The administration of the Ottoman Public Debt was entrusted to “the Council for the Administration of the Ottoman Public Debt,” commonly known as “the Public Debt,” consisting of delegates of Ottoman bondholders of all nations. The French owned by far the greater part of the debt. The English represented the Belgians in the Council, the shares of these two countries in the debt being about equal. This international council, who attended to the strict execution of the provisions of the decree, deducted all the sums required for the interest and the sinking fund, and made over the balance to the Imperial treasury. The decree of Muharrem also entrusted to the Public Debt the control of the cultivation and the monopoly of the sale of tobacco throughout the Turkish Empire. Later on, in 1883, the Public Debt farmed out its rights to an Ottoman limited company, the “Régie Co-intéressée des Tabacs de l’Empire,” formed by a financial consortium including three groups: the Imperial Ottoman Bank, which was a Franco-English concern; the German group of the B. Bleichröder Bank; and the Austrian group of the Kredit Anstalt with a capital of 100 million francs. Only one-half of this capital was paid up—_i.e._, 50 million francs—which was cut down to 40 million francs on November 28, 1899, to make up for the losses of the first three years. It is thought in French financial circles that half this capital—viz., 20 million francs—is French, and the rest chiefly Austrian. The “Régie,” whose activities extend throughout the Empire, may be looked upon as one of the most important financial concerns of the Ottoman Empire. It has branches in all the chief centres, controls the cultivation of tobacco, records the production, buys native and foreign tobaccos, issues licences for the sale of tobacco, and advances money to the growers; its chief factories are at Samsun, Aleppo, Adana, Smyrna, etc. In return for the monopoly it enjoys, it owes the Public Debt a fixed yearly payment, and has to divide a fixed proportion of its net profits between the Public Debt and the Ottoman Government. The share of France in the Council of the Public Debt, in which French was the official language, gave her a paramount influence and prestige in the Ottoman Empire. Owing to the importance and extent of the part played by the Council of the Debt, in which the influence of France was paramount, the latter country indirectly acquired an influence in the administration of the _Malié_—_i.e._, in the administration of the Turkish treasury—and in this way Turkey was obliged on several occasions to call for the advice of French specialists for her financial reorganisation. But the Ottoman Government, in order to consolidate its floating debt, which had not been included in the previous liquidation, was soon compelled to borrow money abroad. Besides, it wanted to construct a system of railways at that time.