The Birth of Modern Egypt 59
House, subject to ratification by Constantinople, and
fixed the Egyptian tribute. But the army was limited to
eighteen thousand men, the superior ranks being reserved
for the Turkish ruling class by requiring the Sultan's
approval of such appointments. The first secured Egypt
its economic independence, the second subordinated it
politically. The Porte had had to accept Egyptian
autonomy, but cleverly exploiting British hostility to
Mehemet Ali, it retained the right of intervening in Egypt.
What was worse, this restriction checked the growth of
an Egyptian democracy. For the first stage of democratic
development from an Oriental despotism, whether of
Padishah or of Pasha, must be the army. The British
and their allies, the Turks, had thus seriously stunted
the growth of the Egyptian nation. And these restrictions
will appear again as one of the principal causes of col-
lision with Egyptian nationalism under Arabi.
It is often assumed by historians that the career
of Mehemet Ali closed with this diplomatic dissolution
of his imperial schemes, and that he died eight years
later under the shadow of this defeat. This is, however,
an English rather than an Egyptian estimate of the
settlement. When we read the negotiations that led up
to it, and realise that Palmerston was using the whole
power of the British Empire, and that the Porte was
trying, in turn, every device of its imperial diplomacy, for
the deposition of the Egyptian dynasty and the destruc-
tion of Egyptian independence, we have to recognise that
Mehemet Ali, in securing the permanent establishment
of both with an international guarantee, got very good
value for Egypt in return for the surrender of conquests
far too costly to retain. As to -the restrictions referred
to, the army had done its work for the time and he could
not be expected to see in it a political importance that