THE ORIGIN OF THE KHEDIVIAL DYNASTY. 3

unprofitable to follow the details of Turkish misrule and tyranny which was from this time presented to the

student of Egyptian history." Nubar Pasha, one of the few Egyptian statesmen who ever took any interest in the history of the past, told me that, when he was at the head of the Government, he had the archives searched to discover if any record was forthcoming of the two centuries which intervened between

Egypt's passing under the direct rule of the Sultan and the landing of the French at Alexandria in 1 798.

The search proved utterly barren. It was found impossible even to compose a list of the names of the various Turkish pashas who in rapid succession represented the authority of the Commander of the

Faithful in the richest province of the Ottoman Empire^ All that is known may be told in a few

lines. ' The country was ruled in reality by the Mamelukes as independent chieftains, acknowledg-

ing in theory the suzerainty of the Sultan, but only recognizing it in practice by the irregular payment of an intermittent tribute. When the Mamelukes

were not quarrelling with their liege lord, they made war upon each other; and it was by taking advantage of their intestine feuds, and their personal

rivalries, that the Turkish pro-consuls contrived to maintain their authority, in such a way as to avoid giving mortal offence to the Sultan on the one hand, or to the Mamelukes on the other. The one aim

and object of the pro-consuls was to extract, by any means in their power, during their precarious tenure