THE ACCESSION OF ABBAS II. 461 Egypt It is very difficult for all of us to realize the fact that young people, whom we knew till only a short time ago as children, have become grown-up men and women ; and I suspect our authorities made the mistake of treating his Highness, even after he had come to the throne, as a lad too young to be consulted on matters of importance. A little more consideration in the early days of the Khedive's reign might, I fancy, have prevented the occurrence of untoward incidents, which, though they resulted in failure, in as far as their anti- British purpose was concerned, had for some time afterwards an unfortunate effect upon the relations between the Khedive and his British advisers.

Towards the close of the year in which Abbas became Khedive, Mustapha Pasha Fehmi, who had been Prime Minister under Tewfik Pasha, fell ill, and was supposed to be dying. It got noised abroad that, in the event of the Premiership becoming vacant, his Highness intended to confer the post on Tigrane Pasha, who had been for some time in close and intimate relations with the Vice-regal Court. To Tigrane, personally, no possible objection could have been raised.

He was known as a rising politician in a country where political ability is extremely rare. Owing to the influence of his father-in-law, Nubar Pasha, he had already filled several subordinate Ministerial posts, and had discharged his duties with credit. He was an Armenian, who claimed to be descended from one of the historic royal families of Armenia; he was