A RETROSPECT. 515 took every means in her power to render this intervention of a temporary character, and honestly believed that her occupation would soon be brought to a close. That this should have been so, is not perhaps creditable to the political intelligence and foresight of British statesmanship ; but it is creditable to British honesty and loyalty. Both parties in the State, Conservatives equally with Liberals, were adverse to the idea of any permanent annexation.

If England is now dominant in Egypt, this is mainly due to the construction of the Suez Canal ; to the extravagance of Ismail Pasha, which necessitated financial intervention on the part of Europe ; to the Arabi insurrection, which rendered military intervention indispensable ; to the refusal of France to take part in the duty of suppressing the mutiny, or to co-operate with England in the restoration of order; and to the insuperable difficulties' "of the task we had undertaken, that of reconstructing and reorganizing the institutions of Egypt, in such a manner as to render her competent to protect herself, both at home and abroad, without our assistance. The plain truth is, that England has in Egypt drifted, step by step, into a position almost identical with annexation.

I am, however, inclined to think that even if Ismail Pasha and Arabi had never existed, Egypt could not have retained her independence indefinitely.

During the century just ended, Europe has actually seized, or has contemplated seizing, every portion of