EGYPT. 



309 



not so much so as to permit us to say that oar 

 task is satisfactory." Clearly, England does 

 not fancy giving up the country. 



On the other hand, France through M. Frey- 

 cinet has spoken clearly. On the27th of Novem- 

 ber, in the Chamber of Deputies, M. Freycinet 

 said : " France has not only general but direct 

 and special interests, which pledge us in the 

 most formal manner. France has in that coun- 

 try a powerful colony, which at all times has 

 worthily upheld the French name. France has 

 traditions there, an entire past which we ought 

 not to repudiate. Egypt, as has been said, is a 

 sort of meeting-place of the roads of the old 

 world. It is the point of junction between Eu- 

 rope and Africa, the great highway of the com- 

 merce of nations. The master of Egypt is the 

 master of the Mediterranean. If a great power 

 settles there in a permanent way, a great blow 

 would be dealt to France in the Mediterranean. 

 France can not grow accustomed to the idea 

 that Egypt should pass definitely into the hands 

 of a great European power. We have several 

 times opened negotiations with England; we 

 have taken care to conduct them with the firm- 

 ness appropriate to our interests, and the re- 

 spect due to a great power whose just suscep- 

 tibilities should not be wounded. No, we have 

 no intention of putting forward a demand, be- 

 cause if it were to ourselves that the applica- 

 tion were made we should not allow it. But 

 we have said to England, the hour has come 

 when a solution should be arrived at. It is 

 necessary to Europe and to the good under- 

 standing that ought to exist between France 

 and England. We have appealed to the mutual 

 cordiality of our sentiments, and have no doubt 

 that England will be influenced by their lan- 

 guage, for she understands both its sincerity 

 and its importance." Europe is at this moment, 

 in the last days of the year 1886, under the 

 coup of the expressions both of the English 

 and the French ministers. 



An English army has its headquarters at 

 Assouan, with advanced posts at or near Wady 

 Halfai. As late as Dec. 15 of this year the 

 rebels had made no movement in force to carry 

 out their threat to invade Lower Egypt, but 

 contented themselves with attacking the out- 

 posts in a desultory way. The death-rate 

 among the English soldiers by reason of the 

 extreme heat reached 200 deaths from this 

 cause during the trimestre ending in July. 

 This was also true of Souakin, on the Eed Sea, 



The British Government has signified its in- 

 tention of reducing the army of occupation to 

 five battalions, to be quartered at Assouan, 

 Cairo, and Alexandria. 



Finance. The financial situation at the close 

 of the year 1886, as has been seen by the state- 

 ments made by Lord Salisbury, is quite satis- 

 factory, notwithstanding the untoward effects 

 of the Soudan disasters, and the still disorgan- 

 ized condition of affairs in Lower Egypt. 



On the 4th of May Mr. Edgar Vincent, finan- 



cial adviser to the Minister of Finance, sub- 

 mitted the following report : 



Receipts for the year 1885 amounted to (E.) 9,637,178 



Receipts for the year 1884 amounted to 9,403,294 



Mr. Vincent estimates receipts for year 1886. 9,241,586 



The expenditures for the year 1686 9,282,746 



Leaving a surplus of 8,840 



The diminution of the revenue Mr. Vincent 

 declares was caused by the reduction upon the 

 impot fancier. 



It will be remembered that a financial scheme 

 was drawn up, to which the powers in Inter- 

 national Convention agreed, and which was 

 ratified by the French Senate July 7, 1885. 

 The agreement guaranteed a loan of 9,000,- 

 000, to be applied in liquidation of the Egyp- 

 tian debt, the loan to be liquidated by the re- 

 payment of 325,000 annually, and this sum 

 to be considered the first charge against the 

 Egyptian revenues until the entire loan is lifted. 



The guaranteed loan by the conference of 

 March, 1885, was issued simultaneously in Lon- 

 don, Paris, and Berlin, in August, 1885. 



The total debt of Egypt at the end of 1885 

 was: 



Guaranteed loan 9,000,000 



Unified debt 55,991,000 



Privileged debt .' 22,297,000 



Domains loans 7,644,000 



Daira loans 8,745,000 



Total 103,677,000 



The administration expenditure of the Khe- 

 dive's Government was limited to the sum of 

 5,237,000. Any surplus over the year's re- 

 ceipts was to be paid over to the Commission- 

 ers of the Public Debt, for the purpose of 

 making good an imposed deduction of 5 per 

 cent, from the interest on the Suez Canal 

 shares held by England. The principle of the 

 enquete was admitted and declared for an " ex- 

 haustive investigation into the revenue-earn- 

 ing capacity of Egypt " ; and further, that if, 

 at the end of two years, it should be found 

 necessary to reduce the interest on the coupons, 

 the Khedive should summon an International 

 Commission, like that of 1880, to make general 

 inquiry into Egyptian finances. These two 

 years have nearly expired, and there seems no 

 reason to appeal to this commission d 'enquete. 

 The Commissioners of the Public Debt an- 

 nounced, on the 26th of October, 1886, that the 

 surplus of the payment of the November cou- 

 pon of the unified debt would suffice to make 

 good any deficiency in the unassigned revenues, 

 and to reimburse the 5-per-cent. coupon-tax 

 levied during the last two years, besides leav- 

 ing a balance which, under the convention, 

 will be equally divided between the caisse and 

 the Ministry of Finance. 



On Dec. 1 the Council of Ministers at Cairo 

 passed the budget for 1887, showing a surplus 

 of 56,000. On December 15 the telegraph 

 reported that the came of the public debt 

 granted to the Government the sum of 200,- 

 000, on account of the sum fixed by the Lon- 

 don Convention for capitalization of pensions. 



