Fulbc or Fellatah, who had ali eady conquered the Haussa country. Expelled from his capital by the invaders, Ahmed was only restored by the assistance of the fakir Mahomet el-Amin el-Kanemi, a mere private individual, who, pre tending to a celestial mission, hoisted the green flag of the prophet, and undertook the deliverance of his country. The Fellatahs appear to have been taken by surprise, and were iu ten months driven completely out of Bornu. The conqueror, having the army wholly devoted to him, might probably have, with little difficulty, assumed the sovereign power. More moderate, and perhaps more prudent, he invested the nearest heir of the ancient kings with all the appearance and pomp of sovereignty, only reserving for himself, under the title of sheikh, all its reality. The court of the king or sultan was established at New Bornu, or Birni, which was made the capital, the old city having been entirely destroyed during the Fellatah invasion ; while the sheikh, in military state, took up his residence at the new city of Kuka. Fairly established he ruled the country with a rod of iron, and at the same time inspired his subjects with a superstitious notion of his sanctity His zeal was peculiarly directed against moral or religious offences. The most frivolous faults of females, as talking too loud, and walking in the street unveiled, rendered the offender liable to public indictment, while graver errors were visited with the most ignominious pun ishments, and often with death itself. Kanemi died in 1835, and was succeeded by his son, Sheikh Omar, who alto gether abolished the nominal kingship of the Sefuwa. The intercourse of Europeans with Bornu has, during his reign, been for the most part satisfactory as well as frequent. The expectations entertained at various times of opening up a valuable commerce with the people have not been as yet realized, and it seems likely, from the latest reports, that before long the traveller in Central Africa will have little to hope or fear from the sheikh of Bornu. Dr Barth, who was at Kuka in 1851, foreboded this decay; and Dr Nachtigal, who in 1870 conveyed the friendly presents sent by King William of Prussia, in acknowledgment of the sheikh s kindness to so many German explorers, writes
thus in December 1872:—
" The rapid declension of Bornu is an undeniable and lamentable fact. It is taking place with increasing rapidity, and the boundless weakness of Sheikh Omar otherwise so worthy and brave a man must bear almost all the blame. His sons and ministers plunder the provinces in an almost unheard of manner ; trade and inter course are almost at a standstill ; good faith and confidence exist no more. The indolence of the court avoids military expeditions, and anarchy and a lack of security on the routes are the conse quences. As two years ago the prince of Zinder could kill the Munioma or prince of Munio, a faithful vassal of the sheikh, and escape unpunished, the people of Khudadza have now slain the prince of GummeL The sheikh will probably take their presents as indemnification, as he pardoned the sultan of Zinder for the mur der of the faithful Munioma for the sake of a few camel-loads. Most of the small princes of the western provinces of Bornu now pay an indeterminate tribute to the prince of Zinder, who on his .part has no less ambition than to become master of Bornu. Thus the sheikh and the land grow poorer and poorer, and public morality sinks lower and lower."
See Denham and Clapperton s Travels, 1828 ; Earth s Travels in Central Africa, vol. il., 1857 ; Kohlfs s Land und Volk in Africa, 1873 ; Petermann s MMhcil., 1871, pp 67 and 327,
BOROUGH. Although the idea of self-government by a town is exemplified in the coloniæ and municipia of Rome, and in their duumviri, decuriones, and lesser senate, composed of the curial orders, which along with the defensor civitatis appear to have existed in vigour until the reign of Leo the Philosopher (Const., 46, 47), yet as the local power was gradually subordinated to the imperial, and as both in France and Italy it seems almost universally to have disappeared when the territorial jurisdictions, as well as the feudal fiefs, became hereditary, it is impossible to trace an historical connection between these institutions and the modern borough. In Spain and Languedoc, perhaps, the forms of ancient independence may have been continuously preserved, but the system of government by comes and scabini (or assessors), which was pursued in both France and Italy by the successors of Charlemagne, was obviously opposed to the freedom of towns. It is during the 11th and 12th centuries that we begin to read in charters of the citizens of Narbonne, the burgesses of Carcassonne, the consuls of Beziers, the magistrates of Rouergues, the capitols of Toulouse. It is during the reigns of Louis the Fat, Louis the Lion, and Philip Augustus that charters of commune become frequent. These charters, which sometimes bear to be granted on account of the poverty of the townsfolk, the enormities of the clergy, or the attacks of the local Seigneurs, were probably dictated by the pecuniary needs of the Crown; but they attest the growing power—the de facto rights of the industrial population. They distinguish between Bourgeoisies and Communes proper: the former obtained a confirmation of ancient customs, of exemption from feudal jurisdiction, of personal liberty, but they did not obtain an elective municipal government. In Italy the revival of civic autonomy was much more rapid. Although Frederic Barbarossa reserved to himself in the peace of Constance the right of nominating consuls in the Italian towns, Bishop Otho of Frisingen tells us that the imperial influence did not count for much; and in 1288, at least, we have in the Potestas (Podesta), the Concilium Generale, and Concilium Novem Dominorum of Siena, a type of the independent republican city.
The Saxon byrig or burh is properly the fortified house of the powerful man. Related forms are burgus (Latin of 4th century); burg (High German); baurgs (Gothic); borg (Gaelic); πύργος (Greek); bor, borc, and bourg (French); and broch, a pledge. The burgensis, or inhabitant of a walled town, was opposed to villanus, or inhabitant of the villa, or open town. The Gemot, or assembly of the original township, had the power of making by-laws (the Danish prefix means “town”), and of electing the Gerefa (Reeve), the Bydel, and the Tithing-man or constable, the first of whom represented the assembly in the courts of the hundred and the shire. The Gemot also saw to the collection of taxes imposed by the higher courts, the pursuit of criminals, and the search for stolen goods. In mercantile places, such as London and Bath, the chief officer was called Port-Gerefa from the gates in which the market was held.
