470 THE STORY OF THE KHEDIVATE.

only public incident of general interest in Nubars short-lived Ministry, which from its inception contained no element of permanence, was the death of Ismail Pasha at Constantinople, where, as I have previously stated, he had been virtually a State prisoner for many years. It has never been intelligible to me, or to any one not acquainted with what I may call the palace politics of the Ottoman Empire, why the Sultan should have attached such great importance to the enforced sojourn of the ex- Khedive on the banks of the Bosphorus. It may be that his Majesty thought circumstances might arise which would make it his interest to have Ismail replaced on the throne of Egypt ; and I have reason to believe that this supposition was entertained by both Tewfik and Abbas 11. It may be .that the Sultan was afraid that if Ismail were free, his restless energy and his intense desire to return to Egypt might induce him to ally himself with the revolutionary party in Turkey. To my mind, however, the most probable explanation is that so long as the Sultan held Ismail within his power, he was able to obtain money from him by dazzling before his eyes the prospect of Turkish influence being exerted on his behalf, so as to secure his return to Egypt. Whatever may be the true explanation of Ismail's detention at Constantinople, it is certain that his death removed a disturbing element in Egyptian politics. His corpse was removed to Cairo, and was buried with all due pomp and pageantr}' in the city he had done so much to beautify. The