( / ( .

V r 54 THE STORY OF THE KHEDIVATE.

upon in principle by the British Government, and that Its proclamation was a mere question of time. If such views were held in England, it was natural enough they should be entertained in Egypt, The valley of the Nile, it was believed, was in future to supply the looms of Lancashire with the staple of their trade. So long as the boom lasted, every owner of cotton land was earning profits unheard \ of hitherto. The area of cotton cultivation was \ increased in all parts of the countr)\ Fortunes were \ made rapidly and spent recklessly ; yet there was some show of reason for the prevalent belief that the resources of Egypt were practically inexhaustible.

Nowhere was this belief stronger than amidst Ismail's J own entourage ; and he was therefore not unnaturally encouraged in the delusion that he could contract any liabilities he liked without fear of encountering \ any difficulty in meeting these liabilities at maturity.

' The delusion was further strengthened by a vague idea that the Suez Canal would add indirectly to the prosperity of Egypt, an idea whose unsoundness was / demonstrated as soon as M. de Lesseps had carried .' out his grand enterprise. The collapse of the cotton y boom, after the downfall of the Confederate Government, when the price of cotton fell within a few weeks or days to its old scale of prices, was the first of the mishaps which suggested a doubt as to the inexhaustibility of the borrowing powers of Egypt, provided, or supposed to be provided, by the readiness of European capitalists to pour money into the coffers