EGYPT. 



293 



The state of the public debt on Jan. 1, 1882, 

 is shown in the following statement of the 

 amounts of the different classes of loans, in 

 pounds sterling : 



CLASSES OF DEBT. Amount. 



Unified debt, at 4 per cent 57,023,780 



Privileged debt, at 5 per cent 22,529,800 



Domain loan, at 5 per cent 8,3(52,280 



Daira-Sanieh debt, at 4 and 5 per cent 9,245,360 



Total foreign debt 97,161,220 



The Moukabalah debt, a forced loan imposed 

 upon the peasantry and scaled down by the 

 Liquidation Commission, constitutes another 

 obligation of the Government. The reduced 

 capital and interest is to be paid in annuities 

 of 150,000 Egyptian pounds, and extinguished 

 in fifty years. The interest on the Suez-canal 

 shares purchased by the English Government 

 of the Khedive Ismail in 1875, is an additional 

 charge of 200,000 sterling per annum. 



(An account of the Suez canal, and the con- 

 troversy relating to its improvement, is given 

 under the title SUEZ CANAL.) 



Commerce. The total exports of Egypt in- 

 creased in value from 275,000,000 piastres in 

 1855 (1 piastre 5 cents) and 506,000,000 in 

 1862, to 1,028,000,000 in 1870, 1,333,000,000 

 in 1875, 1,356,000,000 in 1876, 1,275,000,000 

 in 1877, 810,000,000 in 1878, 1,344,000,000 in 

 1879, and 1,298,000,000 in 1880. 



The export and import commerce with the 

 countries having the largest trade with Egypt 

 was in 1881 of the following values, in pias- 

 tres: 



I 



Total commerce 1,298,253,000 j 6 J3,745,000 



The values exported of the leading articles 

 of export in 1881 were, in piastres, as follow: 



EXPORTS. Value. 



Textile materials 894,175,000 



Cotton-seed 150.659.000 



Cereals 142.3(59,000 



8u?ar 30,870.000 



Gums, fats, and oils 26,303,000 



Hides and skins 13,867,000 



Ostrich-feathers 6,549,000 



Other commodities 33,459,000 



. Total exports 1,298,251,000 



The principal imports were textile fabrics, 

 coal, metal manufactures, machinery, and 

 other manufactured products. The total ton- 

 nage entered at' Egyptian ports in 1880 was 

 3,242,022 tons; cleared, 3,255,614 tons. Of 

 the 8,882 vessels entered, 3,657, of 294,183 

 tons, carried the Egyptian flag, including 257 

 steamers, of 177,011 tons. 



Communications. The length of railroad lines 

 in operation in 1883 was 1,518 kilometres. 



The length of telegraph lines in operation in 

 1878 was 7,841 kilometres; of wires, 12,040 

 kilometres. Of the total length of lines 3,943 

 kilometres were in the Soudan. 



Diplomatic Discussions. The year opened in 

 the midst of a controversy between the Brit- 

 ish and French Governments over the aboli- 

 tion of the dual control and the termination of 

 the Anglo-French condorninion. Great Britain 

 sought to soften the disappointment of France 

 and render less abrupt the transition to British 

 sole supremacy by instituting a Public Debt 

 Commission to replace the Control as the 

 agency for the protection of the bondholders' 

 interests. The presidency of the proposed 

 board was offered to France. M. Duclerc re- 

 jected the proffered compensation, as the 

 French were not disposed to resign voluntarily 

 their prescriptive powers in Egypt or partici- 

 pate in changing the status quo to their own 

 prejudice. In his note of January 4th, he de- 

 manded that France should receive, in case the 

 control should be transformed, an equivalent 

 position in the new arrangements. Here the 

 negotiations terminated. Lord Granville then 

 sent an identical note to all the powers, de- 

 fining the English position and intentions. 



The dual control came to an end by the 

 withdrawal of two of the contracting powers 

 from the financial arrangements on which it 

 was. based. The initiative came ostensibly 

 from the Egyptian ministry. On January llth 

 Sir Auckland Colvin, the English Controller, 

 tendered his resignation to the Khedive. The 

 proposition of the Egyptian ministry to abol- 

 ish the Control had been received two months 

 before. Sherif Pasha, in his note dated Nov. 

 7, 1882, based his objections to the institution 

 chiefly on the fact that it had taken on 

 " almost a political character," encroaching in 

 dangerous proportions on the authority of the 

 Government of the country, while it is not in- 

 tended to form a guarantee to the bondhold- 

 ers, who already possess special guarantees. 

 On January 25th Earl Granville sent an answer 

 to M. Duclerc's note, in which he proved that 

 the Anglo-French Control was not based upon 

 international agreements, but upon a simple 

 ordinance of the Khedive Ismail, and that its 

 re-establishment in 1879 by mutual agreement 

 of the three powers revived only its former 

 qualities, and did not constitute an interna- 

 tional engagement, revocable only with the 

 consent of England and France. Lord Gran- 

 ville's circular premised the unwillingness of 

 other powers to join in the suppression of the 

 military rebellion, which threw the task upon 

 England alone. It announced the intention of 

 withdrawing the British army of occupation 

 as soon as order should be established. In the 

 mean time it would be necessary to impart ad- 

 vice to the Khedive regarding internal and 

 foreign affairs for the purpose of securing a 

 new order which should be permanent and 

 satisfactory. With regard to those matters 

 which are affected by international, rights and 



