Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 7.djvu/809

785 STATISTICS.] and other restrictions which still remained were removed in 1872 by another finnan, confirming all the rights previously granted, and giving the khedive every substantial attribute of sovereignty, except only the jus legationis. The khedive is therefore virtually an independent sovereign, holding his power on the easy tenure of tribute and military aid in case of war. The real work of governing is entirely performed by the present energetic and able sovereign. The merely formal business is transacted by a Privy Council and eight ministers the agents, not the rulers, of the khedive. The Privy Council, presided over by the Prince He&quot;retier Mehemet Tawfik Pasha, and consisting of the ministers, the Slieykh el-Islam, and some other functionaries, examines and reports to the khedive on the work of the several departments. The eight ministries are those of (1) Finance, (2) Foreign Affairs, (3) Interior, (4) War, (5) Marine, (6) Commerce, (7) Public Works and Agriculture, and (8) Public Instruction. Besides these there are the sub-departments of the Customs and Post-Office. The provincial administration (exclusive of the separate governors of the eight &quot; cities &quot;) is divided among the mudeers of the fourteen prefectures, the Feiyoom now being one, each subdivided into departments and com munes, or cantons including several villages, governed by ma-moors, nazirs, or sheykhs el-beled, appointed by the Government and assisted and checked by councils of agri culture and an administrative council for each canton. In 1867 the Assembly of Notables was revived, consist ing of village sheykhs, &c., elected by the communes and meeting once a year to receive from the Privy Council a report of the twelvemonth s administration. Although the Assembly has not yet attained to the full dignity of parliamentary power, it has considerable weight in the control of state measures. By the Convention of 1841 the Egyptian army was limited to 18,000 men, but this was raised to 30,000 by the firman of 1866, and now all restrictions have been done away. The present force may be placed at an average peace strength of 30,000 men, regulated, however, on a short service system, so that not more than half this number are generally at one time with the colours. This army consists of 18 regiments of infantry, 3 battalions each; 4 battalions of riflemen ; 4 regiments of cavalry, 6 squadrons each; 4 of field artillery, 6 batteries each (2 mounted); 3 of garrison artillery; and 3 battalions of pioneers. The infantry are armed with the Remington rifle; the cavalry with revolver and lance, or sabre and carbine; the field artillery with 100 Krupp guns and 50 smooth-bore. Besides these there is a reserve of 30,000 men, and an irre gular contingent of 60,000 mounted Bedawees. The army is raised by conscription, irregular levies being held every two or three years. All Egyptians of any creed are liable to conscription, except only the inhabitants of Cairo and Alexandria ; but immunity may be purchased by payment of a tax. The monthly pay ranges from 20 piastres ( = 4s. 2d.) for a private, to 5 (Egyptian) for a captain, 40 for a full colonel, and 75 for a full general. Under the training of French and American officers, the army has been brought into an admirable state of discipline and efficiency. The Egyptian navy hardly deserves notice. Ib consists at present of 2 frigates, 2 corvettes, 4 gunboats, and 2 sloops, all unarmoured. Mehemet Ali devoted considerable attention to the estab lishment of colleges and military schools, besides sending young men to Europe for purposes of scientific study. In Cairo and its environs he founded several elementary schools of a higher order than the native schools of the same class ; a school of languages; a printing press at Boolak, from EGYPT 785 which many valuable publications have issued ; and a school of medicine at Kasr-el- Eynee, between Cairo and Masr-el- Ateekah, which has done excellent work. At El-Khankah and in its neighbourhood he placed a military hospital, a school of medicine, a veterinary college, an infantry school, and a school of music; at El-Geezeh a cavalry school; and at Turd one of artillery. These and similar establishments were well designed and ably carried out. When Mehemet Ali s ambitious designs were defeated in 1840 by the action of the Powers, his educational reforms languished, and under Abbas the schools were closed and everything returned to the old system. Said Pasha endeavoured to revive Mehemet Ali s improvements ; but it was reserved for the present khedive entirely to carry out his grand father s designs. Besides the revived and newly created military schools, there are two systems of education in Egypt by the schools established and supported by the Government, and by the old system of mosque education and Arab primary schools, besides the numerous establish ments of the non-Muslim communities. The Government schools are nine in number the Polytechnic, Book-keeping and Surveying, Law and Languages, Industrial, Medical, Midwifery, two preparatory schools at Cairo, and one at Alexandria. Besides these tho Government supports a school for the blind, a normal school, two girls schools, three industrial schools, and 23 municipal schools. At the Polytechnic School the course extends over six years, and includes the higher mathematics, chemistry, physics, geology, mechanics, geography, history, drawing, Arabic, and English or French. Of the mosque colleges, the greatest, not only in Egypt but in the whole Mohammadan world, is the Azhar, where over 11,000 students, coming from every quarter of the Muslim empire, are instructed by 325 sheykhs in the old curriculum of Muslim acquirement. The Arab primary schools, 4000 or 5000 in number, are the regular providers of education for the fellaheen, who pay either nothing at all, or a merely nominal sum, for being taught to read and recite the Koran, and sometimes writing and very elemen tary arithmetic. How greatly the educational system in Egypt has been enlarged of late years may be judged from the fact that, under Said Pasha it hardly cost the Govern ment 4000 a year, whilst the educational budget (exclu sive of the military schools) now reaches the sum of 40,000, to which the khedive adds 12,500, making a total of 52,500. Of the schools of non-Muslim communities the Copts have 16, the Greeks 4, the Armenians 1, and the Jews sever;. 1 academies. Besides these there are two undenominational &quot;Universal Schools,&quot; of foreign foundation, where a moderate education, without religious instruction of any kind, ia given to all comers, and many schools founded by the American Board of Missions, and Miss Whately s admirable British Mission School. The proportion of girls schools is extremely small, but their existence, and tho fact that they receive the warmest support of one of the wives of the khedive, is a hopeful sign. The public works carried out in Egypt during the present reign would fill a long catalogue, without reckoning tho Suez Canal, for an account of which see CANAL, vol. iv. p. 789. Railway communication has been established between Alexandria, Cairo, Ismaiilia, Suez, Damietta, the Feiyoom, and Asyoot, the various lines covering over 1200 miles. A Soodan railway, from Wadee Halfeh to Hannek, and from near Dunkalah to Khartoom, involving costly and difficult engineering for a length of more than 1000 miles, has been begun with the view of shortening the passage to India, and bringing the produce of the rich southern soil into easier connection with Cairo ; these works are, however, at present at a standstill. The canal VII. QQ