The arrest of the Egpytian Finance Minister, as described by
the correspondents, is a strangely Oriental incident. It is said that the Khedive had been warned that his Minister of Finance, Ismail Sadyk, his foster-brother and richest subject, had been in- fluencing the Sheikhs against him, and on the 17th inst. he received a letter from the Minister, himself, openly censuring and threatening him. The Khedive thought the letter proof-positive that the Minister had a strong party at his back, and at first remained passive, but on the following day he asked the Minister, hitherto his most intimate friend, to take a drive with him, and at its close handed him over to the guard. Ismail was at once tried and sentenced to exile in Upper Egypt, whither he was despatched on the 25th, and whether he is dead or not, his great property, said to amount to two millions, was confiscated, and the proceeds will be most convenient to meet the dividends due upon Egyptian Bonds. He was a peasant's son, accumulated all his wealth in office, had the largest harem in Egypt, and fell, as it were, at a touch.
