Bankrupts and Brokers 87
of the railways and royal domains had been already
pledged, the funded debt was already more than the
country could bear, and, as the Franco-Prussian war had
prevented further loans, the floating debt was accumulat-
ing dangerously. He was therefore forced to anticipate
his revenues, A device for this purpose was the
moukabala, by which anyone paying half of his next
six years3 property tax in advance acquired the fee simple
of his holding. With the proceeds, sixteen millions, the
floating debt was funded, and two millions more were
raised by a forced loan. But by November, 1875, the
Egyptian funds had fallen to fifty-four, and its Treasury
Bills were being discounted at thirty per cent. By April,
1876, the foreign debt charges could no longer be flogged
out of the fellaheen, and payment was for the first time
postponed.
A decree (May 2, 1876) thereupon responded to the
representations of the foreign creditors by appointing a
foreign receivership—the Commission of the Debt. The
French, Austrian, and Italian Governments accepted
representation, but the British refused it. They sent out
a banker, Mr. Cave, who reported that Egypt could be
made solvent; and Lord Derby was very emphatic
that: " Mr. Cave's mission implies no desire to inter-
fere in the internal affairs of Egypt" (State Papers
LXXXIIL, 1876, p. 2). The British holders of the
domain debt were less scrupulous. Being dissatisfied with
the decree of consolidation (May 7, 1876) they de-
manded a separate settlement, and got from the Mixed
Tribunals a decision allowing them to foreclose. They
then sent out Mr, Goschen, who effected a fresh con-
solidation that was much to their advantage (November
ii 8, 1876). But no further turns of the screw could extort
from the fellaheen the annuities of the funded and float-