FOREIGN RELATIONS.


helm, Neveu & Co., by which they take the balance of the loan, about
£16,000,000 nominal, on the same terms as they took the first £16,000,000;
that is to say, at 75, fixed.
  As a matter of fact, they had already advanced the government about
£7,000,000, leaving only £5,000.000 to be arranged for.
  The large floating debt has been nearly extinguished by this opera-
tion, but it is to be observed that while the obligations of the govern-
ment have been issued to the amount of £32,000,000, the treasury has
only realized about £23,000,000 from the loan.
  The present condition of the finances seems to be as satisfactory as*
could be expected. The remainder of some of the old loans have been
extinguished, and the floating debt has been reduced to about £3,000,000.
  To meet all the engagements of the government to the end of next
December, however, £3,000,000 are required; and an arrangement for
a re-issue of treasury bonds has been made, on which, as security, the
Anglo-Egyptian Bank is to advance the required amount. These bonds,
as well as all the balance of the bonds of the floating debt, fall due next
year, 1875.
  Five or six millions of bonds, that is to say, the entire floating debt,
will thus fall due next year. To meet that demand, it has been pro-
posed to issue an irredeemable national loan of £5,000,000, and invite
native subscriptions.
  The loan will be issued to natives at par, in bonds of small amount,
bearing nine per cent. interest, and payable in monthly installments,
extending from the 1st of November, 1874, to the 1st of November,
1875.
  To render the loan popular with the natives, the bonds will be regis-
tered at the rouznameh, or religious divan.
  The rouznameh is a divan or department,, having charge of religious
estates and of all contracts of a Sacred or peculiarly permanent nature.
  Any contract registered at the rouznameh partakes of the religious
nature of the divan, and is secure from arbitrary action on the part of
"the civil authori.ties.
  Many Egyptians deposit their money and valuables at the ronz-
nameh for safety, deriving no interest or benefit therefrom. It is be-
lieved that.many who now deposit at the rouznameh without benefit
will gladly avail themselves of the national loan, which Will be equally
safe as.a permanent investment, and will yield them 9 per cent. interest,
in semi-annual payments.
  Reference to this loan has been made in various European newspapers
during the past summer, and it has been stated that the loan has not
only been placed on the market, but that it has been more than covered
already.
   Such is not the case, however. Not a single bond of the loan has been
issued, and its success is considered by many as extremely doubtful.
       I am, &c.,
                                                R. BEARDSLEY.


                              No. 803.
                      1Mr. Beardsley to Mr. Fish.
 No. 235.]             AGENCY AND CONSULATE-GENERAL
                            OF THE UNITED STATES IN EGYPT,
                   Cairo, September 12, 1874. (Received October 14.)
   Sin: As everythinv g relating to the expedition of Colonel Gordon is


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