48 THE STORY OF THE KHEDIVATE.

counterpoise to the absolute will of the Viceroy. No doubt the liberal treatment of foreigners resident in Egypt, which formed part of Mahomet Ali's permanent policy, had created an important foreign element which lay outside the jurisdiction of the Vice-regal government, and which, under conceivable conditions, might have served as a restraint upon the despotic rule of the Viceroy. As it happened, however, the European community in Egypt were in favour of the autocratic rule, under which order and tranquillity had been established throughout the valley of the Nile, and were practically indifferent to any exactions and oppressions to which the native population was subjected, so long as their own interests were completely secured and protected under the capitulations. The centralized system of government, introduced after the destruction of the Mamelukes, placed the native population, or, in other words, the peasant farmers, known by the name of fellaheen, absolutely at the mercy of the Effendina, their sole lord and master. As I have stated previously, the founder of this system had no idea of allowing anybody but himself and ' his dependents to enrich themselves at the expense of the fellaheen ; but this idea was not due to any regard for the welfare of the cultivators of the soil except in as far as their comparative immunity from local oppression rendered their labour more profitable to his own interests. Under the reign of Mahomet Ali the fellahs were deported wholesale from their homes and were compelled to perform military service for years