is at the same time
the chief safeguard for the purity of Egypt's finances.

In the second category of restrictions, namely, those dependent on the
London Convention, were the various commissions or boards known as Mixed
Administrations and having relations of a quasi-independent character
with the ministry of finance. Of these boards by far the most important
was the Caisse. As first constituted it consisted of a French, an
Austrian, and an Italian member; a British member was added in 1877 and
a German and a Russian member in 1885. The revenue assigned to the debt
charges was paid direct to the Caisse without passing through the
ministry of finance. The assent of the Caisse (as well as that of the
sultan) was necessary before any new loan could be issued, and in the
course of a few years from its creation this body acquired very
extensive powers. Besides the Caisse there was the Railway Board, which
administered the railways, telegraphs and port of Alexandria for the
benefit of the bondholders, and the Daira and Domains commissions, which
administered the estates mortgaged to the holders of those loans. Each
of the three boards last named consisted of an Englishman, a Frenchman
and an Egyptian.

The race against bankruptcy.

During the two years that followed the signing of the London Convention,
the financial policy of the Egyptian government was directed to placing
the country in a position to resume full payment of the interest on the
debt in 1887, and thereby to avoid the appointment of an international
commission. By the exercise of the most rigid economy in all branches
this end was attained, though budgetary equilibrium was only secured by
a variety of financial expedients, justified by the vital importance of
saving Egypt from further international interference. By such means this
additional complication was averted, but the struggle to put Egypt in a
genuinely solvent position was by no means over. It was not until his
report on the financial results of 1888 that Sir Evelyn Baring
(afterwards Lord Cromer) was able to inform the British government that
the situation was such that "it would take a series of untoward events
seriously to endanger the stability of Egyptian finance and the solvency
of the Egyptian government." From this moment the corner was turned, and
the era of financial prosperity commenced. The results of the labours of
the preceding six years began to manifest themselves with a rapidit