loo THE STORY OF THE KHEDIVATE.

equally devoid of scruples, were less expert than men of Latin race in ingratiating themselves with an Oriental potentate.

To recite all the expedient devices and shifts by which Ismail for nearly six years, after he had lost ' the power of raising fresh loans, contrived to stave off the day of reckoning, would require a far larger space than I can devote to the subject, and would also be of little interest to the general reader. It is enough to say that year by year the liabilities of Egypt grew greater ; the charges for raising fresh debts, or deferring payment of old debts, became heavier ; the exceptional revenues raised by every sort of exaction and oppression dwindled away more and more ; the securities on which money could be raised either at home or abroad got fewer in number and scantier in /value. In 1875 about the only available asset which \ the Khedive had it in his power to pledge was the ) ;4,ooo,ooo of Suez Canal shares, allotted originally N to Said Pasha. In 1875, the financial situation, as I / .; w Tiave attempted to describe it in the foregoing pages, AC 1'*! "Ssw imperfectly known by the outside public.

n After all, the interest on the Khedive's foreign loans had hitherto been paid regularly, the loans still stood at high prices, and the bondholders so far had every reason to be satisfied with their investments in Egyptian securities. It is difficult to suppose that the true state of affairs should not have been suspected by the foreign colony in 'Egypt. But it is intelligible enough that their suspicions, even if entertained, # , t