310 THE STORY OF THE KHEDIVATE.

1 advise the release of the mass of the prisoners confined in the State prisons on charges connected with the mutiny. Prisons in Egypt were very different in those ays from what they have become under British control ; and I have no doubt that the prisoners taken after the collapse of the mutiny were under-fed, illtreated, confined in over-crowded cells, and that the muster roll included many innocent persons, and many more against whom there was no evidence which would have justified their conviction before an English court. In obedience to Lord Dufferin's advice — and, under the circumstances, to advise was to order — the great bulk of the prisoners were let go, and a general amnesty was proclaimed for all officers up to the rank of captain. Special Commissioners were appointed to try the leaders of the mutiny.

The British Government, after having authorized : the trial of Arabi and his fellow-conspirators, stipulated : beforehand that in the event of any of the accused I being found guilty and sentenced to death, the ' sentence should not be carried out without the I approval of the British authorities. Arabi's English I friends provided him with English counsel. By the Ottoman military code, which governs the procedure of court-martials in Egypt, a prisoner is not allowed to be defended by counsel, or to have communication in private with his counsel before his trial. The British Consul-General, however, insisted, in the interest of Arabi, that the law should be set aside in his case, and that Mr. Mark Napier, Q.C, and