Page:The European Concert in the Eastern Question.djvu/130

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
114
EGYPT: TEXTS.

1841. May. Firman addressed by the Sultan to Mehemet Ali, Pasha of Egypt, specifying the amount of tribute to be paid to the Sultan and the mode of payment, May, 1841.

Thou, my Vizier above mentioned!

Amount of the Tribute. Since thou hast heen confirmed in the Government of Egypt with hereditary succession, on the determinate conditions which are inserted in another Firman, my sovereign will is, that thou shalt have to pay annually for my Sublime Porte, out of the customs duties, the tithes and the capitation tax, and out of the other revenues and products of that province, a tribute of 80,000 purses[1]; that, in order that the amount of the tribute may not vary, since the value of currency changes, the sum of 80,000 purses shall be calculated according to the price of the Spanish 'Colonnates' which are in circulation in Egypt; and the actual amount of the Colonnates shall be paid each year in kind, or else that its equivalent shall be paid in other good money. Such are my orders, in consequence of which the present Imperial Firman has been written and dispatched.

Therefore when thou shalt have acquainted thyself with this matter, thou shalt act in the manner above described, and thou shalt be careful to pay to the Imperial Treasury, as soon as the time for the payment arrives, the tribute set forth above.


No. II[2].

1866, 27th May. Firman addressed by the Sultan to the Viceroy of Egypt, modifying the order of succession, and granting certain privileges, 27th May, 1866.

(After the customary titles.)

Having taken cognizance of the request which thou hast submitted to me, and in which thou informest me that the modification of the order of succession established by the Firman, addressed under date of the month of Rebiul-Akhir 1257, to thy grandfather,

  1. Cf. Texts, Nos. II, VIII.
  2. Parl. Papers, 1879, Egypt, No. 4, p. 41; N.R.G. xviii, 240.