THE SECOND NUBAR PASHA MINISTRY. 37i as heretofore, the question of finance. The loss of revenue caused by the Arabi insurrection, the disastrous expeditions to the Eastern Soudan, the payments required for the Alexandria indemnity, and the cost of the army of occupation, had rendered it impossible for Egypt to fulfil the conditions imposed upon her by the composition arranged under the Law of Liquidation, and had therefore brought her once more face to face with the necessity of having to make default in the obligations she had contracted. The difficulty might easily have been solved if the British Government had consented to provide the means required to enable Egypt to meet her International liabilities. But this idea was regarded as inadmissible in Downing Street.

Sir Evelyn was summoned home, and a Conference was held in London to discuss the Egyptian Question.

The members of the Conference were Earl Granville, as Foreign Secretary of State ; Mr. Childers, as Chancellor of the Exchequer; and the Ambassadors of Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, and Turkey.

At this Conference our Government seriously offered" to fix a date for the withdrawal of our troops from 1 Egypt, on condition of the Continental Powers agree- 1 ing to the suspension of the sinking fund, as well as to the reduction of the rate of interest agreed upon by he Law of Liquidation. If this proposal had been accepted, England would have had to withdraw her droops from Egypt at the date agreed upon by the Conference. Happily for us, France, actuated by her strong desire to protect the interests of the French