[1%

MAHEMET ATL.

65

was told by oue of the party afterwards that it appeared as
though a slight flush came over his face at the same instant),
when he abruptly changed the topic of conversation, and
began to talk of his navy. I was puzzled at the moment to
divine the cause why the Pacha shunned a discussion about
his favourite cotton; it afterward occurred to me, and the
idea was confirmed by the opinions of others of the party,
that he avoided talking on a subject on which he was conscious
 that he had greatly exaggerated, with one whom he
believed, from the too favourable account of the Consul, to
be better informed than himself,
“The Pacha now proceeded to maintain stoutly that the
quality of his Syrian pines was equal to that of British oak
for the purposes of ship-building. There was nothing
remarkable in the conversation that followed, excepting the
practical shrewdness which characterized the choice and
handling of his subjects on tho part of Mehemet Ali. After
an interview of about half an hour, in which, from the
defective tact and address of Colonel C., no person of the
party but himself took any share, we made our parting
salutations, and retired from the audience-chamber, which,
as I again traversed it, I thought was on a par with a ball
room in a second-rate English country town. On proceed.
ing through the large anteroom, we found the company
listening to the address of their spiritual guide. On our
way down the declivity from the citadel we passed the
menagerie, and I heard the lion growling in his den. 1
thought of Mehemet Ali.”
Cobden had another interview with Mohemet Ali on
December 26, in which they had an hour’s conversation on
the Pacha’s way of managing his cotton factories, He confesses
 himself to have been particularly struck with the
Pacha’s readiness in replying and reasoning, with his easy
handling of his 2} per cents. and 20 per cents., and with his

1886.

Hr. 82.