THE ARABI MUTINY. 257 to disappointment Riaz Pasha, General Stone — an officer of distinction in the Confederate army during the Secession War, who had been appointed by Ismail the Commander-in-Chief of the Egyptian army, — and the British Controller, urged the Khedive to resistance. He had, however, at that time no troops I on whom he could rely ; and he finally yielded to the demand of the mutineers and agreed to appoint Mahmoud Sami Minister of War. The troops thereupon returned to their barracks. The emeute ended with one of those comic incidents which occur so frequently in all Oriental politics. It so happened that the bands of the insurgent regiments had a private engagement to play on the afternoon of the rising at the Esbekieh gardens, and informed their officers that they could not afford to lose the money, and that at five o'clock, emeute or no emeute, they must be at the orchestra in front of the New Continental hotel.

If the bands were to go, it was by no means certain the troops would not follow. Possibly, if the Khedive had known this, he might have held out till the evening. As it was, he gave way just in time to enable the band to keep its engagementy and thus the situation was saved.