150 Egypt
him off in the water. There is no doubt that the stream
of difficulties with which *the British had to struggle
was formidable. But the difficulties consisted chiefly in
barriers which they themselves had built higher and in
burdens which they themselves had bound more tightly
upon Egypt.
For example, the status and structure of the new
Anglo-Egyptian State had been laid down on general
lines by Lord Dufferin before Lord Cromer arrived and
reconstruction began. Lord Dufferin was an experienced
and excellent diplomat dealing with a diplomatic problem
of exceptional difficulty. He extracted with great skill
the least common multiple from the various factors and
evolved with no less skill lines of least resistance. With
an insight far beyond that of the British proconsuls
succeeding him, and still farther beyond that of the bulk
of his profession, he saw that the real driving force with
which British reformers had to work was that of
Egyptian nationalism. And in so far as the settlement
outlined in his brilliantly sketched scheme was not diplo-
matic, it was democratic. No doubt the democratic basis
was diplomatically concealed, but it was none the less
fundamental. Thus the Organic Law (May i, 1883),
which embodied the Dufferin scheme, established (a) a
Legislative Council of thirty members, of whom fourteen
were nominated by the Egyptian Government—that is,
by its English advisers—while of the remainder, fourteen
were elected by the Provincial Councils, and the remain-
ing two by Cairo and Alexandria. This Council could
only discuss and recommend, and it could not discuss
financial charges based on international arrangements.
The scheme also provided (b) a Legislative Assembly
consisting of the Council, the six Ministers, and forty-
two directly elected delegates. No new direct tax might