ECUADOR. 



EGYPT. 



255 



jit Kiobarnba ho was confronted with a formidable 

 revolt in the central part of the country, led by 

 (Jen. Vega, whose forces, numbering (500 at. fir>t. 

 were augmented by fresh accessions until he had 

 2.000 men under him. The insurgents held no im- 

 portant town, but they were constantly aided by 

 the Clericals in the south and joined by filibuster- 

 ing expeditions from Colombia. Gen. Bowen, who 

 had been pardoned by President Alfaro, was ar- 

 rested again at Buenaventura on the charge of at- 

 tempting to organize a revolutionary force. Gen. 

 Vega's forces were routed in the mountains near 

 Chimba. where their Gatling guns and stores were 

 captured, and retreated toward Cuenca. In the 

 southern province of Azuay the Clericals over- 

 turned the regular authorities. On July 24 the 

 rnment troops met the rebel force led by Col. 

 Mufioz Vernada and fought a stiff battle, in which 

 the losses were heavy on both sides. They finally 

 won the day, compelling the insurgents to retreat 

 toward Cuenca. The country was freed from dis- 

 turbances by this victory, except the Cuenca district 

 and the south. A band that invaded the province 

 of Manabi was soon broken up by the Government 

 troops. On Aug. 24 the rebel stronghold in the 

 mountains of Cuenca was captured and the revolu- 

 tion was virtually at an end. President Alfaro re- 

 sumed his executive functions on Sept. 7 and pre- 

 pared to convoke the National Convention in Guaya- 

 quil. All those who took part in the insurrection 

 received amnesty. 



The main strength of the counter revolution was 

 the Church in Ecuador. From the time when Al- 

 faro placed himself at the head of the revolution he 

 encountered the determined opposition of the Church. 

 Some of the ecclesiastics, notably Bishop Schu- 

 macher, took up arms against him. He complained 

 that the religious orders spent millions of dollars 

 from their funds to compass his defeat. The great- 

 est difficulties of his campaign he ascribed to the 

 pretense of the enemy that they were fighting in 

 behalf of religion. As soon as he had brought the 

 revolution to a successful issue he begun to enforce 

 severe measures against his clerical enemies as a 

 precaution against a counter revolution. His threats 

 alarmed the priests so that a large number fled 

 from Ecuador and took refuge in Peru and Colom- 

 bia. Whole convents also escaped the dreaded re- 

 taliation by the flight of their inmates to other re- 

 publics, some of them to the United States. Land 

 and other property of the Church the revolutionary 

 chief confiscated by virtue of his dictatorial powers 

 on the plea that the legal owners had employed the 

 property against the revolution. 



The National Convention. The National Con- 

 vention met at Guayaquil at the appointed date, 

 Oct. 9, just after a conflagration had destroyed 

 three quarters of the city and caused great suffer- 

 ing among the population. A new plot involving a 

 hostile invasion from Colombia, funds and ammu- 

 nition for which had been provided by priests and 

 a few members of the Conservative party, was dis- 

 covered at Quito and frustrated by the prompt ac- 

 tion of the President, who announced that he would 

 be as severe in the future as he had been magnani- 

 mous in the past if any attempt was made to over- 

 throw the Government. The hostility of the Cler- 

 icals to the successful revolution was as active as 

 ever. Bands that had fled to Colombia and Peru 

 again made their appearance oh the borders and 

 endeavored to stir up the people anew. President 

 Alfaro, on his part, manifested his antagonism to 

 the Church party in the National Convention in an 

 aggressive way. He induced the convention to 

 adopt provisions for limiting the power of the 

 Church, for diverting portions of the Church's in- 

 come, and for putting restrictions upon the control 



of its property by the Church. He also secured the 

 adoption of constitutional provisions inimical to 

 the religions orders. The new Constitution granted 

 tolerance and freedom to other creeds besides the 

 Roman Catholic. The <m\ eminent dec-reed that, 

 foreigners who haven-sided two years in the coun- 

 try may he elected to the municipal councils with- 

 out change of allegiance. The convention author- 

 ized the Government to provide free transportation 

 for sufferers by the great fire who desired to go to 

 other places, and to supply food and clothing to 

 destitute persons. A decree was issued prohibiting 

 any rise in the prices of necessaries of life. The 

 fire, which was supposed to be the work of incen- 

 diaries, caused losses amounting to over 80,000,000 

 sucres and left homeless and destitute more than 

 35,000 persons. A bill was passed by the conven- 

 tion to introduce a gold currency concurrently cir- 

 culating with the paper and silver, the premium 

 not to exceed 100 per cent. The silver currency, 

 which was coined in Chilian and Peruvian mints 

 and in Birmingham, England, amounted to about 

 2.500.000 sucres in 1892, of which the Bank of 

 Ecuador and the Banco Internacional had 1.488,900 

 sucres in their vaults. The notes of the Bank of 

 Ecuador in circulation in 1894 amounted to 2,832,- 

 000 sucres, and those of the other bank of issue 

 amounted to 1,233.141 sucres. The value of the 

 sucre in exchange has fluctuated with the price of 

 silver, sinking from 96'5 cents in 1874 to 49'1 cents 

 in January, 1896. 



The National Convention ordered the restoration 

 of all property confiscated during the revolution. 

 In November, after Alfaro was elected constitu- 

 tional President and the National Convention was 

 dissolved, the Government ordered the Jesuit 

 fathers settled in the eastern part of the country to 

 leave the republic, on the ground that they had 

 been fomenting revolutionary movements. A treaty 

 of amity and commerce has been concluded be- 

 tween Ecuador and Venezuela. 



E(YPT, a principality in northern Africa tribu- 

 tary to Turkey. The Government is an absolute 

 monarchy of the Mohammedan type, though the 

 throne passes by the European law of primogeniture, 

 and the Khedive or Viceroy is advised by a Council 

 of Ministers. The reigning Khedive is Abbas Hit- 

 mi, born July 14, 1874, r ho succeeded to the throne 

 on the death of his father, Mehemet Tewfik, Jan. 7, 

 1892. Since the intervention of Great Britain for 

 the suppression of the military revolt of 1882 the 

 country has been occupied by a British army, and 

 since Jan. 18, 1883, an English financial adviser, 

 who has a seat in the Cabinet, exercises the right to 

 veto any financial measure and a dominating influ- 

 ence in all important acts of government. Egypt 

 forms an integral part of the Ottoman Empire, in 

 virtue of treaties in which all the great powers took 

 part. The events that took place in 1881 and 1882- 

 consequent upon the bankruptcy of the Egyptian 

 treasury and the abdication of the Khedive, Is- 

 mail Pasha, led to a conference of the powers in 

 Constantinople, where the principal powers signed 

 a protocol by which they bound themselves to 

 no territorial advantages and the concession of no 

 exclusive privilege. But England, owing to the 

 progress of the insurrection in Egypt, intervened 

 by force of arms, and the conference then dissolved. 

 Since then successive Prime Ministers of Great 

 Britain have given assurances that England would 

 evacuate Egypt as soon as Egypt should be able to 

 maintain a firm and orderly government alone. 



The Cabinet of the Khedive in the beginning of 

 1896 was composed of the following ministers: 

 President of the Council and Minister of the In- 

 terior. Mustapha Pasha Fehmi : Minister of War 

 and Marine. Mohammed Pasha Abani: Minister of 



