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It will be remembered that Mr. Disraeli, in explaining the

Suez- Canal purchase, said it would have been illegal for the Bank of England to advance the £4,000,000 required for the purchase of the shares. Sir Stafford Northeote, however, on Tuesday, ex- plained, in answer to Mr. Ashley, that the Bank was not pro- hibited by statute from purchasing the shares, but only by the clause in their charter which forbids them to trade. The point now to inquire about is whether the Bank could or could not have advanced money on the shares, treating the Khedive as an ordinary customer and the British Government as his security. Surely they advance money in that way every day, or is the Chancellor of the Exchequer a bad "second name?"

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