464 THE STORY OF TH£ KHEDIVATE.

Alexandria, and his Highness was thereby encouraged in the belief that France was prepared to support him in his attempt to free himself from the tutelage under which he was placed by the Power whose armies occupied his country. Shordy after his Highness had been refused permission to nominate his own Ministers without the approval of the British Government, he made a tour in Upper Egypt, and proceeded to Wady Haifa, the then frontier post of Egyptian territory. A review of the garrison, commanded by the Sirdar, General Kitchener, was held in his honour, and after the review was over, his Highness took occasion to express his dissatisfaction at the way in which the military manoeuvres had been performed. What were the exact words of censure used by Abbas Pasha, has always been matter of dispute. There can, however, be no doubt that General Kitchener and his British brother officers considered at the time that his Highness intended to express his dissatisfaction with the state of the Egyptian forces under British command. To show his sense of the slight thus passed upon his troops, the Sirdar sent in his resignation on the spot. The Sirdar s interpretation of the Khedive's words was, I believe, substantially correct. Abbas II. was not unnaturally anxious to show Egypt and the outside world that, however his powers might be circumscribed by the British occupation, he was still master of his own army. It is intelligible enough, that being young, inexperienced, and surrounded by