SECOND STAGE OF INTERVENTION. 167 the presence in Egypt of European officials in the service of the Khedive, who were of necessity representatives of European public opinion, the arbitrary character inseparable from personal government could be curtailed and restricted to a great extent, and that thereby Egypt could be given as good a system of administration as was suited to her stage of political development. I have always doubted myself, whether any half measure can be devised between material and moral intervention. All intervention in the end rests on force; and the only difference between material and moral force is, that under the former bayonets are placed in front, while under the latter they are placed in the rear. Still, I think Nubar s conception of a system of personal rule, preserved from grave abuse by the moral authority of European officials employed in the public service, and debarred from gross oppression by the existence of independent tribunals, to whose judgments the Government itself was bound to pay respect, was something more than an Utopian dream. The conception, however, was only conceivably realizable provided the Khedive could be induced to co-operate loyally in its execution. From the\ date, however, of the Cave Mission, Nubar came to/ the conclusion that the magnitude of the debts con-s tracted by Egypt under Ismails reign rendered inter- 1 vention inevitable. He had too shrewd an insight \ into European politics not to perceive that the con- \ siderations which had saved Turkey from intervention j did not apply to Egypt. This being so, he determined/