270 



EGYPT. 



Khedive in January, and resulted in the or- 

 ganization of an expedition for the suppression 

 of this trade. Three vessels of the Egyptian 

 navy, and one of the Egyptian postal line, were 

 made ready, and placed under the command of 

 McKillop Pasha. It was expected, however, 

 that he would encounter great obstacles, as the 

 greater part of the trade was carried on in In- 

 dian vessels, carrying the British flag. 



The Khedive, during the early part of the 

 year, sent Morice Bey, a commander in the 

 British navy, on a tour of inspection along the 



ISMA1T.TA, ON SUEZ CANAL. 



coasts of the Red Sea. Although the slave- 

 season had passed, he brought back very valu- 

 able information as to the chief centres of the 

 trade, and the manner in which it is conducted. 

 The Khedive at once forwarded the document 

 to Colonel Gordon, with a long autograph let- 

 ter, in which he assured the colonel that Egypt 

 would loyally cooperate with England in this 

 " measure of humanity and civilization." "Use 

 all the powers I have given you ; take every 

 step you think necessary ; punish, change, dis- 

 miss all officials as you please." Gordon was 

 free to govern as he pleased : he could levy his 

 own army, form his own administration ; he 

 had his own Ministry of Finance, and his own 

 fiscal organization. In short, he had as much 

 power at the Equator as the Governor-General 

 of India has in Hindostan, and Egypt, for all 

 administrative purposes, had sundered herself 

 from Central Africa. The character Gordon 

 Pasha made for himself iiTTiiiHirst adminstra- 

 tion was fully shown by the enthusiastic re- 

 ception he received at his capital town, Kar- 

 toum, when his firman was read to a crowd of 



dignitaries on May 4th. Missionaries and mer- 

 chants, priests and ulemas, consuls, cadis, and 

 fellaheen, all crowded to see him. "But," 

 says an eye-witness, " it is, above all, the poor 

 country people who look upon him as their 

 savior." 



The relations with Abyssinia were of a peace- 

 ful character throughout the year. (See ABYS- 

 SINIA.) 



On September 18th, the French Controller- 

 General, the English Financial Commissioner, 

 and the Secretary of the Egyptian Ministry of 

 Finance, left for Eu- 



' rope, for the purpose 



of laying before Mr. 

 Goschen and M. Jou- 

 bert the necessity of 

 making some arrange- 

 ment for meeting the 

 Egyptian floating debt 

 of 4,500,000, which 

 was unprovided for in 

 the Khedive's decree 

 of November 18, 1876. 

 The plan proposed 

 was, either to aban- 

 don the surplus aris- 

 ing from the Mouk- 

 balah, or to increase 

 the verified debt to 

 the requisite amount. 

 The annual general 

 meeting of the share- 

 holders of the Suez 

 Canal Company was 

 held in Paris, on June 

 6th, and was unusually 

 well attended. M. de 

 Lesseps's report to the 

 shareholders stated 

 that the net profit of 

 last year had exceed- 

 ed 2,000,000 francs, an amount which would 

 enable the Company to pay a dividend of 3 

 francs 55% centimes per share. The dividend 

 paid last year had been only 1 franc 88 centimes 

 per share. During the first five months of 

 the current year the number of ships pass- 

 ing through the canal had increased nearly 9J 

 per cent, on that of the similar period of 1876. 

 The largest ship which had hitherto passed 

 through the canal was an English steamer of 

 5,000 tons, while another English steamer 

 passed easily from one sea to the other, draw- 

 ing 24 feet of water. Two questions which 

 had remained unsettled with the Egyptian 

 Government had now been amicably arranged 

 with England. By these arrangements, on the 

 one hand, the British Government, specially 

 represented at the shareholders' meetings as 

 proprietors of 176,602 shares, would deliberate 

 and vote with a maximum of 10 votes ; and, 

 on the other hand, the capital of each of the 

 176,602 shares which might be redeemed, would 

 be handed over to the English Government, the 

 revenue of this capital to be invested in Eng- 



