Gordon travelled north to Cairo to meet with Baring and suggest the solution that Egypt suspend its interest payments for several years to allow Isma'il to pay the arrears owned to his soldiers and civil servants, arguing that once the Egyptian government was stabilised, then Egypt could start paying its debts without fear of causing a revolution. Faught wrote Gordon's plans were "farsighted and humane", but Baring had no interest in Gordon's plans to suspend the interest payments. Gordon disliked Baring, writing he had "a pretentious, grand, patronizing way around him. We had a few words together...When oil mixes with water, we will mix together".