-r-64 THE STORY OF THE KHEDIVATE.

(depriving his relatives of any motive for desiring / the premature ending of his life could not fail to be present to his mind.

tjif ( Moover, apart from any personal apprehensions, "J *' coniiiderations of State militated strongly in favour t-A--'-i. of getting the questions of the succession formally lEuii guaranteed to his eldest son. The Treaty of 1841 " declared that the succession to the Pashaship of Egypt /* (J was hereditary in the family of Mahomet Ali. It was, "/ V r hver, open to question how far the Sultan, whose confirmation is necessary to validate the appointment of a new Khedive, was bound to adhere rigidly to the Mahometan law of succession. In the event of any private personage being manifestly incapacitated by age, ill health, or incapacity from assuming the headship of his family, the Mahometan tribunals have the power to pass him over, even though he may be the oldest surviving relative, in favour of some younger kinsman more competent to discharge the duties of the post. The Sultan might, not inconceivably, claim a similar privilege in nominating the heir to the Vice-regal throne. There could be no appeal from his decision, as the Commander of the Faith, and thus it was always on the cards that, on the death of the reigning Viceroy, the Sultan might select, on one plea or another, any near kinsman of the deceased Khedive, without openly violating the conditions of the treaty in virtue of which the hereditary character of the Mahomet Ali dynasty was formally guaranteed. The abandonment of this right of selection by the Porte