The British Occupation 97
personality. Tewfik, both from personality and from
policy, preferred keeping in the background and moving
by the backstairs. It would, indeed, take a book by itself
to trace the tortuosities of Tewfik ; for his procedure was
that of the Oriental when oppressed—to truckle to the
most powerful and betray them to the next most power-
ful. Tewfik was, in fact, a type of that feminine tem-
perament that is especially Egyptian—a temperament
that is best ruled through its admiration for the forcible
and through its aspiration for their favours. By his
forcible foreign advisers he was accepted as a correct
and conscientious partner. In his private life and public
duties he was unexceptionable. He deceived everyone,
did nothing, and died Khedive.
As for the Sultan, Abdul Hamid, he, too, was accepted
at that time as a correct and constitutional reformer, a
reputation which he considerably outlived. If Tewfik had
the cleverness of a hunted hare, Abdul had the cunning
but also the cowardice of a hunting fox. Greedy to get
his teeth into the fat revenues of Egypt, he feared to
swallow a poisoned bait or to get chopped in the pack of
the Powers. He had the help of the leading c< Turks "
in Egypt, which included the Pashas and general officers ;
but he had the hatred of the Arabs, Nubians, and Copts,
and of the army regimental officers, with the rank
and file. Moreover, the modernised minority of the
" Turkish" ruling class, including all the non-Turkish
elements, were already organised in a Nationalist Con-
stitutionalist Party that looked on all Turks' as their
enemies.
The Powers, by deferring the deposition of Ismail to
the Sultan, had given him an opportunity of reasserting
his authority, of which he did not fail to avail himself.-
His attempt to repeal the firman of 1873 was opposed
7