THE ADVANCE ON DONGOLA. 481 Egypt, played unintentionally into our hands. Almost immediately after the Egyptian troops had commenced their march from Wady Haifa, Egypt, being in want of funds for the cost of the campaign, applied to the Catsse de la Dette for an advance of ;500,ooo from the Reserve Fund in the hands of the Commissioners, who were authorized by the London Convention of 1885, as modified by the financial arrangement of 1888, to make advances "for any extraordinary expenditure incurred with the previous sanction of the Commission of the Debt." The prosecution of a campaign for the recovery of the Soudan was considered by four out of the six Commissioners as coming within the scope of legitimate extraordinary expenditure, and the advance requested was voted by a majority of four to two, the supporters of the grant being the representatives on the Commission of England, Germany, Italy, and Austria, the opponents being the French and Russian members.

The ;500,ooo was duly paid into the Egyptian Treasury. The dissident Commissioners thereupon applied to the Cairo Court of the International tribunals for an injunction to order the restoration of these funds, not so much on the ground that they disapproved of the object for which the grant had been made, as that they contended no grant for such a purpose could be legally given unless the Commissioners were unanimous in their consent. The application was heard before the court in the month of June, and the Franco- Russian contention was 2 I