ntinople; for, in fact, little by little, there had
disappeared under these Greek agents the sound principles of the old
administration that had been established by the wise kings of ancient
Egypt, and which the Ptolemies had scrupulously preserved, as did also
the first governors under the Caesars.

After all these improvements in the internal administration, the
governor turned his attention to the question of justice, which until
that moment had been subject to the decision of financial agents, or
of the soldiers of the Greek government. Amr now created permanent and
regular tribunals composed of honourable, independent, and enlightened
men, who enjoyed public respect and esteem. To Amr dates back the first
of those _divans_, chosen from the elite of the population, as sureties
of the fairness of the _cadis_, which received appeals from first
judgments to confirm them, or, in the case of wrongful decisions, to
alter them. The decrees of the Arab judges had force only for those
Mussulmans who formed a part of the occupying army. Whenever a Koptic
inhabitant was a party in an action, the Koptic authorities had the
right to intervene, and the parties were judged by their equals in race
and religion.

One striking act of justice succeeded in winning for Amr the hearts of
all. Despite the terror inspired by the religious persecutions which
Heraclius had carried on with so much energy, one man, the Koptic
patriarch Benjamin, had bravely kept his faith intact. He belonged
to the Jacobite sect and abandoned none of its dogmas, and in their
intolerance the all-powerful Melchites did not hesitate to choose him as
their chief victim. Benjamin was dispossessed of his patriarchal throne,
his liberty and life were threatened, and he only succeeded in saving
both by taking flight. He lived thus forgotten in the various refuges
that the desert monasteries afforded him, while Heraclius replaced him
by an ardent supporter of the opinions favoured at court. The whole of
Egypt was then divided into two churches separated from each other by an
implacable hatred. At the head of the Melchites was the new patriarch,
who was followed by a few priests and a small number of partisans who
were more attached to him by fear than by faith. The Jacobites, on the
other hand, comprised the immense majority of the population, who looked
upon the patriarch as an intruder chosen by the emperor. The church
still acknowledged as its real head Benjamin, t