EGYPT. 



237 



it was reduced to four millions sterling a year. 

 The use of the bastinado in collecting taxes has 

 diminished, and the peasantry have come of 

 their own accord to pay their taxes. The value 

 of land has risen 50 per cent, sellers are few, 

 and the usurers, who used to lend at 60 per 

 cent, have no customers. In 1881 there was 

 a surplus of 321,265, nearly the same in 

 amount as in the estimate. The surplus was 

 calculated for to supply the deficiency in years of 

 a bad Nile, and, when not thus needed, to be ap- 

 plied to the reduction of the debt. Nearly half 

 a million of bonds were canceled with the sur- 

 plus of 1881. The expenses of the Government 

 were limited to a total of 3,450,000 a year, 

 all revenue above that amount to go to the 

 reduction of the debt. 



The funded debt, divided into unified and 

 preference bonds, was fixed by the Council'of 

 Liquidation at eighty and a half millions. The 

 Egyptian bonds, as reported in April, 1878, 

 were held as follow : 



In England . . . . 12,200,000 



In France 30,100,000 



In Egypt 6,900,000 



Total 79,200,000 



The budget of income and expenditure was 

 based on an estimate of 8,400,000, as follows : 



REVENUE. 



Land-tax 5,250.000 



Railways and telegraphs 1,150,000 



Taxes and customs 2,010,000 



Total 3,410,000 



EXPENDITURE. 



Consolidated debt 3,520,000 



Suez shares 199,000 



Moukabalah 155,000 



Tribute to the Sultan 700,000 



Administration 8,450,000 



Surplus 386,000 



Total 8,410,000 



THE CONTROL. The intervention of England 

 and France to procure the deposition of Ismail 

 was based upon a sort of protectorate which 

 they had exercised over the dynasty of Me- 

 heniet Ali since its establishment by the con- 

 vention of 1841. The Council of Liquidation, 

 which was appointed by the decree of March 

 31, 1880, was composed of commissions repre- 

 senting all the powers which had participated 

 in the creation of the Mixed Tribunals Eng- 

 land, France, Germany, Austria, Italy, and 

 Egypt. The chief motive for interference in 

 Egypt was to prevent the speculations in Egyp- 

 tian credit by the astute creditors from failure 

 through the extravagance of Ismail. The law 

 of liquidation, sequestrating the revenues of 

 the Egyptian Government to satisfy the de- 

 mands of the creditors, was thoroughly carried 

 out under the supervision of the two Con- 

 trollers who were appointed for that purpose. 

 To meet the semi-annual coupons the fellaheen 

 were robbed of their cattle and implements, 

 and flogged and bastinadoed as before. The 

 Controllers secured the bondholders' interests, 

 as they were appointed to do.. But, through 



the initiative of the French Controller, De 

 Blignieres, they did more than this. On the 

 strength of a provision which gave them a 

 seat in the Cabinet with consultory powers, 

 they took into their own hands the whole gov- 

 ernment of the country. Their administration 

 was in many respects better than the Egyp- 

 tians had been accustomed to. Certain im- 

 portant reforms were inaugurated. The kour- 

 bash became a less necessary concomitant in 

 the collection of the taxes. They replaced the 

 Turkish caste, which monopolized the appoint- 

 ments of the civil service, with European offi- 

 cials. This course only substituted one abuse 

 for another. The old officials were inefficient 

 and corrupt, but the Europeans were, many of 

 them, as inefficient, and those who were ex- 

 perienced and capable administrators at home 

 were incapacitated here by their ignorance of 

 Arabic ; while all of them drew salaries which 

 were in proportion to those customarily paid 

 in Egypt, and greatly in excess of what they 

 could have earned in their own countries. 

 There were at the beginning of the year 1,272 

 Europeans holding offices in Egypt, whose sal- 

 aries aggregated 373,000 a year. The placing 

 of these foreign officials over them was natu- 

 rally felt to be one of the greatest grievances, 

 and had much to do with the national revolt 

 against the Control.* 



EVENTS PRIOR TO THE REBELLION. The Con- 

 trollers were at the same 'time the attorneys 

 of the foreign bondholders, agents of the Eng- 

 lish and French Governments, and paid officials 

 of the Khedive. They dictated the entire policy 

 of the Khedive. Their action in taking the ad- 

 ministration into their own hands, arid putting 

 foreigners in charge of all the principal branches 

 of the administration at enormously increased 

 salaries, aroused the enmity of the displaced 

 official class, and jarred against the sentiments 

 of patriotism and independence which exist in 

 every country, although their existence among 

 the Egyptians was contradicted, even after they 

 contemplated war and devastation in conse- 



* The salaries paid to foreign officials in the different de- 

 partments were reported by Sir Edward Malet, to his govern- 

 ment, on May 18, 1882, to be as follows in the different de- 

 partments, in Egyptian pounds : Cabinet of the Khedive, 

 3,000; Maieh Sanieh, 696; Presidency of the Council of 

 Ministers, 452; Teft of Gizeh and Gizereh. 436; Ministry 

 of Foreign Affairs, 2,088 ; Ministry of Finance, 17,200 ; 

 General Control, 14,101; Direction of the Cadastral Survey, 

 26,787; General Inspection of the Octrois. 2,770; Light- 

 house Service, 10,239 ; Mint, 144; Ministry of War, 8,851 ; 

 Ministry of Marine, 2,691 : Ministry of Public Instruction, 

 7,905 ; Administration of the Wakfi, 2,034; Ministry of the 

 Interior, 3,978 ; Government of Alexandria, 780 ; of Port 

 Said, 370; of Suez. 163 ; of El Arish, 84; Municipality of 

 Alexandria, 540; Cairo Police, 1,567; Alexandria Police, 



ippression of the Slave-Trade, 2,052 ; Marine San- 

 itary Council and Quarantine, 5.290; Council of Public 

 Health, 6,084; Ministry of Justice, 6,848 ; Ministry of Pub- 

 lic Works, 26,216 ; Eailroad Administration, 29,761 ; Tele- 

 graph Administration, 6,193 ; Port of Alexandria, 3,681 ; 

 Administration of Customs, 16,647 ; Administration of the 

 Post, 19,509 ; Postal Steamer, 16,941 ; Salines, 162 ; Ad- 

 ministration of the Public Domain, 25.042 ; Dairah Sanieh, 

 19,672 ; Public Debt, 16,227 ; Parquet Administration, 

 3,088 ; Court of Appeals, 14,971 ; Alexandria Court of the 

 First Instance, 22.344 ; Court of the First Instance at Cairo, 

 14,212 ; Court of the First Instance at Mansourah, 8,869. 

 Total, 373,491. 



