2 
6] 
THE REOCCUPATION OF NORTHERN AFRICA 377 
form of government offered more immediate and certain 
prospects of success. The Gladstone cabinet would never 
have consented in any event; and it was opposed to his own 
desire not to hold the Egyptian people “in any irritating 
tutelage.” He preferred rather that they “should lead 
their own lives and administer their own government unim- 
peded by any external anxieties and preoccupations.” To 
secure stab.lity and efficiency in the systems, while preserv- 
ing all outward control in the hands of the Egyptian officials, 
Lord Dufferin, therefore, provided European advisers in 
every branch of the administration, but left all the public 
positions to be filled by Egyptians. The position of these 
advisers was extra-legal and they were subject to the con- 
trol of, and in close touch with, the British Consul-General 
at Cairo; but the scheme has worked admirably for many 
years. Their duty was to furnish “sympathetic advice and 
assistance”; and, in the words of Lord Dufferin some years 
later, the reformation of Egypt was accomplished “not by 
what we did, but by what we did not do.” 
The author of the “Institutions” was firmly convinced 
that time was essential to the proper development of his 
system, that the people should be afforded every chance to 
learn the elements of self-government, and that Great 
Britain ought to remain in the country until the new régime 
was on its feet and the people able to take care of themselves. 
He was undoubtedly right. “Unless they [the Egyptians] 
are convinced that we intend to shield and foster the system 
we have established, it will be in vain to expect the timid 
politicians of the East to identify themselves with its 
existence. But even this will not be enough. We must 
also provide that the tasks entrusted to the new political 
apparatus do not overtax its untried strength.... We 
can hardly consider the work of reorganization complete, 
or the responsibilities imposed upon us by circumstances 
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