THE VICEROY OF EGYPT, ISMAIL PASHA, AT THE MANSION HOUSE.
Among the many illustrious rulers of foreign nations who have been entertained by the Lord Mayor of London, have been three Viceroys of Egypt. On the 11th of July, 1867, at a banquet at the Mansion House, a distinguished company assembled to meet his Highness the Viceroy, Ismail Pasha. Twenty-one years previously, the father, and on a subsequent occasion the brother of the Viceroy had been similarly honoured in the capital of the British Empire. The Prince of Wales, the Duke of Cambridge, Prince Teck, Prince Edward of Saxe Weimar, many of the ambassadors of foreign powers, and the most eminent men of all shades of political opinion were among the company.
The reply of the Viceroy, to the toast, given by the Lord Mayor, was responded to in his native tongue, and interpreted by Nubar Pasha in French: "If Egypt had rendered services to England, chiefly in facilitating communication with India, his country was only acknowledging the debt due to this country for the benefits received in promoting the material and the moral progress of his people."
The next toast was the health of the Prince and Princess of Wales, and the other members of the Royal Family, to which the Prince thus responded:--
"My Lord Mayor, your Royal Highnesses, my Lords, Ladies, and Gentlemen, I beg to thank you most warmly and sincerely for the kind manner in which you, my Lord Mayor, have proposed my health and that of the Princess of Wales, and the other members of the Royal Family; and to thank the company here present for the way in which it has been received. I need not assure you, my Lord Mayor, that to have been invited here this evening has been a source of great pleasure to me. Under any circumstances I always feel it a great compliment to be invited to the hospitable board of the Lord Mayor and the Corporation of the city of London.
"But this evening we have been invited here to do honour to a guest, and that guest the Viceroy of Egypt. As the Lord Mayor has very truly remarked, England and Egypt, though far distant from one another, though very different from one another in religion and in habits, are countries which have been, and will continue to be, closely allied to one another. We have every reason to be grateful to the Viceroy and to his Government for the means he has afforded us of visiting that country, and for the great hospitality that he has shown to us on all occasions. I myself received distinguished marks of kindness under the rule of his brother, the late Viceroy, in 1862. Nothing could exceed the kindness and courtesy with which I was treated, and the facilities with which I was enabled to visit that most interesting country. We are also indebted to the Viceroy and the Egyptian Government for the great facilities he has afforded our troops in their transit to India.