The Khedive has cut the knot of his finance by
" unifying " all his debts—the public debt, the floating debt, and the Daira or- private debt—into one consolidated stock, at 7 per cent., issued at different rates, in accordance with the interest paid. The total amounts to the extraordinary sum of £91,000,000, or at least £5,000,000 more than the highest previous estimate, and places on Egypt a burden of £6,370,000 a year. Whether the Floating Debt has recently been increased, as it will be remem- bered Sir Stafford Northcote hinted might be the case, or- the Daira Debt was larger than was suspected, is not known. Certain sources of revenue are to be made over to Commissioners for collection, and they, if unsatisfied, are to have right of action against the Khedive before the Consular Courts. In spite of these provisions, however, the creditors are not hopeful, since even if the private estate pays a promised £600,000 a year—which, according to Mr. Cave, it does not yield—the revenue not hypo- thecated will, on the most favourable estimate, barely provide for the Administration. The Khedive, as we have argued else- where, has, in fact, promised too much for his own purpose, even if the revenue of Egypt is £10,000,000 a year, which, while cotton is at a normal price, is almost incredible. Egypt is not- so fertile, that it should pay, head for head, ten times the taxation of Bengal.
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