286 



EGYPT. 



lent. The foreign colonies, as well as the native 

 community, were alienated by these unfortu- 

 nate attempts at reform. The French diplo- 

 matic agent began to assume a bolder tone. 

 Nubar Pasha asserted an independent judgment 

 for the first time, and protested vigorously 

 against the removal of officials obnoxious to 

 the English agents, and the disorganization of 

 the public service by their arbitrary proceed- 

 ings, some of them in contravention of positive 

 laws. He even threatened to resign. The 

 British ministry therefore recalled Clifford 

 Lloyd in May. Sir Evelyn Baring also retired, 

 and was succeeded by Mr. Egerton. 



The prisons, which were in a shamefully un- 

 sanitary condition, were made more habitable 

 by the efforts of Mr. Lloyd. Among the meas- 

 ures enacted through the influence of the Eng- 

 lish, but difficult of speedy enforcement, was a 

 decree abolishing domestic slavery throughout 

 Egypt, promulgated in August. 



A finance committee, to pass upon claims 

 against the Government, was established March 

 6, 1884, composed of the Minister of Finance, 

 Financial Adviser Edgar Vincent, TJnder-Sec- 

 retary of Finance Fitzgerald, and M. Mazuc. 

 Through this committee the English agents 

 practically controlled the financial department, 

 and gave authoritative advice to the heads of 

 other branches of the Government. Mr. Yin- 

 cent proposed to endow it formally with the 

 function of framing the budget. 



A tobacco convention was concluded with 

 Greece March 3, 1884. The receipts of the 

 Treasury from tobacco duties were increased, 

 by the admission of Greek tobacco under the 

 convention, at the rate of 122 per cent, over 

 those of 1883. The Turkish Government raised 

 objections to the convention. The legitimate 

 imports of Turkish tobacco were not dimin- 

 ished, but the smuggling-trade was almost ex- 

 tinguished. 



Brigandage. In the early part of the year the 

 effects of war, agricultural distress, and the 

 complete disorganization of government were 

 manifested in robberies and deeds of violence 

 never before known. Bands of mounted rob- 

 bers, twenty to forty in number, plundered 

 farms and villages by daylight. Burglaries 

 were committed at night in great number. In 

 the province of Fayoum eight Europeans were 

 murdered in April. The police, under English 

 direction, were worthless. The further the 

 English carried out their plans in the adminis- 

 tration of justice and police, the more frequent 

 and startling became the crimes. This fact 

 suggested to the English authorities the suspi- 

 cion that the banditti were employed by cor- 

 rupt Egyptian officials for the purpose of bring- 

 ing their reforms into discredit. After the de- 

 parture of Clifford Lloyd, and resumption of a 

 fuller control over the administration by the 

 Egyptian ministry, the re-established influence 

 and authority of the local Mohammedan offi- 

 cials sufficed to check the spreading anarchy to 

 some extent. 



The Land-Tax. The condition of the farmers 

 was in general worse after two years of English 

 control than before the occupation. This was 

 owing to the financial and political crisis ; to 

 the exaction of the full amount of the taxes in 

 the war year, which compelled the poorer pro- 

 prietors to borrow at exorbitant interest, or 

 sell their crops in advance at half their value ; 

 to the cattle-disease imported by the English 

 army ; to the fall in the price of wheat and 

 other products ; and to other causes. In Upper 

 Egypt especially, where only one crop is grown 

 in the year, and that not so profitable as the 

 produce of the Delta, there was considerable 

 distress. In that part of Egypt where the 

 cultivable area is a narrow strip, about four 

 miles in average breadth, overflowed by the 

 Nile, there was great inequality, owing to the 

 taxation of peasants for lands that had been 

 taken by the Government for canals, railroads, 

 etc., or that had been washed away by the 

 river. There also extortion was more freely 

 practiced by the collectors of taxes. A decree 

 making the taxes of 1884 payable in produce, 

 gave the officials a new opportunity to screw 

 out of the peasants from 2 to 4 per cent, of the 

 amount of their taxes. The exploitation of the 

 poor by the rich proceeded BO fast under the 

 reign of Ismail that a large proportion of the 

 former small proprietors were now reduced to 

 the condition of cotters and laborers. The 

 present agricultural crisis, and the administra- 

 tive confusion, facilitated this process. Some 

 relief was afforded in Lower Egypt through 

 the restoration of the barrage and connecting 

 canals by Colonel Scott- Moncrieff, which not 

 only extended the area of cultivation, but re- 

 leased the fellaheen from the corvee, or forced 

 labor for cleaning the canals, and from the cost 

 of mechanical irrigation by steam-pumps and 

 other appliances, amounting sometimes to 1 

 an acre. With the 1,000,000, which the 

 British Government proposed to borrow for 

 the purpose, he intended to extend these 

 works, but would have nothing for irrigation 

 and reclamation in Upper Egypt. Such im- 

 provements in Upper Egypt he deemed profit- 

 able; but they would require a much larger 

 sum in addition. The cadastral survey was 

 interrupted by the English on account of the 

 financial exigency of the Government. Until 

 this great work was completed, they were 

 afraid to attempt the equalization of assess- 

 ments, since Nubar Pasha considered that a 

 provisional measure would unsettle land values 

 and the confidence of the people in the finality 

 of the determinate adjustment. The measures 

 proposed for relief were based on the expected 

 reduction in the interest on the debt. They 

 were the remission of the date-tax, the salt- 

 tax, river and canal tolls, the octroi, or market 

 dues, and export duties, the reduction of rail- 

 road tariffs, etc. It was proposed, however, 

 to equalize the taxes on the Ushuri and Kha- 

 radji lands. The former were originally waste 

 lands, granted to wealthy people for reclama- 



