A Chamber of Notables met in the closing days of 1881, and awakened great hopes, not only in Egypt, but among all who saw hope in the feeling of nationality and in a genuine wish for reform among a Moslem people.  What would have happened had the Notables been free to work out the future of Egypt, it is impossible to say.  The fate of the Young Turkish party and of Midhat’s constitution of December 1877 formed by no means a hopeful augury.  In the abstract there is much to be said for the two chief demands of the Notables—­that the Khedive’s Ministers should be responsible to the people’s representatives, and that the Dual Control of Great Britain and France should be limited to the control of the revenues set apart for the purposes of the Egyptian public debt.  The petitioners, however, ignored the fact that democracy could scarcely be expected to work successfully in a land where not one man in a hundred had the least notion what it meant, and, further, that the Western Powers would not give up their coign of vantage at the bidding of Notables who really represented little more than the dominant military party.  Besides, the acts of this party stamped it as oriental even while it masqueraded in the garb of western democracy.  Having grasped the reins of government, the fellahin colonels proceeded to relegate their Turkish and Circassian rivals to service at Khartum—­an ingenious form of banishment.  Against this and other despotic acts the representatives of Great Britain and France energetically protested, and, seeing that the Khedive was helpless, they brought up ships of war to make a demonstration against the de facto governors of Egypt.

It should be noted that these steps were taken by the Gladstone and Gambetta Cabinets, which were not likely to intervene against a genuinely democratic movement merely in the interests of British and French bondholders.  On January 7, 1882, the two Cabinets sent a Joint Note to the Khedive assuring him of their support and of their desire to remove all grievances, external and internal alike, that threatened the existing order[362].

[Footnote 362:  For Gambetta’s despatches see de Freycinet, op. cit. pp. 209 et seq.]

While, however, the Western Powers sided with the Khedive, the other European States, including Turkey, began to show signs of impatience and annoyance at any intervention on their part.  Russia saw the chance of revenge on England for the events of 1878, and Bismarck sought to gain the favour of the Sultan.  As for that potentate, his conduct was as tortuous as usual.  From the outset he gave secret support to Arabi’s party, probably with the view of undermining the Dual Control and the Khedive’s dynasty alike.  He doubtless saw that Turkish interests might ultimately be furthered even by the men who had imprisoned or disgraced Turkish officers and Ministers.