The plurality of authorities in Egypt

03The plurality of authorities in Egypt

• While the real power lay with the English, the Ottoman sultan shared with the Khedive the nominal legal authority, embodied in the firmans of appointment.
• An international presence of certain administrations impaired the state's sovereignty: the Debt Fund, the railway and telegraph administrations, the Daira Sanuya, the Domain and the port of Alexandria, besides the foreign Capitulations and the Mixed Courts.
• The Khedive strengthened his ties with the sultan, to lean on him if a confrontation with British control became necessary, and so that the Ottoman State should not agree with England against him.
• On the other hand he drew closer to the people: he released some prisoners of the Urabi revolution, appointed some of them to posts outside the army, restored their decorations, and pardoned Abdullah Nadim, the orator of the revolution, allowing him to work openly after long concealment and flight.
• Abbas' early stands encouraged the spirit of resistance, so the Council of the Making of Laws began to concern itself with political matters, demanding discussion of the budget, a new tax system, a solution to the problem of real-property debts and a stop to appointing foreigners to senior posts.