66 THE STORY OF THE KHEDIVATE.

instigation of Egypt, supported by the then paramount diplomatic influence of England at Stamboul that the Porte declared various privileges of the Company, granted by the original concession, to be incompatible with the suzerainty of the Sultan. Again, the purse-strings of the Egyptian Treasury, which was only another name for the coffers of the Khedive, had to be drawn upon to an amount the extent of which has never been ascertained, and is now never likely to be ascertained. This much, however, is certain, that if you want anything done by the Ottoman Government, whether the service you require is one viewed with favour or disfavour by the ruling powers, you can only attain your object in one of two ways. The first is by force ; the second is by interesting everybody, through whose hands your application passes, in your success, or, in plainer words, by paying for their support Egypt was unable to employ the first of these methods, and had, therefore, of necessity, to resort to the second. / Thus, in order to consolidate his own position in / Egypt, and to liberate himself from the most onerous i I of the CQnditiQns imposed upon the country in conse-, ,t f quence of the ill-advised concession accorded to the V Suez Canal Company by his predecessor, Ismail at the c) \ very outset of his reign had to provide for a variety 1 of exceptional payments, too large in amount to be met / out of the normal revenue of Egypt. To meet his re-( quirement, he was compelled to borrow ; and, unfortu-V nately for Egypt and for himself, borrowing was found 1 •'■* - ir t . « .:.; :"■(..•.