Morning journal and courier., 1884-08-06
THE TERRIBLE TURKS IN EGYPT.

THE TERRIBLE TURKS IN EGYPT.
 The statement made by MT. Clifford Lloyd, who was sent by the English government to correct abuses in the Egyptian interior de- partment. reveals a terrible state of affairs, and shows what it is to live under Turkish tyranny. MT. Lloyd'paid particular atten- tion to the prison system. He found that the various district jai1s were under the charge of mudirs, who were appointed by the minister of the interior, not upon their qual- ifcations, but in accordance with the amount of interest at their command. These officials had almost autocratic charge of the districts to which they were appointed. They were the supreme local representatives of the exec utive, and their authority was in no way lessened by the fact that, except on financial matters, they did not consider it necessary to report to the central government. They were surrounded by 8 staff of officials, each of whom did whatever he was ordered to do.
 To show how this system works MT. Lloyd gives the particulars of one case which came under his notice. A robbery had been com mitted in the Tantah district, the details of which made it apparent that fourteen per sons had been in one way or another con- cerned in the crime The mudir of Tantah thereupon seized seventy-seven men, among whom were some of the most respectable per sons in the district, and had them all sent to prison. When MT. Lloyd was privately in formed of the fact, he made an investigation, and found that all of the accused had been tortured, either by the bastinado or the thumb-screws, and in this way confessions had been obtained, dictated by the mudir, duplicating those against whom that official desired to have the crime proved. As a re suit of this treatment, two of the men had died, and the seventy-fve who still remained in jail were in wretched condition, with open wounds and running sores upon their feet and fingers, the marks of the punish ment that had been inflicted two months be- fore. In this particular instance, an exami- nation followed, which resulted in the dis charge of all of the accused, no evidence be- ing found which would warrant the eonvic- ton of any of them. It is pointed out that the use of the bastinado was abolished three months before MT. Lloyd's arrival in Egypt; but in spite of this abolition, the district despot did not hesitate to make use of it in the enforcement of his wishes.
 Other means of punishment are thumb screws, the stocks, in which the prisoner is placed with the feet reversed so as to compel him to lie face downward upon the ground; and the neck chain, by which prisoner is compelled to stand for hours in the middle of his cell with strong iron chain around the neck, fastened to beam overhead, mak- ing strangulation certain if he happen to faint. And these forms of torture are used by the Turkish officials not so much for the en- forcement of the law as for their private gain By them persons having property are tortured into confession of crime and then made to pay heavy fines.
 Mr. Lloyd tried to reform these terrible Turks, but he found he could make no head way and therefore surrendered his trust and retired from the field. And it is clear that there can be no reform under the present system.