THE NORTHBROOK MISSION. 405 This Opinion was all the more strongly entertained owing to the fact that our Government did obtain certain advantages on this occasion for the British shipowners, and notably the addition to the board of the Company of a considerable number of British directors. But, in respect of the Suez Canal Company, it is always Egypt which has had to pay the piper. .

Of all the incidents in the relations between England and Egypt, to my mind, the least creditable, not, indeed, to our Envoy personally, but to the Government, was the recommendation in virtue of which Egypt was advised by Lord Northbrook to take up an illegal position, and was then left in the lurch to bear the consequence of having followed our advice. A curious comment upon the vacillation of our national policy in respect of Egypt is afforded by the fact that almost at the same time, when we repudiated any responsibility towards Egypt for having followed the advice given her by our Envoy, Lord Wolseley, as Commander-in-Chief of the British army of occupation, had caused Zobehr Pasha to be deported to Gibraltar. The municipal council of the British fortress was instructed to pass an order confining him as a State prisoner at a house on the Punta d'Europa road, on the ground that his detention was demanded by the interests of the British Empire in respect of Egypt ; and for many years Zobehr remained imprisoned at Gibraltar.