172 THE STORY OF THE KHEDIVATE.

scanty response at the Foreign Office, he was desirous of bringing them before the public. He placed himself in communication with many publicists, and, amongst others, with myself. Nothing is further from my purpose than to exaggerate the very subordinate part I have played in Egyptian affairs. My functions, such as they are, have often seemed to me to resemble those of the chorus in the Greek tragedies, who are always engaged in commenting on the actions of others, but never take any action themselves.

I am well aware that my functions could have been discharged as well, or perhaps better, by other English publicists with whom Nubar Pasha made acquaintance during his visit to London. All I need say is, that he chose me as his mouthpiece in the English press, and that he supplied me with information, of which I made the best use in my power in a series of articles published chiefly in the Nineteenth Century. These articles had necessarily only an ephemeral value. Their chief interest at the present day lies in the light they throw upon the views which Nubar held at this period of his career, and which ultimately were carried into effect, though not perhaps quite in the way he himself would have wished. Public opinion in England was not then ripe for the suggestion that England would do well to avail herself of the opportunity offered by the Russo-Turkish war for the assumption of a Protectorate over Egypt, but it was prepared to admit the necessity for intervention.

In consequence, an article, which was published in the