Isly

ISLY, the name of a small river on the Moroccan-Algerian frontier, a sub-tributary of the Tafna, famous as the scene of the greatest victory of the French army in the Algerian wars. The intervention of Morocco on the side of Abd-el-Kader led at once to the bombardment of Tangier by the French fleet under the prince de Joinville, and the advance of the French army of Gen.

Bugeaud (1844). The enemy, 45,00o strong, was found to be encamped on the Isly river near Kudiat-el-Khodra. Bugeaud had a force of 6,500 infantry and 1,500 cavalry, with a few pieces of artillery. In his own words, the formation adopted was "a boar's head." On Aug. 14 the "boar's head" crossed the river about 9m. to the northwest of Kudiat and advanced upon the Moorish camp; it was immediately attacked on all sides by great masses of cavalry, but the volleys of the steady French infantry broke the force of every charge, and at an apt moment the French cavalry in two bodies, each of the strength of a brigade, broke out and charged. One brigade stormed the Moorish camp (near Kudiat) in the face of artillery fire, the other sustained a desper ate conflict on the right wing with a large body of Moorish horse which had not charged, and only the arrival of infantry put an end to the resistance in this quarter. A general rally of the Moorish forces was followed by another action in which they endeavoured to retake the camp. Bugeaud's forces, which had originally faced south when crossing the river, had now changed direction until they faced almost west. Near Kudiat-el-Khodra the Moors had rallied in considerable force, and prepared to retake their camp.

The French, however, continued to attack in perfect combination, and of ter a stubborn resistance the Moors once more gave way. For this great victory, which was quickly followed by proposals of peace, Bugeaud was made duc d'Isly.

ISMAIL

(183o-1895), khedive of Egypt, was born at Cairo on Dec. 31, 183o, being the second of the three sons of Ibrahim and grandson of Mehemet Ali. After receiving a European edu cation at Paris, where he attended the staff college, he returned home, and on the death of his elder brother became heir to his uncle, Said Mohammed, the Vali of Egypt. Said employed him on missions abroad, notably to the pope, the emperor Napoleon III. and the sultan of Turkey. In 1861 he was despatched at the head of an army of 14,000 to quell an insurrection in the Sudan. On the death of Said, on Jan. 18, 1863, Ismail was pro claimed viceroy without opposition. He found the Egyptian revenue vastly increased by the rise in the value of cotton which resulted from the American Civil War, the Egyptian crop being worth about £25,000,000 instead of L5,000,000. Ismail had dis covered that the civilized nations of Europe made a free use of their credit for raising loans. He now proceeded to transfer his private debts to the state and to embark on a grand scale of expenditure.

During the sixties and seventies Egypt became the happy hunting-ground of financiers, to whose schemes Ismail fell an easy and a willing prey. In 1866-1867 he obtained from the sultan of Turkey, in exchange for an increase in the tribute, firmans giving him the title of khedive, and changing the law of succession to direct descent from father to son; and in 1873 he obtained a new firman making him to a large extent independ ent. He projected vast schemes of internal reform, remodelling the customs system and the post office, stimulating commercial progress, creating a sugar industry, introducing European im provements into Cairo and Alexandria, building palaces, enter taining lavishly and maintaining an opera and a theatre. Of the total amount of debt incurred by Ismail for his projects, about io% may have been sunk in works of permanent utility—always excluding the Suez canal. On his accession he refused to ratify

the concessions to the canal company made by Said, and the question was referred in 1864 to the arbitration of Napoleon III., who awarded £3,800,000 to the company as compensation for the losses they would incur by the changes which Ismail insisted upon in the original grant.

In 1867 Ismail visited Paris and London, and in 1869 he again paid a visit to England. The opening of the canal in Nov. 1869 enabled him to claim to rank among European sovereigns, and to give and receive royal honours; this excited the jealousy of the sultan, but Ismail was clever enough to pacify his overlord. In 1876 the old system of consular jurisdiction for foreigners was modified, and the system of mixed courts introduced, by which European and native judges sat together to try all civil cases without respect of nationality.

In 1874 Ismail annexed Darfur, and was only prevented from extending his dominion into Abyssinia by the superior fighting power of the Abyssinians. But at length the inevitable financial crisis came. A national debt of over one hundred millions sterling (as opposed to three millions when he became viceroy) had been incurred by the khedive, whose fundamental idea of liquidating his borrowings was to borrow at increased interest. The bond holders became restive. Judgments were given against the khedive in the international tribunals. When he could raise no more loans he sold his Suez canal shares (in 1875) to Great Britain for 13,976,582. Foreign intervention followed. In Dec. 1875 Stephen Cave was sent out by the British Government to inquire into the finances of Egypt, and in April 1876 his report was published, advising that it was necessary for foreign Powers to interfere in order to restore credit. The result was the establishment of the Caisse de la Dette. In October Goschen and Joubert made a further investigation, which resulted in the establishment of Anglo-French control. A further commission of inquiry by Evelyn Baring (afterwards Lord Cromer) and others in 1878 made it necessary for Ismail to hand over his estates to the nation and accept the position of a constitutional sovereign, with Nubar as premier, Rivers Wilson as finance minister, and de Blignieres as minister of public works.

The new regime lasted six months, and then Ismail dismissed his ministers, an occasion being deliberately prepared by his getting Arabi (q.v.) to foment a military pronunciamento. England and France insisted (May 1879) on the reinstatement of the British and French ministers. The tribunals were still giving judgments for debt against the government, and when Germany and Austria showed signs of intending to enforce exe cution, the governments of Great Britain and France determined to get rid of Ismail altogether. He was first advised to abdicate, and a few days afterwards (June 26), he received a telegram from the sultan, addressed to him as ex-khedive, and informing him that his son Tewfik was his successor. He left Egypt for Naples, but eventually retired to his palace of Emirghian on the Bosporus. There he died on March 21, 1895.

Beneath a veneer of French manners and education Ismail remained throughout a thorough Oriental. It was his early encouragement of Arabi, and his introduction of swarms of foreign concession-hunters, which precipitated the "national move ment" that led to British occupation.

See Earl Cromer, Modern Egypt (19o8) ; and Lord Milner, England in Egypt (1892, 12th edit. 1915).