'The extraordinary expenditure in connection with the Soudan campaign,'
wrote Mr. J.L. Gorst, the Financial Adviser to the Khedive in his Note of
December 20, 1898 [Note by the Financial Adviser on the Budget of 1899:
EGYPT, No. 3, 1899], 'has been charged to the Special Reserve Fund.
At the present moment this fund shows a deficit of EP336,000, and there are
outstanding charges on account of the expedition amounting to EP330,000,
making a total deficit of EP666,000.'
'On the other hand, the fund will be increased, when the accounts
of the year are made up, by a sum of EP382,000, being the balance of
the share of the Government in the surplus of 1898, after deduction of
the excess administrative expenditure in that year, and by a sum of
EP90,000, being part of the proceeds of the sale of the Khedivial postal
steamers. The net deficit will, therefore, be EP194,000; and if the year
1899 is as prosperous as the present year, it may be hoped that the deficit
will disappear when the accounts of 1899 are closed.'
A great, though perhaps academic, issue remains: Was the war justified
by wisdom and by right?
If the reader will look at a map of the Nile system, he cannot fail
to be struck by its resemblance to a palm-tree. At the top the green and
fertile area of the Delta spreads like the graceful leaves and foliage.
The stem is perhaps a little twisted, for the Nile makes a vast bend
in flowing through the desert.
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