The Government has taken the first necessary step towards the
restoration of financial safety in Egypt. Under the iniquitous agreement with the Jew Rings, called the Law of Liquidation, the claim of the Bondholders runs before the claims of the State. Certain revenues are paid into the Caisse de la Bette rublique, and if the amount is larger than is required, the balance is used as a Sinking Fund, even though the State is at the moment insolvent. 'On the 17th inst., this arrange- ment ceased. All revenue will be paid into the Cairo Treasury, which will pay the guaranteed interest, but for the present will allow nothing for any Sinking Fund. The necessity for this arrangement was acknowledged at the Conference; but of course the Rings will order the Continental newspapers to make a great outcry. They are afraid that if the claims of the State are put first, there will not be enough left for their dividends. That is quite possible for a time, and is precisely the risk they took when they lent their money. If the innocent holders have a grievance—and they have none, for they knew their risks—it is not against the Khedive or the British Government, but against the loan-mongers, who lent their money to an Asiatic certain to fool it away, at exorbitant interest, and then stirred up Europe to secure their profits by armed force.
