398 THE STORY OF THE KHEDIVATE.

r'Government ordered the local authorities to pay the receipts from the revenues affected to the service , of the public debt into the Treasurj instead of to the Commissioners of the International Caisse de la Dette, The order was a distinct violation of the Law of Liquidation, and ought never to have been issued unless the British Government had been willing to accept the consequences, and make themselves responsible for any loss the creditors of Egypt might sustain by so high-handed a measure. This step our Government was not prepared to take. Thereupon the Continental Powers protested strongly against the measure in question, which, however justifiable on the ground of emergency, was, technically, at any rate, an act of repudiation. The Commissioners of the Public Debt, as they were legally entitled to do, sued the Egyptian Government before the International courts, and obtained judgment in their favour. Thereupon Egypt had to withdraw the obnoxious decree, issued n the advice of the British High Commissioner. An appeal was made, however, against the judgment y of the International Court of First Instance of Cairo to the High Court of Alexandria. There can be no doubt that the superior Court would have confirmed the judgment of the inferior, and this fact, we may safely assume, was realized by the British Government. The negotiations between England and the Continental Powers, which had been broken off after the indefinite adjournment of the London Conference, were resumed before the appeal came on for hearing.