e on the part of their Egyptian
colleagues, and Lord Granville was obliged to declare very plainly that
such resistance could not be tolerated. Writing (January 1884) to Sir
Evelyn Baring, he said:

"It should be made clear to the Egyptian Ministers and Governors of
Provinces that the responsibility which for the time rests on England
obliges H.M. Government to insist on the adoption of the policy which
they recommend; and that it will be necessary that those Ministers and
Governors who do not follow this course should cease to hold their
offices."

Relations between British and native officials.

Nubar Pasha, who continued to be prime minister, resisted occasionally.
What he chiefly objected to was direct interference in the provincial
administration and the native tribunals, and he succeeded for a time in
preventing such interference. Sir Benson Maxwell and Mr Clifford Lloyd,
who had been sent out to reform the departments of justice and the
interior, after coming into conflict with each other were both recalled,
and the reforming activity was for a time restricted to the departments
of war, public works and finance. Gradually the tension between natives
and foreigners relaxed, and mutual confidence was established.
Experience had evolved the working principle which was officially
formulated at a much later period: "Our task is not to rule the
Egyptians, but as far as possible to teach the Egyptians to rule
themselves.... European initiative suggests measures to be executed by
Egyptian agency, while European supervision controls the manner in which
they are executed." If that principle had been firmly laid down and
clearly understood at the beginning, a good deal of needless friction
would have been avoided.

International problems.

The international difficulty remained. The British position in Egypt was
anomalous, and might easily give rise to international complications.
The sultan might well protest against the military occupation of a
portion of his empire by foreign troops. It was no secret that France
was ready to give him diplomatic support, and other powers might adopt a
similar attitude. Besides this, the British government was anxious to
terminate the occupation as soon as possible. With a view to
regularizing the situation and accelerating the evacuation, Sir Henry
Drummond Wolff was sent to Constantinople in August 1885 on a special
mission. On the 24th of October of that year he