The Sun.
London, England, 1859-12-09 00:00:00

FRANCE.

PARIS, THURSDAY.
The Bulletin des Lois publishes an Imperial de-
cree which divides the budget of 1860 by chapters.
The credits opened to the Ministers for the expenses
of 1860, amounting to the sum of 1,824,957,778 E,
are apportioned as follows :--Ministry of State,
11,778,400 f. ; Justice, 27,633,595 f. ; Foreign Affairs,
10,740,600 f. ; Interior, 158,003,575 f ; Finance,
946,221,375 f. ; War, 339,458,744 f. ; Marine.
123,503,143 f. ; Public Instruction, 67,430,736 f. ;
Public Works, 101,460,100 f.; and Algeria,
38,727,540 f.
THE BOURSE, Dee. B.—The market has been
again buoyant, and prices have improved. Threes,
after having been done at 69f. 95c. and 70f., im-
proved to 70f. 30c. ; Mobilier varied from 822 f.
50c. to 825 f. ; Austrian, 567 f. 50c. to 670 f, ; Lom-
bard, 565 f. to 567 f. 50c.; Lyons, 927 f. 50c. to
940 f. ; Orleans, 1,420 f. to 1,435 f. ; Northern, 975 f.
to 982 f. 50c. ; Southern, 528 f. 75c. to 532 f. 50c. ;
Eastern, 660 f. to 667 f. 50c: The following were
the last quotations:—

4} per Cents. .... 96 60
Do. end month ..

Credit Foncier 700
Belgian 4} —
Piedmonteso (5)
Roman B4
Austrian
Spanish Threes
Home Debt 43 50

3 per Cents . 70 30
Do. end month.... 70 40
Bank Shazyl 2900

CTiciit Mobilier B3O _
Do. Account 832 50

RAILWAYS.

Cash. Account.
Orleans' 1425 .. 14.35
Northern
New ditto B6O .. .865
Lyons and Moditerranean 937 50 .. 940
Geneva 550 .. 560
Southern
Western 5BO .. 582 50
Eastern - :.. 665
Sardiniaa
Austrian
Lombard . 570 .. 570

- •
Exchange on London, at sight, paper, 25f. 10c. ; money,
25L 9c.; three months, paper, 24f. 95c. ; money, 24f. 931 c,

EGYPT.

A letter from Alexandrian dated Nov. 26, says—
Among the common virtues of every-day life there
is none, perhaps, the inculcation of which upon the
Oriental mind will appear so difficult as that of
habits of punctuality and order and of a true ap-
preciation of the value of time. But, hopeless as
the task may appear, it seems likely that altered cir-
cumstances are about to force the lesson upon the
people of this country. In England, among other
results that have flown from the introduction of
railways, one, perhaps not the least in importance,
has been the cultivation of the habit that already
existed, to a degree of punctiliousness which in the
coaching days of old was far less necessary and,
indeed, altogether undreamt of. In Egypt the
same causes are at work, and in all probability they
will powerfully contribute in process of time to
produce in that respect a complete revolution in
the constitution of the native mind; while, fortu-
nately for the general public, foreign interests
being engaged in the railways, and influence from
abroad thereby brought to bear upon the depart-
ment of Government intrusted with that important
administration, the great requisites of order and re-
gularity will probably be attained without their
being forced upon us by the lessons of hard and
bitter experience.
Mr. Davidson, the Peninsular and Oriental Com-
pany's superintendent for the Mediterranean sta-
tions, has with this object just paid a visit to
Egypt, during which he has had several inter-'
views with the Pasha, and has obtained sundry
reforms and improvements upon the mode in
which the traffic of this railway is conducted.
Among other things, a second regular pas-
senger train will henceforward daily run upon
the lino, whereby not only a very material
benefit is conferred upon the public generally,

but the necessity for special trains for the purpose
of transit is lessened, thus diminishing a source of
possible danger which, upon a single line of railway
more especially, is always more or less to be appre-
hended. Those among your readers who are per-
sonally interested in the Egyptian transit will also,
doubtless, learn with satisfaction that for the future,
none but European drivers are to be employed upon
the trains conveying passengers through the
country.

I am informed that the Peninsular Company have
taken the opportunity to urge upon the Viceroy the
expediency of converting the present single line into
a double one ; but financial difficulties are in the
way', and although the railway itself, from its pros-
perous condition, would enable the Government to
offer ample security for any advances that might be
required, such an arrangement is one which the
sensitive anxiety of foreign Governments for the
neutrality of the Egyptian Railway will hardly
permit.

This question of financial difficulties forms, in-
deed, a standing and growing evil, to which atten-
tion can hardly be too anxiously directed. The
annual revenue of the country, it is well known,
amounts to nearly £5,000,000 sterling, which, after
deduction of the light tribute of £280,000 payable
to the Porte, remains at the absolute disposal of the
Viceroy for defraying the charges of the Govern-
ment and for his own ;personal expenses. And
yet, with this splendid income, not only is the
Treasury always empty, but the Government is
gradually plunging more and more deeply into
debt. According to the most moderate compu-
tations, about two millions sterling are due
to European merchants for supplies of different
kinds to the Government and to the Pasha's house-
hold. The greater portion of that debt is in the
form of bonds having three to 12 months to run,
and-bearing interest at the rate of six per cent. per
annum. At the present moment they are negotiated
on the market at a discount of from 15 to 17 per cent.
per annum. Hitherto these bonds have been met with
regularity, and this, together with the knowledge of
the vest resources of the country, will render it pos-
sible for the amount to be largely increased. But
the weight is sufficient to be already sensibly felt by
all classes. A new tax upon the land has been pro-
posed, and I believe actually carried into effect,
which, although of itself sufficiently light, must
weigh considerably upon the agricultural popu-
lation of Lower Egypt, already suffering from the
failure of this year's grain crop; Throughout the
whole of Egypt, moreover, the imposition of a new
tax, and the well-known embarrassments of the
Government, are rousing the ever watchful and
suspicious fears of the population: The people are
more than ever afraid lest they should seem pos-
sessed of any superfluous wealth, and these fears,
to a far greater extent, no doubt than their actual
poverty, are manifesting themselves by a reduction
in the consumption of foreign goods, which is be-
coming more and more apparent to the European
merchants of Alexandria, who, notwithstanding an
immense diminution in imports, and in the face of
unusually small stocks in the hands of country
dealers, behold their warehouses encumbered with
goods, and sales reduced to an almost incredible
extent.

There is, perhaps, no man in Egypt who manifests
a more sincere desire for the promotion of the well-
being and prosperity ofhis subjects than the Viceroy,
and none among his countrymen will, in conversa-
tion generally, exhibit a truer and more intelligent
appreciation of its wants and of the true interests of
his people; but, unfortunately, in his acts he is more
apt to follow out the designs of those by whom he
allows himself to be surrounded than the dictates
of his own good sense.

For some days past he has been much engaged at
Cairo with festivities of•welcome to his little son,
Toussoun Pasha, who has just returned from his
usual summer excursion to Europe. A banquet
was given to the chief functionaries of the Govern-
ment, which wound up with toasts and speeches in
Turkish, the whole conducted according to the most
approved models afforded by the great British in-
stitution of public dinners. Said Pasha delivered a
speech, in which he dwelt upon the progress made
by Egypt And the Ottoman Empire generally towards
the attainment of a standing among the civilised
nations of the earth, exhorted his hearers to further
the good work by every means in their power, yet
while doing so he gave way to certain feelings of
despondency; the glory of Islam throughout the
world, he said, seemed to be rapidly waning ; its
people, he feared, could never overtake the nations
of Europe, and far less keep pace with them in the
march of improvement. He concluded with ex-
pressions of the hope he rested upon his son, in
whose honour the entertainment was given.
Little Toussoun Pasha is now about seven years
of age. He has acquired from his English nurse,
and through his frequent visits to England, a per-
fect knowledge of our language, which, indeed, ho
speaks more fluently than his own mother tongue.
He has just now been placed under the charge of
an English tutor, and, provided only that he can
be kept sufficiently apart from the mischievous in-
fluence of the harem, there is fair prospect that he
will grow up with enlightened and practical ideas,
the good effects of which may yet become widely
manifest, should he one day succeed to the inheri-
tance of his family.