THE MILITARY DICTATORSHIP. 273 of foreign intervention. Now was the time tox carry out the reforms which Arabi and his fellow- \ agitators were supposed to have at heart. Instead / of this, as soon as they got power into their / hands, the leaders of the mutiny proceeded to gratify / their personal animosities. Some fifty Circassian I officers of the Egyptian army were arrested on the charge of being concerned in a conspiracy to assassinate Arabi. Their trial by court-martial was conducted behind closed doors. Torture was reported to have been employed to obtain admissions of guilt ; and finally the whole lot, including Osman Pasha \ Rifki, a former Minister of War, were sentenced to de- \ portation to the Soudan for the term of their natural lives, a term which, under the circumstances, was not likely to be of long duration. Tewfik, however, refused to confirm the sentence, on the plea that he was not convinced of the guilt of the accused officers.

I suspect, however, he was stimulated to assert his authority by the knowledge that the Circassian officers represented the only element in the Egyptian army '. on which he could rely with any confidence. Acting on the advice of the Consuls-General, his Highness reduced the sentence passed by the court-martial to one of simple banishment Mahmoud Sami replied that popular indignation at the attempted assassination of Arabi was so intense, that he feared the refusal of the Khedive to inflict adequate punishment on the convicted criminals would be followed by a general massacre of the foreigners in Egypt. He T