FIRST STAGE OF INTERVENTION. 155 the decree by which he had instituted the Commission of the Public Debt, had engaged to contract no fresh debts without the knowledge and sanction of the Commissioners. In the course of their examination into the State accounts, the envoys had made the discovery that a number of duplicate bonds were in existence, which had apparently been issued subsequent to the date when this pledge had been given. Thereupon Mr. Goschen asked Ismail how he could account for the existence of these duplicate bonds. His Highness replied that there must be some clerical blunder, that all financial transactions were carried on entirely by the Mufettish, and that he would give instructions to the Minister to call on Mr. Goschen on the next day, when the error would be explained to his satisfaction. Either on the same, or the following, morning the Khedive had an interview with the Mufettish, and subsequently drove with him to the Gesireh palace, which has since been turned into an hotel. His Highness, according to common report, entered the palace, asking Ismail Sadyk to await his return. Immediately afterwards, the Mufettish was seized by a guard of soldiers, and forced to embark upon one of the Vice-regal steamers lying off the quays of the palace. Within a few hours an official announcement was published, stating that Ismail Sadyk had been discovered to be engaged in a treasonable conspiracy for the overthrow of the dynasty, and that for the safety of the State he had been exiled to the Soudan. A few days later, news