g him into the
Serbonian bog of Egyptian finance. Nor need I describe either the
protracted conference of the European Powers, or the mission of Lord
Northbrook. To this able colleague, Mr. Gladstone wrote on the eve of his
departure (Aug. 29, 1884):--

I cannot let you quit our shores without a word of valediction.
Your colleagues are too deeply interested to be impartial judges
of your mission. But they certainly cannot be mistaken in their
appreciation of the generosity and courage which could alone have
induced you to undertake it. Our task in Egypt generally may not
unfairly be called an impossible task, and with the impossible no
man can successfully contend. But we are well satisfied that
whatever is possible, you will achieve; whatever judgment,
experience, firmness, gentleness can do, will be done. Our
expectations from the nature of the case must be moderate; but be
assured, they will not be the measure of our gratitude. All good
go with you.

Lord Northbrook's report when in due time it came, engaged the prime
minister's anxious consideration, but it could not be carried further.
What the Powers might agree to, parliament would not look at. The
situation was one of the utmost delicacy and danger, as anybody who is
aware of the diplomatic embarrassments of it knows. An agreement with
France about the Suez Canal came to nothing. A conference upon finance
came to nothing. Bismarck was out of humour with England, partly from his
dislike of certain exalted English personages and influences at his own
court, partly because it suited him that France and England should be bad
friends, partly because, as he complained, whenever he tried to found a
colony, we closed in upon him. He preached a sermon on _do ut des_, and
while scouting the idea of any real differences with this country, he
hinted that if we could not accommodate him in colonial questions, he
might not find it in his power to accommodate us in European questions.
Mr. Gladstone declared for treating every German claim in an equitable
spirit, but said we had our own colonial communities to consider.

In March 1885, after negotiations that threatened to be endless, the
London Convention was signed and the riddle of the financial sphinx was
solved. This made possible the coming years of beneficent reform. The
wonder is, says a competent observer, how in view of the indifference of
most of the Powers to th