136 THE STORY OF THE KHEDIVATE.

a British minister had been sent out on purpose to investigate the financial position of Egypt was regarded as proof positive that the British Government contemplated some form of direct intervention. Up to the present day the world at large has never been able to discover what were the exact instructions, if any, with which the Cave Mission was despatched to Cairo. It is obvious, however, that the solvency or insolvency of Egypt was a matter, at this period, which chiefly, if not solely, concerned England in its political — not in its financial — aspects. Mr. Cave was a sensible, level-headed man, who, except that he had been, I believe, at one time a sleeping partner in an old-established provincial bank, had no special experience of finance. At all events, it was not as a financier, but as the chosen envoy of the British Government, that he was welcomed in Egypt. The palace of the Foresteria in the Shoubra Road — then the fashionable promenade of Cairo — the residence reserved usually for Royal visitors to Egypt, was made ready for his reception. He came accompanied with a regular staff, and was treated, by the orders of the Khedive, with every distinction due to an envoy of a great and friendly Power entrusted with a special mission. The well-nigh universal impression in' Cairo at the time was that Mr. Cave had been deputed to discuss the terms on which England might be prepared to take upon herself the liabilities contracted by the Khedive in the name of Egypt. It was generally believed that this impression was shared by