The Sun.
London, England, 1861-09-09 00:00:00

FINANCES OF EGYPT.

A letter from Alexandria, dated Aug. 31, says:—
The financial reforms which I lately described as
being in progress have thus far been steadily carried
out. In every administration, and wherever the
slightest possibility of retrenchment could be dis-
covered, the process of reduction and elimination of
dispensable changes has been relentlessly enforced
—not, perhaps, without some _ cases of individual
hardship, but of these many are inevitable, and
others will probably before long be righted. The
rate of expenditure at which we have thereby ar-
rived is calculated not to exceed £1,500,000 sterling
per annum, including all but the Viceroy's civil
'list. That sum, it is true, must be looked upon as
below the limit at which the Government of the
country, even with all possible rare and economy,
can practically be conducted, and it is believed that
the annual expenditure must be reckoned at about
£2,000,000 sterling. But the revenues of the coun-
try do not fall far short of £4,000,000, and conse-
quently the Government might free itself from its
debts in some 6 or 7 years. Under the present aspect
of affairs, therefore, things are not in a hopeless
state. There is no doubt that the Viceroy is tho-
roughly in earnest, and he seems, indeed, to feel
himself stung in his amour propre. The engage-
ments he is contracting towards his foreign credi-
tors, to which I have now to refer, will, moreover,
give him the most powerful motives for persevering
in his wise resolutions. On the other hand, it may
be said the strongest will may become relaxed when
a lapse of years is in question, and it is but a truism
that, hopeful as one may feel on the subject, specu-
lations in which a distant future is involved cannot
quite safely be indulged in.
As your readers would gather from the statement
I lately sent on the financial position of the country,
it was rather more than a matter of surmise that
a sum of money for present wants would be indis-
pensable, of a less or greater amount, according
as the Government might or might not succeed in
bringing to a successful issue its negotiations with
M. Lafitte for deferring the repayment of last year's
loan of 28,000,000 f. The particulars of these nego-
tiations had not become public, but Draneht Bey
and the representatives of the Paris bankers left for
Marseilles by last French steamer, and according to
what has transpired it appears that a basis of ar-
rangement has been agreed upon, which will in all
probability be carried into effect.
The Egyptian Government, it is stated, has stipu-
lated for a loan of such amount as will produce
about £2,000,000 sterling, net cash. This and the
old loan of 28,000,000 f. will be consolidated into
one debt, redeemable by means of a sinking fund in
about 30 years. Other conditions differ little from
those previously proposed and with which your
readers are already acquainted. There are a few ex-
ceptions, but all, as far as is known, more favour-
able to the Egyptian Government ; thus commis-
sion will be reduced from 72 to 6 per cent., and it
will be levied upon the net produce instead of upon
the gross amount of the loan. The restrictions upon
the liberty of action of the Government will be less
stringent, but the engagement to contract no new
debts of any kind until the present one is paid, un
less it be with the special concurrence of the
bankers, will be rigidly enforced.
The above agreement is said to have been attained
by the mediation of the French Consul-General,
who, by the terms of the contract for the old loan,
was appointed ex officio arbiter in case of any dis-
agreement. It must, in justice, be added that he
receives a large share of praise for having urged
the Viceroy to undertake his financial reforms, and
for encouraging him to persevere in his good reso-
lutions. It is difficult to perceive, also, how it could
be possible to extricate the country from its diffi-
culties without resorting to external aid—at least
to such an extent as would meet immediate require-
ment. Still, there can be no concealment about the
matter that a foreign debt, liable as it must be to
affect the independent action of the Government, is
at least suggestive of unpleasant thoughts.
In abedience to repeated invitations, the last of
which is said to have come in peremptory terms,
Said Pasha has left for Constantinople, to pay the
customary homage to the new Sultan. In his pre-
sent mood for economy the Viceroy's unwillingness
to undertake the journey may fairly be attributed
to its enormous expense. He has been obliged to
provide himself with a large amount of ready cash,
and it is believed that the wretched system of lar-
gesses which prevails at the Turkish capital will
subject him to contributions to an amount of little
short of £200,000, levied by all with whom he
contact, from the highest personages down to the
lowest servants of those whose hospitality he may
have to accept. His Highness sailed from Alex-
andria last week in the steam frigate Siaghet-el-
Bahr, and was expected tc be absent some 20 or 25
days.