Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1899 American Edition.djvu/1461

 Died

Reigned

1849

1811-48

1848

June— Nov. 1848

1854

1848-54

1863

1854-63

1895

1863-79

1892

1879-92

CONSTITITTION AND GOVERNMENT 1105

absolute master of the country by force of anus. The [lositiou of his grandfather, Ismail I. — forced to abdicatej under pressure of the British and French Governments, in 1879 — was recognised by the Imperial Hatti- Sheriff of February 13^ 1841, issued under the guarantee of the five great European Powersj which establislied tlie hereditary succession to the throne of Egypt under the same rules and regulations as those to the throne of Turkey. The title given to jMehemet 7\.li and his immediate successors was the Turkish one of ' Vali,' or Viceroy ; but this was changc-d by an Im[)erial hrman of May 21, 1866 into the Persian-Arabic of ■ KhTdewi-Alisr, ' or, as more commonly called, Khedive. By the same tirman of May 27, 1866, obtained on the con- dition of the sovereign of Egypt raising his annual tribute to the Sultan's civil list from 376,000^. to 720,000^., 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 Bowers, ami of maintaining armies.

The predecessors of the present ruler of Egypt were —

Born

Mehemet Ali, founder of the dynasty 1769

Ibrahim, step-son of Mehemet. . 1789

Abl^as, grandson of Mehemet. . . 1813

Said, son of Mehemet 1822

Ismail, son of Ibrahim .... 1830

Mohamed Tewtik, son of Ismail. . 1852

The present Khedive of Egypt has an anjiual allowance of lOO.OOOZ.

Government and Constitution.

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 con- siderable 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, sub- dued the rising, and restored the authority of the Khedive. In this intervention England was not joined by France, and as a result, on January 18, 1883, the Khedive signed a decree abolish- ing 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 Egyptian Ministry is at present composed of six members, among wliom the (lejiartmental work is distributed as follows : — 1. President — Interior"; 2. Finance ; 3. Justice ; 4. War ; 5. Public Works and Public Instruction ; 6. Foreign Allairs.

On May 1, 1883, an organic law was promulgated by the Khedive creating

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