32 GOVERNMENT.

him to be the cause of all the oppression under

which it groans, as it considers all the acts of injus-

tice, under which it has to suffer, to be perpetrated

by his orders. In case of a governor, therefore, re-

belling against the government, the whole province

would instantly attach itself to his faction, if he

merely released them of a portion of their taxation. To re-conquer the country by force of arms would

be a more difficult matter than it w^as twenty years

ago ; we know what resistance the negroes of Kor-

dofan and Sennaar offered the Turks, when armed

with spears and swords only ; and at present, there

are 15,000 muskets in the arsenal at Khartoom,

which would give the insurgents no small advantage. Mehemed Ali knows all this very well, and acts very

wisely in conciliating the governors : the authority of

the latter is, therefore, virtually far greater than that

of the Viceroy, and most wofully do they use it to

their advantage ; for, with few exceptions, they exert

unlimited power, are masters over life and death, as

also over the property of the people. A code of

laws has certainly been instituted, but these are

totally disregarded, and in every case will is law. Judgment is sometimes even passed according to

the whim or fancy of the individual in the most un-

justifiable manner. During my residence in this

country, I had the opportunity of convincing myself

of this fact.

A Turk, who travelled with a large quantity of

goods, was murdered in the desert of Bahiouda,*

* Between Ambukol and Khartoom.