packages were covered with piles of clover, and were then conveyed to the warehouse ; and the trick was done. As I mentioned previously, Ismail Pasha, early in his reign, appointed an English officer as chief of the coastguard, and owing to this gentleman's vigilant discharge of his