'Change has been agitated this week by all kinds of
rumours from Egypt. The Khedive had quarrelled with Mr. Cave. The accounts had been found much worse than was expected. The Khedive was raising money from M. de Lesseps, on the security of some rights in the Canal held by him as founder. The truth is not yet known, but it is obvious that there must be exaggera- tion or invention in all this, and we presume the fact is that Mr. Cave, who can have had no time even to examine the Egyptian Budget, much less to quarrel about it, has pointed out the neces- sity of getting rid of the floating Debt, with its enormous interest —18 per cent.—and that the Khedive is making sacrifices to get together the money for the purpose. What the extent of sacrifice demanded is cannot be known yet, but the few facts which ooze out suggest that the Egyptian Budget will be found "wrong" by a million or two.
Previous page
