fficers' shots) or
lit as a signal for the assault. Captain S. C. Bull of the 6th Dragoons
received serious injuries and died a few hours later, and two other
officers were seriously injured. A number of persons were arrested and
tried by a special tribunal created in 1895 to deal with offences
against the army of occupation. On the 27th of the same month four of
the ringleaders were sentenced to death, others received various terms
of imprisonment,[29] and seven were sentenced to fifty lashes. The
executions and floggings were carried out the next day at the scene of
the outrage and in the presence of some five hundred natives. The
quieting effect that this drastic action might have had was marred by
the fact that certain members of the British parliament called in
question the justice of the sentences--passed unanimously by a court of
which the best English and the best native judge were members. For a
time there was considerable ferment in Egypt. The Anglo-Egyptian
authorities received, however, the firm support of Sir Edward Grey, the
foreign secretary in the liberal administration formed in December 1905.
As far as responsible statesmen were concerned the change of government
in Great Britain made no difference in the conduct of Egyptian affairs.

The Taba incident.

The Taba incident, to which reference has been made, arose in the
beginning of 1906 over the claim of the sultan of Turkey to jurisdiction
in the Sinai peninsula. The origin of the dispute dated back, however,
to 1892, when Abbas Hilmi became khedive. Mehemet Ali and his successors
up to and including Tewfik had not only administered the Sinai peninsula
but certain posts on the Hejaz or Arabian side of the gulf of Akaba. The
firman of investiture issued by the sultan on the occasion of the
succession of Abbas differed, however, from the text of former firmans,
the intention being, apparently, to exclude Egypt from the
administration of the Sinai peninsula. The British government intervened
and after considerable pressure upon Turkey obtained a telegram (dated
the 8th of April 1892) from the grand vizier in which it was declared
that the _status quo_ was maintained in the Sinai peninsula, but that
the sultan resumed possession of the posts in the Hejaz heretofore
garrisoned by Egypt. To this last course Great Britain raised no
objection. As officially stated by the British government at the time,
the eastern frontier of the Sinai peninsula was take