No reply has been received to the proposals of Lord
Gran- ville on Egyptian Finance, all the Powers waiting for France, while France waited to see how the Chinese negotiations would go. Meanwhile, the International Tribunal at Cairo has decided that the Egyptian Government, in intercepting the Sinking Fund, has acted illegally, and that all who refused to pay revenue to the Office of the Debt, and paid it to the Treasury instead, are personally liable for the money. As a considerable time is allowed for an appeal, and as the Tribunals cannot force the Khedive to execute judgment on himself. the decision is not quite so operative as it looks, but it increases the necessity for a decision. It is believed that M. Ferry, in the interest of the Bondholders, will seek some kind of guarantee in order to raise the price of Egyptian TJnifieds ; but there is a point at which the usurers' control of M. Ferry ceases. He does not want China and England on his hands at once, or to hear that the Cairene Treasury is bankrupt. and that the Bondholders must be content with any money remaining after administration has been paid for.
