

EGYPT. 



285 





and other taxes, being the revenues of the four 

 assigned provinces, went for the interest and 

 amortization of the unified and privileged 

 debts. The total gross yield of the assigned 

 revenues was 4,552,540 pounds ; the expendi- 

 tures for interest and cost of administration, 

 4,130,838 pounds. 



The public debt, as settled by the law of liqui- 

 dation, amounted in 1882 to 97,161,220 ster- 

 ling. This sum was composed of the unified 

 debt, paying 4 per cent., amounting to 57,- 

 023,780; the preference debt, paying 5 per 

 cent, interest, amounting to 22,529,800 ; the 

 domain loan, paying 5 per cent., in amount 

 8,362,280 ; and the Daira Sanieh loans, pay- 

 ing 4 and 5 per cent., in amount 9,245,360. 

 For the service of the domain and Daira loans 

 the profits of the lands on which they were a 

 lien were applied, any deficiencies being made 

 good out of the public revenue. The Mouka- 

 bala, a forced internal loan, was scaled down 

 and converted into annuities of the annual 

 amount of 150,000 Egyptian pounds, running 

 fifty years. The Suez Canal shares, purchased 

 in 1875 by the British Government, were hy- 

 pothecated already by the Khedive Ismail, who 

 agreed, in lieu of dividends, to pay interest dur- 

 ing the period for which he had alienated the 

 dividends. This obligation constituted an an- 

 nual charge on the Treasury of 200,000. The 

 Alexandria indemnities and the deficits of the 

 treasury arising from the English occupation 

 and administration created a floating debt, 

 amounting in the middle of 1884, when the 

 English Government called a conference to 

 discuss Egyptian finance, to about 8,000,000. 



The Policy of evacuating the Soudan. The Eng- 

 lish diplomatic agent in December, 1883, con- 

 veyed to the Khedive the advice of the English 

 Government that the southern provinces be- 

 yond the ancient frontier should be abandoned. 

 The Government of the Khedive, in a note, 

 dated Jan. 2, 1884, demanded of the British 

 Cabinet that England should either undertake 

 the defense of the Soudan, or should permit 

 the Khedive to transfer the territory between 

 the Bed Sea and the Upper Nile to the Porte 

 as an Ottoman province, which would enable 

 Egypt to defend herself within her ancient 

 boundaries without the help of England. The 

 answer of the English Cabinet was, that it had 

 no objection to the cession of territory, pro- 

 vided that Turkey made Suakin the base of 

 operations, keeping out of Egypt proper, and 

 that she undertook the enterprise at her own 

 cost and risk. Maj. Baring at the same time 

 repeated the advice of the English Govern- 

 ment to evacuate Khartoum and establish a 

 line of defense at the defiles of the second cata- 

 ract of the Nile, corresponding with the bound- 

 ary of Egypt proper. 



Change of Ministry. The policy of abandon- 

 ing the Soudan and the Equatorial Provinces, 

 which the English Government insisted upon 

 after the destruction of Gen. Hicks^ army, 

 \vas for several weeks the subject of an earnest 



dispute between the English Resident Minister 

 and the Egyptian Cabinet. The Egyptian min- 

 isters declared that the Khedive had not the 

 right to give up any part of his dominions, as 

 they formed an integral part of the Ottoman 

 Empire, and were confided to his protection 

 by firmans of the Porte. The English agent 

 finally informed Sherif Pasha that, as long as 

 British troops occupy Egypt, the English Gov- 

 ernment would not allow its advice to be con- 

 tested, but insisted upon its being accepted and 

 carried out. The ministers thereupon handed 

 in their portfolios to the Khedive, stating that 

 the English demand was a violation of the re- 

 script of August 28, 1878, and rendered it im- 

 possible for them to fulfill their duties. The 

 Khedive sought to induce Eyub Pasha, Riaz 

 Pasha, and others, to take the post of Premier, 

 but found no Egyptian willing to assume the 

 responsibility of abandoning the Soudan. At 

 last he yielded to the pressure of the English 

 Resident, and accepted the nominee of the lat- 

 ter, the astute Armenian, Nubar Pasha, Ismail 

 Pasha's former Prime Minister. 



English Administration of Egypt None of the 

 English measures of relief or reform were car- 

 ried out in a way to accomplish their object, 

 however correct in principle. The taxes were 

 made payable in kind, which afforded a better 

 price to the fellah than he could obtain in the 

 disturbed state of the markets ; yet this pro- 

 vision gave opportunities to the officials for ex- 

 tortion. The promised remission of the land- 

 taxes in Upper Egypt produced uncertainty, 

 and prompted the fellaheen to refuse to pay 

 their rents, in the hope that they also would be 

 reduced. The efforts to economize in the ad- 

 ministration all failed. New methods were 

 found unworkable after a useless expenditure. 

 When an Englishman was appointed to take 

 the place of three or four French or native offi- 

 cials, the considerable reduction in salaries ap- 

 parently attained was turned into an increased 

 charge on the budget by the necessary employ- 

 ment of clerks and translators. Under the di- 

 rection of Mr. -Clifford Lloyd, sweeping changes 

 were attempted in the internal administration, 

 which aimed to replace by a central power, 

 wielded by Englishmen in accordance with 

 English ideas, not only the authority of the 

 ministry, but that of the provincial mudirs. 

 In their haste to reform the abuses connected 

 with the administration of justice and the 

 prisons, the collection of taxes, etc., and to 

 impress an English character on the system of 

 administration, they disregarded alike the cus- 

 toms and sanctions of the Mohammedan law 

 and the principles and practices of French jus- 

 tice and administration naturalized in Egypt. 

 The result was the derangement of the whole 

 machinery of justice and government. The 

 authority of the provincial governors, in the 

 attempt to curtail the arbitrary power which 

 they abused, was annulled to such an extent 

 that the fear of the law declined among the 

 people, and crime and violence became preva- 



