THE CREDIT SIDE OF THE ACCOUNT. 107 increasing the incomes of the present tillers of the soil. In fact, upon the hypothesis in question, the condition of the fellaheen at the present might, but for the crushing burden of the debt created by Ismail Pasha, have been the happiest of any agricultural population in the world.

It might also be contended, if the object of the contention was to show the sufferings entailed upon his country by the reckless extravagance of Ismail Pasha, that Egypt derived little or no benefit from the loans raised in her name and charged upon her resources. Of all the unsolved problems of Egyptian history not the least difficult is to explain how the money which flowed into the Egyptian Treasury between 1863 and 1869 was actually spent. There can be no question that Egypt increased her indebtedness during this period by over one hundred millions, but .what became of it is still, to a great extent, matterN C/-of guesswork. No doubt the contributions made to \ h- lT* the Suez Canal may account, in one form or another, / V \ "* for some eight millions ; and, as I have shown, this / ( enormous outlay brought in absolutely no return to fc'- > Egypt. Again, the increase in the amount of the \' ' tj tribute paid by Egypt to Turkey in consideration of the decrees conferring the title of Khedive upon the Viceroy, and altering the law of succession, coupled I with the additional sums paid at Constantinople to 1 secure the consent of the Porte, may be put down as / accounting for a large slice of the total. It is, or rather was, the fashion some years ago to accuse the 1-