dinand de Lesseps a concession for the construction of the
Suez Canal. Lord Palmerston was opposed to this project, and the British
opposition delayed the ratification of the concession by the Porte for
two years. To the British Said also made concessions--one to the Eastern
Telegraph Company, and another (1854) allowing the establishment of the
Bank of Egypt. He also began the national debt by borrowing L3,293,000
from Messrs Fruhling & Goschen, the actual amount received by the pasha
being L2,640,000. In January 1863 Said Pasha died and was succeeded by
his nephew Ismail, a son of Ibrahim Pasha.

Ismail's megalomania

The reign of Ismail (q.v.), from 1863 to 1879, was for a while hailed as
introducing a new era into modern Egypt. In spite of his vast schemes of
reform and the _eclat_ of his Europeanizing innovations, his oriental
extravagance led to bankruptcy, and his reign is historically important
simply for its compelling European intervention in the internal affairs
of Egypt. Yet in its earlier years much was done which seemed likely to
give Ismail a more important place in history. In 1866 he was granted by
the sultan a firman--obtained on condition of the increase of the
tribute from L376,000 to L720,000--by which the succession to the throne
of Egypt was made to descend "to the eldest of thy male children and in
the same manner to the eldest sons of thy successors," instead of, after
Turkish law, to the eldest male of the family. In the following year
another firman bestowed upon him the title of _khedive_ in lieu of that
of _vali_, borne by Mehemet Ali and his immediate successors. In 1873 a
further firman placed the khedive in many respects in the position of an
independent sovereign. Ismail re-established and improved the
administrative system organized by Mehemet Ali, and which had fallen
into decay under Abbas's indolent rule; he caused a thorough remodelling
of the customs system, which was in an anarchic state, to be made by
English officials; in 1865 he established the Egyptian post office; he
reorganized the military schools of his grandfather, and gave some
support to the cause of education. Railways, telegraphs, lighthouses,
the harbour works at Suez, the breakwater at Alexandria, were carried
out by some of the best contractors of Europe. Most important of all,
the Suez Canal was opened in 1869. But the funds required for these
public works, as well as the actual labour, were remorselessly exto