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THE CONVENTION OF MARCH, 1885.
109

for the plaintiffs by the Mixed Court of First Instance on 9th December. The British proposals. In the meantime Lord Northbrook had made his report, and the ministry, towards the end of November, submitted to the Powers a scheme under which England would guarantee a new loan of £5,000,000, at 3½ per cent., while a further loan of £4,ooo,ooo was to be added to the Preference Debt, and the interest on the Unified Debt was to be reduced to 3½ per cent.[1]

This scheme was not accepted, and steps were taken by several of the Powers indicating a wish to substitute something like a 'multiple control' for the existing British supervision of Egyptian reforms. Claim for Russian and German commissioners of the Caisse. On 11th December Russia and Germany claimed to be allowed each to nominate a Commissioner of the Caisse[2]; and, on 17th January, 1885, the French government forwarded to the Foreign Office a counter-project, which received the general support of Germany, Austria, and Russia, and became the basis of fresh negotiations. The French counter-project At length, on 17th March, a Declaration was signed at London on behalf project, of the six Powers, and subsequently on behalf of the Porte, embodying a draft Convention (signed on 18th March) and a draft Decree to be issued by the Khedive.

The arrangements set forth in these documents[3], and sanctioned by the House of Commons on 27th March, is to the effect that a loan of £9,000,000 is to be authorized by the Porte and guaranteed by the great Powers jointly and severally; that the Unified and Preference coupons are to be taxed for two years, but not longer without the sanction of an International Commission; and that an Act is to be drawn up providing for the freedom of the Suez Canal [4].

  1. ↑ Parl. Papers, 1885, Egypt, No. 4, p. 20.
  2. ↑ lb. p. 52. In February, 1885, this claim was allowed; ib. No. 5, pp. 11, 19. A similar claim was afterwards made on behalf of the Porte.
  3. ↑ Ib. No. 6 (Texts, No. XVIII).
  4. ↑ During the negotiations with France, in 1884, Lord Granville proposed that Egypt should be neutralised. In a circular dispatch of 3rd January, 1883, he had proposed that this process should be applied to the Suez Canal only. Pari. Papers, 1882, Egypt, No. 20, p. 48.
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