2i6 THE STORY OF THE KHEDIVATE.

r Nobody had better cause than he had to know ) that it was not the Sultan's interest, or that of y the Porte, to deprive him of the power of grati-(fying their pecuniary exigencies. If gratitude has been rightly defined, as the expectation of future benefits, Ismail had every right to count upon the gratitude of his Suzerain. I have no doubt that the deposition of the Khedive was, both on political as well as on personal grounds, distasteful to the Turkish authorities. Still, with the Ottoman, as with all moribund Governments, the instinct of selfpreservation is the dominant principle. In the face of the united demand of the three great European \ Powers, led by Germaijy, for the deposition of the Khedive, the Sultan recognized that, with or without his consent, the position of the Viceroy was untenable, and that if he was to be deposed at all, it was more in consonance with Turkish interests and Turkish dignity that he should be deposed in conformity with, not in opposition to, the will of his Suzerain.

At an early hour in the morning of the 25th of June, 1879, despatches were received by the English and French Consuls-general, announcing that the Ottoman Government had recognized the necessity of removing the Viceroy from the throne. These despatches were immediately communicated to his Highness by the /Consuls, accompanied bylCherif Pasha, who urged upon ( the Viceroy the expediency of abdicating in favour of N his son, in order to avoid deposition. Ismail, however, absolutely declined to surrender his throne, except on