273 



EGYPT. 



ble extent. Without contesting the benefits of 

 English rule as manifested in the re-establish- 

 ment of Egyptian credit and the restoration and 

 completion of the barrage, which was originally 

 a French work, and, in a minor degree, in the 

 removal of some oppressive taxes, the abolition 

 of forced labor, the reorganization of the hospital 

 and prison services, and the suppression of the 

 slave trade and gradual abolition of slavery, the 

 French Government has preserved an obstructive 

 attitude in regard to the diversion of revenues 

 for the accomplishment of these reforms, in order 

 to remind Great Britain of the broken promises 

 concerning the evacuation of Egypt, which Mr. 

 Gladstone originally declared should take place 

 in a few months. In spite of the material benefits 

 that they have conferred on Egypt, the English 

 have not been able to extirpate the historical in- 

 fluence of the French, and have made themselves 

 hated in the country, because they have super- 

 seded the native rule, reduced the Khedive and 

 his ministers to ciphers, and governed as over a 

 conquered people. All direct demands for the 

 evacuation of Egypt come from the country 

 immediately interested, Turkey, which is the 

 suzerain power, prompted by France, and some- 

 times supported by Russia. But, having Germany 

 and the central powers for allies, the. Tory Gov- 

 ernment of England has treated with indifference 

 the inquiries of the Porte regarding the date of 

 evacuation, making the condition, which is the 

 restoration of order and the re-establishment of 

 the authority of the Khedive, appear more and 

 more remote and impossible. The authority of 

 the Khedive has been purposely reduced to a 

 nullity and the spread of anarchy and the in- 

 crease of crime, which are the direct result of 

 English rule, are now alleged as the chief grounds 

 for the continued military occupation. The 

 same grounds are advanced for the substitution 

 of a European judicial system for Mohammedan 

 law, which is the boldest step yet taken to per- 

 petuate British dominion in the Nile valley. To 

 this the French Government made strenuous ob- 

 jections, which it could only enforce to the extent 

 of revoking its qualified consent to the applica- 

 tion of the sum saved by the debt conversion, 

 compelling the Government to hoard uselessly in 

 the treasury E. 312,000 a year until the veto 

 is withdrawn. This does not interfere with the 

 abolition of the corvee, which the prosperous state 

 of the finances permits of being continued inde- 



Eendently. The decree imposing the same pro- 

 jssional tax on Egyptians and Europeans was 

 also rejected by France, on the ground that the 

 text differed from the proposition originally sub- 

 mitted to the powers, but the objection was with- 

 drawn when it was restored to the original form. 

 Notwithstanding the extraordinary efforts that 

 have been made to supplant the French language, 

 more than three fourths of the 7,307 pupils in 

 the subsidized schools, of which there are 47, 

 choose to learn French in preference to English, 

 and 20 Egyptians are sent to France to be edu- 

 cated to one that is trained in England. 



Judicial Reform. Justice Scott, of Bombay, 

 was intrusted with the task of working out a 

 plan for reforming judicial methods. He pro- 

 posed, among other things, the appointment of a 

 committee to superintend the native tribunals. 

 As this involved the resignation into English 



hands of the administration of justice, which is 

 connected with the national religion and the only 

 department of Government still remaining un- 

 der native control, the proposition was resisted by 

 the Prime Minister and by the Minister of Jus- 

 tice, who declared that the courts worked sat- 

 isfactorily. The Cabinet, notwithstanding Mr. 

 Scott's protests, referred the question to a com- 

 mission, consisting partly of officials of the De- 

 partment of Justice and of judges. Before the 

 idea of subverting the laws of Islam was enter- 

 tained, and before Justice Scott, who had prac- 

 ticed law in Egypt for ten years before entering 

 on his judicial career in India, had been sent for, 

 the British officials gave their attention to the 

 crime of brigandage, which has grown more fre- 

 quent in proportion to the extension of foreign 

 interference. It is an Oriental method of revolt 

 against the rule of the infidel, consisting of or- 

 ganized attacks by bodies of armed men upon 

 houses and villages. Sir Evelyn Baring sup- 

 ported the suggestion that when murder was 

 committed the leaders of the band and the or- 

 ganizers of the attack should be held equally 

 guilty with the actual perpetrator of the deed. 

 This proposition was revolting to Mohammedan 

 ideas of justice; and when the Sheikh-el-Almssi, 

 the chief expositor of the sacred law, was con- 

 sulted by the Government, he submitted a 

 counter-project, proposing for a brigand caught 

 before committing robbery imprisonment until 

 he gave sign of real reformation ; for one who 

 has been convicted of robbery, amputation of the 

 right hand and left foot; and capital punish- 

 ment accompanied with amputation or cruci- 

 fixion, according to the decision of the Faculty 

 of the Iman, for all who are guilty of murder, 

 without the right of pardon, either by the Khe- 

 dive or the heirs to the victim. These sugges- 

 tions, making the Mohammedan law more cer- 

 tain and severe, were rejected as savoring of 

 barbarism by the English advisers of the Govern- 

 ment, although approved by the Legislative 

 Council. Notwithstanding the opposition of 

 the ministry and of the commission of repre- 

 sentative Egyptians, Sir Evelyn Baring insisted 

 on the nomination of a committee of three to 

 supervise the working of the Egyptian courts, to 

 consist of Justice Scott, with Judge Moriondo, 

 an Italian, and the Egyptian Procureur-Genend 

 as his subordinate colleagues, on the addition of 

 another English judge to the Court of Appeals, 

 and on the appointment of Justice Scott to the 

 position of judicial adviser to the Government, 

 with the right to attend Cabinet meetings and to 

 be heard on all questions connected with the 

 administration of justice. When the Khedive 

 yielded to English pressure, although he is said 

 to have told the French diplomatic agent, the 

 Comte d'Aubigny, that he would resist if France 

 would support him with her army and fleet, the 

 ministers offered their resignations, but were in- 

 duced to remain. The French Government re- 

 called M. d'Aubigny because he failed to prevent 

 the appointment of an English judicial adviser, 

 appointing the Marquis de Reverseaux in his 

 place. In Constantinople the French minis- 

 ter lodged a protest with the Porte against the 

 appointment. When the Judicial Committee, 

 appointed Feb. 10, 1891, had been at work for a 

 month collecting statistics showing that there 



