146 THE STORY OF THE KHEDIVATE.

(jTreasury bonds were to be issued in future. It is 3ne of the cherished traditions of British statesmanship that the Government has no responsibility what-/ever for loans that may be made by British investors in foreign securities. There is, I admit, a good deal to be said for the theory, but I never could understand why British officials and British diplomatists should consider they give proof of exceptional devotion to duty by declining to bestir themselves in any way to protect the interests of British subjects who have sustained losses abroad by the action of foreign governments. It has always seemed to my mind that the first duty of any government is to look after the interests of its own people. These ideas, however, were completely out of fashion in the days when the late Lord Derby was Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. The bondholders were told that as they had chosen to invest money in Egypt, they must bear the consequences, and must look for no help from her Majesty's Ministers. Such was the decision of Downing Street, and from that decision there was no appeal.

Happily, however, for the British bondholders, the French Government took a different view of their duty, or their interest — whichever one may please to call it — in respect of the French bondholders. The Khedive shortly followed up his act of repudiation by proposing the appointment of a Commission of the Public Debt, which was to have no administrative power, but was to assist the Egyptian Government