242 ENGLISH SAGA

operations of international capital. The first "Fascist dictator"
was dealt with by Gladstone's pacific government in the old
vigorous John Bull manner. British tars bombarded Alexandria,
and an expeditionary force under Sir Garnet Wolseley routed
Arabi at Tel-d-Kebir. The French, fearful of another attack
from Germany, preserved their freedom of action and left
their British partners to act alone.

Having entered Egypt to restore order the latter were forced
to stay to maintain it. For the only alternative was mob rule.
The Khedive was restored to a nominal authority. Vague
suzerainty continued to be vested in the Sultan of Turkey. But
for the next quarter of a century the real ruler of Egypt was the
British Agent and Consul General, Sir Evelyn Baring, later
Lord Cromer. He was supported by British officials and
soldiers.

Up to this point the Egyptian adventure had been prompted
by financial interests. Capital, being free to operate where
its owners chose, strayed outside the imperial field in its pur-
suit of profits. Its interest payments taking the form of imports
on which the employment of British voters depended, any
government which valued its existence was forced to use its
diplomatic influence to maintain them. Where such influence
provoked national reactions, military intervention became
necessary to avert anarchy and punish outrages against British
subjects.

Finance had led Britain into Egypt. Love of humanity and
liberty impelled her next step. Almost immediately Gladstone
was forced into further expansionist action by the moral forces
from which he derived his authority. They sent Gordon to a
martyr's death at Khartoum and Kitchener in the fullness of
time to establish a new equatorial dominion in the heart of
Africa.

The Sudan, stretching nearly 2000 miles south from Egypt
along the Upper Nile, was an Egyptian province. The misrule
of corrupt officials and the depredations of savage warriors and
slave-traders had long been its lot. Shortly before the British
occupation of Cairo the unhappy country was seized by a religious
fanatic, the Mahdi. An Egyptian army, sent to restore order,
was cut to pieces in the desert.

For this hell on earth Gladstone's government now found
itself responsible. Feeling not unnaturally that a liberal