There is no Magna Charta in the Soudan. It is expressly laid down in the Anglo-Egyptian Agreement of 1899 that the country is to be governed under Martial Law, and all legislative power resides in the Governor-General, subject to the approval of H.M.’s representative in Egypt. But Martial Law is a vague and unsatisfactory term. During the recent operations in the Transvaal a flying column was sent to occupy a railway terminus and to secure the rolling-stock therein. The seizure was successfully accomplished, but when the engines were examined they were all found to be defective in certain essential parts of the mechanism. The commander of the column sent for the railway officials and ordered them to restore the missing pieces. In vain they protested that they knew nothing of them. The soldier, an Australian, was a man of few words. ‘I shall shoot you in the morning,’ said he, ‘unless the pieces are found.’ They objected that such a course was utterly illegal, even under Martial Law. ‘My view of Martial Law,’ he replied, ‘is that you must do what I tell you or take the consequences. In any case, discussion is useless. The shooting-party is ordered at eight.’ The engines were complete in every particular long before the fatal hour; but such methods, though sometimes necessary in war, are not suitable to peaceful administration. Martial Law remains a power in the background, but the Government lost no time in setting up a system of Civil Justice, and one of its earliest acts was to appoint a properly qualified Legal Adviser.