aid, without reference
to the immediate internal condition of Egypt. The moment was a good one,
but not the best. It was obviously impossible for Egypt to provide for
the extraordinary expenses of the military operations out of revenue.
The Ministry of Finance therefore appealed to the Caisse de la Dette
for a grant from the general reserve fund. Here was an obvious case of
'extraordinary expenses.' The Egyptian Government asked for LE500,000.

The Caisse met in council. Six Commissioners--representing England,
France, Russia, Germany, Austria, and Italy--duly discussed the
application. Four Commissioners considered that the grant should be
made. Two Commissioners, those representing France and Russia, voted
against it. The majority decided. The grant was made. The money was
handed to the Egyptian Government and devoted to the prosecution of the
war.

Egypt as a sovereign power had already humbly begged to be allowed to
devote part of the surplus of her own revenues to her own objects. A
greater humiliation remained. The Commissioners of France and Russia,
who had been out-voted, brought an action against their colleagues on
the grounds that the grant was ultra vires; and against the Egyptian
Government for the return of the money thus wrongly obtained. Other
actions were brought at French instigation by various people purporting
to represent the bondholders, who declared that their interests
were threatened. The case was tried before the Mixed Tribunals, an
institution which exists in Egypt superior to and independent of the
sovereign rights of that country.

On the part of the Egyptian Government and the four Commissioners it was
contended that the Mixed Tribunals had no competency to try the case;
that the attacking parties had no right of action; that the Egyptian
Government had, in applying, done all that the law of liquidation
required; and that the act of sovereignty was complete as soon as the
Caisse, which was the legal representative of the bondholding interest,
had pronounced its decision.

The argument was a strong one; but had it been ten times as strong, the
result would have been the same. The Mixed Tribunals, an international
institution, delivered its judgment on strictly political grounds,
the judges taking their orders from the different countries they
represented. It was solemnly pronounced that war expenses were not
'extraordinary expenses.' The proximate destruction of the Khalifa's
power was