THE CAVE MISSION. 137 the Khedive, and that he was prepared to consider favourably the proposals which he anticipated would be made to him by Mr. Cave on behalf of the British Government. Considerable disappointment was felt at Abdin, when, during his interviews with the Khedive, Mr. Cave confined himself entirely to inquiries as to the financial position of Egypt, and said little or nothing as to any ulterior objects which the British Ministry might have in view.

I have always thought Mr. Cave did not receive the credit he deserved for his discharge of a very difficult and thankless task. I fancy that on his arrival in Egypt he contemplated a far more prolonged and exhaustive study of the subject he was sent to investigate. But after a few weeks* sojourn, he cameN — or at any rate professed to have come — to the con- / elusion, that his report must be based on the informa- f tion supplied to him by the Khedive, the Mufettish, I and the officials of the Egyptian Treasury, and that ] he had neither the time nor the means of testing they accuracy of the information thus supplied. This information, he may reasonably have held, was likely to prove trustworthy, from the fact that, at this period of his fortunes, it was not the interest of Ismail Pasha to under-estimate his financial difficulties, as his chief reason for hoping that England might come to his assistance lay in representing his liabilities as being of such a character as to compel him to accept French intervention, in case England declined to intervene for hife salvation. Mr. Cave declared his