OBITUARY.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XCIII, Issue 10596, 4 March 1895, Page 5

OBITUARY.

EX-KHEDIVE ISMAIL. [Special to Press Association.) CAIRO, March 3. The death is announced of exKhedive Ismail. Ismail Pasha, ex-Viceroy or Khedive of Egypt, son of Ibrahim Pasha, and grandson of the celebrated Mehemefc Ali, was horn at Cairo in 1830, and succeeded his brother Said Pasha, Jan. 18, 1863. Ho was educated in Paris, and on his return to Egypt, in 1849, he opposed the policy of Abbas Pasha, the Viceroy, who, as it was supposed for political purposes, made in 1853 a criminal charge against him, which was not, however, proceeded with. The Viceroy’s policy in Egypt was said to be in accordance with that of his prdecessor, namely, the development of the resources of hia country; but he had much trouble in hhi transactions with M. de Lesseps in relation to the Suez Canal. These difficulties were, however, arranged in July, 1364, by the arbitration of the Emperor Napoleon, whose decision was accepted by the Viceroy. Prom this period the Viceroy took a warm interest in the underbaking, and in 1869, when the works were approaching completion, he visited most of the capitals of Europe, including London, in order to invite the sovereigns to he present at the opening of the canal. The Viceroy gave serious offence to the Sultan by tlm sirs of sovereignty he assumed, during this journey, and by the language of independence which he employed in his invitations ; but the year in which the quarrel arose saw its amicable termination. The Khedive gave way upon the matters of form, which were those upon which the Porte laid the most; stress, and a new finnan, maintaining, confirming, and defining the privileges of the Pasha, was read to him with all due formality. Moreover, on June 8, 1873, a firman was granted by the Sultan to the Khedive of Egypt, sanctioning the full autonomy of that country, and enacting the law of primogeniture in favour of Ismail Pasha’s family. The attsmpt to Europeanise the country entailed a vast expenditure, and Egypt acquired a national debt of more than .£80,000,000. In 1875 the Khedive procured a temporary respite from his difficulties by the sale of his shares in the Suez Canal to the British Government for the sum of £4,000,000; and then, being at last aware of the critical state of hia finances, and of tbe incompetence of Orientals to mend it, his Highness requested the British Government to provide him with some experienced financier to effect a thorough reform. In December, 1875, Mr Stephen Gave, M.P., accompanied by Colonel Stokes, E.E., was sent out, and, after some months’ examination, wrote an elaborate report on the Egyptian finances. Afterwards, however, Egyptian credit fell still lower, till in 1876 the Khedive suspended payment for a time. In that year Hr Goschen, M.P., and M. Joubert were sent out as the representatives of the English and French bondholders to attempt an adjustment of the financial affairs of Egypt. The result was a scheme which was accepted by the Khedive. Mr Rivers Wilson, having been more recently charged with a similar mission, induced the Khedive to give up hia family estates to his creditors, and Mr Wilson himself accepted the post of Egyptian Minister of Finance (August, 1578). The report of the Commission of Inquiry was presented to the Khedive August 20, 1878. It proposed a number of specific financial and administrative reforms, all of which tended to limit the authority of tbe Khedive, and it plainly called upon him to surrender all his property, estimated by him, exclusive of the sugar estates previously surrendered to the Daira Debt, at about £450,000 par annum. The Khedive was to receive, in exchange for this surrender to the State, an acceptance of all his liabilities by the Public Treasury, and a Civil List for himself and family. A new Ministry was formed by Nubar Pasha at the dote of the year, and Mr Rivers Wilson and M. de Blignieres were admitted into it as representing the interests of the Western Powers. This Ministry was, however, overthrown in February, 1879, by an 6meuie which the Kfaedivo was suspected of fostering. A strong movement of intervention was originated in France by powerful financial bodies interested in the Egyptian debt, and a joint representation of the French and English Governments resulted in the apparent submission of Ismail Pasha and the formation of a new Cabinet under Prince Tewlik, the Khedive’s heir, in which the European Ministers were to have a commanding voice. This arrangement lasted for a few weeks. In April the Khedive, declaring that the Ministerial measures were unjust to the bondholders and damaging to the public credit, dismissed hia advisers. After some delay, duo to the difficulty of inducing the Powers to agree to the coureo to be pursued, and after Ismail Pasha had turned a deaf ear to a suggestion of abdication urged upon him by the Consuls General, the Sultan, prompted by Prance aud England, issued a firman deposing Ismail and nominating Tewfik Khedive. Ismail accordingly abdicated in favour of bis son on Juno 26, 1879. In March 1886 ha brought against the Egyptian Government a claim for £5,000,000, alleged to be the value of tho private property of which he was deprived at the time of his abdication. Sir W. T. Marriott, who acted as counsel for Ismail, succeeded in securing for hia client the greater portion of his claim. PROFESSOR RLAIKIE. LONDON, March 2. Professor ’William Garden Blaibie, is dead ; meat seventy-five years. [Professor Blaikie was one of the chief promoters of “the alliance of reformed churches holding the Presbyterian system,” commonly called tho “ Pan-Presby-terian.” In 1868 be was appointed Professor of Apologetics and Pastoral Theology in New College, Edinburgh.] GRAND DUKE ALEXIS. ROME, March 2. The Grand Duke Alexia Michaelovich has died at San Remo.