134 THE STORY OF THE KHEDIVATE.

Egypt on his way to India. During the Prince's visit C to Cairo, the Khedive intimated to His Royal Highy ness, through the medium of Sir Bartle Frere, who was ) one of the Prince's party, his wish to have an English / official appointed by her Majesty's Government to advise the Egyptian Treasury. The Khedive was informed that any wish of this kind must be submitted through her Majesty's Consul-General at Cairo, as the official representative of the Government. Subsequent to the Prince s departure, a letter to this effect was forwarded to the Foreign Office.

No direct response was given at the time; but apparently our Government availed themselves of this /suggestion a few months later, when Mr. Stephen Cave. M.P., was despatched on a general mission ofMnqulry into the finances of Egypt. The despatch of such a mission was certainly not what Ismail had asked for, and still less what he desired. If there was one thing he dreaded, it was a genuine investigation of his own financial position. The avowed object of the mission, as explained at the time, was to institute a preliminary inquiry, whose result would enable her Majesty's Government to determine whether they could accede to the Khedive's request for the appointment of an English official as a financial adviser to the Egyptian Treasury. Nubar Pasha, who at this period was still hostile to the idea of any direct European intervention, stated to me, some years later, that when Mr. Cave called on him on his arrival, and informed him of the purport of his mission,