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overthrow of the Pacha's power in Syria; after which the Sultan issued to the Pacha the Firman of February 13, 1841.

In 1849, Mehemet Ali, having ceased to rule, on account of imbecility, in the preceding year, died, and was succeeded by Abbas, who died in 1854 A.D.; to him succeeded Said, who died in 1863 A.D., and to him succeeded the present Khedive. In 1866, 1867, 1869 A.D., circumstances induced the Porte to issue additional Firmans. In these documents,

as well as in the Firman of 1841, and a further Firman in 1873 (e), granted after the judgment in The Charkieh, are to be found the existing relations between the Porte and the Pacha of Egypt, now called the Khedive. The principal and most important of these relations may be said to form part of the present public law of Europe.

The result of the historical inquiry as to the status of his Highness the Khedive, instituted in the case of The Charkieh, was as follows: That in the Firmans, whose authority upon this point appears to be paramount, Egypt is invariably spoken of as one of the provinces of the Ottoman Empire; that the Egyptian army is regulated as part of the military force of the Ottoman Empire; that the taxes are imposed and levied in the name of the Porte; that the Treaties of the Porte are binding upon Egypt, and that she has no separate jus legationis; that the flag for both the army and navy is the flag of the Porte.

All these facts, according to the unanimous opinion of accredited writers, are inconsistent and incompatible with those conditions of sovereignty which are necessary to entitle a country to be ranked as one among the great community of States.

In accordance with these facts and the principles deducible from them, the Court of Admiralty decided in 1873, in the case of The Charkieh, that the ship of the Khedive was not entitled to the privileges of a vessel of war belonging to an independent State.

(e) Printed at length in the Journal des Débats, July 7, 1873.

On November 3, 1839, the Porte published an Ordinance for the regulation of its provinces and of its vassal States, called Hatti-Sheriff of Gulhané. This Hatti-Sheriff was followed by the promulgation of a collection of Laws called the Tanzimat, and this, with certain modifications, has been applied to Egypt by a Firman décoré d'un Hatti-Sheriff (ƒ), of July 1852. This Firman appears to overrule the Code d'Abbas, which had been established in Egypt.

This Firman can hardly be said to affect the International relations of the Pacha; the principal derogation from the sovereignty of the latter consisting in the reservation to the Sultan of the power as to life and death over the subjects of the Pacha.

In the Separate Act annexed to the Convention, concluded at London on July 15, 1840, between the Courts of Great Britain, Austria, Prussia, and Russia on the one part, and the Sublime Ottoman Porte on the other, the International Status of Egypt is described in the following articles :

"1. His Highness promises to grant to Mehemet Ali, "for himself and for his descendants in the direct line, the "administration of the Pachalic of Egypt; and his High

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ness promises, moreover, to grant to Mehemet Ali for his "life, with the title of Pacha of Acre, and with the com"mand of the fortress of Saint John of Acre, the administra"tion of the southern part of Syria, the limits of which shall "be determined by the following line of demarcation:—

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"This line, beginning at Cape Ras-el-Nakhora, on the "coast of the Mediterranean, shall extend direct from thence "as far as the mouth of the River Seizaban, at the northern extremity of the Lake of Tiberias. It shall pass along the "western shore of that lake. It shall follow the right of the "River Jordan and the western shore of the Dead Sea. From "thence it shall extend straight to the Red Sea, which it "shall strike at the northern point of the gulph of Akaba;

(f) It describes itself as-"Firman adressé à mon illustre et judicieux Vizir Abbas Halmi Pacha, actuellement et héréditairement Gouverneur de l'Egypte, avec le rang éminent de Grand Vizir."

"and from thence it shall follow the western shore of the "gulph of Akaba and the eastern shore of the gulph of "Suez, as far as Suez."

"3. The annual tribute to be paid to the Sultan by "Mehemet Ali shall be proportioned to the greater or less "amount of territory of which the latter may obtain the "administration, according as he accepts the first or the "second alternative."

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"5. All the Treaties and all the laws of the Ottoman Empire shall be applicable to Egypt and to the Pachalic "of Acre, such as it has been above defined, in the same "manner as to every other part of the Ottoman Empire. "But the Sultan consents, that on condition of the regular payment of the tribute above mentioned, Mehemet Ali "and his descendants shall collect-in the name of the "Sultan, and as the delegate of his Highness, within the "provinces the administration of which shall be confided to "them--the taxes and imposts legally established. It is more

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over understood that, in consideration of the receipt of the "aforesaid taxes and imposts, Mehemet Ali and his descen"dants shall defray all the expenses of the civil and military "administration of the said provinces.

"6. The military and naval forces which may be main"tained by the Pacha of Egypt and Acre, forming part of "the forces of the Ottoman Empire, shall always be con"sidered as maintained for the service of the State" (g).

Recently the Sultan and the Turkish Government were alarmed and offended by what they conceived to be conduct on the part of the Viceroy or Khedive, indicating a claim on his part to be treated as an independent Sovereign. This alarm, it is supposed, was partly founded on the reception of the Viceroy, by the different Courts of Europe, on his visits to them; on his invitation to foreign Powers to be present at the opening of the Suez Canal; on certain steps which he had taken to attract strangers, and to found

(g) Hertslet's Treaties, vol. v. pp. 547-549,

commercial establishments in Egypt, and on certain regulations with respect to the institution of schools; and also on account of the purchase of vessels and ammunition of war.

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The Turkish Minister addressed a letter of complaint upon these and other subjects to the Viceroy, in reply to which he denied that he had ever gone beyond the limits of the "rights and duties prescribed by the Imperial Firmans." The Porte, however, insisted upon certain conditions, which, after diplomatic intervention, the Viceroy accepted (h).

XCIXA. Suez Canal (i).-The recent war between Russia and the Porte brought out into a clear light the necessity for some determination on the part of the European, and perhaps of the American States, with respect to the international position of the Suez Canal in time of war. As a matter of fact, that great highway of communication to the East remained unimpeded by the blockade of either belligerent.

The course adopted by England is best explained by the following correspondence between the English Foreign Office and the English Ambassador at the Porte (j).

"The Earl of Derby to Lord Lyons.

"Foreign Office, May 16, 1877.

"My Lord, M. de Lesseps called upon me at the "Foreign Office on the 10th inst., having, as he stated, come

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expressly from Paris to lay before her Majesty's Govern"ment a project for regulating the passage of ships of war "through the Suez Canal.

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"I received him in company with the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and he handed to me the draught project of "which I enclose a copy.

"After some conversation, I told him that the question "of the position of the Suez Canal under present circum"stances was a difficult and delicate one, and that I could

(h) See the Viceroy's defence at length, Ann. Reg. 1869, p. 273. (i) See debates in the House of Commons, May 4, 1877.

() Papers laid before Parliament, June 5, 1877; The Times, June 6.

"not then say more than that the project which he had "been good enough to submit to me should have full con"sideration.

"Her Majesty's Government have since carefully con"sidered the project, and have come to the conclusion that "the scheme proposed in it for the neutralization of the "Canal by an International Convention is open to so many "objections of a political and practical character that they "could not undertake to recommend it for the acceptance of "the Porte and the Powers.

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"Her Majesty's Government are, at the same time, deeply sensible of the importance to Great Britain and "other neutral Powers of preventing the Canal being in"jured or blocked up by either of the belligerents in the pre"sent war, and your Excellency is at liberty to inform M. "de Lesseps that her Majesty's Government has intimated "to the Russian Ambassador that an attempt to blockade or "otherwise to interfere with the Canal or its approaches would "be regarded by her Majesty's Government as a menace to "India, and as a grave injury to the commerce of the world. "I added that on both those grounds any such step-which "her Majesty's Government hope and fully believe there is no "intention on the part of either belligerent to take—would "be incompatible with the maintenance by her Majesty's "Government of an attitude of passive neutrality.

"Her Majesty's Government will cause the Porte and "the Khedive to be made acquainted with the intimation "thus conveyed to the Russian Government, and her Ma"jesty's Ambassador at Constantinople and Agent in Egypt "will be instructed to state that her Majesty's Government "will expect that the Porte and the Khedive will on their "side abstain from impeding the navigation of the Canal, "or adopting any measures likely to injure the Canal or its "approaches, and that her Majesty's Government are firmly "determined not to permit the Canal to be made the scene "of any combat or other warlike operations.

"In stating this to M. de Lesseps, your Excellency will

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