THE COUP D'ETAT. 209 unexpected opposition from the Khedive, who only a few days before had been pressing urgently for the immediate payment of arrears due on the last instalment of his civil list. After the dismissal of Nubar, he had kept aloof from his Ministers, and had devoted himself to elaborating a plan of his own for the settlement of the Egyptian debt, with the assistance of a number of his native courtiers, who were members of the Chamber of Notables. On beingx asked to sign the decree postponing payment, he refused, with a great show of indignation, on the > ground that there was absolutely no justification for . *' such a measure ; that he would never expose Egypt to I , ./ the shame of bankruptcy ; that he would himself under- \ take to restore solvency, but that the mode of settle- / ment must be left entirely in his hands. He thus / found the opportunity he desired for getting rid of his / English and French Ministers. On the 7th of April, ' ( / / when they presented themselves at their offices, they found their places occupied by native Ministers, and 1 in the course of the same day they received official notice that they were no longer in his Highness s / service. Apart from the curtness of their dismissal, h ' the European Ministers had no cause of complaint j' in respect of the never failing courtesy which they received from the Khedive and the Court during the remainder of their brief sojourn in Egypt.

Telegrams were despatched by the ex-Ministers to Paris and London, requesting instructions as to the attitude they should assume, in view of their dismissal p