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called, Khedive. By the same firman of May 27, 1866, obtained on the condition of the sovereign of Egypt raising his annual tribute to the Sultan's civil list from 376,000l. to 720,000l., the succession to the throne of Egypt was made direct from father to son, instead of descending, after the Turkish law, to the eldest heir. By a firman issued June 8, 1873, the Sultan granted to Ismail I. the hitherto withheld rights of concluding commercial treaties with foreign Powers, and of maintaining armies.

The predecessors of the present ruler of Egypt were—

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The present Khedive of Egypt has an annual allowance of 100,000l.

Government and Constitution.

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The administration of Egypt is carried on by native Ministers, subject to the ruling of the Khedive. From 1879 to 1883-two Controllers-General, appointed by France and England, had considerable powers in the direction of the affairs of the country Khedivial Decree, November 10, 1879). In the summer of 1882, in consequence of a military rebellion, England intervened, subdued the rising, and restored the authority of the Khedive. this intervention England was not joined by France, and as a result, on January 18, 1883, the Khedive signed a decree abolishing the joint control of England and France. In the place of the Control, the Khedive, on the recommendation of England, appointed an English financial adviser, without whose concurrence no financial decision can be taken. The financial adviser has a right to a seat in the Council of Ministers, but he is not an executive officer. The Khedivial Decree appended to and approved by the Anglo-French Convention of April 4, 1904, will remove some restrictions which encumber the management of Egyptian Finance. After its enforcement no modification will be allowed to be introduced without the assent of the signatory Powers to the Convention of London of 1885.

The Egyptian Ministry is at present composed of six members, among whom the departmental work is distributed as follows:-1. President-Interior; 2. Finance; 3. Justice; 4. War; 5. Public Works and Public Instruction; 6. Foreign Affairs.

On May 1, 1883, an organic law was promulgated by the Khedive creating a number of representative institutions, including a Legislative Council, a

General Assembly, and provincial boards. The Legislative Council is a consultative body, consisting of 30 members, of whom 14 are nominated by the Government. It meets once a month and examines the budget and all proposed administrative laws, but it cannot initiate legislation and the Government is not obliged to act on its advice. Of its members, 15 residing in Cairo receive an allowance of 901. a year for carriage expenses, and 15, being delegates from the provinces and provincial towns, receive 250l. a year for residential expenses in Cairo, besides travelling expenses to and from Cairo once a month. The General Assembly, which consists of the members of the Legislative Council with the addition of the 6 ministers and 46 members popularly elected, has no legislative functions, but no new direct personal or land tax can be imposed without its consent. It has to be summoned at least

once every two years.
allowance at 17. a day, with railway expenses.
the Khedive is the ultimate legislative authority. Since 1887 an Ottoman
High Commissioner has resided in Cairo.

The members, when convoked, receive an eight days'
The council of ministers with

Egypt Proper is administratively divided into 6 governorships (moafzas) of principal towns, and 14 mudiriehs, or provinces, subdivided into districts or kisms.

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A new governor-ship is being established at Marsa Matruh on the coast, near the Tripoli frontier, where increased port accommodation has been provided.

Area and Population.

The total area of Egypt proper, including the Oases in the Libyan Desert, the region between the Nile and the Red Sea, and El-Arish in Syria, but excluding the Sudan, is about 400,000 square miles; but the cultivated and settled area, that is, the Nile Valley and Delta, covers only 12,976 square miles. Canals, roads, date plantations, &c., cover 1,900 square miles; 2,850 square miles are comprised in the surface of the Nile, marshes, lakes, and desert. Egypt is divided into two great districts'Masr-el-Bahri,' or Lower Egypt, and El-Said,' or Upper Egypt.

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The following table gives the area of the settled land surface, and the results of the census of June, 1897;

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Of the total population, 4,947,850 were males and 4,786,555 females. Not included in the table are the populations of Siwa (Wahat), consisting of 7,000 sedentary Egyptians.

The foreign population, 112,526 in all, comprised 38, 175 Greeks, 24,467 Italians, 19,557 British, 14, 155 French, 7,117 Austro-Hungarians, 3,193 Russians, 1,277 Germans, 1,301 Persians, and 3,284 of other nationalities.

The growth of the general population of the country is exhibited by the following figures :—

1800 (French estimate). 2,460,000 1882 (Census) 1821 (Mehemet Aly). 2,536,400

1846 (Census).

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1897 (Census)

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4,476,440

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The average annual increase from 1846 to 1882 was 1.25 per cent. ; 8182 to 1897, 2.76 per cent.

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The distribution of the population over 10 years of age, according to occupation on June 1, 1897, was as follows:

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1 Under religion are included 2,171 Christian ecclesiastics and Jewish Rabbis, and 113,438 readers of the Koran. The Mussulmans having no clergy, no distinction has been attempted between religious and teaching bodies. Under instruction are included 40,441 students and school children (over 10), and 4,934 teachers, including Mussulman theological teachers.

2 Under Public Force are included the Egyptian army, the army of occupation, the police force, and the forces belonging to foreign men-of-war in the ports.

Of the Egyptian population over 10 years of age, 62.65 per cent. were employed in agriculture; of the foreign population, less than 1 per cent. Of the Egyptian population, 16 27 per cent. were employed in various industries and trades; of the foreign population, 47-85 per cent. Of the total number employed in the liberal professions, 48 per cent. were foreigners.

The principal towns, with their populations in 1897, are:-Cairo, 570,062 ; Alexandria, 319,766; Tantah, 57,289; Port Said, 42,095; Assiout, 42,078; Zagazig, 35,715; Mansourah, 36,131; Damietta, 31,515; Fayoum, 33,069 ; Kena, 27,478.

Religion and Instruction.

In 1897 the population consisted of 8,978,775 Moslems; 730,162 Christians (608,446 Copts, 53,479 Orthodox, 56,343 Roman Catholics, and 11,894 Protestants); 25,200 Jews; and 268 others. Thus Moslems formed 92.23 per cent. of the population; Christians, 7.50 per cent.; Jews, 0.26 per cent.; others, 0.01 per cent. The highest religious and judicial authorities among

the Moslems are the Sheikh-ul-Islam appointed by the Khedive and chosen from among the learned class of Oolemas, and the Grand Cadee nominated by the Sultan, and chosen from amongst the learned Oolemas of Stamboul. The principal seat of Koranic learning is the Mosque and University of El Azhar at Cairo, founded about a thousand years ago, but the sciences taught and the modes of teaching them have not changed since its foundation.

There are in Egypt large numbers of native Christians connected with the various Oriental churches; of these, the largest and most influential are the Copts, the descendants of the ancient Egyptians; their creed is Orthodox (Jacobite), and was adopted in the first century of the Christian era. Its head is the Patriarch of Alexandria as the successor of St. Mark. There are three metropolitans and twelve bishops in Egypt, one metropolitan and two bishops in Abyssinia, and one bishop for Khartoum; there are also arch-priests, priests, deacons, and monks. Priests must be married before ordination, but celibacy is imposed on monks and high dignitaries. In A.D. 328 the Copts christianised Abyssinia, and pushed Christianity almost to the Equator. The Abyssinian Church is ruled by a metropolitan and bishops chosen from amongst the Egyptian Coptic ecclesiastics, nor can the coronation of the King of Abyssinia take place until he has been anointed by the metropolitan, and this only after authorisation by the Patriarch of Alexandria. The Copts use the Diocletian (or Martyrs') calendar, which differs by 284 years from the Gregorian calendar.

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In 1897, of the sedentary Egyptian population over 7 years of age, there could read and write in Lower Egypt, 7.02 per cent.; in Upper Egypt, 4.07 per cent.; in all Egypt, 5.8 per cent. ; the remainder were illiterate. Of the foreign population over 7 years of age in all Egypt, 74 per cent. could read and write.

In 1898 there were in all about 10,000 schools with 17,000 teachers and 228,000 pupils. Seven-eighths of these schools are elementary, the education being confined to reading, writing, and the rudiments of arithmetic. The Government has, under its immediate direction, 87 primary schools of the lowest grade (kuttabs'), and 35 of the higher grade, 3 secondary, 2 girls' schools, and 10 schools for higher or professional education-the School of Law, School of Medicine (including the Pharmaceutical School and the training school for nurses and midwives), Polytechnic (Civil Engineering) School, 2 training colleges for schoolmasters, School of Agriculture, 2 technical schools, 1 training college for female teachers, and the military school. In addition to the schools belonging to the Ministry of Public Instruction there are, under the inspection of that Department (1901), 23 primary schools of the higher grade, with an attendance of 3,585, and 845 primary schools of the lowest grade ('kuttabs'), with 1,364 teachers and an attendance of 26,831 pupils. There are 187 schools attached to various Protestant and Catholic missions, and 43 European private schools. The Mosque of El Azhar has 240 teachers and 9,060 students.

The Coptic community support 1,000 schools for elementary education, 22 primary-boys and girls, and one college. The teaching of the Coptic language in the schools is now compulsory; the subjects taught, and the methods of teaching them, are the same as those in vogue in other countries; 50 per cent. of the Coptic male community can read and write.

The following statistics of schools in Egypt have been mainly compiled from returns corrected for Government, National, and Wakf schools, up to December 31, 1901 :

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