\ -\ 94 THE STORY OF THE KHEDIVATE.

• Egyptian Government, or, in other words, by Ismail. From what I can learn, these bonds were constantly issued without any notification being made to the Khedive's ministers, or even without their issue being formally recorded at the Egyptian Treasury. The bonds of course were not accepted by independent creditors at their face value; and as the number of j these bonds grew with alarming rapidity, they kept falling in value as compared with gold. Then, too, money was borrowed everywhere where borrowing was possible, and especially from the European residents and merchants in Egypt Alexandria was then, far more than it is to-day, a community devoted to gambling; and to lend money to the Khedive was a kind of business eminently congenial to the Levantine mind. His Highness was indifferent as to the rate at which he borrowed, so \lpng as the advance was made. The loans, especially those of small amount, had a reasonable prospect of being repaid with more or less of regularity, or, if not repaid, of being renewed on still more favourable terms for the lender, and they possessed, therefore, an attraction for small speculators quite distinct from their financial worth. In addition to this the Pashas, as I have said, were called upon to contribute to the financial requirements of the Treasury. In August 187 1, the Government issued the famous law of the Moukabala. The law in question raised, later on, any number of controversies, both as to law and fact. There are people who take especial