The death of the late Khedive of Egypt has created
less embarrassment than was expected. The Sultan, it is believed, hesitated for a moment, and thought of sending a Special Com- missioner to Egypt ; and as the death of Sir W. White had left a vacancy at the British Embassy, complications might have occurred. The German Ambassador, however, represented that Europe desired an absence of disturbance, and the Sultan telegraphed to Cairo his full recognition of Abbas II. as Khedive. The Prince himself, who is eighteen by Mussnlman computation, counting by lunar months, hurried from Vienna, after an interview with the Emperor, to Trieste, and sailed thence direct for Alexandria, where he was expected on Friday. He will be installed to-day in Cairo, under the visible protec- tion of British troops. He left Trieste just in time to avoid, or say he had avoided, a telegram from the Sultan ordering him to Constantinople to receive investiture there, an order it would have been impossible to obey, and most difficult to evade. It is said that a plot was laid to seize him in Trieste, and carry him on a Turkish vessel to Constantinople; but this is rejected as savouring of the Middle Ages. We are not so sure. Prince Alexander was not kidnapped in the Middle Ages, and there are desperate men in Constantinople, possessed of large means, who are much interested in this succession.
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