94 Egypt
the British Government, of how he went to Rothschilds
and frightened them with the possible loss of their loan,
half of which they still held, and of how Rothschilds, fail-
ing to move the British and French Governments,
appealed to Bismarck. Whatever his reasons may have
been, Bismarck suddenly produced a declaration accusing
Ismail of "an open and direct violation of an international
engagement." This forced Great Britain and France to
take action in order to recover their position. So they
took the plunge and called on Ismail to abdicate (June
19, .1879).
Had Ismail been a man of courage he might yet have
saved himself from exile and Egypt from foreign occupa-
tion. For the Sultan, through whom alone the Powers
could act, was very reluctant to intervene against a
Moslem ruler at the instigation of two Christian States,
both of which were at that time at war with the Faithful.
The Sultan would therefore have stood aside had the
Khedive showed fight. And Ismail did issue a decree
calling for a hundred and fifty thousand men (June 25).
But no one believed in his campaign any more than they
had believed in his Constitution. Sir F. Lascelles had
written (April 26) : "The discontent in the army has
given rise to a feeling of hostility towards the Khedive
... as being responsible for the disastrous condition of
the country/* Every one knew that Ismail had fled to
Italy from the Asiatic cholera in 1865, and that he was
now getting ready to fly there again from the European
consolos. When the Sultan deposed him (June 26)
his last hold on Egypt was taken away. For he was a
Turk who had ruled Egypt through Turks, and who had
ruined it a la Turca.
When Ismail embarked on his costly yacht (June 30)
with a cargo of crown jewels and other public property,