THE BEGINNING OF A NEW ERA. 123 grounds to the favour of the Khedive. The first was,\ that the removal of the practical immunity conferred \ by the Capitulations upon contraband trade would / materially augment the revenue derived from the 1 customs' dues ; the second was, that the modification / of these conventions, with the sanction of the European j Powers, would be tantamount to a recognition, on the I part of Europe, that Egypt under his reign had J acquired the status of a civilized community. Such a recognition was obviously calculated to improve his financial credit abroad. The Capitulations, I need hardly say, exist in virtue of treaties concluded between the Porte and the various European Powers ; and it is a moot question whether, if Egypt were ever to become, in name as well as in fact, independent of Turkey, the Capitulations, in as far as Egypt is concerned, would not ipso facto cease to exist. However this may be, the first step towards carrying out Nubar Pasha's policy was to induce Turkey to take up the idea. The Porte had no personal reason for objecting to the proposal. The contraband trade brought no direct benefit to the Ottoman revenue, while any modifications in the Capitulations, in one province of the empire, would necessarily furnish a ground for demanding similar modifications in other provinces of the Empire, a matter which the Ottoman Government had, and has, much at heart Moreover, the principle do nt des is nowhere more keenly appreciated and more scrupulously observed than it is in Turkey. It was therefore