No. 348.
Mr. Farman to Mr. Fish.
Cairo, April 3, 1877. (Received April 26.)
Sir: I have the honor to transmit herewith a copy of a circular received from Chérif Pasha, minister of foreign affairs, dated March 22, 1877, and its translation.
It states that certain organs of the press, under influences hostile to the Egyptian Government, seem to have assumed the task of spreading reports wholly foreign, to its intentions relative to the execution of the judgments rendered against it by the new tribunals. The Government of the Khédive regrets very much these reports, and deems it its duty to deny them in the most formal terms, and adds that it has nothing so much at heart as respect for the decisions of these courts.
His excellency says that it is not denied that delays have occurred, but that the government was the first to regret them, and that they have not been in accordance with its wishes.
He further says that the execution of these judgments has already been commenced, and that measures have been adopted to assure the pay merit in full of the sums due according to certain fixed conditions.
I have sent to his excellency an answer in French, stating that these calumnious reports were not credited either by me or by my government, and that I fully recognized the efforts made by the Government of His Highness the Khedive to satisfy its obligations, and had never doubted its final success.
There are several subjects to which it seems proper to refer in connection with the contents of this circular:
1st. Immediately after my arrival in Egypt, by dispatch No. 7, of May 20, 1876, I informed you of the disagreement between the Government of the Khedive and the court of appeal of Alexandria in reference to the jurisdiction of the latter, and transmitted to you the circular of Chérif Pasha, giving the government’s views on the subject. By your dispatch No. 27, of November 25, 1876, acknowledging mine of October 17, 1876, I was authorized, in accordance with the request of Sir Edward Thornton, Her Britannic Majesty’s representative at Washington, made under instructions from Lord Derby, to unite with my colleague “in a proper protest, to be addressed to the Government of the Khédive, against a resistance to the decisions or denial of the jurisdiction of the new tribunals of Egypt in cases of the nature of that of which the decision was made on the 3d of May, at the suit of Cesar Carpi.”
No such protest has yet been made. There has seemed to be such a genuine desire on the part of the Government of His Highness to make satisfactory arrangements with its creditors, and the efforts that have been put forth have been to such an extent successful, that it has not been thought necessary or best up to this time, to make any formal protest in answer to the circular of May 23, 1876.
Her Majesty’s Government is also still in negotiations with that of the Khédive on the question of the true interpretation of article 11 of the “Règlement d’organisation judiciaire.”
2d. You were informed by dispatch No. 79, dated December 8, 1876, of the decree issued by the Khédive in pursuance of an agreement made between the English and French holders of the Egyptian bonds, through their agents, Messrs. Goschen and Joubert, and the Egyptian [Page 625] Government. This agreement was accepted or acquiesced in b y nearly all the bondholders, and its provisions have thus far been substantially kept on the part of the Government of the Khédive.
3d. The various classes of what are termed the “commercial obligations” of the government, being all the indebtedness that is not included in its bonds or treasury notes, is also being paid or arranged.
The only American claim of very much importance under this head is that of Messrs. E. Remington and Sons, which forms the subject of your dispatch No. 14 of August 2, 1876, and my No. 76 of November 14, 1876. This claim has caused me much anxiety, and every proper effort has been made to secure its payment.
I have had several interviews on the subject with the Princes Hassein Pasha and Hassan Pasha, the former being minister of war and the latter of finance; and on one occasion I had an interview in relation to it with the Khédive.
Mr. Comanos has also been with Mr. Remington to the departments a great number of times.
As a result of all these efforts I have the pleasure to state that arrangements have been made more favorable to the Messrs. Remington than those made with any other large creditor, so far as I can learn.
In the month of January Mr. Remington received £10,000, and within the past four weeks he has received £23,000 more, and the minister of finance has promised to pay, within a few days, in good bankers’ bills, payable in London in three months, the balance due for guns delivered, being £19,000,
There are also guns in Alexandria and Liverpool to the amount of £46,000, the delivery of which has been delayed on account of non-payment, but which are now to be delivered and paid for in December and January next. According to the original contract there are in addition to these about 35,000 guns to be delivered, which will amount to a little more than £100,000, a considerable part of which are in the United States finished, or in progress of manufacture.
No special agreement has yet been made in relation to these, but the matter is under negotiation.
4th. The judgments, except those based on bonds and the treasury-notes, and included in the agreement with Messrs. Goschen and Joubert, that have been rendered against the government by the commissions constituted under the conventions with the various governments and by the special chambers and the new tribunals, are being paid with reasonable rapidity, and as fast as it is possible for the government to do so under its present financial embarrassments.
In fact, all the acts and declarations of the government show a bona fide intent on its part to pay its obligations in full, and there are reasonable grounds to expect final success, though it must be admitted that its debt is very large in comparison with the resources of the country, and that to meet interest and current expenses necessarily requires oppressive taxation.
If the people of the United States had to pay in proportion to their resources a tithe of the taxes paid by the Egyptians, they would think they were oppressed beyond endurance.
5th. Negotiations have been pending since the month of December for an arrangement of the private debts of the Khédive, called the debts of the Daïra. No definite results have yet been attained.
I have, &c.,