EGYPT. 



273 



was a murder to every 12,000 inhabitants, more 



: .ulilc I In- annual average in England, and 



r...v u> criminal cases brought to trial 



eding year the public prosecuting 



i -suited in 'J.WMI cases and tailed 



.1.1 in half tin- remainder, a ( 'abinet niect- 

 .il, to which Justice Scott was not 

 >ned, nor \\a> ho to subsequent meeting. 

 1 tin- Khedive appointed liis Knuli^h 

 awretarv. Corbet t Key. and M. Bernard, a I'.d- 

 f the native courts, to be additional 

 of the Court of Appeals. On April (i 

 :ier I'asha, Adjutant-(Jeneral of the Kgyp- 

 iiiy. \\a- appointed to take temporary com- 

 'f and to reorganize the police. Johnson 

 \va- appointed Inspector-General in the 

 Criminal Investigation Department, and Coles 

 Pasha Inspector-General of police. Reforms in 

 the t ribunals and the police that were proposed by 

 the .Indicia! Committee comprised a law for the 

 /at ion of village police on the basis of regu- 

 .iries and punishment for neglect of duty; 

 the introduction of the French. law of vagrancy 

 to punish the bands without visible means of 

 subsistence that infested the provinces; an in- 

 1 number of petty tribunals of summary 

 jurisdiction; provisions to secure co-operation 

 of the police and the tribunals for the detection 

 and repression of crime and an improvement in 

 the /iirsonnel of the bench and the police depart- 

 ment ; and. in general, greater energy and strin- 

 gency in t!ie criminal administration in every 

 branch. Justice Scott proposed further to intro- 

 duce the system of fining villages in which crime 

 is prevalent. For civil cases he suggested that 

 courts should be established in every district 

 within easy access of the suitors. 



Change of Ministers. Riaz Pasha, on May 

 12. after a hopeless struggle against the judicial 

 reforms, handed his resignation to the Khedive. 

 In making up a new ministry the Khedive's for- 

 eign advisers found few statesmen of established 

 reputation ready to countenance their innova- 

 tions. Mustapha Pasha Feh my, who succeeded. 

 Hi a/, as Prime Minister and Minister of the In- 

 terior, had the portfolios of the Interior and War 

 and Marine in Nubar's Cabinet, and remained 

 as Minister of War and Marine under Riaz till 

 1 s ! MI. Rushdi Pasha, the new Minister of Fi- 

 nance, was Minister of Public Works, and tem- 

 porarily had charge of the Ministry of Educa- 

 tion under Nubar. Zeki Pasha, who was made 

 Minister of Public Works, held that post for a 

 brief period under Riaz, and was Minister of Fi- 

 nance under Nubar. The Ministry of Foreign 

 Affairs was given to Tigrane Pasha, a Christian, 

 who had been Under Secretary in that depart- 

 ment when Nubar Pasha was Prime Minister, 

 and after serving for a time as Under Secretary 

 of the Interior under Riaz was restored to his 

 old post. Yacub Pasha Artin, Undersecretary 

 in the Department of Education, was promoted 

 to be Director-General of Education. He is a 

 Christian. The only minister of the Riaz Cabi- 

 net who was retained was Fakhri Pasha, the 

 Minister of Justice, who had renounced his ob- 

 :is to judicial reform and was willing to 

 place his experience at the disposition of Justice 

 who was to be the real head of the minis- 

 try. Chonkdhi Pasha, the new Minister of War, 

 hud previously held a subordinate post. The 

 VOL. xxxi. 18 A 



new ministry agreed to the vagrancy law and a 



disarmament art for the suppression of brigand- 

 age. 15v a decree, of the Court of ApiM-als all 

 chilis, hotels, lodging-houses, and places of 

 amii-ciuent were declared to be subject to police 

 regulation and supervision. Europeans pro- 

 tested against this decision and against the m w 

 professional tax. The Legislative Council passed 

 the acts asked for by Mr. Scott and Col. Kitche- 

 ner, including measures giving the police more 

 power for the investigation of crime, punishing 

 vagrants and able-bodied beggars, regulating by 

 license the carrying of fire-arms, enforcing work 

 and discipline in prison, giving single judges 

 jurisdiction in minor cases, and providing for 

 speedy trials and the execution of sentences. 



The Occupation of Tokar. In 1888 a strate- 

 gic advance was made beyond the boundary at 

 Wady Haifa, and since then the Egyptian Gov- 

 ernment has held a part of the Dongola district. 

 A second and more significant move toward the 

 reconquest of the Soudan was carried out in 

 February, 1891, from Suakin, the Egyptian base 

 on the Red Sea coast. The Arab robbers and slave 

 dealers, who profited by the state of anarchy that 

 for some ulterior motive the English Governmnt 

 promoted in the eastern Soudan, and who were 

 known collectively as Osman Digma's dervishes, 

 although their relations to that chieftain were 

 not known, and it was not even certain that he 

 was still alive, recommenced their depredations 

 on Jan. 27, 1891, by carrying off cattle from 

 under the very walls of the forts at Suakin. 

 The raiders were pursued and beaten, and the 

 Governor-General took the opportunity to begin 

 the advance that had been planned. On the 

 next day a force of Soudanese infantry and 

 Egyptian cavalry captured, after some resistance, 

 the town of Handoub, the nearest base from 

 which the rebels have been permitted for years 

 to defy the Egyptians and plunder friendly na- 

 tives. This place was occupied and fortified, 

 and on Feb. 3 the Arab irregulars in the Egyp- 

 tian service pushed on to Tamai. Re-enforce- 

 ments were drawn from the Nile frontier, and 

 Sir F. W. Grenfell went to Suakin to direct the 

 operations against Tokar, which was the object- 

 ive point of the advance, being a fertile and 

 populous district in the midst of the desert, the 

 possession of which has enabled the hostile 

 Arabs to continue their harassing operations in 

 this region. A force of 2,000 Egyptian and 

 Soudanese troops was landed at Trinkitat. On 

 Feb. 16 they began the march through the desert 

 to El Teb, which was occupied without fighting. 

 At daybreak on Feb. 19 they advanced on Tokar, 

 where they first saw the enemy. The Egyptian 

 troops pushed on quickly, and succeedea in 

 gaining possession of the ruined Government 

 buildings. The dervishes secured the shelter of 

 some of the other houses, and endeavored to 

 surround the Arab position. At one time Osman 

 Naib, the dervish commander, almost succeeded 

 in gaining the rear of the Egyptian line with his 

 cavalry, while his infantry kept up a determined 

 attack in front on the center. The better arms 

 and training of the troops told heavily against 

 the Arabs, who numbered 2,000 in the fighting 

 line and as many more in reserve. When they 

 were driven out of the houses with severe losses 

 the fight was virtually won, and at noon, after a 



