i68 THE STORY OF THE KHEDIVATE.

to do his utmost to prevent intervention being < exerted solely and simply in the interest of the bondf holders. If intervention was to take place, Egypt's independence would necessarily be endangered, if not forfeited. He was therefore eager to so arrange intervention as to secure the well-being of the Egyptian / people. The main cause of all the misery endured / by the native population at this period was, in his I opinion, the appropriation of private lands by the \ Khedive, purchased with the funds belonging of right to the State, and cultivated by forced labour. j Before Nubar left Egypt, he had become convinced / that nothing except compulsion would induce his Highness to surrender the lands he had appropriated ; and that if the lands were not surrendered, intervention must follow as a logical necessity. Under these circumstances, he resolved to bring pressure to bear upon the Khedive, and thus to resort to the one expedient which, in his opinion, could possibly avert direct intervention.

He availed himself, therefore, of every opportunity to impress upon the personages he came into contact with, his firm conviction that the restoration of financial solvency in Egypt could never be carried into effect while the administration of the country \ remained in the hands of an absolute autocratic ruler ; \ and that, in the common interest of Egypt and of her < creditors, it was essential her financial administration ) should be placed under European control, supported by the authority of some one great European Power.