110 Egypt
Arabi then continues : '' You ask me was he sincere ?
He never was sincere." Arabi's account of the scene is
characteristic : *' The Khedive called on me to dis-
mount, and I dismounted. He called on me to put up
my sword, and I put up my sword. But my friends the
officers then came up to prevent treachery, and some
got between him and the Palace. And when I had made
my three demands to the Khedive, he said : ' I am
Khedive, and my will is law.' I replied: * We are no
slaves, and cannot be willed away.' He said no more,
but went into the Palace." Probably this repartee was
not according to programme. But all ended well. "The
same evening the Khedive sent for me, and I went to
the Ismailia Palace and thanked him for agreeing to our
requests. But he said only : £ That is enough. Go now
and garrison Abdin Palace. But don't let the band
play/ " But no one could stop the band playing when
it became known that the Khedive had convoked the
Chamber of Notables, and had recalled Sherif ((el
Franzawi" to prepare a Constitution. There ensued
such a joy-feast and general fraternisation, as has always
celebrated the birth of a free nation. Feuds and factions
for the moment disappeared. Sherif took office to
oblige the Controllers and Colvin. The Notables joined
with the army in supporting the new Ministry. The
Colonels promised to be constitutional — having first
secured Mahmoud Sami as Minister of War and an
increase of the army to eighteen thousand. Egypt
seemed to have entered a new era.
This Sherif Ministry (September 14, 1881) offered
one more opportunity for a concordat between the
European control and constitutional Egypt. The oppor-
tunity was lost for two reasons. The Khedive by his
treachery forced Arabi and the army to further action,