504 THE STORY OF THE KHEDIVATE.

civilian element, of which the most autocratic of rulers must take account. Foreign States, and France especially, will demand the appointment of Consular representatives throughout the Soudan ; and the demand is too reasonable to be resisted much longer. The International courts also contend that their jurisdiction extends to the Soudan, as having been formerly, and being now once more, part and parcel of Egyptian territory. One of the chief supposed merits of the " Condominium " is the support it gives to the Anglo-Egyptian contention that the authority of these tribunals is confined to Egypt proper; but this contention is disputed by the courts in question, and it is not clear whether it is sustainable in law. Then, again, the irrepressible missionary controversy is calculated to hamper the action of the "Condominium" as soon as the exclusion of missionaries from the Soudan can no longer be justified by military exigencies.

Meanwhile, it should be acknowledged that the relations between the British and the Egyptian Governments have remained exceptionally harmonious since the re-conquest of the Soudan. In Egyptian opinion, the bare fact of the Soudan being in the hands of a hostile Government constituted a permanent source of danger to the marvellous river on which Egypt, literally, as well as metaphorically, depends for her existence. This danger has now been removed by the assistance of England; and its recurrence is obviously impossible, so long as England remains in occupation of the valley of the