296 



EGYPT. 



or promptly suppress any riotous or insurrec- 

 tionary outbreak. The separation of the mili- 

 tary force into two distinct establishments was 

 expected to render it a more reliable instru- 

 ment. The gendarmerie was intended to be a 

 larger organization than the army, and to num- 

 ber altogether 7,390 men. They are mainly 

 armed and equipped as mounted infantry. 



Before the British plans were developed, and 

 soon after the destruction of Arabi's army, the 

 Khedive began to form a military police and 

 body-guard from foreigners enlisted in Switz- 

 erland, Albania, Dalmatia, and Turkey. The 

 Swiss and other Europeans were to constitute 

 the military police of the cities, and the Turks, 

 Bosnians, and Albanians the palace-guard and 

 the gendarmerie. Baker Pasha was at first 

 intrusted with the organization of the latter 

 bodies; but finally, through the influence of 

 the British agents, especially after the Euro- 

 pean police proved unruly and disorderly them- 

 selves, the scheme was abandoned in favor of 

 the one described above, and finally developed 

 by Gen. Wood. 



The military character which Baker Pasha 

 impressed upon the gendarmerie was objected 

 to in England, and the Egyptian authorities 

 were influenced to alter the character of the 

 organization, depriving the officers of their 

 military titles and honors, changing the official 

 designation of the corps to the English word 

 u constabulary," etc. Yet, when the army of 

 the Soudan was annihilated, this was the only 

 force available for the relief of the Soudan 

 towns and garrisons, except what blacks the 

 former rebel, Sebehr, was able to enlist in the 

 Delta. The reason of sending gendarmes to 

 the Soudan and leaving the soldiers to do po- 

 lice duty in their place, was because the new 

 army was enlisted on the express condition 

 that they should not serve in the Soudan. 



Establishment of Native Courts. The organiza- 

 tion of new native tribunals was proceeded 

 with early in the year. They are to be pre- 

 sided over partly by native and partly by Eu- 

 ropean judges. The latter are the exception, 

 and will eventually give place to Egyptians. 

 A simple code of procedure was drawn up by 

 an English and an Italian jurist, Messrs. Hills 

 and Moriondo. The parties appear before the 

 Judge of Instruction, a native, who acts as a 

 Conciliation Court, and decides whether there 

 is a case for litigation. He lays both sides of 

 the case before the Court of First Instance, of 

 which there are eight altogether. The forms 

 of French law, simplified, were adopted be- 

 cause the Egyptians are familiar with no other 

 law, except the Sheriat law administered by 

 their cadis, and because it was the intention 

 to merge, in the course of time, the interna- 

 tional tribunals in the new indigenous tribu- 

 nals, and therefore desirable to retain the forms 

 of the Code Napoleon, which govern the pro- 

 cedure of the mixed courts. Since English 

 judges were not fitted to apply a strange code 

 of procedure, and on the ground of economy, 



the European members of the new courts were 

 brought from Belgium and Holland. 



Financial Problems. The financial difficulties 

 which compelled the abdication of Ismail 

 Pasha, and underlay the revolt of Arabi, con- 

 fronted the English in as formidable a shape 

 as ever. No improvements in the system of 

 government, in the administration of justice, 

 or in any of the departments of the public ser- 

 vice, would be of any use unless means could 

 be devised to enable the fellaheen to bear their 

 financial burdens and to stay the progressive 

 impoverishment of the country. After a year 

 of war and anarchy, followed by a pestilence, 

 the people were called upon to meet extraor- 

 dinary demands for the cost of occupation, in- 

 demnities, etc., while under British direction 

 the expenses of administration increased. 



Since it was out of the question, under the 

 circumstances connected with the intervention 

 of Great Britain, to require the bondholders to 

 forego their claim to half the total revenue of 

 the country, the only relief was through re- 

 forms and public improvements, which would 

 only yield their results after several years. 

 The Egyptians, filled with national and reli- 

 gious animosity against the British, were not 

 conciliated by the promised reforms, the im- 

 mediate object of which seemed to be to sup- 

 plant foreign speculators of other nationalities 

 by English speculators, and supersede the offi- 

 cials introduced by the dual control with still 

 more expensive English officials. 



The impoverishment of the country was 

 manifested by the neglect of the irrigation- 

 works and the relapse of cultivated areas into 

 barrenness, and by the increasing indebted- 

 ness and more frequent bankruptcy of the 

 fellaheen. The private indebtedness of the 

 peasantry was estimated by seme as high as 

 15,000,000. Lord Dufferin placed it at 9,- 

 000,000. At the time of the abdication of 

 Ismail the aggregate amount did not exceed 

 1,400,000. The average interest paid on un- 

 secured debts was not less than 36 per cent. 

 per annum. A frequent arrangement was to 

 pay three-month loans of napoleons in pounds 

 sterling, equal to 100 per cent, per annum ! 

 The average product of the land is about 3 

 perfeddan (nearly an acre), instead of 15 to 

 30, as estimated by Villiers Stuart. The 

 taxes average 40 per cent, of the annual prod- 

 uct. The rapid increase of insolvency was due 

 to the right of foreclosure given to creditors 

 by the mixed tribunals, a remedy which is for- 

 eign to the customs of the country. The quan- 

 tity of land which actually passed into the 

 hands of Europeans under judicial sales was 

 stated in the later inquiries to be only a few 

 thousand acres. More than half of the loans 

 were also said to have been made by banks 

 doing a legitimate business, and not receiving 

 over 10 per cent, interest on mortgages. 



The principal present remedy proposed by 

 Lord Dufferin for the relief of the economic 

 distress was to rescue the fellaheen from the 



