The Turkish Bondholders have been holding meetings this - week, but
their seCurities do not improve. They know _neither what they want nor how to get it, and are divided besides .among themselves. The holders of bonds guaranteed on special revenues think that by throwing over the holders of the general Ilebt they may get exceptional terms, and insist that no arrangement .shall be made which does not recognise their peculiar rights. We lave tried to show the absurdity of their views elsewhere, and if it be true, as reported, that the Sultan and the Sheikh-el-Ulemah, AS depositary of the religious funds, hold nothing but the general Debt, they are attacking personal interests of the most formidable kind. .We do not believe they will ever get a penny, but if they do, it will be by making it the interest of the Sultan himself to help them, not by punishing him person- ally. Egyptian bonds have been falling heavily,—" in sympathy," It is said, and holders are writing to the Times to explain that this sympathy is irrational. Very possibly, but Governments can fail without being affected by sympathy. What is the Egyptian annual receipt in cash from taxes ? These writers say /11,000,000, and if they believe Egypt can yield that sum for any length of time, they are quite right, and Lord Salisbury should send his financiers to learn wisdom in the Khedive's Exchequer.
