THE ANGLO-FRENCH MINISTRY. 205 officials, who had used their authority for their own advantage. M. de Blignieres, during his short tenure of office, had no funds at his disposal for the discharge of his duties as Minister of Public Works. But, by his good sense and loyalty, he showed that, under more favourable conditions, he would have done much to develop the extraordinary natural resources of the Nile valley. It should also be recorded that whatever else the Anglo- French- Egyptian Ministry failed to accomplish, it established, for once and for all in Egypt, the principle of Ministerial solidarity. From / this date the Ministers were no longer mere heads / of departments, subject solely to the authority of V the Khedive. They were henceforth members of a / Ministry jointly responsible, in name, if not always in [ fact, for the policy of the Government. The result \ was that they acquired, however imperfectly, a collective authority independent of the Khedive, and hitherto unknown in the records of Egypt.