Mr. Disraeli made an extraordinary statement on Thursday night. Mr.
Cave was sent out to Egypt to report on the condition of the Khedive's finances, and it was understood that his report, when read by her Majesty's Government, would be published. Everybody expected it, bits of it were quoted, and it was confi- dently stated, more especially in the Pall Mall Gazette, that it had been read by the French Minister of Finance, and would show that the Egyptian Government was perfectly solvent. On Thurs- day, however, the Premier, in reply to Mr. Cartwright, said that he had read the report, and that the Cabiget had felt it necessary to ask the Khedive if he wished to publish it, and the Khedive replied that, in the unsettled position of his finance, he did not wish. Since much of the report was based on 'confidential information from the Khedive himself, the Government felt bound to respect his wishes. The only natural deduction from that statement is that the optimists are wrong, that the report is very bad, and that the Khedive is in serious difficulties ; and this the Stock Exchange drew, Egyptian Stocks sinking at once within a fraction of 6 per cent. There is only one course for the Khedive now to pursue, and that is, to publish the report himself, first obtaining, of course, Mr. Cave's assurance that the printed report and the manuscript are identical.
