Page:Dictionary of National Biography, Second Supplement, volume 2.djvu/576

, Malet received the provisional rank of minister plenipotentiary in case of the absence of the ambassador. Malet rendered Layard substantial assistance until February 1879, when the ambassador was compelled to take leave of absence, and Malet, who assumed charge, was largely instrumental in procuring the acceptance by the Turkish government of various arrangements necessitated by the provisions of the treaty of Berlin — among others those for the occupation of Bosnia by Austria-Hungary and the policing of Eastern Roumelia after the withdrawal of the Russian troops. His straightforward but considerate demeanour gained the confidence of the sultan, Abdul Hamid II, who, several years later, on the occurrence of a vacancy in the embassy, expressed a hope that Malet would leave the embassy at Berlin for Constantinople. In October 1879 he was appointed British agent and consul-general in Egypt. Three months before Tewfik Pasha had succeeded as Khedive on the abdication of his father Ismail. Malet was at once occupied with negotiation for financial and administrative reform which Ismail's reckless extravagance and mismanagement made imperative.

There followed in 1881 the native unrest and revolt of the Egyptian army under Arabi, Toulba, and Ali Fehmi. Malet, who was made K.C.B. in October 1881, was in sympathy with the movement for constitutional government, and sought means of reconciling it with due observance of financial obligations. But as the disturbances grew more acute he deemed intervention necessary, and recommended Turkish intervention under European control, or, failing that, intervention by Great Britain and France jointly, or by one of them alone. On the outbreak of the rebellion and the native attacks on Europeans, Malet, under instructions from his government, followed the representatives of the other European powers to Alexandria, but, declining the offer of accommodation on board the British admiral's flagship, took up his residence in an hotel in the centre of the town, and endeavoured to restore confidence among the European community and promoted measures of protection. In the midst of this work he was struck down by sudden illness — whether due to natural causes or to poison seems doubtful — and after remaining on board H.M.S. Hehcon for some days in a critical condition returned to England. Meanwhile the British government undertook to subdue the rebellion single-handed. Malet resumed his place in Egypt on 10 August, as soon as his health permitted, and after the defeat of Arabi's forces by Sir Garnet Wolseley's army at the battle of Tel-el-Kebir (13 Sept. 1882) he accompanied the Khedive on his re-entry into his capital. In the angry controversy over the fate of Arabi and his leading associates Malet deprecated capital punishment, and after the exercise of considerable pressure on the Egyptian government, the sentence of death which was pronounced on the ringleaders was commuted to one of perpetual banishment to Ceylon. These discussions and the task of reconstituting the comphcated machinery of government in Egypt were over-taxing Malet's weakened health, and Lord Dufferin [q. v. Suppl. II], then ambassador at Constantinople, was sent to Egypt (November 1882) on a special mission. Lord Granville, referring to this appointment in the House of Lords (15 Feb. 1883), said: 'If any man ever deserved the confidence of his country, Sir E. Malet deserves it in consideration of the way in which he conducted the affairs of Egypt in times of extraordinary difficulty. But we thought it would not be fair to centre in one man constructive as well as diplomatic duties.' Malet aided Lord Dufferin in drawing up a scheme of reorganisation, and after Lord Dufferin's departure superintended the development of the scheme, helped actively and courageously to cope with an epidemic of cholera in July 1883, and left amidst general expressions of affection and regret on promotion to be British envoy at Brussels in September following. In a speech delivered at a farewell luncheon given to him by the British community at Cairo, he strongly emphasised his feeling that the great need for Egypt was a well-ordered system of justice. After a year in Belgium he became British ambassador at Berlin on the death of Lord Ampthill [q. v.] in August 1884. There he served eleven years. Among various thorny questions with which he had to deal were those of the rival British and German claims in East and West Africa, the settlement of the international agreements affecting the navigation of the Niger and Congo rivers, the recognition of the Congo Free State, and the complications which had arisen in the Samoa Archipelago. He took part as British plenipotentiary in conferences held at Berlin on these questions in 1884 and 1885. He had been sworn a privy councillor in 1885, and became G.C.M.G. in the same year and G.C.B. in 1886. He resigned on grounds of ill-health in 1895, when the German court and government