430 . THE STORY OF THE KHEDIVATE.

officers treat and drill them, they will never become soldiers. It is not in their nature." I am bound to add that the opinions expressed by his Highness were those of the great majority of his subjects. The only persons who believed in the reorganization of the Egyptian army under British control were the British officers, by whom the control was exercised. Their first step towards reform was to place all important posts in the military administration in their own hands. By so doing, they removed to a great extent the oppression and corruption under which the rank and file had hitherto suffered. They rendered the lot of the private soldier comparatively enviable, and did a great deal to reconcile the fellahs to compulsory service. In this way they succeeded in creating an army which, to say the least, has been able, when commanded by British officers, to hold its own in action. Whether this army could stand the same test under native officers, is a question for the future to decide. Between the British and the native officers there stand, not only the differences of rank and pay, but the still more insuperable differences of race, religion, and language, and, Save in a very few exceptional instances, there are no intimate social relations between the former and the latter.

The second and most successful of the reforms initiated at this period was the reconstruction of the Treasury. Sir Evelyn Baring, who, from the time of his return to Egypt as Consul-General and Minister Plenipotentiary, took the lead in all questions J