SECOND STAGE OF INTERVENTION. 183 contempt alike for the native population of his adopted country and for the foreign Giaour. On receipt of Cherifs refusal to comply with the Summons issued by the Commission, an appeal was made to the Khedive ; and thereupon Cherif evaded compliance by resigning his post as Minister of Foreign Affairs, and was succeeded by Riaz Pasha, who, being a member of the Commission, could hardly be called upon to appear before his colleagues, even if he had not declared, probably with justice, that he knew nothing whatever of what had occurred under his predecessor. Upon this, the President of the Daira Sanieh Administration — in other words, the manager of the Khedive's private estates — was requested to appear before the Commission. He, in his turn, pleaded that, being the servant of the Khedive, he could not give evidence without the direct authorization of his master. The authorization was applied for, and the Commission was informed that his Highness was too unwell for the moment to attend to business. Any number of similar difficulties were raised whenever the Commission approached the subject of the lands which the Khedive had appropriated to himself during his reign. His* persistency in obstructing any investigation into; his private estates confirmed the Commission in thel conviction that it was to such an investigation theirl I efforts ought in the first instance to be directed. jj\ Once more the stars in their courses fought against Ismail, though it is by no means certain that