Mr. Lowe made a savagely clever speech against the whole
policy of the Government in Egypt, which, he said, began with 44 intrusion," for the Khedive did not want Mr. Cave ; continued with "inquisition," Mr. Cave overhauling everything ; and ended with "suppression," the result of all this labour being suppressed, to the destruction of the Khedive's credit. Sir Stafford Northcote made an elaborate defence, the purport of which was that after the purchase of the Suez-Canal Shares it became important to understand how the Khedive really stood ; while as to the sup- pression of the Report, that was the result of an objection from the Khedive ; but the whole debate was very unreal. No one ventured to say what, with the Times, we believe to have been the truth,—that Mr. Disraeli had originally a large plan, of which Mr. Cave's Mission formed part ; that he was opposed by other members of his Government, who thought his plan too big ; that he gradually yielded, and that the measures taken, having no end, seemed to the external world failures. They were failures, not because they were bad, but because their object, the pro- tectorate of Egypt, was postponed.
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