EGYPT. 



with three judges of the religious court. The 

 Grand Mufti and the Grand Cadi pronounced 

 against this as contrary to the Mohammedan re- 

 ligion. The Government, after considering the 

 grounds of opposition, decided to advise the 

 Khedive to exercise his authority, and accord- 

 ingly a decree was signed enforcing the reform. 

 The Cadi's court will be composed of six judges, 

 three to be nominated by the Khedive, two se- 

 lected from the native court of appeal, and the 

 Cadi presiding. Judgments are to be rendered 

 by a majority of the five presided over by the 

 Cadi. The Mekhemeh, or religious courts, show 

 a disinclination to abandon their old methods, 

 and continue to throw out a large number of 

 cases, while judging only a few. A diminution 

 of serious crimes has taken place since 1896, how- 

 ever, and the proportion of convictions to cases 

 tried has increased. The Government has de- 

 cided to accept all the Assembly's suggestions 

 for the reassessment of the whole of the land of 

 Egypt. The unsatisfactory work of the mixed 

 tnbunals in Cairo led to the forming of an ad- 

 ditional chamber of the court, with judges from 

 Alexandria and Mansourah, to facilitate the 

 clearing up of business that has accumulated. 

 The mixed tribunals do nearly five sixths of the 

 registration of deeds and similar formalities that 

 do not concern judicial tribunals in other lands. 



The Soudan. Early in January, 1899, Lord 

 Cromer laid down to the assembled sheikhs at 

 Omdurman the principles on which the Soudan 

 will be governed. The government will be by the 

 Queen of England and the Khedive of Egypt, and 

 the sole representative of both sovereigns was at 

 that time the sirdar of Egypt. An agreement 

 was signed by Lord Cromer and Boutros Ghali 

 on Jan. 19 confirming this system of adminis- 

 tration, and also defining the term Soudan, which 

 means all territories south of 22 of north lati- 

 tude which had never been evacuated by the 

 Egyptian garrisons and those provinces which 

 were administered by the Government of the 

 Khedive previous to the rebellion, and were then 

 temporarily lost to Egypt, and have since been 

 reconquered by the two governments acting to- 

 gether, or might be reconquered in the future. 

 The British and Egyptian flags are both to be 

 used on land and sea throughout the Soudan, 

 except in the town of Suakin, where the Egyptian 

 flag only is used. One officer alone shall have 

 supreme military and civil command. He is 

 termed the Governor General of the Soudan, and 

 is appointed by khedivial decrees. Laws, orders, 

 and regulations for the good government of the 

 Soudan, and for the holding, disposing, and devo- 

 lution of property may be made, altered, or 

 abrogated by proclamation of the Governor Gen- 

 eral, who shall notify the British agent in Cairo 

 and the President of the Council of Ministers. 

 Laws, orders, and regulations so issued may 

 apply either to the whole or to any part of the 

 Soudan, and may alter or repeal any existing 

 law, either by explicit statement or by implica- 

 tion. No law or decree enacted hereafter can 

 apply to the Soudan without the permission of 

 the Governor General. No special privileges will 

 be given to any one nationality in regard to trad- 

 ing or holding property in the Soudan. Import 

 duties are not payable on goods from Egypt, 

 but may be levied on goods entering the Soudan 

 from Suakin or other ports on the Red Sea. 

 Duties on goods leaving the Soudan will be pre- 

 scribed from time to time by proclamation. The 

 mixed tribunals will have no jurisdiction in the 

 Soudan, which is under martial law. No consuls 

 or consular agents are allowed to reside in the 



Soudan without the consent of the British Gov- 

 ernment. The importation of slaves is prohib- 

 ited, and special attention will be given to the 

 enforceriK nt of the Brussels act of July 2, 1890, 

 relative to the import and sale of liquors and 

 firearms. On Jan. 5 Lord Cromer laid the founda- 

 tion stone of the Gordon Memorial College at 

 Khartoum, built with funds subscribed in Great 

 Britain by all classes of the population in re- 

 sponse to Lord Kitchener's appeal. The Soudan 

 budget for 1899 shows E. 39,500 of local re- 

 ceipts and E. 356,755 of expenditure, the bal- 

 ance of E. 317,255 being provided from the 

 Egyptian treasury. The expenditure was dis- 

 tributed as follows: Khartoum central adminis- 

 tration, E. 4,700; finance, E. 8,020; justice, 

 E. 1,760; sanitation, E. 2,976; schools, 

 , E. 1,984; military garrison, E. 2,237; build- 

 ings and repairs, E. 5,000; post office, 

 E. 3,000; telegraphs, E. 4,000; railways, 

 E. 50,000; salaries of 6 provincial governors 

 and 64 other officials, E. 18,032; district po- 

 lice, composed of 123 officers and 682 men, 

 E. 21,100; religious tribunals, E. 2,424; mili- 

 tary garrisons in the provinces, E. 17,569; pris- 

 ons, E. 2,168; military operations, E. 197,- 

 455 ; provincial administration of Dongola, 

 E. 12,426; of Berger, E. 12,426; of Kassala, 

 E. 12,426; of Sennar, E. 8,354; of Fashoda, 

 E. 8,354; of Khartoum, E. 21,127. 



After the battle of Omdurman on Sept 2, 1898, 

 and the retirement of Abdullah, the Khalifa, who 

 narrowly escaped capture in the battle in which 

 his forces were shattered and his power over- 

 thrown, several attempts were made to take him 

 prisoner during his retreat in the direction of 

 El Obeid, but he evaded the pursuing detach- 

 ments. He remained in the neighborhood of El 

 Obeid for some months, raiding the Arab tribes 

 of the district for food, and gathering together 

 what he could of his scattered forces that re- 

 mained loyal. In the beginning of 1899 he began 

 to move northward through Kordofan tow r ard 

 the posts held by Anglo-Egyptian garrisons. 

 When the British forces took possession of Om- 

 durman they destroyed the tomb of the Mahdi, 

 whose remains were thrown into the Nile, an act 

 which aroused indignation in Europe as well as 

 in Egypt and the Soudan. The skull alone was 

 preserved, and this was reinterred at Wady 

 Haifa. Lord Kitchener explained afterward that 

 the desecration of the tomb and destruction of 

 the remains of the false prophet was a political 

 necessity on account of the fanatical superstition 

 in which the tomb and body of the Mahdi were 

 held by the followers of his religion. 



The Khalifa when he went to El Obeid sub- 

 sisted on the large supply of grain which he had 

 stored there, and had a large treasure also and 

 quantities of ammunition, previous to the mili- 

 tary disaster at Omdurman. These resources 

 that he still possessed encouraged him to issue 

 a proclamation declaring that the battle fulfilled 

 the prophecy which had foretold that all waver- 

 ers in Mahdism would be weeded out- in a battle 

 with the infidels, and that the survivors, being 

 the true believers, would rally at Abba, the island 

 birthplace of Mahdism, and would drive the in- 

 fidel before them. Emir Ahmed Fedil, a cousin 

 of Abdullah, was the last of the Khalifa's lieu- 

 tenants to have an organized force at his com- 

 mand. He had his home at Gedaref, between the 

 Atbara and the Blue Nile. Moving down to the 

 Nile with a large force of dervishes, he attempted 

 to cross at the cataract near Roseires, 426 miles 

 south of Khartoum, but was opposed on Dec. 26, ' 

 1898, by Col. Lewis with a Soudanese regiment 



