Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 4.djvu/72

62 Fulbc or Fellatah, who had ali eady conquered the Haussa country. Expelled from his capital by the invaders, Ahmed was only restored by the assistance of the fakir Mahomet el-Amin el-Kanemi, a mere private individual, who, pre tending to a celestial mission, hoisted the green flag of the prophet, and undertook the deliverance of his country. The Fellatahs appear to have been taken by surprise, and were iu ten months driven completely out of Bornu. The conqueror, having the army wholly devoted to him, might probably have, with little difficulty, assumed the sovereign power. More moderate, and perhaps more prudent, he invested the nearest heir of the ancient kings with all the appearance and pomp of sovereignty, only reserving for himself, under the title of sheikh, all its reality. The court of the king or sultan was established at New Bornu, or Birni, which was made the capital, the old city having been entirely destroyed during the Fellatah invasion ; while the sheikh, in military state, took up his residence at the new city of Kuka. Fairly established he ruled the country with a rod of iron, and at the same time inspired his subjects with a superstitious notion of his sanctity His zeal was peculiarly directed against moral or religious offences. The most frivolous faults of females, as talking too loud, and walking in the street unveiled, rendered the offender liable to public indictment, while graver errors were visited with the most ignominious pun ishments, and often with death itself. Kanemi died in 1835, and was succeeded by his son, Sheikh Omar, who alto gether abolished the nominal kingship of the Sefuwa. The intercourse of Europeans with Bornu has, during his reign, been for the most part satisfactory as well as frequent. The expectations entertained at various times of opening up a valuable commerce with the people have not been as yet realized, and it seems likely, from the latest reports, that before long the traveller in Central Africa will have little to hope or fear from the sheikh of Bornu. Dr Barth, who was at Kuka in 1851, foreboded this decay; and Dr Nachtigal, who in 1870 conveyed the friendly presents sent by King William of Prussia, in acknowledgment of the sheikh s kindness to so many German explorers, writes thus in December 1872:—

1em 1em  BOROUGH. Although the idea of self- by a is exemplified in the coloniæ and municipia of, and in their duumviri, decuriones, and lesser, composed of the l orders, which along with the defensor civitatis appear to have existed in vigour until the reign of (Const., 46, 47), yet as the local power was gradually subordinated to the , and as both in  and  it seems almost universally to have disappeared when the territorial jurisdictions, as well as the , became hereditary, it is impossible to trace an historical connection between these s and the modern borough. In and, perhaps, the forms of ancient independence may have been continuously preserved, but the system of  by comes and scabini (or s), which was pursued in both  and  by the successors of , was obviously opposed to the freedom of s. It is during the 11th and 12th centuries that we begin to read in charters of the s of , the es of , the s of , the s of , the capitols of. It is during the reigns of, , and that s of  become frequent. These s, which sometimes bear to be granted on account of the poverty of the sfolk, the enormities of the, or the attacks of the local s, were probably dictated by the of ; but they attest the growing power—the de facto s of the. They distinguish between ies and s proper: the former obtained a confirmation of ancient customs, of exemption from, of personal liberty, but they did not obtain an. In the revival of civic autonomy was much more rapid. Although reserved to himself in the  the right of nominating s in the,  tells us that the  influence did not count for much; and in 1288, at least, we have in the Potestas (Podesta), the Concilium Generale, and Concilium Novem Dominorum of , a type of the independent an. The byrig or burh is properly the  of the powerful man. Related forms are burgus ( of 4th century); burg ; baurgs ; borg ; πύργος ; bor, borc, and bourg ; and broch, a pledge. The burgensis, or inhabitant of a ed, was opposed to villanus, or inhabitant of the villa, or open town. The Gemot, or assembly of the original ship, had the power of making by-laws (the prefix means &ldquo;&rdquo;), and of  the Gerefa, the Bydel, and the -man or , the first of whom represented the assembly in the s of the  and the. The Gemot also saw to the collection of es imposed by the higher s, the pursuit of criminals, and the search for. In mercantile places, such as and, the chief officer was called Port-Gerefa from the s in which the  was held. The er of this period had undoubtedly political as well as personal liberty. Generally speaking, however, although common may have been held by a  or, and special s of  or  may have been enjoyed, there is before  little trace of  organization. The Lagemanni of and the s of  were apparently among the most ancient resident magistrates, but the manner of their  is unknown. divided the boroughs into those which formed part of the royal and those which held of the s and dignified ,—the interest of  and its grantees in the  and in the s of s and s, &c., being, at first absolute, but latterly converted into a firma burgi or perpetual  from the whole borough in lieu of tribute from individual es. The non-elective succeeded to the, and proved a useful agent in carrying out the oppressive and arbitrary tallagia, which were often the price of new or confirmed privileges. The s were sometimes farmed out, and this led to still more severe exaction. To the succeeded the  (major), who accounted to  for the annual s of the borough. Grants of, of socan and sacan, of outfangenthef and infangenthef,