4IO THE STORY OF THE KHEDIVATE.

of England's foreign policy, especially in regard to the Eastern Question. He was therefore naturally predisposed to favour the idea of securing the active support of Turkey, and, by so doing, to enable England to withdraw her troops from Egypt Amongst Lord Randolph's political and personal friends was Sir Henrj-Drummond Wolff, a man with very extensive knowledge of Eastern affairs and Oriental countries. It was mainly from him that the then Secretary of State for India derived his views about our policy in the East. Sir Henry suggested the advisability of sending a special Envoy to Constantinople to negotiate a Convention with Turkey, in virtue of which order was to be maintained in Egypt by Turkish troops, in case disturbances should ensue upon the withdrawal of our army. Lord Randolph adopted the suggestion as his own, and exerted his great influence with his colleagues to get the author of the project appointed to conduct the negotiations at Constantinople.

f The preliminary stage of the negotiation was comparatively easy. The Sultan and the Porte were alike well disposed towards the notion of sending troops to Egypt, provided their expenses were guaranteed. If once Turkish authority was re-established in the Nile valley, there would obviously be great difficulty in upsetting that authority, and stilL greater difficulty in hindering the Turkish officials from making a profit out of their sojourn in th country. Sir H. Drummond Wolff succeeded ir