A RETROSPECT. 527 presence in Cairo is the bottom fact of the Egyptian situation.

For the present, therefore, our path in Egypt is clear. We have got to remain there in defence of our Imperial interests, and, having to remain there, we are bound to do our best for the interests of Egypt. It might perhaps have been better if Nubar s ideas had been adopted to some extent, and if the administration had been carried out by native officials, under British supervision and control, rather than, as at present, by British officials, with the aid of native subordinates. It is obvious, however, that in the former case, the reform of the whole administrative system would have been much slower than it has been under the latter. To set crooked things straight and make rough places smooth is the instinct of all British officials in dealing with Oriental races; and even if our officials had been instructed to efface themselves in the work of Egyptian reconstruction, they would have experienced the greatest difficulty in carrying out these instructions in practice. Anyhow, it is too late now for any fundamental change in the relations between the British and Egyptian officials under the British occupation. I am, as my readers may have discovered, no very sanguine believer in the progress of humanity in general, or of Oriental humanity in particular. All I, or anybody, can say for certain is that in Egypt England must go on sowing her seed upon the waters, with the hope that it may turn up