On Tuesday was published the correspondence between Sir Evelyn Baring
and Tigrane Pasha, the Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs, relative to the Firman of investiture. Sir Evelyn begins by asking Tigrane Pasha whether he is aware that the new Firman "contains a passage respecting the limits of Egypt, which does not occur in the Firman issued to his Highness the late Khedive." Tewfik received the Khedivat of Egypt with its ancient boundaries and the territories which had been annexed thereto. The new Firman confers the Khedivat as described in the Firman of a particular date. Has any explanation of this discrepancy, asks Sir E. Baring, been given by the Sublime Porte ? To this Tigrane Pasha replies that he is happy to say that he has received an Irad6 by telegraph under which the Sultan confides to the Khedive, "as to his predecessor, the administration of the Peninsula of Mount Sinai." To this Sir E. Baring, after reminding Tigrane Pasha that no alteration can be made in the Egyptian Fir- mans without the consent of the British Government, replies that he asked his original question because it appeared that under the new Firman the Sinai Peninsula would be taken away from Egypt. The telegram, however, sets this matter at rest, and accordingly the British Government consent to the definition of boundaries in the new Firman, " as supple- mented, amended, and explained" by the telegram. They cannot admit, however, that verbal alterations in Firmans can affect existing territorial rights, and place their view on record. Here, then, is the official record of the very mean little intrigue for filching the Sinai Peninsula attempted by the Porte. The Sultan has strange notions of how best to regain his influence in Egypt.
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