512 THE STORY OF THE KHEDIVATE.

by all the members of the corps diplomatique and by an immense concourse of people. It is not often in Egypt that such honours are paid to the memory of a deceased statesman unable, ex hypothesis to make any return for the respect displayed to the dead. I had sometimes thought that Nubar was prone to over-estimate the affection borne him by the native population of Egypt for the services he had rendered to the country. But the unmistakably genuine manifestation of popular sorrow at his death convinced me he was so far right in his estimate as to prove that the natives recognized their indebtedness to him for the introduction of law and justice, for the restrictions placed upon the licence of despotic rule, and, above all, for the abolition of forced labour.

During Nubar s lifetime, one of the charges brought against him by his opponents was that he had amassed enormous wealth during his tenure of office.

On his death, his will was proved under ; 150,00a Before the British occupation official salaries in Egypt were small in amount, but were made up by gifts from the Sovereign for special services. This system still prevails in all countries under Oriental rule. Such a mode of payment is not in accordance with our ideas, and has many manifest defects. But it would be absurd to blame Nubar, or, for that matter, any Minister in an Oriental country, if his conception of Ministerial duty does not altogether accord with our British notions. Nubar never made any secret of the fact that the bulk of his fortune was derived from