ok place on
several of the loans. Nearly the whole of the debt, it should be stated,
was held in England or France, and at the instance of French financiers
the stoppage of payment was followed by a scheme to unify the debt. This
scheme included the distribution of a bonus of 25% to holders of
treasury bonds. These bonds had then reached a sum exceeding L20,000,000
and were held chiefly by French firms. The unification scheme was
elaborated in a khedivial decree of the 7th of May 1876, but was
rendered abortive by the opposition of the British bondholders. Its
place was taken by another scheme drawn up by Mr (afterwards Lord)
Goschen and M. Joubert, who represented the British and French
bondholders respectively. The details of this settlement, promulgated by
decree of the 17th of November 1876, need not be given, as it was
superseded in 1880. One of the securities devised for the benefit of the
bondholders in the abortive scheme of May 1876 was retained in the
Goschen-Joubert settlement, and being continued in later settlements
grew to be one of the most important institutions in Egypt. This
security was the establishment of a Treasury of the Public Debt, known
by its French title of _Caisse de la Dette_, and commonly spoken of
simply as "the Caisse." The duty of this body was to act as receivers of
the revenues assigned to the service of the debt. To render their powers
effective they were given the right to sue the Egyptian government in
the Mixed Tribunals for any breach of engagement to the bondholders.

The Law of Liquidation.

The Goschen-Joubert settlement was accompanied by guarantees against
maladministration by the appointment of an Englishman and a Frenchman to
superintend the revenue and expenditure--the "Dual Control"; while a
commission was appointed in 1878 to investigate the condition of the
country. The settlement of 1880 was effected on the basis of the
proposals made by this commission, and was embodied in the Law of
Liquidation of July 1880--after the deposition of Ismail. For the
purposes of the new settlement the loans raised by Ismail on his private
estates, those known as the Daira (i.e. "administrations") and Domains
loans, were brought into account. By the Law of Liquidation the floating
debt was paid off, the whole debt being consolidated into four large
loans, upon which the rate of interest was reduced to a figure which it
was considered Egypt was able to bear. The Egyptian debt under