294 THE STORY OF THE KHEDIVATE.

I have no wish to defend the statesmanship or the foresight of the British policy of this era ; all I wish to show is that England is not open to the charge so persistently brought against her by our foreign critics, of having intrigued, of set purpose and forethought, to bring about a state of things which might enable her to obtain a footing in Egypt. The facts speak for themselves. After France had declined to join in the bombardment, she proposed a Conference, and Lord Granville accepted the proposal on the spot. When the Conference, at which all the Great European Powers were represented, assembled at Constantinople on the 23rd of June, Lord DuflFerin, acting on instructions he had received from home, induced the Powers to sign a protocol, binding them severally and jointly — " not to seek in any arrangement which might be made in consequence of the concerted action for the regulation of the affairs of Egypt, any territorial advantage, nor any concession of any exclusive privilege, nor any commercial advantages other than those which any other nation might equally obtain."

In the name of common sense, is it conceivable that a Power which contemplated making itself the master of Egypt, should have tied its own hands beforehand ? The obvious explanation of the protocol, as proposed by England, is that Mr. Gladstone and his colleagues were anxious to preclude, in as far as they could, the possibility of occupation developing into annexation ; and this explanation, though it may