Amongst the troops which arrived were 8,000 Egyptians, and with them the general-in-chief of the Egyptian army, Schahin Pasha, an accomplished diplomat and administrator of the Eastern type, munificent in gifts and promises, and magnificent in ceremonies and negotiations. He came in pursuance of a grand plan, concocted at Constantinople between the Marquis de Moustier, the Turkish and Egyptian governments, which was to coax or hire the Cretan chiefs into appealing to the Viceroy for protection, when, on the application of the plébiscite, the island was to be transferred to Egypt, on the payment by the Viceroy to the Sultan of a certain consideration, said to be £400,000 down, and £80,000 per annum tribute. De Moustier was to have received £100,000 as payment for his services in managing the affair, and in due course of time, it was whispered, the Bay of Suda, having been duly fortified by the Egyptians and made a naval station, was to have been transferred _tale quale_ to France. Schahin, on arriving, placed himself in relations with the French consul, and under his advice concocted the plan of operations. It was a fatal mistake, and led to the ruin of the whole intrigue. Derché could comprehend but two kinds of men--those who are bought and those who buy them. He himself was of the former class; Schahin was a prince in the latter. Derché's opinion of the Cretans was that any could be bought or frightened into their project, and Schahin, accepting Derché's estimate, bid munificently for the votes of the Cretan chiefs, made presents to the churches, startling professions of liberality towards the Christians, and comported himself in the most approved style of Eastern potentates towards the consuls and all other influential personages.