I30 THE STORY OF THE KHEDIVATE.

this incident shortly after its occurrence, I remember asking him whether he thought the Khedive was stating what he believed, or what he wished to have believed. He evaded the question by saying, ** Well, you see it is difficult to cross-examine a royal personage in his own palace. Why, to-day, our friend here — turning to the late Sir George Elliot — begged me to inform His Highness that * he must act upon the square/ " and though I quite agreed with the sentiment, I was unable, though I am tolerably well conversant with French, to think of any French equivalent for " acting upon the square."

. Later on, I shall have more to say on the part played by Nubar in Egyptian politics. For the present I am concerned only with his action when he was comparatively an unknown man outside of Egypt, and when Ismail was still at the summit of his power.

I do not hesitate to say that no other man but Nubar could have succeeded in inducing the European Powers to surrender their rights under the Capitulations, and in persuading the Khedive to sanction the establishment of the International courts. Throughout all the negotiations at Cairo, Constantinople, London Paris, and Berlin, Nubar displayed an ability which impressed all the statesmen and diplomatists with whom he was brought into contact. From that time )n, *" ( forward ne was recognized by all the chief Govern-"* Wi V ments of Europe as the leading statesman of the A' u Orient. Up to the end of his life, Nubar never forgot the fact that during the period when he was