312 



EGYPT. 



1885 amounted to 4,967,000, against an aver- 

 age for the corresponding period in the four 

 previous years of 4,826,000. 



The land-tax has given in 1886 2,677,000 



As compared with the four previous years which 



gave 2,737,000 



The custom-house revenues amount to 497,000 



As compared with former year of 412,000 



The railway receipts amount to 



As compared with former year of 67 7,000 



The expense account, however, may show a 

 deficiency at the end of the year. 



The estimated receipts and expenditures for 

 the years 1884 and 1885 were: 



RECEIPTS. 



EXPENDITURES. 



The Italians on the Red Sea. The interference of 

 the Italian Government in the affairs of Egypt 

 is an accomplished fact. Admiral Caimi, acting 

 upon the orders from Rome, has occupied Mas- 

 sowah, and has issued a proclamation announc- 

 ing'that he occupied that place with the author- 

 ity of his Government. Recent reports go to 

 show that the morale of the Italian army of oc- 

 cupation is not all that is desired, and that, 

 what with the hostility of both Egypt and Tur- 

 key, Italy has little reason for self-congratula- 

 tion in what promises to prove a fruitless in- 

 terference with the domain of Egypt. 



The Affair of the "Bosphore Egyptlen." The 

 "Bosphore Egyptien " was a journal published 

 in French in Cairo after the English occupation. 

 Its columns have been filled with caustic criti- 

 cisms of the English administrators. Certain 

 articles that appeared in the month of April 

 of this year were deemed particularly offensive 

 to the Government, among others the repro- 

 duction of an alleged proclamation by the 

 Mahdi. This incident having incensed the 

 Khedive, Nubar Pasha availed himself of an 



old order of suspension and caused the publi- 

 cation of the journal to be suspended on the 

 8th of April. It was claimed that it was the 

 work of Nubar, who was enraged by the ex- 

 posure of some of his well-known methods by 

 the "Bosphore Egyptien." A demand was 

 made by M. Taillandier for reparation and 

 apology in the breaking open of the office of ; 

 the "Bosphore," on the ground that the act 

 constituted a violation of domicile. On the 

 18th of April M. Freycinet telegraphed : " De- 

 mand immediately that the office be opened 

 and that the agents be punished. Cause the 

 Government to understand, in courteous but 

 firm language, that if the French Government 

 does not obtain a satisfactory reply immedi- 

 ately, the Egyptian Government will hear fur- 

 ther from the case." Nubar hesitated to re- 

 ply, whereupon diplomatic relations between 

 France and Egypt were broken off, and the 

 diplomatic agent was ordered to leave Cairo. 

 On the 29th, Egypt acceded to the demands of 

 France, and Nubar was ordered to repair to the 

 French consulate and offer an apology. 



The"Bosphore Egyptien" thereupon resumed 

 publication, but its editors having received 

 notice from the French consulate that its abu- 

 sive tone was likely to prove a barrier to the 

 policy of the French Government in Egypt, 

 it voluntarily suspended publication on the 1st 

 of September. The coup de thedtre is made 

 apparent when the "Bosphore "is succeeded 

 by a journal entitled the " Progres Egyptien." 



General Gordon's Retnrn to the Soudan. Gen. 

 Gordon succeeded Sir Samuel Baker as Gov- 

 ernor-General of the Equatorial Provinces in 

 1874. His administration of those provinces, 

 in contradiction to the generally accepted opin- 

 ion, was neither a financial nor political success, 

 but an absolute failure. In his book, " Colonel 

 Gordon in Central Africa," he admits with his 

 natural frankness that when he took possession 

 of the country it yielded a revenue of 579,- 

 000. In 1879, in a letter addressed to the Min- 

 ister of Finances in Egypt, he acknowledged 

 an annual deficit of 109,000 and an annual 

 debt of 300,000. After five years of wasteful 

 administration, which can not be held to re- 

 flect in any way upon the absolute honesty of 

 the man, but only upon his want of adminis- 

 trative capacity, he left the government, in 

 which the seeds of the subsequent revolt had 

 been sown, a charge upon the government at 

 Cairo. Mr. Gladstone has said that the Egyp- 

 tian Government was averse to his reappoint- 

 ment to the Soudan, an aversion which was 

 shared by Sir Evelyn Baring, who was the 

 British High Commissioner of Finance at that 

 time in Cairo, and who had been the medium 

 of correspondence upon that subject. 



In January, 1884, Gen. Gordon returned to the 

 Soudan, permission to do so having been ac- 

 corded him during Mr. Gladstone's absence. Sir 

 Wilfrid Blunt claimed that this rash venture 

 was wholly without Mr. Gladstone's knowl- 

 edge or consent. Mr. Gladstone, however, 



