EGYPT. 



EUROPE. 



265 



national law, composed of members represent- 

 ing the principal civilized nations should 

 have been taken in Egypt. 



On the 26th of November it was officially 

 announced that the British Government had 

 purchased, for 4,000,000, from the Khedive, 

 177,000 of the 400,000 shares into which the 

 capital of the Suez Canal is divided. The 

 news created an extraordinary excitement, and 

 was no less a surprise to England than to Ger- 

 many, France, Russia, and other countries. 

 An official account of the negotiations pre- 

 ceding the purchase had not been published at 

 the end of the year. It was reported that the 

 Khedive had offered his shares also to the French 

 Government, which, according to a statement 

 made by M. Decazes, French Minister of For- 

 eign Affairs, refused to purchase them, from 

 fear that such an act might lead to fresh com- 

 plications with Germany. The French em- 

 bassador in London, the Duke d'Harcourt, in 

 a dispatch to the Duke DScazes, French Minister 

 of Foreign Affairs, stated that Lord Derby told 

 him England had bought the Khedive's shares 

 solely to prevent a preponderance of foreign 

 influence in the Suez Canal, and would neither 

 propose nor oppose an arrangement to place 

 the canal under the management of an inter- 

 national syndicate. 



The purchase of the shares by the English 

 Government is subject to parliamentary ap- 

 proval, but the announcement was received 

 in England with so universal favor that the 

 consent of Parliament was looked upon as cer- 

 tain. The comments of the French, German, 

 and Russian papers expressed fear that the 

 possession of this important canal would give 

 to England the virtual suzerainty of Egypt. 

 Much regret was expressed by the English at 

 the very limited representation England is en- 

 titled to under the statutes of the company. 



Besides selling the shares of the Suez Canal 

 to the English Government, the Khedive also 

 applied officially to England to send him two 

 gentlemen competent to undertake the full 

 charge of Egyptian finances. The fullest power 

 and every information were promised to the 

 new officials. The English Government com- 

 plied with the request, and intrusted the mis- 

 sion to Mr. Cave. The commissioner, accom- 

 panied by Colonel Stokes, one financial and two 

 political secretaries, and a number of clerks, 

 arrived at Alexandria in the latter part of De- 

 cember, and was received with great marks of 

 honor. The Governor of Alexandria waited 

 upon him immediately on arrival, and the Min- 

 ister of Finance came down from Cairo with 

 a special train, which he placed at his disposal, 

 and by which he proceeded at once to the 

 capital. 



The Sultan of Darfour, who is now a captive 

 of the Viceroy of Egypt, arrived in Cairo on 

 June 17th, after a journey of four months by 

 way of Khartoum, Suakin, and Suez. He is 

 tall of stature, very intelligent in appearance, 

 and of dignified demeanor. He wore wide 



trousers drawn together at the ankles, red slip- 

 pers, and a long scarlet coat of silk, handsomely 

 embroidered in gold. Over his shoulder hung 

 a long white scarf, also richly embroidered. 

 He was received at the rail way- station by the 

 prefect of the town, who escorted him and the 

 three princes who accompanied him to a car- 

 riage, where a photographer was in waiting to 

 take his portrait. The Sultan had brought his 

 wives with him. They wore their hair in short 

 woolly locks, and their ornaments consisted of 

 glass beads, large silver rings, and corals fast- 

 ened to the right nostril. They were all be- 

 smeared with cocoanut-oil, the odor of which 

 filled the station. After some debate between 

 the officers and the railway officials it was as- 

 certained that the women refused to leave their 

 carriages until all the men had left. Every man 

 in the station was then sent away, and the 

 women, accompanied by their eunuchs and chil- 

 dren, entered the closed carriages which were 

 to take them to the Sultan's palace at Darb- 

 el-Achmar. This building has been painted 

 in very bright colors to suit the taste of the 

 Darfourians. 



The United States consul at Cairo has writ- 

 ten to the State Department at Washington, 

 reporting the preparations which are being 

 made in Egypt for a representation at the Cen- 

 tennial Exhibition in Philadelphia. He states 

 that a commission has been appointed to at- 

 tend to the matter in Egypt, for which $5,000 

 has been appropriated ; also one to attend in 

 Philadelphia, for which $60,000 has been ap- 

 propriated, and if this sum is insufficient more 

 will be added. One of the commissioners is 

 now in Vienna, taking casts of all the specimens 

 of art which were left in that place after the 

 close of the exhibition there, and they will be 

 forwarded to Philadelphia. All the arts, prod- 

 ucts, and industries of Egypt will be repre- 

 sented, as well as many things pertaining to 

 her ancient history. The Egyptian Govern- 

 ment regrets that it cannot erect separate 

 buildings at Philadelphia as it did at Vienna, 

 but has abandoned that purpose chiefly for lack 

 of a competent person to send there to super- 

 intend their construction. 



ELLIOT, Sir CHARLES, an English admiral, 

 born in 1801 ; died September 9, 1875. He 

 entered the Royal Navy in 1816, took a part 

 in the battle of Algiers, and served afterward 

 in India, on the coast of Africa, and in the 

 West Indies. In 1835 he was appointed Chief 

 Superintendent of Trade and British minister 

 in China, and as such was present at all the 

 operations in that country during the follow- 

 ing years. He was charge d? affaires in Texas 

 from 1842 to 1845, Governor of Bermuda from 

 1847 to 1852, of Trinidad from 1853 to 1856, 

 of St. Helena from 1863 to 1869, when he 

 retired from the service. He was created a 

 K. 0. B. in 1856. 



EUROPE. The relations between the great 

 powers of Europe continued in 1875 to be of a 

 friendly character, and no international war 



