From a Photograph] [By F. Frith & Co., Reigate.
OSBORNE HOUSE.
Built by Her Majesty in 1840, largely from designs by H.R.H. The Prince Consort. It is surrounded by a park of about 2,000 acres. The Queen’s apartments are in the wing to the right of the picture.
[CHAPTER XV.]
1879–1881.
The Condition of Egypt—Mr. Goschen’s Commission—Ismail’s Coup d’état—His Deposition by the Sultan—Establishment of the Dual Control—The First Midlothian Campaign—Commercial and Agricultural Depression—Sudden Dissolution of Parliament—Lord Derby joins the Liberals—Second Midlothian Campaign—Great Liberal Victory—Mr. Gladstone’s Second Administration—Charles Stuart Parnell and the Irish Home Rule Party—War with Afghanistan—Battle of Maiwand—General Roberts’s March—Defeat of Ayub Khan and Evacuation of Cabul and Candahar—Revolt of the Transvaal—Battles of Laing’s Nek and Majuba Hill—Establishment of the Boer Republic—Weakness of the Conservative Opposition—The Fourth Party—Irish Affairs—Boycotting—A New Coercion Bill—The Irish Land Bill—Resignation of the Duke of Argyll—Death of Lord Beaconsfield—Military Revolt in Egypt—Bombardment of Alexandria—Expedition against Arabi—Battles of Kassassin and Tel-el-Kebir—Overthrow of Arabi.
THE position and condition of Egypt had grown to be a matter of anxiety to the Powers of Western Europe, owing to events which it is only possible to recapitulate here in the briefest terms. |The Condition of Egypt.| Ruled by the Khedive as an autonomous State, Egypt was also technically a province of the Ottoman Empire and paid an annual tribute of £695,792 to the Sultan of Turkey. But the creation of the Suez Canal, the investment of European capital therein, and the importance to maritime nations of that highway, rendered the good government of Egypt a subject of international concern. The Khedive, Ismail Pasha, actuated, no doubt, in part, by a resolve to develop the resources of his country, but also by aims of personal indulgence and aggrandisement, had launched into schemes of such scale and cost that the Egyptian Treasury was virtually bankrupt in 1877. A Commission of Inquiry, presided over by Mr. Goschen, resulted in the appointment of Mr. Rivers Wilson and M. de Blignières, representing Great Britain and France respectively, as Members of the Khedive’s Cabinet. The plan failed to work smoothly; the Khedive became leader of the Opposition to his own Government, and in February 1879 he was compelled to submit to conditions imposed by the Cabinets of Great Britain and France, excluding him from Cabinet Councils, appointing his son Tewfik President of the Council, and vesting in the English and French Ministers absolute power of veto upon all measures. Ismail Pasha accepted these conditions, but on April 7 he suddenly dismissed the Cabinet and appointed one entirely composed of natives of Egypt. On June 26, in consequence of representations from the Governments of Germany, Austria, Great Britain, France, and Russia, the Sultan deposed Ismail and created his son Tewfik Khedive in his place. A new scheme of government was adopted, whereby Tewfik appointed his own Cabinet, and the dual control of Great Britain and France was established by the appointment of two Controllers, Mr. Baring (now Lord Revelstoke) and M. de Blignières, with full powers to regulate expenditure, with seats in the Cabinet, not removable except by their own Governments, and with power to appoint and dismiss all subordinate officials. By the close of 1879 the credit of Egypt, which had been apparently hopelessly shattered by Ismail’s decree in May 1876, suspending payment and unifying the general debt, was restored by the liquidation of all debts due by the State.
H. M. Sinclair.] [From the Royal Collection.
OLD OSBORNE HOUSE (1833).