[232] See [Appendix 9].
[233] See [Map No. 8].
[234] Cromer’s ‘Modern Egypt,’ vol. i. pp. 91, 92.
[235] The figures quoted are all in British currency.
[236] The British Government in 1875 suddenly bought up four millions’ worth of Suez Canal shares, owned by the Khedive, which he was about to put upon the market. This stroke of policy made England a large shareholder in the Canal Company, and therefore gave her an important position in the commercial management of its affairs.
[237] About 90,000 Europeans, chiefly English and French, carried on business in Egypt at this time.
[238] Lord Cromer’s ‘Modern Egypt,’ vol. i., gives an excellent account of the European diplomacy of this period.
[239] A quaint report by an Egyptian officer in charge of a battery “complained of the very improper conduct of the English fleet in that, whilst his men were at work on the battery at night, suddenly a blaze of electric light was thrown upon them, so that what they were doing could be seen as if it were day—a proceeding which, as the officer avers, was distinctly discourteous on the part of the English.”—Maurice, ‘Military History of the Campaign of 1882 in Egypt.’
[240] Reinforcements of many thousands more were on their way to Egypt when the collapse of Arabi’s rebellion rendered their presence at the front unnecessary.
[241] Maurice, p. 41.