Under the governor are a large number of white subordinates, chiefs of provinces which extend as far as Bangala, and other officials. There are four administrative divisions or provincesthe Lower Congo, Livingstone Falls and the Pool, the district between the Pool and the Equator, the Upper Congo. The following are the principal stations occupied: Banana, Boma, Matadi, Lukunga, Leopoldville, Bangala, Stanley Falls, and Luluabourg.

The Central Government at Brussels consists of the King of the Belgians, and three heads of departments, Foreign Affairs and Justice, Finance, and the Interior.

There is an armed force of 2,000 native Africans.

Books of Reference concerning the Congo State

1. OFFICIAL.

Convention between Her Majesty and the King of the Belgians in the name of the International Association of the Congo. London, 1885.

Correspondence with Her Majesty's Ambassador at Berlin respecting West African Conference. London, 1885.

Protocols and General Act of the West African Conference. London, 1885.

2. UNOFFICIAL.

Bentley (Rev. W. H.), Life on the Congo. London, 1887.

Le Mouvement Géographique. Brussels, 1887.

Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society, 1885-87.

Report on the Congo Country, by Mr. W. P. Tisdel, in Reports of Consuls of the United States. Nos. 54 and 55. Washington, 1885. Pechuel-Loesche (Dr.), Kongoland. Jena, 1887.

Stanley (H. M.), The Congo and the Founding of its Free State. 2 vols. London, 1885.

Stanley (H. M.), Through the Dark Continent. 2 vols. London, 1878. Wauters (A. J.), Le Congo. Brussels, 1885.

Mohamed Tewfik, born Nov. 19, 1852; the son of Ismail I.; succeeded to the throne, on the abdication of his father, June 26, 1879. Married, Jan. 18, 1873, to Princess Emineh, daughter of El Hamy Pasha. Offspring of the union are two sons, Abbas, born July 14, 1874, and Mehemet Ali, born in 1876, and two daughters, KhadigehHanem, born in 1879, and Naemet-Hanem, born in 1881.

The present sovereign of Egypt is the sixth ruler of the dynasty of Mehemet Ali, appointed Governor of Egypt in 1806, who made himself, in 1811, absolute master of the country by force of arms. The position of his father and predecessor, Ismail I.-forced to abdicate, 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 Powers, which established the hereditary succession to the throne of Egypt, under the same rules and regulations as those to the throne of Turkey. The title given to Mehemet Ali and his immediate successors was the Turkish one of' Vali,' or Viceroy; but this was changed by an Imperial firman of May 21, 1866, into the Persian-Arabic of Khidêwi-Misr,' or King of Egypt, or, as more commonly 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—

The present Khedive of Egypt has an annual allowance of

100,000l.; his father of 40,0007., with 175,000l. more for other indirect members of the family.

Constitution, Government, and Army.

The administration of Egypt is now (January 1887) carried on by native Ministers, subject to the ruling of the Khedive, and under the supervision of England. 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-the object of which was supposed to be the abolition by violent means of the Control, and the removal of foreigners generally from positions of influence held by them in Egypt-England intervened, subdued 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 abolishing the joint control of England and France. In the place of the Control the Khedive, on the recommendation of England, appointed a single European financial adviser, with a consultative voice in the Council of Ministers, and with no power to interfere in matters of internal administration.

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

On May 1, 1884, an Organic Law was promulgated by the Khedive creating a number of representative institutions, based on universal suffrage, to carry on eventually the government of the country in a constitutional manner. These institutions included Provincial Boards, a Legislative Council, and a General Assembly. The Legislative Council is the only institution which works at present (January 1888). It is composed of 30 members, 16 of whom are elected and 14 appointed by the Khedive. All general laws have to be submitted to this Council, but the government is not obliged to act on its advice.

Egypt Proper is administratively divided into 8 governorships of principal towns, and 14 moudiriehs, or provinces. The governors and the moudirs possess very extensive powers. are divided into kisms, governed by mamours.

The moudiriehs

Subsequent to 1882 a body of gendarmerie was formed for the provinces, and a corps of police for the towns of Alexandria and Cairo. On January 1, 1884, a new organisation of police came into force, placing both them and the gaols-hitherto in the hands of the moudirs-under the control of two Directors-General attached to

the Ministry of the Interior. Also at the end of February 1884 new criminal codes came into operation, taking away all magisterial power from the hands of the moudirs, and placing it in the hands of delegates appointed by a Procureur-Général, working under the Minister of Justice. Since that date the authority of the moudirs has been slightly extended. They have been charged with preliminary investigation of criminal cases, and the Mamours have been appointed juges de contraventions in their districts. Litigation between natives and foreigners is conducted before mixed tribunals, established under the auspices of the European Powers, and possessing very extensive jurisdiction. On January 19, 1884, the Khedive issued a decree prolonging the powers of these mixed courts for a period of five years. The total strength of the police and the gendarmerie is about 7,000 (January 1888).

On September 19, 1882, the whole of the Egyptian army was disbanded by Khedivial decree. In December of the same year the organisation of a new army was entrusted to Major-General Sir Evelyn Wood, who was given the title of Sirdar. He was assisted by about 20 English officers supplied by the English War Office. The new army had a total strength, officers and men, of about 5,800. At present the army has a total strength of 9,500.

Since the rebellion in 1882 an English army of occupation has remained in Egypt. Its strength at the end of 1887 was 3,500.

Within the last four years a series of reforms has been inaugurated under English supervision, and they have resulted in the abolition of the courbash, the establishment of new Native tribunals, the reform of the prison system, the partial abolition of the corvée (forced labour), the reform of the currency, and an improvement in the administration of the Finances and of the Public Works.

Revenue and Expenditure.

On the 5th of April 1880 the Khedive issued a decree appointing an International Commision of liquidation to examine the financial situation of Egypt, and to draft a law regulating the relations between Egypt and her creditors, and also between the Daira Sanieh and the Daira Khassa and their creditors. That Commission, in concert with the Egyptian Government, estimated the annual income of the country as follows:

The Commissioners assigned (1) to the service of the Privileged Debt the Railway and Telegraph income and the Port dues of Alexandria; and (2) to the service of the Unified Stock the Customs Revenues and the taxes of four provinces. The charge for the privileged debt is a fixed annuity, providing interest at 5 per cent., and sinking fund calculated to extinguish the debt by 1941. Should the revenues assigned to Privileged prove insufficient to meet the annuity, the deficit becomes a first charge on the revenues assigned to the Unified. The latter debt carries an interest at the rate of 4 per cent. guaranteed by the Government in case the assigned revenues are insufficient. The surplus of the revenues assigned to the Debt goes to the redemption of the Unified by purchase of Stock in the market. In September, 1884, a portion of this surplus was appropriated by the Government.

The financial results since 1880 have been as follows:

The total floating debt at the end of 1884 was about ££8,000,000. The settlement of this floating debt was the subject of a Conference in London in June and July, 1884, when the English Government proposed to guarantee a pre-preference loan of £18,000,000 to the Egyptian Government, with interest and Sinking Fund at the rate of 4 per cent. No decision was arrived at by the Conference; but in March 1885 the Powers came to an understanding on the subject, and on the 18th of that month the representatives of Great Britain, Germany, Austria, France, Italy, Russia, and Turkey, signed a convention according to which they agreed to guarantee a new loan of 9,000,000. This sum was to provide for the settlement of the