The war in Egypt and the Soudan; an episode in the history of the British Empire, being a descriptive account of the scenes and events of that great drama, and sketches of the principal actors in it

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THE WAK

IN

EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN

AN EPISODE IN
THE HISTOKY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE;

BEINO

A DESCRIPTIVE ACCOUNT OF THE SCENES AND EVENTS OF THAT GREAT DRAMA,

AND SKETCHES OP THE PRINCIPAL ACTORS IN IT.

By THOMAS AECHEE, F.RHist.Soc,

Author of Fi^ty Tean oS Social and Political Progress, Pictures and Royal Portraits, J!C. d-c.

Illustrated by Numerous Engravings.

THE events of the last three or four years have kindled such vivid
interest in aU that relates to the active intervention of Great Britain
in the affairs of Egypt, that the time has evidently arrived for presenting
the public with a compendious, interesting, and accurate history of the series
of occurrences which led to the despatch of British ships and British troops
to Alexandria, Cairo, the Nile, Suakim, and the Soudan, and all that followed
thereupon.

There could scarcely he a more exciting story than that which recounts
the events and incidents of this important episode in British History — a
story which tells of heroic endurance and of brave achievements by the men
of the army and the navy of Britain; from the time when our ships appeared
at Alexandria for the protection of the European residents, and the Fellaheen
of Arabi were confronted by the Highlanders of Alison, to the brave efforts
of Hicks and Baker, and the battles of El-Teb and Tamai — from the first
campaign after the arrival of Lord Wolseley, and the victory of Tel-el-Kebir,
to the campaign now happily ended; including the advance of the troops by
the- Nile and the desert, the battles of Abou-Klea and Kerbekan, and the
successive achievements of Wolseley, Stewart, Earle, Graham, and other men
whose names form a roll of honour, of loyalty, courage, and devotion.

In such a narrative the general history of Egypt has no necessary place.
The present work, therefore, will be a lively chronicle of modem and recent
events in that country, and their relation to the policy of other nations. So
far as their relation to Britain is concerned the subject has grown to such

Vol.

importance that it has become necessary for all persons with a claim to in-
telligence to gain at least a general comprehension of what is sometimes called
' The Egyptian Question."

The narrative will be elucidative of character as well as of incident; that
is it will touch on the individualities of the men who have been prominent
actors in the scenes described, as well as furnish a record of their doings and
the consequences of them. Above all there will be unfolded the story of the
man, the incidents of whose beautiful life — the intelligence of whose untimely
death have caused a thrill of emotion in every heart: the story of General
Gordon, whose example of simplicity, loyalty, courage, and single-minded
devotion is scarcely paralleled in history, and is not to be discovered in the
pages of romance. Of his earlier achievements in philanthropy, of that
marvellous influence over all kinds of men — which had its exemplification
in China and the Soudan — and of the final, and, as it proved, fatal enter-
prise, which ended in the determined and unaided defence of Khartoum,
and the death of the hero himself, — the narrative will be perhaps for the
first time consecutive and complete.

It may be said then, that the work, as a whole, will exhibit the panorama
of recent Egyptian history, its life, colour, and movement, — it will tell of
the invasion of Eg3^t and the assertion of French authority by Napoleon
Bonaparte; the British intervention and protection; the extraordinary supre-
macy and energy of Mohammed Ali; the relations between Britain, Egypt,
and the great European powers; the adventures of fearless travellers and
indefatigable explorers; the enterprise of Sir Samuel Baker, his energetic
endeavours to abolish the slave traffic, his governorship of the Soudan; the
heroic mission of Gordon in the same cause while in the same office; the
scheme of mixed or dual control over Egyptian finance; the symptoms of
revolt and insurrection; the attempts of false prophets; the relative influence
of the Mahdi and Osman Digma; all the warlike operations of British forces
by sea and land; the mode of fighting in the Soudan; the advance of the
troops by the Nile and the desert; the advance from Suakim; the arrival
of the Australian contingent at Suakim; the defence of the zarebas and the
onward march. Those financial problems which have been "the burden
of Egypt," and especially the burden of the "fellaheen," who have been ground
to the dust by taxation, will be touched on lightly but explicitly; while the
intricacies of political machinations will be unravelled so far as is possible.
The narrative will be continued to the latest events of the active operations
of the war; and descriptions of the country, the people and their customs, will
not be wanting.

To provide accurate and complete information on this whole subject, and
to make the acquisition of that knowledge at once easy and interesting, is the
object of the writer. No eflbrt will be spared to present scenes and events
in their fresh and living aspects, and to avoid all that savours of dryness and
tediousness. The spirit of romantic incident may be discovered in a Blue-
book, and the human sentiment in a bare Government record. It is for

the art of the author of popular histories to discover and exhibit both, for
the purpose of enhancing the truth and emphasizing the value of the story
he has to tell.

Illustrations. — The book will be illustrated by a series of beautifully
executed portraits of the principal actors in the events which it narrates,
including General Gordon, the Mahdi, General Wolseley, Arabi, and others;
a series of pictures from drawings by eminent artists, representing in a life-
like manner many of the striking incidents with which the story will
be replete; and by plans and sketch maps which will serve to explain the
localities of battles and the movements of the troops. In addition a

LAEGE MAP OF EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN,

measuring 20 X 17| inches, printed in colours and mounted in a case, will
be presented to subscribers along with Volume One of the Work.

Terms. — ^The War in Egypt and the Soudan will be supplied to
Subscribers only. It will be of super-royal 8vo size, elegantly printed on fine
paper, and completed in Four Volumes, price 9s. 6d. each. The volumes will
be bound in cloth, in a substantial and elegant style, with burnished olivine
edges, fitting them either for continuous use, or a place on the library shelf.

LONDON: BLACKIE & SON, Publishers;
GLASGOW, EDINBUEGH, AND DUBLXN.

THE WAR

IN

EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

W/- s - '

. n . A " ,^ 1 ^

:-.B.

THE WAR

IN

EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN

AN EPISODE IN
THE HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE;

BEING

A DESCRIPTIVE ACCOUNT OF THE SCENES AND EVENTS OF THAT GREAT DRAMA.

AND SKETCHES OF THE PRINCIPAL ACTORS IN IT.

BY

THOMAS ARCHER, F.R.H.S.,

AUTHOR OF FIFTY YEARS OF SOCIAL AND POLITICAL PROGRESS,
"pictures AND ROYAL PORTRAITS," ETC.

VOLUME I.

LONDON:

BLACKIE & SON, 49 AND 50 OLD BAILEY, E.C.;

GLASGOW, EDINBURGH, AND DUBLIN.

1885.

I

'\

OLABOOW :

W. a. BLACKIE AND CO , PRINTERS,

VILLAFIELD.

CONTENTS OF VOL. I.

Portrait of Major-General Charles G. Gordon, r.e., c.b., .frontispiece.

Collecting Taxes from a Fellah by the Aid of the Kourbash, to face 80

Fellaheen bringing their Produce to a Shoonah in payment of Taxes, .... ,, 86

The Slave Trade IN THE Soudan — Convoy of Slaves on the March, ... „ 126

Portrait of Ismail Pasha, Khedive of Egypt 1863-1879, ,, 204

Portrait of Arabi Pasha, leader of the Military Insurrection in Egypt 1882 ,, 246

Portrait of Ad.miral Frederick B. P. Seymour, g.c.b. (first Baron Alcester), ,, 262

Scene during the Massacre at Alexandria — Europeans resisting Attack, ,, 264

Flight of Refugees from Alexandria, June, 1882 ,, 268

Plan of the Bombardment of Alexandria, showing positions of Ships 272

Plan of the Port of Suakim ,, ,,

Bombardment of Alexandria by the British Fleet, July, 1882, ,, 274

CHAPTER I.— Introductory.

p
Early Histoiy and Antiquities of Egypt —

Origin of the Name— The Nile— Fertility
of the " Black Land " — Its Boundaries —
The Desert and the Soudan — The In-
habitants — Sir Samuel Baker on their
unchanging Customs, ....

Scope of the present Work — Egypt the Vic-
tim of Slavery — Saladin the first Sultan —
Power of the Memlooks — The Land con-
quered by the Turks — Ali Bey declares
himself independent of the Sultan, .

Bonaparte's Designs on Egypt — He seizes
Alexandria, and defeats the Memlooks —
Battle of the Nile — Siege of Acre — Pasha
Djezzar, Sir Sidney Smith, and Colonel
Phillippeaux — Bonaparte leaves Generals
Kleber and Menou, and returns to France
— Massacre at Cairo — Sir Ralph Aber-
cromby attacks the French— The French
defeated at Alexandria, and General
Abercromby killed — They surrender at
Cairo and Alexandria — End of the French
Occupation,

Bonaparte continues his Intrigues — Sultan
Selim III. — War between Turkey and
Russia — Assassination of Selim and Ac-
cession of Mahmoud II.,

Character and Ambitious Projects of Mo-
hammed Ali — His story of himself— He
vindicates the office of Tax-collector,

The Memlook Beys — Treachery of a Turkish
Pasha — The Memlooks defeat the Turks
— Efforts to entrap Mohammed Ali,

Mohammed Ali becomes Pasha of Egypt —
He outwits the Memlooks — The Sultan's
Alarm — Condition of the People under
the Pasha's Rule — Final Destruction of
the Memlooks,

War against the Wahabees,

Mohammed Ali introduces European Dis-
cipline into his Army — Sir Frederick
Henniker's Description of the Return
to Cairo of Ibrahim Pasha's victorious
Troops — Conscription among the Fella-
heen and Arabs — Mohammed All's Na-
tional Guard — A Sheikh's Method of
paying Tribute 45

27

29

33

38
44

CONTENTS.

The Egyptian Soudan — Its Extent aiid
Population — The Nubians — The Berbers, 52

Revolt of the Greeks against Turkey — Cap-
ture of Missolonghi — Severities of Ibrahim
Pasha — Appeal of the Greeks to Great
Britain — Mr. Canning's Triple Alliance of
England, France, and Russia — Ibrahim's
Duplicity — The Turco-Egyptian Fleet
destroyed at Navarino, . . . .55

Mohammed All "at home" — Dining with
the Pasha — Character of his son Ibrahim
— Their Admiration of manly Pluck —
The Doings of some British Tars, . . 61

Mohammed All's demands from the Sultan
— He increases the Egyptian Naval Forces
— Defeats the Turkish Army and conquers
Syria, 65

French Influence in Egypt — Russia offers to
assist the Porte — Treaty between Turkey
and Russia, . . ... 67

The Porte's efforts to regain Syria — Defeat
of his Army by Ibrahim Pasha — Death of
Sultan Mahmoud, and Accession of his
son Abdul Medjid, . . . .69

Intervention of the Five Powers — The Brun-
now Convention — The Sultan's Assurances
of Reform — Insurrection of the Druses and
Christians, ...... 72

France withdraws from the Convention —
Mohammed All's Circular — Anger of M.
Thiers — Obstinacy of Mohammed Ali —
Action of the Four Powers — Beyrout re-
duced and the Egyptian Fleet captured —
Bombardment of St. Jean d'Acre — The
Viceroy submits, . . . . .74

CHAPTER II.

Progress of the Country under Mohammed
All's Rule — It becomes a Field for needy
European Adventurers — Land Tenure in
Egypt — Government Monopolies — Tax-
ation and Agriculture, .... 80

Mohammed All's Educational and Industrial
Establishments — His Domestic Life — The
Palace and Garden at Shoobra — The
Mahmoudieh Canal — Administration of
Justice — Need for increased Revenue —

Proposal to utilize the Wrappings of the
Mummies — Cleopatra's Needles, . . 90

Visit of Ibrahim Pasha to Great Britain —
Death of Mohammed Ali, and short
Reign of his son Ibrahim — Reign of
Abbas Pasha — Said Pasha succeeds him, loi

Egyptian Railway and other Works — Be-
ginning of the Suez Canal — Death of Said
Pasha 103

Slave-dealing in Egypt — The Lands on the
White and Blue Niles — Provinces of Kor-
dofan, Taka, and Sennar annexed by Mo-
hammed Ali — Geography of the Region —
The Soudanese — Settlements of the Slave
and Ivory Trades — Efforts of Gessi, . 104

Evils of the Slave-trade — Testimonies of
Dr. Yates and of Victor Giraud, . . 108

Accession of Ismail Pasha — His Expedition
to Darfur— Zebehr Rahama detained at
Cairo, . . . . . . .112

Our Relations with Abyssinia — King Theo-
dore's Treatment of Europeans — Destruc-
tion of Magdala, 115

Explorations in Africa — Sir Samuel Baker's
Discoveries — Condition of the Soudan, . 118

Ismail Pasha's Scheme of Annexation and of
Suppression of the Slave-trade — A Fir-
man issued to Sir Samuel Baker — Horrors
of Slave-hunting — Extensive Preparations
— Baker's Expedition arrives at Gondo-
koro — Their Difficulties in the White Nile
and Bahr Giraffe — Their Return — Results
of the Expedition 121

Colonel Gordon — His early Career and noble
Character — Residence at Gravesend — A
Member of the Danubian Commission —
Is appointed Governor -general of the
Equator — His Instructions from the Khe-
dive — His Suspicions regarding the Sin-
cerity of the Khedive's Ministers, . . 136

A Glance at Gordon's Work — Treachery of
Abu Saoud — Extent of the Governor's
Territory — Colonel Long and Lieut. Has-
son Wussif — Gordon's opinion of Arab
Soldiers — Breaks up some Slave-stations,
and liberates the Slaves — Tragic Pictures, 145

OUUttL OLdLlUlIb CbLUUilitllCU 1 IIC J UUU

River Expedition 153

Gessi's Expedition to Lake Albert Nyanza
— Gordon relinquishes his Command and
returns to England — Results of his Work, 157

Gordon returns to Egypt as Governor-
general of the Soudan, Darfiir, and the
Equator — The Khedive's Complications
with Abyssinia — Gordon's Diificuhies and
tremendous Energy — A great Fete — A
Purchase of Ancient Armour, . -159

Gordon reaches Khartum — His Reforms
there — He moves against Haroun — His
Arrival at Fogia — Dara relieved — Slaves
as Soldiers — Gordon's bold Policy — He
defeats the " Leopards " — Reaches
Shakka, . . . 166

Gordon again at Khartum — A projected
Expedition — He buys off Walad-el-Mi-
chael — A Year in Office — Is sent for to
Cairo — At Dinner with the Khedive, . 1 80

The Return to Khartum — Raouf Pasha
turned out of office at Harrar — The
Soudan Budget — The Khedive's Con-
tracts, . . .184

Life at Khartum — Gordon's Railway Plan
— Slave Captures — Revolt in the Bahr
Gazelle — Gessi sent to quell it — Zebehr
and his Slave-gang, . . . 186

Prompt Measures of the valiant Gessi —
Suleiman's Atrocities — His Forces de-
feated by Gessi — A clever Stratagem —
The rebel Bands broken up — Meeting of
Gessi and Gordon — Gessi made a Pasha, 191

Gordon's daily Difficulties — Forebodings of
fiiture Insurrection — His Estimate of the
Khedive, . . ... 200

Suleiman's Emissaries tried and shot —
Gordon's March against the Slave-traders
— Terrible Spectacles of wretched desti-
tute Slaves — He reaches Toashia — His
harrowing Pictures of Slavery, . . 204

Gessi surprises and captures Suleiman and
the confederate Slave-hunting chiefs —
Their summary Fate, .... 209

Gordon returns to Cairo — His Interview
with Tewfik, the new Khedive — His

emursiiip — x.'cain ui oebsi, . . . zii

Egyptian Finance — "Ismail the Borrower"
—The title "Khedive"— Ismail's Ministry
and Assembly of Notables — Nubar Pasha's
Proposal for an International Commission, 215

Egyptian Debt — Ismail's Public Works —
Defects in Administration — Rights of
Bondholders^Britain's large pecuniary
Interest in Egypt 220

Construction of the Suez Canal — New Har-
bours, Lighthouses, and Railways, . 225

Taxation— Privileges of Foreigners — Divi-
sions of Real Property — Domains of the
Khedival Family — A Financial Inquiry —
The Khedive and his Family surrender
their Estates — French Jealousy of English
Influence, . . ... 230

CHAPTER III.

Designs of Nubar Pasha — Military Rioting
at Cairo — High-handed Policy of England
and France — A second Financial Report
— A new Ministry dismissed by Ismail—
His Financial Project — He is forced to
abdicate, . . . 238

Ismail's son Tewfik begins to rule— At-
tempts at Reform — State of the Army, . 241

The Beginning of Revolts — Demands of the
Soldiers — A Commission to inquire into
Army Regulations — Appearance of Arabi
Bey . . 243

Authority of the Khedive — An unlucky In-
cident at Alexandria — Great Excitement
— Arabi's Message to Daoud Pasha — The
Khedive confronts the Mutineers — The
Conflict postponed, . . . 246

Sherif Pasha chooses u. Cabinet — Arabi
withdraws from Cairo — Activity of the
"National Party'' — Arabi's Manifesto —
The Chamber of Delegates chooses a new
Ministry 250

The Question of Intervention discussed —
Increasing Influence of Arabi — A Plot
discovered — Iron-clads ordered to Alex-
andria, 253

Vlll

CONTENTS.

The combined Fleets sail from Crete—
The Fortifications at Alexandria — The
British Squadron — Vice - admiral Sir
Frederick B. P. Seymour, . . . 258

The Fleet at Alexandria — Anxiety of the
Foreign Residents — Serious Rioting, . 262

Arabi's Designs apparent — England de-
termined to act — The fortifying of Alex-
andriastill carried on — Admiral Seymour's
Remonstrances — The Foreign Residents
leave the Town — The Admiral's Ultima-
tum — The Harbour cleared, . . . 265-

Commotion in Alexandria — The Iron-clads
leave the Harbour — Positions of the

British Ships — A final Demand — The

first Cannon fired, 269

The Bombardment of Alexandria begins —
A great Problem about to be solved —
Incidents of the Fight — The Forts silenced
— Fort Mex destroyed, .... 271

Alexandria in Flames — Lieut. Lambton's
fruitless Mission ashore, .... 276

Mr. Ross's Exploration of the Town —
Arabl discovered to have evacuated it —
Sacking of the Town, and Attack on the
Europeans — The Fleet re-enters the Har-
bour — The Khedive's Return, . . 278

Alexandria after the Bombardment — Efforts
to restore Order, . ... 281

THE WAR

IN

EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTORY.

Egypt. Interest attaching to the Name. The Black Country. The Nile and its Inundation.
Fertility. The Desert. The Soudan. Unchanged Customs of the People. Scriptural
Reminders. Two Points of Past History. Slavery. The Arabs and the Turks. Where the
Present History begins. Napoleon Bonaparte in Egypt. Important Geographical Position of
the Country. British Intervention. Mohammed Ali. His Birth, Parentage, and Education.
Character. Rise and Influence. The Memlooks. Slaves ruled by Slaves.

Egypt! What a multitude of suggestions that name includes!
What countless interesting fancies — what fascinating and romantic
traditions and historical records, which, long buried in tomb and
temple, or undecipherable during a period extending so far back-
ward as to be itself dim in the mist of ages, have been, by
comparatively recent discoveries, made sharp and clear to the
eyes of laborious interpreters and profound scholars, who have
given to the world the results of their researches! At the very
mention of the name Egypt, imagination travels back upon the
stream of time to those early periods of human history beyond
which all seems vague and uncertain, because we are not in
possession of any historic record — of any chart to guide our
course, either to inquiry or observation. The great, and to many
minds, almost overwhelming, attraction of the history and the
antiquities of Egypt, is that they possess so many venerable
and even sacred associations with the records of Holy Scrip-
ture and the history of the Jewish people. But though they
refer to an age anterior to the Scripture History, — so early that

Vol. I. I

2 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

dates become conjectural, and are not to be identified with any
defined historical period, — they unmistakably show that even in
what is sometimes supposed to have been the infancy of the
world this people possessed deep and mysterious learning, know-
ledge of arts and sciences, the symbolism of a religious system,
and a sacred or a secret language the interpretation of which still
engages the attention of Oriental scholars.

The mere mention of the word "Egypt" at once reminds us
that the name itself is modern, when compared with those hiero-
glyphs in which the land that was old when Greece was young is
called Kem or Kemi. This has been supposed to have some
affinity with the Hebrew word Ham, the name given to Egypt
in the Psalms, and like Kem, meaning the black land. It is a
simple and obvious name for a country of which the whole of the
cultivable earth is black, chiefly, if not entirely, consisting of the
rich fertile black mud, brought down by the torrent of the over-
flowing river, whose name, Nile, or El Neel, signifies inundation.

Can it be wondered at that this black country, the country of
the fertilizing Nile, has been called the Garden of the World, or
that even the Israelites, after they had escaped from the slavery,
which has ever been the deadly " burden of Egypt," should
sometimes have looked back with longing to those fruits and
vegetables, of which the luxuriant profusion was not likely to be
forgotten during long wanderings in the desert? Dates, oranges,
lemons, figs, bananas, pomegranates, peaches, apricots, mulberries,
grapes, olives, almonds, and some less important fruits, besides
trees that blossom and give leaf and shade, and hundreds of
varieties of flowers (even the desert species number above two
hundred), amidst which the rose, jasmine, violet, and oleander are
the most common and profuse, flourish in that fruitful soil.
There the easily cultivated vegetables in common use are beans
of different kinds, including the prolific lentil; pease, lettuces,
cucumbers, water-melons, carrots, turnips, onions, leeks, garlic,
radishes, cress, egg-plants, mallows, and a great number of grasses
and herbs ; there are also poppies, saffron, madder, castor-oil
plants, mustard, rape, cummin, coriander, and other valuable seeds

" MIZRAIM." THE FENCED LAND. 3

and spices. In the three agricultural seasons, of four months each,
into which the year is divided, the successive crops are, in the
autumn — beginning in July virith the rising of the Nile — maize
and millet, the two staples of bread; in the winter, when the
waters of the Nile recede, wheat, barley, clover, lentils, and pulse
are sown. These are harvested seven months later, in the summer;
when the sugar-cane is planted, tobacco is sown, and the lands
of the Delta are filled with the seed of rice, cotton, and indigo.

This black land is full of natural wealth, and that wealth
is protected by the nature of its surroundings; — by the deserts
of the Soudan (which means, not the black land, but the land
of the blacks) and those other more arid reaches of sand that
are to-day much what they were centuries ago; by the rugged
chains of hills and mountains that inclose the Nile Valley, and
by the impassable cataracts of the river itself. Hence its later
Hebrew name, Mizra or Mazor (or the plural Mizraim, denoting
the division into Lower and Upper Egypt), are almost identical
with the Arabic Misr or Masr, all of which mean fortified or
guarded round, a signification from which the Greek ^Egupta or
Aiguptos is supposed to be derived. However this may have
been, the Kem or Ham of remote antiquity, the Misr or Mazor
of the Hebrew and the Arabic, the Egypt of the present, is the
country which has within its boundaries the black land that gives
its people the means of subsistence, and the deserts and chains of
rocky hills which defend it from external foes. This is the Egypt
of the fame of which the old world was full; this is the Egypt
which continues but little changed after centuries of tyranny,
slavery, and misrule, the country which to-day is the problem that
engages the attention of the whole civilized world.

The problem would be' easier to solve were it not that Egypt
has enlarged its authority within the present century. It is true
that the commencement of the Nubian desert is the usual limita-
tion of the journey made by the tourist who visits Egypt and
"does the Nile." Beyond Assouan the desert barrier commences,
and for centuries the same barrier kept civilization from approach-
ing the centre of Africa: the obstacles presented by the second

4 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

and third cataracts making the river also too difficult for the
explorer, who found it almost impassable for more than 200
miles. From Wadi Haifa, southwards to Hannek, a distance
of 180 miles, another desert extends, spreading also for miles
eastward and westward on both sides the Nile. For the same
length the river is also encumbered with ridges of rock. It was
this boundary of the desert that kept the warlike and independent
tribes of the Soudan quite apart from the inhabitants of Egypt
Proper, and has made the Soudanese and the Egyptians two
distinct peoples, that have not the least sympathy one with the
other. The Nubian desert was the southern limit of the Roman
domination during their occupation of Egypt, and southward of
that again are the lowlands of ancient Ethiopia, which in the days
of the Pharaohs was an Egyptian colony, with the important city
of Meroe for its capital.

We shall presently have to notice, however briefly, the con-
quests by which Egypt under the rule of Mohammed Ali acquired
and annexed the more distant provinces of the Soudan, taking
Nubia and pushing on as far as the Abyssinian highlands. It is
sufficient here to note that (as may be seen by reference to the
map) the Soudan includes all that portion of Central Africa which
lies between the 10th and the 20th degrees of latitude. But the
term has become somewhat indefinite because of those recent
extensions, and it should be remembered that as "the Egyptian
Soudan " may often mean only the southern portion of the
Egyptian kingdom, it has been recommended that the terms
used to distinguish the provinces should be " the Egyptian pro-
vinces of the Soudan, the Equatorial provinces, and the Red Sea
provinces." ^

Of course Egypt, without mention of the Soudan, would mean
only the original land of the Nile valley north of the first cataracf,
and would include no part of Nubia, the desert, or the southern
territory, with its mixed tribes, against whom the ancient Egyptians
sent out expeditions as they did against Syria, or as Mohammed

' Report on the Egyptian Provinces of the Sidan, Red Sen, and Equator, compiled and published
by the War Office, 1884.

ARABS. THEIR UNCHANGED CUSTOMS. 5

Ali did before he succeeded in annexing them to the pashaHk.
That annexation has not amalgamated the inhabitants. It has
not to any great extent assimilated them. The Egyptians of
to-day may frequently resemble their ancestors of the time of the
Pharaohs, and some travellers have seen a remarkable likeness
between many Copts of Upper Egypt, and the figures, or rather
the faces, as represented on the ancient monuments. But this
resemblance is not to be noticed among the Arabs, though some
of the articles they use, and the manner in which both men and
women dress the hair, frizzing it out and plaiting it into number-
less tails, often resembles the representations on the walls of the
ancient temples. The Arabs of the desert, however, remind us
emphatically of the unchanging character of the eastern people.
They are Mohammedans, but the women do not conceal their
faces. In their wandering pastoral life, — in the dress of the more
distinguished among them, who are fond of white and flowing
garments, — in their food, — in the perfumes of myrrh, cinnamon,
and cassia, used by the women, and in th'e frequent anointing of
the head with oil which makes the face to shine, and runs down
the beard and to the skirts of the garments, — the customs of the
better sort of Arabs are but little changed from those of the
times of the patriarchs.

The Arabs generally adhere strictly to their ancient customs,
independently of the comparatively recent laws established by
Mahomet. Thus, concubinage is not considered a breach of
morality, neither is it regarded by the legitimate wives with
jealousy. They attach great importance to the laws of Moses,
and to the customs of their forefathers, and quite fail to under-
stand the reason for a change of habit in any respect where
necessity has not suggested the reform. They are creatures of
necessity; their nomadic life is compulsory, as the existence of
their herds and flocks depends upon the pasturage. With the
change of seasons they must change their localities that they
may secure a supply of fodder for their cattle.

Driven to and fro by the accidents of climate, the Arab has
been compelled to become a wanderer; and precisely as the wild

6 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

beasts of the country are driven from place to place, either by
the arrival of the fly, the lack of pasturage, or by the want of
water, even so must the flocks of the Arab obey the law of
necessity in a country where the burning sun and total absence of
rain for nine months of the year convert the green pastures into a
sandy desert. The Arabs and their herds must follow the ex-
ample of the wild beasts, and live as wild and wandering a life. In
the absence of a fixed home, without a city, or even a village that
is permanent, there can be no change of custom. There is no
stimulus to competition in the style of architecture that is to
endure only for a few months, no municipal laws suggest de-
ficiencies that originate improvements. The Arab cannot halt in
one spot longer than the pasturage will support his flocks, there-
fore his necessity is food for his beasts. The object of his life
being fodder, he must wander in search of the ever-changing
supply. His wants must be few, as the constant change of en-
campment necessitates the transport of all his household goods;
thus he reduces to a minimum the domestic furniture and utensils.
No desires for strange and fresh objects excite his mind to im-
provement or alter his original habits; he must limit his impedi-
menta, not increase them. Thus, with a few necessary articles he
is contented. Mats for his tent, ropes manufactured with the hair
of his goats and camels, pots for carrying fat, water-jars and earth-
enware pots or gourd-shells for containing milk, leather water-
skins for the desert, and sheep-skin bags for his clothes — these
are the requirements of the Arabs. Their patterns have never
changed, but the water-jar of to-day is of the same form that was
carried to the well by the women of thousands of years ago. The
conversation of the Arabs is in the exact style of the Old Testa-
ment. The name of God is coupled with every trifling incident
in life, and they believe in the continual action of Divine special
interference. Should a famine afflict the country, it is expressed
in the stern language of the Bible — " The Lord has sent a grievous
famine on the land;" or, "The Lord called for a famine, and it
came upon the land." Should their cattle fall sick, it is considered
to be an affliction by Divine command; or should the flocks prosper

A PICTURE BY SIR SAMUEL BAKEK. 7

and multiply, particularly during one season, the prosperity is
attributed to special interference. Nothing can happen in the
usual routine of daily life without a direct connection with the
hand of God, according to the Arab's belief

This striking similarity to the descriptions of the Old Testa-
ment is exceedingly interesting to a traveller when residing among
these curious and original people. With the Bible in one hand
and these unchanged tribes before the eyes, there is a thrilling
illustration of the sacred record; the past becomes present, the
veil of three thousand years is raised, and the living picture is a
witness to the exactness of the historical description. At the
same time, there is a light thrown on many obscure passages in
the Old Testament by the experience of the present customs and
figures of speech of the Arabs; which are precisely those that were
practised at the periods described. The sudden and desolating
arrival of a flight of locusts, the plague, or any other unforeseen
calamity, is attributed to the anger of God, and is believed to be
an infliction of punishment upon the people thus visited, precisely
as the plagues of Egypt were specially inflicted upon Pharaoh and
the Egyptians.

Should the present history of the country be written by an
Arab scribe, the style of the description would be purely that of
the Old Testament, and the various calamities or the good fortunes
that have in the course of nature befallen both the tribes and
individuals would be recounted either as special visitations of
Divine wrath, or blessings for good deeds performed. If in a
dream a particular course of action is suggested, the Arab believes
that God has spoken and directed him. The Arab scribe or
historian would describe the event as the " voice of the Lord "
("kallam el Allah") having spoken unto the person, or, that God
appeared to him in a dream and "said" &c. • Thus, much allow-
ance would be necessary on the part of a European reader for the
figurative ideas and expressions of the people. As the Arabs are
unchanged, the theological opinions which they now hold are the
same as those which prevailed in remote ages, with the simple
addition of their belief in Mahomet as the Prophet.

8 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN,

There is a fascination in the unchangeable features of the N ile
regions. There are the vast pyramids that have defied time; the
river upon which Moses was cradled in infancy; the same sandy
deserts through which he led his people; and the watering-places
where their flocks were led to drink. The wild and wandering
tribes of Arabs, who thousands of years ago dug out the wells in
the wilderness, are represented by their descendants unchanged,
who now draw water from the deep wells of their forefathers with
the skins that have never altered their fashion. The Arabs,
gathering with their goats and sheep around the wells to-day,
recall the recollection of that distant time when " Jacob went on
his journey and came into the land of the people of the east.
And he looked and behold a well in the field; and, lo, there were
three flocks of sheep lying by it, for out of that well they watered
the flocks, and a great stone was upon the well's mouth. And
thither were all the flocks gathered; and they rolled the stone from
the well's mouth, and watered the sheep, and put the stone again
upon the well's mouth in his place." The picture of that scene
would be an illustration of Arab daily life in the N ubian deserts,
where the present is the mirror of the past.^

References to the history of Ancient Egypt, its successive
dynasties, its religion and the records depicted on the walls of
tombs and temples, do not come within the scope of these pages.
The present narrative will have comparatively little to do with the
places visited by travellers who make the usual journey from Cairo
up the Nile to the first or even to the second cataract, and are lost
in contemplation of the remains of those marvellous buildings
inscribed with the strange stories of a former world. The Persian
invasion under Cambyses the son of Cyrus, — the conquest by
Alexander of Macedon, who founded the city bearing his name, —
the rule of the Ptolemies, — the Roman intervention and subsequent
domination, — the tragedy of Cleopatra, Csesar, and Antony, — the
rule of Constantine, — the introduction of Christianity, — the influence
and power of the early patriarchs of the Church in Alexandria,
and those fatal controversies which left a population consisting

' Sir Samuel Baker, Nile Tributaries of Abyssinia.

ARAB DOMINION. SALADIN. MEMLOOKS. 9

chiefly of monks, slaves, and soldiers, unable to resist the Arab
followers of Mahomet from subjugating the country on the
declension of the Empire of Rome, — are subjects which would
have no place, even if they could have space, in a narrative that
will deal with recent events, and a great and important episode
in the history of the British Empire.

It will be well, however, to bear in mind, that during its entire
history Egypt has been at once the supporter and the victim of
slavery. In the intrigues, the struggles, the murders, that changed
the Arab dynasties and often left the power in the hands of alien
tribes, the throne was more than once occupied by some slave, who
by treachery, assassination, or ability, rose to be a tyrant. At last
the rule of slaves by slaves became an organized system. Saladin,
the chivalrous and magnificent opponent of Richard Coeur de Lion
and the sovereigns who led the third crusade, was himself a Kurd,
a commander of a band of mercenaries who had been sent by the
ruler of Aleppo to the aid of the government of Cairo, where there
was an insurrection caused by rival claimants to the office of vizier.
The contest was ended by the able Sa-Iah-Ed-Deen or Saladin
himself becoming vizier and afterwards seizing the sovereignty.
As he was not of the family of Mohammed he refrained from
taking the title of Khalif or Caliph, for the Caliph had come to be
a kind of Mohammedan pope, living mostly at Baghdad and as
" Itnauvt," representing the spiritual chieftainship. Saladin took
the title of Sultan, and as he was a usurper he guarded against
the probable resentment of the Egyptian officers by surrounding
himself with a body-guard composed mostly of slaves purchased or
made prisoners in the provinces which bordered the western shores
of the Caspian Sea. These men, many of whom were afterwards
emancipated, were called Memlooks or Mamlouks, and by their
position and office gained immense influence, so that by intrigue
and combining their interests they afterwards obtained enormous
privileges and almost unchecked control, especially under subse-
quent weak or incapable sultans, who virtually gave the sovereign
authority into their hands. The result was that the governing
dynasties of Memlooks were no longer Arab — one was established

lO EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

by a Boharite — the other by a Borgite or Circassian Memlook slave.
The last of them ended with Ghoree, when he was defeated by
the Turks, who, under Selim the First, became masters of Egypt,
and made it a pashalik under the Sultan of the Osmanlis; but
though the Memlooks were deprived of the sovereign power they
were suffered to retain their influence and authority by paying
tribute, conforming their religious opinions to the decision of the
Mufti of Constantinople, using public prayers for the Sultan, and
placing his name on the coins. During the turbulent and de-
moralizing rule of the Turkish Beys, who were themselves ruled
by the Memlooks, the history of Egypt for above two hundred
years was an arid record of tyranny, oppression, and vice. In
1767 the Memlook AH Bey, said to have been the son of a
Circassian peasant, and sold at Cairo when he was twelve years
old as a slave to the pasha, succeeded in achieving such power
that he declared himself independent of the Sultan, and having
subdued Syria and Arabia ventured to assume the supreme control
in Egypt and to become an ally of the Russians, who were then
making war with the Turks; but Ali was eventually deserted by
his generals and taken prisoner in an engagement, after which it
was represented that he had died of his wounds, though it was
generally believed that he had been assassinated. This was in
1773, and the son-in-law of Ali succeeded him and was received
by the Sultan as Pasha of Egypt. After his death there was
a joint pashalik of Murad Bey and Ibrahim Bey, who are princi-
pally remarkable because they opposed and were defeated by
Napoleon Bonaparte at " the battle of the Pyramids " on the
French invasion of Egypt in 1 798, at which date the course of the
present narrative may be said naturally to commence.

In 1798 the authority of the sultan, in Egypt, had been re-
duced to a merely nominal sovereignty, and the struggle between
his government and the Memlook Beys, which was again agitating
and impoverishing the country, gave an excuse for Napoleon
Bonaparte to attempt an invasion with the pretended object of
restoring the legitimate influence of the Porte. That his real
object was the conquest of Egypt in order to compensate for the

OBJECT OF THE FRENCH INVASION OF EGYPT. I I

loss of the West India colonies of France, and for the still more
important purpose of advancing on the British possessions in
India, was afterwards admitted in his memoirs. " There were,"
he says, " three objects in the expedition to Egypt, — First, To
establish a French colony on the Nile which would prosper with-
out slaves, and serve France instead of the Republic of St. Do-
mingo and of all the sugar islands. Secondly, To open a market
for our manufactures in Africa, Arabia, and Syria, and to supply
our commerce with all the productions of those vast countries.
Thirdly, Setting out from Egypt, as from a place of arms, to lead
an army of 60,000 men to the Indies to excite the Mahrattas and
oppressed people of those extensive regions to insurrection. Sixty
thousand men, half Europeans and half recruits from the burning
climates of the equator and the tropics, carried by 10,000 horses
and 50,000 camels, having with them provisions for sixty days,
water for five days, and a train of artillery of a hundred and fifty
pieces, with double supplies of ammunition, would ha\e reached
the Indus in four months. Since the invention of shipping the
ocean has ceased to be an obstacle, and the desert is no longer an
impediment to an army possessed of camels and dromedaries in
abundance."

The employment of agents to excite discontent and insurrection
in the countries which he intended afterwards to enter with an
army, that he might subject them to military oppression, and seize
their resources, was one of the early methods adopted by the
Corsican general. It had been successful in Switzerland, in
Venice, and in Italy, and had been tried in Ireland with the result
of fomenting a rebellion under the direction of Lord Edward
Fitzgerald, who had professed to belong to the Jacobin revolu-
tionary party while in Paris, and whose wife was the illegitimate
daughter of Madame de Genlis and the Duke of Orleans, Philippe
Egalite. The story of the United Irishmen and of the supporters
of the rebellion, Wolf Tone, Reynolds, Hamilton Rowan, Emmet,
Sampson, Napper Tandy, and the rest of them, belongs to another
history, and it is sufficient to say, that after the battle of Vinegar
Hill, near Enniscorthy, where the insurgents were defeated, the

12 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

attempt of the French to rouse the country with the help of 900
troops of the line landed at Killala under General Humbert signally
failed. The Irish people were not in favour of an insurrection
which had been proclaimed by a few rebellious leaders, leagued with
the enemies of England, who had already made a temporary truce
in Europe by giving up Venice to the gripe of Austrian rule, and
grinding the people of Italy under the heel of military despotism.
The object of the attempts of Napoleon Bonaparte in Ireland was
to compel England to maintain a large force in the country, for it
was the interference of England abroad that he had most reason
to fear. To the same purpose, the collection of a supposed " army
of England" on the French coasts for the purpose of invading this
country was a plan which had been suffered to become very ex-
tensively talked about. This shadowy army, and an equally
shadowy fleet, was to keep the attention of our government con-
centrated on the protection of our own shores.

To add to the deception, Bonaparte paid a rapid visit of in-
spection to the French coast and the forces quartered there, at the
time that he had already prepared an army at Toulon for the
invasion of Egypt. This was in May, 1798, and on the 19th of
that month, a succession of violent gales having driven the English
blockading fleet, he sailed up the Mediterranean with a great fleet
under Admiral Brueys, and a number of transports with 30,000
men. Generals Kleber and Menou being under his command.
Having seized and plundered Malta through the weakness and
treachery of the Knights of the order of St. John of Jerusalem,
who had held it since the time of the Emperor Charles V., he left
a garrison there, and thence sailed for Alexandria.

The military genius of Napoleon Bonaparte had not failed to
appreciate the important and commanding position occupied by
the famous city founded by the great Macedonian. Ancient
Alexandria stood upon the mainland south of the present site,
between the sea and Lake Mareotis. The modern city stands
upon the inner isthmus of the Peninsula of Pharos and on the
isthmus connecting it with the mainland. At the beginning of
the present century it was a poor place with a Turkish quarter

DREAD OF LORD NELSON. FRENCH PRETENCES. 1 3

for the most part poorly built and dirty, and a Prankish quarter
with some good streets, handsome houses, and a large public
.square. The whole population scarcely exceeded 7000. But
the wonderful capabilities of the city and its situation in relation
to the Mediterranean and the Red Sea — in the route to India —
could scarcely have failed to give it incontestable importance in
the estimation of French politicians. In determining to attempt
the conquest of Egypt, and, with that view, the seizure of
Alexandria, Bonaparte was only practically adopting the con-
clusions that had been arrived at by many who had preceded him
in France and other places. Sanuto, the Venetian, spoke of the
effects on the trade in India and on the Mohammedan power
by the subjection of Egypt to some nation on the border of the
Mediterranean; and Count Daru declares that the communication
between Hindostan and southern Europe by the Red Sea, or in
other words the occupation of Egypt by a maritime power on the
Mediterranean, is to be preferred to the possession of ail the pro-
vinces between the Indus and the Ganges. Leibnitz too had
strongly advised Louis XIV. to take Egypt for the purpose of
destroying the maritime and commercial prosperity of the Dutch,
which, he represented, depended chiefly on their trade with India.

Probably Napoleon Bonaparte's ships, with his army, would not
have reached Alexandria had it not been for a thick haze which
hune about the island of Candia and hid them from the British
fleet, commanded by Lord Nelson, which was in that neighbour-
hood. In fact so great was the dread of the French troops lest
the already famous English commander should be after them, that
when on the 29th of June they landed without opposition at a
spot about three miles from Alexandria, they were in such a hurry
to get ashore that a large number of them were drowned.

The city was easily taken, though not without a contest, and
some loss on both sides, and then Bonaparte issued a proclamation
to the Egyptian people declaring that he came as the friend of the
sultan to oppose the tyranny of the Memlooks, and that the
French army had the greatest reverence for the Prophet and the
Koran.

14 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

After the surrender of Alexandria, the French army moved
towards Cairo in two divisions, one by way of the Nile, the
other by the desert. They were to meet at Rahmanieh. It was
a toilsome march for the troops, who had to traverse the burning
sands, and many of the men died on the route. On the 21st of
July, the force came within sight of the great Pyramids, and there
the army of the Memlooks was drawn up ready to do battle at
Embabeh, not far from Gizeh, between the Nile and the Pyramids.
Pointing to the latter, Bonaparte addressed to his troops the
famous, and rather bombastic speech : " Remember that from the
height of these monuments forty centuries are looking down upon
you."^ The Memlook army was led by Ibrahim Bey and Murad
Bey, and the fight was stubborn ; the Arabs showing undaunted
courage and great skill in the use of their weapons. It was
afterwards declared that some of the Memlooks wielded their
Damascus scimitars with such dexterity that in their rapid and
fiery charges they actually cut through the bayonets of the French
soldiers.^ The pertinacity, numbers, and discipline of the French
troops, however, gave them a complete victory. Ibrahim fled to
the eastern part of the Delta, Murad with a company of his splen-
did horsemen retreated into the desert, and Bonaparte and his
troops entered Cairo, where the victorious general summoned a
divan, or assembly of the principal Turks and Arabs, and adopt-
ing the formal religious phrases of greeting and of assurance used
by the Mohammedans, made them many promises that their rank
and civil authority should be maintained.

But while Napoleon Bonaparte was engaged in the effort to
establish his authority in this manner, Nelson had been seeking

* Songez que du haul de ces monuments quarantes siecles vous contemplent.

» There is nothing incredible in this, as the skill of the Saracens and the temper of their blades
are matters of history. A more modern example is that of a Highlander, who was second dragoman
to the British consular agent at Cairo, about forty years ago, and had been re-named Osman
Effendi. An English traveller, who fancied he had bought a real Damascus blade, having paid a
high price for it, showed it to Osman, who said it was only a piece of iron, and that it could be
shattered by the very act of warding off a blow aimed with it. This was put to the test. The
owner of the costly blade delivered such a blow as might have been given in battle, and Osman,
slipping a little to one side, and drawing his arm gently inwards with a slight turn of the wrist, re-
ceived the blow upon his scimitar, with the result that his opponent's sword fell to pieces at his feet.
The incident of the feat performed by Saladin in Sir Walter Scott's "Talisman" illustrates the
skill of the Memlooks in the use of the scimitar.

NELSON. BATTLE OF ABOUKIR. 1 5

ir the fleet of that French expedition, of which he had heard
ily a rumour. He possessed no ships suited for a rapid explora-
on of the Mediterranean, but he continued his search until he
sard that the enemy had taken Malta. Before he could reach
le island the French had left it, and he then led his fleet to the
louth of the Nile at a guess, found no French vessels there,
liled northward, and afterward to the south side of Candia, where
e might have met the enemy but for the haze that hid them from
is sight. He then ran across to Sicily, where he was obliged to
ike in water and provisions, but, without waiting to refit or repair,
tice more sailed for Egypt, and hearing that the French fleet had
een seen near Candia crowded all sail for the mouths of the Nile.

Most of us have read the story of the battle of Aboukir; how
aptain Hood signalized the presence of the enemy's ships in the
ay; how Nelson ordered dinner to be served and afterwards gave
le signal to form in line of battle; and how the tremendous
ngagement was won by the destruction or capture of the French
eet. The burning and explosion of the Orient; the efforts made
3 save the crew; the pathetic sight of the bodies of the Commo-
ore Casa-Bianca and his brave son, a boy of ten years old, as
ley floated on a shattered mast after the blowing up of the ship,
re incidents of that fearful engagement which have never been
)rgotten. The French Admiral Brueys perished, and there
'ere more than 5000 men killed, and above 3000, including the
'ounded, were sent on shore. The British loss in killed and
'ounded was 895, only one captain (Westcott of the Majestic)
aving been killed. " Victory is not a name strong enough for
jch a scene," said Nelson; "it is a conquest."

The Arabs were wild with excitement. They lighted signal
res on the coast and on the hills. The French were in Egypt,
ut they were unable to leave it, and had only the stores and
laterial of war which they had brought with them to depend
pon. The sultan issued a manifesto protesting against the
ivasion of his territory in a time of peace, declared war against
ranee, and began to prepare forces for attacking the French
rmy in Cairo, where the people, not knowing what was expected

l6 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

of them, broke into insurrection, and began to kill Frenchmen in
the streets until they were suppressed with great slaughter by the
troops.

The victory gained at the " Battle of the Nile," as the en-
gagement at Aboukir was called, had the effect of stimulating the
other European powers to form another coalition against France,
who had broken the treaties which would have prevented an alliance
against her.

Bonaparte had not been altogether idle, and it cannot be denied
that he had introduced some better if more stringent laws, which
his army was able to enforce. He had checked the irresponsible
oppression of the former Memlook rulers, and had enabled some
French savans, antiquarians, and Oriental scholars, who accom-
panied his army, to explore the tombs, temples, and monuments
on the banks of the Nile above Cairo, and so to lay the founda-
tion of the knowledge of Egyptian antiquities and ancient history
which we now possess. Before these researches could be made,
however. General Desaix had gone on a military expedition up
the Nile, and had driven the remaining body of the Memlooks
from Upper Egypt and beyond the cataracts at Assouan, thus
leaving the ruins of the principal monuments to be safely examined
by the artists and archeeologists, who were there in the interests
of learning.

Bonaparte himself had (in February, 1799) started from Cairo
with an army of 10,000 men for the purpose of crossing the desert
and making himself master of Syria.

Gaza and Jaffa fell before the French troops without much
resistance, but when they reached the walls of Acre, which, though
it was in a half-ruinous condition, was still regarded as the most
important position, and the key of Syria on the coast, the enter-
prise took quite another complexion. Three able defenders were
there to resist the attack of the French troops; — Pacha Djezzar,
a truculent old tyrant who never for a moment consented to yield,
especially as he was supported by Sir Sidney Smith, the able
British admiral (who kept two ships of the line close inshore and
landed a company of sailors and marines), and another excellent

THE FRENCH LEFT IN EGYPT. 17

ally already employed by the pacha, — Colonel Phillippeaux, a
Royalist imigri who had been a schoolfellow of Bonaparte, and
was now a clever military engineer. For sixty days Bonaparte
tried to force the fortress by a series of assaults in which he lost
about 3000 men, and at last was compelled to abandon the siege
and to retreat to Cairo, where, after a march during which numbers
of men died and were left to the vultures and cormorants of the
deserts, he arrived on the 14th of July, to be immediately called
to the coast where a Turkish army of 18,000 men had landed at
Aboukir. There a tremendous battle was fought, in which the
Turks, though they showed the utmost vigour and courage, were
no match for the compact regiments and steady discipline of the
French. The victory was decisive. About 10,000 of the Turkish
force perished on that field or in the effort to reach their ships.
Bonaparte then began to prepare for a departure, it might almost
be called an escape, from Egypt. He could effect little there
unaided by fresh troops, and the intelligence that he received of
the defeat of other French generals in Europe, where the whole
Continent appeared to be in arms, and of the imminent downfall
of the government of the Directory in Paris, confirmed him in
a determination to return and make an effort to attain the position
of dictator by the road of military achievement. On the 23d of
August a small frigate in the harbour of Alexandria was fitted for
sea, and Bonaparte, with his confidential officers, Murat, Berthier,
Lannes, and Marmont; and some of the learned explorers who
took with them the results of their researches in Egyptian
antiquities, embarked unnoticed, and at once set sail for France,
where his companions, aided by Talleyrand and the Abbe Sieyes,
soon helped him to the accomplishment of his desires by the
dissolution of the government, and his appointment as first consul
of a new constitution. The army left in Egypt had been reduced
to 20,000 men under Generals Kleber and Menou, who were
engaged in a conflict the issue of which was to a great extent
determined by the continued operation of the English squadron
under the command of Sir Sidney Smith. In January, 1800,
Kleber, compelled to abandon a fortress at El Arish, and re-

VOL.L 2

l8 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

treating from a Turkish army, agreed that the French troops
should leave Egypt if they were allowed to depart without further
hostilities; but the English government refused to give authority
to the admiral to conclude any such arrangement, by which a large
force would be set at liberty to swell the ranks of Bonaparte's
army in Italy. Therefore the fighting in Egypt went on for two
months longer, when Kleber, who had defeated the Turks, was
obliged to march his men to Cairo, where the Arabs in insurrection
were murdering the French or driving them into the citadel. A
horrible massacre ensued, when the French army entered the
city and suppressed the insurgents; but some weeks after, Kleber,
who was endeavouring to restore something like order, was
stabbed by a young man from Aleppo while walking on the
terrace of his own house. The command then devolved upon
General Menou, a man whose incapacity had been shown by his
inability to suppress the rising in Paris against the Convention,
which Bonaparte was afterwards called upon to protect.

The French army was, however, able to hold its own for some
time, and five ships of war and some transports contrived to escape
the British squadron, and run into the mouth of the Nile, where
they landed considerable reinforcements with artillery and ammu-
nition.

In January, 1801, the fleet, under Admiral Lord Keith, con-
veyed a small but effective British army to the Bay of Marmorice,
on the coast of Karamania, one of the finest harbours in the world.
This force was under the command of the veteran general Sir
Ralph Abercromby, and consisted of about 15,300 men, of whom
probably only about 12,000 were effective, but these were excel-
lently trained, as they needed to be, since they had to reckon not
only with the French army at Alexandria, under Generals Friant
and Lanusse, but with the troops commanded by General Menou
at Cairo. While the British army was in Marmorice Bay a sloop
of war arrived in the harbour, having captured a French brig with
a general officer on board, and 5000 stand of arms intended for
the French troops in Egypt. Two more regiments of dismounted
cavalry also joined the British forces, who were, in fact, waiting

THE LANDING OF BRITISH TROOPS AT ABOUKIR, ig

for horses which had been promised from Constantinople. It was
afterwards said that 400 or 500 good horses had been purchased
by Lord Elgin, our ambassador at Constantinople, but that while
on the way they had been changed by the various pashas, with the
connivance of the drivers who brought them through Asia Minor
and Syria. The result was that there were only a number of
wretched and almost useless ponies or miserable hacks, which were
either shot because they were useless, or sold at four or five
shillings a head. There were but 470 cavalry men in the British
force, and of these only a few were mounted on sorry Turkish
beasts, purchased at Marmorice. The officers therefore asked
permission to serve with their corps as infantry or with the
artillery.

It was not till the 23d of February that our fleet left the Bay
of Marmorice for that of Aboukir, where it came to anchor on the
2d of March, riding exactly where Nelson had fought the battle
of the Nile. It was four days before the weather was such as to
permit any operations being undertaken with boats, but directly
the moment came, on the afternoon of the 7th, the general and
Sir Sidney Smith reconnoitred the coast in a boat, and chose the
best place for landing. On the following morning some gun-boats
and launches went first to clear the beach, and 5500 of our soldiers
followed in the boats, sitting close between the seats with unloaded
muskets. The boats were rowed in regular order, but swiftly.
Though they were fired at by fifteen guns from the opposite hill,
and by the artillery from Aboukir Castle, the soldiers sat still.
Many were wounded and several were killed, but they did not stir.
Some boats sank, some turned to rescue the drowning men, but
the main flotilla went steadily on. The soldiers leaped out upon
the shore, some loading their pieces as they formed in line; the
rest pushed on without stopping for anything. Assailed by a
violent charge and by a rapid fire of musketry, they forced the
French to retreat, while only 2000 of our men had landed. Every
step was contested and carried; the British struggling up the
sand-hills that rose above the beach, some in line wit^h charged
bayonets, others on their hands and knees; but up they went

20 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

and carried the ridges, the French retreating in disorder, some
towards Alexandria, the rest to Aboukir, and leaving all their
field-pieces behind them.

The British afterwards advanced about three miles towards
Alexandria, leaving a small party near the sand-hills to reduce the
fort of Aboukir, where the French garrison had refused to sur-
render. On the 9th and loth of March the progress of the main
army continued through heavy sand, the sailors dragging the field
artillery with great difficulty, but with unabated activity and
courage.

The French outposts were taken, along with several pieces of
artillery. From the last one the enemy fled so precipitately that
they left their signal-flags and their colours flying. These were
struck and the English colours planted in their places. On
marching about a mile beyond this post our men saw the French
army drawn up along a ridge of sand-hills that reached from the
sea to a small lake, but the whole force retreated without coming
to an action, and encamped about three miles from the British
front, where our men had several skirmishes with the French
advanced guard.

The French position was in front of an old Roman camp with
a tower (the tower of Mandura), and their Generals, Friant and
Lanusse, believed they would there be able to resist our attack, as
they were strong in cavalry, and in any event it would be easy for
them to retire within the walls of Alexandria. Our army marched
in two lines to the left, with the object of turning the right flank of
the enemy. The French made an impetuous onslaught from the
heights on the head of both our lines, but they were repulsed, and
our first line, with the utmost quickness and precision, formed two
lines to the front of the march and continued to advance, while the
second line turned the right of the French army and drove it
from its position. The British forced their way onward, and the
conflict was a desperate one. The French general, Lanusse, had
his horse shot under him. Abercromby was surrounded by
French cavalry, and would have been cut down but for the
gallantry of the 90th Regiment, who ran forward to receive the

FRENCH AND BRITISH TREATMENT OF THE ARABS. 21

charge of the French on their bayonets, and put them to flight
with great loss. At first the British commander-in-chief intended
to attack the French on the fortified heights to which they had
retreated, and our men were eager to continue the battle, but these
heights, which formed the principal defence of the city of Alex-
andria, would have been difficult to hold, for they were, it was
believed, commanded by the guns of the fort, and could only have
been taken at a great sacrifice of life. Our army, therefore, took
up the position from which the enemy had been driven, with their
right to the sea, and their left to the canal of Alexandria and Lake
Mareotis, about four miles from Alexandria, so that they cut off
all communication with the city except by way of the desert.

Whatever may have been the claims of the French to the
introduction of better laws and a more regular government, their
army in Egypt had adopted the plan pursued by them in other
parts of the world, and with greater impunity. They had pursued
the simple plan of taking whatever provisions they could lay their
hands on, without recompensing the unfortunate Arab farmers
and peasants, and the consequence was, that though they had
collected considerable stores in their magazines, they began to find
very little provender anywhere else. The Arabs had learned, at
the alarm of the approach of the French troops, to drive off their
sheep and cattle to places inaccessible to the raids of the soldiers,
and to hide their fowls, vegetables, fruit, and grain as best they
could in a country where there was no lack of places for conceal-
ment. Sir Ralph Abercromby and his generals adopted a dif-
ferent course, and were soon able to establish the confidence of
the Arabs and the Egyptian fellahs. Mr. Baldwin, who had for
some years been British consul-general in Egypt, and possessed
knowledge not only of the localities, but of the peculiarities of the
population, was attached to the staff of the commander-in-chief,
and at once made arrangements with the Arab farmers and others,
who engaged to bring cattle, horses, and provisions to the British
camp. The discipline of our men was so good that these engage-
ments were observed on both sides. The orders of the day
strictly forbade either officers or men to take anything whatever

2 2 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

without paying the fair price for it, and a general market was held
in the camp from seven in the morning till three in the afternoon,
no dealing being permitted excepting within those hours. The
result was, the appearance of the Arabs with various kinds of
provisions — sheep, goats, eggs, fowls, and everything that the
country afforded. They had been so ill-treated for the time
during which the French army had occupied Egypt that they were
glad to open a friendly intercourse with those who appeared likely
to put an end to the exactions from which they had suffered.

In less than a week Fort Aboukir surrendered, and the officers
and soldiers of the French garrison were made prisoners and sent
on board our fleet, each of them being allowed to carry with him
Iiis own private property. It was time for General Menou at
Cairo to take action against those British troops, of which he had
spoken contemptuously, declaring that F riant and Lanusse would
drive them into the sea. He now saw that he must collect his
forces, and march from Cairo to relieve these generals at Alex-
andria.

It was on the morning of the 20th of March that the soldiers
in the English camp stood gazing with curiosity on a long line of
camels, horses, and cattle moving at a great distance on the other
side of Lake Mareotis, towards Alexandria. The mist which
hung upon the lake made the objects of that strange procession
dim, distorted, gigantic, but it was generally understood that it
was the train of Menou's relieving army, and that there would
soon be more fighting. The conclusion was quickly verified.
Menou's reinforcement consisted of 9000 men from Cairo, and he
immediately prepared to attack the British army before daylight
the next morning. Abercromby suspected this, and was prepared
for it. Our men were to be in readiness, and to lie down in their
blankets and with their accoutrements on, in the position which
they were to occupy in case of an assault in the dark. Their
muskets were well flinted, and each man had sixty rounds of ball-
cartridge. General officers were warned not to throw away their
fire during the darkness, but to use the bayonet as much as pos-
sible. They were forbidden to follow the enemy or quit their

A HARD-FOUGHT BATTLE. 23

positions, and the greatest silence, order, and regularity were to be
observed. An hour before daylight, on the 21st, while all was still,
the report of a musket was heard at the extremity of the British
left, then the report of a cannon, scattered musketry shots, and
the boom of big guns. The French were upon us, commencing
with a false attack on the left, by which Menou hoped to throw
us into confusion, and immediately make a general attack. But it
became a general engagement. Our men were ready, and, instead
of making a rout, the French found themselves confronted with the
bayonet, and with deadly effect. The fighting was more terrible
than any that the army of Bonaparte had yet experienced; they ex-
pected to surprise us, and were boldly met at all points, even amidst
the darkness and the heavy pall of smoke that hung upon the scene,
and when at last the day dawned and the French cavalry broke
through and got to the rear of some of our infantry, the 42nd
Highlanders and the 28th Regiment, aided by the flank companies
of the 40th, fought at the same time in front, flank, and rear, and
kept their ground, firing such volleys that the horsemen who had
ridden in, lay stretched upon the field, only a few escaping. The
French cavalry was destroyed, and the corps of " Invincibles," a
part of the former conquering "army of Italy," was shattered and
almost annihilated. The French prisoners afterwards confessed
that the battles they had fought with the Austrians in Italy were
not to be compared to this with the English in Egypt. The
carnage was horrible; the field was covered with the wounded
and the dead. " I never saw a field so strewed with dead," said
General Moore, who was himself severely wounded. " Few more
severe actions have ever been fought, considering the number
engaged on both sides," said General Hutchinson. The French
generals Lanusse and Rodie died of their wounds; General
Roize, commanding the French cavalry, was killed, with nearly all
his followers. Above 1700 French were found dead, and above
1000 of these were afterwards buried by the English on the
ground where they had fallen. The British killed and wounded
numbered 1400; the French probably twice as many. Several of
our officers were severely injured, but the greatest calamity was

24 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

that the brave old commander-in-chief, Sir Ralph Abercromby, re-
ceived a wound which proved fatal; though he remained on the
field till the battle was won, along with General Moore, Brigadier-
general Oakes, the admiral Sir Sidney Smith (who, with a number
of naval officers, was doing duty on shore amidst the hottest fire).
Brigadier-general Hope, and Colonel Paget, all of whom were
also wounded. Sir Ralph nearly at the end of the action had
been surrounded by a party of French horse. He was brave as a
lion, and a general of extraordinary sagacity, but he was under the
great disadvantage of being very short-sighted, and that may have
been the reason of his getting to such close quarters with a mere
handful of men. The French officer attacked him with the sabre,
but the aged general, short-sighted as he was, received the sabre
under his left arm, and wrested it from his antagonist. A French
hussar then rode up to cut him down, but a Highland soldier,
who saw what was about to happen, and having no bullet left,
put his ramrod into his musket, and with it shot the hussar. The
general had been slightly wounded on the head during this melee,
and he afterwards received a shot in the thigh. He continued on
the field, however, walking about, and paying no attention to his
wounds until the end of the action, and then his companions saw
the blood trickling down his clothes, and he himself became faint.
He was placed in a hammock, carried off the field amidst the grief
of the soldiers, and taken on board Lord Keith's flag-ship, where
he died on the evening of the 28th.

The command of the army was committed to General (after-
wards Lord) Hutchinson, but the victories already gained had so
altered the condition of affairs that no great battle was imminent.
Our forces received an accession of 3000 men who arrived from
England, the fellahs continued to take ample provisions for the
supply of the British camp, the French at Aboukir surrendered,
the capitan pachas' fleet anchored there, and landed 5000 or 6000
Turkish soldiers; the remaining Memlooks began to reappear in
Upper Egypt, and the grand vizier set about collecting a force
to proceed, by way of the desert, to Cairo, which was still held by a
considerable part of the French forces. Hutchinson prepared to go

CAPITULATION OF THE FRENCH IN CAIRO. 25

thither also by means of a flotilla, which would convey a large num-
ber of troops up the Nile. Some more French forts were taken, and
General Menou with his army retired into Alexandria. It was then
that a scheme was talked about for separating Alexandria and the
French army that occupied it from the rest of Egypt, by cutting
through the great embankments which prevented the waters of the
sea from flowing into the dry bed of the lake Mareotis. It was
afterwards said that the suggestion came from the French them-
selves, for that a letter was found in the pocket of General Roize,
who was killed in the action of the 21st — a letter from General
Menou, in which some fear was expressed that the British might
cut the embankment. Whether this was so or not, the matter was
discussed, and the plan was so urged upon General Hutchinson
that, in spite of some strategic objections and of much uncertainty
as to the amount of damage that might be inflicted by flooding the
country, it was put in execution. Four cuts were made, each six
yards in breadth and ten yards distant from each other, and an
ijnmense rush of water broke through, the moment the protecting
fascines were removed, and continued to flow for many days with
considerable force.

Leaving General Coote with 6500 men before Alexandria,
Hutchinson embarked the rest of his forces in the flotilla which
was ready to convey them to Cairo, and capturing convoys of pro-
visions and demolishing some of the works on the banks of the
river, attacked and carried a French post at Ramanieh, fortified
with intrenchments and batteries and defended by 4000 men.
He then continued the voyage towards Cairo; but the Turkish
army of the grand vizier had already reached the city, from which
the French troops, to the number of 5000, had sallied to attack
them. It would seem as though the French already regarded
capitulation as inevitable, for though they had twenty-four pieces
of artillery, and their troops were well disciplined, and un-
doubtedly brave under ordinary conditions of warfare, they were
repulsed by the irregular Turkish forces. When the British
commander-in-chief arrived, and the city was . invested. General
Belliard, the commander, capitulated, and 13,000 French marched

26 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

out of Cairo, and left behind them above 300 heavy cannon and
about 45 ton3 of gunpowder. Resistance would have been futile,
for already General Baird had sailed from Bombay with 2800
British troops, 2000 sepoys, and 450 of the artillery of the East
India Company. He was at Jeddah on the Red Sea, and had
there been joined by an English division of light horse and
artillery which had been sent round by the Cape of Good Hope.
This prompt concentration of forces in Egypt from Europe, Asia,
and Africa was regarded as a brilliant achievement, and raised the
reputation of British military efficiency, at which Bonaparte and
his generals had long affected to sneer.

The reinforcements from India and the Cape had no occasion
to take part in the war, for before the forces had united at Cairo,
Menou had seen the hopelessness of his position, and had capitu-
lated at Alexandria, where a bombardment had commenced from
the ships in the harbour and the batteries on land. On the 2d
of September his troops yielded on the same conditions as were
granted to Belliard, namely that they should be sent to their own
country without any impeachment of their honour as soldiers.
Thus ended that French occupation of Egypt which gave occa-
sion for English intervention, and may be said to have been
the commencement of the important relations to Turkish and
Egyptian affairs which have ever since been maintained by this
country.

There can be little doubt that Bonaparte was deeply mortified
by the defeat of his ambition to hold the road to India, by the
subjugation of Egypt and Syria, with a view to the ultimate
acquisition of empire in the East. It was rumoured that after his
defeat by Sir Sidney Smith at Acre he had bitterly declared that
the English naval commander had interfered with his destiny; but
now he had no longer a military footing in either Syria or Egypt,
and though he said little in public his consternation and disappoint-
ment could not be altogether concealed. In his memoirs he
declared that a French army would have reached the Indies in the
winter of 1 801-1802 had not the command of the army devolved,
in consequence of the murder of Kleber, on a man who, although

TURKEY AND RUSSIA. INTRIGUE OF NAPOLEON. 27

abounding in courage, talents for business, and good-will, was of
a disposition wholly unfit for any military command.

After Bonaparte had been made first consul, and when his at-
tempt to subdue the negroes of St. Domingo in 1802 had resulted in
the loss by sickness of the successive armies which he sent to that
deadly island, he still turned his eyes towards Egypt and Syria,
and longed to be master of the approaches to Hindostan. He
had previously sent out as an agent to the Levant a Corsican
(Colonel Sebastiani), a man of singular ability and address; but the
peace of Amiens was coming to an end, and he soon found it
necessary to give his whole attention to the conflict which
threatened to become a life-and-death struggle.

Still the exigencies of the war in Europe made it necessary
for our government to keep a sharp look-out upon Egypt, for
though Napoleon had not, perhaps, any immediate expectation
of again invading it, he pursued his intention of making use of
the intriguing genius of Sebastiani, his agent, for the purpose
of inciting the Turks to continued hostilities with Russia, in order
that the young czar might be obliged to maintain so large a force
on the lower Danube, that he would be unable to send an army to
aid his allies against France. Selim the Third, the Sultan of
Turkey, who had succeeded to the caliphate in 1789, was an
enlightened and ambitious ruler, who formed the idea of re-
establishing the Turkish Empire, but in his war with the allied
Russians and Austrians he had been defeated. In 1792 he had
lost the Crimea to Russia, and though the English restored Egypt
to the Porte, after delivering it from the army of Bonaparte, he
had to purchase peace with Russia by conceding fresh territories
to the czar. It was by the influence of the French over Selim
that the war with Russia was renewed, and our diplomatists being
unable to counteract the intrigues against us and our allies, a small
naval force was sent from England to the Dardanelles in 1806.
Nothing of importance could be effected, however, except the
breach of the rule laid down by ancient treaties with the Porte
that no ships of war with their guns on board were allowed to pass
the Straits of the Dardanelles, or the Straits of the Bosphorus.

28 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

The English and Russian ambassadors were taken from Con-
stantinople by our ships, and a larger, but still insufficient, force
was then sent early in the following year.

A Turkish squadron was defeated by Sir Sidney Smith, but
as prompt advantage was not taken of this success by Admiral
Sir John Duckworth, who delayed pushing on to Constantinople,
little was gained by it. The city was put in a complete state
of defence, and after the admiral had menaced it, he returned
through the Straits, left a Russian squadron to blockade the
Dardanelles, and hastened down to the mouths of the Nile. But
Egypt had been in a state of civil war ever since the British troops
had left it after the defeat of the army of Bonaparte. To hold
possession of the country would have required a very considerable
force, and we had no troops to spare, for the war in Europe was
assuming threatening proportions. The only effect of sending
an English army to Egypt or to Constantinople would have been
to relieve Russia, and it was quite certain that the French could
not keep or even take possession of Egypt while a British fleet
maintained our superiority at sea. The Sultan Selim was himself
insecure upon the throne, and the new pasha of Egypt, Mehemet
or Mohammed Ali, was already displaying a military ability which
would have been sufficient to oppose a greater obstacle to our
regaining possession of the country than our government was at
that time disposed to overcome.

The subsequent war in Europe, the ultimate victories gained
over the French, the downfall of the Emperor Napoleon, and the
final triumph of the allied armies by the successes of Wellington,
entirely changed the aspect of affairs, and left Egypt to emerge
from her own difficulties as best she could, after the deposition of
Selim by the Janissaries at Constantinople, his assassination by
his nephew Mustapha, whom they had placed on the throne, the
deposition and death of Mustapha himself, and the accession, in
1808, of Mahmoud II., under whom the power of the Turkish
Empire continued to diminish.

There are few names in modern history which have been so
generally known and remembered as that of Mehemet or (more

MOHAMMED ALL 29

properly) Mohammed AH, and the mere fact that he occupied such
a space in the history of the world, and caused so much commotion
not only in Turkey but in Europe, would suffice to show that he
was, at anyrate, no common man. When he became viceroy of
Egypt, he proved that he was no mere vulgar usurper. In spite
of his want of education, and that cruel covetousness which seems
to have belonged alike to the Turks and their Memlooks or mer-
cenaries, he was an able ruler, and though he almost crushed the
people of Egypt under a burden of taxation, he gave them more in
exchange than they had ever obtained from their Turkish despots,
since he once more made Egypt a nation, and practically succeeded
in liberating it from the Ottoman rule, though he failed in rendering
it absolutely independent. Perhaps Mohammed Ali was the latest
of the pashas around whom there seemed to European eyes to
be an atmosphere of romance. There was, undoubtedly, some-
thing of the old barbaric splendour and semi-savage but heroic
personality about him, which even the familiar revelations made
by travellers or ambassadors who were admitted to visit the
crafty, resolute, and unscrupulous pasha did not altogether dissi-
pate. There was much that was commonplace, but little that
was mean in his character — even his exactions were on such
a scale that they were not sordid, and the sense of his fierce-
ness and cruelties was not seldom relieved by generous and
even kindly inclinations. In craft and cunning he was more
than a match even for Russian diplomatists, and was not to be
deceived by the subtlety of Turkish intrigue. He professed,
doubtless sincerely, great admiration for the French, and not with-
out reason, for, whatever may have been the oppressive exactions
of the army of Bonaparte, the regulations which had been intro-
duced under French authority had aided to accustom the people
to a more systematic and centralized form of government. The
advantages that had been derived from the scientific and mechanical
inventions — the improved mode of living, the social observances,
the refinement and good-fellowship introduced by the French
civilians and maintained by those who still dwelt in Alexandria
or in Cairo — were of inestimable importance to a ruler who hoped

30 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

not only to be recognized as independent sovereign of Egypt, but
to be assisted in his ambition by an alliance with the great nation.
France, though it had but recently lost its vast military prestige
and the misleading splendour of an empire maintained both abroad
and at home by the sword, was yet potent in the councils of
Europe, and had not ceased to hold the dominion which had been
gained over the Arab tribes in Algeria.

The wily viceroy very soon learned that he might depend on
the assurances of England. He was acute enough to discover that
the sturdy independent courage and serene determination which he
had observed in our naval officers, and the agents who waited on
him from our government, were types of national trustworthiness,
and that though we refused to support his inordinate claims, we
also refused to recede from the terms which were demanded from
Turkey on his behalf. He soon discovered that English inter-
position was intended to imply a determined resistance to the
professed policy of the French, who allowed him to suppose that he
should be made the independent sovereign of Egypt, Syria, Nubia,
Kordofan, and the Hejaz. Perhaps he never really believed tliat
France would or could give him directly substantial aid to accom-
plish such a design. At all events he soon discovered that England
would not listen to the breach of her engagements to Turkey; nor
permit a viceroy to claim irresponsible sovereignty, on the pretext
that he was entitled to reign over the territories which he had
conquered and added to the possessions of his titular master.

Of course, in estimating the character and the demands of
Mohammed Ali, it is necessary to consider the past history and
the peculiar political and social condition of Egypt, almost un-
changed since the rule of the Arab dynasties. At the same time
it is to be noted that the circumstances amidst which the pasha
had risen from comparative obscurity to a position in which he
could defy the power and authority of the sultan, were as strange
and romantic as those that had attended the rise of Saladin and of
other rulers whose names still live in history.

Mohammed Ali, who was born in 1769 at Cavalla, a small
seaport town or village in Macedonia, was the son of a retail

MOHAMMED ALI S STORY OF HIMSELF. 3 1

shopkeeper who dealt in tobacco. The father, who died while
Mohammed was quite a boy, may have been a well-known person-
age; but, at anyrate, the governor of the place took the lad under
his protection, and finding him active and precocious, kept him
among his followers that he might receive the usual instruction in
horsemanship and the use of arms, which was regarded as the best
education for anyone who desired to rise to distinction in those
tumultuous times, when the whole country under Turkish rule was
alternately under the influence of oppression and insurrection. As
Mohammed did not learn to read till he was above forty years of
age, it may be believed that his " natural abilities " were consider-
able, and to judge from later development he must have possessed
that kind of sagacity which consists of a wily aptitude for taking
unscrupulous advantage of every circumstance that enabled him to
attain wealth or power, and must also have been vigilant to seize
opportunities which could only be turned to account by energy and
daring.

Like most men of his stamp Mohammed Ali, even after he had
attained his highest distinction as Viceroy of Egypt, and " had
no master," as he asserted — in spite of his being called the vassal
of the sultan — was inclined to boast occasionally of his personal
achievements, and some remarks he made to a British consul
general will serve to illustrate his own view of his early character-
istics.

The consul-general had just presented his credentials, and the
viceroy, who graciously returned them to the dragoman without
opening them, began to speak of the prudence and sound under-
standing of a previous representative of England, who never
opposed his will or contradicted his opinions; which, he observed,
presented no difficulty, since they were founded in reason and
justice. " But," added the pasha, " I will tell you a story : I was
born in a village in Macedonia, and my father had, beside me, ten
children who are all dead; but while they were living not one of
them ever contradicted me. Although I left my native mountains
before I attained to manhood, the principal people in the place
never took any step in the business of the commune without

32 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

previously inquiring what was my pleasure. I came to this country
an obscure adventurer, and yet when I was but a bimbashi
(captain) it happened one day that the commissary had to give
each of the bimbashis a tent. They were all my seniors, and
naturally pretended to a preference over me, but the ofificer said : —
'Stand you all by; this youth, Mohammed Ali, shall be served
first,' and I was served first; and I advanced step by step as it
pleased God to ordain; and now, here I am (rising a little from
his seat and looking out of the window, which was at his elbow,
and commanded a view of the Lake Mareotis) — and now here I
am. I never had a master!" — glancing his eye at the imperial
firman.^

There is a simplicity, almost a commonplace quality, about this
which makes us wonder how the man could have risen to such
a height of authority, and to such a comparatively enlightened
policy, as that which he afterwards displayed. He appears to have
strangely united the calculating prudence of the trader, with the
occasional impetuosity and the frequent ferocity of the bimbashi,
and so to have developed both qualifications that they inspired
respect or terror, according to the conditions under which they were
exercised.

It is possible that the passage of autobiography may have lost
something of dignity by translation, for at this time the Pasha of
Egypt spoke neither French nor English. It is needless to say
also that he had not yet experienced the results of European
intervention, for the conversation took place in the year 1826,
a few months before the battle of Navarino taught him that it
would still be wise to moderate his language, so far as England
was concerned.

The governor of Cavalla, in Macedonia, who was Mohammed's
first patron, placed him in an office eminently calculated to de-
velop those talents which he afterwards exercised on a vast scale.
That is to say, he procured for him an appointment as a subordin-
ate collector of taxes, the duties of which he performed with such
resolution that the lives of the peasantry over whom his authority

' James Augustus St. John, Egypt and Mohammed Ali, 1834.

THE TRAINING FOR A PASHA. 33

extended were made precarious. His extraordinary readiness of
resource soon gained him a higher position. The people of a
village who had been subjected to imposts which they thought
were no longer to be borne without resistance, rose in rebellion
and refused payment. The governor was so surprised that he
could not quite determine what steps to take, and intrusted
the affair to the young collector, who hastily summoned a few
armed followers, to whom he represented that he was intrusted
with a secret commission. Having arrived at the village he
entered a mosque followed by his retainers, summoned several of
the chief men of the place to meet him there, and when he once
got them inside, ordered that they should be bound hand and foot,
and immediately dragged them off to Cavalla without regard to
the inhabitants of the village, who would have followed him but
for his threat that if they attempted a rescue he would put his
prisoners to death on the instant.

Such a determined and successful vindication of the authority
of the taxing powers gained for him almost immediate promotion,
and as he filled up the intervals of military duty by following his
father's business as a tobacco dealer, an avocation the profits of
which were doubtless considerably increased by the opportunities
afforded him for obtaining customers, he became a person of some
consideration. The invasion of Egypt by the French gave a new
opening for him to push his fortune, and his ability as an officer
enabled him to obtain the command, as bimbashi, of a contingent
of three hundred men, raised at Cavalla as a regular troop for
active service in Egypt.

Of course his first employment in Egypt was against the
French and on the side of the Memlooks, to oppose whom, how-
ever, he was soon afterwards to be in arms. After the departure
of the French army from Egypt, Lord Hutchinson used all his
influence in order to obtain a renewal of good-will towards the
Memlook beys, who had so gallantly fought to preserve Egypt
from occupation by a foreign army. It was true that Ibrahim and
Mourad had formerly, by their contentions, raised hostilities which
it had become necessary for the sultan to suppress by sending the

Vol. I. 3

34 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

pasha with a considerable armed force to Cairo and even to Upper
Egypt; but the plague had carried off the pasha and had made
ravages among the Egyptian population; while the authority of the
Porte was not maintained so decisively as to prevent the return
of the two insurgent chiefs from exile. Then came the French
invasion, and these two men who had been foremost in opposing
the demands of the sultan, were ready to unite for the defence
of the country against a foreign foe. The Memlook beys had
done good service and had suffered considerable losses, and the
English general was anxious that their safety should be secured
and their reasonable rights and privileges restored. Mourad
was dead, and Ibrahim, now an old man, was the chief, his lieu-
tenant being a very brave and accomplished officer named Osman
Tambourji.

The terms asked on their behalf by Lord Hutchinson were that
they should be reinstated as governors of provinces, on condition
that they paid an annual tribute to the sultan and recognized the
right of the pasha to exercise the power belonging to him as
viceroy, with a sufficient body of troops under his command. These
proposals appeared to receive the concurrence of the grand vizier.
Ibrahim was restored to the dignity of governor of Cairo, and with
his principal officers was invited by the Turkish capitan pasha
to pay a visit to his camp of Aboukir. They accepted this courtesy
and were received with the greatest attention, feasts and various
amusements being provided for their entertainment. These tokens
of friendship without any apparent object, aroused some slight
suspicions among the beys, who began to talk of bringing their
visit to an end, and actually hinted to the British general that the
extreme hospitality of the pasha was by no means reassuring.
Lord Hutchinson, who was preparing to leave the country, allayed
their anxieties by the declaration that the pasha's intentions were
friendly and his demonstrations genuine, and they soon afterwards
took their leave without anything of a sinister nature having
occurred.

After some time had elapsed they accepted a second invitation
to Aboukir, where a superb entertainment was to be followed by

TURKISH TREACHERY. 35

a pleasant excursion on board some luxuriously appointed pleasure-
boats, in which they were to be accompanied by the pasha, who
was unremitting in his courtesies and attentions. The pleasure-
boats had left the shore at some distance when a cutter with sails
set was seen in their wake and signalling. The pasha, perceiving
it, intimated to his guests that it was probably a boat with intelli-
gence or despatches from Constantinople, and asked permission to
inquire what was the message which it conveyed. The cutter
drew alongside, papers were handed to the pasha, who, in order to
examine them, stepped into the cutter which immediately fell away,
leaving the pleasure-boats to continue their trip to Aboukir Bay.
The guests found that they were betrayed. They were within
easy range of some ships of war ready for action and with their
decks full of soldiers, who immediately opened fire with their
muskets upon the Memlooks, while the guns of the vessels were
also brought to bear upon them. Very few escaped from the
sinking vessels, and those who were not killed were made prisoners
and compelled to solemnly swear that they would not appeal to
the English.

The embarkation of Lord Hutchinson and the British troops
could not be delayed for the purpose of punishing the treachery of
the Turks ; but indignant that he had been tricked into giving an
assurance of safety to the beys, the general and his officers sent
a stern protest to the pasha and compelled him to liberate the
prisoners, and to order that the bodies of the slaughtered Memlooks
should be interred with military honours.

This was one of the last acts of the pasha before he left Cairo,
having appointed as governor of Cairo his principal slave, Moham-
med Khosrew or Kusrouf, a Georgian, who was ready to devote
all his energies to the extermination of the remaining Memlooks,
who had again fled to Upper Egypt, refusing his invitation to
remain at Cairo. As they would neither submit nor negotiate, a
large force was equipped and sent against them under Yousef Bey,
Mohammed Ali being second in command. At a battle fought
near Damanhour this army was utterly defeated by the Memlooks,
and but for their jealousy of each other and consequent delays the

36 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

conquerors might have marched on Cairo. As it was, the fugitive
Turks had time to rally and the viceroy was able to place the city
in a condition of defence.

The real significance of this defeat of the Turks may possibly
be guessed at from the fact that Yousef on his return declared that
his coadjutor Mohammed AH had played the part either of traitor
or of coward, an accusation which the pasha was by no means
unwilling to entertain since he had already begun to look with
uneasiness upon the movements of the ambitious Roumelian.

Here at all events was a charge which warranted strong
measures, and the pasha thought the readiest way to rid himself
of Mohammed Ali would be to disgrace him by ordering him to
quit the country and his command. That was a mistake of which
the cunning Cavalliot at once took advantage. He returned for
answer that the pay of the troops under his command was con-
siderably in arrear, and demanded that before he obeyed further
orders the money should be sent. This would have been incon-
venient, and another message was despatched commanding Mo-
hammed to present himself at night before the governor. Such
a proposal was too suggestive of sinister intentions, and was one
not likely to commend itself to a person who had already had
some experience of Turkish treachery; he therefore replied that
he would appear in Cairo, not at night, but in broad daylight and
in the midst of his soldiers. There was little ambiguity in such
a retort, and Kusrouf becoming alarmed determined to make a
counter demonstration by calling in Taher Pasha, the commander
of other Albanian guards, who were admitted to the capital. The
pasha supposed that by thus giving an opportunity for intrigues
and contentions between the two leaders he would be able to
suppress both; but unfortunately for him he had not calculated
that the soldiers who were clamouring for their pay were ready
to support the measures taken by either chieftain for the purpose
of extorting it. In a very short time the citadel was taken, the
palace attacked, and the governor, his family, and his retainers
were driven from Cairo, where Taher assumed the viceresfal office,
which he exercised for about three weeks in a manner so oppressive

DIAMOND CUT DIAMOND. T^J

and tyrannical that the Memlooks, aided by Mohammed Ali,
regained their authority.

It need scarcely be said that Mohammed Ali did not regard
with complacency the restitution of the Memlook power, except as
the occasion for paving his own way to the pashalik, and he soon
took advantage of an opportunity for setting the beys quarrelling
with each other; when he at once pretended to the position of a
preserver of law and order, and, in the name of the popular interest
and the professed interest of the sultan, drove the fiery old Ibrahim
Bardissy from the capital and reinstated the exiled pasha, until he
could ensure fulfilment of his own ambitious projects. The gov-
ernor, while affecting to regard his assumptions with indifference,
did not fail to propitiate him, and, by way of conciliation, caused
him to be appointed Pasha of Djidda and of the port of Mekka.
Kusrouf sent to invite Mohammed Ali to the citadel that he might
there be invested with the insignia of his high office, but the
Cavalliot fox was not to be caught. He was an adept in Oriental
stratagems, and reflected that " he who enters the hyaena's den
seldom comes out alive." He insisted that the ceremony should
be a private one, and should be performed at the house of one of
his own friends. He took his new honours quietly and accepted
the insignia with a bearing of humility. " The tiger is most dan-
gerous when he crouches." The official days of Kusrouf were
numbered — the Albanian and Roumanian soldiers again de-
manded their pay, talked sedition, and threatened revolt and in-
surrection. Mohammed Ali, who had been their commander and
was still their chief, was the only person who could still the tem-
pest, and the inhabitants of Cairo, tired of the extortions of the
pasha and his subordinate governor, were ready to join the soldiers
in their cry. Affairs soon reached a crisis. Mohammed Ali was
implored by those to whom he had given the hint, to take upon
himself the duties of the viceroyalty that he might save Egypt
from rebellion and bloodshed. The troops demanded it — the popu-
lation endorsed the entreaty, and, with some show of surprise and
reluctance, Mohammed Ali yielded, and was proclaimed pasha,
the representative of the sultan in Egypt. The deposed Kusrouf

38 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

made some efforts to oppose this usurpation, and even invited the
Memlooks whom he had endeavoured to destroy to become his
alhes; but while he was engaged in these attempts he received
orders from Constantinople, through the capitan pasha, to place the
citadel in the hands of Mohammed Ali, and to present himself in
person at the head-quarters of the capitan on the sea-coast. He
obeyed, and was appointed to another office in a distant part of the
Turkish Empire. He had failed, and it was necessary to have a
strong and able representative of the sultan at Cairo. The result
of the insurrection was accepted by the sultan, and Mohammed Ali
was duly appointed Pasha of Egypt by the Sublime Porte.^

This appointment was, of course, the signal for the remaining
Memlooks to gather their forces together in opposition. They
were still sufficiently powerful to give the new pasha great
uneasiness, but he kept a wary eye upon their movements, and
determined to defeat their plans by the mingled cunning and
resolution which had already achieved so much for his fortunes.
He must, if possible, inflict upon them a blow from which they
would not soon recover, and it must, if possible, fall upon them
in Cairo itself, and at the moment that they felt secure in pride
and power. His efforts were directed to bringing their animosity
to a practical issue as soon as possible, for until he had suppressed
them he would be unable to extend operations for the establish-
ment of his authority. If they could be brought to enter Cairo
with the avowed object of causing a riot and attacking him he
would be ready for them, and to stimulate them to action he took
an opportunity to offend, or to have it represented that he wished
to offend, one of their number, who, either in anger or for a bribe,
stirred up the rest to resent the injury. They agreed among
themselves to make an attack on the pasha during the evening
of the celebration of the festival of the opening of the Nile, that
is the cutting of the earth embankment of the canal when the Nile

^ The Ottoman or Osman Government (Ottoman being derived from Osman or Othman, the
founder of the Turkish Empire) is called the "Sublime Porte," from the French translation of
Bab Ali, the high, or exalted, or supreme gale— the gate of the palace at which justice was
administered. In an imperial sense, the High Court or Supreme Court of Justice.

ARTFUL COMPLICATIONS. 39

has reached its height, in order to allow the water to flow into the
channel which carries it completely through the city. This holiday,
usually observed with a good deal of merriment, firing of guns, and
general feasting, they thought would be a favourable time to carry
out their plans; but the pasha had been well acquainted with their
design, and had even employed emissaries to excite them to enter
Cairo. They assembled at one of the gates and rushed in along
with a drove of donkeys which had just been admitted; but directly
they entered the narrow streets and endeavoured to arouse the
people by shouts and cries and the clash of arms, they were assailed
on all sides by a fire of musketry from windows and terraced roofs.
Numbers of them fell and died of their wounds, others were taken
prisoners and executed, the rest escaped in the gathering darkness
of the night. Whether it be true or not that the heads of some of
the Memlook chiefs were cut off and sent to the sultan at Con-
stantinople, it is certain that Mohammed Ali did not hesitate to
follow up his advantage.

The sultan became uneasy, and the opinion at Constantinople
was that means should be taken to check the ambition of the new
pasha. An officer of high rank was despatched to Cairo with
authority to set affairs straight, and bearing a firman or imperial
order. The pasha received him with the utmost docility and
placed the firman against his forehead in token of obedience. The
envoy was invested with robes of honour and received costly
presents, but he never reappeared at Constantinople, and Moham-
med actively employed himself in strengthening the garrison,
collecting vast quantities of stores and provisions and other produce
of the country, and in amassing wealth for himself Once more
the sultan endeavoured to restrain him by sending the Turkish
admiral with orders to bring him at once to Constantinople, but
Mohammed Ali was sick — nothing but his deplorable condition
would prevent him from obeying the high behests of his sovereign
and master, to whom, however, he might, he hoped, be permitted
to offer a sum of money as a proof of his dutiful attachment. What
could be said or done with a vassal at once so resolute, so humble,
and so considerate ? The suspicions of the sultan were suffered to

40 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

slumber. At the next festival of the Beiram, when appointments,
promotions, changes, or endorsements of all offices of the state were
announced, Mohammed Ali was confirmed in the office of pasha
of Egypt, — the viceroy, to whom all the district governors were
responsible for the districts under their command, though it
should be remembered that these district governors were, in a
sense, independent and despotic, as they had power to make their
own laws, alter them to suit certain emergencies, and change
them again when the desired end was attained. All that really
concerned them was to secure their own authority and the favour
of the viceroy, by sending him as much money as possible, and
being ready to do his bidding. Of course the system was one of
a succession of tyrannies, under a series of officers and subordinates
whose business it was to squeeze as much as they could out of the
people, that they might furnish supplies of troops for the garrisons
and regiments, and provisions for the pasha's stores, and either a
proportion of merchandise or produce for sale and export, or coin
for the exchequer. To do these things they had first to be
thoroughly acquainted with the capabilities of the districts over
which they ruled; that is to say, with the extent to which pressure
of taxation could be placed on the people. As the system became
more closely organized under Mohammed Ali, the condition of the
people was often hard, and many of them suffered much oppression
amidst the bitterness of grinding poverty, but it is doubtful after
all whether the fellahs and the lower classes of the population were
worse off" in this respect than they had been under the more
precarious tyranny of the Memlooks; and though they were now
liable to be called upon to serve in the garrisons and the army
they enjoyed greater protection, more equal, or at all events more
regular and intelligible, administration of the law, and a degree of
certainty which was in itself a great boon to a people who had long
writhed under the heels of indiscriminate and constantly changing
oppressors. Of course the imposts were often such as to crush
those who were compelled to submit to them; nor were the means
of extorting them gentle or merciful. But heavy taxes were always
inflictions on other countries beside Egypt, and the methods by

ANOTHER PLOT AGAINST THE MEMLOOKS. 4 1

which they were exacted were not often such as to conciliate the
sufferers. Even in this country, and in our own day, occasional
complaints may be heard, especially from the inhabitants of dis-
tricts where to increasing local rates, heavy imperial taxes, and
the inquisitorial and often monstrous demands of the assessor of
income-tax, is added the infliction of extra tithe.

Mohammed Ali now prepared to extend and consolidate his
power. Old Ibrahim Bardissy and Elfy Bey were both dead, and
he had no reason to fear that anyone else could successfully
interfere with his legal title. Still he kept a wary and suspicious
eye upon the surviving Memlooks. He advanced into Upper
Egypt with a considerable force and there attacked and defeated
them, and would probably have followed them in their retreat
but for the despatches from Constantinople telling him of the
hostilities between Great Britain and Turkey already referred to.
In this conflict he and the beys, who now made peace with him and
followed his standard, bore a prominent part, and inflicted great
loss and some barbarities upon the small English force, which, as
we have seen, was compelled to retire without having effected
any particular object, or gained any special advantage.

But he still feared that there could be no real security for him
while the powerful influence, which even the traditional authority
of the Memlooks represented, continued to exist. His position
would be precarious while a body of men, whose chiefs were still
numerous, and all of whom may be said to have represented an
independent armed force, could be propitiated by the Sultan Mah-
moud and used to create divisions for the purpose of preventing
a settled government in Egypt.

It did not require much deliberation to determine their fate.
The pasha had more than one example of Turkish treachery for
imitation. The fate of those Memlook beys who had been
devoted to slaughter in the Bay of Aboukir perhaps suggested to
him a plan for destroying the power of these brilliant turbulent
warriors, that he might no longer have them to reckon with when
his ambitious projects for attaining independent authority over
Egypt and Syria could be matured and acted on.

42 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

There were some 1700 of these brave splendid horsemen
in the country, and Mohammed soon hit on an expedient for
attracting above 400 of their beys to Cairo. It is difficult to
imagine how they could have trusted him after the experience of
the Nile festival; but on that occasion they entered the city as
insurgents, and now, in 181 1, their attempt had been condoned,
they were restored to favour, and had been in arms as the allies of
this powerful Roumelian pasha, whose prowess they understood
and acknowledged.

There was again an opportunity of engaging in their trade of
war, and under conditions which probably delighted them. Mo-
hammed Ali had been fully employed since the hostilities against the
British expedition, in making his government permanent in Egypt.
To increase the numbers of his army, and to provide for the expen-
diture which became necessary for the support of a large body of
troops, he was compelled to adopt such severe measures of con-
scription and taxation that his popularity was considerably dimin-
ished, and a rising of the Memlooks avowedly in the popular cause
might lead to his overthrow. At the same time he had determined
to take immediate measures for making war against the Wahabees,
and it would be necessary to employ his most able commanders
and his best troops on such an expedition. The Wahabees, a
fanatical sect, had made a descent upon the holy city of Mecca
and committed outrages. Mohammed Ah determined to suppress
them, an intention in which he was obeying the behests of the
sublime porte, from which an intimation had come that the subjec-
tion of the Wahabees was important for the preservation of the
true faith and the integrity of the empire. An important command
was to be taken by Toussoon, son of the pasha, who received the
title of pasha of the second grade.

Mohammed Ali began his preparations by calling a divan,
or meeting of notables, to declare his intention to prosecute the
war. At the same time he announced that he would hold a
fantasia or festival in honour of the expedition. He had already
propitiated the good-will of the Memlooks by giving them to
understand that they would occupy a prominent place in the army

DESTRUCTION OF CHIVALRY. AMIM. 43

destined to prosecute a religious war against the Wahabees, and
stated that he proposed holding a review, in which he should
himself inspect the Memlook cavalry. This programme was
carried out with the utmost satisfaction, the pasha declaring that
he was delighted with the appearance of the warriors, and giving
them many assurances of his approbation. About half the number
of these men set forward on their march, and were to await the
rest at a station at a distance. In the course of a few days another
festival was held, when the main body of the troops were to be
marshalled for the inspection of the pasha, and the investiture of
his son Toussoon with his new honours was to take place in the
citadel. Thither he invited the remaining Memlooks in order that
they might take part in the celebration and receive his final in-
structions. They arrived in glittering array, superbly attired,
armed, and mounted. With their leader, Chahyn Bey, they
repaired to the hall of audience, where they were received by
Mohammed Pasha with apparent kindness and hospitality. The
parade took place and the troops marched to the citadel, the
pasha's men first, the mounted Memlooks following. The way was
by a passage or defile cut out of the rock. No sooner had the
Memlooks entered it than the gate behind them was closed, and
they were thus caught as in a trap, and were shot down from
the rocks and battlements above, or from the windows of the
houses in the citadel square, where men fired upon them volleys
from which they could neither defend themselves nor retreat.
There is a story that one of the beys named Amim escaped the
massacre. He was a splendid fellow and a wonderful horseman, as
many of the Memlooks were, and at the first attack he spurred his
steed till he made him clamber the rampart, and thence urged the
noble animal to leap over the parapet. The fall was that of a
precipice about forty feet deep. The horse was killed, but the
rider escaped and sought the protection of some Albanians, who
refused to give him up though a large reward was offered. The
rest of the Memlooks, to the number of 470, were slaughtered.
Those of them who rode on and sought for protection in the
houses of the square were driven out and killed. For several

44 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

hours Cairo was a scene of butchery and disorder, as advantage
was taken of the search for the Memlooks by the troops to per-
petrate many atrocities.

The signal was given for the army to set out. When the troops
reached the spot where the first detachment of the Memlook
cavalry was encamped the latter came forth expecting to meet
their comrades, but they were immediately attacked and numbers
of them slain. Outside Cairo, and in other parts of the surroun-
ding country, similar massacres took place. The Memlooks being
divided, only a few survived, and these fled to Dongola, one
of the finest of the Soudan provinces, its northern border being
the limit of Upper Nubia. This territory was afterwards tributary
to the Shaiki, by whom it had been taken from the Memlooks, and
did not come under the Egyptian rule till the conquests by Ibrahim
Pasha, the son of Mohammed Ali, in 1820. Here the remnant
of the escaped Memlooks were suffered to remain, as there
were too few of them to cause the pasha further anxiety. That
the destruction of their power was beneficial, inasmuch as their
influence had prevented the progress and development of the
country, can hardly be denied, and the same may be said in
relation to Turkey and the suppression (by similar means) of the
Janizaries by the Sultan Mahmoud in Constantinople in 1826; but
the tale of the massacre has always been regarded as one of the
blackest of the records against Mohammed Ali. That personage,
however, considered that he was justified in perpetrating the deed
as a measure of self-protection, even leaving out of the question the
orders he was said to have received from Constantinople. It has
been reported that on being informed of the reproaches expressed
against him by travellers or visitors who gave narratives of their
journeys in Egypt, he retorted that he would have a picture
painted of the massacre of the Memlooks, together with one of the
murder of the Due d'Enghien, and leave to posterity to pass
judgment on the two events. He might with even greater force
have pointed to the massacres of the Huguenots in France, which
continued with only slight intermission for two hundred years.

The Wahabees were heterodox Moslems of Derayeh in Arabia,

THE WAHABEES. 45

named after a leader, Abdul Wahab, who a century earlier had in-
troduced certain heretical doctrines with regard to the Prophet. He
was a man of severe, simple habits, and his followers became so
numerous that he was able, in opposition to the provincial governors,
to deny the efficacy of pilgrimages to the tomb of Mohammed, or
of the use of relics and the outward ceremonials which were
accounted of more importance than prayer and true piety.

Both he and his successors endeavoured to make converts by
the sword. They became bitter persecutors, and as their armed
bands were well trained and had augmented in numbers till they
became an organized army, the propaganda was carried into Persia,
where the people of the city of Kirbeleh were slaughtered and the
tomb of Hassan, the grandson of the Prophet {a shrine visited by
pilgrims) was plundered and desecrated. Nor did the Wahabees
stop there. At the head of 40,000 men their leader Sehood, who
was now ruler of Derayeh, marched on Medina, which he entered,
and ordering the tomb of the Prophet to be opened, despoiled it
of numerous jewels and precious stones, vessels of gold and other
treasures. He afterward went to Mecca, where he also met with
little resistance.

It was then that the government at Constantinople sent to the
viceroy of Egypt to suppress the Wahabees and punish their
audacious leader.

There is no need to enter into the details of the war against
these fanatics in Arabia. It was not successful at first, and
Toussoon, the son of Mo^hammed AH, who was in command,
died either of disease or of poison. The viceroy, who had
already retrieved the first failure by taking the command himself,
then confided the generalship to another son, Ibrahim Pasha,
who afterwards became famous not only for his personal courage
and able generalship, but for the enlightened views which he
entertained, and for his intelligent friendship towards Europeans,
and the adoption of their methods of organization, both in civil
and military affairs.

Mohammed himself, however, had soon discovered that to
create a really powerful and effective force, which would enable him

46 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

to extend his power, he must improve the military tactics of his
troops, and cause them to be drilled and instructed on the plan
employed in the armies of Europe. It was said that for this
purpose he first employed some French soldiers who had deserted
from the army of Bonaparte at the time of the invasion and had
remained in the country. But, at all events, it was was not long
before he had in his pay several French ex-ofificers, while a large
number of his own ofificers were placed under the training of
Colonel Seve, formerly aide-de-camp to Marshal Ney. In the
navy also he afterwards placed in command some former English
ofificers of considerable ability. These innovations caused so
much dissatisfaction among the troops and the people at Cairo,
and especially among the native troops, who objected to regular
discipline, that they led to dangerous demonstrations by the men
against the subaltern ofificers; several of the latter were assassinated
in the streets, and at last the troops in the neighbourhood of the
city broke into open mutiny. This outbreak was probably insti-
gated by some of the beys or chiefs; but the viceroy, who had
taken up his position in the citadel, was able to still the commotion
by promising a general amnesty to the ofifenders, and as many
of the beys afterwards disappeared, and the sudden death of some
persons of more or less distinction also followed, there was reason
to suppose that the ringleaders were known. For a time this
demonstration of hostility interrupted his first efforts to reorganize
the army, but the campaign in Arabia had proved the necessity
for a better discipline and training for the troops, and though the
defeat of the Wahabees and the destruction of Basille in 18 15
had terminated that campaign, it was almost certain that war
would have to be resumed. In this expedition disease had
thinned the Egyptian ranks, and the Albanians, who were worn
out with a series of desultory engagements with half-barbarous
opponents, had begun to murmur against being kept for so long a
period amidst hardships and the ravages of sickness. Yet these
Albanians were afterwards the obstinate opponents of the intro-
duction of European drill and evolutions, till they were shamed
out of their prejudices by the improvements effected in the regiments

A TRIUMPHAL RETURN DESCRIBED. 47

of fellaheen and Nubians, who had been under regular drill and
instruction.

Mohammed Ali was too acute an observer to have failed to
note the vast superiority of French and British troops, and was
far-seeing enough to understand that his future existence might
depend on his ability to hold his own even against the Turkish
battalions, However romantic and picturesque the brilliant
cohorts of Memlooks may have been, however brave and
impetuous the charges of Roumelians and Albanians in their
wild warfare, nothing could stand in the place of the steadiness,
discipline, concerted action, and obedience to well understood
command, displayed by European troops.

Perhaps the usually accepted notion of the imposing appearance
of the Albanian warriors, even on the occasion of a triumphal
return, was liable to question by an unsusceptible and adverse
critic. Sir Frederick Henniker was in Cairo in 1821 on the
occasion of the triumphal return of Ibrahim Pasha from the vic-
torious campaign in Arabia, and he describes the scene : — " Soon
the infantry (Albanians) mustered. An attempt to drill these
lawless ragamuffins occasioned the last insurrection; no marching
and countermarching, no playing at soldiers. They, however,
suffer themselves to be drawn up in a line to listen to the music,
if such it may be called, when produced by drums and squeaking
Moorish pipes in the hands of Turks: a number of voices fre-
quently chimed in and destroyed the monotony; during this the
soldiers were quiet. It is nearly impossible to distinguish officers
from privates; every man provides himself with clothes and arms
according to his means; there is only this family likeness among
them, that pistols, swords, and a shirt outwardly exhibited are
necessary. An Albanian is not improved since the time of
Alexander; he is still a soldier and a robber. Ibrahim Pasha,
having, as he says, conquered the Wahabees, made his triumphal
entry this morning^first came the cavalry, horses of all sizes, ages,
colours, and qualities; an Arab fellah attendant upon each soldier
carried a musket; every soldier carried — a pipe; occasionally the
prelude of a kettle-drum hammered monotonously with a short

48 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

leathern strap, announced a person of consequence, the consequence
consisted in eight or nine dirty Arabs carrying long sticks and
screaming tumultuously; then came the infantry, a long straggling
line of Albanians; then a flag; then a long pole surmounted by a
gilt ball, from this suspended a flowing tail of horse-hair; then a
second flag, a second tail, a third flag, and the pasha's third tail;
the victor covered with a white satin gown and a high conical cap
of the same military material; this Caesar looked like a sick girl
coming from the bath. The mobility closed this Hudibrastic
triumph. Having traversed the town, they vented their exultation
in gunpowder. The Turkish soldiers, whether in fun or earnest,
always fire with ball; and on a rejoicing day it commonly happens
that several are killed; these accidents fall in general on the Franks."
This is an amusing example of smart writing, and from the
observer's point of view it was accurate enough; but it was not
very long before considerable changes had taken place. Not only
was the army of Mohammed AH drilled and instructed on the
European plan, but it was vastly augmented. The conscription
was wide and severe, and though many of the fellaheen had a
rooted antipathy to enter the service, and frequently maimed or
half-blinded themselves to avoid being drafted into the army, the
proclamations of the pasha were not easily avoided, especially as
any artifices used to escape military service were punished by fine
or otherwise. The advantage of possessing infantry so organized
that large masses of men could be moved wherever the ground
was such as to allow of military evolution, was soon proved by a
succession of victories over the Arabian fanatics, which left the
viceroy at liberty to turn his attention to other enterprises, the
first of which was an expedition which he had prepared in 1820,
for the purpose of bringing the natives of Kordofan and Sennaar
completely under his rule. This duty was confided to another son,
Ismael, who conducted the campaign with energy and not without
barbarity, sending vast numbers of prisoners from the conquered
districts to Essouan, where they were at once drafted into the
army and placed under the discipline of the French instructors.
Unhappily, either from disease brought on by the change of climate

MAIMING TO ESCAPE MILITARY SERVICE. 49

and mode of living, or, in many cases, from the misery of enforced
service away from home and friends, or from actual indifference to
life and either neglect of the means of maintaining it or direct
suicide, these black troops dwindled down from 20,000 to about a
sixth of that number; but the drilling and training went on
throughout the army, and the levies of fellahs and Arabs were
eventually formed into disciplined troops — clad in more useful and
comfortable uniforms, governed by military law, and punished for
offences only after trial by the appointed tribunal.

By 1827 a complete army of twelve regiments of infantry, each
consisting of five battalions of 800 men, besides cavalry, artillery,
and marines, had been formed on this plan, the marines being
stationed at Alexandria, to be ready, if necessary, to serve in. naval
warfare. As the blacks were not found capable of undergoing the
fatigue and monotony of the training, the national conscription
included about 30,000 additional peasants and Arabs, who were
sent under a military guard to Upper Egypt.

That the miseries inflicted on the inhabitants of the country
who were compelled to serve in the army were not soon at an end,
however, the following decree, sent as late as 1833 to the military
governors of districts, will be some evidence : —

"With respect to the men whom we take for the service of our
victorious armies and navies. On their way to us, some draw their
teeth, some put out their eyes, and others break their arms, or in other
ways maim themselves, thus laying us under the necessity of sending back
the greater part, and causing the deficiency in the report of the war
department which I always perceive. Make up those deficiencies, by sending
immediately all the men which are wanting, all fit for service, able-bodied
and healthy. And when you forward them, let them know that they must
not maim themselves, because I will take from the family of every such
offender, men in his place — and he who has maimed himself shall be sent to
the galleys for life! I have already on my part issued written orders on
this subject to the Sheikhs, and do thou also take care, in concert with
them, to levy the conscripts demanded, and send them immediately, inform-
ing me at the same time, and with the least possible delay, of the number
of men which remains in your department. This is what I demand !

(Signed) Mohammed All"

Vol. I. 4

50 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

Writing on the subject some time afterwards, and when the
military organization was more complete, a traveller who had
unusual means of observation said : " The Arabs have a very
strong and natural aversion to a military life, and when they know
that any recruiting is going forward, nothing is more common than
for them to cut and maim themselves in order to escape being
taken from their families. They not only chop off the forefinger
of the right hand, but they have even been known to put out their
own and their children's eyes with sharp instruments or corrosive
substances; such is their hatred of Mohammed Ali and their love
of home. It must not be supposed that the Arabs are cowards,
this is far from being the case, but they are naturally industrious,
social, and domesticated, fond of their children, and well-disposed
to all who use them well. This effort to elude the pasha's
vigilance succeeded for a time, but was attended in the end with
most disastrous consequences. Terrible punishments were inflicted;
and very often the innocent, who had been blind or maimed from
other causes, became the victims of a set of wretches, who,
finding that a decree had gone forth on the subject, threatened
to hand them over to the authorities if they did not answer
their demands.

" In the summer of 1832 all influential men were required to
furnish a certain number of soldiers, under a penalty of 700 piastres
(about .^10) for each default. This occasioned such a search, and
so many were seized and sent away from their homes, that the
villages and towns were filled with lamentation; and the women
went about wailing and shrieking, as for the dead."

The soldiers were not soldiers by choice, as they were taken
from their families by force, and were often ill-fed and ill-paid
or suffering from long arrears of pay. When Mohammed Ali
organized what he called a " National Guard," the force was chiefly
composed of boys stolen from their families, and driven down from
the interior in chains, and when there was a scarcity of chains,
holes were made in planks for the hands, and the planks were then
nailed together. In this state they were sent on board the ships
to be forwarded to Candia, there to be drilled, and it often hap-

RETRIBUTION BY FIRE. 5 1

pened that their hands were so swollen by the time they reached
the coast, that they were unable to use them for weeks.

The advance into the provinces of Nubia and the Soudan,
though it was successful so far as the subjugation of the native
rulers and the mixed populations was concerned, was disastrous
to Ismael Pasha, whom Mohammed Ali had placed in command
of the forces. Having arrived at Shendy with his troops, he
called the great Sheikh Mek (Melek or king) Nimmur (leopard)
before him, and demanded as tribute to the pasha, supplies for
his army, looo young girls as slaves, looo oxen, looo of camels,
goats, and sheep respectively, looo camel loads of corn and the
same quantity of straw, with various other commodities all num-
bered by the thousand. " Your computations show a charming
simplicity," said Mek Nimmur, "as the only figure appears to
be lOOO."

In a short time the supplies began to arrive; strings of camels
laden with corn came to Shendy to the Egyptian camp, flocks and
herds were on the way, and looo camel loads of fodder packed
and dry were brought to headquarters, and stacked in a neat
protecting wall round the space occupied by the general's tent.
In the dead of night there was a crackling noise, a sudden glare,
and the tent was encircled with a blaze of fire. The Arabs had
set light to the wall of dry straw and fodder in several places.
The flames roared ; there was no escape, the tent itself caught fire.
In the confusion the Arabs fell upon the invading troops and
massacred numbers of them. The body of Ismael Pasha was
found amidst the scorched and lifeless forms of some of his women.
All within the fatal inclosure had perished. Mek Nimmur (the
leopard king) retired with his people and herds to Sofi on the
river Atbara, the chief tributary to the Nile, which town a few
years ago was entirely destroyed by the Egyptians after he
had retired to Abyssinia, where he had been welcomed as an
enemy of the Turks, and had been presented by the king with
a considerable territory at the western base of the high mountain
range. In 1861 old Mek Nimmur was dead, and his son (also
named Mek Nimmur) had succeeded him. He was constantly

52 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

at war with the Egyptians and such of the Arabs as were
friendly to Egypt. His principal quarters were about seventy
miles from Tomal at a village named Mai Jubba, from which he
made successful raids upon the Egyptian territory.

It may be as well to remember that the signification of
" Nubia" and " the Soudan" has undergone some change recently.
We have already seen in a previous page what is now meant by
the Soudan; but it was originally, roughly speaking, Negroland
or Nigritia, and the term was used to indicate African territory
of somewhat indefinite area. It meant in its larger extent the
great zone of land more or less cultivated or fertile from the
Atlantic to the Red Sea and the highlands of Abyssinia, and from
the Sahara and Egypt in the north to the Gulf of Guinea, the
equatorial regions, and the Albert and Victoria Nyanzas. This
is the home of the true negro race, though the population has
become considerably diversified by various elements. The Soudan
thus delineated has three principal divisions : — the Western Soudan,
which includes the basins of the Senegal, the Niger, the Benuwe,
and other rivers draining to the Atlantic; Central Soudan, com-
prising the basins of the Shasi and other rivers running into Lake
Tschad, and covering the countries of Bornu, Begharmi, Kanem,
and Wadai; and the Eastern Soudan, east of Wadai, which is
chiefly included in the basin of the Middle and Upper Nile. This
latter is the Egyptian Soudan with which we have to do.

Up to the year 1882 the Egyptian Soudan was, in fact, one
ill-organized province: — its capital, Khartoum, at the junction of
the Blue and the White Nile. It was afterwards divided into
(i) the western territory of Darfur, Kordofan, Bahr el Ghazal (on
a western tributary of the White Nile south of Kordofan), and
Dongola, the capital being Fasher in Darfur; (2) the Central
Soudan, which includes Khartoum, Sennaar, Berber, Fashoda
(s.E. of Kordofan), and the equatorial province, extending along
the upper province to the great lakes, the capital being Khartoum;
(3) the Eastern Soudan, stretching along the Red Sea, and
including Taka, Suakim, and Massowah; (4) the country of Harar,
east of Abyssinia and north of the Somali land, almost entirely

TRIBES OF THE SOUDAN. 53

separated from other Egyptian possessions, and divided into Zeyla,
Berbera, and Harar.

The Egyptian Soudan, before the division, had an approxi-
mate area of about 2,500,000 square miles, and a population of
1 2,000,000, three-fourths of whom were probably of mixed or pure
negro descent, the rest being of Semitic or Hamitic races. The
former were pagans or nominal Mohammedans, the latter orthodox
or fanatical Mohammedans. The term Arabs as applied generally
to the inhabitants of this region is somewhat vague, since, though
some of them have a claim to Arab descent, they consist of various
tribes much intermingled. On the other hand, Nubia, or the land
of Cush, derives its name from the Coptic and Egyptian word
Noub, gold, and at one time Mohammed AH visited the territory
in the hope that he would be able profitably to work the gold that
is to be found there. It is the ancient Ethiopia, and extends
from Philoe, near the first cataract of the Nile, to the Sennaar.
The modern inhabitants are principally Arabs who invaded the
country in the time of Mohammed. In the reign of Selim the
people of one tribe were driven into Dongola, and there their
descendants remain at Ibrim, Assouan, and Sai, while the lower
country is held by the Berbers. The whole country is inhabited
by a mixed race of Arabians and Nigritians. East of Dongola are
the Sheygha, a fine black race, warlike, and renowned for their
horsemanship. South of Cosseir are the Ababdeh Arabs, famous
as guides and camel-drivers, and the Bishareens, said to be a
remnant of the ancient Blemmyes, a tribe living on flesh and milk,
and differing in some respects from the oriental character of the
Arabs. The Takahs are the dwellers in the mountains. The
languages of these tribes differ. The number of the inhabitants of
the whole territory has been estimated at 1,000,000, and they were
governed by their own chiefs or rulers till they were subdued to
the domination of Egypt by Ismael Pasha in 1820, and the
numerous and valuable products of the country in grain, gums,
perfumes, senna, wax, wool, cotton, gold-dust, ivory, &c., went by
way of commerce to Egypt.

The people inhabiting the country above Egypt have been

54 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

described as two tribes of people resembling each other in physical
characteristics, but of distinct character and origin. It has been
suggested that one is the aboriginal or native, and the other a
foreign tribe. Dr. Prichard distinguished them as Eastern
Nubians or Nubians of the Red Sea, and Nubians of the Nile
or Berberines, but all these tribes have red-brown complexions,
often approaching to black, though not to the ebony-black of the
actual Eastern negro. Their hair is not woolly but frizzy. The
Eastern Nubians are the roving tribes who inhabit the country
between the Nile and the Red Sea, and the northern division of
the race are the Ababdeh, who are to be found northward in the
eastern district as far as Kossein and towards the borders of the
land of the fierce and barbarous Bishareens, who extend towards
the confines of Abyssinia.

The Barabra or Berberines are in the higher country of the
Nile in the Berber valley, from the southern border of Egypt to
Sennaar, and many of these people go up to Egypt as labourers.
They are a people distinct from the Arab tribes around them, and
follow agricultural and pastoral pursuits, cultivating fields of grain
and plots of vegetables on the banks of the Nile. The Berbers
have in general a good character for honesty and fair dealing, and
they are mostly placable folks ready to trade in the products of their
fields and gardens. They may be said to be divided into three
sections, who speak respectively the dialects of the Nuba, the
Kenous, and the Dongolawi, and it is considered probable that
they are an offshoot from the original stock which first peopled
Egypt and Nubia.

On the antiquity and extension of this people Dr. Latham
says, " All that is not Arabic in the kingdom of Morocco, all that
is not Arabic in the French provinces of Algeria, all that is not
Arabic in Tunis, Tripoli, and Fezzan, is Berber. The language
also of the ancient Cyrenaica, indeed the whole country bordering
the Mediterranean, between Tripoli and Egypt, is Berber. The
extinct language of the Canary Isles was Berber; and finally the
language of the Sahara is Berber. The antiquity of the Berber
nation is indubitable, and from the earliest times it has occupied

NUBIAN SOLDIERS IN GREECE. 55

the same territory as it does at present. The ancient Numidian
and Mauritanian names of Sallust have a meaning in the modern
Berber language. It has affinities with the Semitic. In the
northern parts of the Atlas these people are called Berbers, in the
southern tracts they are the Shelhas or Shuluh, in the hilly country
belonging to Tunis the Kabyles, in Mount Auress the Showiah,
and in the desert the Touarick; all belong to the same group."

This apparent digression has, it will be seen, a direct relation
to the proper definition of the territory and the people constituting
the Egyptian Soudan, the outlying territory which Mohammed Ali
subjected to his authority. At first his immediate object was
vastly to recruit his army by troops from among the people of the
conquered provinces, but the blacks could not endure transportation
to Egypt. The cold of the Egyptian winter caused great mortality
among them, and though Ibrahim Pasha afterwards took a large
number of Nubian soldiers to the Morea, in the war against Greece,
he found that the number who sickened and died was so great that
he could not depend on the regiments being fit for active service.

The invasion and conquest of the upper provinces had scarcely
been achieved when Ibrahim had to withdraw his troops from the
territories of Dongola and Kordofan, that they might, by the
orders of the Sublime Porte, aid the sultan in preventing Greek
independence.

It does not fall within the scope and object of these pages to
recount the events which led to the oppression of the Greek people
by the Turks, nor to describe the revolt which took place, followed
in 1826 by the capture of Missolonghi by Ibrahim Pasha and the
subsequent intervention of the great powers of Europe, and the
vindication of the Greek claims to freedom. The stern, passionate,
but far-seeing and determined son of Mohammed Ali was the
foremost figure in the drama of Turkish domination, and Misso-
lono-hi, which was said to be the key of Western Greece, soon
fell before his ruthless assaults. For two years his fleet had
wrought havoc upon the unhappy country where the people had
long previously commenced a struggle, the events of which belong
to the romance or to the poetry of history, and deeply moved

56 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

the sympathies of many Enghsh men and women, who shared
with Lord Byron an earnest, if a somewhat sentimental or dramatic
sympathy with the patriots, to whom they could at all events send
contributions of money from a regular fund.

There was something at once poetical and classical about
Greek scrip; the issue of it assumed the aspect of a philanthropic
subscription rather than a commercial speculation, until the inevit-
able land-sharks found it would be possible to prey upon it, and the
fund was mismanaged, the contractors and manipulators contriving
to intercept a large proportion of the money that should have gone
to the relief of the Greek patriots. Lord Byron had died in 1824
at Missolonghi, two years before it fell before the forces of Ibrahim
Pasha, and public feeling here ran high when the oppressed people
appealed to the government of Britain for help, which could not be
afforded them without the breach of some treaty clause or other
and the consequent danger of European quarrels.

In the following year, however, Mr. Canning had brought to a
successful issue his proposed triple alliance of England, France, and
Russia for the settlement of the affairs of Greece. He, like many
other scholars and men of classic tastes and poetical imaginations,
was enthusiastic in favour of maintaining the liberty of the land of
old renown, and enabling it to occupy a position of respect among
the nations of the world. Apart from enthusiasm, however, events
that were then happening were such as to stir the generous
instincts and fire the indignation of any people with a traditional
love of liberty and a hatred of tyrannical cruelty. Ibrahim Pasha
had gone to show that the sultan, whose forces had been repeatedly
defeated by the Greeks, ever since the commencement of the war
in 182 1, would only succeed by calling him and his army to help
him. He therefore set about, not only the conquest, but the
devastation of the country and the merciless slaughter of the
people. His large army of mixed races and savage desert tribes,
but all of whom had been drilled and trained, was let loose upon
the land of the olive and the myrtle. Ibrahim Pasha showed that
he had inherited the barbarous ferocity which some men declared
had frequently characterized the proceedings of his father. It is

ATTITUDE OF FRANCE. 57

doubtful whether in this respect the general of the army in Greece
did not exceed the uneducated but astute and humorous viceroy.
He was no more unscrupulous than Mohammed Ali, but there was
at this time a persistent relentless cruelty about his proceedings
combined with obstinate dogged temper, frequently breaking out
into paroxysms of fury, which he, however, succeeded in mastering
by a violent effort whenever he saw the advantage of so doing.
His name was hated, not only in Greece, but by large numbers
of Egyptians, although it must be owned that he introduced a
more certain government by settled laws not only in the army but
wherever he had authority, so that there was a little more security
from gross and scandalous injustice, even if there was a greater
degree of severity.

He had 163 war vessels in his fleet, and the Greek flotillas,
composed chiefly of light polacca-built brigs, were swept away by
the Egyptian and Turkish ships of the line built by Europeans.
The war of oppression had become an atrocious massacre, as
though for the purpose of exterminating the people of Greece. The
opportunity was taken of showing the Sultan Mahmoud what could
be achieved by his viceroy, where he himself and his Turkish com-
manders had failed. The story of the intervention of the three
powers; the arrogant assumptions of indifference shown by Ibrahim
Pasha, who refused to become a party to a proposed arrangement
and suspension of hostilities; his treacherous continuance of the
savage slaughter of women and children, and the burning of houses,
farms, and vineyards after he had promised in reply to the allied
admirals that he would put a stop to the devastation on shore, and
cause his fleet to remain at Navarino, is pretty well known, and
belongs to another history. Ibrahim Pasha, and his father the
viceroy, Mohammed Ali, had possibly reached such a pitch of
arrogance that they thought the European powers would not com-
mence actual hostilities, or they perhaps counted on the friendly
offices of France to restrain the other powers at the last moment;
for France was constantly at the elbow of the viceroy, and still
had a hankering after the establishment of a dominating influence
in Egypt.

58 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

At anyrate, it soon became evident that the dogged obstinacy
of the Turkish and Egyptian commanders was immovable except,
by some forcible demonstration, and the entrance of the allied
squadron into the Bay of Navarino, there to keep in check the
Ottoman fleet, would itself have been of little effect if it could
have been possible to prevent some accidental or intentional
display of hostility which would end in a decisive engagement.

The relative situation of the European powers, Turkey, and
Egypt was, that while the allies were endeavouring to negotiate
with the government of the sultan for securing an armistice,
Ibrahim was prosecuting the war in Greece in a manner so savage
as to raise the indignation of civilized peoples. On being assured
by the allied admirals that, if he continued hostilities, he would
probably lose his fleet, and injure the real interests of his sovereign
the sultan, he agreed to stay further acts of devastation on shore,
and to keep the fleet at Navarino so as to prevent it from engaging
in any further hostilities against Greece, until he had instructions
from Constantinople. On the strength of this promise the allied
squadrons departed, leaving only one English and a French frigate
to watch the harbour of Navarino. As soon as the squadrons
were out of sight, Ibrahim, entirely disregarding his agreement, and,
it may be presumed, acting quite independently of any advices for
which he professed to be waiting, put to sea for the purpose
of descending on Patras. The British admiral, Sir Edward
Codrington, was then at Zante with his own ship of the line, one
frigate, and two brigs, and on the intelligence reaching him he
sailed at once to intercept, if possible, the vessels that had thus
treacherously left the harbour. He discovered that they were
nine corvettes, two brigs, and nineteen transports on the way
round the Morea and keeping near the coast. After he had made
ready for action, he sent a message that they must return to
Navarino; and, as they had already heard that British admirals
were not to be trifled with, they obeyed. But this did not put an
end to the massacres and cruelties which were perpetrated by the
troops on shore, and it was determined to take the allied fleet into
Navarino Bay, and there by an imposing display of force again

WAITING FOR A SPARK. 59

seek to negotiate with Ibrahim for the purpose of putting an end
to the sanguinary and barbarous conflict on terms which would be
to the advantage of the porte.

It will be seen that Ibrahim, as representing his father
Mohammed Ali, had already assumed an authority which was
significant of coming events; but nothing was more likely than
that the sultan, who might soon require European aid, was not
unwilling to leave the Egyptian commander responsible for occur-
rences for which the porte might repudiate any immediate personal
responsibility should they prove detrimental to Turkish interests.
It can scarcely be doubted that the assumptions of Mohammed
Ali, his increasing wealth, and the portentous army which he had
organized, in addition to his acquisition of the territory of the
tribal chiefs over whom he had acquired control, had already made
the sultan uneasy and suspicious; and it is probable, because it
would have been consistent with the usual Turkish policy, that he
was purposely holding back, leaving Ibrahim to bear the brunt
of European hostility, and so contriving matters that he himself
might be able at some future time to temper defeat by asking for
the aid of one or other of the powers against any aggressive act
of insubordination on the part of the viceroy.

The course taken by the allied admirals was not resisted. The
combined squadrons (26 ships of various rates with a total of 1324
guns) passed the Turkish batteries without a shot being fired at
them, anchored in the harbour without interference, and close to
the Turkish -Egyptian fleet of 79 ships crowded with men (but
only three ships of the line), and 2240 guns. There they remained
in silence, except for the occasional hum and stir on board one or
other of the vessels, and the sound of a band of music practising on
the deck of the British admiral's ship. It was a strange spectacle,
and the result might have been expected. Every one was at higli
tension. The two fleets were like hounds in the leash ready to
spring. Orders had been given that not a gun should be fired.
The Turks were equally silent, both on board their vessels and in
the batteries. Before the proposal for renewed negotiations
could be conveyed, the inevitable spark fell that produced the

6o EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

conflagration. A boat sent from one of the British frigates with
a request for the removal of some Turco-Egyptian fire-ships from
the entrance to the harbour, either was mistaken for a menace
to the vessel which lay nearest to it, or its approach was made
a pretext for an attack. A volley of small arms was fired into it,
and the lieutenant in command, with several of the boat's crew,
were killed. A couple of cannon shots fired into one of the ships
of the squadron followed, and then the guns began to boom in a
general cannonade. The attack was unexpected, but it did not
take long for the British and French ships to clear for action, and
very soon a storm of artillery shook the air.

The Turks and Egyptians fought with the utmost courage ;
but who could stand against the men of the French and English
squadrons? The French officers not only vied with our own in
courage and gallantry, but by their adroitness gave ready aid to
our commanders, and generously yielded the leading position only
to stand by us with fearless alacrity. So tremendous was the
conflict, that at one time Sir Edward Codrington's ship, the Asia,
which took the lead in the engagement, could not be seen, and
it was feared that she had sunk; but when the smoke cleared and
the admiral himself was seen alone upon the poop, his clothes
torn with shot, and when the flag upon the topmast was visible
fluttering in the murky air such a ringing cheer went up from the
whole combined squadron that it sounded like a shout of victory;
as, indeed, it was. This battle liberated Greece from the Ottoman
tyranny; it also proved to the viceroy and his son that they had
underestimated the determination and the force of the British
character, for they discovered, not only that the alliance was of
British origin, but that the destruction of their navy and the
crushing defeat at Navarino was caused by their having paltered
with the assurance they had given to the admirals. They had not
calculated that the calm patience and endurance of the English
officers was the result of confidence, and that prompt and effectual
action was to be the result of the refusal to consider the offers made
to the sultan.

As a confirmation of the suggestions already made in reference

THE PASHA AT HOME. 6 1

to the attitude assumed by the Sultan Mahmoud, it should be
noted that when the intelligence of the utter defeat and destruction
of a large part of the fleet at Navarino was carried to Constantinople
he showed little emotion and no anger. The ambassadors of
England, France, and Russia were allowed to depart without the
slightest molestation, though it must be remembered that war had
not been declared when the attack made upon the despatch boat
precipitated this tremendous battle. The ambassadors, of course,
left the Turkish capital, but many of their countrymen who chose
to remain were placed under the protection of the law, and were
in complete security.

Mohammed Ali was now sixty-three years old, and while his son
Ibrahim Pasha was actively employed in the wars in Arabia and
against Greece, the viceroy was as fully engaged in developing the
resources of Egypt and organizing numerous schemes for improve-
ment, in which he sought the assistance of Europeans, particularly
of the French. Unfortunately for him, and particularly at a later
date, Egypt was becoming a resort for a great many adventurers,
who, as the phrase ran, went "to look after the piastres." He
continued, however, to intrust to Europeans the management
of certain subordinate departments of his government, and in this
respect Ibrahim Pasha was in complete accord with him, so that
everywhere in Egypt the antagonism to the Franks, which still
characterized the Turks, was being broken down by the energetic
determination of the pasha to employ Frenchmen in the army.
Englishmen in the navy, and English, French, and Italians in
several civil offices. Many of the higher class of Turks both at
Cairo and Alexandria began to adopt some of the manners of
Europeans, such as sitting on chairs, using knives and forks at
table, and glass or porcelain drinking vessels. Ibrahim Pasha
himself employed a French cook when he was not on a campaign,
and sometimes, it was said, indulged rather freely in wine and
brandy. Mohammed Ali, however, retained personally the old
fashions, even when he received European visitors, as he frequently
did, though he had to employ an interpreter. A story is told of a
lady who accompanied a friend, escorted by some gentlemen, to

62 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

dine with the pasha. The party sat in the Turkish manner on a
divan, round a low table or tray on which the viands were placed,
and his highness paid her the compliment of depositing on her
plate a choice portion of meat which he had taken with his hand
from the dish. As the keen and expressive eye of Mohammed
All was upon her, and a smile of benignity illumined his rather
commonplace, but still strongly marked, features, she asked her
female friend in a whisper what she was to do with the tempting
morsel. "Do! why, eat it, to be sure," was the reply; an injunction
which she at once carried out, to the apparent satisfaction of the
host, whose countenance continued to beam upon her. Probably
the old fox, though he did not understand English, knew perfectly
well what was said, for one of his most remarkable gifts was the
ability to read the thoughts of others, and to conceal his knowledge
of them by a serene unaltered smile or grave attention to what was
being said, that he might reply to it with diplomatic courtesy
and hoodwink the unhappy individual who fancied that fair words
had covered some treacherous attention. His son Ibrahim also
possessed the faculty of reading in people's faces, or in their
manner of speaking, the thoughts which their words were intended
to conceal, and the accomplishment often proved to be valuable to
himself and dangerous to his enemies.

It need scarcely be said that the viceroy and his probable
successor to the pashalik profited by their frequent association
with the more cultured Europeans, who held positions of confi-
dence. We have already noted that Mohammed could neither
read nor write till he was forty years old; and though Ibrahim
had learned much more than most of his Egyptian officers, his
accomplishments were chiefly those of a general. As a general,
too, his character was severe, and in war he allowed or even
directed unnecessary cruelties to be perpetrated on those who
opposed him, but he had at the same time a very strict sense of
justice. The army learned to respect him, and those who were
in his confidence entertained a sincere esteem for his character;
for in spite of the treachery, which appeared to be regarded by the
Turks as only a necessary weapon of government, he possessed

ADMIRATION FOR HONEST PLUCK. 63

a certain degree of integrity, while his courage and fortitude were
beyond question. Both he and the viceroy had an honest
admiration for the fearless outspeaking of some of the Englishmen
who were in their service, or with whom they came into accidental
communication. As they were neither of them cowards, and only
prevaricated profoundly when they thought it to be necessary to
their own advantage; and as they were for the most part surrounded
by obsequious dissimulators, and men who were ready to promise
anything and to do anything within their power for a sufficient
bribe, they could not always believe that a British ambassador, for
instance, would refuse the offer of a jewelled sword, or that a naval
commander in their pay would firmly decline to take his share of
a second bottle of champagne — when invited to do so by Ibrahim
— even though the pasha flew into a rage at his refusal, and told
him that he was the only man who would dare to pass such a
slight upon him.

Both these instances occurred among many others, and, as
subsequent events proved, the viceroy as well as Ibrahim profited
by the reliance they learned to place on British firmness and
independence.

The protection afforded to Europeans in Alexandria and Cairo
was in fact sufficient to arouse the jealousy of Turks and Egyptians.
Some German workmen who hustled a Turk of some distinction
while he was passing along a street, and when he drew his sword
in self-defence wrested it from him and handled him rather roughly,
were only punished by a reprimand and a day in the guard-house,
and in many instances considerable indulgence was granted for
offences which, if they had been committed by natives, would have
been severely resented. Some English sailors ashore on leave
amused themselves by seizing a small fort and holding it in
defiance of the garrison of three or four soldiers, whom they over-
powered and tied neck and heels. They were eventually captured,
and their offence was brought under the notice of the pasha,
who laughed at what he recognized to be only an escapade
of the British blue-jacket. They had been locked up for a few
hours, and then were handed over to the English consul, who

64 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

had orders to get them on board their ship again as quickly as
possible.

A more ludicrous story of the tolerance of the viceroy for the
British sailor, for whose rough humour and defiant reckless daring
Mohammed Ali seems to have had genuine admiration, is told by
Dr. Yates in his narrative of experiences in Kgypt. It happened
in Alexandria that a weather-beaten jack tar, one of the old species
belonging to an English frigate lying at anchor in the roads,
endeavoured to introduce himself with polite attentions to some
Egyptian ladies who were returning from their usual weekly visit
to the baths. This son of Neptune was taken before the pasha
himself in the dockyard charged with causing a disturbance, proofs
of which appeared on the faces of two Arabs of the guard, who in
the endeavour to arrest the prisoner had had their heads punched
to such an extent that they could scarcely distinguish the pasha
from his officers. Jack had at last been overpowered by numbers,
but not before he had bestowed upon his original assailants, not
only a drubbing but various choice epithets in the vernacular of
Portsmouth. His highness was entirely unable to comprehend
how an unarmed man could have contrived so to disfigure their
faces; and at last Galloway Bey, one of his English officers, by
way of illustration, told the sailor to "let the pasha see ^ow he
did it." The man-of-war's man, delighted to hear the round tones
of his native idiom once more — being, as he thought, " in the
hands of the Philistines" — replied at the top of his voice, "Aye!
aye! sir!" And, suiting the action to the word, "hitched up" his
trousers, and began "squaring" at a group of soldiers that stood
near, knocked one of them down, gave a back-handed blow to the
second, and simultaneously putting out his foot capsized a colonel
of artillery, who in the scuffle was trying to get out of the way.
Mohammed Ali enjoyed the joke as much as anybody; for in all
his experience he had never witnessed such a scene before. Our
hero, having been admonished by his countryman, was sent "under
convoy" to the Mahmoudieh, or landing-place, where he said he
should find his comrades and the ship's boat. Being told to
depart, he gave his trousers another "hitch," kicked out his right

EMPLOYMENT OF EUROPEANS. 65

foot significantly, and rolled out of the yard, muttering words of
mysterious import, and making grimaces at everybody he met.

After the battle of Navarino, when the Egyptian army
evacuated the Morea, Mohammed Ali, who was " biding his time,"
made the losses he had sustained in Greece, together with the
advantages likely to accrue to the sultan from his campaigns
against the Wahabees and the Nubians, a pretext for strong claims
upon the porte. He demanded the pashaliks of Acria and
Damascus. The island of Candia was assigned to him instead;
but this not being what he wanted, and altogether inadequate to his
demands, he pretended to take umbrage, and subsequently withheld
his aid when it was most needed, allowing the Sultan Mahmoud to
fight his own battles against the Russians. The treaty of Adri-
anople, in September, 1829, established the independence of the
Greek States; and soon after, Otho of Bavaria was placed on the
throne by the five powers. Mohammed Ali was not idle all this
time. He watched the proceedings of the sultan with the eye of
a lynx, and secretly fomented discord in the Turkish provinces.
It was at that time that he had become sufficiently acquainted
with Europeans to desire their services and invite them to his
dominions; but he was rash; he deceived others, and was
deceived himself. Tempted by the hope of gain, all sorts of
characters flocked around him; now and then he met with clever
men, but seldom with talent, experience, and principle united. He
was very desirous of extending his marine. He passed a great
deal of his time at the arsenal at Alexandria, and caused four
frigates and several smaller vessels to be built in rapid succession
under the superintendence of Monsieur Cerisier, a French engineer,
whom he appointed to the head of the dockyard. Two ships of
the line were then laid down, and his first three-decker of no
guns was launched on the 3rd of January, 1831. About the same
time he purchased a large frigate of the English, which was sent
out under the command of Captain Prissick, R.N., who allowed
himself to be persuaded to remain in the pasha's service.

The viceroy continued his warlike preparations with unremit-
ting perseverance. Ibrahim raised a body of cavalry; several new

Vol. I. B

66 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

regiments of infantry were organized on the European system; and
in the course of about four years from twenty-six to thirty sail were
added to the Egyptian navy. Sanguine of success, the pasha
determined to take what his master had denied; he had no difficulty
in finding a pretext for waging war with Abd-allah, Pasha of Acria,
who locked himself up in his stronghold with immense stores and a
garrison of 3000 men. Ibrahim may be said to have commenced
the siege on the 27th of November, 1831, but being opposed by
the inhabitants of the neighbouring districts did not finally take
possession of the citadel until the 27th of May following, although
he had been joined by the Emir Beschir and the Druses of Lebanon.
He was able to depend on very few of his officers; and the expe-
dition cost the viceroy between 4000 and 5000 men. Abd-allah,
who on various occasions had made himself obnoxious to the
sultan, was now sent a prisoner to the Bosphorus; the sultan
became exasperated at the pasha's assurance, and on the 14th
of March, 1832, despatched Hussein, whom he had previously
employed to destroy the Janizaries (and whom he now appointed
Pasha of Egypt in Mohammed All's stead), with an army to attack
Ibrahim, who, as well as his father, was anathematized by the
Sheikh ul Islam. A fleet was also despatched to the Levant.
To show his contempt for this, the viceroy induced the Sheriff of
Mekka to issue a similar bull or fethwa against the sultan, de-
claring him the enemy of the Prophet; and Ibrahim immediately
took possession of Damascus. He entered the city on the 15th
of June, and hearing of the advance of 20,000 Turks proceeded
to give them battle ; the whole of his available force did not exceed
16,000, nevertheless he completely routed them, taking twelve
guns and 3000 prisoners.

On the 17th of July he became master of Aleppo. It is to be
feared his soldiers committed great excesses there, for we are
assured on good authority that a population of 200,000 was reduced
to 75,000. Elated with so large a share of prosperity, the Egyp-
tians engaged the enemy again at Beylau, in the north of Syria,
beat them and carried off twenty -five pieces of cannon — subse-
quently crossing the Taurus from Adana, they encamped in the

FRENCH INFLUENCE IN EGYPT. 67

plains of Anatolia, having destroyed no less than 70,000 men in
two battles. On the i8th of November they entered Konieh; the
whole country was panic-struck, and it was confidently expected
that Ibrahim would order them to march upon the capital.

He was well aware, however, that the Russians were ready to
espouse the cause of the sultan, though the other European powers
delayed to interfere. He determined, therefore, to recruit his army,
and to wait until he was compelled to defend himself. He might
now be said to have conquered Syria. He concentrated a large
force at Aleppo and Damascus, and the efforts made by the porte
to resist his advance were unsuccessful as his army was far superior
to the Turkish forces which were brought against him. Between
Konieh and Constantinople there was no apparent check to his
victorious troops. He advanced to Broussa, at the foot of the
Bithynian Olympus, and only about three forced marches from the
capital of the sultan.

The assumptions of the viceroy had been largely encouraged
by his French advisers, and he was certainly led to expect that he
would eventually have the support of France. Before the revolu-
tion which dethroned Charles X. the French government had
sent a powerful fleet and a large army to Algiers, and taken pos-
session of the city and the neighbouring country. It was at first
represented that only a temporary occupation was intended, one of
the objects of which was the suppression of the Algerine pirates;
but, having once gained complete possession, and the dey having
retired to Italy, it was discovered that as France required African
possessions to balance the British interest in India and the West
Indies, the territory that had been acquired would become a French
dependency. The revolution which ended in the accession of
Louis Philippe, made, of course, no change in this respect, and it
also soon became evident that the designs of former French
governments to maintain a preponderating influence over Egyptian
affairs had been transmitted to the ministry of the citizen king.

But the revolution was not well over, Louis Philippe was not
yet quite so firmly seated on the throne as to enter with energy
into foreign expeditions, and consequently no step was taken by

68 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

France to support the extraordinary demands of Mohammed Ali
by giving him any definite or material aid, but most that was done,
or rather said, by the Frenchmen at Constantinople tended rather
to aggravate the impending mischief. England, on the other hand,
had just passed through, not a revolution or an insurrection, but
a tremendous political crisis. The air was still full of the Reform
Bill and of reduced taxation. There was much to attend to at
home, and we had already undertaken interpositions in the affairs
of Greece and of Portugal, so that it seemed as though our
interests in Egypt had been lost sight of.

This was the moment for Russia to offer her assistance to the
porte, with the view of obtaining supremacy in European Turkey,
and controlling the counsels of the sultan. The czar could send a
sufficient force from the ports of the Black Sea, in the time that
would be occupied by the despatch of ambassadors and promises
of assistance from the other great powers. The sultan seemed to
have no prospect of immediate aid except from Russia, and he had
reason to fear that the conquering pasha would soon be at his
gates. He sent to ask for the help which the czar was waiting to
send — help both by sea and land — and on the 20th of February,
1833, a fleet from Sebastopol anchored at the entrance of the
Bosphorus.

Admiral Roussin, the French ambassador at the porte, became
alarmed, and as he could not prevail on the Turkish government
to send the Russian fleet back, he exerted himself to draw up a
treaty of peace, which was to be sent to the viceroy, with the
threat that unless he accepted it he would see the French and
English fleets on the coast of Egypt. The treaty would have left
Mohammed Ali in possession of St. Jean d'Acre, Jerusalem, and
Tripoli, but he actually demanded the whole of Syria and the
adjoining territory of Adana, giving him authority as far as Mount
Taurus. He probably thought that the opposition of France and
England to the supremacy which would be gained by Russia in an
occupation of Asia M inor would enable him to obtain, at all events,
more than was offered him ; and in this he calculated with his usual
cunning. He sent orders to Ibrahim to continue his advance

THE SULTAN SEEKS AID FROM RUSSIA. 69

towards Constantinople; the Sultan Mahmoud applied again to
the czar. Before the end of April 15,000 Russians were landed
at Scutari, on the Asiatic side of Constantinople, and encamped
between the army of Ibrahim Pasha and the Bosphorus, while the
Russian fleet stopped the passage of the Bosphorus itself, and
another army was coming from the Danube. Then the other
powers began to perceive that the plans of the czar must be de-
feated, and the sultan was naturally anxious to be set free from the
probable future menace of the Russian army in his dominions, and
from the immediate danger of the victorious army of the Egyptian
pasha; since, whatever might be the result of a war, he was certain
to have to pay dearly for it both in money and in the loss of terri-
tory. It would be easier to deal with Egypt than with Russia, as
the latter had been invited to assist him, while the viceroy was
his vassal, incurring the displeasure of the great powers of Europe
by his contumacy. Again a French ambassador was authorized
to treat with Ibrahim, who, being perhaps acquainted with the
difficulties of the situation, still held out, and finally his demands
were complied with — he received not only Aleppo but Adana — and
on the conclusion of the treaty at once recrossed the Taurus, the
Russian troops and fleet soon afterwards taking their departure.
But Russia had its reward in a treaty made soon afterwards, by
which, the czar was to assist the sultan in repressing any future
internal aggressions, and in return was to be entitled to demand of
the sultan, that under certain circumstances the passage of the
Dardanelles should be closed against the ships of all other nations.
This was an artful stroke, and aroused much resentment both in
France and England; but as they had given no aid to the sultan
in his need, and had left the initiative to Russia, they were com-
pelled to endure it.

From whatever point of view it might have been regarded, the
treason of Mohammed AH could not reasonably be endorsed by
any firmly constituted government. He was the vassal of the
sultan, had been made viceroy in Egypt only by the authority of
the Ottoman government, whatever may have been the degree of
influence exerted upon them by his own daring and effrontery.

EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

and he had never been acknowledged by any power as holding a
position higher than that of the viceroy of the imperial ruler of
Turkey and Egypt, and paying (or owing) annual tribute. He
had not even the excuse of national impulses, for he was not a
native of the country, and had so little sympathy with the national
peculiarities or characteristics that it required all his extraordinary
astuteness and all the immense improvements which he un-
doubtedly effected, to overcome the dislike with which his exactions,
no less than his innovations, were regarded by the people. At all
events, the circumstances under which, as a rebellious governor,
he had set himself above his sovereign, and taken advantage of
diplomatic complications to demand a large accession of territory,
were not considered to be such as to make binding the promise or
concession which had been thus illegally extorted from the Sultan
Mahmoud. The world had grown older since the Memlook
dynasties gained the throne by assassination, and all Europe left
them to fight out their quarrels among themselves. If Mohammed
All's object was to carry modern civilization into Egypt he must
submit to the civilized modes of government, and observe the
conditions by which alone his authority as the viceroy of the sultan
had been recognized. Beside this, it had become of the utmost
importance to the great nations of Europe that the government of
Egypt in its relation to Turkey should be maintained on a soundly
constituted basis.

These were the main arguments in favour of the decision of
the sultan to cancel the extorted concession. Other reasons may
have been found in the continued plotting of the viceroy and of
Ibrahim Pasha to undermine his authority, foment revolts in the
provinces, and make attempts which could only be explained by
an intention to aim at the imperial power. At anyrate, Mahmoud
determined to regain Syria by means of an invading army and the
support which he expected to receive from the European powers.
No doubt Mohammed Ali and his son were quite aware of the
decision, and had been expecting it, and they must also have
known, or they very quickly learned, that, though the French in
their service continued to encourage them to renewed resistance,

IBRAHIM MASTER OF SYRIA. 71

and that there was a great probability of the government of France
supporting some of their pretensions, the united determination of
England, Austria, Russia, and Prussia to support the Ottoman
claim would make it impossible for the viceroy to make any long
resistance.

The sultan was sick. He was no more than fifty-four years
old; but an anxious and tumultuous life, and his recent endeavour
to banish cares by dissipation and excess, had enfeebled him.
Proclamations were issued without being enforced; divans were
summoned; the European ministers were consulted; and troops
were levied, marched about, and recalled; but nothing of any con-
sequence was done till the spring of 1839. It appeared as if a
decisive blow was then to be struck; for suddenly a movement was
made towards the Euphrates. A force amounting to not less than
35,000 men, under the command of Hafiz Pasha (aided by several
Prussian officers), assembled on the right bank of the river, and laid
siege to about sixty villages. On the 22nd of May they fortified
themselves at Nezib; and two days afterwards, falling in with the
Egyptian outposts and the division of Suleiman Bey at Ouroul,
some desperate skirmishing took place, which became the signal
for Ibrahim to advance from Aleppo. Having carefully recon-
noitred the enemy, he made a few manoeuvres with a view of
getting, if possible, into their rear, not liking their position. The
two armies were numerically equal; but he could not depend on
all his troops; and, feeling that this battle, if well contested, might
lead to the overthrow of the sultan's cause, he boldly placed
himself between his antagonists and the Euphrates, thinking to
prevent the possibility of desertion. Nevertheless, 1800 of his
Syrian Guards joined the Turks during the action, and several
disaffected corps quitted their ranks, and were dispersed at the
very onset. The engagement took place on the 24th of June,
1839; and, as usual, was decided in favour of Ibrahim. The
Ottoman army was completely defeated; and those that escaped
the carnage were plundered by the wandering tribes, while
numbers died in the desert from their wounds or for want of food
and water.

72 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

Three days after this battle the Sultan Mahmoud died, and his
son Abdul Medjid, a sickly youth of sixteen years old, who
succeeded him, offered the rebellious pasha full pardon for the past
and the hereditary viceroyalty of Egypt if he would return to his
allegiance. Mohammed Ali persisted in his demand for the
possession of Syria, still relying upon the support of France, if not
to accomplish his ambition, at least to secure other concessions or
to procure delay, during which new opportunities might arise by
foreign political complications.

It happened, however, that he had England to deal with, and
England as represented in the foreign office by Lord Palmerston.
Having once determined to interpose, our government was on this
occasion not inclined to be dilatory, especially as the viceroy had
been still further put out of court by the fact that the Turkish lord
high admiral or capitan pasha, instead of preparing to attack the
forts in Syria, sailed his fleet through the Dardanelles, but took
it to Alexandria, where he delivered it up to Mohammed Ali, in
return, it was believed, for an enormous bribe. The five great
European powers then informed the porte that they intended to
meet to discuss and settle the embarrassed question, and a con-
ference was held in London early in 1840, in which the representa-
tives of the powers met that they might bring matters to a definite
understanding. This settlement, which was afterwards known as
the Brunnow convention, after M. le Baron Brunnow, the able
minister from the court of St. Petersburg, was not come to without
the delay on which perhaps Mohammed Ali had counted, and, as he
expected, it was France that stood in the way of a settlement.

Of course the first demand was that he should restore the
Turkish fleet, and then there arose a rumour that England, Austria,
and Russia had agreed that he should be compelled immediately
to evacuate Syria before any proposition could be entertained with
regard to his retaining hereditary authority over any part of Syria
or Egypt.

Mohammed Ali at once prepared to resist He daily inspected
the Turco- Egyptian fleet, and, it was said, became highly popular
with the Turkish officers and seamen. A levy of troops en masse

ABDUL MEDJID. 73

was ordered. The workmen in factories and industrial workshops
in Cairo were formed into a militia and drilled, and it was said that
the entire body of men in that city amounted to 30,000.

Ibrahim Pasha was still in command of the army in Syria, and
to make that army effective both Egypt and Syria had been
drained of effective men. It appeared as though Mohammed
intended to make a determined fight if force should be employed
against him, for he had these Syrian troops amounting to 70,000
men, 36,000 men on board the squadron capable of service either
by sea or land, and upwards of 50,000 Bedouin Arabs, beside a
large number of irregulars such as some of those to whom our army
in the Soudan has been lately opposed.

The conference in London dragged its slow length along
month after month. Early in March the young sultan at Con-
stantinople had addressed to his council and the high functionaries
of the empire a speech modelled after the fashion of those delivered
by constitutional sovereigns. The council and ministers had been
reorganized the year before, and the speech declared that since
that time every subject brought before them had been discussed
freely and impartially, that the whole system of finance was being
reformed, that judges paid by adequate fixed salaries had been
appointed, and the police of the country had been placed on a more
efficient footing. An anxious desire was expressed to put an end
to abuses and to promote a general reform. An address was
adopted by the council accepting ajid reiterating these assurances,
and to this the sultan affixed his endorsement, in which he stated
his intention to present himself before the council at the commence-
ment of each year, for the purpose of making known his opinions
on public affairs.

While these assurances were being made in Constantinople
there were imminent disturbances in some parts of the territory
claimed by Mohammed Ali. On the 27th of May a violent
insurrection broke out at Lebanon, in Syria, among the Druses
and Christians against the emir and the Egyptian government.
The discontent already existing because of the taxes exacted by
Mohammed 'and the conscription for the army with which he

74 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

prepared to oppose the sultan, had prepared for the revolt, and
the immediate or pretended occasion for it was an order which
he issued to the emir to take away the arms which had formerly
been distributed among the Druses and Christians of the mountains
for their defence. This order, the insurgents alleged, was to
prevent them from resisting future extortionate demands.

The main obstacle to the settlement of the question by the
conference of the five powers in London, was the continued
opposition of France and the persuasion of Mohammed Ali, that he
had only to prolong his resistance till substantial aid from France
would reach him. All that did reach him were vague hints of
support, which he soon had reason to doubt, and at last, instead
even of that " moral support " which he had been promised, he
had to smother his wrath at the receipt of a message which
amounted to little more than that France would continue to regard
him with friendly sentiments, if he would submit to the demands
which he had resisted, under the impression that he had the French
government for his powerful ally.

Almost immediately after the meeting of the conference in
London, the French representative announced that he could not
agree to the terms proposed for settling the affairs of the Levant.
Upon this Lord Palmerston politely, but in unmistakable terms,
replied that though the non-concurrence of France was to be
deeply regretted, as the other powers had agreed on the terms, it
might be possible to settle the questions without France continuing
to give her practical aid, though the conference would still hope for
her moral support.

It was this which led to the false confidence of the viceroy.
France could not have her own way, and therefore encouraged Mo-
hammed Ali to continue to resist, much to his injury, as he
afterwards discovered.

The French minister had, in fact, declared that no objection
was offered to the arrangements proposed to be made with
Mohammed Ali, provided that Mohammed consented to them,
but that considerations of various kinds made it impossible for
the French government to join in coercive measures against the

ANGER OF M. THIERS. 75

viceroy. This was a significant declaration, and was about as
trustworthy as a circular message which was despatched a few
days after by Mohammed Ali to all the pashas of the empire,
intimating that the intrigues of Khusrouf Pasha were the cause
of the attack on his troops by the army of the sultan. That on
learning the accession of Abdul Medjid he (Mohammed) had
ordered Ibrahim not to follow up his advantages: that on hearing
of the appointment of Khusrouf as vizier he felt convinced that
the ascendency of that minister must be destructive to the empire :
that Achmet, the capitan pasha, was of the same opinion, and
acted upon it by keeping his fleet out of the power of Khusrouf
and uniting it with the fleet of Alexandria, in order that the joint
fleets might be in a position to serve the sovereign and the nation.
The circular also said that Mohammed Ali had received the
capitan pasha with distinction, had written to Khusrouf Pasha
urging him to send in his resignation, and had also written to the
mother and aunt of the sultan, and to the sheikh ul Islam, and
Habil Pasha, entreating them to co-operate for the removal of
the vizier in order to save the country. This message is a very
suggestive example of the skill of the viceroy in putting a plausible
construction on acts, of the treachery of which there could be no
doubt, though it was, of course, probable that the advice of the
vizier coincided with the determination of the Sultan Mahmoud to
endeavour to recover Syria. Six of Mohammed's couriers, with
the circular message in their possession, were seized and detained.
The treaty between the four powers was signed. France was
left out of it, and refused to consent to hostilities. That the
convention should have been made without them incensed the
French ministry. While Marshal Soult was at the head of
affairs the military element made a violent demonstration of anger
— when he gave place to Thiers aggressive declarations increased
and violent denunciations were expressed. Diplomatic language
amidst a multiplicity of notes and despatches represented that in
the opinion of France the "prince vassal" (Mohammed Ali),
having succeeded in establishing a firm rule in two provinces,
ought now to be considered an essential and necessary part of

76 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

the Ottoman Empire, and also that the deposition of the viceroy if
put in force would be a blow given to the general equilibrium.
" The question of the limits which ought to be established in Syria
in order to divide the possessions of the sultan from those of the
Viceroy of Egypt, might with safety be left to the chances of the
war now actually in progress, but France cannot prevail upon
herself to abandon to such a chance the existence of Mohammed
AH as prince vassal of the empire. Whatever territorial limits
may ultimately separate the two powers by the fortune of war,
their continued dual existence is necessary to Europe, and France
cannot consent to admit the suppression of either the one or the
other;" and so on.

There is no telling what might have happened if Thiers had
remained at the head of the French government. It came out
that he was called upon to resign because of warlike language
that had been put into the king's speech for the opening of the
chamber. M. Guizot was called upon to form a ministry, and
Thiers went into opposition, when it appeared that he had been
ready to resent the insult passed upon France by the concurrence
of the other powers in a treaty which she had refused to endorse.
He would have demanded a modification of the treaty, and if the
rest of Europe had said, If you do not consent to do a thing we
will do it without you, he would have gone to war with the rest
of Europe. Words and tempers ran high in the French assembly.
In the opposition something was actually said about France herself
taking possession of Turkey. Fortunately there were calmer
tempers and cooler heads in the majority. Lamartine had said
that the proposition to occupy Egypt and Syria would naturally
never be consented to by England, nor was it reasonable it should
be, as the demand for the occupation of the high-road to India
would cause another European war. Marshal Bugeaud, too,
opposed the war fever in a speech of great common sense. Still
there could be no doubt that the king, the ministry, and the nation
were aroused to a remarkable pitch of anger, and at one time it
seemed as though war would actually be declared, for military
preparations were set on foot. Mohammed Ali, seeing France

OFFER TO MOHAMMED ALL 77

in this temper, and supposing that mutual distrust would keep the
other powers from commencing hostilities against him, continued
to hold out. He had an army of 30,000 men, and the combined
fleets, beside which the season was approaching when the African
coast would be too dangerous for the operations of an invasion.

But there were other forces with which the French government
had to count in reckoning upon the chances of European war.
Prince Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, afterwards Napoleon III.,
had made his attempt to rouse adherents in France. The body
of the Emperor Napoleon I. was about to be brought from St.
Helena to the Invalides; there was widely spread disaffection
against the government, and numerous secret societies gave sinister
evidence that they were in active operation. Ordinances were
issued for mobilizing the national guard, immensely increasing the
navy, and making such provisions as would indicate a hostile
attitude, and these were hailed with acclamation; but it was
discovered that Paris itself was unprotected against an invader, and
it was proposed to surround it with fortifications. The objects of
the military preparations were not quite clear, and the warlike
disposition, fomented by the successes against Abd-el-Kader and
his Arab forces at Milianah, in Algeria, caused further excitement.

The treaty which had been effected between the four European
powers was put in execution, and Mohammed AH was offered the
choice of retaining Egypt as a hereditary pashalik, with the
government of Acre during his own lifetime, on condition of his
submitting within ten days. If he did not decide within that time
he would have no option but to retain Egypt alone; while after
twenty days, hostilities would be at once commenced against him.

The pasha was obstinate to the last, and refused all terms; but
there was to be no more temporizing on the part of the western
powers. The treaty between the four powers was ratified on the
15 th of September, 1840, and by the beginning of October a
British fleet, under the command of Commodore Sir Charles
Napier, aided by Austrian naval and land forces, reduced the city
of Beyrout, on the Syrian coast, and captured the Egyptian fleet.
There was tremendous excitement in Paris at the intelligence, the

78 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

ministry was denounced, the Marseillaise was called for and sung
at the theatres on the demand of the audiences, and there was a
general warlike outcry. The government was alarmed, military
preparations appeared to be pushed on, and large additions were
made to the regular army.

It was futile, however, for France to persist in the appearance
of supporting Mohammed Ali, who, as Lord Palmerston pointed
out, was to be dealt with, not in opposition to his being a " prince
vassal," but because he was a vassal in rebellion, and claiming
imperial rights against his master and sovereign. Mohammed
himself saw that it was useless any longer to delay because of the
representations of his advisers that the French government would
support him. More important to him were the strong assurances
of the English that though the British government demanded his
submission, it would aid him in retaining the hereditary pashalik of
Egypt. This representation, he afterwards found, was in no degree
exaggerated.

His army was now compelled to retreat on St. Jean d'Acre.
An insurrection against him was spreading all over Syria, among
the people who had suffered from his oppressions and those of the
military rule of Ibrahim. The chief of the Druses of Lebanon
sided with the allies.

On the 29th of October M. Thiers was obliged to resign the
ministry of foreign affairs in France, and M. Guizot succeeded
him, and immediately ventured to show a pacific policy and a
friendly disposition towards England. He desired to conciliate
rather than to defy and denounce the other powers of Europe; and
it was time that this policy should have been adopted, for the
commercial and financial credit of France was already suffering,
and new credits had to be opened, to the detriment of the ex-
chequer. Guizot at once declared that he should accept the
decision of the other powers against the Viceroy of Egypt without
any material opposition from France.

By that time the hopes of Mohammed were at an end, so far as
Syria was concerned; the terrific bombardment of St. Jean d'Acre
had destroyed it in less than four hours. The Egyptians lost

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STORY. 79

more than 2000 men, killed and wounded; while the British
counted only twelve killed and forty-two wounded. The British
fleet was threatening to open fire on Alexandria, when, on the 27th
of November, Mohammed Ali — the remnant of his army having
left Syria — accepted the terms offered him, and signed a con-
vention, by which he restored the Turkish fleet, and relinquished
possession of Syria on the condition that the pashalik of Egypt
should be conferred on him and his hereditary successors as
tributaries of the sublime porte.

The story of the revolt of the viceroy, of the attitude of France,
and of the complication which brought about this European
interposition in the affairs of Egypt will be seen to have no little
significance in relation to the events depicted in subsequent pages
of this history.

8o EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

CHAPTER II.

Enterprise of the Pasha. Foreigners in Egypt. Progress of Agriculture. Land Tenure.
Oppression of the People. Fellaheen. Population. Public Works. Education. Death of
Mohammed All. Ibrahim. Abbas Pa.sha. Assassination. Said Pasha. The Burden of
Egypt. Debt. The Slave-trade. Exploration of the Nile. Railways. Ismail the
Borrower. Attempts to Suppress the Slave-trade. Sir S. Baker. Gordon Governor-
general. The Suez Canal. The Strange Story of Egyptian Finance.

Mohammed Ali was called a tyrant and an oppressor, and he
deserved both titles; but it must be remembered that he became
the ruler of a country where tyranny and oppression had for ages
been the governing forces. Pictured records on the monuments
are the representations of slavery, rapacious taxation, and enforced
labour. Those institutions had been maintained through various
dynasties, and had survived them all when the Albanian adven-
turer, who had defied his sovereign, was placed securely in his
seat by a convention of the powers of Europe. The land was
held by its cultivators on a feudal tenure of the worst kind, the
taxes consisting of a large proportion of the produce of the soil, the
value of which was fixed by the ruler or his subordinate officers,
who were empowered to chastise reluctant peasants with the
kourbash, a whip made of hippopotamus hide or of a thick sinew,
and applied to the soles of the feet. This method of tax collecting
was not invented by the pasha, and after a time he was not only
able but willing to insist on some discrimination being exercised
by his subordinates, so that rough justice, which has been said to
be synonymous with revenge, was sometimes exercised upon local
officers who were guilty of oppression for the purpose of securing
excessive imposts, out of which they could take a percentage for
themselves. The Egyptian fellahs were no worse off than other
oriental or even some European tillers of the soil, though every
product of their fields, from the date-tree to the patch of maize
or millet, belonged less to themselves than to the pasha, inasmuch
as he demanded the first gathering from the crops.

When the Syrian war was over, however, and Mohammed set

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PROGRESS UNDER MOHAMMED ALT. 8 1

himself seriously to raise the condition of Egypt, it could not be
denied that he went to work in earnest; and he succeeded. The
recruiting of his armies had retarded the progress of agriculture
by removing the labourers from the fields, but the discipline
which he introduced and the protection that he was enabled to
give to the people, relieved the country from the raids of bands of
robbers, and made it comparatively safe for travellers through any
part of his dominions, where only a few years before they could
only have ventured to make a journey with a large and well-armed
escort. He carried out numerous public works, buildings, bridges,
arsenals, canals for supplying water and irrigating the land; and
much suffering was endured by the labourers, men and women,
who were compelled to join the gangs for removing the soft earth
and heaping up the embankments, or for making bricks and
hewing stones, but the results were of far greater importance
than the construction of a vast mausoleum or a stupendous
pyramid. The future civilization and prosperity of the country
was the aim of this semi-barbarous ruler, who had lived to middle
age without having learnt to read, and, now that he had reached
threescore years and ten, had succeeded in re-establishing on a
modern basis, schools which had been founded by the Caliphs, and
had been suffered to decline and to become useless because of the
obstinate antipathy of the Turks to the introduction of European
improvements and discoveries, and the teaching of modern science.

Mohammed Ali, however, had at an earlier date sent several
young men and boys to France to be instructed, and though their
attainments were of rather a superficial kind, and they mostly
returned to find that they were incapable of reducing their accom-
plishments to practice in the direction of public works or in the
advancement of learning, they at least added to the number of
the unprejudiced, and were ready to appreciate the value of the
improvements which the pasha, with the assistance of European
inventors, contractors, and craftsmen, was rapidly promoting.

His impatient eagerness to secure European assistants, how-
ever, led to one evil result, the effects of which have been of
serious import in the later history of Egypt, and had a direct

Vol. I. 6

82 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

influence in quite recent events. The rewards which appeared to
be waiting for anyone who could obtain a commission from the
pasha tempted a number of needy, ignorant, and unscrupulous ad-
venturers. For some time before he had seriously commenced a
regular reformation, Egypt had become the happy hunting-ground
of many adventurers from Europe. As early as 1836 he was com-
pelled to issue a decree in consequence of the disputes which were
continually arising between such men and the authorities. The
consuls were unable to settle these quarrels, and a number of men
were sent out of the country on account of their violent conduct
The proclamation ordered that " every individual coming to Egypt
for the purpose of establishing himself will be required, on his first
arrival, to show that he has the means of existence, and to exhibit
to the local government a guarantee from among the principal
inhabitants of the country, who will be responsible for his moral
conduct." This rule was also to be observed by everyone already
established; and a third clause ordained that every captain of a
vessel, bringing as passengers persons unable to give the securities
required should be obliged at his own risk to convey them back to
Europe. How far such a decree was, or could be, carried out, it
would be difficult to say — for, assuredly, a good many incompetent,
if not absolutely destitute, people continued to find their way to
Alexandria and Cairo. It was no doubt extremely galling to those
of the pasha's officers who were men of principle to find themselves
perpetually associated with a set of adventurers who had neither
manners nor morals. But these gentry did not always reap the
reward which they had anticipated, and they, as well as their more
conscientious colleagues, were often placed in an awkward position.
A visitor to Egypt at that time wrote : —

" These men took every advantage in their power, did nothing,
and were, many of them, thoroughly ignorant of their profession.
If, however, the pasha was deceived by them, it is only fair to
acknowledge that they also had been deceived by him; for it is
notorious that he does not make good his promises; nothing that
he says can be depended on. He was wont to offer largely to
Europeans to induce them to come to Egypt; he raised their

CAUSES OF DEARTH. 83

expectations but did not satisfy their demands. He would put
them off from time to time, under false pretences, and was always
in arrears. The same system is still pursued. Those who would
serve him faithfully are not appreciated, and they soon leave him
in disgust, for they are not only badly paid, but insulted by those
with whom they are compelled to associate. In fact, he has
introduced such a medley of nations, languages, and character,
that his service is anything but agreeable. It is, moreover, the
most difficult thing imaginable to get any business done, even
when people are disposed to work ; for he has so many irons in
the fire, and possesses such a prolific imagination, that whatever
he hears of he is anxious to adopt, without considering how it is
to be accomplished."

Mohammed AH did not, till towards the end of his life, re-
cognize that the real riches of Egypt consisted of its agricultural
produce. The greater number of the youths were taken from
many villages to fill the ranks of the pasha's army. Mr. St. John
was informed that in a town on the Nile there remained twelve
women to one man, and the cultivation of the sugar-cane had been
abandoned for want of hands. Egypt became so depopulated that
the fields could not be properly cultivated, and the government
seized Arabs and dragged them to the tillage bound together two
by two like galley slaves. But another reason for this dearth
was the abandonment of the land by the former labourers, because
the tenure by which it was held and the exactions of tax collectors
had made its cultivation unproductive of any benefit to the actual
tiller of the soil.

It is not necessary, even if space would permit, to trace the
history of the system of land tenure in Egypt. The principle that
the land was the property of the state was maintained by the
Ottoman Turks under Sultans Selim and Suleyman after the con-
quest of the country; but for the purpose of facilitating the collec-
tion of the revenue, villages were conceded to tenants of the state
(multazim), who were responsible for the payment of the amount
of taxes at which the land was assessed, and themselves were
permitted to levy a certain amount of taxes for their own benefit.

84 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

and to occupy a portion of the land. The government reserved
authority to take back the land to itself at pleasure, but this power
was seldom exercised, and the intermediate owner was permitted
to bequeath, and in some cases to sell, the rights which he had
acquired. The occupiers of holdings could also bequeath their
holdings to their families, but they had no power either to sell or
to abandon the land which they occupied; and if any of them died
without heirs to whom the land would pass in order of succession,
the multazim or feudal lord was obliged to find a tenant for it.
The occupation and cultivation of the land thus became compul-
sory, and the administration of the land revenue was intrusted to
a high official, the Defterdar.

Under the Memlooks regular laws and a definite system of
taxation gave place to an oppression all the more harassing because
is was fitful, and depended on the whims or sudden needs of the
rulers.

Mohammed Ali, after the destruction of the Memlooks, changed
the system of land tenure by abolishing the multazims or lords of
the villages, and making himself the immediate landlord and ab-
solute controller of the soil. Had he been in the prime of life
when he settled down, after relinquishing his ambitious schemes,
he might have adopted some further laws after recognizing the
enormous importance of promoting agriculture as the staple in-
dustry of the country; but he was an old man, and had already
been made to feel that he must devote his remaining energies to
securing the succession of the viceroyalty to his heirs.

The work of restoring the land to cultivation was also too great
for him fully to accomplish. As we have seen, the country had
in many parts been almost depopulated by the enormous drafts
of men for the army and by the devastations of sickness. The soil
was still fertile, the people industrious and willing, often eager,
to return to the pacific occupation of agriculture, but considerable
areas of land had ceased to be under cultivation, or had become
unproductive through the loss of cattle by the murrain, and because
of the want of means to maintain the small canals and simple
means of fertilization on which the profitable cultivation depended.

THE pasha's monopolies. 85

The peasants of these villages were utterly destitute of the money
that would restore their primitive works, and, therefore, leases for
a certain period were granted to persons possessing sufficient
capital, who were only called upon to pay the government a re-
duced sum as assessment. This was, in fact, a partial return to
the old system, and in many cases, where villages were almost
barren and their inhabitants destitute, though they were not per-
mitted to abandon the land, the old tenure was restored with
very little difference — the lordship of the land being granted to
officers of state or wealthy persons, who became responsible for
the payment of the taxes, and were able to assist the people to
resume the tillage of the soil.

It can scarcely be wondered at that the viceroy should have
made some of the largest and most important of these grants to
members of his own family for the purpose of providing for their
maintenance, and this plan has in fact been followed by successive
pashas, but not without giving rise to some complications. It
may be mentioned here that Abbas Pasha, who virtually succeeded
Mohammed Ali, gave his son such a large landed property, and
the grants represented such an extent of territory, that Said Pasha,
his successor to the viceroyalty, was obliged to insist on the
restoration to the government of all lands which had been thus
held under the tenure of a multazim, for, as he not unreasonably
declared, if the viceroy were empowered to make absolute grants
of territory to members of his family, he would be able virtually
to make over the whole country to any of them, leaving nothing
but the mere title for the hereditary successor to the viceroyalty.

It may well be understood that considerable difficulties still
prevented the complete development of agriculture even in the
reclaimed villages. The pasha monopolized nearly all the pro-
ductions of the soil and many of the most necessary articles which
passed through the country. Thus the peasant, taxed by govern-
ment agents or by proprietors whose interest it was to keep on
good terms with the pasha, had to suffer the worst inflictions both
of direct and indirect taxation. Or in other words, what should
have been indirect taxation was in many cases made into a com-

86 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

pulsory impost. As an instance : the salt tax was one which pressed
heavily on the people, and the inhabitants of several villages,
oppressed with the burdens laid upon them, determined to forego
the use of salt for a time except as an occasional luxury. This
kind of resistance would not have been adopted had the tax not
been increased till it became almost unbearable, for the Egyptians
are great consumers of salt. Of course their abstinence caused some
deficiency in the revenue, and for a short time the viceroy did not
quite know how to meet this declaration of a right to abstain, which,
of course, was a defiance of authority and could not be permitted.
The remedy was easy. While the fellahs were congratulating
themselves on the probable success of their plan for obtaining relief
from the excessive impost, a number of government boats were
observed to be mooring under the villages, and these were presently
unladen and their freight piled upon the ground. An officer then
demanded to see the Sheikh el Beled, and informed him that his
highness the viceroy, having ascertained the quantity of salt
formerly consumed, had forwarded the proper supply, and that he
(the sheikh) would be held responsible for payment to the govern-
ment.

Of course the monopolies of the pasha were subject to losses
to the revenue because of the difficulty of discovering, among the
Turks, honest and trustworthy agents, and the sale of merchandise
was regulated to a great extent by a system of bribery between
merchants and the olificers who sold the produce which had been
collected by the peasants and delivered at the different shoonahs
or warehouses, established in the several towns and provinces
in such numbers as to make it unnecessary to transport the
commodities to any great distance from the place where they were
produced. When they were delivered at the shoonah the articles
were weighed or measured and an order on the treasury given for
the money, the price having been previously fixed by the council.
The order was received back from the peasant, at its full value, in
payment of taxes, but there was usually so much delay in obtaining
the balance that he was induced to sell it for a discount of from
twenty to thirty per :ent, that he might not have to apply to the

FELLAHEEN BRINGING THEIR PRODUCE TO A SHOONAH OR GOVERNMENT
WAREHOUSE, IN PAYMENT OF TAXES.

son: LONDON, GLASGOW, AND EDINSURr.H,

TWO KINDS OF OPPRESSION. 87

treasury for it and be kept waiting. From the warehouses the
goods were sent down to Alexandria as they were wanted, and
there distributed among the different merchants, principally English,
French, Italian, Greek, and Armenian. The introduction of olive-
trees and Cassia Fistula, as well as other valuable trees and plants,
was the result of the observations of Ibrahim Pasha in the Morea,
and as we have already seen, the great fertility of the soil, the
succession and immense variety of crops of cereals, pulse, fruits,
and vegetables sufficed to make Egypt, under improved cultivation,
perhaps the most productive country in the world.

But though the method of taxation was intelligible and
impartial in its operation, and, therefore, to be preferred to the
violent and cruel exactions of the Memlooks, who would pass
through the country with a troop of horsemen seizing cattle,
sheep, or grain, stripping the villagers, and frequently carrying
off their women and children to slavery or worse, the burden
placed on Egypt by Mohammed Ali was a heavy one. The
organization which gave a degree of security and operated with
impartiality, enabled the pasha greatly to increase the general
imposts. The last coin which could be wrung from the fellah
without reducing him to absolute beggary was demanded; while
he was no longer subject to such constant and iniquitous exactions
as those under which he had formerly suffered, he was systemati-
cally impoverished and depressed. It is perhaps impossible to
buy law and order too dearly, and the peasantry, feeling the
overwhelming burden, and yet with a sense of the blessing of not
being subject to the wild raids, cruelties, and extortions that
characterized their former oppressors, forbore to complain very
loudly, or perhaps feared that such complaints might bring back
their former sufferings. The feeling of security was new to them
then. Their complaints have been both loud and deep since that
time, and not without reason, though their condition was certainly
improved a few years ago. Not contented with increasing taxa-
tion, Mohammed Ali contrived to considerably reduce the size
of the feddan or Egyptian acre, so that the owner of 200 acres
suddenly, and without knowing it, became possessor of 210, and

88 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

had to pay the taxes on that number. In the time of the Memlook
beys the ordinary taxation had not exceeded, in average amount,
from fourteen to eighteen piastres an acre in the inferior, and twenty-
seven piastres in the most fertile districts. Under Mohammed
Ali the taxation had nearly doubled, and from the fields around
Cairo and the rice grounds of the Delta forty and sixty piastres
was respectively levied.^

Of course the want of discrimination in taxing the poor lands
and the already impoverished peasantry at about an equal rate all
round (the value of land being computed according to its proximity
to a large city) produced disastrous results in many cases. Little
or no regard was had to the fertility of the soil, and consequently
to the value of the productions in various districts. In the district
of Upper Egypt several hundred feddans of inferior land were
divided among the peasantry in proportion to their supposed
means of cultivating them, and these they were compelled to till
and tend for the purpose of paying the land tax, which frequently
consumed nearly the whole produce. Worse still, the pasha was
accused, not only of monopolizing trade and every article of
produce, but of using this power to maintain an artificial scarcity,
and, therefore, enhance the price, so that wheat purchased by the
government in Upper Egypt was sold at Cairo for above four
times its cost, and the price of common articles of food, like beans
and millet, was raised in proportion.

St. John, who in 1834 wrote an account of his travels in Egypt
under the rule of Mohammed Ali, observes that travellers appear
not to have remarked the extraordinary family likeness discernible
in the fellahs, who, he says, seem to have been all cast in the same
mould; and he acutely remarks that this striking resemblance, which
exists in character and manners no less than in features, probably
prevailed also among the ancient Egyptians; hence that monotony
observable in their sculptures and paintings. Despotism he
regards as the primary cause of this phenomenon, for the multitude,
all reduced to nearly the same level, urged by the same wants,
engaged in the same pursuits, actuated by the same passions

' The feddan was 1-^ English acre before being reduced ; the piastre about 2i<^. English.

TAXATION AND AGRICULTURE. 89

through a long succession of ages, necessarily assimilate. Poverty
depriving them of all pretensions to free agency, they are univer-
sally cringing, trembling, dissimulating. Fear is their habitual
passion. Credulous, ignorant, superstitious, no man has the
originality to be a heretic. In religion, morals, manners, and
opinions the son treads servilely in the footsteps of his father,
without inquir)^, without reflection, nay even without the conscious-
ness that nature has endowed him with the power to do otherwise.
The fellah marries and begets children, who are allowed to run
naked about the villages until the age of puberty; he then throws
them a rag to bind about their loins; they begin to labour, become
masters of a few piastres, and marrying in their turn run the same
career as their parents. Both men and women, he affirms, are
extremely profligate: the men inconstant, the women false and
sensual.

The taxation of artisans, public officers, artisans' servants and
employes, consisted of the demand for a month's stipend or income
per annum, and the house tax consisted of one month's rent per
annum assessed to the proprietor, whether the premises were
occupied or not; which was scarcely less equitable than the plan
of imposing a house tax on the tenant in addition to heavy
rates which are computed on the basis of his rental, that rental
being fixed, so far as assessment for taxation is concerned, by the
authorities who themselves make the imposition of the rates.

These particulars of the agricultural condition of the country
and the mode of taxation will be found to illustrate the subsequent
history of European intervention in the financial concerns of
Egypt; and it will be noticed that the system laid down by
Mohammed Ali, though the whole scheme of land tenure was
altered and the monopolies were relinquished by Said Pasha, had
an abiding effect on the condition of the people. Whatever may
have been subsequent improvements, in effect the astute old
viceroy succeeded in laying the foundations of an independent
government, and of what might have been made a prosperous
national life. His view was comprehensive, his ambition powerful,
and his ability extraordinary. In the cultivable country of Egypt

go EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

proper, extending for about 115,200 square miles (including the
Nile bed and its islands), there were about 10,000 square miles
watered by the river; but the increased irrigation soon extended
the surface under tillage, and the institution of public works, and
above all of colleges and technical schools by Mohammed Ali, laid
the foundation of many more recent improvements in agriculture
and in industrial arts and sciences. The institutions for public
instruction, though they had many imperfections, were, at anyrate,
the foundation of all the educational establishments now in oper-
ation. The college of Kasserlyne, on the right bank of the
El-Rhondah Canal, was a kind of preparatory school for 1000 to
1200 youths of promising ability selected to be trained.for various
departments under government. They were fed and clothed by
the state, that is by the viceroy, and provided with books,
stationery, and pocket-money — an extension of free state education
which is even now unusual in any other country. But as all the
pupils practically became the property of the viceroy, and were to
be at his disposal in whatever direction he might require their
services, they were entirely dependent on his bounty. This college
soon became disorganized. Everything was supposed to be
regulated by strict discipline, which meant the application of the
kourbash as a punishment; but the European professors having
been dismissed and the senior pupils being set to teach the
others, the amount of study soon diminished, the fine library of
12,000 volumes (chiefly French and Italian) became neglected, and
the whole college became a scene of confusion, immorality, and
sickness.

The School of Cadets, which was established at a former palace
of Toussoon Pasha a little to the north of Ghizeh, was far more
successful, for there Turks, Europeans, and Circassians were
taught military engineering, drawing, fortification, horsemanship,
and European and Oriental languages. There was also a school
of artillery at Toura, where the pupils were taught the art of
gunnery, mathematics, and languages; a school of engineers at
Khanka for instruction in surveying, modelling, drawing, mining,
and fortification; and a naval school in the arsenal at Alexandria

TEACHING THE EGYPTIANS. 9 1

to teach shipbuilding and navigation, while every youth on board
the Egyptian navy received some practical instruction in seaman-
ship.

One of the most important institutions, however, was the
School of Medicine, founded at Abou Zabel, near Cairo, with a
hospital for receiving. 600 patients, with a residence for professors
and pupils separated from the hospital by a fine esplanade planted
with orange-trees, sycamores, mimosas, and palms. In this college
there was special instruction for women, who were taught obstetric
surgery.

Thus it will be seen, not only that Mohammed AH thoroughly
appreciated the advantages which Europeans had derived from
education, but that he was also anxious to hasten the advance of
his country by the establishment of schools of various kinds, in
some respects with provisions in advance of those to be found in
European capitals. Nor did he neglect the consideration of the
value of accomplishments, for an Academy of Music was founded at
Cairo, where French and German professors instructed the pupils,
particularly in instrumental music. Every ship in the navy was
also provided with a band. The other schools or colleges were for
teaching agriculture and veterinary surgery, the former including
the art of irrigation, hydraulics, boring for water, and making roads.

It may be asked how it is that the people of Egypt should
apparently have derived so little benefit from these institutions as
to be obliged to employ foreigners in their larger engineering and
other operations, and to show so little advance in the arts and
sciences; but it must be remembered that not half a century has
elapsed since Mohammed AH commenced the development of
Egyptian education; that some of the schools and colleges became
disorganized, or never were properly provided with an efficient
staff of competent teachers; that the government of the country
has undergone many vicissitudes, and has been under the pressure
of debt and of financial difficulties; while, above all, must be taken
into account the amount of ignorance, superstition, obstinate resis-
tance to innovation, and extreme indolence by which the people
themselves are greatly characterized.

92 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

Another reason for failure was the impetuous determination of
the viceroy to hasten the process of instruction and its reduction
to practice. Himself uneducated, he seemed to have formed an
idea that it only needed the establishment of schools, the appoint-
ment of teachers, and the application of a system resembling that
of the schools of France and England to secure immediate results.
He therefore sent youths to England and France to be taught,
and on their return took it for granted that they were competent
to fill important positions; or he drafted to the various special
schools, pupils from the General College at Kasserlyne, which was
itself demoralized and without efficient teachers. Mohammed
Pasha had not time to obtain the results which he himself desired
to see; and his hurry to raise the country to a position of
prosperity and enlightenment, for a time defeated its own object,
especially as he was not scrupulous as to the means he took for
enforcing his views. He was eager to be on a level with
Europeans, and set about Imitating them without considering that
many of the public works and institutions of which he had heard
were the outcome of generations of experiments and improvements.
It was much the same with his efforts (successful as some of them
were) to develop manufactures, for which he neglected the more
immediate and certain advantages of agriculture. A whole district
of Cairo was cleared of vile dens and filthy and degraded inhabi-
tants for the erection of cotton mills, factories, and magazines, and
the undertaking was not altogether unsuccessful; but there, as
elsewhere, the system of forced labour was adopted, and during the
Syrian campaigns the factories were idle because the hands were
driven into the ranks of the army. The Nubians who were
employed in the mills at Cairo and elsewhere succumbed to disease
brought about by the effects of the confined atmosphere and the
conditions of life upon people who had been accustomed to breathe
the pure and rarefied air of the desert. The fellahs, who were com-
pelled to work by overseers who oppressed them cruelly, and lamed
them with the punishment of the kourbash, frequently maimed
themselves and sometimes committed suicide rather than toil in
what was a prison-house of labour. The mills were frequently set

SUCCESSES AND FAILURES. 93

on fire, the machinery was found to be almost useless during the
period when the fine sand was blown into every nook and cranny,
and filled the cogs and cranks with grit, and the peculations of
overseers, added to the carelessness and ignorance of the workmen,
made the undertaking troublesome and unprofitable; so that a
quantity of machinery was left unused to grow rusty, and several
factories were abandoned to ruin.

The establishment of manufactories by Mohammed AH was
very remarkable, however — sugar and rum, gunpowder, refined
saltpetre, chemicals, leather from the tanneries at old Cairo, guns
and gun-carriages from the foundries, copper from the mills, fire-
works and rockets, &c. ; silk, ropes from the rope- works at Alex-
andria, muskets and small-arms, cloth, printed calico, iron from a
splendid foundry conducted by Galloway Bey, besides the product
of weaving by power-looms, dyeing-works, riqe-mills, corn-mills,
glass-houses, an enormous number of forges, and a paper-mill,
attested his activity, and the printing-office at Boulak was used to
produce books for the schools and colleges, and the newspaper
which he started to maintain his views.

The viceroy also established a tribunal of commerce, resembling
a court of equity, composed of the representatives of different
nations, and intended to emancipate the operations of trade from
the old restrictive Mohammedan laws. But, of course, the advan-
tages gained were, to a great extent, prevented from benefiting the
community because of the monopoly claimed by the viceroy himself
over almost every profitable commodity.

The character of Mohammed Ali, and the changes and
improvements which he designed, and many of which he lived
to accomplish, may be said to have restored Egypt to a national
position. It cannot be denied that the remains of barbarism were
still numerous and striking, and it must be remembered that the
pasha had, as it were, fought his way to civilization, and a strong
will, a vast ambition, united to native shrewdness and ability
almost amounting to genius, enabled him to make use of every
opportunity for furthering his ends, and thereby, as he con-
ceived, advancing the interests of the country, over which he

94 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

held almost despotic rule. It should be distinctly borne in mind
when we are considering the affairs of Egypt, the method of its
government and the characteristics of its people, that oriental
nations regard many questions from an entirely different point of
view from that which we naturally assume; and that if they are
prejudiced in favour of their own institutions, there is often as
much prejudice in Our insisting to judge them only in relation to
our own notions, derived from a condition of society which, to the
Eastern mind, offers no attractions and does not commend itself as
a model for imitation, either on the score of expediency or national
morality. Taking him altogether the viceroy was far superior in
humanity, justice, and intelligence to the sultan, or to his Turkish
subordinates. Many of the punishments for offences against the
law were, and still are, severe and even cruel, and were executed
by barbarous methods; but it may be believed that severity and a
striking demonstration of authority and the power of punishing is
necessary among peoples in a certain stage of civilization, which
often displays the vices both of the Old and the New World.
Above all, it should be strictly kept in view that the time is not
so very long past when barbarous punishments, legislative oppres-
sion, the possibility of purchased immunities and privileges for
the wealthy, the advocacy of slavery, and the denial of political
and almost of social rights to the poor and the weak, existed in
this country, and with the disadvantage that, while poverty and
misery bore aspects at least as sordid, and were suffered under
conditions almost as degrading as may have been seen among the
Egyptian peasantry or the lower class of the population in the
villages of the Nile or the streets of Cairo, they were not
associated with the " barbaric " splendour, the rich profusion of
colour, the gorgeous attire, the jewelled ornaments, the superb
adornments of arms and utensils, the luxury and magnificence
(often contrasting with meanness and bareness), which distinguished
the palaces of the rulers, and above all, the brilliant sky, the
dazzling light, and the luxurious climate which make the Egyptian
landscape and the lovely groves and gardens in the vicinity of
Cairo so attractive. The summer palace of the viceroy at

THE PASHA AT HOME. 95

Shoobra and his palace at Cairo were not altogether wanting in
the magnificence which is associated with the notions of an
Eastern potentate, and the presents of valuable gems, gold, and
ivory, which he sent to the sultan whenever he had a government
difficulty to overcome, were royal in value. Seen in the plain and
barely furnished room in which he often received visitors on
business, or in the garden in Cairo to which he occasionally
retired, the pasha appeared to be a rather truculent but shrewd
old man, with a penetrating eye, a choleric temper, a marvellous
power of reserve or of frankness, as the occasion might demand.
He never wore splendid apparel, but the hilt of his sword and the
handles of his pistols were studded with rare jewels. His harem
adjoining the palace was a large establishment. Beside the four
wives permitted by the law of the Prophet, he had several favourite
slaves, and the retinue of slaves, servants, and attendants amounted
to about three hundred, including musicians and dancers. He
employed a female secretary, who had been taught to write well
and to keep secrets, and other attendants were retained to read
translations from the London and Paris newspapers. His first
wife, Amina, the mother of Toussoon, Ismael, and Ibrahim, pos-
sessed remarkable influence over the impetuous and crafty viceroy,
and he regarded her goodness and common sense with constant
respect and esteem, believing that to her he was greatly indebted
for the advantages he had acquired. Amina was also beloved by
the people because of her frequent pleadings on the side of justice
and mercy. If she presented a petition to mitigate or to correct
the decisions of the viceroy's subordinates, they knew well that it
was better at once to accede to it, for if they began to remonstrate
his highness would exclaim in his unmistakable manner: "'Tis
enough. By my two eyes, if she requires it the thing must be
done, be it through fire, water, or stone."

Of the pasha's delightful and splendid palace and garden at
Shoobra most people have heard — of its fountains with marble
hippopotami spouting jets of clear water, its series of lofty halls with
ceilings painted with landscapes, its lower room, safe from the
summer heats, with the inscription from the Koran on the wall:

96 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

"An hour of justice is worth seventy days of prayer" — its
sumptuous pavilion, 250 feet long by 200 broad, composed of
white marble, with a sunken court and four pillared galleries or
colonnades, and at each corner of the chief colonnade a terraced
slope, over which water passed in a cascade to the court below,
and on the ledges of which sculptured fish lay as though they
were swimming. In the water of the sunken court or basin the
ladies of the harem would paddle about in or out of small shallops,
much to the amusement of his highness, who sat in the colonnade
above. But the pasha had not too much time to bestow on
amusements, and even the chess player, who was constantly in
attendance at Cairo, and was also a kind of mimic or jester,
affecting extravagant and ludicrous sorrow whenever a piece was
taken from him by his master, must often have found that his
appointment was a sinecure, though, probably, like everybody else
employed by the pasha, he found it exceedingly difficult to obtain
punctual payment of his salary.

The grounds of Shoobra, situated in the plantations between
Cairo and the river, and connected with the city by an avenue of
sycamores and acacias, were open to the public; but the whole
city of Cairo was soon improved, and the improvements have since
been so extensive that it is a very different place indeed from the
Cairo of Mohammed Ali, though the mosque which he erected
in the citadel is still one of the first buildings in the world. At
Alexandria, however, the improvements made by the pasha were
more conspicuous, though they consisted chiefly of public works,
such as the schools, hospitals, arsenal, docks, and warehouses.
The Mahmoudieh Canal, too, was an enormous acquisition to the
commerce of the city. The only really remarkable buildings were
the arsenal and the pasha's palace; but it was to its commercial
and strategical or geographical importance that he devoted atten-
tion, and his judgment was endorsed by others, and by his second
successor, Said Pasha, who constructed the railway from Alex-
andria to Cairo, of which 60 miles had been completed in 1854.
Of course the greater number of the institutions founded by
Mohammed Ali were designed to answer the purpose, in the first

RETRIBUTIVE PUNISHMENTS. 97

instance, of consolidating Egypt as an independent power, and
workshops, printing-press, arsenal, and schools were all regulated
to this end, rather than to the general progress of the country.
Probably he would have said that no certain progress could be
made until the national independence was established, and the
assertion would not have been unreasonable at that time, for the
Turkish government was anti- progressive, though many small
innovations were adopted chiefly by imitating the dress and the
manners, not to say the vices, of Europe.

The viceroy achieved personal independence, inasmuch as for
his government of Egypt he was practically irresponsible. Of
course he had no representative assembly or constitution in the
English sense — he was absolute, and could reward or bribe with
land or money, or punish as he thought fit. In the midst of an
examination, cr on his own judgment, with or without a trial, he
could send to death any of his subjects. A horizontal movement
of his hand was sufficient sentence, and the ready executioner
acted upon it at once, the culprit being taken away by the officers
and decapitated. Many of the punishments for ordinary fraud
were cruel and excessive, though the officers who ordered them
were notorious for taking bribes and occasioning a failure of justice.
Occasionally, however, the barbarity of these representatives of
the pasha was detected in cases where they themselves were the
guilty persons, and they were then paid in their own coin either
by a superior, who desired to carry out the principles of strict
retaliation, or by the viceroy himself, who resented the claims of
any one but himself to fleece his subjects. Lane, in his Modern
Egyptians, tells some stories of the administration of "justice"
which have quite the flavour of the tales in the Arabian Nights.
Some of these recount horrible atrocities, even where they are
designed to show the retribution that sometimes visits the op-
pressor.^

The same authority, speaking of the revenues of the pasha at
that time (1835) reckons them at about ;^3,ooo,C)00 sterling, nearly

" Lane's Modern Egyptians is still the best authority, as it is the most entertaining and instructive,
on the manners, customs, and observances of the people of Lower Egypt.

Vol. I. 7

98 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

half of which was derived from the direct taxes on land and from
indirect exactions from the fellaheen, the remainder principally
from the customs, income-tax, the tax on palm-trees, and the sale
of the produce of the land, on much of which the government
obtained a profit of above fifty per cent. As the private proprietors
were all dispossessed of their lands, and were only partially com-
pensated by a pension for life, supposed to be in proportion to
the extent and quality of the land taken from therti, the farmer
had nothing to leave to his children but his hut and perhaps a
few cattle, with, possibly, a trifling sum of money saved by great
self-denial.

The fellah, to supply the bare necessaries of life, was often
obliged to steal and convey secretly to his hut as much as he
could of the produce of his land. He could either supply the
seed for his land or obtain it as a loan from the government,
but, in the latter case, a considerable portion of it was likely
to be stolen by the persons through whose hands it passed.
It would scarcely have been possible for the peasants to suffer
more and live, so that few of them were eager to follow the
pursuit of agriculture. Those who did so mostly worked under
compulsion.

The pasha also took possession of the incomes of a good many
religious and charitable institutions, granting annuities in place of
the income derived from the legacies by which they were founded.
The tax upon palm or date trees amounted to about ;^ 100,000,
and the tax on grain paid by the inhabitants of large towns was
about equal to the price of the wheat in the country after a good
harvest. It must be remembered, too, that this grain was often
taken from the fellaheen and credited to them much below its
market price.

At the time when the viceroy was carrying out his reforms
there was no registration and no proper computation of the num-
ber of inhabitants; but the best authorities appear to calculate the
population of Egypt proper at not much over two millions and
a quarter, of which the Arab fellahs were above a million and three-
quarters, the rest being made up of Copts, Bedouins, Arabs,

THE SCREW OF TAXATION. 99

Greeks, Armenians, Jews, Turks, Albanians, Syrians, Ethiopians,
and Franks.

Of course the keen efforts of Mohammed Ali to establish
commerce, public instruction, and manufactures on European
models led to numberless attempts on the part of adventurers
to obtain profitable concessions for government or public works,
and, after the settlement of the government in 1840, several
eminent engineers and contractors from this country made engage-
ments which were afterwards of considerable value. At the same
time the effrontery with which mere speculators attempted, not
always without success, to lay hold of contracts for Egypt, or
represented to the pasha that they could undertake some enterprise
which would be to his profit and advantage, must have made the
honourable men of the same nation who were at Cairo or
Alexandria ashamed of their countrymen. It was actually declared
by a paragraph in the Spettatore Egiziano that it had been
proposed to Mohammed Ali to convert into paper the cloth of
the mummies, of which it was calculated 420,000,000 must have
been deposited in the mummy pits. Whereupon there appeared in
the columns of Punch a skit which has been quoted since : —

" Oh, shade of Memnon !
Cheops and Rameses, shake in your cere-cloths;
Save smoke-dried pashas of the Eastern phlegm, none
Can read, unmoved, the end of all your glory.
Announced in the Grand Cairo Spettatore;
How, in the place of mere cloth

Of hempen, linen, cotton,

More or less rotten,
As made at Manchester and sold by every draper,
They're going to take the bier-cloths.
That wrap the sons and daughters of Old Nile,
From gilded kings to rough-dressed rank and file,
And turn them into paper!

We're not told in the Egyptian Spectator

What daring speculator

Conceived the notion; but I'd make a bet it grew

Up to the thought from watching Dr. Pettigrew,

At some soiree or conversazione,

'Midst talk of Young, Champollion, or Belzoni,

lOO EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

And such hieroglyphic twaddle,
Unwinding nimbly, swaddle after swaddle,

The wrappings aromatic

Of some aristocratic
Dandy of hundred-gated Thebes or Heliopolis,
Consigned to our mushroom of a metropolis
Per last Peninsula and Oriental packet;
And from the hush of his necropolis —
So deep and drear —
Tumbled ashore 'midst the unholy racket
Of the Southampton pier.

Heaven only knows what acreage of mummyhood

Is resting in its thousand-year-old dummyhood

Under the desert sands;

Nor what miles on miles of linen bands

Are rotting in the bosom of the lands,

Which Mehemet commands.

But these are times when not even mummies

Can longer rest as dummies;

And as the grains of wheat found at their side

Were sown, have grown, and now grow far and wide.

So must old Egypt's gentlemen and ladies,

To the disgust of each old-fashioned ghost,

Give up their cerements to the hand whose trade is

To turn them into foolscap or Bath post,

To fly round all creation.

In tongues of every nation,
Spreading (at least we hope it) useful information."

There is an appearance of irreverence in this, but the history
of Egypt for the previous fifty years and more had not been
conducive to reverence. There was nothing very preposterous
in the notion of such a proposition having been made to the pasha;
he cared less about the mummies and the ancient monuments of
the country than he did for its future development and the
establishment of his authority, and for that he was scarcely to be
blamed. He would, as a man of common sense and a Mo-
hammedan, have refrained from desecrating the depositories of the
dead and making a traffic of the contents, but as a matter of fact
mummy pits were being opened and their contents sold by the
Arabs, and nobody interfered. The remains of ancient monu-

"ABRAHAM PARKER." lOI

ments at Alexandria were used to build the arsenal, and the pasha
very kindly made the English government a present of the second
of Cleopatra's Needles — a gift which was appreciated but could not
be made practically available till about forty years afterwards, that
is to say till quite recently, when the beautiful monument was
brought to this country, and now stands on the Thames Embank-
ment.

The name of Ibrahim Pasha, or of " Abraham Parker," as he
was jocularly called by the populace, was pretty well known in
London when he paid a visit to this country in June, 1846. Songs
were made about him, and there was a good, deal of discussion
about his mode of living, his encouragement of Europeans, his
yacht, his horses, and all his possessions. Directly he landed at
Portsmouth a corporation address reminded him of the facilities
which his father Mohammed Ali had always afforded to this
country for maintaining uninterrupted communication with India.
He was made a good deal of, and when he came to London and
took up his abode at Mivart's hotel he made the usual round of
visits to places of interest, was invited to dine with her majesty,
and also accepted invitations to banquets in his honour by the
East India Company and the Oriental Steam Navigation Company.
The pasha had in fact become remarkably European, and though
it can scarcely be said that he was the sort of man to evoke what
is called good fellowship, and was often rather silent and saturnine
in his look and manner, he had a large fund of sagacity, and was,
of course, a person of very high consideration, since it was almost
certain that he would soon succeed to the viceroyalty. As a matter
of fact his countenance was somewhat forbidding, and his eye,
which like his father's was quick and penetrating, had a look of
suspicion. The story of his cruelties in Greece, too, had not been
quite forgotten, and there were many things Avhich made some
people shy of him. At the same time he was a distinguished
guest, and as he was said to appreciate good living, and had grown
corpulent through self-indulgence and want of exercise since no
fighting had been going on, he was supposed to be ready enough
to be entertained in the true British fashion.

I02 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

It was well known that Ibrahim Pasha did not altogether agree
with his father's methods of government, and that though the old
viceroy admired his son's military genius, and could make allowance
for his passionate temper, he did not consult him much upon affairs
of state. They held different views on many subjects, and it was
believed by the well informed that the opinions of the younger
man were the most enlightened. He had at one time been less
appreciative of European institutions than his father had, but after
the war in Greece and greater opportunities for observation, he
had become convinced that in this respect Mohammed Ali had
not overrated the influence and practical example of England.
Between his father and himself, however, there was no great
sympathy, and they lived in a friendly difference of opinion which
made their intercourse rather less than cordial. But if their regard
was not cordial it was apparently loyal and sincere, and for eight
years after the treaty of 1840 the viceroy continued to push on the
various enterprises which he had taken in hand without much
remonstrance, if not always with the concurrence of Ibrahim.
A life of fierce conflict, restless ambition, and vast responsibilities
had not left the old pasha altogether unscathed; yet such was his
marvellous vitality and great mental activity that he continued
those organizations which made Egypt by far the most civilized
and capable of Mussulman governments, and left to his successors
only the task of reformation and development. It was not till he
was nearly eighty years old that he showed serious signs of failure
or decrepitude, and it was when he had reached his eightieth year
(in 1848) that he succumbed. His active and ever-planning brain
did not outlive his body. His malady was mental, and he fell into
a condition of apparent imbecility, in which he continued for a year
until his death on the 2d of August, 1849.

Ibrahim Pasha was practically no more than prince regent
after the resignation of his father, who survived him. He reigned
for no more than four months, and, therefore, was unable either
to perpetuate or to reform the policy to which he succeeded. The
next heir was Abbas, the son of Toussoon and grandson of
Mohammed Ali. He was invested by the sultan, and did little

GOOD IN THINGS EVIL. IO3

or nothing to continue the policy which had been inaugurated by
his grandfather, who died soon after his accession. He seemed to
have inherited the cunning and the treachery of the old pasha,
but without most of the redeeming qualities which had succeeded
in raising the country to a position of importance. He was at
once a fanatic and a voluptuary, and, though he has been credited
with the discrimination which led him to continue his confidence
in English advisers, the story of his baleful authority is a dark
page in Egyptian history. It must be borne in mind, however,
that the modern history of Egypt has been recorded by those who
were partisans and were influenced by personal or political
motives; and the writer of an Eastern romance might find many
materials in the records of this short and unprofitable episode of
Egyptian history. He made few attempts to develop the
improvements which had been instituted by Mohammed Ali, and
his professed regard for the traditions of Islam were certainly not»
supported by the gross debauchery which characterized his life.
He resorted to the aid of spies and assassins for the maintenance
of his authority, and his cruelty and injustice caused him to fear
that he would fall a victim to the instruments which he himself
employed. His life was one of sensualism, avarice, terror, and
suspicion; and his fears were not unfounded, for he was murdered
by his own slaves after less than six years of tyranny and the
lowest forms of self-indulgence. The next heir to the viceregal
power was Said Pasha, the third son of Mohammed Ali, whose
extravagant expenditure for his personal gratification was combined
with a laudable ambition to complete and extend the improve-
ments which had been commenced by his father.

It should in justice be mentioned that the first line of the
Egyptian railway system was completed by Abbas Pasha, who in
1852 commissioned Mr. Robert Stephenson to construct a single
railway from Alexandria to Cairo in the interest of the rapidly
developing overland traffic. As early as 1834, however, the keen
intelligence of Mohammed Ali had ordered surveys and sections
of a desert line from Cairo to Suez to be made by his engineer,
Mr. Galloway, and the plant and appliances were actually ordered

I04 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

from England; but then, as ever, French jealousy was aroused,
and French influence prevented the scheme from being carried
out. A short steam tramway was subsequently constructed at
Alexandria by Mr. Galloway, who, with his brothers, erected
nearly all the pumping and other machinery required by the pasha
at that time, and continued to do so during the reigns of Abbas
and Said. The line from Alexandria to the capital was afterwards
doubled by Said Pasha, and in 1861 a floating ferry across the
Rosetta branch of the Nile, 65 miles from Alexandria, was
replaced by a fine iron bridge of twelve spans resting on hollow
piles. This cost ^400,000, and was proposed with the direct line
between Cairo and Suez as an alternative for the maritime canal
across the Isthmus of Suez.

The scheme for cutting a canal through the isthmus was,
however, begun in this reign, and among other enterprises a plan
for the preservation of ancient monuments was decided on. As
Said Pasha died in 1863, it would be useless to criticise his policy
in relation to the debt which he contracted. In 1862, the last
year of his reign, the revenue was ;^4,929,ooo, and the expenditure
^4,330,000, with a debt of ^3,292,300, a mere' fleabite when
compared to later developments of the art of raising loans. The
public works and the system of education and general improve-
ment which he inaugurated or continued, could not be carried on
without considerable outlay, and, as the finances of the country
were insufficient under the management of his ministers to provide
for his own expenditure and the immense expenses incurred for
public works, he started on that debt which has ever since been an
accumulating burden.

We have already referred to the subject of slavery and slave-
dealing in Egypt, and we shall have still more to say in a later
page, but it is desirable that this topic should be touched upon
here in order to preserve the consecutive interest of our story, and
also because it has a very marked association with the conditions
which led to British interposition in the affairs of Egypt when the
rebellion of Arabi led to the troubles in Alexandria, and was

KORDOFAN, TAKA, SENNAR, DARFUR. 105

followed by the insurrection to suppress which British troops were
despatched to the Soudan.

It will be remembered that after Mohammed AH had sub-
jugated Nubia, he turned his attention to the districts bordering
the White and the Blue Nile. He had heard accounts of gold
mines, and desired to see whether the reputed wealth could be
realized, though, at the same time, he proposed to introduce
commerce and civilization among the negro tribes, and to find
among them recruits for his army. An armed expedition went up
the Blue Nile as far as Fazokol, which the viceroy himself started
to visit in 1838, and in 1840 and following years three large
expeditions were organized. Comparatively little gold was dis-
covered, but the provinces were brought under the Egyptian
government, the navigation of the White Nile was declared to be
free, military stations were established on both sides, and, as we
have previously noted, a vast number of slaves were taken and
drafted into the ranks of the pasha's army. The result of this
expedition and the subsequent government of the provinces that
had been subjugated was the establishment of Khartum, not
only as the capital of the Soudan, but as the central mart for a
vast slave-trade. The provinces then annexed were Kordofan,
Taka, and Sennar. Kordofan, due west of Sennir, and separated
from it by the White Nile, is a tract of country watered only
by the rains and by wells placed at considerable intervals, its
cultivable area being about 1 2,000 square miles. Further westward,
on the other side of a narrow strip of desert inhabited by the
Hamrin and Boggara Arabs, lies Darfdr, which was not annexed
till 1875, and holds an important part in the history of the
achievements of General Gordon. Darflir is in reality a group of
oases, and is hilly in the southern portion, a ridge called Marrah,
which traverses the province from end to end, being the most
important elevation. The Shilliik country, which was subjected
to Egypt in 1870, is between Southern Kordofan and Sennar, a
strip of moderately fertile territory, about twelve miles wide and
two hundred long, running east and west to the junction of the
Nile with the Sobat and Bahr el Ghazal rivers. West and south

I06 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

of this long ribbon of territory are Darfetit and Donga, the countries
comprised in the province of Bahr el Ghazal; and on the south
and east of this we come to the equatorial provinces, bounded to
the south by Lake Albert Nyanza and the Victoria Nile.

Taka is a small province on the border of Abyssinia, east of
the Atbara river, the stream which Sir Samuel Baker regards as
the fertilizer of the country, and, so to speak, the key of the Nile
inundation; and its capital, Kassala, he describes (in 1861) as a
walled town, surrounded by a ditch and flanking towers, and
containing about 8000 inhabitants, exclusive of the troops stationed
there, and for whom it is a depot. The houses as well as the
walls are of unburnt or sun-dried bricks, those of the houses
smeared with clay and cow-dung, and the walls of the city loop-
holed for musketry and surrounded by a deep fosse. It was built
in 1840, at the time of the annexation by Egypt, and occupies a
good military position in case of war with Abyssinia, as the river
Gash supplies water, and the country around is fertile, the moun-
tainous district in the south and south-east being wild, and
affording a healthy retreat during the rainy season. As a trading
centre, too, Kassala is next in importance to Khartum, the mer-
chandise consisting of ivory, hides, bees'-wax, senna, and gum-
arabic. Sennar, which, as we have noted, was entered in 1820 by
Ismael, the son of Mohammed AH, occupies principally the angle
formed by the White Nile above Khart{im and the Blue Nile or
Bahr el Azrek. The frontier of Sennir begins at Khartum, and
may be said to be bounded east and west by the Atbara and
Abyssinia, west by the White Nile, separating it from Kordofan,
and south by the mountains of Fazokol. It consists chiefly of an
undulating plain, increasing in elevation to the south, and with
forests near the rivers. Near Khartum the soil is sandy, but
mixed with the mud deposits of the Nile, while further south is a
deep bed of argillaceous marl, which is covered with crops during
the autumnal rains, though unproductive in the dry season, the
pastoral tribes moving north with their herds in May and returning
in September. The inhabitants, whose occupation is almost entirely
that of cultivating the land in a very primitive and imperfect fashion,

SENNAR THE STRONGHOLD OF SLAVERY. IO7

are of a low and degraded type; and dress in a fashion similar to
that represented on the tombs of ancient Egypt. They declare that
Egyptian rule has suppressed all habits of industry. The whole
country is thinly peopled, and there are no actual proprietors of the
soil, since anyone can take a piece of open land and cultivate it,
with the drawback that he cannot claim the produce until he has
actually gathered it in; therefore the agricultural importance of the
territory is far less than it might become under another system
of tenure and a more enterprising industry. The chiefs and
principal men of the villages live in indolence, and intoxicate them-
selves with merissa, a kind of beer made from bread or grain
steeped in water and fermented; they also chew a preparation of
tobacco or stramonium, which produces a kind of temporary
insanity. The principal food of the poorer class consists of a kind of
paste made of flour, water, and milk, but the people are omnivorous
in their tastes, and though they often endure hunger without
complaining, will consume large quantities of any kind of flesh
food, including pork and the entrails of camels, sheep, or cattle,
some parts of which, especially the liver and the fat, they devour
raw. Curiously enough, they have among them several clever
practitioners of the art of surgery, who can perform amputations
and some more difficult operations, and they have long been
accustomed to inoculation for small-pox. There are also many
handicrafts among them, including weaving, goldsmith's work, the
art of the currier, and that of the potter, and they are celebrated in
Ethiopia for superior workmanship. They profess to follow the
faith inculcated by the Koran, but have few mosques, and do not
include among their observances either washing or prayer.

Sennar may be said to be an old stronghold of slavery. The
work of the fields is all done by slaves, and abject slavery, either
to a private master or to a despotic ruler, was the actual condition
of the greater part of the population when the province was an
independent state.

But it was in the most western part of the province, watered
by the southern tributaries of the Bahr el Arab and Bahr el
Ghazal — the country known as Darfertit — that some of the earliest

I08 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

settlements of the slave-trade and the ivory trade were to be
found. These settlements v/ere made by small resident traders,
called kalabas, who paid taxes to the native chieftains of the
Kredy tribe, and about the year 1854 trading companies from
Khartum with armed bands of Nubians began to establish slave-
dealing stations over the whole of that country, their headquarters
being the land of the Bongo or Dohr, a large tribe following
agricultural industry, and soon entirely subdued and reduced to
slavery by these gangs, who made the province their chief settle-
ment, because of its being at no great distance from Meshera, tlje
highest navigable point on the Bahr el Ghazal. The smaller
tribes were soon overcome and reduced to slavery, and the traders
then settled stations further towards the south-east. The Denka
tribes on the north-east were protected by their impenetrable
marshes, and the fierce and warlike Niam-Niam nation on the
south-west was able to offer a resistance which the armed gangs
of slave-hunters could not overcome. When in 1870 the Egyptian
government concerned itself with the administration of the pro-
vince, with the avowed intention of suppressing the slave-trade, the
officers and troops sent to effect that object not only abetted the
slave-hunters but became active and energetic traders, and it is
only about six years, ago that, by the active and able exertions
of Gessi, an Italian of great courage and determination, who had
been an interpreter to the British during the Crimean war, and
who served on the staff of Gordon in the Soudan in 1874, the
evils there were remedied and the slave-hunting chiefs suppressed.
Of this portion of the story and its relation to recent events we
shall have to take more particular notice when we come to the
consideration of the condition of the Soudan just before the
intervention of British troops and the expedition of General
Graham, but it is as well to note that the system of slave-hunting
and slave-dealing in the provinces here referred to had reduced
that which had been a thriving population, possessing flocks and
herds and inhabiting a fertile country, to a condition of misery and
starvation. Women and children had been seized and exported in
large numbers, perhaps as many had fled to escape from the

HOW THE COUNTRY IS LAID WASTE. IO9

cruelties of the traders and the horrible desert journey which they
might be forced to endure, that they might be resold at some
distant part of the country. The population was so reduced that
many districts became wholly desolate. The uninhabited wilder-
ness of Darfertit country to the west of Zeriba Zobeir was
described by Dr. Schweinfurth in 1870 as a "sold-out land."

When the slave-traders and their armed forces first arrived at
Bongoland from Khartum they found the country divided into a
number of small districts, each with its own chief, and not consist-
ing of one strong and united community like the Denkas. This
made the subjugation of the people easy, and the traders, after
making them vassals, compelled them to live round the Zeribas or
stations, so that these docile and industrious red-brown men, who
were chiefly employed in cultivating their land, with occasional
excursions for fishing and shooting, but were also skilful workers
in iron, manufacturers of arms, basket-makers, and wood-carvers,
virtually maintained their tyrants. When the Khartiamers first
invaded them they lived in large villages inclosed with palisades,
now these are only to be found in the neighbourhood of the
government stations.

From the time of Mohammed All's expeditions Darfilr was
constantly ready to resist Egyptian aggression, and the country
was practically closed to all Europeans, who were regarded as
spies.

Writing in 1843, Dr. William Holt Yates says: "We have
melancholy proofs that the time has not yet arrived for sending
missionaries or men of science into Central Africa. It is perfectly
well ascertained that the native and Jewish merchants, who are
on distant parts of the coast, do not find it their interest to en-
courage Europeans either to trade with or instruct the negroes;
because they know that as soon as they become enlightened they
will resist the impositions to which they are now compelled to
submit; therefore they try to persuade them that all white men
are their enemies. They have succeeded, alas! too well; and if
the traveller escapes the sevejity of the climate, he seldom eludes
the wrath of the inhabitants. In many parts the white men are

no EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

the source of their calamities, for a considerable traffic in slaves is
carried on by private speculators. The different tribes are also
incited to war, because, instead of destroying the prisoners as
formerly, they have been taught that it is more profitable to sell
them to the slave-dealer. In this way children are suddenly torn
from their parents, and parents are separated from their families,
manacled, and carried off into Egypt; many do not survive the
journey. Several caravans arrive at Cairo every year; their
principal halting-places are Essouan and Ghdneh for those who
come from Abyssinia, and D'Girgeh for those who are natives of
Darffir; they are driven across the desert linked together by the
neck, and arriving at the Nile are then forwarded by water. I
have passed many such cargoes, men, women, and children
perfectly naked, emaciated and disconsolate, all huddled up
together like pigs or sheep, and swarming with vermin. Some-
times they change hands en rotite, the various dealers bartering
with one another, and each putting his mark upon his stock with a
hot iron, that in the event of one being missed he may swear to
him before the cadi. The Wakaleh or Khan which constitutes
the slave-market at Cairo is a filthy, wretched court, surrounded
by arched vaults or dungeons, having an upper floor for the females,
of which I generally saw a good supply. Any person is at liberty
to inspect them just as he would cattle; they invariably look ill,
and, except when a purchaser draws near, dejected, for they are
compelled by their master on such occasions to smile and appear
happy, that they may fetch a good price. . . I saw there a great
number of slaves from all parts, of both sexes and various ages,
squatting in groups upon a piece of ragged mat or on the bare
earth. The women were naked to the loins, around which was
bound the "raht" or apron made of strips of untanned buffalos'
hide ornamented with shells; their bodies were thickly anointed
with grease, and some of them wore glass beads and brass rings
or armlets. The Abyssinians are much better looking than any of
the rest, their features are more regular and spirituelle. I saw
one very beautiful girl who was to be sold for sixty dollars (about
;^I5), and many others who were well-formed and wanting neither

THE CHANGELESS EVIL. Ill

intelligence nor expression; they were modest and well-behaved,
and rejoiced that their toils were nearly at an end; for when sold
they are better provided for, fed, and clothed, and for the most part
well treated."

It was not, however, the traffic in slaves made prisoners of war
that stocked the market. The Garzoua or negro-hunting; the
raids made upon native villages by the scoundrels, who were often
pashas or slave-hunting chiefs of rank and wealth, were the curse
of the country.

It is significant, having read the remarks of a traveller who
spoke of the slave-trade above forty years ago, to note what Victor
Giraud, the French explorer, said the other day before the French
Geographical Society. After having undergone innumerable
sufferings at the hands of African despots, M. Giraud, introduced
by M. de Lesseps to an audience at the Salle de Sorbonne, gave
an account of his journeys in the lake district of Central Africa,
and speaking of the natives, said : —

" I was deeply impressed with the extreme misery in which they
live, a misery resulting from their indolence and the sterility of the
soil. . . . Another remarkable fact is the growing depopulation
of these countries; they are in a continual state of war, famine, and
slave-trade. There are on an average less than a hundred male
inhabitants to every twenty-five square kilometres. It would be
vain to think of aiding the native in the cultivation of the soil; he
is in no want; what does he care for our civilization? Nor would
it be of any use to think of cultivating these districts, the vegeta-
tion being poor and the mines unpromising; ivory will always be
dear on account of the transport, and commerce will always be in
the hands of Arabs and half-caste Portuguese; in order to render
it productive, the slave-trade must first be suppressed."

No doubt. The question, however, is, how is it to be done?
and in the present condition of affairs there appears to be no
other means than a permanent establishment of military stations
throughout the Soudan, and an occupation, the cost of which would
be so great as to be beyond the present resources of the Egyptian
government, while the question of European occupation is one

112 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

beset with difficulties which need not be discussed here. It may
be mentioned with some emphasis, however, that there are many
who, by long experience of the country, by close observation, and
by deep reflection, are persuaded that the slave-trade of the
Soudan will not be abolished by military occupation or by armed
retribution, — that the system and practice of slavery is so deeply
ingrained in the very constitution of the country, where it 'has
existed from time immemorial, that only the slower but more
certain and complete influences of advancing civilization, and' the
irresistible changes brought about through the commercial and
social invasion of the country by enlightened and honourable
representatives of European enterprise, will effect the radical
change by which the curse of the land will be removed, and
its agricultural and productive wealth be restored and enormously
increased.

We have already gone beyond the date to which we had come
in pursuing the consecutive story of " the burden of Egypt." Said
Pash? lived only till 1863, and his nephew, Ismail Pasha, the
second son of Ibrahim, succeeded to the viceroyalty. Of him
and his character and ability we shall see an outline presently, but
for a moment we may remark that he spared no possible effort and
no expense to suppress the slave traffic, and that though he suc-
ceeded while the efforts were being made by men unsurpassed for
integrity, courage, and determination — Sir Samuel Baker and the
heroic and lamented Gordon — the slave-dealers, who were often
powerful chiefs and rulers, could only be kept down by constant
pressure and repeated chastisement, and directly the armed forces
occupying the stations were removed the traffic was resumed.
The story of Darf(ir, which is associated with that of Zobeir,
Sebehr, or Zebehr Rahama, — a name which has occurred pretty
frequently in relation to General Gordon and to the course of
events in the Soudan — will illustrate the difficulties that met
attempts to suppress the powerful and ruffianly chiefs of the
slave depots.

Darfflr had never been under the government of Egypt, but

ZEBEHR, CHARM AND COUNTER-CHARM. 1 I 3

had been ruled by its own sultans in regular succession for 400
years. The inhabitants were not of the true negro type, — the
army of fighting men was niostly composed of Arabs of the
wandering tribes, who paid tribute to the Sultan of Darflir. The
country was famous not only as a centre of commerce but as a
great slave depot. " Je vous prie de m'envoyer par le premiere
caravane 2000 esclaves noirs ayant plus de 16 ans, forts et
vigoreux," wrote Bonaparte to the Sultan of Darfdr, Abd el
Rahman, surnamed "the Just;" — "je les achdterai pour mon
compte. Ordonnez notre caravane de venir de suite, de nes pas
s'arr^ter en route : je donne les ordres pour qu'elle soit protegee
partout." Darf^ir was practically closed to Europeans, who were
regarded as spies, but for ages caravans conveying slaves, ivory,
feathers, and gum went from Darftir to Egypt, where the merchan-
dise was exchanged for cloth, beads, and firearms.

In 1869 the slave-dealers in the Bahr el Ghazal had attained to
such power that they refused to pay their rentals to the Egyptian
government. One of the foremost of those was Zobeir or Zebehr
Rahama, the individual already mentioned, who lived in princely
style, and was a person in high authority. As it was impossible
for the ruler of Egypt to submit to the insolence of the slave-
making chiefs, he sent a small armed force to bring them to
submission, and also to subjugate Darfur. This expedition, which
was under the command of Belial, found itself opposed by Zebehr,
who was a kind of king surrounded with a court little less than
princely in its details. Here special rooms, provided with carpeted
divans, were reserved as ante-chambers, and into these all visitors
were conducted by richly dressed slaves. The royal aspect of
these halls was increased by the introduction of living lions, secured
of course by strong chains. The exquisite Zebehr Rahama was a
slave-hunting ruffian, but this was his style. His ambition was
great, his wealth enormous. Among other stories told of him it
was affirmed that, as he superstitiously believed in the power of one
of his enemies to withstand leaden bullets by the aid of magic, he
had 25,000 dollars melted down into bullets, as the charm possessed
by the foe did not extend to protection against silver. This

VOL. I. 8

114 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

Story, at all events, proves that the superstition of the silver bullet
is almost universal wherever firearms are used. Zebehr owned
about thirty stations, and these fortified posts were carried into the
heart of Africa, and in the district extending widely between these
stations, and round each of them far and wide, he exercised despotic
rule. He it was who went forth to meet the few companies of
soldiers sent from Egypt to the Bahr el Ghazal. There was a
sharp engagement, which ended in the defeat of the Egyptian
force and the death of their commander, Zebehr himself being
wounded in the ankle. Meanwhile the Sultan of Darfur, expecting
to be attacked by the Egyptian troops, had placed an embargo on
corn along his southern frontier, which had the effect not only of
distressing the enemy but of depriving the slave-traders of their
supplies, a condition which was at once resented by Zebehr, who
was strong enough to attack Darfur, and commenced hostilities.
This was alarming. Ismail Pasha feared that should Darfur fall
into the power of this chief the whole of the Soudan would revolt
from the Egyptian government. He therefore determined to
make the slave-hunter an ally, and sent a force into Darfur from
the north to support the slave-dealers who were advancing from
the south. Zebehr received the rank and title of Bey, the Sultan
of Darfur and his two sons were slain, a young man named Haroun
succeeded to the government, and Darfur was subjugated; but the
victors were soon in the heat of a quarrel over the spoils. Zebehr
was not satisfied with his title. He said that as he and his men
had done all the fighting he ought to be governor-general of the
province. He became so powerful and dangerous that his audacity
was one of the great incentives to Ismail Pasha to suppress the
slave-trade which threatened his supremacy. The very soldiers of
this usurper were bands of armed slaves, smart dapper-looking
fellows like antelopes, fierce, unsparing, the terror of Central
Africa, having strongly fortified camps, a prestige far beyond
that of the government, and ready to make their chief inde-
pendent of Egyptian rule. Eventually Zebehr, in an evil hour
for himself, but in a most happy one for the lands that he had
wasted, went down to Cairo to assert his own claim, taking with

ABYSSINIA AND EGYPT. I I 5

him ^100,000 to use for bribing the pashas. At Cairo, however,
he was detained, without receiving the appointment and the title
which he coveted, and until he had seen two successive governors
appointed, — Sir Samuel Baker and General Gordon. He was in fact
a prisoner of state unable to leave the city, and in his rage incited
his son Suleiman, who had taken his place, to break out into a
formidable revolt, which after a time was crushed by Gessi, Colonel
Gordon's energetic and able lieutenant.

" Dar For and Dar Fertit mean the land of the Fors and the
land of the Fertits," wrote Gordon. " The Fors and the Fertits
were the original negro inhabitants; then came in the Beduin
tribes, who partially conquered the country, and made the Fors
Mussulmans, giving them a sultan. The Fors and the Beduin
tribes, the one stationary and the other nomadic, live in peace, for
their habits are different."

The brief glance which we have taken of the great slave-
trading territories will be of service in following intelligently the
course of the narrative of the relations of Egypt and the Soudan,
though we shall presently have to continue the reference by men-
tioning some other provinces which have been recently annexed
to Egypt through the action taken by Gordon after he was
appointed governor-general.

We should here, however, mention the relations between Egypt
and Abyssinia, which also have an important bearing upon the same
subject.

This is not the place to recount the story of the expedition
sent in 1867 from England to Abyssinia against the self-styled
" Theodorus, King of Kings," whose real name was Dejajmatch
Kasai. The name of this wild and unexplored country had been
familiar to us because of the records of explorers from Bruce down-
ward. We knew that, bounded by the Red Sea, Nubia, and
Senndr, it spread out on the south and south-west into unknown
tracts inhabited, where they were inhabited at all, by the Gallas,
the Shoans, the Wanikas, and other warlike and half savage tribes.
We had learned that the whole country formed a great irregular
table-land projecting from the high regions south of the line into

I 1 6 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

comparatively level plains bounding the basin of the Nile, and
forming a succession of undulating tracts of various altitudes, deeply
cut into by narrow valleys and water channels, which often descend
3000 or 4000 feet below the level of the plains. The population
consisted, we were told, of three races ; one of them like the Beduin
Arabs, another of them resembling the Ethiopians, and a third,
comprising the tribes of the south and south-west, quite distinct
from the rest, as they are also distinct from the negroes, who are
held there as slaves, brought from the countries of the south and
west. The majority of the Abyssinians professed the Christian
religion in a strangely corrupt form, partaking of a mixture of
ceremonies, with hosts of saints and objects of veneration, several
sacred places, numerous fasts, and the observance of both the
Christian and the Jewish Sabbath. In 1850 the few missionaries
and other Europeans who were engaged in visiting Abyssinia
reported that a great movement was taking place there by means of
the conquests made by Theodorus or Kasai, who claimed to be a
direct descendant of King Solomon. A succession of victories over
the Gallas tribes, the Shoans, and the men of Tigre, so raised the
ambition of this fierce and savage ruler that he claimed an alliance
with England and France, and demanded an acknowledgment of
his dignity from Queen Victoria, and the establishment of an
amicable treaty between himself and this country. The execution
of this treaty he urged by alternate persuasions, favours, and furious
threats addressed to the few Europeans who were in his territory,
and therefore liable to his animosity.

He had assumed the title of " Theodorus, King of Ethiopia,"
because of an alleged ancient prophecy which said that a king of
that name would reform Abyssinia, restore the Christian faith, and
become master of the world; and he appeared to have a great desire
to retain the services of Englishmen. In i860 Mr. Plowden, who
had been British consul in Abyssinia since 1848, went on a journey
to Massowa, and while on his way was attacked near Gondar by
a band of rebels, and received a wound of which he died. King
Theodore, who had a great regard for him, took signal vengeance
on his murderers. In 1861 Captain Cameron was appointed

OUR RELATIONS WITH ABYSSINIA. I I 7

consul. Theodore then addressed a letter to the queen, declaring^
that his mission was to overthrow the Gallas and the Turks, and
to restore the whole country with himself as emperor. He also
requested that arrangements might be made for the safe-conduct
of his ambassadors, that they might not be molested by the Turks,
who were his enemies. This was, of course, no less than an en-
deavour to obtain a material alliance with England against the
Islams. The letter was forwarded to England by Mr. Cameron,
who immediately afterwards went on to the frontier province of
Bogos, where, as the Christian inhabitants were under his protec-
tion as British consul, he conceived that he had a right to go,
and he also had been commissioned by the foreign office to report
on the suitability of Massowa as a consulate station, and to report
on the conditions of trade there.

The time chosen was injudicious, as our government desired
to avoid any appearance of interfering with the fierce disputes of
the native tribes living on the frontier of Egypt and Abyssinia;
and as by some oversight the letter sent to England by Theo-
dorus had been left at the foreign office, and no notice was taken
of it, the savage king chose to assume that the consul had an-
other motive, and said, " He went to the Turks, who do not love
me." In revenge he made Mr. Cameron prisoner, and at the
same time seized all the Europeans who could be found in Abys-
sinia, including missionaries, artisans, and workmen, with their
families. They underwent alternate kindness and horrible severity,
were shut up in wretched huts or stone buildings, were frequently
placed in irons and half-starved, and were subjected to the furious
abuse and threats of the king, who appeared to suffer from insanity
aggravated by frequent bouts of intoxication. After every possible
expedient had been tried, and various attempts at intercession had
been found fruitless, it was determined to send a force against the
barbarous chieftain; and, as we all know, this resulted in the
destruction of his stronghold at Magdala, and his death by his own
hand after he had sustained a complete defeat.

In consequence of the assistance rendered to the Prophet
Mohammed by one of the kings of Abyssinia he restrained his

I 1 8 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

immediate followers from attempting the subjugation of Abyssinian
territory. This was for long afterwards regarded by many of the
Arabs as a prohibition extending to the faithful, and it is asserted
that the reluctance of the soldiers on the Egyptian frontier to
prosecute hostilities against Abyssinia, will account for the country
having so long remained uninvaded. Zula, Suakim, and Massowa
were seized by the Turks, the first in the sixteenth century, the
others in later times, but their occupants have neither advanced
into the Abyssinian hills nor occupied the coast country between
Massowa and Suakim.

In 1866 Egypt obtained Massowa from Turkey in exchange
for an increased tribute, and in 1867 claimed authority as far as
Zula, which is in Annesley Bay. In 1868 the assistance offered
to England by the Egyptian government during the expedition to
Abyssinia was understood to be for the purpose of securing the
concurrence of this country in the encroachments that might be
made on the coast of the Red Sea. Ismail Pasha could not be
satisfied till he claimed Bogos, which he pretended had been
conquered by Mohammed Ali. The Abyssinians denied that
they had ever relinquished their rights in the territory, only the
borderland of which had been occupied by the Egyptians. In
fact, a border war had been maintained until Said Pasha withdrew,
after which Bogos had remained neutral. During the war of the
King of Abyssinia with the Gallas in 1874, however, the Egyptian
government employed a Swiss named Munziger, who acted as
consul for England and France in Massowa, to occupy Keren,
the capital of Bogos, with a small force, and at the same time the
governor of Ailat, the province lying between Hamasin and
Massowa, actually sold that territory to Egypt, while in the
following year the port of Zeila and the nominal rights of the
sultan to the coast land from a point near Tajureh to one on the
Indian Ocean, including Berbereh, were also acquired by Egypt in
consideration of ;^i 5,000 a-year additional tribute.

The story of African exploration, and of the journeys of the
intrepid travellers who devoted themselves to the discovery of the

EXPLORATION OF THE NILE. I 1 9

sources of the Nile, is intensely interesting, but even the main
narrative would fill a volume of large dimensions. It only comes
within the present purpose to note that the results of this explora-
tion will be closely associated with the development and future
government of the Soudan. According to quite recent represen-
tations, the solution of the difficulties which attend the settlement
of a regular government in the provinces claimed by Egypt, and
the extinction of that slave-traffic which prevents the resources of
the country from being cultivated, will ultimately depend on the
relation of the latest discoveries made by explorers on the Congo
to those which have been accomplished on the Nile.

Bruce had followed the Blue Nile to its source in the mountains
of Abyssinia, but the White Nile remained for nearly three-quarters
of a century unexplored, till in 1858 Captains Speke and Grant,
commissioned by the English government to organize an expedition,
discovered the Lake Victoria Nyanza, and in 1861 Sir Samuel
Baker, going on a journey on his own account in the hope of
meeting with the famous travellers and making further explorations,
successfully accomplished both objects, and in 1864 discovered the
Albert Nyanza.

These two vast lakes, the investigators concluded, were of
sufficient volume to support the Nile through its entire course of
thirty degrees of latitude, the parent stream fed by never-failing
reservoirs, supplied by the ten months' rainfall of the equator,
rolling steadily on its way through arid sands and burning deserts
till it reaches the Delta of Lower Egypt.

Sir Samuel . Baker, having explored all the tributaries of the
Nile, however, claims to have discovered that, though the lake
sources of Central Africa support the life of Egypt by supplying
a stream throughout all seasons with sufficient volume to support
the exhaustion of evaporation and absorption, that stream if unaided
could not overflow its banks, and Egypt would thus be deprived
of the annual inundation, cultivation being confined to the close
vicinity of the river. He says that the inundations are caused
chiefly by the two grand affluents of Abyssinia, the Blue Nile and
the Atbara, streams of extreme grandeur during the period of the

I20 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

Abyssinian rains, from the middle of June to September, but
reduced to insignificance during the dry months; the Blue Nile
being then so shallow as to be unnavigable, and the Atbara
perfectly dry. At that season the water supply of Abyssinia having
ceased, Egypt depends solely upon the equatorial lakes and the
affluents of the White Nile until the rainy season shall again have
flooded the two great Abyssinian arteries. This flood occurs
suddenly about the 20th of June, and the grand rush of water
pouring down the Blue Nile and the Atbara into the parent
channel inundates Lower Egypt, and is the cause of its extreme
fertility. Not only is the inundation the effect of the Abyssinian
rains, but the deposit of mud that has formed the Delta, and which
is annually precipitated by the rising waters, is also due to the
Abyssinian streams, more especially to the river Atbara, which,
known as the Bahr el Aswat or Black River, carries a larger
proportion of soil than any other tributary of the Nile. Sir Samuel
Baker sums up his conclusions by stating that the equatorial lakes
feed Egypt, but the Abyssinian rivers cause the inundation.

It was in 1864 that Baker witnessed the melancholy condition
of the countries of the Soudan, which was then under the governor-
ship of a certain Mfisa Pasha. The provinces were utterly ruined,
governed only by military force, the expenditure exceeding the
revenue, the country paralysed by the oppressive taxation, and
communication with the outer world difficult because of the deserts
by which the lands were surrounded. These countries, he declared,
were so worthless that their annexation could only be accounted
for by the profits derived from the slave-trade. Yet Said Pasha
had made a tour through these provinces in 1857, had proclaimed
the abolition of slavery at Berber and at Khartiim, had organized
a new government for the five provinces which were then com-
prised in the Soudan, namely, Kordofan, Sennir, Taka, Berber,
and Dongola. The taxes on the lands and water-wheels were to
be greatly reduced, and a postal system by means of dromedaries
was organized to cross the desert. But three years afterwards
the European traders sold their stations to their Arab agents, who
paid the rental demanded by the Egyptian government, and the

ATROCITIES OF THE SLAVE-TRADERS. 121

country fell into worse ruin and disorder than that under which it
had previously suffered.

At the time that Sir Samuel Baker returned from his explora-
tion Ismail Pasha had been two years on the throne. While
desiring to extend his territories, he also declared his determination
to suppress the slave-trade, and had not only issued orders, but
had begun by establishing an Egyptian camp of looo men at
Fashoda in the Shilluk country. The method of operations adopted
by the slave-traders has already been mentioned, and they soon
utterly ruined the country. It was only a few years since the time
(1853) that Mr. John Petherick, the English consul for the Soudan,
started on the first trading voyage to the upper waters of the
White Nile. Other traders had followed, tempted by the large
quantities of ivory which could be obtained ; and far in the country
of Bahr el Ghazal (or " Bahr Gazelle") these traders established
fortified posts, held by bands of armed men commanded by A rabs.
The cursed lust of gain soon caused some to set the evil example
of following a more profitable trade. Slaves paid better than
ivory, and there were numerous villages where slaves were to be
had for the hunting, while, even if they tried to defend themselves,
they would almost certainly be defeated by the superior weapons
of their assailants, and prisoners of war would become merchandise.
This was what led to the Europeans selling their stations to the
Arab agents. The scandal had become so great that they dared
not persevere in the nefarious traffic, and so got all they could from
their successors, who were quite ready to continue it with a reck-
less ferocity that more than half depopulated the country, and left
provinces that had once been fertile and beautiful mere desert
scenes of ruin and decay. Twenty years ago Captain Speke,
writing of "those ruffian traders on the White Nile," said, "The
atrocities committed by these traders are beyond civilized belief
They are constantly fighting, robbing, and capturing slaves and
cattle. No honest man can either trade or travel in the country;
for the natives have been bullied to such an extent that they either
fight or run away according to their strength or circumstances."

Dr. Schweinfurth, who spent three years with the slave-hunters.

122 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

says, " There are traces still existing which demonstrate large
villages and extensive plots of cultivated land formerly occupied
the scene where now all is desolation." Sir Samuel Baker declared
that the wasting and depopulation of the country was caused by
razzias made for slaves by the governors of Fashoda, the chief
station of the Shilluk country. In 1864 he had first seen the
Victoria Nile. In 1872 he revisited it and wrote: "It is impossible
to describe the change that has taken place since I last visited this
country. It was then a perfect garden, thickly populated and pro-
ducing all that man could desire. The villages were numerous;
groves of plantations fringed the steep cliffs on the river's bank;
and the natives were neatly dressed in the bark cloth of the
country. The scene has changed! All is wilderness! The popu-
lation has fled! Not a village is to be seen! This is the certain
result of the settlement of Khartum traders; they kidnap the
women and children for slaves, and plunder and destroy wherever
they set their foot."

That Ismail Pasha should have desired to extend his territory,
and to recover from the blight and ruin that had fallen on them
lands exuberantly fertile by nature, is not to be wondered at; but,
unhappily, while his motives were called in question, the means
for accomplishing his desires could only be obtained by borrowing
largely. People who suspected him, and believed that they had
reason to doubt both his integrity and his ability, seemed to have
a good argument in his notorious extravagance and the increasing
embarrassment of the financial affairs of the government. Apart
from this, however, there can be no doubt that he renewed those
efibrts for the development and national prosperity of Egypt which
had been initiated by Mohammed Ali, but had almost sunk into
abeyance under Abbas Pasha, and were prevented from reviving
under Said Pasha, because he was a less imperial borrower than
Ismail, and did not contrive (perhaps did not dare) to obtain the
almost boundless credit which ended in the bankruptcy of the
exchequer and the deposition of the sovereign.

It must be admitted, however, that the efforts made by Ismail
to suppress the slave-trade, which he had always been denouncing,

SIR SAMUEL BAKERS EXPEDITION. 1 23

restored civilization and comparative prosperity to a considerable
territory. The addition to his dominions was such that the Egyptian
settlements on the Nile, which had extended only to about 120
miles south of Khartum, had increased till, in 1880, fortified posts
were found between the Lakes Albert and Victoria Nyanza, little
more than two degrees north of the equator. And the line of con-
quest had not followed the course of the Nile only. By the sub-
jugation of Darfur the Egyptian border came within less than
fifteen days' march of Lake Tchad, while in the east, lands had
been annexed which were washed by the lower part of the Red
Sea and the Gulf of Aden.^

The scheme proposed by Ismail Pasha was wide and effective,
and if it could have been permanently accomplished would have
raised Egypt to a position of wealth and influence which she has
never yet achieved. The annexation of the Nile basin, the
opening of the equatorial lakes to steam-vessels, and the establish-
ment of commerce, supported by an able and efficient government,
were the objects which he professed to have in view, and his
sincerity was evinced by his determination not to intrust this
momentous enterprise to any of his Egyptian officers, but to give
large and almost irresponsible authority to an Englishman. At
that time the authority of Elgypt in the Darfertit country was
little more than nominal, and in Donga it exercised power only
along the river valley to Gondokoro. To Sir Samuel Baker,
therefore, a firman was issued in April, 1869, giving him absolute
power over all the country south of Gondokoro, that he might
extend the annexations as far as the equator, and entirely suppress
slave-hunting and the slave-trafific in this its very centre.

As Sir Samuel Baker remarked, the employment of an
European to overthrow the slave-trade in deference to the opinion
of the civilized world, was a direct challenge and attack upon the
assumed rights and necessities of his own subjects. The magni-
tude of the operation could not be understood by the general
public in Europe. Every household in Upper Egypt and in the
Delta was dependent upon slave service; the fields in the Soudan

' Colonel Gordon in Central Africa. Preliminary sketch by the editor, G. Birkbeck Hill, D.C.L.

124 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

were cultivated by slaves; the women in the harems of both rich
and middle-class were attended by sldves; the poorer Arab
woman's ambition was to possess a slave; in fact, Egyptian society
without slaves would be like a carriage devoid of wheels — it could
not proceed.

The slaves were generally well treated by their owners; the
brutality lay in their capture, with the attendant lawlessness and
murders: but that was far away, and the slave proprietors of
Egypt had not witnessed the miseries of the weary marches of
the distant caravans. It was obvious that an attack upon the
slave-dealing and slave-hunting establishments of Egypt by a
foreigner — an Englishman — would be equal to a raid upon a
hornets' nest, that all efforts to suppress the old established traffic
in negro slaves would be encountered with a determined opposition.
Had the enterprise been placed under the command of a native
officer, it is almost certain that he would have become demoralized
by the facilities with which money could have been made, and
would have either secretly started or openly joined in the traffic.
At one of the stations where Sir Samuel Baker sent for the agent
commanding the company, to explain to him that he would not
be permitted to send cargoes of slaves down to Khartum, the
fellow was incredulous that the orders for the suppression of the
slave-trade would be enforced against his employer, who had been
placed in command of a government expedition by the governor-
general of the Soudan, though he was known to be one of the
principal slave-traders of the White Nile. So utterly incorrigible
were the people with regard to this traffic, that Sir Samuel
Baker with his followers and his armed force had only been at
this station one day when one of his sailors deserted to the slave-
hunters, and the colonel, Raouf Bey, reported that several officers
and soldiers had actually purchased slaves from the station — so
that the troops who were employed under Baker's command to
suppress the traffic would quickly have converted the expedition
into a slave-market. Another suggestive incident, recorded on
the same day, was the attempted desertion and recapture of one
of the black soldiers, a fine young fellow, a native of Pongo,

HORRORS OF SLAVE-HUNTING. I 25

who had been taken as a slave and had become a soldier against
his will.

The condition of Central Africa and the White Nile at the
time when Sir Samuel Baker organized his expedition was such
that only a very powerful and long-continued effort could have
remedied it, and that effort has never yet been maintained. A
large and almost boundless extent of country-' of great fertility,
with a healthy climate favourable for the settlement of Europeans,
with a mean altitude of 40CX) feet above the sea level, and well
peopled by a race who only required the protection of a strong but
paternal government to become of considerable importance, and
to eventually develop the great resources of the soil, had been
made desolate, and the slave-trade prospered to the detriment of
all improvement. The slave-hunters and traders who had caused
this desolation were for the most part Arabs, subjects of the
Egyptian government, who had deserted their agricultural occu-
pations in the Soudan, and had formed companies of brigands in
the pay of various merchants at Khartlam, and frequently officered
by soldiers who had deserted from their regiments. It was
supposed that about 15,000 persons, who should have been
working at honest callings in Egypt, were engaged in the so-
called ivory trade and slave-hunting of the White Nile. An
individual trader, named Agad, assumed the right over nearly
ninety thousand square miles of territory. It was impossible to
calculate the number of slaves taken annually from Central Africa,
but Sir Samuel Baker concluded that at least fifty thousand were
either captured and held in the various zarebas or camps, or were
sent via the White Nile and the various routes overland, bj'
Darfur and Kordofan. Of course the people of the country were
suspicious and hostile to all strangers, and the evil did not stop
there. The armed scoundrels who held such an extensive territory
in subjection fomented hostilities between the tribes, and made
alliances with some to help them to destroy their neighbours, to
carry off their wives and children, and vast herds of sheep and
cattle. Those natives who had not fled from their homes to
distant districts often remained only to join their aggressors in

126 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

ruining and enslaving other tribes. The result was a condition
of savagery without government, laws, or security, and it was to
change this that authority was given to Sir Samuel Baker for
five years, in which it was hoped he would be able to subdue to
the Egyptian government the countries to the south of Gondokoro,
to suppress the slave-trade, to introduce a system of regular
commerce, to open to navigation the great lakes of the equator,
and to establish a chain of military stations and commercial depots,
distant at intervals of three days' march, throughout Central Africa,
accepting Gondokoro as the base of operations. The expedition,
which consisted of a strong armed force, and engineers, con-
structors, labourers, and various officers, was not regarded favour-
ably by the officials at Cairo, nor did the authorities here give it
any countenance. In fact, the appointment of Sir Samuel Baker
as the sole and supreme governor of the territories to be controlled,
was looked upon with some foreboding of possible political troubles,
and consequently a note was despatched from the foreign office
to the consul-general of Egypt, stating that British subjects
belonging to Sir Samuel Baker's expedition must not expect the
support of their government in the event of complications. Sir
Samuel Baker says : " The enterprise was generally regarded as
chimerical in Europe, with hostility in Egypt, but with sympathy
in America." ^

The English "governor-general of the equatorial Nile basin"
set to work with immense energy, and determined to overcome
difficulties which had always seemed to be insuperable. One of
the chief of these was the obstruction of the White Nile by
enormous masses of vegetation, which prevented navigation and
actually closed the river.

At Gondokoro he had caused to be specially constructed a steel
steamer of io8 tons, and had left ready packed for land transport
another steel steamer of 38 tons and two steel life-boats, each of
10 tons, for conveyance to the Albert Nyanza, while at Khartum
he had left in sections a steamer of 25 i tons. All these vessels
had been brought from England, and conveyed with incredible

' Jsmailia, by Sir Samuel W. Baker Pacha.

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EXTENSIVE PREPARATIONS. I 27

trouble upon camels across the deserts to Khartum. Besides
these there were steam saw-mills, a large quantity of tools and
machinery, a great store of merchandise for the purpose of
establishing trade, and calico, handkerchiefs, common jewelry, and
innumerable articles intended for presents to the native chiefs and
kings, besides stores, clothing, and provisions for the expedition,
which would be for three or four years out of reach of any certain
means of obtaining many of the necessaries of life. Six steamers,
varying from 40 to 80 horse-power, were ordered to leave Cairo
in June, together with fifteen sloops and fifteen diahbeeahs or
travelling boats, in all thirty-six vessels, to ascend the cataracts of
the Nile to Khartum, a distance by river of about 1450 miles.
These vessels were to convey the whole of the merchandise.
Twenty-five vessels and three steamers were ordered to be in
readiness at Khartum, where the governor-general, Djiaffer Pasha,
was to provide them by a certain date, together with the camels
and horses necessary for the land transport When the fleet
should arrive at Khartum from Cairo, the total force was to be
nine steamers and fifty-five sailing vessels of about fifty tons each.
The artillery (rifled mountain guns for throwing shells), a supply
of rockets, and fifty Snider rifles with 50,000 rounds of ammunition,
had come from England, and a large portion of the stores, the
clothing, and all the medicines and drugs, had also been selected
and ordered in England by Sir Samuel Baker himself, who, in
fact, was indefatigable in making all the arrangements. For the
transport of the heavy machinery across the desert he employed
gun-carriages drawn by two camels each; the two sections of
steamers and of life-boats were slung upon long poles of fir from
Trieste, arranged between two camels in the manner of shafts, and
these poles were afterwards used at headquarters as rafters for
buildings. The military force comprised 1645 troops, including
a corps of 200 irregular cavalry and two batteries of artillery. The
infantry were two regiments, supposed to be well selected, the
black or Soudan regiment, including many officers and men
who had served for some years in Mexico with the French army
under Marshal Bazaine; the Egyptian regiment turned out to be

128 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

for the most part convicted felons, who had been transported for
various crimes from Egypt to the Soudan. It will thus be seen
that the expedition was of a very important character, and it might
have had more permanently effectual results but for the opposition
of the Egyptian officials almost without exception. That opposition
had one weapon which in Egypt is always a powerful and frequently
a fatal one — delay. In a country where deserts have to be
traversed, and where the great highway is a river unnavigable
for vessels of any size, except at one period of the year, there is no
difficulty in postponing, or in other words preventing, such an
undertaking, if the preparations or provisions for it are left to
persons interested in defeating it.

Baker brought up the rear by another route by way of Suakim
on the Red Sea, from which the desert journey to Berber on
the Nile is 275 statute miles, and thence to Khartum by river
200 miles. Khartum, then a forlorn, muddy, and malodorous
town, had been deserted by half the inhabitants, and the surrounding
country was abandoned, the once verdant and cultivated banks of
the river had been suffered to remain untended and had become
mere wilderness, irrigation had ceased, the villages were silent, and
the population gone. They had fled from oppressive taxation, and
numbers of them had taken to the slave-trade on the White Nile;
had escaped from the hated tyranny of the tax collector to become
abettors of the more atrocious tyrants who seized not only upon
all the possessions of their victims, but upon their women and
children. This desolation was caused by the governor-general of
the Soudan, who considered it to be his business only to collect
and to increase the taxes. In one year he had sent to his master
^100,000 wrung from the peasantry, and as probably as much
more was taken by the collectors in the shape of private extortion,
there was nothing left to the toiler but flight or starvation. A
strange condition of things, in which the money required for the
purpose of suppressing slavery in the equatorial Nile basin was
obtained by means which either reduced the peasantry of the
Soudan themselves to a vassalage little better than, and as far as
personal well-being was concerned, inferior to, that of the slaves in

THE WEAPON OF DELAY. 1 29

Egypt, or as an alternative incited the over-burdened wretches
to abandon their villages and join the ranks of the slave-hunters,
for whose suppression a costly expedition had been ordered and
additional taxes imposed. This, at all events, is one view of the
situation; but it should not be forgotten that the suppression of
these hordes of scoundrels, who had half-depopulated and ruined
vast and fertile territories, was a righteous and even an absolutely
necessary work, which would have been well worth the sacrifice
of luxury and extravagant self-indulgence, and also that the people
around Khartum and their rulers were always accustomed to
regard the traffic in slaves as a profitable commercial undertaking
offering a tempting alternative to legitimate and productive labour.
But there were endless complications. At the very time that the
governor of Khartum had neglected to prepare vessels for
the transport of troops for this expedition, he had been busily
engaged in procuring a squadron of eleven vessels for an expedition
to the Bahr Ghazal, where it was intended to form a settlement
at the copper mines on the frontier of Darftar, and this government
expedition had, as we have seen in a previous page, been intrusted
to the command of one of the most notorious slave-hunters in the
country.

Many things contributed to the delay of Sir Samuel Baker's
enterprise. The vessels and the sailing flotilla from Cairo should
have started early in June to ascend the cataracts at Wady Haifa
at the time of high Nile; but Ismail Pasha was on a visit to
Europe, and did not return till the end of August. Again, there
were the preparations for celebrating the inauguration of the Suez
Canal by magnificent festivities, to which many distinguished
visitors had been invited, so that every available vessel was
required for the occasion. In addition to these causes of pro-
crastination, however, there was the bitter hatred of the officials,
and their friends the slave-traders, to an expedition which they
foresaw, if conducted with energy, might stamp out their business.

The energy and determination of Sir Samuel Baker, though it
could not prevent the loss of a year, was sufficient to overcome
repeated obstacles, and the authority he had received was so

Vol. I. 9

130 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

complete that he could command assistance, even though it was
rendered so reluctantly and imperfectly that the entire scheme was
in danger, and was eventually carried out with a less complete
organization, and probably at a greater expense, than was originally
contemplated. When the vessels were ready and equipped, the
flotilla of ten steamers and thirty-one sailing-vessels with a military
force of 800 men prepared to start; sailors had been engaged with
great difficulty, for the boatmen had all run away from Khartlam,
where everyone endeavoured to avoid the expedition. At last, how-
ever, on the 8th of February, 1870, it got away; but the entry in
Sir Samuel Baker's journal on that date was: " Mr. Higginbotham,
who has safely arrived at Berber with the steel steamers in sections
for the Albert Nyanza, will, I trust, be provided with vessels at
Khartum according to my orders, so as to follow me to Gondo-
koro with supplies and about 350 troops with four guns. My
original programme — agreed to by his highness the khedive, who
ordered the execution of my orders by the authorities — arranged
that six steamers, fifteen sloops, and fifteen diahbeeas should leave
Cairo on loth June to ascend the cataracts to Khartum, at which
place Djiaffer Pasha was to prepare three steamers and twenty-five
vessels to convey 1650 troops together with transport animals and
supplies. The usual Egyptian delays have entirely thwarted my
plans. No vessels have arrived from Cairo, as they only started
on 29th August. Thus, rather than turn back, I start with a
mutilated expedition, without a single transport animal."

The contingent from Berber did follow, and the expedition
eventually arrived at Gondokoro; and there the expedition, with
the aid of its artisans, shipwrights, and engineers, made a fortified
camp or settlement of an extensive and efficient kind, and Sir
Samuel Baker summoned the head-men of the natives in the
district, the principal of whom were a division of the brutal and
warlike tribe of the Baris, intractable savages, who were in close
alliance with the slave-hunters, and were determined to oppose and
harass those who had come to put an end to their traffic. After
formal annexation of the country in the name of the Khedive
of Egypt, the business of the enterprise began. The arduous task

NEITHER LAND NOR WATER. I3I

that was before him did not dismay the leader, who had overcome
tremendous difficulties during the passage of the river. The story
is worth telling. From Khartum the force on board the flotilla,
with the merchandise and various appliances, made the passage to
Fashoda, the government station in the Shilluk country, where,
having taken on board a month's rations for all hands, they pro-
ceeded to the Sobat junction with the White Nile, arriving on the
1 6th of February. Between the Sobat junction and Kharttim the
White Nile is a grand river, but south of the great affluent the
travellers entered upon a region of vast flats and boundless marshes,
through which the stream winds in a labyrinthine course for about
750 miles to Gondokoro. But the expedition was to make the
voyage, not by the original White Nile, but by the Bahr Giraffe,
a river which had been found to be a branch of the White Nile.
This stream had been discovered by the slave-traders to offer a new
route when the White Nile had become obstructed by vegetation,
which had formed a solid dam, and had been, of course, left un-
opened by the Egyptian authorities. The result was that an
extraordinary phenomenon was presented there. The great
number of floating islands which are constantly passing down the
stream of the White Nile, being prevented from passing onward,
were by the force of the stream sucked under the great obstructive
mass in front of them. In this way the channel, which had existed
beneath the accumulated vegetation, was also choked; the river
disappeared, or rather became a marsh, beneath which, by the
great pressure of water, the stream oozed through innumerable
small channels. Thus a dense spongy mass intercepted the mud
and other impurities as the volume of the stream was checked and
had to filter slowly through it; mud-banks and shoals were formed
and spread, closing the original bed of the river, which the rapid
growth of reeds and river-grass in such a soil and climate soon
converted into a marsh covered with dense vegetation.

The Bahr Giraffe flowed at first through a country all flat
prairie with occasional forests, and it soon became evident that the
doubts which had been entertained whether large vessels could
navigate it were not ill-founded. The difficulties were tremendous.

132 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

for the narrow and shallow parts of the stream were choked with
successive masses of vegetation, through which a passage or canal
1 50 yards long had to be cleared by cutting through the high grass
with swords sharpened for the purpose. The grass resembled sugar-
canes, growing from twenty to thirty feet in length, and throwing
out roots at every joint, so that they became matted in a tangled
and almost impenetrable jungle; and in the wet season quantities
of the mass broke away and floated on to accumulate wherever there
was any impediment to the stream, and formed fresh barricades.
The labour of cutting away great bundles of this grass, and towing
them out by thirty or forty men hauling on a rope, was so extreme
that numbers of the people became sick and almost exhausted after
days of such work. In one day a force of 700 men cut about
a mile and a half of the grass and vegetable refuse, which they
piled on each side like banks upon the floating surface of vegetation.
At one time the river was lost, and a way had to be cut through
what appeared to be a morass. Worse still were the rotten
accumulations which could not be piled up. The water flowed
beneath the marsh, which swarmed with snakes and a venomous
kind of ant. Crocodiles were also plentiful, but these and hippo-
potami were shot, and furnished the favourite food of the
Soudanese troops, while antelopes, ducks, and partridges were killed
at several points of the journey, and here and there in the pools
there were quantities of fish. At length after all this labour, and
the constant necessity for hauling the heavy vessels through the
channels that had been cleared, it became evident that no more
could be done. The river had apparently ended in a chaos of
marsh and jungle, and as numbers of men were down with fever,
and the greater part of the force was sick and almost incapable
of working, Baker determined to retreat, and to make a station at
some convenient spot on the White Nile beyond the Sobat junction,
where they could prepare to renew the attempt in the following
year. It would have been impossible to proceed, for the vessels
which had led the way were most of them aground, and had to
be hauled back into the water through which they had passed.
The return journey was difficult, but there was more water, and

WHY THE SLAVE-TRADE IS NOT SUPPRESSED. 1 33

after tremendous exertions the whole expedition reached a station
on the White Nile. After having done a very satisfactory stroke
of business in detecting one or two slave depots, and insisting on
liberating a large number of slaves, much to the discomfiture of the
governor of Fashoda and other officials who were thus detected
in being engaged in the atrocious traffic, a camp was established
near a large native village, and there preparations were made, and
heavy spades and other implements provided for renewing the
exploration of the river in the following season, an enterprise
which was successfully accomplished by the finding and clearing
a canal passage into the White Nile, and the settlement of the
headquarters at Gondokoro.

The detailed story of Baker's subsequent achievements, of liis
battles with native tribes in league with the slave-hunters, his
explorations, and his sporting and hunting adventures, by which
he provided his followers with meat rations from elephants, hippo-
potami, antelopes, crocodiles, and all kinds of birds, beasts, and
fishes, — do not form any essential part of the narrative of British
interposition in the Soudan; but the main results of his expedition
in temporarily suppressing the slave-trade and opening up the
country are very distinctly related to the history of recent events.
Those results, however, were not maintained, and even the vigorous
and practical genius of Colonel Gordon, who succeeded him, and
was appointed governor-general of the Equator, could not destroy
this traffic, to abolish which a strong permanent central govern-
ment, with well appointed and freely communicating stations, was
necessary. Nothing else could possibly overcome the persistent
opposition of Egyptian officials, who are themselves interested in
the iniquitous traffic. What could have been a more emphatic
proof of the futility of a merely temporary experiment for the
suppression of the slave-trade, than the fact, that the very
provinces which Baker was authorized to annex had already been
leased by the Governor-general of the Soudan to a notorious slave-
trader, Achmet Sheikh Agad, whose son-in-law and partner, Abu
Saoud, was still more notorious, and so powerful that Gordon
afterwards attempted to conciliate him and make use of his

134 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

influence, but found him so treacherous that means had to be
taken to abandon him altogether and to destroy his authority.

Baker left Gondokoro for the south in January, 1872, and on the
14th of May had reached Massindi, where he proclaimed Ungoro
an Egyptian province, and afterwards organized military posts in
the country, and established friendly terms with M'tes6, the king
of Uganda. The authority of the Khedive of Egypt, therefore,
extended to within two degrees of the equator. That the slave-
trade was suppressed in the annexed territory as well as on the
Nile there can be little doubt, and there would have been no
outlet for it in the direction of Khartum if the Egyptian officials
had possessed common loyalty and honesty.

In 1873 Baker returned to Cairo, having, as he said, achieved
the success of a foundation for a radical reform in the so-called
commerce of the White Nile. Before his arrival in the Soudan
the entire river force of the steamers on the Blue and White
Niles was represented by four very inferior vessels. He added
six from Cairo, and built a seventh, leaving a force of eleven
steamers working on the river, exclusive of two in sections.
There were stations garrisoned by regular troops at Gondokoro,
Faliko, Foweera, and Fabbo, and by newly raised irregulars at
Farragenia and Faloro.

The main difficulty in his original enterprise was, as we have
seen, the obstruction of the White Nile. After the tremendous
and yet tedious work of cutting through fifty miles of swamp and
agglomerated vegetable matter, by way of the Bahr Giraffe, he
requested the khedive to order the governor of Khartum imme-
diately to commence the reopening of the White Nile; and in
obedience to the instructions that were issued, the work was
completed in two years, though not without the loss of several
vessels, which were overwhelmed by the sudden bursting of vast
masses of floating swamp and entangled weeds. It had been
necessary to commence below stream, that the blocks of vegetation
might escape when they were detached from the main body. A
few months after the expiration of Baker's appointment, however,
the river was restored to navigation, and was soon cleared for

THE QUESTION OF EXPENSE. 1 35

large vessels, and six steamers, which had been sent up from
Cairo to ply between Khartum and Gondokoro, but had been
only employed as far as Fashoda station, at once formed rapid and
regular communication with the equatorial provinces — and Gondo-
koro was in communication with the outer world, from which it
had formerly been excluded. Beside these vessels there were
at Gondokoro and Khartilm the large steel steamers already
mentioned, and the two steel life-boats for conveyance to the
Albert Nyanza, all of which had been built in England, and
conveyed with enormous difficulty across the deserts to Khartiim.

Baker returned to Cairo at the close of his enterprise, in
August, 1874. He had achieved, as far as was possible, the
objects for which his expedition had been organized; but, as
Colonel Gordon afterwards discovered, the condition of the
country with regard to the slave-trade is like that of a portion of
the river in which Sir Samuel Baker had to force a passage, where
the corruptions that impede navigation are composed of a mass of
rottenness, in which the attempt to clear a way is frustrated,
because the moment there is any relaxation of exertion the semi-
fluid mass pours back again and chokes the channel.

Continuous effort, such as that which had been maintained for
five years, was too great a burden upon the revenue of a country
already suffering under an increasing debt, which threatened to
overwhelm its resources, and had contributed ^17,000,000 in
money to the construction of the Suez Canal, which had diminished
the revenue by diverting a large and increasing traffic from the
Egyptian ports and railways. The khedive was, so to speak,
already in the hands of the bill brokers, and it was thought to be
necessary that he should diminish the expenditure, which was
threatening to involve the country in liabilities, which he, at all
events, would never enable it to discharge.

Baker's expedition had been organized on an extensive scale,
and it necessarily entailed a large demand upon the treasury; but
if the khedive was disappointed in the results, he must have been
very imperfectly acquainted with the difficulties which had been
overcome in order to suppress the slave-traffic on the White Nile

136 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

for a distance of 1600 miles, from Kharttam to Central Africa, and
to open up the country to regular government, the development of
legitimate commerce, and renewed cultivation. But, at anyrate,
the experiment was not followed on the same scale; and in order
to prevent the evils that had arisen from the almost irrepressible
authority of the governor of Khartlim, the government of the
Soudan was changed by dividing it into provinces under responsible
governors, who were more or less independent of him: Fashoda
being intrusted to Ussuf Efifendi, Khartfim to Ismail Yacub Pasha,
and Berber to Hussein Kalifa. It would have been utterly futile to
expect the effects of Baker's expensive enterprise to be lasting
without further means being adopted to establish what had been
temporarily secured, however, and the attention of the khedive
was directed to Colonel Gordon of the Royal Engineers, an officer
whose extraordinary services in command of the " ever victorious
army" which suppressed the Taiping rebellion in 1863 and 1864,
had made him famous.

Of this hero-^whose noble simple character, and marvellous
personal authority over all those who came within his influence,
eminently fitted him for a leader of men — we shall have much
more to say in a future page, for he is still the central figure
in the later history of British intervention in Egypt and the
Soudan. The attention of the whole civilized world has been
fixed upon him, the admiration of people of every nation has been
aroused by his simple, unselfish courage and devotion, and men
and women throughout Europe and America have mourned his
death. The story of his noble life had begun while he was yet a
lad in the trenches before Sebastopol, and at the age of thirty-one
he had achieved a reputation of which no general description could
be more complete than that of the Times, which thus summarized
his services in an article published in August, 1864: "Never
did soldier of fortune deport himself with a nicer sense of military
honour, with more gallantry against the resisting, and with more
mercy towards the vanquished, with more disinterested neglect of
opportunities of personal advantage, or with more entire devotion
to the objects and desires of his own government, than this officer,

COLONEL GORDON. I 37

who, after all his victories, has just laid down his sword. A history
of operations among cities of uncouth names, and in provinces the
geography of which is unknown except to special students, would
be tedious and uninstructive. The result of Colonel Gordon's
operations, however, is this : he found the richest and most fertile
districts in China in the hands of the most savage brigands. The
silk districts were the scenes of their cruelty and riot, and the
great historical cities of Hang Chow and Soochow were rapidly
following the fate of Nan King, and were becoming desolate ruins
in their possession. Gordon has cut the rebellion in half, has
recovered the great cities, has isolated and utterly discouraged the
fragments of the brigand power, and has left the marauders nothing
but a few tracts of devastated country and their stronghold of
Nan King. All this he has effected, first by the power of his
arms, and afterwards still more rapidly by the terror of his name."

The Chinese government conferred on him the yellow jacket
and the peacock's feather; thus he became a mandarin of a high
order, and received the rank of Ti Tu, the most distinguished in
their army. It was difficult to reward a man who cared little for
honours and refused presents. Sir Frederick Bruce, writing from
Hong Kong, and inclosing to Earl Russell (who was then foreign
secretary) a translation of the decree of the Chinese emperor,
said : —

" Lieutenant Colonel Gordon well deserves her majesty's
favour; for, independently of the skill and courage he has shown,
his disinterestedness has elevated our national character in the
eyes of the Chinese. Not only has he refused any pecuniary
reward, but he has spent more than his pay in contributing to the
comfort of the officers who served under him and in assuaging the
distress of the starving population whom he relieved from the
yoke of their oppressors. Indeed, the feeling that impelled him
to resume operations after the fall of Soochow was one of the
purest humanity."

Gordon had been promoted to a lieutenant colonelcy, and
received the title of " Companion of the Bath." Still greater
honour was the address sent him by the merchants of Shanghai

1.^8 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

and other native and foreign residents. This he received and
answered gratefully, but he would have no money. The Empress
of China sent him a gold medal inscribed with words of praise and
compliment. In after years he obliterated the inscription, and
sent the medal as a contribution to the relief of the distress in
Lancashire during the cotton famine.

" I leave China as poor as when I entered it," he wrote home;
and so he did in one sense, but he was so rich in the admiration
and respect of those whom he had rescued and befriended, that
his sensitive and vigilant conscience may have seen even in that
a temptation to swerve from the rigorous simplicity which he had
determined to make his rule of life, and the old adjuration, " Beware
when all men praise thee," probably had for him a deep spiritual
significance.

We may, however, defer to a subsequent and more appropriate
page of the present narrative the more than romantic records that
illustrate this man's truly heroic life, and need only in the present
chapter touch briefly on his appointment to the governorship of
the Equator, when Sir Samuel Baker had accomplished his term
of office, and on his subsequent nomination to the governorship
of the Soudan.

In 1865 Gordon was appointed to the duty of superintending
the construction of the defences of the Thames, and took up his
abode at Gravesend. There he remained for nearly six years
quietly attending to the work that he so well understood. The
comparative retirement suited him. He was as indifferent to
what the world usually calls fame as he was to the possession of
wealth. It may almost be said that he took as much trouble to
be forgotten, or to remain in tranquil obscurity, as other men take
to obtain a general acknowledgment that they have done some-
thing to merit the acclamations of society. He disliked what is
known as publicity, nor would he consent to talk about himself or
his achievements. He endeavoured to live the divine life of
unselfishness, that is to say, a life in which the consideration of
himself or his own gratification or convenience had no place, and
he succeeded. The time that was not occupied in the duties to

FROM GRAVESEND TO GALATZ. 139

which he assiduously attended, he devoted almost entirely to
beneficent work among the poor of the district, teaching at the
ragged-school, visiting the sick in hospitals and workhouses,
giving relief to those who were in want, and helping numbers
of people who applied to him in their distress. This commanding
officer of engineers was also teacher, missionary, and general
benefactor. None applied to him in vain. He always loved the
society of children, and the boys — the poor little ragged scarecrows
employed or unemployed about the river shore and the town —
found in him a friend who took them from the gutter and clothed
and fed them, and even gave them a home in his house till he could
find berths for them on board ships, or situations for those who
were unfit for sea. For these lads, whom he called his " kings,"
he formed reading classes which he superintended himself, reading
to and teaching the lads with as much ardour as if he were leading
them to victory, as indeed he was.

It is astonishing how easily a man who desires to be unnoticed
by the world may have his wish gratified ; but if he be such a man
as Charles George Gordon he will deeply appreciate the tender
regard of the few friends who are near and dear to him; nor can
a man so distinguished as he was, continue to live in obscurity.
The able and scrupulous discharge of a duty which is of public
importance will lead to his being called to other duties which his
conscience will remind him he cannot consistently refuse.

At the end of 1871 Colonel Gordon was appointed as British
member of the Danubian Commission, the chief business of which
is to improve the navigation of the mouth of the river Danube by
deepening the channel. Each of the great powers of Europe is
represented by a member of the commission, and the present deep
Sulina Channel, by means of which large vessels can load at the
wharves of Galatz and Braila, is mainly due to Gordon's professional
skill. In 1872 Gordon was at the British embassy at Constan-
tinople, and there met Nubar Pasha, the famous minister of the
khedive, who had been a firm advocate of the expedition under-
taken by Sir Samuel Baker. The term of that expedition would
expire in the following year, and the Egyptian minister was anxious

140 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

to find a competent successor to the governorship of the country
of the Nile basin.

To whom could he better apply than to the British Commis-
sioner of the Danube to recommend an officer of the engineers who
would be likely to accept, and able to fulfil, the arduous duties of
such a position ? To whom is it likely that the astute Armenian
was mentally assigning the governorship, but to Gordon himself. "^

The colonel could not recommend anybody offhand, but
promised to consider the matter. There was no occasion for haste,
and he had time to think about it. The result was that he began
to regard the government of the provinces and the suppression
of the slave-trade in Central Africa as a mission to which he might
be called upon to devote his best energies, and that remarkable
faculty for dealing with semi-civilized races which had made his
success in China so complete. To organize a plan, simple in
execution and successful in putting an end to the atrocious traffic
which had devastated and almost depopulated a vast territory, was
a prospect which may well have fired the imagination and quickened
the heart of a man like him, to whom religion was the perception
and the unhesitating performance of duty, without distinction of
high or low, and without fear or anxiety about the consequences to
his own temporal interests or personal safety. In Central Africa
he would find an almost illimitable field for active beneficence even
amongst people to whom he might be called upon to show striking
severity by the swift and certain punishment of traitors and
oppressors.

In July, 1873, he wrote to Nubar Pasha, stating that he would
be willing to accept the appointment if the khedive would himself
apply to the English government to obtain permission for him to
transfer his services. The application was made and received a
favourable reply, and Gordon, after coming to England to make
necessary preparations, set out for Cairo at the end of the year.
He saw the khedive, who was willing that he should name his own
terms, and the government, who thought that he could be induced
to make a great show of state, as Egyptian officials would, urged
him to take ^10,000 a year. He refused to accept more than

FINAL INSTRUCTIONS. I4I

jC2000, though he afterwards was obliged to yield in the matter
of engaging several attendants, most of whom he found to be of
very little use, and so got rid of as soon as possible. His title,
at which he himself laughed " as an extraordinary mixture,"
was " His Excellency General Colonel Gordon, the Governor-
general of the Equator," and an abstract of the final instructions
which he received at his departure, and dated February i6th, 1874,
will show pretty well the nature and the extent of his duties.

" The province which Colonel Gordon has undertaken to or-
ganize and to govern is but little known. Up to the last few years
it has been in the hands of adventurers, who have thought of nothing
but their own lawless gains, and who traded in ivory and slaves.
They established factories and governed them with armed men.
The neighbouring tribes were forced to traffic with them whether
they liked it or not. The Egyptian government, in the hope of
putting an end to this inhuman trade, had taken the factories into
their own hands, paying the owners an indemnification. Some
of these men, nevertheless, had been still allowed to carry on trade
in the district, under a promise that they would not deal in slaves.
They had been placed under the control of the governor of the
Soudan. His authority, however, had scarcely been able to make
itself felt in these remote countries; the khedive, therefore, has
resolved to form them into a separate government, and to claim
as a monopoly of the state the whole of the trade of the outside
world. There is no other way of putting an end to the slave-
trade, which at present is carried on by force of arms in defiance
of law. When once brigandage has become a thing of the past,
and when once a breach has been made in the lawless customs of
long ages, then trade may be made free to all.

If the men who have been in the pay of these adventurers are
willing to enter into the pay of the government. Colonel Gordon
is to make all the use of them that he can. If, on the other
hand, they attempt to follow their old course of life, whether
openly or secretly, he is to put in force against them the utmost
severity of martial law. Such men as these must find in the new
governor neither indulgence fior mercy. The lesson must be

142 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

made clear, even in those remote parts, that a mere difference of
colour does not turn men into wares, and that life and liberty are
sacred things.

One great error must be avoided into which others have fallen.
The armament must be so well supplied with provisions that there
shall be no need, as heretofore, to take from the tribes their stores
of corn. By doing such things as this, distrust has been sown,
where the khedive had hoped to establish a feeling of confidence.
The land must be tilled by the troops and crops raised. If, as
seems to be the case, Gondokoro is an ill -chosen position,
situated as it is on a thankless soil, the seat of government must
be moved to a more favoured spot. Among the natives who should
be rescued from the slave-dealers many will be found who have
been carried away from countries so far off that it would be impos-
sible to restore them to their homes. They could be employed
about the stations in tilling the ground.

Another object of the new governor should be to establish a
line of posts through all his provinces, so that from one end to
the other they may be brought into direct communication with
Khartum. These posts should follow as far as is possible the
line of the Nile; but for a distance of seventy miles the navigation
of that river is hindered by rapids. He is to search out the
best way of overcoming this hindrance, and to make a report
thereon to the khedive.

In dealing with the chieftains of the tribes which dwell on the
shores of the lakes the governor is, above all, to try to win
their confidence. He must respect their territory and conciliate
them by presents. Whatever influence he gains over them he
must use in the endeavour to persuade them to put an end to the
wars which they so often make on each other in the hope of
carrying off slaves. Much tact will be needed, for should he
succeed in stopping the slave-trade while wars are still waged
among the chiefs, it might well come to pass that for want of a
market the prisoners would, in such a case, be slaughtered. Should
he find it needful to exercise a real control over any one of these
tribes it will be better to leave to the chieftains the direct govern-

WAS IT A SHAM? 1 43

ment. Their obedience must be secured by making them dread
his power."

This was all remarkably concise, definite, and satisfactory; but
remembering what had been Baker's experiences, and reading the
instructions in the light of them, it seems to have been founded on
an intention to pose in the face of Europe after European models.
Baker with almost incredible exertion, courage, and determination
had pioneered the way and found himself handicapped by the
encouragement of slave-holders by the Egyptian government, and
by the appointment of men of notorious lawlessness and violence
to be governors and commanders of expeditions. With unyielding
energy and pluck he had scotched the snake of slavery, if he had
not killed it, and now he was left unhonoured and unsung, and the
moral government of Ismail Pasha, the Khedive of Egypt, was
reading a beautiful lecture to his successor, who very soon
discovered that sincere as the khedive himself might be, no steps
had been taken to remove, or even to reprove and threaten the
governors and high officials, who continued their traffic in slaves
in the country to which he was appointed governor in chief, but
without sufficient power to depose or to punish those who were
constantly defying the law.

Gordon detected the hollowness of the whole affair when he
reached Cairo and began his official interview, and Baker it seems
had warned him. " I paid a visit to Shereef Pasha, the minister
of justice," he writes on the 9th of February, 1874, "and I took the
opportunity of asking him to express to the khedive my ideas of
giving up the affair if it did not pay, and let him understand that
your brother was not an hireling, I did this rather sharply because
I thought Nubar Pasha's manner Was different."

Five days afterwards he wrote : — " I think I can see the true
motive now of the expedition, and believe it be a sham to catch
the attention of the English people, as Baker said. I think the
khedive is quite innocent (or nearly so) of it, but Nubar is the
chief man. Now what has happened? There has been a mutual
disappointment: Nubar thought he had a rash fellow to do with
who could be persuaded to cut a dash, &c. &c., and found he had

J 44 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

one of the Gordon race; this latter thought the thing real and
found it a sham, and felt like a Gordon who had been humbugged."

In the preface to the narrative of his expedition^ Sir Samuel
Baker writes: — " It was evident that the result of the expedition
under my command was a death-blow to the slave-trade, if the
khedive was determined to persist in its destruction. I had
simply achieved the success of a foundation for a radical reform
on the so-called commerce of the White Nile. The government
had been established throughout the newly acquired territories,
which were occupied by military positions, garrisoned with regular
troops, and all those districts were absolutely purged from the
slave-hunters. In this condition I resigned my command, as the
first act was accomplished. The future would depend upon the
sincerity of the khedive, and upon the ability and integrity of my
successor."

Evidently, however, Baker did not suspect the khedive him-
self of insincerity, for he goes on to say that his highness had
" adhered most strictly to his original determination, and to prove
his sincerity he intrusted the command to an English officer of
high reputation, not only for military capacity but for a peculiar
attribute of self-sacrifice and devotion." Generous and manly
words, which he follows up by the triumphant expression of a
belief that this appointment had " extinguished the delusions which
had been nourished by the Soudan authorities, that ' at the
expiration of Baker Pasha's rule the good old times of slavery and
lawlessness would return.' There was no longer any hope, the
slave-trade was suppressed, and the foundation was laid for the
introduction of European ideas and civilization." After all his
toil, heart-burning, and experience of treachery he retired from
the thankless task, but still with enough of enthusiasm and loyalty
to hail the appointment of a successor who would carry on, with
higher ability and higher promise, the work that he had begun.
Alas! Gordon, when his equally thankless task was accomplished,
and he also had retired after having established greater order, and

' Ismailia, a book which is full of interesting adventure, and of information on the subject of the
natives of Central Africa.

ABU SAOUD. 145

placed military stations along the Nile, was less hopeful, more
depressed, than Baker had been. His splendid physical con-
stitution had almost succumbed to continual fatigue, privation, and
anxiety. To say nothing of the tremendous responsibility, the
disappointment, and the many strong emotions which affected him
— the physical exertion had been enormous. In travelling alone
it was enough to wear out an ordinary man. In 1879 he had
ridden 2230 miles through the deserts on camels, and 800 miles in
Abyssinia on mules. In the three years, 1877, 1878, 1879, he
rode 8490 miles on camels and mules : his average day's journey
on camels being 2)'^% miles, and on mules 10 miles.

Reserving characteristic and interesting details of Gordon's
personal experiences for a later part of this story, in which he will
reappear, a glance may be taken at the successive steps by which
he completed the enterprise to which he had been appointed. He
was not the man to draw back, but he frequently felt that he was
acting under the disadvantage of having to deal, not only with the
treachery and falsehood of the hostile governors, who, knowing
that he would defeat them in their nefarious schemes, gave him no
assistance, and plotted against him continually, but also of a half-
hearted support from the Egyptian government. He never could
realize the utter baseness of many of the men whom he endeavoured
to propitiate, and whose conspiracies he detected. They were
incapable of appreciating the simplicity and nobility of the man
who was ready to forgive them or to let them off with only just
enough punishment to warn them against an immediate repetition
of an offence.

The most conspicuous example of Gordon's method of gaining
an influence over people by trusting them, was his taking Abu
Saoud out of prison at Cairo and making him his lieutenant, but
in that instance it was a conspicuous failure.

This man was a notorious ruffian, who had commanded the
territory occupied by the largest combination of slave-hunters and
dealers. He had over and over again endeavoured to destroy
Baker's expedition by inciting the native tribes against it, and had
been convicted on the clearest evidence, collected by Baker himself,

Vol. I. 10

146 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

of acts of rebellion and treachery for the purpose of maintaining
the traffic. Gordon released him because, though he knew his
character and had been warned against him, he believed that his
influence at the slave-dealing stations would be useful. Gordon
wrote " he will be a very great help — he is built and made to
govern." Not only Abu Saoud but several other slave-dealers were
employed, and the result was that Gordon, but for his own extra-
ordinary vigilance and penetration, would have been killed and
his efforts frustrated by this treacherous scoundrel, of whom he got
rid by sending him away, after having forgiven him and taken
him back into his service on two occasions, when he discovered
that he was plotting against him and robbing him. The other
Dongolese slave -dealers were very much like him, but with less
influence and persistent villany, and eventually they were all cleared
out and sent about their business.

In following the account of Gordon's mission, as told in his
letters, it is evident that he was enabled rapidly to complete the
work he had undertaken, because of the pioneering of Sir Samuel
Baker, whose expedition, though it is stated to have cost over a
million pounds, included the establishment of a monopoly of the
trade in ivory to the Egyptian government; and this was continued
by Gordon with very great success. The great difficulty which
the latter had to encounter was the revival of the slave-trade, even
in the short time that had elapsed between the retirement of his
predecessor and his own acceptance of office.

It was an immense extent of territory over which he had
nominal control, a territory about the size of Europe omitting
Russia. Khartum is, in fact, about as far from Gondokoro as
London is from Turin, and though both the Egyptian settlements
lie on the same great river, they are, as we have seen, cut off from
each other for months together by the barrier of rapidly growing
vegetation which forms in its upper reaches.

Colonel Long, an American in the employment of the khedive,
accompanied Gordon, and was intrusted with important expeditions,
and made some able explorations.

Lieutenant Hassan Wussif and a number of European civil

"CONIES FOR SOLDIERS. I47

employes also joined the expedition. Gordon found that only
three stations were held by the Egyptian troops — mere posts —
at Gondokoro, and (far to the south) at Fatiko and Foweira. A
strong body of troops was needed to convey stores or even letters
from one garrison to another. It was not till the twenty -first
month after his arrival at Gondokoro that he reached Foweira, for
the organization of this government required much time and great
labour, and he had found out that he must, for the most part, trust
to his own exertions in important matters to secure any satisfactory
result.

The khedive gave him a firman as governor-general of the
Equator and left him to do what he could. On an examination of
affairs he found that he must get hold of the finances of the new
province, and of the troops. This he effected by getting rid of
Raouf Bey, the subordinate of Ismail Yacoob Pasha, governor of
the province of Khartlam and commander of the troops at Gondo-
koro. Both these men were hostile — Raouf Bey, who, in 1880 or
1881, actually became Raouf Pasha and governor-general of the
Soudan, went off to Cairo, and was made commander of the Harrar
country, and Gordon then separated his finances entirely from
those of Khartum.

Raouf Bey received Gordon cordially enough at Gondokoro,
where there was a garrison of 450 men, 150 of whom were
Egyptian soldiers; that at Fatimo being composed of 200 Soudan
soldiers. On the soldiers sent by the khedive the governor found
he could place no reliance. " The khedive's people are incapable
of civilizing these natives, and may generally be described as
' conies,' a feeble race.

" One Arab lieutenant came up to Moogie, and you never saw
such a pitiable sight. He was muffled up like his veiled wife,
who accompanied him to me, begging and praying in the loudest
and most pitiable terms to be allowed to go back. . . . It is
wonderful how effeminate these Arabs are. . . . The fact is
these officers have committed some crime at Cairo, and are sent
up here for punishment. They are the most useless set of beings
I ever came across. . . . The horde we are is something fearful.

148 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

For every 100 soldiers there are 120 women and children, boys,
&c., so 500 soldiers are equal to iioo souls." And again of the
black soldiers. " The soldiers will pillage en route. The natives
collect and then run away, enticing the soldiers to follow them
into ambushes. . . . It is no use telling these dolts that the
natives' object is to entice them to separate. How cordially glad
I shall be when the whole relations between us cease! I cannot
help it, but I have taken such a dislike to these blacks that I cannot
bear their sight. I do not mean the natives, but these soldiers.
They are nothing but a set of pillagers, and are about as likely to
civilize these parts as they are to civilize the moon. Though it
tells against me in my operations, I am glad in my heart that they
are afraid of the natives. It will be long before they get the
whip-hand of them. The natives will be up to all sorts of dodges
by the time the soldiers get consolidated in the country.
To my mind a semi-soldier, more civilian than soldier, is required
for the command here." The latter remark was caused by the
want of discipline and obedience, and the dense stupidity that
could not or would not understand an order, or execute it if
it could be passed on to some one else. In an outburst of
indignation he writes : — " Cowardly, effeminate, lying brutes these
Arabs and Soudanese!" It will be seen that Gordon had begun
to discover what the real difficulties were in any undertaking for
the purpose of improving the condition of the country under
Egyptian influence. He had begun to find it out before he reached
Kharttim, but he meant to go on in spite of it. In one of his
letters at the beginning of 1876 he says: —

" I think the khedive likes me, but no one else does; and I
do not like them — I mean the swells, whose corns I tread on in

all manner of ways. ... I saw at Suez. He agrees

with me in our opinion of the rottenness of Egypt : it is all for the
flesh, and in no place is human nature to be studied with such
advantage. Duke of This wants steamer — say ;^6oo. Duke
of That wants house, &c. All the time the poor people are ground
down to get money for all this. Who art thou to be afraid of a
man? If He wills, I will shake all this in some way not clear to

THE DINKAS. A CHIEFS POLITENESS. 1 49

me now. Do not think that I am an egotist; I am like Moses,
who despised the riches of Egypt. We have a King mightier than
these, and more enduring riches and power in Him than we can
have in this world. I will not bow to Haman. . . ."

He afterwards began to think that the khedive would have
preferred a commander with less energy, " an easy salary-drawing
man." In fact he always was conscious that there was pretence
in the professions of the Egyptian government, and that with one
hand the slave-traders were threatened and with the other assured
if not encouraged.

After reaching Gondokoro Gordon's first care was to occupy
Bohr, an important position in the north, and to send Colonel Long
on an expedition to M'tdsd, King of Uganda. In June he com-
menced breaking up three large slave-trade stations on the Bahr
el Zeraf, and established a strong post at Sobat, so strategically
situated as to enable him to stop all the illegal traffic on the river.
A boat would appear on its way from Gondokoro with a cargo of
ivory and wood, all still on board, the crew perfectly innocent; but
with an instinctive perception Gordon would have it searched, and
there beneath the wood there were a number of slaves packed
together, wretched, starving, and in misery. Then slaves and
ivory were seized, and while the former had to be kept, because
to liberate them at once would be to condemn them to be captured
afresh, the ivory was put in stock to be sent to the Egyptian
treasury.

It was when approaching the entrance of the Sobat river that
some of his new subjects, a whole tribe of Dinkas, came out to
meet him and his followers, not without great fear. With great
difficulty the chief was induced to go on board with four of his
people. He was in full dress — a necklace. They gave him some
presents. He went up to Gordon, took each hand, and "gave a
good soft lick to the backs of them ; then held my face and made
the motion of spitting in it."

This was the Bahr Gazelle; and they shortly reached the
junction with the Gondokoro river and went on to Bohr, a great
slave-trading place, where the people were not very civil when they

I 50 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

heard of the decree and of Gordon's mission. Two days previously
the expedition had passed St Croix, where a few banana trees
were the only remains of the Austrian mission of which Speke had
written in 1863: "The Austrian government, discouraged by the
failure of so many years, had ordered the recall of the whole of the
establishment for these regions. It was no wonder these men
were recalled, for out of twenty missionaries who during the last
thirteen years had ascended the White Nile for the purpose of
propagating the gospel, thirteen had died of fever, two of dysentery,
and two had retired broken in health, yet not one convert had
been made by them. . . . The missionaries never had
occasion to complain of these blacks, and to this day they would
doubtless have been kindly inclined towards Europeans had the Nile
traders not brought the devil amongst them." Baker, however,
when with his expedition he had reached the place, said, " I had
always expected trouble with the Baris, as I had known them
during my former journey as a tribe of intractable savages. The
Austrian missionaries had abandoned them as hopeless, after many
efforts and a great expenditure of money and energy. The natives
had pulled down the neat mission house, and they had pounded
and ground the light red bricks into the finest powder, which,
mixed with grease, formed a paint to smear their naked bodies."

The slaves that were liberated, Gordon planted at Sobat, and
encouraged them to cultivate the soil. He had formed an opinion
that the wars between native tribes were often caused by the
great deficiency of food; and it certainly appeared like it, when
parents would sell their children as slaves for a measure of grain,
and people who had stolen a cow and devoured it were quite
contented to submit to one of their two boys being seized by the
owner of the cow, who had probably stolen it himself

Gordon, true to his actively beneficent nature, was constantly
trying to alleviate the misery of the people among whom he was
placed. The serenity of the man, notwithstanding outbursts of
sharp, hot temper, his general good humour, his pity and ready
forgiveness notwithstanding the decided and prompt severity with
which he punished the treacherous slave-owning chiefs, and the

A SAD, TRAGIC PICTURE. I5I

dauntless courage with which he would rush in upon them alone
and unarmed and threaten them with vengeance, all make up a
character which is a wonderful study. And not the least interesting
part of Gordon's personality was his extraordinary sense of humour.
In his letters, as in his conversation, the touches of merry descrip-
tion and of dry or rather sardonic humour are provocative alter-
nately of hearty laughter or deep and serious reflection. One
reflection, however, would be that the simple utterances of a
truthful man, a man of single eye who speaks of the habits, the
artificialities, and the aims of society as he sees them, are sure to
appear like satires.

" I took a poor old bag of bones into my camp a month ago,
and have been feeding her up; but yesterday she was quietly
taken off, and now knows all things. She had her tobacco up to
the last, and died quite quietly. What a change from her misery!
I suppose she filled her place in life as well as Queen Elizabeth.
A wretched sister of yours is struggling up the road,
but she is such a wisp of bones that the wind threatens to over-
throw her, so she has halted, preferring the rain to being cast down.
I verily believe she could never get up again. I have sent her
some dhoora, and will produce a spark of joy in her black and
withered carcass. She has not even a cotton gown on, and I do
not think her apparel would be worth one-fiftieth of a penny. . . .
I had told my man to see her into one of the huts, and thought he
had done so. The night was stormy and rainy, and when I awoke
I heard often a crying of a child near my hut within the inclosure.
When I got up I went out to see what it was, and passing through
the gateway I saw your and my sister lying dead in a pool of mud.
Her black brothers had been passing and passing, and had taken
no notice of her. So I went and ordered her to be buried, and
went on. In the midst of the high grass was a baby about a year
or so old left by itself. It had been out all night in the rain, and
had been left by its mother — children are always a nuisance! I
carried it in, and seeing the corpse was not moved I sent again
about it, and went with the men to have it buried. To my sur-
prise and astonishment she was alive. After a considerable trouble

152 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

I got the black brothers to lift her out of the mud, poured some
brandy down her throat, and got her into a hut with a fire, having
the mud washed out of her sightless eyes. She was not more
than sixteen years of age. There she now lies; I cannot help hoping
she is floating down with the tide to her haven of rest. The babe
is taken care of by another family for a certain consideration of
maize per diem. ... I prefer life amidst sorrows, if those
sorrows are inevitable, to a life spent in inaction. Turn where you
will there are sorrows and troubles. Many a rich person is as
unhappy as this rag of mortality, and to them you can minister.
' This mustard is very badly made,' was the remark of one of my
staff some time ago when some of our brothers were stalking about
showing every bone of their poor bodies.

" Your black sister departed this life at 4 p.m., deeply lamented
by me, not so by her black brothers, who thought her a nuisance.
When I went to see her this morning I heard the ' lamentations '
of something on the other side of a hut. I went round and found
one of our species, a visitor of ten or twelve months to this globe,
lying in a pool of mud; I am not sure whether he was not less in
age. I said, ' Here is another foundling!" and had it taken up.
Its mother came up afterwards, and I mildly expostulated with
her, remarking, however good it might be for the spawn of frogs
it was not good for our species. The creature drank milk after
this with avidity."

" Do you know," he quaintly asks in another letter, " that the
black babies when they make thek^ first appearance are quite light
coloured; they colour after a time like pipes?"

" Residence in these Oriental lands," he wrote afterwards,
" tends, after a time, to blunt one's susceptibilities of right and
justice, and, therefore, the necessity for men to return at certain
periods to their own countries to reimbibe the notions of the same.
Some men become imbued with the notions of injustice much

quicker than others when abroad, but certainly has not taken

much time to throw off all the trammels of civilized life, and to be
ready to take up the unjust dealings of an Arab pasha. The
varnish of civilized life is very thin, and only superficial. .

NEW STATIONS. I 53

Man does not know what he is capable of in circumstances of this
sort; unless he has the lode-star, he has no guide, no councillor in
his walk.

" I feel that I have a mission here (not taken in its usual
sense). The men and officers like my justice, candour, my
outbursts of temper, and see that I am not a tyrant. Over two
years we have lived intimately together, and they watch me
closely. I am glad that they do so. My wish and desire is that
all should be as happy as it rests with me to make them, and
though I feel sure that I am unjust sometimes, it is not the rule
with me to be so. I care for their marches, for their wants and
food, and protect their women and boys if they ill-treat them;
and / do nothing of this — / am a chisel which cuts the wood, the
Carpenter directs it. If I lose my edge. He must sharpen me;
if He puts me aside and takes another, it is His own good will.
None are indispensable to Him."

On the nth of September, 1874, twenty-five chiefs of the
tribes round Gondokoro went in to pay homage to Gordon: — chiefs
who had been at open enmity within the garrison. His determi-
nation to have justice done, his fearless dealing with them, his
humanity and illimitable pity had begun to tell, and his rule had
become successful, but the slave-trade was yet very far from being
abolished, for in the following month the governor of Fashoda
intercepted a convey of 1600 slaves and 190 head of cattle from
the stations of Ratatz and Kutchuk AH on the Bahr Zaraf.

At about this time Colonel Long had returned from his
expedition to Uganda, and he reported that the King of Unyoro,
with the slave-traders to back him, had shown himself to be very
unfriendly. It was, therefore, determined that stations should be
established at Laborah, Duffli, Fatiko, and Foweira. At the
same time preparations were being made for the expedition to
the lakes. The sections of the steamers which had been left by
Baker at Gondokoro were sent forward by carriers to be put
together at the Falls of Duffli, beyond which point there is a free
passage to the lake Albert Nyanza. A trustworthy messenger
was sent to M'tdsd, who had shown himself to be friendly, and on

154 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

the 2 1st of November Gondokoro was abandoned as the head-
quarters in favour of Lado, a more healthy spot a few miles down
the river; a post was also established at Regaf, a short distance
up the river.

Gordon had had a hard and yet monotonous time of it at
Sobat, where there was so much sickness and death in his camp,
though he himself, thin as a shadow, retained his health and
strength marvellously, and was nurse and doctor as well as
director and governor. The country on both sides the river was
flat for sixty miles, not a soul to be seen for miles amidst the low
forests and huge grasses, all the people had been driven off by the
slavers in years past. " A fair and properly conducted emigration
would be the best thing for these parts, and I think the blacks
would gladly respond to such a scheme," he wrote. " It will be
a very long time before much can be done to civilize them; the
climate is against it, and there can be no trade, for they have
nothing to exchange for goods. Poor creatures! They would
like to be left alone. The Arabs hate these parts, and all the
(Arab) troops are sent up for punishment; their constitutions,
unlike ours, cannot stand the wet and damp and the dulness of
their life. I prefer it infinitely to going out to dinner in England.
I agree that I have no patience with the groans of half
the world, and declare I think there is more happiness among
these miserable blacks, who have not a meal from day to day,
than among our own middle classes. The blacks are glad of a
handful of maize, and live in the greatest discomfort. They have
not a strip to cover them ; but you do not see them grunting and
groaning all day long, as you see scores and scores in England,
with their wretched dinner parties and attempts at gaiety, when
all is hollow and miserable. If they have one thing they have not
another."

Little as he regarded the difficulties of his responsible office,
Gordon sometimes was ready to give up, and he eventually did so,
though he was persuaded to return, with additional powers, to the
Soudan. In September, 1875, he says of his followers : — "The men,
unless you fly on them, will sit down and watch with calmness the

THE GARRISONS ESTABLISHED BY GORDON. 1 55

eyes starting out of the heads of some others who are hauling with
all their force on a rope, without ever thinking of helping them.
Without any reserve I could at this minute pack up and go back
if shame did not prevent me. I have now quite made up my mind,
God willing, to make these stations and well equip them, to quell
the hostile tribes in the vicinity of them, to place next March
when the river rises, the steamer and six or eight nuggars above
the cataracts ; to quell, I hope, in December, Kaba Rega, and then
to place forts along the Victoria Nile at Magungo, Anfina (Foweira
already exists), Mrooli, and on Lake Victoria; to construct or
acquire a flotilla for the Victoria Nile where navigable, and to put
the small steamers together on the Victoria Lake. Not to go on
the lakes at all, but as soon as that programme is completed to
leave them altogether. ... I am thoroughly disgusted. These
people are unfit to acquire the country. . . . Some pasha will
come, he will be a grand man, will neglect the stations, lose them
perhaps, and the whole affair will die out, unless they send another
foreigner, which they may do." This was written in 1875, in
relation to the expedition to the lakes for which he had been
preparing; but he had already by the close of the year 1874
reported the organization of governmental districts along the whole
line of his provinces, the chief stations being (i) Sobat, at the
junction of the Sobat river with the Nile, where there were 50
Soudan regulars; (2) Nasr, on the Sobat, garrison 100 Dongolese
irregulars; (3) Shawbeh, 30 Soudan regulars, 150 Dongolese
irregulars; (4) Makaraka, 20 Soudan regulars, 150 Dongolese
irregulars; (5) Bohr, 10 Soudan regulars, 150 Dongolese irregulars;
(6) Latuka, 10 Soudan regulars, 100 Dongolese irregulars; (7)
Lado, headquarters, 180 Soudan regulars, 50 Egyptian regulars;
(8) Regaf, 80 Soudan regulars; (9) Duffli (Ibrahimieh), 10 Soudan
regulars; (10) Fatiko, 250 Soudan regulars, 100 Egyptian regulars;
(11) Foweira, 100 Soudan regulars, 100 Egyptian regulars.

The White Nile had been mapped with very considerable
accuracy from Khartum to Regof; the slave-trade on that river
had received a deadly blow; confidence and peace had been
restored among the tribes round Gondokoro, who freely brought

156 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

in for sale their beef, corn, and ivory. Besides these achieve-
ments the work of opening a water communication between
Gondokoro and the lakes had been seriously commenced. Com-
munications had been established with M'tdse and the connection
of Lake Victoria with Lake Albert, by way of the Victoria Nile,
demonstrated; and government districts had been formed, and
secure posts with intercommunication established. In a year the
khedive had received ^48,000 from the province, and Gordon had
spent ^20,000 at the outside, and had ;^6o,ooo worth of ivory
in hand. One of his staff said, "He has certainly done wonders
since his stay in this country. When he arrived, only ten months
ago, he found a few hundred soldiers in Gondokoro who dare
not go a hundred yards from that place, except when armed and
in bands, on account of the hostile Baris. With these troops
Gordon has garrisoned eight stations. . . . Baker's expedition
cost the Egyptian government nearly ;^ 1,200,000, while Gordon
has already sent up sufficient money to Cairo to pay for all the
expenses of his expedition, including not only the sums required
for last year, but the amount estimated for the current one as
well."

It should not be forgotten, however, that Baker had to "lay
down" the enterprise, to obtain steamers and boats, and to discover
by experience the matters, the knowledge of which his successor
profited by. He also commenced the government commercial
monopoly which Gordon revived. To an impartial inquirer it
does not seem that any comparison can be justly made of the
expenditure incurred by the respective governors. Gordon really
became independent of the Soudan government as regarded sup-
plies, because he could raise them from his own resources. As
early as the autumn of 1874 parties were sent out to levy taxes
on the hostile tribes by demanding their cattle, and this had a
salutary effect in keeping them quiet.

The scheme which Gordon had prepared at that time has been
called the Juba River Expedition. The communications with
Egypt via Khartum were by no means satisfactory. The naviga-
tion of the river was full of difficulties, and there was a scarcity of

THE JUBA RIVER EXPEDITION. 1 57

firewood for the steamers. A new base might be obtained if the
khedive would send a small expedition to Mombaz Bay in the
Indian Ocean, 250 miles north of Zanzibar, where a station could
be established, and where a detachment could push inland towards
M'tese. The Mombaz Bay route, it was represented, would be
shorter than that by Khartum, and would much more effectually
open up Central Africa. The khedive consented, and sent out an
expedition under M' Killop Pasha of the Egyptian navy, with
Colonel Long to command the proposed inland expedition. But
there was trouble; the anchorage at the mouth of the Juba river
was bad, and the expedition moving further south encroached on
territory of the Sultan of Zanzibar, to whom the British govern-
ment were to a certain extent bound by treaties concerning the
slave-trade. The usual tangle occurred. The Zanzibar merchants
feared for their equatorial trade, and the people of Aden for their
supplies from the Somalis, who had been independent till Egypt
had acquired a portion of their territory and levied taxes at their
ports. There was a clashing of interests, amidst which the ex-
pedition was abandoned on the advice of the British government,
the end of which was that the authority of the khedive was tacitly
acknowledged as far along the coast as the 10th degree of north
latitude, a result which gave Ismail Pasha the notion that he was
entitled to the whole of the Red Sea coast, and could resist any
claim of the Abyssinians to a port. It was also believed by the
government of this country that a safeguard had been provided
against European settlement on the coast, and that a way had
been opened to a slave treaty with Egypt.

■ By the middle of 1876 Gordon had decided that he could do
no more than he had already accomplished, his troops were mostly
worthless, and yet he was in a continual state of war with the
slave-hunting governors, who did all they could to frustrate his
intentions. Among those from whom he suffered most, of course,
was Ismail Yacoub Pasha, the governor-general of the Soudan,
and as he had no support to enable him to withstand this man's
treachery, he determined to throw up his command. Early in the
year he had made preparations for Gessi to proceed to Lake

158 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

Albert Nyanza with two life-boats, while he himself proceeded
towards Lake Victoria.

Gessi started in March, and succeeded in circumnavigating the
lake in nine days, finding it to be only 140 miles long and 50
miles wide. The natives showed themselves hostile, and the west
coast was inaccessible. In July the steamer was at last put
together above the Duffli Falls, and the passage cleared to the
Albert Lake. A treaty was made with M'tdsd recognizing his
independence, and Dr. Emin Effendi, a gentleman of German
extraction, was sent to him as Gordon's representative.

Gordon himself did not return north, but in October was at
Khartum, having appointed Colonel Prout, an American officer,
to the government of the province.

He writes in his journal on August 23d: "After careful study
I decided on the following course: viz. when the troops return
from Dubago to move with a hundred of them to Nyam To.ngo
and Urundojani, and survey the river and country between Mrooli
and those places. . This bit of the Nile (between Urun-

dogani and the lake) I am forced to give up. I avoid pushing it
for fear of complications before we are ready for them. You can
imagine how I feel about this bit of the Nile, for it is the only bit
I have not done from Berber upwards to Lake Victoria; but
reason says, 'divide and weaken your forces,' and so my personal
feelings must be thrown over. I daresay a desire to be out of
this country is mixed up with my decision, which will {D. V.)
bring me to Khartljm about the middle of October, to Cairo in
January, and home about February 5th, having been absent a few
days over three years. My present idea is then to lie in bed till
eleven every day, in the afternoon to walk not farther than the
docks, and not to undertake those terrible railway journeys, or to
get exposed to the questionings of people and their inevitable
dinners; in fact, get into a dormant state, and stay there till I am
obliged to work. I want oysters for lunch."

On the 2nd of December he arrived in Cairo, called on Cherif
Pasha, minister for foreign affairs, and left it for him to inform the
khedive of his having relinquished the command.

"HE GAVE ME THE SOUDAN." 1 59

He arrived in London on the day before Christmas day, 1876.
Nearly all his companions who went out with him had died or been
invalided home, and he was suffering from overtoil, from the
effects of the terrible climate in which he had lived, and from the
long want of proper and nourishing food. Ismail Pasha now
began to perceive that the man who had done this great work was
entirely independent of him, and would no longer submit to the
prevarications and neglect which made it impossible to hold the
province without unceasing toil and disappointment.

Gordon had succeeded in checking slave-driving in his own
province; but he could not stop it in the extensive Soudan district,
where Khartiim is the head-quarters of the system. He had done
all that seemed to be possible, but the khedive was exceedingly
unwilling to lose his services, and people in authority in England
also urged that it was his duty to return. He had only been at
home about five weeks when he consented to return to Cairo to
talk the matter over. He had made up his mind that he would
not resume office unless he had the Soudan under his control, and
he did not expect that Ismail Pasha would consent to give him so
much power. " I have promised that if his highness will not give
me the Soudan I will not go back to the lakes. I do not think he
will give it, and I think you will see me back in six weeks," he
wrote on the 31st of January. Then on the 13th of February,
" I went to see H. H. He looked at me reproachfully, and my
conscience smote me. He led me in, and Cherif Pasha came in.
Then I began and told him all; and then he gave me the Soudan,
and I start on Saturday morning."

The khedive had put Gordon in the place of the man who had
so troubled him, and had so extended his duties that an immense
territory was put under his rule; a province about 1640 miles long,
with an average breadth of about 660 miles.

On the 1 7th of February the khedive wrote to Colonel Gordon :

" Setting a just value on your honourable character, on your
zeal, and on the great services that you have already done me, I
have resolved to bring the Soudan, Darfour, and the provinces of
the Equator into one great province, and to place it under you as

l6o EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

governor-general. As the country which you are thus to govern
is so vast, you must have beneath you three vakeels (or deputy-
governors), the first for the Soudan properly so-called, the second
for Darfour, and the third for the shores of the Red Sea and the
Eastern Soudan. . . . There are two matters to which I
would draw your attention : the first, the suppression of slavery ;
the second, the improvement of the means of communication. As
Abyssinia for a great distance lies along the borders of the Soudan,
I beg you when you are on the spot, to look carefully into the
state of affairs there; and I give you power, should you think well,
to enter into negotiations with the authorities of that kingdom, to
the end that a settlement may be arrived at of the matters in
dispute between us and them."

On the 1 8th of February, 1877, Colonel Gordon left Cairo for
Suez on his way to Massowa, where he arrived on the 26th.

The khedive had given to Gordon a task which would have
appalled a man of less single-minded determination. Affairs in
Abyssinia were almost hopelessly entangled. On the retreat of
Theodore to Magdala in the final scene of the English expedition,
Kassai had assumed the title of " Johannis, King of Abyssinia."
We have seen what had taken place there up to the time when
Egypt had seized upon Bogos, and acquired other territory by the
treachery of the governor. Egypt had still been hankering after
an annexation of territory which was claimed by "Johannis," the
successor of Theodorus, but, having been defeated in the attempt
by Walad el Michael the hereditary Prince of Hamagen and
Bogos, whom Johannis had set free that he might go into his own
country and raise his people against the Egyptian invaders, the
khedive prepared another expedition commanded by Rahib Pasha,
and having an American officer. By that time Walad el Michael
had quarrelled with Johannis, and went over to the Egyptians, but
the Abyssinian was too strong for them both, and utterly defeated
them, so that the remnant of the Egyptian army had to get back
to Massowa under a truce, while Walad el Michael had slipped off
with his 7000 men to Bogos, and actually made a plunge into the
province of Hamacen, and killed the Abyssinian governor. This

THE POLECAT, THE WEASEL, AND THE HENS. l6l

SO incensed the furious Johannis that he sent to Cairo offering to the
khedive to cede Hama^en — the very place to obtain which war had
been made — if Walad el Michael were caught and handed over to
him. The envoy was kept waiting in Cairo for three months, and
then returned to Abyssinia without an answer. Johannis was now
in a temper which made it unsafe for anybody to go near him, and
this was the complication which Gordon was commissioned to
clear up. The situation is quaintly explained by Gordon himself:

" There were two courses open to me with respect to this Abys-
sinian question: the one to negotiate peace with Johannis and
ignore Walad el Michael, and if afterwards Walad turned rusty, to
arrange with Johannis to come in and catch him. This certainly
would have been easiest for me. Johannis would have been
delighted, and we would be rid of Walad; but it would first
of all be very poor encouragement to any future secessions, and
would debase Egyptian repute. The process of turning in the
polecat Johannis to work out the weasel (Walad) would play havoc
with the farmyard (the country) in which the operation was carried
on; and it might be that the polecat Johannis having caught the
weasel Walad, might choose to turn on the hens (which we are),
and killing us, stay in the farmyard. For, to tell the truth, we,
the hens, stole the farmyard, this country, from the polecats when
they were fighting among themselves, and before they knew we
were hens. The other course open to me was to give Walad a
government separated from Johannis, which I have done, and I
think that was the best course; it was no doubt the most honest
course, and though in consequence we are like a fat nut between
the nutcrackers, it will, I hope, turn out well."

This arrangement, which Gordon himself knew well enough
would be no more permanent than any other, and was only
adopted because it was the simplest, and on the whole, perhaps,
the most equitable, had to be rapidly effected, for affairs in the
Soudan were looking dangerous.

The work that lay before him was almost appalling, and grateful
as he was to the Khedive Ismail for giving him this apparently
arbitrary power over such an enormous extent of territory, he

Vol I. 11

1 62 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

was soon to discover that his supposed prerogative was practically
frustrated. He had no distinct authority to punish the chiefs
and governors who were plotting his destruction, opposing him
by force or treachery, and using all their influence to maintain
the slave-trade, to suppress which was the very object of his
mission. The declared punishment for slave-hunting chiefs by
the decree of the khedive was from five months' to five years'
imprisonment, but the purchase of slaves in Egyptian territory was
legal, and it was not easy to determine whether a caravan of
slaves had been bought within the prescribed limits. When the
false and rebellious chiefs and officers who were to have aided
Gordon, but whom he discovered to be, like the rest of Egyptian
officials, utterly untrustworthy, were dismissed by him and sent
away to Cairo, they should have been punished there, but were
either unquestioned or treated with such leniency as to encourage
others in their opposition to the efforts that he was making.
Some of them actually appeared at the assemblies and balls given
by the khedive at his palace, and were quite pleasantly received.

The only notice which reached Gordon from Cairo on the
question of the slave brigands who were making war against
him was an offer from Nubar Pasha to send Zebehr — Zebehr having
promised Nubar to pay a revenue of ^25,000 a year, a sum which
he could only obtain by sending down slaves. Gordon, of course,
declined that offer. " The way that the Cairo government support
Sebehr, who is in Cairo, makes a very bad impression," he wrote,
"for every one here thinks that I am the only obstacle to his
return. Now H. H. knows that Zebehr has egged on his people
to this revolt, that it was he who devastated the whole country,
and that he alone is responsible for the slave-trade of the last ten
years; and yet Zebehr has the entree partout. ... I am
putting, in all the frontier posts, European Vakeels (sub-governors)
to see that no slave caravans come through the frontier. I do not
think that any now try to pass, but the least neglect of vigilance
would bring it on again in no time. I shall give Gessi ^locxy if
he succeeds in catching Zebehr's son. I hope he will hang him,
for if he is sent to Cairo he will be made much of"

LOYALTY AND TREACHERY. 163

The State of the law which hampered Gordon's endeavours
was utterly confusing. In a letter of March 15th, 1879, he briefly
says : —

"I. I have an order signed by the khedive to put to death all
slave-dealers or persons taking slaves.

" 2. I have the convention (between the British and Egyptian
governments for the suppression of the slave-trade, signed at
Alexandria, Aug. 4, 1877), which calls slave-taking 'robbery with
murder.'

" 3. I have the khedive's decree, which came out with the
convention, that this crime is to be punished with five months to
five years prison.

"4. I have a telegram from Nubar Pasha saying that 'the sale
and purchase of slaves in Egypt is legal.' "

Added to these difificulties the authorities in Cairo were
worrying him for money, while the pay of his soldiers was in
arrear, the yearly deficit of the Soudan finances was ^109,000 and
the debts ;^300,ooo. No more than five-sixths of the revenue was
ever obtained, because the collectors said to the heads of com-
munities, " Pay me four-sixths of the sum due, and give as back-
sheesh to me one-sixth; then I will certify that you cannot pay the
remaining sixth." This kind of peculation could not be checked
in so vast a country with only Egyptian officials to work with.

These were the distressing conditions which he had to endure
after more than two years' constant anxiety, frequent sickness,
perpetual travelling on camels from place to place, and surrounded
by war, treachery, and revolt; to say nothing of the harrowing
cruelties of which he had to witness the results, and on the
perpetrators of which he endeavoured to inflict chastisement.
The loyalty of the man who reduced his own salary one half
because of the appointment of a subordinate who would require
to be paid, and the dismissal of worse than useless retainers, was
manifest at the very outset of the expedition, when he left Abyssinia
because of the report of a serious insurrection in Darfur. He
says : — " I have written to Vivian^ to say that if anything happens

' The Hon. H. C. Vivian, the English consul-general.

1 54 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

to me the khedive is to be defended from ail blame, and the
accident is not to be put down to the suppression of slavery. I
have to contend with many vested interests : with fanaticism, with
the abolition of hundreds of Arnauts,^ Turks, &c., now acting as
Bashi-Bazouks, with inefficient governors, with wild independent
tribes of Bedouins, and with a large semi-independent province,
lately under Sebehr Pasha, at Bahr Gazelle."

His energy was tremendous. " I got here to-day," he wrote
from Katarif, "after a very hot journey. We did it in a very
short time — sixty hours, 150 miles. . . . With terrific exertions in
two or three years time I may, with God's administration, make a
good province, with a good army and a fair revenue, and peace and
an increased trade, and also have suppressed slave raids; and then
I will come home and go to bed, and never get up again till noon
every day, and never walk more than a mile."

On the route from Kasala to Katarif on the Atbara Gordon noted
a remarkable spectacle. There was a great f^te as he and his escort
came into the settlement, and there were a number of men in regular
chain-shirts of links with a gorget; these chain-mail shirts reached
to their feet. They had helmets of iron, with "a nose-piece and
fringe of chain-armour. They rode on horses which had a head and
cheek defence, and were covered with a sort of quilt of different
colours, that reached down to their feet. It reminded the colonel
of the fetes at Charlton, where they used to represent the ancient
tournaments. All the swords were like the old crusaders' — straight,
two-handed, and cross-hiked. Evidently these people had not
changed since the Crusades.

Some months afterwards, at Dara, he found a number of
ancient swords similar to those here mentioned; he also found
some chain-armour which had been on the men who accompanied
the Sultan Ibrahim when he was killed in the invasion of Darfur.
In a note on the subject Colonel Gordon wrote, "When the
Crusaders ceased their attacks on the Mussulmans of the Arabian
peninsula the latter found their land too crowded and began to
emigrate. One band went up the Nile and swept along to the

* Greek Mohammedans from Albania.

ANCIENT ARMS AND ARMOUR. 1 65

west. They did not go further than lo degrees N. latitude,
because their camels could not live beyond this line. When they
first settled in these lands, in the belt which stretches along io° north
latitude, they were few in number. They squatted and lived with
the negro tribes. They increased and multiplied, and then began
to influence these tribes, and induced them to become Mussulmans.
These Bedouins still maintained their nomadic life, and to this day
are a distinct people from the negro aboriginals. The armour, 1
believe, came up with the emigrants. The people of these lands
say that it is as old as David King of Israel. Anyway it never
was manufactured in these countries, and must have come from
Syria. Kordofan, Darfur, Wadi, Fertit, Bagirmi, Bornou, and
Sokoto are Mussulman states founded by these settlers." It would
thus appear that Mohammedanism has spread as far southward as
the camel can exist; the tenth degree of north latitude being the
limit of both.^

In the following year (1878), when Gordon had arrived at
Dongola from Khartum, a man had run after him en route with
some Darfur things which he brought as a present for his high-
ness the khedive. " There was a helmet, a guard for the arm, a
buckler, the spear, and the sceptre. The date on them was 280
of Hegira, which would make them 1015 years of age. They were
evidently taken by some one at the capture of Fascher, and will
make a nice present for H. H. I fear I had to give ^100 for the
things, but as they are a sort of regalia and as the money stays in
the country, I did not grudge it. The buckler has many small
figures around it in gilt, of men on horses hunting deer, and of
falcons killing geese." Alas! Gordon soon discovered that he
might as well have kept his money in his pocket. Writing in
January, 1879, he says, " I am perfectly furious with H. H., for I
see that he has given the whole of the splendid collection of arms
and trophies which I had sent him from the Equator and the
Soudan to a museum in Paris. Amonsf them were the shield and
helmet, &c., for which I gave ^100 in solid coin of my own, and
which I gave to H. H. Fancy H. H. giving a national collection

' Colonel Gordon in Central Africa.

1 66 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

like this which would have sold for ;^i 5,000, to a French museum
when we are wanting ^5 in this country."

Six days after leaving Khatarif, Gordon and his following were
at Sennar after travelling forty-five miles a day in the nights and
mornings, tormented by myriads of biting beetles. In another six
days he reached Khartum, having stopped to give orders, write
letters, consider petitions, and settling all kinds of applications at
the stations which he passed through on his way.

He had, indeed, a stupendous task before him in attempting to
reform the Soudan. " To give peace to a country quick with war;
to suppress slavery among a people to whom the trade in human
flesh was life and fortune; to make an army out of perhaps the
worst material ever seen; to form a flourishing trade and a fair
revenue on the wildest anarchy in the world. The immensity of
the undertaking; the infinity of details involved in a single step
towards the end; the countless odds to be faced; the many pests;
the deadly climate; the horrible vermin; the ghastly itch; the
nightly and daily alternations of overpowering heat and bitter
cold — to be endured and overcome: the environment of bestial
savagery and ruthless fanaticism — all these combine to make the
achievement unique in human history," writes Mr. Hake in his
biography of Gordon.

At Khartum he was installed as governor-general, the cadi
reading the firman and presenting an address. A royal salute was
fired, and Gordon had to make his speech. It was pithy, but
definite; and "pleased the people much." All he said was:
" With the help of God I will hold the balance level." He
celebrated the occasion by distributing to the deserving poor,
gratuities amounting to a thousand pounds of his own money.
He had first to encounter the opposition of Halid Pasha, the man
who had been sent to him as his second in command, and who
tried to bully him, but " after a two days' tussle " had to give in,
and was all subservience, which, as usual, meant that he intended
to frustrate what his chief was trying to do; a course which ended
sometime afterwards in Gordon dismissing him and sending him
back to Cairo, where he no doubt was received quite agreeably.

WAKING UP KHARTUM. 167

The sister of the former governor-general at Khartum too showed
her indignation at her brother's supercession by breaking all the
windows in the palace — 130 of them, — and cutting the divans or
raised cushioned seats to pieces. Gordon had but a month in
which to change the entire condition of affairs at Khartum. He
restored the authority of the former Ulemas; abolished flogging
with the kourbash, under which ten to fifteen poor wretches had
been made to suffer daily; and remitted the outstanding fines which
had been inflicted on the people by the former grasping govern-
ment. He could not entirely suppress the system of bribing
ofificials by those who wanted places, and his head-clerk brought
him considerable sums of money which had been given by people
who sought situations worth about ;^200 a year — a salary which
would necessarily be increased by the "perquisites" wrung from
the people. He took the money and put it into the treasury, but
did not punish the bribers, as they had "been brought 'up to it."
The smaller bribing by persons who had petitions to present was
stopped by providing a box with a large slit in it which was placed
at the door of the palace to receive written complaints or requests,
to which he gave prompt attention, and thus saved much valuable
time by avoiding the long and formal personal interviews which
would otherwise have been demanded by petitioners. Another
reform was the provision of a simple system by which water was
pumped up from the river to supply the city. The most difficult
task which he accomplished, however, was the disbanding of about
6000 Turks and Bashi Bazouks, who formed the guards of the
frontier, and persistently allowed the slave caravans to pass. This
was absolutely essential, but was, of course, not completed without
arousing the animosity and opposition of a large number of those
who were deprived of their command.

Gordon could not remain at Khartum. He afterwards said
that he expected to ride 5000 miles that year; and it, indeed,
appeared that only the most unsparing energy could enable him
to meet the difficulties by which he was surrounded. Darflir was
in revolt. Haroun, the relative of the previous sultan, still claimed
the throne, and took advantage of the discontent caused by the ill

1 68

EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

government of the province to incite the people to insurrection.
This was in February, 1877, and a very large number of men
v/ere ready to maintain the claims of Haroun since the Bedouin
tribes, who had held aloof from the sultan when Darfur was
conquered in 1874', were now ready to uphold his claim. Darfur
and Kordofan were peopled by large tribes of Bedouins under
their own sheikhs, and more than semi-independent, the country
for the most part a vast desert, with wells few and far between,
some of which were only known to those tribes. Some of the
tribes could put from 2000 to 6000 horse or camel men into the
field. One formidable weapon of the Darfurians was a long
lance with a huge blade like a potato-hoe. Of these and the
"assegais," which these people threw with great skill, we have
heard a great deal during the more recent conflicts in the Soudan.

The Bedouins who were supporting the revolt in Darfiir were
slave-traders, making raids on the negro tribes to the south, or
exchanging cloth for slaves with other Bedouin tribes beyond
even the pretended boundary of Egypt on the west. The slaves
thus entered the Egyptian territory four or five at a time, though
nothing would have prevented their going in a hundred at a time,
as there was no range of sentinels on the borders of the country.
Gordon considered that the large slave-caravans in which the
wretched captives were driven in numbers through the desert
manacled or bearing heavy wooden yokes had ceased, but that
there was still an extensive trade carried on by small dealers which
it would be impossible to put down.

The governor of Darfur, Hassan Helmi Pasha, was supine
and useless. He had a large force at his disposal, but failed to
render any assistance to the stations of El Fascher, Dara, Kolkol,
and Kakabieh, where the insurgents or followers of Haroun had
hemmed in the Egyptian garrisons. A force which had been
sent from Fogia to their aid had, for some reason or other, not
succeeded in relieving them. It was to accomplish this relief that
Gordon's first efforts had to be made. But that arch-villain and
supreme slave-dealer, Zebehr, was still planning. He at the out-
break of the Russian war had been sent from Cairo, where he had

Gordon's fine audacity. 169

been made so comfortable by the khedive, to Stamboul. He had
not ceased to plot; and now his son Suleiman was at the head of
the slave-dealers to the south, and with a great horde at his
command was holding a threatening attitude at Shakka, his head-
quarters, and the very nest of the slave-trade in that part.

Gordon had declared that Darfiir was quite worthless as a
possession, and as the revolt was caused by the cruelty and
extortion of the Bashi-Bazouks, he determined to evacuate Toashia,
Dara, and Kadjmour, and with their united garrisons move against
Haroun. He thus proposed to get rid of the useless exposed
stations, and by taking away the troops to save the people from
pillage, the cause of revolts. His plan was to keep only the trunk
road to Fascher.

Haroun had a vast number of men, but as the seed-time
approached they were likely to desert, for they would not like to
stay long away from their districts; and as each tribe would steal
from the others who had been their allies, the coalition would be
soon broken up. Gordon had 500 nondescript troops with him ;
there were 350 more at Toashia, and 1200 at Dara, which was to
be vacated, so that he had about 2000, not counting the 1000 men
at Kadjmour who were wanted to march from that place to Kolkol.
But at Shakka were the hordes of Zebehr, led by his son, and there
had assembled a host of murderers and robbers who made raids on
the negro tribes for slaves. Gordon reckoned that they could put
10,000 men into the field. He wrote: — "Altogether it was well
I came to the Soudan. Another year would have left little Soudan
to come to, what with these gentlemen, Darfur, and Abyssinia.
I am overwhelmed with debts. Some of the men have had no
pay for three years!"

When once Gordon had left Khartum he sped from place to place
with his accustomed alacrity, and it may be added without caring
much whether he arrived without his escort. He went single-handed
and unarmed amidst not only doubtful friends but avowed enemies.
His utter fearlessness,- which looked like audacity, but was simple
indifference to danger or even to death, astonished the enemy so
much that they often submitted at once. His sudden appearance

lyO EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

frequently dismayed the cowardly and procrastinating garrisons at
the stations. In this way he approached Fogia, where the force
had been sent two months previously to relieve the Darfur garrison.

" I am quite alone, and like it. I am become what people call
a great fatalist, viz. I trust God will pull me through every
difficulty. The solitary grandeur of the desert makes one feel
how vain is the effort of man. This carries me through my
troubles and enables me to look on death as a coming relief when
it is His will. The heat is sometimes terrible. I am now
accustomed to the camel. It is a wonderful creature, with its silent,
cushion-like tread. . . .

" I have a splendid camel — none like it; it flies along, and quite
astonishes even the Arabs. I came flying into this station in
marshal's uniform, and before the men had time to unpile their arms
I had arrived, with only one man with me. I could not help it;
the escort did not come in for an hour and a half afterwards. The
Arab chief who came with me said it was the telegraph. The
Gordons and the camels are of the same race — let them take an
idea into their heads, and nothing will take it out. If my camel
feels inclined to go in any particular direction, there he will go,
pull as much as you like. The grand cordon was given to a man
who guaranteed to give it to me as we approached the station; but,
alas! it did not come for an hour afterwards. It is fearful to see
the governor-general, arrayed in gold clothes, flying along like
a madman, with only a guide, as if he was pursued. The mudir
had not time to gather himself together before the enemy was on
him. Some of the guards were down at a well drinking. It was
no use; before they had got half-way to their arms the goal was
won. Specks had been seen in the vast plain around the station
moving towards it (like Jehu's advance), but the specks were few —
only two or three— and were supposed to be the advance guard,
and before the men of Fogia knew where they were the station
was taken. The artillerymen were the only ones ready!"

It was a wretched "tag, rag, and bobtail" army that Gordon
led to Toashia; they were nearly starved and had not been paid.
He led to Dara " 500 of all sorts, a very poor set," with flint-lock

SLAVERY FROM TWO POINTS OF VIEW. 171

muskets and all kinds of arms, a band of brigands in fact. He was
in hourly danger of being attacked by thousands of the blacks,
who were far superior to the Arabs. Dara had been six months
without news from without. " It was like the relief of Lucknow."
Everything was at famine prices. There were above 200 slaves,
or poor creatures who seemed to be slaves, who were captured from
the tribe attacked by the expedition. They were starving, and had
been thirty-six hours without food. Intelligence came from Fascher
that when Haroun was attacked there, hundreds of men, women,
and children were dying or dead of smallpox and starvation.
Gordon's Arabs let the wretched people captured at Dara go free.
" They went off, 235 of them, arm in arm like a long string. They
did this to prevent the vultures, the Gallabats, taking them as
slaves, which they wanted to do." These Gallabats were regular
slave-traders, and Gordon dared not do anything against them
because of his position with respect to Shakka. He feared to
raise them against him, as they appeared at the time to be well
disposed.

Among the liberated slaves were "some poor little wretches,
only stomachs and heads with antennae for legs and arms." The
enormous stomachs were caused by feeding on grass. A swarm
of starved wretches afterwards invaded the court-yard of his
quarters, and he was obliged to send them off till the next day,
when he could procure some dhoora for them. His position was
one of the most extreme difficulty, which was increased by the
necessity for keeping up an armed force, and making use of the
slaves for the purpose of recruiting it. Already he was being
accused of inconsistency, and accusations were brought against
him which could only be refuted by a complete understanding of
the painful position in which he was placed.

" Of course," he wrote, " I must let time soften down the ill
effects of what is written against me in the papers on account
of my purchasing the slaves now in possession of individuals in
order to obtain the troops necessary to put down slavery. I need
troops. How am I to get them but thus? If I do not buy these
slaves, unless I liberate them at once they will remain slaves, while

172 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

when they are soldiers they are free from that reproach. I cannot
Hberate them from their owners without compensation for fear of a
general revolt. I cannot compensate the owners and then let the
men go free, for they would only be in danger. Though the slaves
may not like to be soldiers, still it is the fate of many in lands where
there is the conscription, and, indeed, it is the only way in which I
can break up the bands of armed men which are owned by private
people — slave-dealers, and get these bands under discipline. When
I have these bands, of which Sebehr's son and others are the chiefs,
then the slave-dealers will have no power to make raids, while, at
the same time, I get troops able to prevent any such like attempt.
I doubt not people will write and say: i. Colonel Gordon
buys slaves for the government. 2. Colonel Gordon lets the
Gallabats take slaves. To No. i I say: 'True, for I need the
purchased slaves to put down the slave-dealers and to break up
their semi-independent bands.' To No. 2 I say: 'True, for I
dare not stop it to any extent for fear of adding to my enemies
before I have broken up the nest of slave-dealers at Shaka.' I
should be mad if I did. We should not, if at war with Russia,
choose that moment to bring about any change affecting the
social life of the Hindoos. The slaves I buy are already torn
from their homes; and whether I buy them or not, they will till
twelve years have elapsed remain slaves. After twelve years
they will be free according to the treaty. It is not as if I
encouraged raids for the purpose of getting slaves as soldiers.
But people will, of course, say : ' By buying slaves you increase
the demand, and indirectly encourage raids.' I say: 'Yes, I
should do so if after buying them I still allowed the raids to
continue; which, of course, I shall not do.' . . . This slave
question is most troublesome and difficult to manage. A number
of the slaves who were taken in the last raid made near here on
the sly by the Gallabats refuse to go back, for they find they are
better fed with their new masters than they were with their old.
. What am I to do with the 3000 or 4000 slaves, women
and children, that are now at Shaka if we take it? I cannot take
them back to their own country, I cannot feed them. ... I

THE OUTLOOK OF SLAVERY IN THE SOUDAN. 1 73

must let them be taken by my auxiliaries, or by my soldiers, or by
the merchants. There is no help for it. If I let them loose they
will be picked up in every direction, for an escaped slave is like an
escaped sheep — the property of him who finds him or her. One
must consider what is best for the individual himself, not what
may seem best to the judgment of Europe. It is the slave who
suffers, not Europe. There is not the slightest doubt but that if
I let the slaves be taken by my soldiers, by the tribes, or by the
Gallabat merchants, instead of there being a cessation of the slave
caravans, there will be a great increase of them for two or three
months, and a corresponding outcry against me. But, at any rate,
the slaves will go by frequented routes, and will not die on the
road. I could let the matter solve itself; i.e. let the slaves stay as
they are, and let the owners run the cordon as they best can; but
I should thus cause the slaves to undergo great suffering, and
perhaps the death of one-half of them. Shall I be cowardly and do
this for fear of what ill-informed Europe may say? . . . There
are the slaves; around them the hungry vultures, and only one
man to protect them, and that man has no means of feeding them
or of sending them back to their friends. . . . Strange to say,
these wretched slaves have their likes and dislikes. Some would
sooner go with their Gallabat merchants, some with the tribes,
and some with the soldiers. They are of different minds. Even
if they could, they would not go back to their now desolate homes.
If they did, they would be attacked by more powerful tribes, and
be made slaves to them. Their own country is probably a desert,
their people dispersed, and the land run over with weeds. It
would be a long time ere they could get their crops again. . . .
It makes one wink to think how the slaves of all these Bedouin
tribes are to be freed in twelve years. Who is to free them ? Will
Great Britain ? When the trees hear my voice and obey me, then
will the tribes liberate their slaves! The only thing the govern-
ment can do is to prevent their getting new ones."

Can anything point more emphatically to the obstacles that
surrounded the question of slavery in the Soudan? This quota-
tion in itself will show pretty clearly the bearings of the whole

174 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

question, and the improbability of any European power taking
armed possession of a vast extent of worthless territory, arid
and almost waterless desert, and inhabited by tribes warlike and
constantly at war with each other, for the purpose of putting
an end to a traffic which everybody around recognizes as an
institution to be supported and defended. Gordon came to be
almost heart-broken when he realized the position in which he
found himself. When he was en route to Shakka he wrote (on
the loth September, 1877), " I have complaints on all sides of the
pillage committed by the slave-dealers' people. I cannot help it.
I am running a great risk in going into the slavers' nest
with only four companies, but I will trust to God to help me, and
the best policy with these people is a bold one." It is not easy to
realize the loneliness, the tremendous sense of responsibility, the
mental and physical suffering which this man had to undergo;
only his firm faith in the directing power of God, perhaps only
his fatalism, as he knew people would and must call it, would have
upheld him and carried him through.

The manner of his entering Dara was illustrative of his
marvellous energy, his contempt for danger, his utter disregard of
anything that might happen to himself when duty seemed to point
to the course to be pursued. On his way thither he learned that
an officer (lieutenant-colonel) who should have attacked the enemy
at one of the stations had been bribed to remain inactive. The
culprit went to meet Gordon, who would not see him; but had to
deal with him afterwards. This fellow allowed his men to rob
right and left, and all along the road the wretched people went
running to Gordon for protection, for the irregular banditti troops
would steal a boy or a girl with as little compunction as they would
snatch a fowl.

The. manner in which the governor-general reached Dara is
suggestive enough : —

" I got to Dara alone, about 4 p.m., long before my escort,
having ridden eighty-five miles in a day and a half About seven
miles from Dara I got into a swarm of flies, and they annoyed me
and my camel so much that we jolted along as fast as we could.

A FIGHT WITH THE LEOPARDS. 1 75

Upwards of 300 were on my camel's head, and I was covered with
them. I suppose that the queen fly was among them. If I had
no escort of men I had a large escort of these flies. I came on
my people like a thunderbolt. As soon as they had recovered,
the salute was fired. My poor escort! Where is it? Imagine
to yourself a single, dirty, red-faced man on a camel, ornamented
with flies, arriving in the divan all of a sudden. The people were
paralysed, and could not believe their eyes."

His success, however, was greater than he expected. That
the bold policy was the most effectual was soon proved.

On Sept. 2, 1877, he wrote: — " No dinner after my long ride,
but a quiet night, forgetting my miseries. At dawn I got up,
and putting on the golden armour the khedive gave me, went out
to see my troops, and then mounted my horse and with an escort
of my robbers of Bashi-Bazouks rode out to the camp of the other
robbers three miles off. I was met by the son of Sebehr — a nice-
looking lad of twenty-two years — and rode through the robber
bands. There were about 3000 of them — men and boys. I rode
to the tent in the camp; the whole body of chiefs were dumb-
founded at my coming among them. After a glass of water I
went back, telling the son of Sebehr to come with his family to
my divan. They all came, and sitting there in a circle I gave
them in choice Arabic my ideas — that they meditated revolt, that
I knew it, and that they should now have my ultimatum — viz.
that I would disarm them and break them up. They listened in
silence, and then went off to consider what I had said. They
have just now sent in a letter stating their submission, and I thank
God for it. They have pillaged the country all round, and I
cannot help it."

But before gaining this advantage he had been delayed by an
unexpected danger, for on his pushing out to Fascher to see how
matters were going on there, he was confronted by a tribe known
as the Leopards. He had for his allies the Masharins, which was
a fortunate thing, as though he had 3500 troops they were such
a cowardly set that they would scarcely fight even behind their
entrenchments, and but for the brave Masharins, whose chief was

176 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

killed in the first encounter, would have been badly off. Gordon
eventually suppressed the Leopards by strategy, contriving to cut
them off from the vk^ells so that they were unable to obtain water.

" The detachment of the Leopards are without water, and have
been so for a day. I am sorry for it. Consider it as we may, war
is a brutal, cruel affair. Do you notice how often, in the wars of
the Israelites, the people were in want of water? Those wars
were the same as our wars here (see 2 Kings iii. 9). I fear we
are like them, for we take captives — in fact, the whole of the
circumstances are just as they were in the time of the Kings of
Israel, even the cloth wrapped round the men, and the immense
spears. To a man who knew the Scriptures, and could write well,
it would be a grand chance. The chiefs are now, as then, men of
known personal courage, like the commander-in-chief of David.
The small portion of the Leopard tribe which is near here has got
my letter of pardon, and some of them are flying down to the
water. Fancy what a comfort to them in this fearful sun! You
see the people coming over the sand like flies on a wall. The
poor fugitives cannot stand the thirst, and are coming down, one
by one, to water. You have not the very least idea of the fearful
effect of want of water in this scorched up country, yet this Leopard
tribe would rise in rebellion though it had never been molested
by the government. The effect of crushing it will be great; never
before have they been so disastrously situated. Hunger is nothing
to thirst; the one can be eased by eating grass, the other is swift
and insupportable."

The " nice-looking lad," Zebehr's son Suleiman, whom Gordon
afterwards calls " a cub " (seeming to have been amused at his cool
insolence), turned out to be a cunning treacherous scoundrel, as
might have been expected; but alarmed by the rapidity and
authority of the governor-general he left about half of his fol-
lowers and returned to Shakka. To this place Gordon followed
him about the middle of September, 1877, and sent him to Bahr-
el-Ghazal, while the other chiefs he dismissed to various places.
The slave-trade was thus broken up for the time in this direction,
and very large numbers of slaves had been liberated; but there

THE CLAIMS OF "DINNER." 1 77

were above 4000 more slave -hunters to be dealt with in the
Bahr-el-Ghazal, though Edrees, the chief of these, was apparently
friendly to Gordon.

The anxiety of the governor-general was extreme. He did
not fear death, but he feared, or rather he knew, that if he should
die or be killed the whole country would again fall into anarchy,
and the slave-hunters resume their detestable traffic. He was
almost crushed beneath the weight of responsibility, surrounded
as he was by those who only awaited an opportunity to undo all
that he had done, and he could not count even on the moral
support of the Egyptian government.

There were some 6000 more slave-dealers in the interior who
were ready to obey when they heard that the son of Zebehr and
the other chiefs had submitted, but there was then the difficulty
of dealing with such a number of armed men. Gordon wrote : —
" I have separated them here and there, and in course of time will
rid myself of the mass. Would you shoot them all? Have they
no rights? Are they not to be considered? Had the planters no
rights ? Did not our government once allow slave-trading ? Do
you know that cargoes of slaves came into Bristol harbour in the
time of our fathers? . . If it suits me I will buy slaves,

I will let captured slaves go down to Egypt and not molest them,
and I will do what I like, and what God in his mercy may direct
me to do about domestic slaves; but I will break the neck of
slave raids even if it cost me my life. . . Certain Greeks

are now at K atari f, on whom I have my eye, who have gangs of
slaves cultivating cotton. I mean to make a swoop on them. In
fact, the condition of the negro is incomparably better in these
lands than ever it was in the West Indies, and I therefore claim
for my people a greater kindness of heart than was possessed by
the planters, with all their Christian profession and civilization.

. . Act up to your religion and then you will enjoy it. The
Christianity of the mass is a vapid tasteless thing, and of no use
to anyone. The people of England care more for their dinners
than they do for anything else, and you may depend upon it, it is
only an active few whom God pushes on to take an interest in the

Vol. I. 12

178 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

[slave] question. ' It is very shocking! Will you take some
more salmon?'"

A journey of six hours to Shakka through the forest, where
" you are nearly torn to ribbons by the thorny trees," brought
Gordon to the midst of the insubordinate slavers. Suleiman and
the rest of the notables were all submission, and begged for various
appointments. None of them were to be trusted. If Suleiman
were sent to Cairo it would be to make a great man of him, and at
the same time he would be regarded as a martyr by everybody at
Shakka. Gordon took the upper hand and caused the band to
play Salaam Effendina — Vive le Khediva! — for a vast territory was
brought under the Egyptian government by the suppression of the
turbulent rulers. Suleiman was sent to the Bahr Gazelle, and the
other chiefs to different places where posts could be found for
them. The population of the Nile had emigrated to the Bahr
Gazelle regions to seek safety under the new regime, and to escape
from the government exactions.

Gordon made these arrangements rapidly, for he was anxious
to return to Khart<jm by way of Obeid. Shakka was a great
unhealthy town full of slaves, and two large Arab tribes were
already squabbling who should be their head chief, refusing to
obey the sheikhs who were their hereditary rulers. Gordon did
not see how he could dethrone these sheikhs, and therefore gave
the Arabs an audience and said he would force no one, but that
" those who wished for A could go with A, and those who wished
for B could go with B." Zebehr's son was still importunate,
and wanted to be made chief of the seribas — a cool request, as
to have granted it would have been to put everything into his
hands.

When Gordon left Shakka with the mass of slaves that
remained there, he was afraid that it would be long before the
work of dispersing them could be accomplished. On his journey
he became aware that he was conveying to Obeid a caravan of
slaves, and could not help it. " One man says that seven women
who are with him are his wives! I cannot disprove it. There
are numbers of children — the men say that they are all their

A HOPELESS TASK. I 79

offspring! When you have got the ink which has soaked into
blotting paper out of it, then slavery will cease in these lands."
On the following day he came upon a caravan of slaves which
accompanied him — some sixty or eighty men, women, and children
chained. What was he to do? If he released them, who was to
care for them or feed them ? Their homes were too far off to send
them to, so he decided to leave them with the slave merchant, after
compelling him to take off their chains. He, looking on them as
though they were as valuable as cows, would look well after them.
" Don Quixote would have liberated them and made an attempt
to send them back some forty days' march through hostile tribes
to their homes, which they would never have reached. The slave
merchant had done no harm in buying them, for it is permissible
in Egypt, and he had not taken them from their homes, which they
would never have reached. . . . There is no doubt I could
stop all the slave gangs in one way, viz. by telling the tribes to
capture and keep all the gangs that pass. They would soon do
it, but then they would use no discrimination, and would plunder
every one; besides which I think the slaves would prefer ser-
vitude with the Arabs of the towns to servitude with the Be-
douins."

On his way he came across more slaves — one gang was kept
under some trees waiting till he and his followers had passed; but
he detected them and found that they were perishing for want
of water. One of the gangs that he met consisted of slaves from
Dara, who had been captured and sold to the pedlars by his
own officers and men. It was enough to make the most resolute
heart despair of doing any permanent good. No person under
fifteen years of age was safe in Darf(ir or Kordofan. The people
were bent on slave-traffic, and looked on the capture of a slave in
the same way as people would look on appropriating an article
found on the road. He could not then make up his mind what
to do, except that he was determined to stop at once the slave
markets at Katarif, Gallabat, and Shakka, and to prevent the slave
raids on the black tribes near the Bahr Gazelle. Gallabat was
a place under the control of a semi-independent chief of the fierce

I<iO EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

and warlike Tokrooris, who were immigrants from Darfur, and to
deal with them he would have to concentrate troops and prepare
for war; for the chief might cause a revolt and claim the protection
of Abyssinia, from which Gallabat had been stolen by the Egyptians.
In that case there would be both Johannis and Walad el Michael
to settle with. Then at Zeila there was another semi-independent
chief named Aboubec'r, who had so much power with the tribes
that he could not be interfered with except with the aid of a strong
body of troops. It was a maddening complication, and amidst
it all there were the horrors which were witnessed daily on the
journey back to Khartum. One of the Shakka men who was
riding with Gordon told him that hundreds and hundreds of slaves
died on the road, and that when they were too weak to go the
pedlars shot them. In all previous emancipations there had been
a strong government to enforce obedience, or a majority of the
nation wished it; but in that country there was not one who wished
it or who would aid it even by advice. There were many who
would willingly see the sufferings of the slave gangs cease, and
also the raids on the negro tribes; but there they would stop. The
tenure of slaves was the A B C of life there to rich and poor, no
one was uninterested in the matter.

Gordon reached Khartfam in the middle of October, and found
that his energetic measures had caused him to be feared and
respected, but not much liked. All the officials were on the alert
directly they heard of his approach. Some of the dilatory pashas
he had pursued, and quickened their movements towards the
stations. He was received with a certain show of enthusiasm;
but everybody wanted money, and he had none to give them.
He set to work to put affairs in order, for he had only a few days
to spare, and then set off again down the Nile to Berber, intending
to go from there to Dongola, Wadi Haifa, Assouan; thence across
to Berenice on the Red Sea, and then up to Massowa, and from
Massowa to Bogos. Thence he proposed to go to meet King
Johannis, to return to Massowa and go to Berbera, and perhaps to
Harrar. While he was at Dongola, however, inquiring into a
plan for a railway, he received a telegram from Khartiam to say

BUYING OFF THE ENEMY. IS I

that there was a report of an Abyssinian invasion, and that Sennar
was threatened. He immediately started to return to Khartum
by crossing the Bayouda desert in a "bee-line;" and hearing
that the report was false, but that Walad el Michael was again in
arms at the frontier, he set off to the Bogos country. He found
Walad encamped on a plateau on an immense mountain, to reach
which two other mountains had to be crossed with great difficulty.
The camp was six hours' journey from Sanheit, and when Gordon
arrived Walad and his people were quartered in several huts close
together, and surrounded with a ten-foot fence. His people
looked afraid, and were very uneasy. It seemed as though they
were to be made prisoners. About 7000 men were drawn up in
military array to receive the visitor, and the son of Walad, with
a troop of priests bearing sacred pictures, met him on the road.
Walad himself was shamming sick, and Gordon, who found him
lying on a couch with (he said) a bad knee, gave him a few
hints, that any attempt to keep the governor-general's people
prisoners within the fenced enclosure would be resented by the
khedive. This was answered by profuse assurances that no harm
was intended; and Gordon, who was accustomed to go where he
pleased regardless of personal danger, made use of the time that
he was kept waiting for an audience with the chief, by inspecting
the army of brigands, some of whom looked pleased with the
attention, while others scowled at him. It was a bold stroke for
the governor-general in his gold uniform to assume the authority
which his position entitled him to, for he had only his servants
and ten soldiers in his retinue; but he had a sort of instinct for
facing such difficulties. When he was admitted to a conference
with Walad he advised him to ask pardon of Johannis, but this
the chief utterly refused, and demanded more districts over which
he might exercise the right to plunder. At last a compromise was
made by Walad consenting to be quiet for a subsidy of ;^iooo a
month, and Gordon departed for Khartum by way of Suakim and
Berber.

He had been a year in office, and had achieved marvellous
reforms, only effected by labour from the very thoughts of which

1 82 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

most men would have shrunk appalled. His journeys on camels,
3840 miles in all, had produced physical suffering, which he thus
describes : —

" From not having worn a bandage across the chest, I have
shaken my heart or my lungs out of their places, and I have the
same feeling in my chest as you have when you have a crick in
the neck. In camel-riding you ought to wear a sash round the
waist and another close up under the arm-pits; otherwise all the
internal machinery gets disturbed. I say sincerely, that though I
prefer to be here sooner than anywhere else, I would sooner be
dead than lead this life. I have told my clerk, to his horror, to
bury me when I die, and to make the Arabs each throw a stone
on my grave, so that I may have a good monument. It is strange,
fatalists as they are in theory, how they dislike any conversation
like this; they consider it ill-omened, though they agree that it is
written when we are to die."

No sooner had Gordon reached Shendy on his return journey
to Khartum, by way of Suakim and Berber, than he received a
long telegram from the khedive asking him if it would be possible
for him to leave the Soudan and go down to Cairo to arrange his
(the khedive's) financial affairs. The message reached him on the
25th of January (1878), and on the 7th of February he started for
Cairo. The journey to Dongola was long and the weather was
bitterly cold, a piercing north wind blowing the dust before it into
the eyes of the travellers. The same disagreeable conditions lasted
all the way to Wady Haifa.

He was exceedingly averse to going to Cairo, and appears to
have expected that he would not succeed in proposing any
acceptable scheme for disentangling the intricacies of the financial
question, and he felt personally disinclined to participate in the
formal ceremonies of the court. " I have now," he wrote, " been
one year governor-general, and I have lived a very rough sort of
life, so much so that I have lost all my civilized tastes, and have
an aversion to my meals that I can scarcely express. The idea of
dinners at Cairo makes me quail. I do not exaggerate when
I say ten minutes per diem is sufficient for all my meals, and there

A FISH OUT or WATER. 1 83

is no greater happiness to me than when they are finished; and
this though I am quite well."

The dreaded invitation to dinner awaited him in a telegram
asking him to go to the palace on his arrival at 8 p.m. on the 7th
of March. He did not arrive at the station till 9 o'clock, dusty
and dirty, but he was at once " whisked off" to the palace," where
his highness was waiting dinner for him. Before dinner, however,
late as it was, the khedive took him aside and asked him to be
president of the inquiry into the state of the finances of the country.
Ismail was exceedingly kind, and placed him at his right hand
dirty and covered with dust as he was. " After some little
conversation I was taken off to the palace that General Grant, U. S.,
had lately vacated, where the Prince of Wales lodged when here!
. . . My people are all dazed! and so am I, and wish for my
camel. . . . Fancy a palace full of lights, mirrors, gentlemen
to wait on you, and the building itself one of the finest in Cairo."
A week afterwards, however, he wrote : " I am much bothered, but
I get to bed at 8 p.m., which is a comfort; for I do not dine out,
and consequently do not drink wine. Everyone laughs at me, and
I do not care. ... I am almost desperate in my position in
the Soudan. My crop of troubles is never to be got under; slave
questions, finance, government — all seems at sixes and sevens; there
is no peace or rest. . . . H. H. appoints men to my govern-
ment with pay, &c., and then if they do not fit into their places
he says to me, ' Settle with them.' I was not quiet in my lands,
but even H. H. sends me firebrands, as if there was not enough
inflammatory matter." A week later still and there was an end
of it. " H. H. threw me over completely at the last moment; but
far from being angry I was very glad, for it relieved me of a deal
of trouble, and he said I might go at the end of next week. I
laugh at all this farce. . . I left Cairo with no honours; by

the ordinary train, paying my passage. The sun which rose
in such splendour set in the deepest obscurity. I calculate this
financial episode of mine cost me ;^8oo. H. H. was bored with me
after my failure, and could not bear the sight of me^ which those
around him soon knew. I daresay I may have been imprudent in

184 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

speech. I have no doubt it is better as it is. I have no doubt
H. H. and I would have fallen out about the composition of the
court of inquiry, for I feel sure that it was meant to be packed, and
that I was only to be figurehead."

On the 30th of March he left Cairo for Suez, thence to Aden,
from which he crossed over to Berbera on the African coast, and
thence went to Zella, a place which the khedive had obtained from
Turkey for ^15,000 a year extra tribute, and before he had con-
trived to annex Harrar. At Harrar, which is distant eight days'
journey, Raouf Pasha was governor, the same man who had been
at the Equator with Baker and afterwards with Gordon, and whom
Gordon had deposed from his command four years before. He
had not altered. He was a regular tyrant and a monopolist.
Gordon confiscated about ^2000 worth of coffee which he had
sent to be sold to his private account at Aden, that he might buy
other merchandise and retail it at exorbitant prices to the soldiers
at Harrar. " It is the only way to punish him," wrote the
governor-general, "for H. H., doing much the same thing, will
never do so."

The former sultan or ameer of Harrar had oppressed his
people, favoured the Galla tribes, and bullied the Mussulmans; and
this led to the inhabitants sending to the khedive asking him
to take possession of the province. Acting in his usual manner
he sent as his representative Raouf Pasha, the man who had been
turned out by Gordon for misgovernment of another province.
Raouf made short work of the ameer by having him quietly
strangled, a proceeding to which the son of the man objected so
strongly, that he went to Cairo and complained to the khedive,
who appeared to be exceedingly angry, but as usual did nothing.
Raouf then turned upon the Gallas, made one of their great chiefs
a prisoner and put him in irons, but released him when he heard
of the approach of Gordon, who had sent forward the order that
the governor should at once give up his command.

Raouf offered no resistance nor much remonstrance, but left
the place two days after Gordon's arrival. He appeared to be
rather downcast at being turned out, but probably he reflected that

THE MONEY QUESTION. 185

he would be kindly received if not rewarded and pensioned at Cairo,
which was after all a much more agreeable place than a town in
the midst of a desert, where it became a problem with the people
how they were to exist.

The effect of Gordon's experiences at Cairo was to make him
a more determined reformer. The strip of country between the
frontier of Abyssinia and the sea was inhabited by fanatical
Mussulmans, and from the ports all along the coasts the slaves
passed to Hodeidah on the Arabian coast. It was part of his
task to stop this traffic, but the very vastness of the territory over
which he was supposed to have control made it almost hopeless
ever to do so effectually, and since his visit to Cairo his feelings
had very greatly altered with regard to his plan of action. There
was no hope of any change for the better in the government even
if there should be another khedive. This made him careless of
praise or blame from Ismail. All he cared for was to endeavour to
benefit the people. He felt that he and the khedive were likely
to squabble on the old question of making bricks without straw.
Every possible expense was put upon the Soudan, and he was de-
termined to keep down unnecessary outlay. There had been spent
at Berbera .^70,000 on a lighthouse (which was useless), on water
supply, a mosque, a wharf, and other works, and it cost ^40,000
to keep steamers and troops there, while the total revenue was
about ^lyo a year; and the British government insisted on
Berbera being a free port, and forbade a tax being levied on the
10,000 cows and the 60,000 sheep which were exported to Aden.

At anyrate Gordon went to work again in earnest, and began
quickly to get rid of useless or inimical officers. Three generals
of division, one general of brigade, and four lieutenant-colonels
were turned out on his journey to Khartiim, and when he reached
that place he took up his residence there and began assiduously
to devote himself to the reformation of abuses, the settlement of
the finances of the country, and the organization of its affairs.
The state of the finances was rather dismaying. The budget
for the current year showed a deficiency of ^72,000. In October,
1878, the Soudan accounts had just been made out, and showed

1 86 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

that the debt was ^327,000, the revenue ^579,000, the expenses
^651,000, the deficit therefore ^^72,000; but he had already
effected a great improvement. In 1877 they spent ^259,000 more
than they had, but he had so cut down the outgoings that in 1878
they only exceeded the revenue by ^50,600. This reduction had
necessitated his looking after every detail. There was no one at
Cairo to help him, on the contrary there were constant signs of
trouble there; and Mr. Goschen, who was then making his inquiries
with a view to proposing a financial scheme, was told that the
Soudan gave a tribute of ^143,000 a year, while it must have been
known that the Soudan had always cost money, and never gave
any until Gordon was made governor, and so managed that nothing
was given on either side. One of the great difficulties was that
the khedive, having made contracts for railway material and works
which were not entirely carried out, and the terms for which were
extravagant (as a forfeit had to be paid in the shape of an enormous
interest on unused material), endeavoured to place the burden of
responsibility on Gordon, by handing over to him the contract that
he might see what could be done with it. A worse attempt still
was made by his highness, who, finding among his private pro-
perty a couple of steamers that he did not require, tried to have
them added to the provisions for the Soudan at a cost of ^20,000
a year. Gordon would not yield to either of these attempts. He
demanded that the khedive's government, who made the railway
contract, should get out of the difficulty, and he refused the
steamers. Things looked as if they were coming to a crisis in
every direction; after working hard at the accounts Gordon found
that, while Cairo was demanding ;^30,ooo as money due from the
Soudan, it was the Cairo government that owed the Soudan ^9000.
Life at Khartum was dreary enough. In the intervals of his
arduous work Gordon found it dull and dispiriting. He had
scarcely any books, and no associates. He very seldom saw any-
one except on business, and even in that he was obliged to decide
on everything. In a climate that scarcely any European could
endure, and in which half the Arabs were on the sick list (or said
that they were ill), with a heavy debt, and yet hard put to it for

GORDONS RAILWAY PLAN. 187

the want of fifty or a hundred pounds, he had no counsellor on
whom he could rely. All fell on him. — " They are perfect sheep,"
he wrote. "If you ever, in a moment of weakness, ask them
anything, they give a sickly smile, and say, 'You know best.'
Just as H. H. and Nubar telegraph to me."

He occupied his evenings for a short time by making a large
map of the Soudan, and then he sought amusement in taking the
clocks to pieces and putting them together again. The dulness
was almost insupportable. Doubtless he sometimes wished that he
had been free to lead the attacks against the slave-dealers, which
he was for the time only able to direct from Khartum.

The subject of the Soudanese railway, already referred to, had
occupied his earnest attention. It had been in course of con-
struction when he entered on his governorship, but had turned out
a failure, and he was not permitted to carry it forward in the way
that he believed would make it permanently useful.

Ismail had come to the conclusion that if he continued to hold
the Soudan he must improve the communications between it and
Egypt proper; but his notion was to bring the Soudan trade down
the Nile through Egypt, and he therefore abandoned the natural
trade outlet by the route to the Red Sea from Berber to Suakim,
a distance of 280 miles across the desert, and decided on construct-
ing a railway through the desert, along the Nile, past the cataracts
from Wady Haifa to Hanneck, a distance of 180 miles. With the
usual recklessness of consequences contracts were entered into;
but in 1877, after about ;^450,ooo had been spent on the line, the
financial muddle stopped the works, and the line came to an abrupt
conclusion " in the air" about fifty miles from Wady Haifa, and with
130 miles remaining to be crossed before the barrier of desert
would be passed. Careful personal examination by Colonel
Mason, Mr. Gooding, and Colonel Gordon himself had shown that
the river for this 130 miles was not continuously encumbered by
rocks. Between the rocky ridges there were long spaces of open
water, and steamers built in England had in times of full flood
been hauled up every one of the ridges to Khartum and had plied
to Gondokoro. Gordon's plan was to bring up small steamers

l8S EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

during high Nile, to place one on each of the open strips of water
that were of reasonable extent, and thus work them from ridge to
ridge in the open spaces; at the same time, to save expense, having
only one crew, which would shift from steamer to steamer. The
distance between the debarking or landing place of one open
water-way and the embarking wharf of the next open water-way
was to be traversed by tramways, and thus the 130 miles from the
place where the railway terminated to Hanneck would be got over.
The entire cost of thus carrying out the work was computed at
^70,000, as against a million and a half which would have been
required for the completion of the railway; but the revolts of the
slave-drivers and native rulers in the Soudan, and the various
troubles that attended the administration of the province, prevented
the adoption of the scheme, and so there the unfinished railway
remained with its valuable stores perishing, while Egypt proper
had no more actual hold over the Soudan than was possessed by
Ancient Egypt.

But if Gordon was sick and solitary, he was never idle. He
never really had a quiet day, and had the misery of fearing that
in spite of all he did no true progress was made. Dishonest
officials, interfering consuls, and a deaf and indifferent government
who would give him no assistance, but while encouraging his
enemies, would leave his communications unanswered, were quickly
bringing him to the conclusion that he must relinquish office
directly his term expired. First, however, he would use every
effort that he could make, to strike a death-blow to the slave-trade.
By the end of July, 1878, his people had seized twelve caravans of
slaves in two months, and though he was cooped up in Khartum,
and occupied with the finances, he began to take prompt and
severe measures against the cruel scoundrels who not only held
but ill-treated slaves, and especially slave women and children.
A caravan of 400 slaves, with about 180 guards, met one of
Gordon's mudirs or sub-governors of Darfur and refused to obey
him. They got away, but about ninety of the slaves were captured
by a steamer coming from Berber. They presented a terrible
spectacle. There were few over sixteen years of age, and many

ZEBEHR AGAIN. j 89

of them had babies. Some were tiny boys and girls. They had
come over 500 miles of desert, and were a residue of four times
their number. Well might Gordon say it was much for him to do
to keep himself from cruel illegal acts towards the slave-dealers,
though he remembered that God suffered it, and that one must
keep within the law.

At the end of 1878 Gordon heard that the khedive was going
to take from him the command of Harrar and Zeila, and he was
glad of it, for they were a constant source of trouble and expense,
and he had his hands full in addition to endeavouring to pacify
Johannis and Walad el Michael in Abyssinia, where the former
persisted in ignoring the khedive and treating only with Gordon,
whom he called the Sultan of the Soudan. The only authority,
as regarded Abyssinia, that Gordon had been able to obtain from
Ismail was the following, not in Arabic but in French, and it was
written at the end of his nomination as governor-general: — "The
Abyssinian frontier joins the Soudan. Some disputes about the
frontier exist. I authorize you, if you think fit, to settle these
questions with the Abyssinian authorities." These were the
powers with which he had to negotiate with Johannis, who
demanded not only an arrangement of the frontier, but that a
Christian abuna or archbishop should be sent to him from the
Coptic church at Alexandria, as only such an archbishop could
ordain priests, and what was perhaps of equal importance, could
excommunicate those who disobeyed the king, a terrible punish-
ment among the barbarous fanatics of that country.

The revolt in the Bahr Gazelle, which had been stirred up by
Zebehr, who, when he went as a prisoner to Cairo, took with him
;^ 1 00,000 for the purpose of bribing the other pashas, had become
dangerous. Zebehr's son, with a gang of slave-dealing chiefs,
commanded a very large force, and were pillaging the country and
subverting all regular government.

Gordon had caused several of the members of Zebehr's family
to be arrested, and had confiscated such of their property as could
be discovered, and he had sent an expedition under his brave and
able lieutenant Gessi against the rebels. Gessi wrote to him

igo EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

on the 1st of January, 1879, saying that Suleiman had been
repulsed.

At Khartum Gordon was perplexed what to do with 1300
of the slave soldiers who had remained faithful to the government.
These men were a second-class force, and included the larger part
of the full-grown natives in the seribas or camps. They were
called " Farookh," " Narakeek," or " Bazingir," and their duty had
been to accompany the natives in their expeditions whether for
war or for trade. These black soldiers constituted nearly half the
fighting force in all the seribas, and took a prominent part in time
of war.^ Though they had been loyal to his authority the governor-
general did not know how to employ them. He could not put
them into the regular army, for they would never stand the
discipline; so he temporarily gave them a zone of country on the
frontier of Wadai and Darfiir, and sent two Europeans with their
chief (who was one of the best and bravest of Zebehr's men) that
they might keep their eyes upon the natives to prevent slave-
raiding; for all the chiefs had been brought up to be brigands
and could not be expected to change.

Zebehr's system had been to kidnap boys and train them to be
soldiers, so that by the time they grew to be young men of five-
and-twenty years old they were formidable foes; one of their
accomplishments being shooting with the aid of a tripod which
they carried with them. They were, in fact, armed and trained
brigands, and often ruled their nominal chiefs. It was another
phase of the system of Memlooks and Janizaries. The destruction
of Zebehr's gang was the turning-point of the slave-trade question,
and yet Gordon could get not a word of support, much less material
assistance, from Cairo. It was at this juncture that in answer to
his reports on the subject of these slave brigands, Nubar had
offered to send him Zebehr, the very man who had devastated the
country and was responsible for the slave-trade, and who ought
then to have been in prison instead of being a great personage at
Cairo. Could there have been a more bitter farce than this?

But Gordon had pretty well determined what to do. " I shall

' Schweinfurth, Heart of Africa.

REVOLT IN DARFUR. I9I

give Gessi ^looo if he succeeds in catching Zebehr's son," he
wrote : — " I hope he will hang him, for if he is sent to Cairo he
will be made much of."

In February, 1879, Gordon received orders to go to Cairo to
appear before the council of ministers. This was the third
summons, but he replied, that he could not present himself till July,
and sent a telegram to the English consul asking him not to inter-
fere, but, if possible, to see that his successor was a European, as, if
he was forced to go to Cairo, he meant to resign. He knew that
the false position in which the government of the khedive persisted
in placing the financial affairs of the Soudan would bring him into
direct antagonism with the finance minister; and it was also
necessary for him to remain until the taxes of the previous year
had been collected and the serious revolt in the Bahr Gazelle
suppressed, a revolt which Gessi could not deal promptly with, for
want of troops, and which Gordon, having no funds and no spare
troops, was obliged to "starve down" by cutting the rebels off
from supplies.

At last Gordon, becoming uneasy about Gessi, telegraphed to
the khedive for permission to go to Shakka and look after him.
On the loth of March he received leave to go, and set out to
Kordofan. He had determined if possible to deal a death-blow to
the slave-trade, but the work before him was tremendous. There
was the rebellion of the slave-dealers in the Bahr Gazelle, as well
as insurrections in DarfQr and Kordofan. In Darfur Haroun,
who two years before had fled to the hills, was in the field again
claiming his right to the throne. In Kordofan Sabahi, once a chief
of Zebehr's gang, was at the head of the rebels, and had taken to
pillaging and slave-dealing on his own account. In September,
1878, he had murdered a governor whom Gordon had sent to
Edowa. Gordon's comments on the situation are brief. — " Ever
since that time (Sept. 1878) I have been ordering and ordering
him to be crushed; but no, not a bit of it. He is in the mountains
and the 400 troops or more are in the plain, where they have been
for three months doing nothing, I expect, but collecting slaves.
Hassan Pasha Helmi has been at Obeid a month, but has made

192 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

no move to go against him, though as far as his words went he
was going to eat him." Gessi had also an arduous task before
him; but he was a man of iron energy, courage, and decision.
He is thus well described in a few words: "Romulus Gessi,
Italian subject: aged forty-nine— short, compact figure; cool,
most determined man. Born genius for practical ingenuity in
mechanics. Ought to have been born in 1560, not 1832. Same
disposition as Francis Drake. Had been engaged in many petty
political affairs. Was interpreter to Her Majesty's forces in the
Crimea, and attached to the head-quarters of the Royal Artillery."
On his way up the Nile the valiant Gessi soon found how
hopeless was the expectation of any aid from the Egyptian
governors in the endeavour to suppress slave-dealing. Nuggars
or river boats laden with slaves were coming down, and even the
government steamers had their living cargoes. One of them had
292 slaves on board, and among these unhappy wretches were
some porters, free men who had come to Lardo bringing ivory and
corn. The governor, Ibrahim Fansi, had seized them, and sent
them down the river to be sold into slavery. Happily for them
they had been met by one who delivered them. Gessi first went
southwards towards the lakes to get reinforcements from the
different stations. Returning, he landed his troops at Rabat-
chambe. His line of march lay to the west, and the land was
flooded. For three hours one day the water was up to the necks of
his men. He could find few porters, and the state of the country
was such that he could not make a start till the 26th of August,
1878. After a march of five days he arrived at a place where he
heard that Suleiman the son of Zebehr had broken into open revolt,
and had proclaimed himself Lord of the Bahr Gazelle. He had
surprised an Egyptian garrison in Dehm (the town of) Idris, had
massacred the troops, and seized the government ammunition.
Those of the neighbouring chiefs who did not submit to his rule he
had attacked and put to the sword. The women and children he
had caused to be murdered, or had carried them away to slavery;
everywhere he had robbed the people of their stores of grain. In
some places there was nothing left for them to eat but the leaves

THE BRAVE GESSl S PROMPT MEASURES. 1 93

of trees, and they were dying of hunger. For some months Gessi
was cut off from Khartum, and, therefore, from communication
with Gordon, by the sudd or grassy barriers which had again
formed in the Nile, had prevented the passage of the boats, and
doubtless had helped to flood the country. He sorely needed
reinforcements, for he had but 300 regulars, two guns, and 700
very inferior irregulars very badly armed; but Gordon had no
men to send even if the barrier of the Nile had not existed.
Meantime the treacherous Arabs of the Bahr Gazelle, who had
appeared friendly, but were really waiting to see which side was
likely to be the strongest, were joining the enemy Suleiman, whose
followers numbered 6000 men, while, even when Gessi had received
some of the reinforcements which he had sought in the country,
he could only count upon 1 300 men, and with these he began to
fortify his position at Rumbek. His difficulties were increased by
the treachery of some of the Egyptian officers. In one district the
commander of the troops was carrying off, not only the cattle of
the natives but their young girls; and this scoundrel flatly refused
to obey Gessi's orders to present himself at Rumbek or to send
his troops thither.

Gessi did not regard khedival prohibitions and the evasions
of the Cairo government. He went to work in grim earnest, and
in fact nothing but dauntless determination would have enabled
him to achieve the purpose which he steadily pursued. He waited
no longer for a reply from Khartum, but prepared to advance.
Numbers of his men, losing heart because of delays, deserted him,
but he put an end to this by prompt and energetic punishments.
One of the ringleaders he shot in the presence of all the troops, and
seven others he flogged. All the reinforcements had not come in,
but on the 1 7th of November he set out on the onward march, for
the fields of grain were ripening in the higher lands, and he heard
that the enemy had given orders to fire both the standing crops
and the long grass along the route that he would have to follow.
He and his followers could travel but slowly, because of the
luxuriant vegetation and the necessity for avoiding the portions
of the country that were flooded, beside which he had to take

Vol. I. 13

194 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

with him a vast number of women, children, and slaves till he
reached a place where he could leave them, while he pushed on
with only the men who could fight. The country was a solitude.
The remnant of the people, who had escaped the raids of Suleiman
and his gang, had fled and left their villages and their crops. At
three rivers which he had to cross all the boats had been destroyed,
and he had to carry his army over on rafts made of reeds. In the
fourth river (the Wau), crocodiles swarmed. It would have been
dangerous to attempt such a passage, and a large hostile band of
men was on the other side and commenced firinor. Gessi ordered
his men to lie down, and fired a shell into the midst of his assailants,
many of whom fell. Their village was soon in flames and they
fled. The next morning all was silent, and the troops crossed the
river in three fishing-boats lent them by a friendly chief They
occupied a village on the other side, where Gessi made a stockade
in which he could leave the women and children and the wounded.
The natives came in great numbers to welcome him. Nearly ten
thousand men, women, and children had been swept away from the
villages of the Bahr Gazelle and dragged into slavery by the son
of Zebehr. Gessi decided to take one man from each village who
would be able to recognize and claim his own people. Now that
they had help, the villagers were rising on all sides, and seizing
on the slave-dealers who were settled in the country; those who
refused to yield they killed.

Considerable reinforcements now came in, and the onward
march was resumed. Soon after starting the head man of a tribe
met them crying out that a band of Arabs had just carried off the
people of one of his villages. A strong body of Gessi's troops
gave chase to the marauders, took twelve of them prisoners, and
brought them back with 1 60 men, women, and children whom they
had stolen. The little army then marched to Dehm Idris, where
Suleiman had slaughtered the Egyptian garrison. He had left one
of his captains in possession there. Gessi reached the place in
the middle of December, 1878, and captured it at once. Then the
struggle began. Suleiman, supposing that the floods, the rivers,
and the condition of the country would prevent any force from

A LIFE OR DEATH STRUGGLE. 1 95

arriving from the south, was preparing to march north-eastward
against Shakka, but hearing that Gessi was actually at Dehm
Idris, turned aside to attack him, making sure of a victory, as
he had under his command a host of more than 10,000 men.

On the afternoon of December 27th, Gessi heard of the
approach of the enemy, and all that night his men worked at
strengthening their camp with a barricade of timber and eartli.
It was well they had done so, for the next morning their position
was attacked on all sides. Four times the enemy attempted to
storm the intrenchments, but the resistance was so fierce and
stubborn that each time they were driven back with great loss.
The fighting had been so severe that Suleiman waited till the 12th
of January, 1879, when, having been reinforced, he again made
a furious assault on the camp. Deserters declared to Gessi
that the chief slave-dealer and his captains had met in solemn
conclave and sworn on the Koran either to conquer or die. Gessi
was not the man to be frightened, small as his force was and badly
as he needed a supply of ammunition. His men, too, were ready
to fight to the death, for they knew what they had to expect if they
were vanquished. He posted his troops among the long grass
and brushwood outside the camp, and the enemy on approaching
were met with a volley which drove them back. Later in the day
the slave-dealers made another onset; but it was evident that their
black soldiers had little heart left for fighting, and were driven on
by the Arabs, who were in the rear, with drawn swords pricking
them on and slaying those who faltered. This assault was no
more successful than the first, but Gessi was so short of ammunition
that his men picked up and recast the bullets that had fallen in the
camp. There was little time for rest. Early the next morning
the foe came on again, and, after seven hours' stubborn fighting,
were again compelled to retreat, to the bitter chagrin of the son
of Zebehr, who a few days afterward, hearing that there was a
want of ammunition in the camp, ordered another general assault.
But on the previous night a small supply of powder and shot had
been brought in, and when in the morning a bomb-shell from the
slave-dealers set fire to a hut, and the flames spread over the whole

19^ EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

camp, amidst which the host rushed down expecting a victory,
they found that Gessi had drawn up his forces in the open ground
between the camp and the forest, where he gained so signal a
victory that the flying host were chased to their fortifications.

Gessi's tactics were brilHant and his courage and tenacity in-
domitable. On the nth of March he received three barrels of
powder and two ingots of lead, and felt that he could then attack
Suleiman's stronghold, which was on the high ground, and consisted
of wooden huts and barricades made of trunks of trees. Having
set fire to the huts with congreve rockets, the flames afterwards
spread to the barricades in spite of the efforts of the rebels to
check them by throwing earth upon the burning timber. The
brigands were compelled to sally forth and try to overwhelm their
opponents. Numbers of them were driven back with heavy
losses, and at last they turned and fled, leaving eleven of their
leaders dead on the field. The want of ammunition prevented
Gessi from ordering a pursuit. Night had fallen, and his men
were faint from want of food. Hunger and privation among the
troops, and fever and smallpox in the camp at Dehm Idris, whither
numbers of the soldiers' wives and children had followed the
march against orders, and others had joined them till there were
12,000 extra mouths to feed, added to the difficulties of the com-
mander, who could get no supplies from the governor of Shakka
to whom he had written urgent letters.

But Gessi did not relax his efforts against the bands of slave-
hunters. By the beginning of February, 1879, he had returned
more than 10,000 people to their homes. Eight slave-dealers,
who were taken with twenty-eight children whom they had chained
together, were shot in the sight of all the troops. A few days
later another gang were hanged. The people of the villages went
wild with surprise and delight. The head men came in to throw
themselves at his feet and thank him. At last a good supply of
ammunition arrived, and he prepared to march against the son of
Zebehr at Dehm Suleiman, the place which had been named after
the villain himself Gessi started on the ist of May, 1879, and
four days later he and his followers had come upon the enemy in

MURDER AND DESOLATION. 1 97

a woody ravine about four miles from the stronghold, and had first
routed them, and then by a rapid advance cut them off from the
place where Suleiman himself was sitting at the gate waiting for
their return. The troops rushed to the assault, and as they went
in at one gate the chief and two companions mounted their
horses and galloped out by the other, having only waited to super-
intend the massacre of four wretched prisoners. Gessi pursued
them for an hour, when, finding himself with only one follower, he
returned to the camp, which the hungry and half-naked troops
were plundering to supply their needs. Much of the treasure,
which was recovered by Gessi from the soldiers and intended
to be reserved for the state, was afterwards stolen by a man
holding a high position in the Egyptian government.

The forces of the slave-trading chiefs were scattered and
gathered into large bands, some escaping one way and some
another. With 600 men Gessi started on the trail of the
treacherous Suleiman. On their way they came upon the
evidences of flight and destruction ; hastily made graves, the bodies
of murdered slave-children who could not keep up with the rebels
and so were ruthlessly slain, burnt crops, devastated and deserted
villages, from a hut in one of which a white woman, half-clad
and holding a baby to her breast, ran out to greet her deliverers,
tears of joy streaming down her face. She was the wife of an
artillery officer, who had been massacred by the slave-dealers
when they attacked the garrison at Dehm Idris, and she had
been carried off. These were the spectacles that awaited Gessi's
weary and starving troops as they set their teeth with fresh
resolution to hunt down the wretches who were responsible for
such misery.

At the village where they found this woman there was enough
grain to give them a meal; and they pushed on till they reached
a dense forest, where they bivouacked for the night. But their
scouts brought news of a camp seen at some distance; and, though
this was known to be a caravan of slaves, and the rebel camp was
further on, Gessi started at once. The slave-drivers fled from a
column of Gessi's force which approached them, but many were

19^ EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

killed, and some of them were made prisoners and fettered with
the chains taken from their helpless victims. They were the gang
of one of the principal slave-traders in the Bahr Gazelle. The
noise of the rifle shots had alarmed the rebels, who fired the
village where they were encamped and made off Only a heap of
mouldering wood and ashes remained, but one little child had
during the alarm stolen away and hidden himself.

Just beyond the village was a sort of pound, into which the
flocks of slaves used to be driven and herded for the night like cattle,
on their way down to Egypt. Still onward went the avengers till
evening, when Gessi halted by a brook in the forest. No camp-
fire was lighted, for it was known that the enemy lay but a few
miles further, and the attack was to be made the next morning.
An hour after midnight, however, the sentries who were keeping
watch as outposts saw seven men approaching, who called out
that they had a message for Rabi from " Sultan" Idris. Rabi was
a chief who was an ally of Suleiman, and the commander of the
rebel band not far off These men were scouts sent by Idris.
They had mistaken Gessi's camp for that of which they were in
search; and their message was, that as the "sultan" was only a
short distance behind with many men and much merchandise, Rabi
was entreated to delay his march that the two forces might travel
together.

Gessi was equal to the occasion. He would not see the men,
as his speech would have told them that he was not Rabi, but he
sent word that as he had a number of wounded with him he could
not delay, but would make a halt at some distance further on, and
there wait. One man took the message back, the other six were
invited to stay and eat, and as soon as their companion had
departed they were seized and secured. Gessi then gave the
word to march; and by daybreak he came suddenly upon Rabi's
camp just as he was making ready to move on. The surprise
was complete, and the slave-dealers were utterly routed, many
of them being taken prisoners, though Rabi mounted on a swift
horse contrived to escape. The flags and all the stores were
captured; and no sooner was the fight over than Gessi had the

GESSIS VICTORY. 1 99

ground cleared of the evidences of the struggle, and the dead and
wounded removed. He pitched his tent in a glade of the forest,
set up Rabi's flag, and sent out scouts, who were instructed to fall
in with the sultan's force as though they had come upon it by
accident, and to act as guides to the camp. This Idris, who
called himself sultan, was no more than a chief slave-hunter, who
owned a great seriba composed of large farmsteads entirely shut in
by tall hedges of straw-plait or thatch, and occupied by the various
great slave-traders who had settled in the country. He fell into
the trap that had been laid for him. Gessi had posted his men in
the glade, where they crouched in the long grass. A storm of
wind and rain caused the enemy to hurry on in disorder, that they
might find shelter, as they supposed, in the camp of Rabi. As
they crowded into the glade a signal was given, and a deadly volley
was fired upon them. There was no escape; some threw them-
selves on the ground, others tried in vain to break through the
ring of their assailants. Not a man of them was left standing
when the firing was discontinued; but Idris and half a dozen of his
body-guard had found shelter under a tree at some distance, and
had taken flight when they heard the sound of the shots. The
spoils that fell into the hands of the soldiers were very great and
of considerable value, including horses, asses, oxen, linen cloth, and
copper vessels.

The men were too fatigued and too much exhausted for want
of food to continue the pursuit. The rebel bands were broken
up, and the way lay through a forest where there were no
habitations, and where consequently no grain could be found. The
provisions which they had seized would only just suffice to enable
them to travel back to Dehm Suleiman, and they started on the
following day, to find, on their return march, that the natives had
finished the work that they had begun, by rising against their former
tyrants and attacking them as they fled.

Gessi had been away nine days, and his return was like a
triumphal march. He entered Dehm Suleiman with his followers,
who dragged the chained and captive chiefs of the slave-traders
with them, while a long train of the common prisoners carried the

200 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

vast store of ivory which had been taken among the spoils and set
apart as the property of the state. So great was the stock of
elephants' tusks that in one week 1500 porters were sent off laden
with them, and another large train followed a few days afterwards.

Gessi, looking older and haggard for want of sleep, needed
repose, and his men settled down for a short rest. Some expeditions
were sent out to cut off stray bands of the slave-hunters, but no
more could be done for some little time.

On the 25th of June, 1879, Gessi met Gordon at Toashia, to
report to him that the last of the bands of robber slave-dealers was
crushed. Gessi was made a pasha, with the second class order
of the Osmanlic and a gift of ^2000. Gordon, having arranged
with him for the future of the Bahr Gazelle, was just about to start
on his return to Khartum, and Gessi was to go back that he might
follow up the son of Zebehr. There would be no security against
another revolt and a renewal of the slave-traffic till this man and
his remaining confederates were brought to justice, for Zebehr was
still plotting, and nothing but a complete breaking up of the gangs
in the Bahr Gazelle, and the thorough sweeping out of the traders
in Shakka, would suffice to put an end to the atrocities that had
been systematically perpetrated.

Gordon had been all this time pursuing his arduous journey,
travelling at night to avoid the terrible heat, often in want of food
and with little water, many of the wells being dry. He could not
do as Gessi had done, for there was no actual rebellion, and there-
fore the slave-dealers were not shot, but those who had gangs of
slaves illegally obtained were put in chains till they could be sent
to prison; the male slaves were placed in the ranks of his army,
the women were told off to be wives (!) of the soldiers, the children
were to be sent to Obeid. There was nothing else to be done,
and he had to be continually on the alert to intercept the slave
caravans which were hidden in the woods or in the long grass away
from the road by which he and his followers were travelling. He
had to be equally watchful of his own men. When one caravan
came in he noticed that the captured camel had no water-bags on
him, and as he felt sure it would not have come unladen, he made

DYING DAILY. 20I

inquiry, and discovered that the men who captured the caravan had
taken five of the slaves and two donkeys and the water-bags.
What could be done with such people ? "I declare," he wrote
from Edowa, " if I could stop this traffic I would willingly be shot
this night; this shows my ardent desire, and yet, strive as I can,
I can hardly see any hope of averting the evil. Now comes the
question — Could I sacrifice my life and remain in Kordofan and
Darfour? To die quickly would be to me nothing, but the long
crucifixion that a residence in these horrid countries entails, appals
me. Yet I feel that if I could screw my mind up to it, I could
cause the trade to cease, for its roots are in these countries. The
East Soudan is now quiet and free from the slave-trade. But
I do not think I can face the cross of staying here, simply on
physical grounds. I have written to the khedive to say I will not
remain as governor-general, for I feel I cannot govern the country
to satisfy myself. Now, as I will not stay as governor-general
of the whole Soudan, query, shall I stay as the governor of the
West Soudan and crush the slave-dealers? Many will say it is
a worthy cause to die in. I agree if the death was speedy, but oh!
it is a long and weary one, and for the moment I cannot face it."

But he remained and prosecuted the object of his dangerous
and almost desperate journey, for he was encouraged by the news
he received from Gessi, and began to believe that he and his brave
lieutenant would after all be able to put an end to the slave-trade.
He hoped to make a clean sweep of Shakka when he reached that
den of iniquity, from which he was then only a day's journey, and
to give a death-blow to the slave-dealers, of whom there were
about a hundred in the place. Having arrived at Shakka he
heard that Gessi wanted no more troops or ammunition, so he
determined to recall the men who were en route and send them to
Dara, where he intended to go in ten days and try to capture
Haroun.

" When one thinks of the enormous number of slaves which
have passed into Egypt from these parts in the last few years," he
wrote, " one can scarcely conceive what has become of them.
There must have been thousands on thousands of them. And

202 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

then again, where do they all come from ? For the lands of the
natives which I have seen are not densely peopled. . . . We
must have caught 2000 in less than nine months, and I expect we
did not catch one-fifth of the caravans. Again, how many died
en routeV^

He proposed to reinstate the family of the Sultan Ibrahim at
Darfur, and telegraphed to the khedive to send up the son of the
sultan. The thievish employes made quiet or Just government
impossible, and the only thing to be done was to restore the old
regime. His telegram was not answered, and the heir whom he
would have restored was kept in Cairo. The letter that Gordon
did receive was one asking for ^12,000; while his men in camp
at Shakka were fifteen months to two years in arrears of pay, and
were more than half naked. So he answered : " When the naked-
ness of my troops is partially covered I may talk to you. In the
meantime send me up at once the ;^ 12,000 you unfairly took in
customs on goods in transit to the Soudan."

He no longer cared what he said, for he had discovered that
no one could keep the incendiary materials of the Soudan quiet
until he had been there some years, and it would then end in the
Cairo finance having to meet the Soudan deficit. It was only by
hard camel-riding that he could keep his position among the
people. The slave-dealers had left Shakka in dismay, and he
hoped that the place was clear of them for ever. But he had
begun to ask himself how it was- possible permanently to suppress
the traffic under such a government as that at Cairo.

The government of the Egyptians in those far-oft" countries
was nothing else but one of brigandage of the very worst descrip-
tion. " If the liberation of slaves is to take place in 1884 (in
Egypt proper) and the present system of government goes on
there cannot fail to be a revolt of the whole country."

This is significant in the light of the insurrection fomented by
the Mahdi in the following year. " Our government will go on
sleeping till it comes, and then have to act a r improviste. If you
had read the accounts of the tremendous debates which took place
in 1833 on the liberation of the West Indian slaves, even on

CHARACTER OF THE KHEDIVE. 203

payment of ;^20,ooo,ooo, you would have some idea how owners
of slaves (even Christians) hold to their property. . . . It is
rather amusing to think that the people of Cairo are quite oblivious
that in 1884 their revenue will fall to one-half, and that the country
will need many more troops to keep it quiet. Seven-eighths of
the population of the Soudan are slaves; and the loss of revenue
in 1889 (the date fixed for the liberation of slaves in Egypt's
outlying territories) will be more than two-thirds, if it is ever
carried out."

He had begun to estimate Ismail Pasha by another standard,
though he still thought of him kindly, and afterwards deplored his
misfortunes. " No one is ever obliged to enter the service of one
of these states; and if he does he has to blame himself, and not
the Oriental state. If the Oriental state is well governed, then
it is very sure he will never be wanted. The rottenness of the
state is his raison d'etre; and it is absurd for him to be surprised
at things not being as they ought to be according to his ideas.
He ought to be surprised that they are not more rotten. I admire
the khedive exceedingly; he is the perfect type of his people,
thoroughly consistent to all their principles — a splendid leopard!
Look at the numberless cages out of which he has broken his way
when it seemed quite impossible for him to do so. Nubar once
summed him up thus: "He is a man of no principle, but capable
of very chivalrous impulses; and if he was with a better entourage
he would do well."

It would seem as though Gordon had become convinced that
the ultimate suppression of the slave-trade was impossible unless
a European governor, free from the intrigues and treachery of the
Egyptian government, could be permanently in authority. " If
you put aside the suppression of the slave-trade, now that there is
no revolt in the East Soudan, I have no hesitation in saying that
an Arab governor suits the people better, and is more agreeable to
them than a European." This too is significant when we know
that five years later, while he was endeavouring to hold Khartum,
he proposed that the arch -traitor Zebehr, who still survived,
should be restored to a command. But of that most extra-

204 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

ordinary conclusion we shall have to speak in a later page of this
history.

Zebehr's son Suleiman, fleeing from Gessi who was boldly
pursuing him, had sent as emissaries to Shakka four or five of his
followers who had escaped with him. Probably he did not know
what frequent communications had been made to Gordon by Gessi,
and these men were ready with a hypocritical message that
Suleiman was still loyal to the khedive. One of the men was
chief secretary to Zebehr himself, and the others were old offenders
against the government, and had been concerned in the massacre
of the government soldiers in the Bahr Gazelle. Gordon had them
tried by court-martial, and they were found guilty and shot, a
sentence which hastened the flight of the slave-dealers from the
country. Gordon then set out for Kalaka, where he suspected that
the marauding Arabs, who were employed to root out the brigands,
had not done so effectually. He had determined to form a
regency for the government of Darflir — consisting of the ex -vizier,
whom he had liberated from prison at Suakim in December, 1877,
and the ex-commander-in-chief of the late sultan. More than one-
third of the population had been carried into slavery. Kalaka was
in a state of extreme excitement at the news of Gordon's approach.
Four slave-dealers had been stopped by the Arab tribes, and he
expected to catch a great number of them; they were at their wits'
end where to go, for there was no refuge left, the Bedouin tribes
being on the look-out. Gordon was now determined to make a
clean sweep of them whether the khedive liked it or not.

For the next two months the story of his journeys is one pain-
ful narrative of privations, dangers, and terrible spectacles of
wretched and destitute creatures who were delivered from their
captors, and to provide for whom was a constant and difficult
problem. The slave-dealers, whom he could not always punish
by shooting them, were frequently flogged, stripped of their
possessions, and sent adrift; but much discrimination had to be
used, because of the legality of the traffic within certain limits.
The slave hunters were, however, summarily dealt with, mostly by
being stripped and sent " like Adams " into the wilderness.

HOSTS OF SLAVES. 205

At the very outset one great object of his journey was to pre-
vent Zebehr's bands from breaking into Darflar and joining the
soi-disant sultan there, who was in revolt in the hills. He there-
fore set out for Dara with the resolution to stamp out the brigands
from every station on the way. His troubles, however, had come
much more from his own people than from without. He
despaired of the government. Over and over again he could trace
the miseries to the lust of some official for the paltry sum of ^15
or so.

So arduous and engrossing were his exertions that he lost
count of the date of the month for some time; but on the ist of
May, " so they say," started on his journey, in a monotonous
country all sandy plain with jungly trees.

From Dara to Fascher, Kobeit Kakabieh, — near which a large
body of brigands tried to rob the rear of the column, — Kolkol,
Fascher; where he had a telegraph from the khedive to go to
Cairo at once, and started for Oomchanga on his way back to
Khartum, and thence to Cairo.

There, too, he heard from Gessi of the capture of the stronghold
of Zebehr's son, and, thinking this was a proof that Suleiman was
crushed, prepared to go quickly on the return journey. But he
was stopped by the report that the brigand chiefs had escaped
from Dara, and with a large following were marching into Darfur.
There was danger of their forces joining those of Haroun, and as
Gessi and Yussuf Bey, the commanders of the troops who had
defeated Zebehr's son, were separated from the main body of their
troops by a river which might at any time be swelled into an im-
passable torrent, he determined to start again for Dara through
Toashia.

The story of this journey is again one of repeated breaking up
of gangs of slave-dealers and the liberation of their unhappy
captives. At Toashia on the 19th of June, 1879, he wrote:
" Upwards of 470 slave-dealers have been driven out of this place
since I came here two days ago. This evening we were surprised
at a caravan of 122 slaves coming in; the slave-dealers had come
in here with them, and, hearing I was here and having no water,

206 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

they abandoned their slaves and fled. The slaves were badly dis-
tressed by thirst, thirty had died on the road. They had come from
near Dara." The water was putrid. From Oomchanga to
Toashia, during, say a week, 500 to 600 slaves had been caught.
The slaves captured at Toashia had been four or five days without
water.

We have seen, by the foregoing narrative of Gordon's
governorship and his indefatigable exertions, what was the
condition of the Soudan, and what were the prospects of the
attempts to suppress slavery in the outer territories of Egypt at
the time that he was preparing to relinquish his command. It is
necessary for the proper understanding of the question of the
relations of Egypt and the Soudan to European intervention in
the administration, that we should form some conception of the
magnitude of the evils to be encountered, and the corruption and
inefficiency of the government at Cairo. Before we revert briefly
to the general financial condition of Egypt, and the course of actior.
which led to the deposition of the Khedive Ismail and the accession
of Tewfik, we will in a page or two close the story of Gordon's
experiences in that terrible journey to Toashia by reading in his
own words one or two pictures out of many harrowing scenes.
On the road to Shakka he had written: —

" All the road is marked by the camping-places of the slave-
dealers, and there are numerous skulls by the side of the road.
What thousands have passed along here! ... I hear some
districts are completely depopulated, all the inhabitants having
been captured or starved to death. If our government, instead of
bothering the khedive about that wretched debt, had spent ;(^iooo
a year in sending up a consul here, what a deal of suffering might
have been saved! . . . As for slaves, I am sick of them, and
hope soon to see the last of them; poor creatures! I am sorry I
cannot take them back to their own countries, but it is impossible

to do so There must have been over 1000 slaves in

this den, and yet the slave-dealers had had warning of my approach;
and at least as many as 500 must have got away from me. The
Bedouin Arabs are up all over the country, and so are the black

THE SKULLS OF THE VICTIMS. 207

tribes, I hear, at Bahr Gazelle. We have got at the heart of them
this time; but for how many years has this been going on?

"Just as I wrote this I heard a very great tumult going on
among the Arabs, and I feared a fight. However, it turned out
to be caused by the division of the slaves among the tribes; and
now the country is covered by strings of slaves going off in all
directions with their new owners. The ostriches are running all
about, and do not know what to make of their liberty. What a
terrible time of it these poor, patient slaves have had for the last
three days — hurried on all sides, and forced first one day's march
in one direction, and then off again in another. It appears that
the slaves were not divided, but were scrambled for. It is a horrid
idea, for, of course, families get separated; but I cannot help it,
and the slaves seem to be perfectly indifferent to anything what-
soever. Imagine what it must be to be dragged from your home
to places so far off— even further than Marseilles or Rome. In
their own lands some of these slaves have delightful abodes, close
to running water, with pleasant glades of trees, and seem so happy ;
and then to be dragged off into these torrid, water-forsaken
countries, where to exist only is a struggle against nature!"

As he pursued his journey the vast number of skulls and
unburied remains of the wretched slaves, who had been killed or
had fallen by the way, aroused his pity and indignation.

"Why should I, at every mile, be stared at by the grinning
skulls of those who are at rest? I say to Yussuf Bey, who is a
noted slave-dealer, ' The inmate of that ball has told Allah what
you and your people have done to him and his.'

"Yussuf Bey says, ' I did not do it;' and I say, 'Your nation
did, and the curse of God will be on your land till this traffic
ceases.' . . Just as I wrote these words they came and told me
that another caravan of eighteen slaves had been captured, with
two camels. I went to see the poor creatures. They were mostly
children and women — such skeletons some of them. Two slave-
dealers had escaped. Now fancy all this going on after all the
examples I have made! Fancy, that in less than twenty- four
hours I have caught seventy! There is no reason to doubt, but

208 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

that seventy a day have been passing for the last year or so. You
know how many caravans I have caught — some seventy or eighty;
besides those looo I Hberated (?) at Kalaka. It is enough to
cause despair. Thus, in three days, we have caught 400 slaves.
The number of skulls along the road is appalling. We shall
capture a number more at the wells to-night, for as the slave-
dealers thought I should act on what Abel Bey told me {i.e., that
there were no slaves or slave-dealers here), and as they had
deceived the Italian, they had not taken the precaution of filling
their water-bags. Thus they are unable to flee, as there lies three
days' journey around here without water. Now, the wells here
are guarded. The number of slaves captured from the dealers in
this campaign must be close upon 1700! I have no doubt that
very great suffering is going on among the poor slaves still at
large; for the dealers not yet captured will not be able to go to
the wells to-night, and they will not surrender till pounced on to-
morrow. The slaves are delighted; they are mostly women and
children.

". . . We have caught more slaves during last night and
to-day. The slave-dealers, seeing the wells guarded, let them go.
However, some huge caravans, regardless of their having no water,
and of the three days' desert, have escaped. They were pursued
by some of the natives, but the slave-dealers fired on them, and so
the natives returned here. They noticed that one of the fugitives
had died en route. It is very terrible to think of the great suffering
of the poor slaves thus dragged away; but I had no option in the
matter, for I could not catch them. The water here is horrible, —
it smells even when fresh from the wells. I have ordered the skulls,
which lay about here in great numbers, to be piled in a heap, as a
memento to the natives of what the slave -dealers have done to
their people. . . . To give you an idea of the callousness of
the people in these lands, I will tell you what happened to-day. I
heard a voice complaining and moaning for some hours, and at
last I sent to inquire what it was. It turned out to be an
Egyptian soldier, who was ill and wanted water. There were
within hearing some thirty or forty people — some of them his

ON THE TRACK OF SULEIMAN. 209

fellow-soldiers — yet not one, though they understood his language,
would give a thought to him.

The vast numbers of slaves passed through the country was
appalling, and it was a great work to have broken up the central
depots and to have practically dispersed or destroyed the brutal
leaders of the traffic. In 1836 to 1840 it was computed that about
10,000 Abyssinian slaves were sold in the bazaars every year,
beside the great number of slaves brought from Kordofan and
Darffir; but the traffic had enormously increased, even though the
open slave-markets had been abolished in Egypt, and the capture
and sale of the people as slaves was against the law. The increase
in the traffic was scarcely more appalling than the continued
brutality of it, however; and Gordon made a computation of the
number of slaves and the total loss of life in DarfQr and the Bahr
Gazelle during the years 1875-1879. It came to 16,000 Egyptian
and some 50,000 natives of Darfiir. " Add to this the loss of life
in the Bahr Gazelle, some 15,000, and you will have a fine total of
81,000, and this exclusive of the slave-trade, which we may put
down for these years at from 80,000 to 100,000."

Neither Gordon's nor Gessi's work was quite accomplished
when they met at Toashia. Gessi had still to pursue Zebehr's
son, for the rebels were gathering their forces again. Suleiman's
intention was to join Haroun, the claimant of the throne of Darfur.
Early in July, 1879, word was brought to Gessi by a deserter that
Suleiman was only three days' march distant. Gessi had alreadj-
marched to break up the bands of the brigands, and he started at
once after their chief with only three companies, or 300 men in all,
but each man well armed with a Remington rifle. Directly Sulei-
man heard of their approach he broke up his camp and fled with
nearly 900 men towards the hill country, while Rabi with 700
men hurried off in another direction towards the same destination.

There was no time for delay, and with his usual determined
energy Gessi pushed on, left his baggage in a village under the
care of twenty of his less capable men, and with the rest marched
for three days and nights through the forest, over ground which
a heavy rain was transforming into deep mud.

Vol. I. 14

2IO EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

He came abreast of the enemy at night when they were only
a few miles distant. At daybreak he surprised them while they
were asleep in a village, which he could not surround with his
small force, so he posted his men in the woods where the trees
prevented the enemy from seeing how few they were in number.
He then called upon Suleiman and his followers to lay down their
arms and surrender. If they failed to do so in ten minutes he
would at once close upon them. They were astonished and
alarmed, and not knowing the strength of their assailants agreed
to yield. Many of them at the first alarm had contrived to escape
into the woods, but the rest obeyed the order to go forward a
hundred yards from the village and lay their arms upon the
ground.

Suleiman began to weep when he saw the small number of
men to whom he and his followers had yielded, and upbraiding
one of his chiefs for having told him that there were 3000 while
there were only 300 against his band of 700, cried out, " If only
my father had been here to take the command, we should never
have been beaten."

The prisoners were not bound, but were kept in the village
under close guard. After dark, however, an alarm was given that
they had managed to communicate with the rebels who were hiding
in the woods. Their horses were found saddled and bearing arms
and provisions. Their plan was to steal out at midnight, to mount
the horses, and with their companions who had escaped, to join the
ferocious chief Abdulgassie, who was waiting with a strong force
at some distance ahead. " I saw that the time had come to have
done with these people once for all," wrote Gessi in his subsequent
report. The slave soldiers, who were scarcely responsible, he
liberated on condition that they returned to their own country and
gave up marauding. They promised cheerfully enough and were
sent away under an escort; the ordinary slave-dealers (157 in
number) were sent off by another route as prisoners. To the
eleven slave-hunting chiefs no mercy could be shown. They had
been warned over and over again, and now they were to pay the
penalty of their long- continued cruelties and repeated rebellion.

GOOD-BYE TO THE SOUDAN. 2 1 I

They were all shot, none of them showing any signs of sorrow,
though one shed tears at his fate and Suleiman sank to the ground
in fear. Abdulgassie's band broke up, and that chief, " the
hyaena of those parts," was taken some time afterwards, and Gordon
ordered him to be shot for his notorious brutalities. Rabi alone
escaped and fled far into the interior of the country. Gessi had
now broken the neck of the revolt, and, aided by the tribes who
were ready to attack the scattered parties of those who had stolen
their children and desolated their villages, he hunted down the
remaining bands.

When Gordon arrived at Fogia on the ist of July, 1879, he
found awaiting him a telegram from Cherif Pasha announcing that
the sultan had named Tewfik Pasha khedive, and that he was to
proclaim it in the Soudan. He merely telegraphed the necessary
orders, and acknowledged to Cherif Pasha the receipt of his
message. On the 29th of July he left Khartlim, and arrived at
Cairo on the 23rd of August in no very complacent mood. He
resented the deposition of Ismail notwithstanding the bad faith
with which he had acted. " I am one of those he fooled," wrote
Gordon afterwards when he had learned a little more of the reasons
for the khedive's deposition, " but I bear him no grudge. It is
a blessing for Egypt that he has gone." Gordon's own governor-
ship of the Soudan was at an end when he wrote this. He was on
his way back from Abyssinia, whither he had been to try to pacifi-
cate the king Johannis at the earnest request of Tewiik, the new
khedive.

Gordon first felt inclined to reject Tewfik's civilities. He
declined the special train, especially as he thought it was likely
he would be called upon to pay for it, but he consented to go to
lodge at the palace instead of going to an hotel as he had at first
intended.

At his interview with Tewfik he said at once that he did not
mean to go back to the Soudan, but would go to Massowa,
settle with Johannis, and then go home. " He told me that my
enemies with his father and with him had urged my dismissal, that
he had had terrible complaints against me, at which I laughed, and

212 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

he did so also." When departing for Massowa Gordon left word
that if on his return he heard that any of the council of ministers had
said anything against him, he would beg the khedive to make his
traducer governor of the Soudan, which would be a punishment
equivalent to a sentence of death. Gordon's latest instructions
were that he was to cede nothing to Johannis, and yet was to avoid
a war; but Bogos was already in the hands of the Abyssinians.
On the road he learned that Walad el Michael had been made
prisoner by Aloula, the lieutenant in chief of Johannis, and that his
son had been killed. At Goula, the rendezvous, he met Aloula,
who referred him to the king, and agreed not to attack Egypt
during his absence. After twelve days' journey by a vile road
he met Johannis near Gondar. When asked what were his
demands Johannis replied: "You want peace — well, I want the
retrocession of Mesemme, Changallas, and Bogos, cession of Zeila
and Amphilla (ports), an Abuna, and a sum of money from one to
two million pounds; or if his highness likes better than paying
money then I will take Bogos, Massowa, and the Abuna. I could
claim Dongola, Berber, Nubia, and Sennar, but will not do so.
Also I want territory near Harrar." These preposterous claims
had been suggested to the king by the Greek consul at Suez, who
was with him at the time. Gordon asked Johannis to put his
demands in writing; but this he did not quite like to do, nor was
he ready to withdraw them. After some delays, during which
Gordon was treated with scant hospitality, a letter was forthcoming
just as he had started without it, A present of money accompanied
it, which Gordon sent back. All that the letter said was, " I have
received the letters you sent me by that man. I will not make
a secret peace with you. If you want peace ask the sultans of
Europe." Gordon had started for Kalabat intending to go to
Khartum, but the king had him arrested and brought back through
Abyssinia. On his journey he was again and again arrested,
insulted, and had to suffer many indignities. He perhaps would
not have reached Massowa alive had he not spent a large sum in
bribingf his assailants. The khedive had taken no notice of his
urgent request by telegraph, while he was a prisoner, that a war

now TREACHERY WAS REWARDED AT CAIRO. 2I3

Steamer and an armed force should be sent to Massowa. When he
reached that place on the 8th of December, 1879, he was rejoiced
to see the EngHsh gunboat Sea-gull. Then he felt that his misery
was over.

Shortly before his departure he had given up the district
Ungoro, and the stations had been evacuated by Egyptian troops.
Massimi and Kissima had been given up two years before. The
Victoria Nile was now the boundary of the khedive's territory,
and new stations were formed to defend it. Gordon returned to
England almost worn out, and with a desire to rest in comparative
obscurity; but that dream was not to be realized.

He had sent in his resignation on his way back to Egypt,
and the khedive in his affectedly European way had written:
" I should have liked to retain your services, but in view of your
persistent tender of resignation am obliged to accept it. I regret,
my dear Pasha, losing your co-operation; and in parting with you,
must express my sincere thanks to you, assuring you that the
remembrance of you and your services to the country will outlive
your retirement."

This was cold-blooded enough, but influences at Cairo would
account for it. Already affairs in the Soudan had undergone a
change, that may be said to have threatened a return to the
disorders and the atrocities which Gordon had striven so hard to
suppress. In the equatorial provinces, of which Dr. Emin Bey
had been made governor, many improvements were made, and
Lado, his head-quarters, was greatly increased in size and im-
portance. But the kind of reaction that was imminent may be
understood from the fact that Raouf Pasha, the man whom Gordon
twice turned out because of his oppression and dishonest dealing,
was made governor of Khartum ; another pasha was appointed to
Massowa and the adjacent coast; and a third to Berber, Zeila, and
the district of Harrar.

As to Zebehr, the papers left behind by his son Suleiman
proved him to be such a traitor that his trial was inevitable. He
was a pasha of Egypt, and had caused the revolt in which the
Egyptian troops had been massacred ; he had been the chief slave-

2 14 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

trader, and had caused the devastation of vast tracts of territory,
the stealing of multitudes of women and children, the murder of
thousands of wretched natives, the desolation of unnumbered
homes. His secret papers were laid before the council. He was
tried and sentenced to death, and — he was pensioned with an
allowance of ^loo a month.

But what became of Gessi, who, as governor of the Bahr
Gazelle, had completely stamped out the slave traffic, had largely
restored the ivory trade, and had begun successfully to encourage
agriculture ? When Gordon had left the Soudan and there was no
strong central government, slave-dealers reappeared in other parts
of the country, and the caravans of miserable captives were again
on the routes to Lower Egypt and the Red Sea ports. Raouf
Pasha was the elect of Cairo, and Gessi soon found that it would
be impossible to hold his position under such a regime, so he
resigned his post in September, 1880, and went his way to
Khartum. On the journey the steamers in which he and his
followers made the voyage were caught by the sudd, and everybody
suffered dreadful privations — sickness and famine. He arrived at
Khartfim, where he was received with only half-concealed hostility,
and, broken in health, contrived to reach Suez, where, on the 30th
of April, 1 88 1, he died from the effects of his previous sufferings.
He was succeeded in the governorship of the Bahr Gazelle by an
Englishman named Lupton (Lupton Bey), who had, it is said, been
formerly known as a newspaper reporter or contributor, and had
left Fleet Street for a life of adventure in the doubtful regions
of political intrigue at Cairo or the uncertain pursuit of official
advantages in the Soudan.

Such were the events which followed the resignation of Gordon
and the retirement and death of Gessi; and they were almost
immediately followed by the insurrection (in May, 188 1) which
arose and spread with alarming rapidity in support of the pretensions
of the " Mahdi" or false prophet, of whose rebellion the strange
story will be told in a later page.

ISMAIL THE BORROWER. 215

It would be of little advantage to enter the bewildering maze
of Egyptian finance, and yet it is necessary for the purpose of
keeping to the main narrative that we should take a brief glance
at the conditions which led to the deposition of Ismail Pasha, and
indirectly, at all events, to that European intervention, the ultimate
results of which have not yet been witnessed nor its effects
estimated. When Ismail succeeded his uncle. Said Pasha, as
viceroy of Egypt in 1863 he was already a personage of high
reputation and great authority. He was at that time thirty-three
years old. He had received what in Egypt is called a European
education, and doubtless possessed considerable accomplishments
and remarkable ability. On his return from Paris in 1849 — for
he had been well veneered and French polished — he was so
conspicuous a member of the viceregal family that he excited the
jealousy of Abbas Pasha, who vainly endeavoured to crush him.
On the accession of Said Pasha, however, Ismail was appointed to
a high position in the administration, and was sent on special
missions to Paris and Rome. He also acted as regent during his
uncle's absence at Mecca and in Europe.

As to the character of Ismail, we have already seen what were
the opinions of Gordon, who had a sincere admiration for him, and
of Nubar Pasha, minister for foreign affairs, who was an Armenian
and a Christian by profession. At all events Ismail was determined
to be every inch a king, though he only succeeded to the pashalik,
which was subordinate to, if not an actual dependency of the rule of
the Sultan of Turkey. With remarkable energy for having his own
way, and a certain adroitness, that was not altogether dissociated
from a capacity for administration, he began under favourable con-
ditions, which he utterly squandered because of his extravagance
and the fatal recourse to repeated loans, of which the latest was only
entered into for the purpose of staving off the demands of those
that had preceded it. Unhappily, too, these loans, or the enormous
interest upon the debts, had to be raised by oppressive taxation,
which fell most heavily upon the wretched small farmers and pea-
santry, to whom the enlightened and educated " Khedive" Ismail
was scarcely less ruthless a taskmaster than the semi-civilized Pasha

2l6 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

Mohammed Ali had been to their fathers. That Ismail should
have acquired vast landed estates for himself and for the members
of his family, has been adduced as a proof of his sound judgment
and prudence or administrative ability; but the acquisition of estates
by a prince of the reigning family in Egypt is scarcely surprising
when it is noted that even subordinate officials contrived to amass
immense property. In the latest year of Ismail's rule, except for
the continued improvements in agriculture, the extension of public
works, and the addition of palaces and public buildings, to pay for
which a stifling debt was killing real prosperity, the country was
much in the same condition as had characterized it forty years
before. An examination of our own government blue-books for
1879 will show that official places were almost openly sold, and
that the price was known almost as accurately as the quotations of
the slave-market; that the fellaheen were seized to recruit the
army, unless in the case of individuals who could bribe the officer;
that taxes were demanded long before they were due, and their
payment enforced by the kourbash or other punishments; that the
system of forced labour was continued, the wretched people who
were compelled to work for the purpose of maintaining the canals
and water-courses having neither wages, rations, nor material found
for them.

The reckless borrower, the extravagant magnifico, — who with
occasional generous impulses scarcely hesitates to ruin a dozen
unfortunate small tradesfolk, and who, while keeping a splendid
house and a host of servants, and royally entertaining a circle of
acquaintances between whom and himself there is scarcely a
sentiment of friendship untainted by suspicion, descends to
despicable shifts and expedients for the purpose of deferring the
payment of his cook and his laundress, and will undergo extreme
humiliation for the sake of securing a little ready money " to carry
on with," — is a well-known figure in private life, and works mis-
chief enough in society. When the same disposition regulates the
career of a ruler over a great country, and a people unable to
struggle out of centuries of misgovernment, the spectacle would
be universally appalling, but for the fact that so many of those

THE " KHEDIVE. COST OF THE TITLE. 2 1 7

who are in a position to witness it are selfishly interested in doing
their best to perpetuate the evil, while there is still enough wealth
in the land to offer a reasonable prospect of the periodical payment
of exorbitant interest and the ultimate extinction of even the more
doubtful obligations.

Almost immediately on his succession Ismail Pasha sought to
obtain from the Porte an acknowledgment of his virtual indepen-
dence as ruler of Egypt. Previous viceroys had been obliged to
acknowledge the precedence of the grand vizier at Constantinople,
their own legitimate pretensions, in spite of their power and the
extent of their territory, differing little from those of the governors-
general of provinces, except in the particular of the succession
having been made hereditary, not to the eldest son but to the
eldest agnate of the family. Ismail's negotiations with Stamboul
resulted in 1866 in the succession being granted from father to son,
and in 1867 another firman gave him the title oi KhSdiv-el-Misr —
Khidiv or Kh4dewi being in fact a Persian title of which the exact
meaning is not clear, but at all events conferring a rank much
superior to that of a mere governor or to the position of viceroy.
The tribute was, of course, increased, and at each successive step
(for there were several concessions) the fees and backsheesh
amounted to an immense sum. It was not till 1872 that the latest
restrictions were removed, and then the annual tribute to be paid
to the sultan was about ;^700,ooo, while the black-mail or
" presents " which had to be given to everybody who had anything
to do — to the sultan Abdul Aziz himself and to the couriers who
brought the messages — had during the seven years of negotiation
exceeded the tribute itself in amount. Among the remaining
restrictions was that of the number of the military and naval force
to be raised and maintained in Egypt; but the Egyptian contingent
and fleet of Said Pasha in the Crimea, and the military aid given
by Ismail to the sultan in the Russo-Turkish war were in them-
selves both evidences of, and reasons for, the liberty of action which
the Porte allowed in respect to the forces of the khedive, which in
1866 had been permitted by a firman to Ismail to be raised to a
strength of 30,000 men.

2l8 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

Ismail had already a large family (according to European
notions) when he succeeded to the throne : the Princess Tawfideh,
married in 1878 to Mansour Pasha, a nephew of Mohammed AH;
Prince Mohammed Tewfik Pasha (heir-apparent), who was born in
1852, and married, in 1873, to Emineh Khanum, by whom, in 1874,
he had a son, Abbas Bey; Prince Hussein- Kiamil Pasha, born in
1852, and married to a daughter of the late Achmet Pasha, by whom,
in Dec, 1874, he had a son, Kemal-ed-dyn Bey; Prince Hassan
Pasha, born 1853, and married in 1873 to Khadijah Khanum, by
whom, in 1873, he had a son, Aziz Bey; Princess Fatma Khanum,
married in 1873 to Toussoum Pasha (son of Said Pasha), who
died in 1876; Prince Ibrahim Helmy Pasha, born in i860; Prince
Mahmoud Bey, born in 1863. Prince Fuad Bey, Princess
Djemileh, Princess Emineh, and Prince Djemal-ed-dyn Bey, were
born after their father's accession.

Though Ismail professed, and was believed to take the
autocratic control, he of course had a privy-council and ministers.
The privy-council, of which Mohammed Tewfik became president,
acted as a court for suggesting administration, and reported on the
budgets and the measures of the various departments; but the
khedive had the sole confirmation of their decisions. The minister
of finance till 1876 was Ismail Pasha Sadyk, who was so great a
favourite of the khedive, and a man of such ability and ambition,
that he is credited with having almost usurped supreme authority
in his own department, and dictated to the other ministers,
especially to Prince Tewfik, who, as minister of the interior, should
have had the right of appointing the governors and officers of the
provinces. Ismail Sadyk was an adept in the art of black-mailing,
and of raising money, either by cruelly squeezing it out of the
wretched fellaheen, of whom he had been one, or by " financing."
To him is sometimes attributed the condition of insolvency into
which the finances of Egypt drifted, and he was dismissed in
November, 1876; but his master probably sacrificed him, as he
could sacrifice anybody, to the pressure of outside opinion, and
he had little to learn from his minister in the sciences of inflating
credit, and " robbing Peter to pay Paul." The expenditure soon

SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT IN EGYPT. 219

far exceeded the average revenue, which in 1879 was about ten
millions sterling, largely dependent on the land-tax, to pay which
before it was due the people had to borrow money of usurers and
at large interest. The national debt had reached the sum of
eighty millions sterling, all borrowed between 1862 and the end
1879, it was therefore evident that the autocratic khedive either
would not or could not control the financial administration.

Of the ways of the ministry of Ismail we have had some im-
pression from their manner of dealing with the Soudan and its
finances. The ministries of Finance, to which Prince Hassein Kiamil,
the son of the khedive, succeeded; Foreign affairs, in which Nubar
Pasha held the reins for a good part of the time; Public works.
Interior (Prince Tewfik), Commerce, War (Prince Hassan Pasha,
third son of the Khedive), Marine, and Public instruction, were, and
are still, the departments. An " Assembly of Notables," composed
of village sheikhs elected by the communes, met once a year, but
nobody quite knew what it did, or what actual authority it exer-
cised. The division of the country into provinces under mudirs
or governors, each assisted by a council, of which the chief members
are the kadi or judge, whose office has something of a religious
character, and the vakeel, or deputy-governor, provides for the outer
administration, as each province is divided into districts, presided
over by a nazir, and every village has its sheik-el-beled. The most
important towns, as Alexandria, Cairo, Suez, Port Said, Ismailia,
Damietta, and Rosetta, possess local self-government, and, as we
have seen, the territory outside Egypt proper is governed according
to circumstances or to the price paid for the appointments.

Until 1876 there were no regular courts of justice in Egypt
before which foreigners who had committed crimes or offences
against the law could be brought to trial. Each of the European
powers has an agent or consul-general accredited to the khedive,
and with a consulate at Alexandria in summer and at Cairo in
winter; and there are, of course, consuls, vice-consuls, and consular
agents at the seaports and large towns. Till the date mentioned
foreign offenders could only be made answerable to the consuls of
the countries to which they belonged, and consequently there were

2 20 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

seventeen consular courts. The confusion and miscarriage of
justice was quite notorious, so that it became necessary to make
some alteration in this system, and in 1869 Nubar Pasha exerted
himself to induce his government to apply for the appointment of an
international commission, which, after considering the matter for
about seven years, succeeded in establishing mixed tribunals of
natives and foreigners for the trial of cases between persons of
different nationalities, and between natives and foreigners. These
tribunals consist of courts of first and second instance, and the law
on which they proceed is the modification of the Code Napoleon
which was long ago adopted in Egypt; the languages used in the
courts being English, French, and Italian. The court of first
instance consists of seven judges — four Europeans and three
natives, and no case can be decided by fewer than five — three
Europeans and two natives. The court of appeal consists of
eleven judges — seven Europeans and four natives, and no case
can be decided by fewer than eight — five Europeans and three
natives. The consular courts, however, continue to exercise
jurisdiction in criminal and civil cases between foreigners of the
same nationality.

We have already seen that in 1862, the last year of the reign
of Said Pasha, the expenditure exceeded the revenue by about
;!^300,ooo, and the public debt was £^,2^2,2,00. On the ist of
January, 1882, the nominal amount of the Egyptian debt was
^99,254,920, to which it had increased from ^76,00.0,000 as fixed
by the report of Mr. Goschen and M. Joubert in 1876.

Said Pasha, evidently, had not left any very heavy financial
responsibilities to his successor. But a new era was supposed to
have opened for Egypt when Ismail came to the throne, and began
to push on public works and improvements with even more energy
and with a far greater recklessness of cost than had distinguished
his enterprising grandfather, Mohammed Ali. The result has
been, that railways, some of which are incomplete, have been
established; harbours formed; a complete telegraph system secured
over the country; Alexandria renovated, and vast improvements
made, not only in the modern city, but in the harbour and the

"EGYPT FOR THE EGYPTIANS." 22 1

depots; Cairo transformed into a brilliant and delightful city, an
almost cosmopolitan place of resort. The commerce of Egypt, as
well as its agriculture, and especially the growth of cotton, has
also been immensely extended. These rapid developments of
conditions which are usually regarded as indications of national
prosperity, found admirers, or, at all events, apologists, especially
among those who were deeply interested in obtaining highly
profitable contracts for carrying out engineering and other public
works, and by those officials whose appointments depended on the
prosecution of the various enterprises. On the other hand,
however, were those who declared that the brilliant achievements
of Ismail were only effected by the ruin and bankruptcy of the
state and the oppression of the people of Egypt. The latter
opinion began to be shared by many of the bondholders and
creditors who had helped to advance the loans, and had been by
no means careful to condemn the extravagance of the khedive, or
to perceive how insupportable was the burden laid on the native
population, until a note of alarm was sounded, and fears were
entertained about the capacity of the Egyptian treasury to provide
for the fulfilment of the engagements of the government.

It is not too much to say that from the time of Mohammed
Ali there had been scarcely any radical changes in the mode of
administration, as it affected the people, and especially the fellaheen
— the agricultural population; while the employment of foreigner^,
and the manner of promoting official appointments, contracts for
public works at enormous charges, and mercantile or manufacturing
speculations forming considerable additions to the expenditure and
controlled by alien directors, aroused widespread dissatisfaction.
This was not allowed to slumber either by the old conservative
Egyptian pashas, who hate and continually endeavour to frustrate
the endeavours of Europeans in the service of the khedive, or by
the increasing party of " nationalists," who twenty years ago adopted
the cry of " Egypt for the Egyptians," meaning thereby indepen-
dence of the Turkish government, but have given it greater and
bitterer emphasis since it has been directed against Europeans
employed by the government of Egypt or taking the direction of

222 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

the affairs of the country. At the same time it must be remembered
that such intervention by Europeans became inevitable when the
" sinews of war" — the money that was to prevent insolvency and
enable the Egyptian government to complete the enterprises which
it had undertaken, had been provided by European capitalists —
and the debts thus incurred were necessarily secured by being
made a charge on the revenue, which itself depended on the
method of administering public affairs. The khedive may be said
to have pawned his country, and with it the authority of its
governing organization; and perhaps the whole of the disputed
question of the rights or claims of bondholders may be sifted down
to the initial inquiry, whether anything can justify a ruler in making
such a pledge, or his creditors in accepting it, knowing that it
must involve, not only the resources of the country, but the liberties
and the national claims of the people from whom those resources
have to be drawn. But there is another side to the question.
The development and the progress of Egypt would have been
indefinitely protracted, perhaps would have remained impossible;
unless Mohammed Ali had shown the example, — which was too
precipitately followed by his grandson, — of seeking the aid of
Europeans, and especially the practical and industrial aid of the
English, in those enterprises which alone can insure the material
prosperity and the influence of a nation. It would have been
impossible to achieve any such plans with the aid of native officials,
it has been impossible ever since. Egypt has never yet succeeded
in obtaining a native government the officials of which, from the
khedive to the pashas and downward to the collectors of taxes and
the messengers and hangers-on of the viceregal court, have not
been corruptible by bribery. Bribery and corruption have always
been recognized as the foremost inducements for seeking to obtain
government employment. Only in cases where they have led to
awkward consequences, because of their affecting the welfare or the
opinions of Europeans, have they been counted as crimes, or even
as grave delinquencies. We have seen how they worked with
regard to the maintenance of slavery, and also of active rebellion
in the Soudan, and it was from Cairo itself that they were effected.

BRITISH INFLUENCE AND CONTROL. 223

Whatever may have been the grounds of complaints made —
mostly by interested Egyptian pashas and officers — against
Europeans holding offices, or employed on public works by the
khedival government, the real ground of complaint should have
been that of the common people — the people to whom it was made
impossible that they should really hold any property or accumulate
any personal material interest in the country because of the
rapacity of their rulers, who handed down bribery and oppression
as the watchwords of government, and feared nothing so much as
the scrutinizing eye of the European, whose rank and character
had led to his being invited to investigate their proceedings.

Another word may be said while speaking on this point.
There was nothing out of place in the fact that when European
advice or intervention was required, England had always taken
a prominent place in the direction of Egyptian affairs. Though the
resident English are much fewer than the Italians and French (the
approximate proportions being as 8 English to 12 French and
25 Italians), England is not only a creditor for a great proportion
of the debt (a position which more than once has unhappily induced
us to consent to the adoption of a high-handed control over the
Egyptian revenue, which resulted only in jealousy, hatred, confusion,
and rebellion), but has also far larger commercial relations with
Egypt than those of any other nation; so large, indeed, that they
amount to more than those of all the other nations of Europe
added together. Of the staple exports from Egypt we take four-
fifths of the cotton, eleven-twelfths of the beans, nine-tenths of the
wheat, five-sixths of the maize, nine-tenths of the other edible
cereals except rice, almost all of which goes to the Levant; four-
fifths of the flax, and nearly all the linseed; about half the sugar;
three-fourths of the wool ; and from the interior, by far the greater
part of the ivory and gum arabic. These returns are on an
average of ten years made in 1882, and in the six years, 1874-
1879, the total exports from Egypt were in value ^74,603,000,
of which Great Britain took ;^52, 589,000; France, ^8,194,000;
Italy, ^3,683,000; Austria, 3,362,000; Russia, ^3,259,000; Turkey,
;^2, 542,000; leaving the remainder to be distributed elsewhere.

2 24 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

In the same period the imports into Egypt were ^29,282,000, of
which there were supplied by Great Britain ^16,247,000; by
France, 5,494,000; by Austria, ^3,131,000; by India, China,
and Japan, _;^ 1,424,000; by Italy, ^1,289,000. These figures will
show that England necessarily had a considerable influence in any
European management which Egypt either solicited or endured;
but it should be added that in 1875 the government of Great
Britain had become the owner of nine-twentieths of the shares in
the Suez Canal by the advice of Mr. Disraeli, who was then
prime minister. Said Pasha had originally subscribed for 177,642
shares out of 400,000 shares of ^20 each; but in 1875 some had
been disposed of and 1 76,602 were left, for which we gave
^4,000,000. The khedive had previously attempted to sell them
to a French financial company; on his failure to do so, his offer to
transfer them to the English government was accepted, with the
proviso, that during a period of nineteen years, for which the
dividends had been alienated from the shares, he was to pay five
per cent on the purchase money. It was represented that at the
end of that time, though the shares might have become more
valuable, a large amount of capital might be required for the
maintenance and improvement of the canal. Opinion on the
policy of purchasing these shares was divided. There were those
who held that it was a sagacious stroke to secure for England a
large if not a preponderating interest in what was likely to become
the highway to India, and where, while English shipping would
far exceed that of any other nation, it was already evident that
some resistance would have to be made to the demands of the
French shareholders for the maintenance of heavy dues. On the
other hand it was contended that the fact of British shipping being
the chief means of making the canal a paying enterprise would
give us all the control that would be necessary; and again, we
were reminded that at the outset Lord Palmerston had opposed
the construction of the canal, not only because of the physical
difficulties that attended it and were regarded by some of the most
eminent engineers as being fatal to its remunerative success; but
because he foresaw political difficulties in consequence of it, and

THE SUEZ CANAL SCHEME. 225

was said to believe that one day the question would arise in
reference to Egypt, of England becoming a great Mediterranean
power. He also feared that the cordial alliance with France, which
he always so warmly advocated, would be made more uncertain
owing to the question of the Suez Canal.

The cutting of a waterway between the two seas was no new
idea. It was as old as the Pharaohs. A canal had been made
ages before, and had been restored, and lengthened, and improved,
and then had fallen into ruin, and had disappeared, silted up by
the inevitable sand, which was the obstacle that Robert Stephenson
pointed to as insuperable when he was elected on the commis-
sion formed by England, France, and Austria, at the request of
Mohammed Ali, to consider the question of a ship canal across the
isthmus at its narrowest point, from Tilreh (Pelusium) to Suez.
So a railway was made from Cairo to Suez; and Lieutenant Wag-
horn (who had recommended the canal to Mohammed Ali, to
whom he alleged that the levels of the Red Sea and the Mediter-
ranean were nearly identical), was busy completing his scheme for
an overland route, while the young Ferdinand de Lesseps was a
subordinate in the French consulate at Cairo. For faur-and-twenty
years de Lesseps cherished a fixed idea that the canal uniting the
two seas might, could, and should be made; and having studied the
estimates of the sea levels, and given much of his spare time to
the subject, he had an opportunity when he was again in Egypt,
in 1854, of laying his plan before Said Pasha. In the fol-
lowing year another international commission was appointed, and
advised, that instead of striking the Mediterranean at Pelusium
the canal should be carried through Lake Menzaleh, and enter the
sea some seventeen miles farther west, where a deeper approach
would be found. This and some other modifications were ac-
cepted. The final concession for the work was signed by the
viceroy in January, 1856, and the opposition of Lord Palmerston,
added to the enthusiasm that the work was to be committed to
their countryman — stirring up the enthusiasm of the French, de
Lesseps was able to float his "Compagnie Universelle du Canal
maritime de Suez" in 1858, with a capital of ;^8,ooo,ooo in £20

Vol. I. 16

2 26 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

shares, on nearly every bourse in Europe. A little more than half
the amount was subscribed (mostly in France), and in i860 Said
Pasha took up the remainder for ^3,500,000. In April, 1859, the
work was begun, though the consent of the Porte was not obtained
till 1866; but the labour was tremendous, and by the end of 1862
only a narrow channel had been made from the Mediterranean to
Lake Timsah — about half-way across. The fresh -water canal
which was to complete the fresh-water communication between
Cairo and Suez was carried to the same point.

Thus, early in the enterprise it became pretty evident that
Egypt had been brought into a bad bargain. To begin with. Said
Pasha had engaged to furnish by corv6e, or the system of forced
labour, four-fifths of the workmen required, to whom the company
agreed to pay about two-thirds the price of such labour in Europe
(a rather vague arrangement if the difference between English
navvies and French or English agricultural labourers is considered),
together with rations and shelter This meant that every month
20,000 fellahs were to be drafted from their homes and their own
agriculture; and when the impolicy of such an arrangement was
shown to Ismail Pasha he (in 1864) refused to continue it. At
the same time the political mistake made by Said in ceding to a
foreign company the sole possession of the fresh-water canal, and
a broad belt of land along the whole of the maritime ship canal
was pointed out, and the khedive determined that the grant must
be rescinded. It happened that Napoleon III. was desirous of
keeping on fair and friendly terms with England, which was the
power most interested in the claims of the Suez Canal Company
being restricted to reasonable commercial limits, instead of being
inflated into what might eventually become national or political
demands; and it happened also that the enterprise needed funds —
a large sum in hard cash or its equivalent — so that when the
various points were submitted to Napoleon III. himself for arbitra-
tion, he met the case by giving the company an enormous indem-
nity of ;i^ 1, 5 20,000 for the removal of the enforced labour,
^1,200,000 for the land along the canal bank, except 200 metres
on each bank which was retained, and ^640,000 for the fresh-

COUNTING THE COST. 22/

water canal from Ras-el-Wady to Suez — ^3,360,000 in all.
Payment was to be by sixteen instalments of 12 per cent
Treasury bonds, falling due between 1864 and 1879; but by a
subsequent convention the term of payment was shortened by ten
years, and the whole sum was paid by 1869. In addition to this
sum, was an amount in cash of ;^400,ooo for the repurchase of the
Wady domain which the company had bought of Said Pasha five
years before for ^74,000.

By the time the work was completed, what with debenture loans
issued at 60 per cent and redeemable at par in fifty years by lottery
drawings; the surrender of remaining rights and privileges; and
the sale of establishments on the Isthmus, the quarry and harbour
at Mex, near Alexandria, and the workshops at Damilha and
Boulak for ;!^ 1,200,000, which the Egyptian government paid for by
raising a loan on the coupons of its shares for twenty-five years (till
1894) — the net capital of the company had increased from eight
millions to a little less than seventeen millions, and additional
payments had swelled it to something like nineteen millions, about
the total cost of the work including interest during its construction.
This large total, however, represents only about ;^i 2,000,000
of net money, while the actual cost of the canal was about
^"17,518,729 — the difference of nearly ;^ 6,000,000 having been
chiefly represented by indemnities paid by the Egyptian government
and forming no charge upon revenue.

The actual interest and sinking fund annuities amounted to
^818,400, to be reduced as the loans were redeemed.

The total cost of the enterprise to the Egyptian government,
including purchase money for the original shares, the cost of
some small works, and of the missions to Europe, litigation, and
the superb fetes to celebrate the opening of the canal in November,
1869, was ;^ 1 0,764, 7 20, while the interest added to the various
sums from their respective dates to September, 1873, amounted to
^6,663,105, making a total of ;^i 7,427,825, or very nearly the
amount of the entire cost.^

Of course the khedive Ismail achieved vast improvements, and

' £gypi as It Is, J. C. M'Coan.

2 28 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

established an enormous number of useful public works in a very
short time. It was the attempt to multiply works of national
importance, and to convert Cairo into a kind of oriental Paris
without counting the cost, combined with the corruptions of the
government, which led to the bankruptcy of Egypt and the
dethronement of the khedive. The Suez Canal can scarcely be
counted among the unprofitable enterprises, especially as a large
part of the money was regained by the purchase of the Egyptian
shares by the British government, for it has secured to Egypt the
national importance that must belong to a country through which
the traffic passes between Europe and the great empire of the East.
The fine harbour of Alexandria and the harbour of Suez also were
great and necessary works. Some of the lighthouses were useful,
and the schemes for railway communication in Egypt proper were
so energetically carried out, that in 1879 there were 1000 miles
of railway as against 245 at the accession of Ismail Pasha in
1863; while the immense network of canals in the Delta, used for
.storing and distributing the surplus water of the inundation, is one
of the most remarkable features in the country. The railway
system in the Delta is very complete, and an alternative route
(on the left bank of the Nile), between Cairo and Alexandria,
was carried into Upper Egypt and the Fayoum. A railway also
was constructed (as a continuation of a branch of the old desert
line between Cairo and Suez) for 98 miles along the fresh-water
canal to Ismailia, and thence nearly due south by the side of the
same channel and the maritime canal to Suez. As the earthworks
on these lines were all formed by forced labour the cost was
reduced, but the capital had to be borrowed at 1 2 per cent interest.
Of the projected and abandoned railway in the Soudan we have
already seen the account, as given in the story of Gordon's efforts
to reduce the expenditure there.

Of the wonderful canal system which fertilizes the cultivable
country we shall have to note some particulars hereafter. At the
harbour of Alexandria the improvements made by the khedive
were of the utmost importance The modern harbour itself lies
within the upper curve of a bay formed by the two projecting

BREAKWATER AT ALEXANDRIA. 2 29

headlands of Ras-el-Teen on the north-east, and Cape Adjemi
and Marabout Island on the south-west, and measuring six
miles in length by an average of two in width. It is landlocked
on every side except on the south-west, from which quarter, how-
ever, the prevailing wind comes during eight or nine months in
the year. It had always been a serious drawback that the " sea,"
which was thus caused, was a great obstacle to the loading or
discharging of vessels in the roadstead by means of stone lighters,
which was the plan employed, and the khedive was most anxious
to remedy it, especially when the Suez Canal was likely to compete
with the ordinary ports and routes of commercial transit. In 1870
he had determined to commence the work, and contracted with
Messrs. Greenfield & Co., a large English firm, fof constructing
a great breakwater, an inner harbour mole, and a line of quays
which should provide the necessary shelter and accommodation for
the increasing trade of the port. The work began in 187 1, and,
briefly stated, the ultimate plan was the formation of an outer
breakwater commencing at a point 50 metres south-west of the
Ras-el-Teen lighthouse, extending nearly 1000 metres in that
direction and then curving to s.s.w., running in a straight line
2350 metres further, or in all for above two miles across the mouth
of the harbour, inclosing an area of more than 1400 acres of still
water, deep enough for vessels of the largest class. The principal
entrance to the port is therefore round the south-western end of
the breakwater, which is 1500 metres from the shore; and the
narrow passage of Ras-el-Teen gives ingress and egress only to
small craft and shore boats. The outer sea wall is constructed of
vast blocks of concrete, formed at the neighbouring quarries ol
Mex of sand and lime, and flung down on the sea side with an
inner front of rubble. The upper portion of the wall is of solid
masonry with a uniform surface twenty feet wide, and rises ten feet
above the lowest and seven above the highest sea level. About
2500 concrete blocks, weighing 20 tons each, and 130,000 tons of
large and small rubble stones were sunk in the foundations.
Toward the shore a broad mole stretches out 900 metres from the
mouth of the Mahmoudieh Canal and the harbour terminus of the

230 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

Cairo railway; a line of quays 1240 metres long, extending from
the same point along the Marina to a point near the admiralty dock,
complete this great work. The quays constructed in the same
manner as the inner mole, and with abutting iron jetties, alongside
which ships could load or discharge in all weathers, and a branch
railway connecting the mole and quays with the Alexandria and
Cairo line, and so with the whole railway system of the interior,
may be said to have been the final provision, the full benefit of
which was to have been secured by the line to Khartum, by which
it was expected to bring the merchandise of the Soudan to the
Mediterranean. The total cost of the harbour works was
;i^2,ooo,ooo; and the walls at Suez harbour, which were only
second in importance to those at Alexandria, and were continued
and extended during successive years, cost a total of above
/ 1, 500,000.

We may for a minute see from what sources the taxes were
derived, which, after reducing the fellaheen to a misery little short
of that which they suffered under the rule of Mohammed Ali,
were totally insufficient to discharge the continually augmenting
debts incurred by the khedive. There is no need to enter into
details of such items of indirect revenue as railway profits, customs,
dues, &c., and we will only mention the land-taxes and tax on date-
trees, stopping for a moment, however, to note that in many cases,
such as customs supervision, and taxes on trades and professions,
the Europeans residing in Egypt were exempt from the imposts
laid upon the natives. Foreign ships, even the fishing-boats and
shore boats owned by Greeks and Maltese, were free from the
search of the custom-house officers, who could only overhaul the
cargo when it was landed. This gave the opportunity for ex-
tensive smuggling. Foreigners were also allowed to grow tobacco
without being called upon to pay the special taxes levied on native
farmers, and to follow freely trades on which special taxes were
laid if they were pursued by natives. This distinction arose from
the conditions of what were called the "capitulations," or the
series of obligations imposed on the Turkish government at
successive periods for the protection of subjects of the Christian

PRIVILEGES OF FOREIGNERS. 23 1

powers. These concessions, which began in the time of Mahmoud
II., increased till they included the right of trading freely through-
out the empire with only such customs duties as might be fixed by
treaty; the exemption from all arbitrary taxation; the inviolability
of domicile, so that the house of a foreigner could not by law be
forcibly entered without the knowledge and concurrence of the
consul representing his nationality; the settlement by their own
consuls of commercial disputes between themselves; and the right
of the protection of their own consuls or their representatives at
either civil or criminal trials to which they might be parties before
the native tribunals.

All these provisions of the Porte extended to foreigners in
Egypt, which was under the government of the sultan; and it may
readily be supposed to what lengths the exemptions were carried
during the extensive employment of foreigners in the service of
the ruling pashas, and to what exasperation the distinctions gave
rise among people who were themselves oppressed almost out of
existence, while the foreigners living in their country were allowed
to go easily, and were entitled to protection or redress by appeal-
ing to their own consuls, who so far held the administration of
justice in their hands. The abolition of the loose administration
by the petty consular tribunals (of which about seventeen were in
Cairo, representing various nationalities), and the institution of
the mixed or international courts, led to the abolition of much
injustice, especially as regarded trials for debt. But these courts
are of comparatively recent introduction, and did not remove the
exemptions of foreigners from special taxation, though they have
united the native and consular authorities in the trial of foreigners
and the prosecution of claims against foreign criminals and debtors.

The land-tax, applicable to a total area of land under cultivation
amounting to about 5,000,000 feddans,^ varied in its incidence. In
1877 by far the greater proportion of the land, about 3,600,000
feddans, paid a rent charge averaging about twenty-two shillings
a feddan, and the remaining portion was held under a privileged
tenure represented by a kind of quit-rent of about seven shillings a

' A feddan is about equal to an English acre.

232 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

feddan. The revenue from both those taxes in 1876 amounted to
about ^4,300,000.

The Egyptian code published in 1875, and compiled for the
use of the international courts which then came into existence,
divides real property into four categories: houses and lands
{"Mulk"), over which private individuals may have complete rights
of property; property held in mortmain by religious houses; and
the Kharaji, in which almost the entire soil of the country must be
comprised, and thus described, " Les biens haradjis ou tributaires
sont ceux qui appartiennent a I'etat en dont il a cdd^, dans les
conditions et dans les cas prevus par les reglements I'usufruit aux
particuliers." The fourth division are the Moubah or untilled
lands, to which anyone may acquire a free prescriptive right by
occupation and cultivation, whereupon, however, they become
practically included in the Kharaji. Of the " Moukabala " (or
compensation) and " village annuities" most of us have heard or
read when endeavouring to unravel the mysteries of Egyptian
revenue. The former was introduced in 187 1 to redeem half the
land-tax for the purpose of paying off the floating debt without
having recourse to a foreign loan. The majority of Egyptian
landowners had no legally regular title-deeds, and in return for
their paying six years' land-tax in advance, either in one payment
or six yearly instalments, the government agreed to give them
regular titles, and afterwards to reduce the tax to one-half. The
attempt to carry out the proposal was a failure. The poorer
landowners could not pay in advance, though they may have
strained every nerve to save, beg, or borrow money. About
^8,000,000 was realized, and ^27,825,000 had been the estimated
amount. Then came a muddling attempt at compromise, which
broke down also, and left the Egyptian treasury saddled with a
promise to pay ^2,500,000 a year of its most easily collected
revenue. This attempt lasted till May, 1876, when the council of
the government, under the pressure of some French financiers who
held the larger proportion of its treasury bonds, unified its entire
debt on terms which professed to provide for its redemption in
sixty-five years. This involved the abolition of the Moukabala

" VILLAGE ANNUITIES. ' 233

and the consequent confusion and dismay of the unfortunate
proprietors who had paid up; but the scheme fell through because
of the refusal of England to accept it; so the Moukabala was
restored, the contributary landholders were to be recouped, and
Mr. Goschen for England and M. Joubert for France brought in
a project, part of which was, that no interest or bonus should be
paid on advances, but that the whole of the reduction of the tax
should come at once into force in 1876.

The "village annuities" were instituted in 1870, when the re-
duction on the price of cotton as a reaction from the rise caused
by the American war, prevented the Egyptian growers from repay-
ing the advances they had received from merchants and money-
lenders during the inflation of the market. The government took
up the debt of about £ i ,000,000, and issued village bonds, spread
over seven years and bearing interest. The period was afterwards
extended to twelve years, so that the annuities would expire in
1885, the treasury being repaid by the original debtors at the rate of
^160,000 a year.

But apart from the land in occupation by holders and agricul-
turists, there were the Diaras or "administrations," the "domains"
of the khedival family, which included manufactories, mills, and
various important enterprises, as well as cultivated land of enor-
mous value, but as deeply involved in debt as the possessions of
the state government. Ismail Pasha had followed the example of
his predecessors, and had secured the possession of land for him-
self and his family. Of course the manner in which the right and
title to these vast estates was acquired could not be strictly investi-
gated; but he and his family laid claim to about a million of acres
of the best land in Egypt. The finances, which means, of course,
the debts of these vast estates, however, had been so mixed up
with those of the state, that there was some difficulty in disentan-
gling them, and it was not till the end of 1876 when the settlement
of the state debt was being arranged, that the two administrations
were separated. The amount of taxation then was about 255. per
head of the population, an oppressive burden to the wretched fel-
laheen, and the exemption of foreigners from certain imposts con-

2 34 EGYPT AND THE SOUUAN.

tinued, much to the dissatisfaction of the less patient of the Egyp-
tian population at Cairo and elsewhere.

Sir W. Gregory in a book upon Egypt says :

" I will venture to say that ninety out of every hundred of my
countrymen are not aware of the injustice under which the Egyp-
tians are labouring — the stately palaces, built by Europeans and
by those who have obtained European nationality, in many in-
stances by very questionable means, are untaxed; the humble
dwelling of the Egyptian, by the side of these mansions, is taxed
at the rate of 12 per cent on the valuation. But this is done
through the capitulations with Turkey, it will be said — that is true
enough; but it is perfectly easy for England to take the lead, and
to let the Egyptians know we are taking the lead, in endeav-
ouring to relax, under proper safeguards, this portion of the capit-
ulations. Again, let a Maltese, or a Greek, or an Italian, practise
a trade, or mount the box of a hackney-coach as driver, he is
exempt from the tax on professions as being under European pro-
tection; but an Egyptian, striving to earn his bread in a similar
manner, is taxed in doing so."

It may be imagined what were the sentiments of the deluded
landholders, who had been induced to part with the instalments
for which it was now doubtful whether they would really obtain
any advantage. "Egypt for the Egyptians" began to acquire a
new significance, and there were already symptoms of coming
aggression. In 1878, amidst the tumult of the Russo-Turkish
war, the affairs of Egypt again came to a crisis, in which it became
apparent that the scheme prepared by the Right Hon. J. G.
Goschen and M. Joubert had not satisfactorily solved the difficulties
of finance, though it had been well understood that Mr. Goschen
and the financial firm of Fruhlings & Goschen, to which he had
formerly belonged, had considerable experience in Egyptian affairs,
and had been mainly interested in some of the earlier loans.

The conclusion that was come to was that an entirely new
effort should be made, and, therefore, a committee of inquiry was
appointed, in which Mr. Rivers Wilson, who had formerly held an
important office in the English treasury, took the principal part.

A FINANCIAL INQUIRY. 235

By the month of August a very full and detailed report of the result
of the labours of this committee was ready to be presented to the
khedive.

A summary of this report, afterwards published, revealed not
only the financial imbroglio but extraordinary instances of fiscal
oppression. No tax in Egypt was regulated by law. The superior
authority asked, the inferior authority demanded, and the lower
authority took just what the treasury ordered, and there was no
appeal. New taxes were imposed at discretion, and were occasionally
quite absurd. For example, when a bridge was built the charge for
it was imposed on the boatmen whose boats were impeded by the
bridge, not on the passengers whose journey was facilitated. All
who did not own lands paid the tax on professions, because, not
being land-owners, they might take to professions if they liked.
Egyptians were not allowed to own scales, because they might
evade the weighing tax; while the salt tax was levied according to
population, which was never counted, but fixed by an order which
was never varied. The conscription was forced on anybody who
could not bribe the sheikh, the regulation price for exemption
being ^80, which an Egyptian peasant could no more raise than
an English labourer could. " These taxes are all levied by moral
pressure," said the inspector-general; and the commission found
out that "moral pressure" meant the threat of torture. Another
curious fact they discovered. In 1874 the viceroy had invited the
natives to subscribe to a new reimbursable loan [Rouynamefi) , of
;^5,ooo,ooo, the subscribers to receive a perpetual annuity of 9 per
cent on their capital. The amount subscribed was ^^3,420,000.
One coupon was paid, and that only to some of the subscribers.

It soon became evident to the khedive that he must surrender
to those who were conducting the inquiries; and the committee
announced that it had accepted an offer of Prince Mohammed
Tewfik, the hereditary prince, made on the advice of Nubar Pasha,
to cede to the committee all his estates, the annual rental of which
amounted to ;^30,ooo. Princess Fatma and Prince Hassein
Hamil Pasha, the daughter and the second son of the khedive, had
made known their intention to join in the family sacrifice; and

236 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

following these examples, the mother of the khedive had also
relinquished her estates, worth about ^20,000 a year.

The presentation of the report was almost immediately fol-
lowed by an announcement that the khedive himself would give
up all his private estates to the financial commission so as to reserve
nothing from the public revenues of Egypt, would accept absolutely
the European system of constitutional government, and make
Nubar Pasha, a man of high ability, the head of the administration;
while Mr. Rivers Wilson, with the assent of the British govern-
ment, was to be minister of finance. Nothing could have been
apparently more straightforward than the declarations of the
khedive. " Rest assured," he said, " that I am seriously resolved.
My country is no longer African. We form a part of Europe.
It is proper, therefore, to abandon our old ways and to adopt a
new system more in accordance with our social progress. Above
all, we must not be satisfied with mere words, and for my own
part I am determined to prove my intentions by my deeds; and
to show how thoroughly earnest I am, I have intrusted Nubar
Pasha with the formation of a ministry. ... I am firmly
determined to apply European principles to the Egyptian admin-
istration, instead of the personal power hitherto prevailing. I
desire a power balanced by the council of ministers, and am
resolved henceforth to govern with and through this council, the
members of which will be jointly and severally responsible. The
council will discuss all important questions, the majority deciding.
Thus by approving its decisions I shall sanction the prevalent
opinion. Each minister will apply the decisions of the council in
his own department. Every appointment or dismissal of higher
officials will be made by the president of the council and the
minister of the department with my sanction. The officials will
only obey the chiefs of their own departments."

Here was the promise of a change which would have had the
most important consequences, and was hailed with the greatest
satisfaction in western Europe; but again the jealousy and restless
vanity of a political party in France would not allow the opportunity
to be secured for effecting a genuine reform in Egypt. The

FRENCH JEALOUSY. 237

acquisition of Cyprus by the British government had aroused their
anger, and they were constantly opposing what they represented
to be the preponderance of English influence in Egypt. Even-
tually the attitude of the French government led to a compromise
which was afterwards found to be incompetent to secure the suc-
cessful adoption of the proposed administrative reform. A French
minister of public works, M. de Blignieres, was chosen as Mr.
Wilson's colleague, with control over all railways, canals, and ports
(except Alexandria), and with substantial influence in the cabinet;
and two commissioners of the public debt, an Englishman and a
Frenchman, were appointed, the governments pledging themselves
to maintain them in power. The khedive also pledged himself
that if he dismissed either the French or English members of his
government he would dismiss both.

It was not very long before this proviso at least was claimed.
After the concession of the khedive, which almost amounted to
a complete surrender, it was supposed that the influence of the
French and English ministers would so guide Egyptian counsels
that even the involved finances of the country might be eventually
put straight; but the too obvious domination of the European
representatives in combination with the prime minister, Nubar
Pasha, who had been restored to power, and the sudden dismissal
of a number of Egyptian officers in the army and the civil service,
was the occasion of demonstrations which ended in a serious riot.

238 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

CHAPTER III.

High-handed Proceedings. Demands of the Khedive. Military Riots in Cairo. Resignation of
Nubar Pasha. The French and English Ministers restored to Power. Their Summary
Dismissal. "The National Party." Protest of Germany and other Great Powers. Deposition
of Ismail Pasha. Accession of Tewfik. The "Control." Military Riots. Tewfik a Cipher.
Arabi Bey. Military Dictatorship. Outrages in Alexandria. The Allied Squadrons. French
Defection. England Alone. The Bombardment of Alexandria.

Those who hoped that Ismail would be converted into a
constitutional ruler were doomed to be disappointed ; nor was it .
reasonable to expect that, with Nubar Pasha, Mr. Rivers Wilson,
and M. de Blignieres as the actual government, he would continue
to be satisfied with the shadow of authority, especially as he had
by a single act of concession given up not only his autocratic power
but his property; for he also had relinquished his "domain" or landed
estate. It was believed that if he had been conciliated and treated
with the respect due to his position he might have been "managed;"
but Nubar Pasha, who had been reinstated as prime minister on
the strong representations of the European ministers, was deter-
mined to reduce the khedive to a merely nominal place in the
government of the country, and the English minister of finance,
Mr. Rivers Wilson, was much of the same mind. The result was
that the khedive was in active opposition to the government which
had been forced upon him. It was. discovered that he encouraged
the disaffection of the officials and pashas whose authority and
privileges were suppressed or threatened by the new ministry,
who had disregarded the demands of a large number of officers
of the army discharged without settlement of their long-standing
arrears of pay. The khedive had demanded on his own behalf
that he should have more practical authority in the cabinet council,
should have a right to summon it and to propose measures to it,
that all measures should be submitted to him before beingr laid
before it, and that he should preside at all its deliberations.

On the 1 8th of February, 1879, a riotous demonstration was
made at Cairo by 400 of the discharged military ofificers. They

A MILITARY RIOT. 239

assembled in front of the ministry of finance and insulted Nubar
Pasha and Mr. Rivers Wilson. The khedive drove to the spot
and addressed the rioters to induce them to disperse, but either
they knew that he was only trying to save appearances or they
were too much excited to obey him. On the following day Nubar
Pasha, who believed that the demonstration had been countenanced
by the khedive, resigned his office, and the two European ministers
also tendered their resignations. They would have insisted on
the reinstatement of Nubar Pasha and appealed to their respective
governments, but Mr. Vivian, the English consul-general, advised
the English government against forcing the khedive to re-establish
the authority of a minister with whom he could not sustain friendly
relations, and eventually the diplomatic representatives of England
and France were directed to inform Ismail that the restoration of
the minister would not be insisted on if it was agreed that the
khedive should not in any case be present at cabinet councils, that
his son, Prince Tewfik, should be appointed president of the council,
and that the English and French ministers should have an absolute
right of veto over any proposed measure. As the proposal was
conveyed more in the form of a menace of the consequences of
refusal than as a conciliatory measure, the khedive formally
accepted it, and the cabinet of Lord Beaconsfield in concert with
the French government took the responsibility of ruling the internal
affairs of Egypt. This high-handed policy was the outcome of the
employment of European government officials not only to inquire
into, but to interfere in, the financial affairs of the country; and yet
it may be contended that it would have been impossible to unravel
the skein of Egyptian accounts without such representations on
behalf of European creditors as would amount to a dictatorial
representation of the consequences of refusing to admit the
authority of the commissioners. The actual interposition may be
said to have begun with the mission of Mr. Cave, whose long and
careful inquiry and report in 1876 showed that the unified debt
of Egypt should be estimated at ;^9 1,000,000, which had been
incurred in twelve years by a country whose annual revenue
during that period had not averaged ^8,000,000.

240 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

From that time the reliance of the khedive on English support,
and his desire to employ English officials, had diminished, and yet
he was now a mere cipher, and as the constant jealousy of France
had made it necessary to accept her co-operation on every occasion,
Egypt was now under the control of the two governments, much
to the dissatisfaction of the other powers. The position was
complicated by disputes and disagreements between the foreign
ministers themselves, and it soon became evident that a crisis was
coming. There were manj- difficulties to contend with, and the
ministers, though they had prepared the way for some important
reforms, had achieved little except contracting for a loan with
Messrs. Rothschild for ^8,500,000 (nominal) at seven per cent
on the security of 4,350,000 acres of land which the khedive had
surrendered for the purpose of paying off the floating debt of
;^6, 2 76,000. By the omission to effect legal mortgages on the
ceded estates, other judgment creditors were able to forestall the
holders of the floating debt, and there was a great deal of loss and
trouble in consequence.

A new cabinet, with Prince Tewfik as president and the two
European ministers still in office, was formed by the khedive in
March, 1879, but a second report of the commission of inquiry
was presented, with a plan for the provisional regulation of the
finances. For this Mr. Rivers Wilson held himself responsible,
and though it was first presented confidentially to the khedive,
it transpired that the English minister had represented Egypt to
be in a state of bankruptcy. This aroused enough public indig-
nation to enable the khedive to act upon his original privilege,
and on the 7th of April he abruptly dismissed the ministry and
formed a native council responsible to the obsolete chamber of
notables, which seems to have been revived for the occasion, as it
had been at other times when Ismail wanted to have his own way.

He then brought forward a financial project of his own, which
was supported by the " national party," consisting chiefly of the
officials and land-owners whose extravagance, oppression, and
robbery had been exposed by the commission. The new proposals
would have restored the system by which they profited. This

ISMAIL PASHA ABDICATES. 24 1

national project was embodied in a decree after nearly every
European official of high rank had resigned, and an old friend and
supporter of the khedive — a Turk named Cherif Pasha — was made
president. The English government strongly remonstrated with
the khedive, and warned him that he had broken his special
engagements, but no action was taken, and things went on till
May, when the German government instructed its consul-general
to declare that the decree could not be held to have any legal
force, as, by the arbitrary settlement of the Egyptian debt, it
involved the abolition of acquired and recognized rights, and as it
assailed the competency of the mixed courts and the rights of the
subjects of the empire, the viceroy would be held responsible for
all the consequences of his illegal conduct. This protest was
afterwards repeated by the other five great powers, and the con-
currence of the sultan as suzerain was obtained for whatever
measures the powers might adopt.

On the 19th of June the two diplomatic representatives of
England and France went together to the khedive, and on behalf
of their governments advised him to abdicate in favour of his son
Tewfik, unless he wished them to appeal to the sultan, in which
case he would be deposed without being able to count upon
receiving a pension, or upon the maintenance of the succession in
favour of his son. Ismail would then have withdrawn his decree
and submitted his plan to the approval of the powers, but it was too
late, and on the 26th of June the sultan sent his imperial irad6 by
telegram from Constantinople, deposing Ismail and conferring the
government upon his son Tewfik, who on the same day was
proclaimed khedive without any protest or disturbance. Egypt
was tired of its ruler. On June 30th Ismail Pasha, with his sons
Hussein and Hassan, his harem, and a numerous suite, embarked
for Naples.

Tewfik began his rule with a character for honesty of purpose,
which he deserved, as he had voluntarily given up his possessions
and reduced his civil list. He charged Riaz Pasha with the for-
mation of a ministry, and after much consultation the principle of
two controllers was restored, and Mr. Baring for England, and

VOL. I. 16

242 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

M. de Blignieres for France, were to have full powers of inquiry,
were to receive periodical accounts of the receipts and expenditure
from each administration, were to make suggestions to ministers
without (" at present ") taking part in public business, and were to
have a seat and deliberative voice in the cabinet. They were not
to be removed without the consent of their governments, and had
authority to appoint or dismiss subordinate officials.

The interference of our government in the internal affairs of
Egypt was regarded with dislike by some foreign powers, especially
by Italy, and had not given general satisfaction in parliament, nor
could the high-handed assumptions of the British representatives
be altogether defended. The explanations which were given when
the subject was brought before the House at the end of the session
of 1879 were by no means conclusive; but the interposition had
now another aspect, and it was thought desirable to wait to see
what would be the effect of the new arrangement.

In April, 1880, a Liberal government under Mr. Gladstone
succeeded that of Mr. Disraeli; but the arrangements made under
the control, of course, continued, and though there were many dif-
ficulties and disagreements because of the rivalries of officials,
the current of affairs in Egypt was comparatively tranquil, and
continued so throughout the year. The law of liquidation drawn
up on the recommendation of the commissioners of the great powers
had been passed, and in February, 1881, the report of the control-
lers-general stated that it " drew an absolute line of demarcation
between the past and the future, settled the conditions in which
all public debts, prior to Dec. 31, were to be regulated, fixed the
amount and interest of the consolidated debt, appropriated to it
certain revenues, and laid down the rules by which the other
sources of income were to be distributed between the service of
different branches of the administration, and the paying off of the
consolidated debt."

There were some genuine attempts at reform, and the year
1 88 1 had opened with the promise of progress. A trustworthy
statement of revenue and expenditure showed an income consider-
ably in excess of the estimates of the financial year 1880. Tewfik

BEGINNING OF REVOLTS.

243

was justly credited with a desire to mitigate the burden of the
fellaheen, who received him with respect and loyalty when he
appeared among them; and he was admired for his honesty of pur-
pose, his unostentatious and domestic manner of living, and his
genial kindliness; but the time had not yet come when a firm
grasp and a prompt and heavy hand could be dispensed with in
dealing with officials, and in suppressing attempts at revolt among
the military leaders, whose grievances were, or rather had been,
undeniable. Just before Ismail's fall, soldiers had been seen
begging in the streets. A portion of the army had been disbanded
and left unpaid. Under the new government the soldiers, like
other officials, were regularly paid; but their pay was far below
that of other public servants, and when, for economical reasons, the
regiments were reduced a number of officers were placed on half-
pay without being provided with other employment. Under a
despotism these alleged grievances could only be removed by the
head of the state, who might regard a demand for redress as an
act of treason, and punish it by death or the kourbash; but now
there was something like a constitutional government, and the
ministers, rather than the head of the state, had to bear the
responsibility.

The revolts began by ill-feeling between the Circassian and
Arab officers, and a quarrel between AH Bey Fehmy, the Arab
colonel of the ist Regiment of Guards stationed at the palace of
Abdin in Cairo, and a Circassian officer, of whose influence he
was jealous. Osman Pasha Rifky, minister of war, who was a
Circassian, took the part of his countryman; and Ali Bey Fehmy
and two other officers in command of regiments in or near Cairo
thereupon sent a strongly worded letter to the prime minister,
Riaz Pasha, complaining of the favouritism shown to Circassian
and Turkish officers. The letter was referred to the minister of
war, who on the morning of the ist of February held a council of
war in the barracks at Kasr-el-Nil, and put the three colonels
under arrest there. But Ali Bey Fehmy had provided against
this contingency, and two battalions of his men marched to the
barracks, drove the guards back at the point of the bayonet, broke

244 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

open the prison, released their and his friends, and carried him
back in triumph to their quarters opposite the palace of Abdin;
the members of the military council having precipitately retreated
from the windows of the room in which they had met, not without
some rough treatment by the mutinous soldiery.

Festivities had been going on at Cairo to celebrate the marriage
of some members of the viceregal family, and the khedive and his
ministers, who had been hastily summoned, witnessed from the
balcony of the palace at Abdin the return of the mutineers. An
aide-de-camp sent by the khedive to the rioters while they were at
the barracks of Kasr-el-Nil had failed to pacify them, and they now
demanded, not only the reinstatement of their colonels, but the
dismissal of the minister of war. The colonels had visited Baron
de Ring, the French consular agent and consul-general, and
Mr. Malet, the English diplomatic agent, to assure them that they
intended no hostility to foreigners. Mr. Malet, of course, at once
informed the khedive of the interview. Baron de Ring, who had
for some time been jealous of his compatriot M. de Blignidres
(whose straightforward impartiality and friendly co-operation with
his English colleague did not please the agent), had already been
stirring up strife; and after the visit of the colonels he began to
carry on secret negotiations with them for overturning the ministry.
This was afterwards discovered. The khedive wrote to the
president of the French republic, and Baron de Ring was recalled
and replaced by M. Sienkiewicz.

When the riotous soldiers demanded, there and then, the
dismissal of the minister of war, the khedive took counsel of the
consuls-general of England and France; but it was soon discovered
that the troops in and near Cairo were not to be depended upon
to suppress the mutiny, and there was nothing for it but to yield;
the minister of war being replaced by Mahmoud Pasha Samy
(previously minister of religious institutions), who was acceptable
to the soldiers, and after whose nomination they retired to their
barracks, so that by two o'clock in the afternoon order was
restored, and half the people in Cairo had not known what had
happened.

SAID AHMED ARABI. 245

The danger now lay in the apprehensions of the mutinous
officers that they would after all be punished; and the khedive,
acting on the advice of the English consul-general Mr. Malet,
called together the officers of the garrison, and while deprecating
their recent insubordination, and expressing a hope that they would
for the future observe the first duty of soldiers and obey the head
of the state, assured them of his pardon and his good-will to the
army. Perhaps their experience and the traditions of Egyptian
government made them incredulous of pardon, and they continued
to take means for securing themselves against deferred vengeance
by commencing secret communications with all those who were
disaffected to the government and dissatisfied with their own
position or the political situation in Egypt. The agitation became
formidable; but the ministry, though they knew of it, took no
steps, or were without the requisite force for opposing it, though
they wisely commenced an inquiry into, and the adoption of
remedies for, some of the grievances complained of

On April 20th a decree was issued for raising the pay of all
ranks from 20 to 30 per cent, and for the appointment of a
commission, of which four foreign general officers in the Egyptian
employ — among whom was Major-general Sir Frederick Goldsmid,
English administrator of the Daira Sanieh— were members: to
inquire into the army regulations, rules for promotion and retire-
ment, the condition of those on half-pay, and other matters.
Many meetings of the commission were held, when it became
evident that all the non-European members were united, and that
the Turkish officers had not, as had been expected, opposed the
unreasonable proposals of the military agitators. The head of the
party was Arabi Bey, or, to give him his full name. Said Ahmed
Arabi, who, it is said, was born in Lower Egypt, and claimed to be
one of the fellaheen. Of somewhat imposing presence, tall stature,
and considerable eloquence, Arabi was a recognized leader among
his fellows even before he was raised by Ismail Pasha from the
position of a private soldier to the rank of a commissioned officer.
He had entered the army while he was yet a boy, and in 1881
had arrived at middle age. For the greater part of his career, in

246 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

which he had repeatedly re-entered the ranks under the short-
service system, he had the character of an agitator, always endeav-
ouring, as his friends alleged, to obtain the abolition of abuses; but
as this necessarily involved insubordination, he had been cashiered
even if he had not suffered the indignity of the kourbash. How-
ever, like some other popular agitators, he was able so effectually
to assert himself that he was afterwards reinstated, and Tewfik had
raised him to the rank of colonel of a regiment. That he had a
keen recollection of the punishment he had suffered, and desired
to retaliate on those who were, as he believed, instrumental in
disgracing him, is more than probable, and he had employed much
of his time during his exclusion from the army in thus acquiring
some knowledge of science, so that he was regarded by the
common soldiers, not only as a champion, but as a person of
superior attainments, and had also obtained a reputarion for piety.
He was, in fact, just the sort of leader to attain to a kind of
dictatorship among the troops; and he perhaps represented the
temper of the majority of the officers when at a meeting of the
military commission he declared that if ordered by the minister of
war to take his regiment to the Soudan he would not obey; a
statement which was strongly reproved by Sir Frederick Goldsmid,
in reply to whom Arabi made some lame excuse.

It soon became evident that the authority of the khedive was
insufficient to control either the arbitrary and almost aggressive
attitude assumed by his minister Riaz Pasha, or the growing
mutiny and arrogant claims of the soldiery. It was not till the end
of July, however, that another crisis came, and it was hastened
by an accidental event at Alexandria, where an artillery soldier
was run over by a carriage and killed. The coachman was arrested,
but was discharged without punishment, and some of the comrades
of the artilleryman, in opposition to the commands of their officers,
showed their dissatisfaction by carrying the body of the dead man
through the streets to the palace of Ras-el-Teen, where the khedive
was staying, as he was then on his visit to Alexandria. The
khedive promised that their case should be considered, but soon
afterwards they were brought before a court-martial and heavily

THE ARMY EXCITED. 247

sentenced, the ringleader to hard labour for life, and the others
to three years on the galleys at Khartiim. The severity of the
sentence aroused and excited the army, and Abdullah Bey, com-
manding a negro regiment at Toura, and one of the colonels who
had been concerned in the mutiny at Cairo, wrote to the minister
of war and to the khedive in disrespectful terms. The minister
of war, afraid to punish the writer, allowed him to withdraw the
letter on his assurance that he had no mutinous intention. At
this the khedive was displeased and dismissed the minister, whose
place was taken by Daoud Pasha Zigen, the cousin of Tewfik, who
began to show more firmness towards the leaders of the agitation.
But a strange combination of misunderstandings precipitated
matters. The ministry of Riaz Pasha was already weak, and the
khedive had already talked of dismissing it, though he had not the
resolution to do so. M. de Blignieres also was openly opposed to
them, and there seemed to be confusion in all directions.

On the 3d of September the khedive left Alexandria and
returned to Cairo. At this juncture the minister of war ordered
the removal to Alexandria of the 4th Regiment of infantry, of which
Arabi Bey was colonel. This order, which had in reality been
determined on by the former minister of war, was regarded with
no little apprehension by the leaders of the military party, who
regarded it as preliminary to a coup d'Hat. The acting agent of
England had strongly advised that it should not be issued. Mr.
Malet was at that time on a mission at Constantinople, and it
appeared that the military leaders fancied that he had gone on
behalf of England and France to concert an armed intervention
against a possible revolt at Cairo.

There was great excitement, and meetings were held where
it was decided that a demonstration should be made to intimidate
the khedive and compel the resignation of ministers. It was after-
wards said that he knew of this intention, but relied on the loyalty
of the 1st and 2d Regiments of infantry, and on the cavalry and
artillery, to overpower the mutinous regiment of Arabi Bey if
necessar}^

On the night of Thursday, September 8th, the khedive and his

248 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

ministers had returned from the great fair of Santah, whither they
had been in state. The French consul-general had not returned
from Alexandria, and M. de Blignieres was away on private
business. Mr. Colvin, the English controller-general, had returned
from his leave of absence that morning.

At one o'clock on the following afternoon Daoud Pasha, the
minister of war, received a letter from Arabi Bey saying that at
three o'clock the same afternoon the army would present itself on
the square of the palace of Abdin to demand the execution of the
political programme which their leaders had agreed upon, namely —
the dismissal of Riaz Pasha and all his colleagues, the summoning
of the chamber of notables, and the carrying out of the recom-
mendation of the military commission, the most important part of
which was the augmentation of the army to 1 8,000 men.

Arabi had also sent a circular to the different foreign represen-
tatives assuring them that there was no design against the lives
or property of foreigners. The minister of war took the letter to
the khedive, who was at the palace of Ismailia. Ministers were
at once summoned, and also Mr. Colvin, the controller, and Mr.
Cookson, the English acting agent and consul-general. Mr. Colvin
advised the khedive to go in person to the barracks at Abdin,
where the ist Regiment of the Guard, on whom he could rely, was
stationed, put himself at their head, march with them to the
quarters of the 2d Regiment at the citadel, and so forestall Arabi at
the square at Abdin. This advice was accepted, and Mr. Colvin,
as an Egyptian official, accompanied the khedive. Everything
went well, the troops received the khedive with loyal respect, and
if he had marched at once at their head to Abdin, and there
awaited the arrival of Arabi Bey from Abassieh, whence he had
to bring his regiment, the day might have been his own. But
Tewfik wished to avoid a conflict, and so insisted on driving to
Abassieh before returning to Abdin, where he told his ministers
to wait for him at the palace. He found the barracks empty.
Arabi had marched his men off three quarters of an hour before
the khedive reached the place, and was in the Abdin square with
his troops and eighteen pieces of artillery to blockade the palace.

TEWFIK AND ARABI. 249

the subalterns of the artillery having compelled their colonels to
follow him. The khedive returned in a hurry to find the square in
front of his palace surrounded by 4000 troops, cavalry in the centre,
and loaded cannon pointed to his windows. Both his loyal
regiments had joined the mutiny. He had to get into his palace
the back way. Mr. Colvin urged him to make a personal appeal
to the troops, and with that gentleman on his right, and the
American General Stone, chief of the staff of the Egyptian army,
and three officers of his household, he went down the great stair-
case of the palace towards the group of colonels, of which Arabi
Bey and Abdullah Bey, both on horseback, were the centre.

"Get off your horses," said the khedive; and they obeyed
immediately. Mr. Colvin suggested that they should be ordered
to give up their swords; but the khedive was not equal to that, he
only called upon them to sheathe their swords, and this was re-
peated twice before they obeyed. The khedive asked what it was
that they wanted, and Arabi Bey replied that they came in the
name of the people to ask for the liberty and the grant of the
three points formulated in the letter sent that morning to the
minister of war.

" Have you forgotten that I am the khedive, and your
master?" asked Tewfik.

Arabi answered by a verse from the Koran : " The ruler is he
who is just; he who is not so is no longer ruler."

The khedive retired under pretext of considering the demands
submitted to him. Mr. Cookson, who had just arrived, addressed
himself, by desire of the khedive, to Arabi Bey as the spokes-
man of the army; pointed out the disastrous consequences to
themselves and the country of the course they had taken, and
asked what were their demands. Arabi Bey repeated, " Dismissal
of ministers, convocation of the chambers, and execution of the
military commission." He also said that they were there to de-
fend the liberties of Egypt, which England, the opponent of slavery,
ought never to crush.

Mr. Cookson returned to the khedive and told him that, in his
opinion, if the ministers would consent to resign office, the other

250 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

points would not be insisted on. Riaz Pasha at once agreed, and
Mr. Cookson then announced this to the officers, making the con-
cession conditional on the troops being at once withdrawn, and
adding that he could not recommend his highness to accede to the
other two demands without reference to Constantinople. Arabi
Bey assented, and the khedive was to choose his own ministry;
but some of the officers clamoured for Sherif Pasha, and the
khedive, on being told of this, accepted their selection.

A letter from the khedive was handed to Arabi Pasha, who read
it aloud amidst shouts of " Long live the khedive!" and the troops
were ready to vacate the square, when Arabi and his colleagues
asked that they might be received by the khedive to present their
excuses and receive his pardon. This ceremony was gone through,
and at half-past seven o'clock the troops were all marched off to
the barracks.

All this time the country was quiet enough. It soon became
evident that the champions of liberty were intent almost entirely
on their own advantage, and that the riot was purely military; but
there was reason for great anxiety. The country was for a time
without a ministry; the khedive was in the power of the army.
Neither England nor France would interpose, and an appeal to
the Porte for 10,000 soldiers to put down the military revolt
elicited nothing but the evidence, which was more distinctly dis-
played afterwards, that the sultan would only give his aid on the
condition of revoking the concessions that had been made to Ismail
Pasha, and reducing Egypt to a political position which would not
be acceptable either to its ruler or to the two great European
powers on whom he depended.

For some time it appeared as though Sherif Pasha would not
be able to induce Arabi and his co-mutineers to consent to
such terms as would alone enable him or any statesman to accept
office in such a crisis. Fortunately, the determination of the
colonels to summon the notables from the provinces to make a
demonstration in their favour solved the difficulty. When these
persons arrived they supported Sherif Pasha, for they had a direct
interest in preventing the arrest of regular government, and cared

ARABI WITHDRAWS FROM CAIRO. 25 I

more for peace and quiet than for questions of liberty, which were
found to be for the benefit of military officers. Their attitude
reminded Arabi and his party that it would be safer to come to
some settlement before their conduct brought intervention either
from Constantinople or from Europe, and at last it was agreed that
the officers should quit Cairo, leaving to Sherif Pasha to choose
his own cabinet, and to decide the right time for granting consti-
tutional liberties to the country. On the other hand it was
conceded that Mahmoud Pasha Samy should be restored to the
position of minister of war.

The engagements entered into were for a short time loyally
carried out. On Sept. 22 the khedive signed decrees regulating
the leave, the retirement, the pay, and the promotion in the army,
on the lines put forward by the military commission.

On the 4th of October appeared a decree for the opening of
the chamber of delegates; the interval of three months before the
meeting of the chamber, would be employed by ministers in
preparing for its consideration bills relating to pressing questions,
especially those of the mode of appeal against taxation, of forced
labour, and of provincial councils. On the 6th of October Arabi
Bey and Abdullah Bey withdrew with their regiments from Cairo,
the one to Wady and the other to Damietta.

The excitement had now, however, gone through the country,
and was maintained by all those who were opposed to foreign
control, mainly because it had deprived them of posts in which,
however small the official salaries, there had been great oppor-
tunities for peculation. There may, there must, have been some
to whom the interposition and the control exercised by foreigners
in the internal and financial affairs of Egypt was a deep grievance,
apart from any merely personal considerations,^ — but the greater
number who now joined in the disaffection, instigated by the
military leaders, were either fanatics, who detested alike the
foreigner and the progress which he represented, or creatures who
had found in the older governments opportunities for enriching
themselves by fraud, cruelty and oppression. The " national
party" seemed to revive, and the violent and unscrupulous articles

252 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

which appeared in the local newspapers, and were said to be
inspired by Arabi Bey and his companions, tended to inflame the
hatred of all who were disaffected, and led to the adoption by Riaz
Pasha of a stringent press law, which gave the minister of the
interior absolute power to suppress, without judicial process, any
printing-ofiice or newspaper.

Of course these disturbances seriously injured the commercial
relations of the country during the year 1881, but that year closed
fairly, the khedive, who opened the first session of the new parlia-
ment on the 25th of December, stating that it had always been his
desire to summon the chamber of delegates, and expressing his
conviction that wisdom and moderation would reign in its delibera-
tions, and that it would respect all international engagements.

The apparently conciliatory arrangements did not have any
lasting effect. Scarcely had the chamber of delegates, summoned
by the ministry of Sherif Pasha, assembled when it became evident
not only that Arabi Pasha would not abate his pretensions, but
that the minister himself was inclined to propitiate him, or at
least to recognize the possibility of his claim to represent a national
movement. In the first week of the new year, only a few days
after the supposed settlement of the immediate demands of the
military party, he had returned suddenly from W^ady, and was
actually appointed under-secretary of war. Such a sop was not
likely to appease his appetite for power. A manifesto appeared
in the Times professing to be a statement of his declarations, and
though it was not regarded as authentic, events proved that it
represented his views. It insisted that for the time the army-
represented the people and was trusted by them, that Egypt was
sick of the European control and of its highly paid and often
incompetent officials, and that Europeans should be replaced by
Egyptians even if it should be found expedient to carry out the
financial policy which the control had inaugurated. The British
and French governments, representing the expressed opinions of
Europe, addressed to the khedive an identical note stating their
intention to " ward off" by their united efforts all causes of external
or internal complications which might menace the regime established

A NEW MINISTRY. 253

in Egypt," or in other words to maintain the joint control for the
good of Egypt, the peace of Europe, and the benefit of the
bondholders. The chamber of notables, however, claimed the
right of regulating the national budget, and, in spite of the demur
of the controllers, found that their pretensions were supported by
the sultan, who, claiming Egypt as a part of his possessions, resented
the interference of the European powers in her internal affairs.
Sherif Pasha could not obtain a compromise. He had consented
to give Arabi Pasha an office in the government, and he now
offered to increase the numbers and pay of the army; but the
notables were having their turn, and in.sisted on the abrogation of
the arrangement of 1879, by which the Anglo-French control had
been constituted. All he could do was to resign, and the khedive,
shrinking from the responsibility of forming a new ministry, left it
to the chamber to choose their own. After some difficulty an
administration was selected with Mahmoud Pasha Samy as
nominal president. Ali Sadek Pasha was made minister of finance,
and Arabi Bey became war minister. It had been intended that
Ismail Ayoub Pasha should take the ministry of finance; but he
refused office, alleging that the controllers had threatened to quit
the country accompanied by the consuls if such a ministry was
formed. Arabi retorted that if that were so there was nothing to
be done but to prepare for immediate defence. The ministry was
formed, however, and the president of the council tried to face two
ways, assuring Sir Edward Malet, the English controller, that
the government would observe all national obligations, and repre-
senting to the notables that measures would be adopted that would
subject ministerial responsibility to the vote of the majority.

M. Gambetta, who was then president of the French republic,
urged upon Lord Granville, the British minister for foreign affairs,
to take immediate measures for intervention to prevent anarchy,
amidst which not only Egypt but all European interests would
suffer. The English foreign office had favoured the introduction
into Egypt of such representative institutions as might promote
a better government and prevent a return to the arbitrary power
exercised by Ismail; but it was impossible for them to admit that

254 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

a military revolt should initiate the rule of the chief mutineer, and
under the name of popular representation place the khedive and
the country under a despotism which recognized no external
responsibilities.

At the same time our government was reluctant to intervene
by force of arms to suppress what professed to be a national move-
ment, nor had M. Gambetta actually proposed to support the
khedive by material force. The question was what kind of inter-
vention would be effectual in case of Egypt falling into anarchy.
The English government had a strong objection to the occupation
of Egypt by themselves, as it would create opposition in both
Turkey and Egypt, and excite the suspicion and jealousy of the
European powers, who might make demonstrations on their own
part which would lead to very serious complications. Such an
occupation would also be as distasteful to the French nation as the
sole occupation of Egypt by the French would be to this country.
They also considered that a joint occupation by France and
England, while it might diminish some of the objections referred
to, would seriously aggravate others. On the whole they believed
that a Turkish temporary occupation, under proper guarantees and
with the control of England, and France, would be the least
objectionable, and in this view the other great powers for the most
part concurred. As the new government of Egypt had declared
its intention to maintain international obligations, neither France
nor England considered that a case for intervention had arisen;
but Lord Granville represented that should the case arise they
would wish that any such eventual intervention should represent
the united action and authority of Europe. In that event it would
also, in their opinion, be right that the sultan should be a party
to any proceeding or discussion that might arise.

But Arabi was master of the situation, and it was believed, on
pretty good evidence, that he had reason to count on support from
Constantinople. Under his direction the council discussed measures
transferring to ministers the authority to settle the budget without
reference to the controllers, who thereupon protested to their
respective governments and to the khedive, who received from

A PLOT DISCOVERED. 255

those governments a joint note, and about the same time a
conciliatory Anglo-French note was addressed to the Porte
assuring the sultan that his sovereignty over Egypt would not be
questioned or limited. On the 12th of March M. de Blignieres
resigned his post, but nothing more was done immediately, as M.
Gambetta had been succeeded by M. de Freycinet, whose policy
was one of inaction, for he objected or appeared to object, under
any circumstances, to intervention either by France and England
united, or by the Porte, under conditions which gave those two
governments control in the interests of Europe.

On the 15th of March it seemed that a temporary understand-
ing, or rather a truce, had been come to between the khedive and
Arabi, who was made a pasha, while seventeen of the officers who
had supported him were promoted to be colonels. The denuncia-
tion of European officials was revived, and the khedive was com-
pelled to receive deputations professing to represent the general
discontent of the country on this subject.

It is worth noting that a return made by Mr. Cookson showed
that, in 1882, as many as 1324 employes of various European
nationalities held appointments, and received ;^373,704 per annum.
The foreign office, therefore, thought it advisable to go more fully
into statistics, which showed that the foreigners in the Egyptian
service were as two to ninety-eight natives, and that the salaries
paid to European officials did not amount to sixteen per cent of
the total cost of administration.^

Meanwhile, Arabi was assuming a dictatorship, though not
without a sharp contest with the khedive, who was, however, be-
coming helpless.

In April a plot was discovered in which a number of Circassian
officers were implicated. In the promotions which had taken
place the Circassians, who had previously held a conspicuous place
in the army, had been passed over in favour of Arab officers.
There were about forty of the Circassian officers, the chief of
whom was Osman Riftei, the former minister of war, who had,
it was declared, laid a plot for getting rid of both Arabi and Tew-

^ Annual Register, 1882.

256 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

file, and reinstating Ismail. It was reported also that they in-
tended to dispose of Arabi on the old plan of rrturdering him. The
conspiracy was discovered, or rather betrayed: thirty-one Circas-
sian officers were arrested, thrown into prison, and tried by a secret
court-martial. Arabi suspected that Sherif Pasha had instigated
the plot, and endeavoured to ensure a tragic and striking punish-
ment of the ringleaders as a warning against foreign demands.
The court took a different view regarding the conspiracy, as having
been instigated by Ismail Pasha and his agent, Rahib Pasha.
Tewfik was therefore advised to discontinue the payment of the
civil list of the ex-khedive, and to degrade and banish the Circas-
sian officers. Sir Edward Malet strongly advised the khedive to
refuse his warrant to these sentences, as the trial had been a secret
one, and after considerable delay Tewfik took this advice and
commuted the sentences, and only placed the accused officers on
half-pay. A violent remonstrance was the result, during which
the president of the council spoke in slighting terms of the foreign
representatives, and implied that if the sentences on these Circas-
sians were not more severe there would be a general massacre of
foreigners. These words were afterwards denied, but the chamber
was convoked without notice being given to the khedive, who was
treated with the utmost contempt, though the foreign consuls were
informed that the safety of Europeans would be goiaranteed.

The latter assurance, however, was stimulated by the intimation
that France and England had ordered two iron-clads to Alexandria,
and the Egyptian ministry, waking up to the awkwardness of the
situation, added that their guarantee would hold good in the event
of the intervention of the Porte alone.

M. de Freycinet, whose uncertain and hesitating policy and
objections to every apparently practicable means of intervention
had brought matters to a dead lock, had been reluctant to agree to
Turkish occupation of Egypt in any form, lest it should lead to an
armed intervention by the Turks. He wanted to ensure that the
intervention of the sultan should be no more than a " moral " one.
Lord Granville had stated his own objection to any armed inter-
vention, but had added that if such became necessary, and the

INTERVENTION DECIDED UPON. 257

presence of troops was unavoidable, the troops of the sultan would
be the best considering all the circumstances.

On the 5th of May the French cabinet had decided on what
they probably regarded as only a display of material force for the
sake of producing a moral impression, and proposed that six
French and six English ships of war, of draught light enough to
enable them to enter the harbour, should be sent to Alexandria.

France had hitherto left upon England the whole burden of
finding a mode of intervention, just as she afterwards left to us the
burden of carrying out the results of the demonstration which she
had proposed, and gave us no assistance but rather harassed and
impeded us in the dangers and difficulties which followed; but it
was considered necessary by our government loyally to maintain
that co-operation which their predecessors had deliberately created.
Despatches and circular notes by the score had been flying about
among all the cabinets of Europe; there seemed to be no way out
of the difficulty, and now the proposition made by the French
government brought about immediate co-operation by which it was
hoped the protection of the khedive, the restoration of a legitimate
government by the defeat of the rebellious chamber and its
mutinous chief, and the preservation of guaranteed international
interests, might be effected.

There were of course many people who regarded Arabi's
demands as genuine claims prompted by patriotism, and declared
that the national support which he had obtained was so obvious
as to require us to hesitate before consenting to any forcible means
whatever, or even the menaces which the mere appearance of
vessels of war would imply. It was true that there had been
considerable encouragement to the attitude assumed by the muti-
nous ministry by the pronounced disaffection of a large number
of persons. As early as March 20th, however, Mr. Cookson had
pointed out to Lord Granville that many of the notables and
others having a stake in the country were seeking to withdraw
from the alliance with the military party and to escape from its
domination; that adherents of Ismail Pasha were showing them-
selves and were ready to hail his return ; that he counted on the

Vol. I. 17

258 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

support of France, as he thought his restoration would enable her
definitely to rid herself of the probability of Turkish intervention;
and that there was much disorder and disorganization in the
provinces. This at all events showed that Egypt was imminently
liable to complete anarchy on the one hand or on the other, either
to reaction against the military dictatorship of a rebel and usurper,
or the armed suppression by Turkey not only of revolt but of
independent government.

On the 1 5th of May the saiHng of the combined fleets from Suda
in Crete was telegraphed. The French and English governments
had instructed their representatives to advise the khedive to take
advantage of the arrival of the ships to call for the resignation of
the Arabi ministry, to place Sherif Pasha or some such person at
the head of affairs, and to connive at the deportation of Arabi and
his colleagues should the incoming ministry be inclined to such a
measure. Tewfik had no grasp, no decision, and affairs became
worse rather than better in consequence of the policy of the
western powers. Sir E. Malet and the French representative at
Cairo joined in an ultimatum demanding the dismissal of Arabi,
AH Fehmy, and Abdoullah Pashas. Nothing came of this, and a
few days later the English naval force at Alexandria was increased,
and invitations were issued to the European powers to a con-
ference at Constantinople, while by the reluctant consent of the
French cabinet the presence at Alexandria of a Turkish man-of-war
was asked for in order to show that the sultan was in accord with
the European powers. Dervish Pasha, who had been on a special
mission from the sultan to the khedive, was requested to put a stop
to the military works which were being pushed forward on the
fortifications of Alexandria.

Those fortifications consist in the first place, of a wall with
towers, beginning at the east harbour, and inclosing the town to
the north, east, and south. Four fortified gates break this
inclosure, those of Ramleh, Rosetta, Moharrem Bey, and the one
near Pompey's Pillar. Towards the south and south-west there
are only small and insignificant open bastions; but the actual
harbour defences are of great importance.

FORTIFICATIONS AT ALEXANDRIA. 259

Fort Marabout is built on an island to the extreme west, and
was armed with two 12-inch 18-ton guns, two 9-inch 12-ton guns,
twenty 32-pounders, and five mortars. Fort Mex, with the
adjacent works and batteries, numbered fifty-six guns, of which
seven were heavy rifled Armstrongs. Among the adjacent works
was a redoubt with seven guns; a tower with two; Fort Kamaria
with five; Omuk Kubebe with eighteen cannons; and Fort Tsale.
Towards the inner harbour lies Fort Gabarrie, and Fort Napoleon
still farther north-east. The Lighthouse Battery, on the southern
front of the Ras-el-Teen peninsula, was armed with six rifled
muzzle-loaders, one rifled 40-pounder, and twenty-eight smooth-
bores. Between this and the Hospital Battery were eight rifled
breech-loaders, and twenty-seven smooth-bores, mounted on earth-
works. Then came Fort Ada with five rifled muzzle-loaders and
twenty smooth-bores; and on the north-east. Fort Pharos, with
eight rifled muzzle-loaders and thirty-seven smooth-bores, which
took a prominent part in the fight that afterwards ensued.

The heaviest ■ artillery in these forts consisted of 18-ton and
1 2-ton guns of the old Woolwich pattern, which were made by Sir
William Armstrong at Elswick, for the Egyptian government, in
1 868 and subsequent years. The guns of a larger size fired 400-lb.
Palliser shells, with a charge of 50 lbs. of powder. These shells
are capable, with a favourable angle of impact, of piercing 1 2-inch
armour-plates.

There have been so many glowing descriptions of the modern
city of Alexandria and its environs that there is little occasion to
interrupt our narrative by dwelling on the features of this attractive
city. Though the ancient portion has entirely disappeared, it
suggests the history of ages. Napoleon Bonaparte said that
Alexander rendered himself more illustrious by founding Alex-
andria than by his most brilliant victories; and that it should be
the capital of the world.

Modern Alexandria occupies only a part of the ancient site,
being built chiefly on the isthmus that connects what was once the
classic island of Pharos with the mainland, on which the old city
stood. Successive alluvial deposits have widened this mole — the

26o EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

ancient Heptastadium — into a broad neck of land, the seaward end
of which is occupied by the palace of Ras-el-Teen, the arsenal, and
several government buildings; after which, towards the mainland,
comes the modern town, the development of which has been east-
ward, toward the Ramleh railway-station, connected with the city
by fine rows of houses, forming boulevards, and let out in shops
below and flats above, like the houses in Paris. In this direction,
too, an excellent road along the Mahmoudieh Canal attracts, on
Fridays and other fete days, crowds of private carriages, many of
which might figure in the Bois de Boulogne or Hyde Park. " One
half Europe, with its regular houses, tall, and w^hite, and stiff; the
other half Oriental, with its mud-coloured buildings and terraced
roofs, varied with fat mosques and lean minarets," is the way in
which Eliot Warburton described it above half a century ago, and
that description still gives the idea of the place. But the modern
improvements effected in the city, the lighting, paving, and even
the scavengering, have made it equal in such respects to many
second-class towns in France or England, so far as the Frank
quarter of it is concerned.

Another writer, describing the aspect of out-door life in the
quarter probably between the custom-house and the square named
after Mohammed Ali, in the vicinity of the consulates, the English
church, and the principal hotels, says, " Here came a file of tall
camels laden with merchandise, stalking with deliberate, solemn
steps through the bazaars; there rode a grand -looking native
gentleman in all the pride of capacious turban and flowing robes;
yonder passed some ladies on donkeys, enveloped in black babara,
and the more remarkable white muslin veil, which universal out-
door costume of Egyptian women only suffered two dark eyes to
gleam from behind the hideous shroud. And if the carriages we
saw had a smack of Europe they were driven and attended by men
in oriental dress, and, even stranger still, were preceded at their
best pace by a bare-legged Arab, who shouted to the passengers
to get out of the way — the shrill cries of this active avant-couricr
resounding on every side; and fortunate is the stranger who is not
run over in the narrow streets by some cantering donkey, or

THE BRITISH SQUADRON. 26 1

knocked down by some tall camel laden with heavy boxes as he
stands staring at the unwonted scene. , . . But with all its
sights and sounds . . . Alexandria is but semi-oriental at
least, and no more resembles Cairo than Calais is to be compared
to Paris."

A motley crowd was to be seen in Alexandria at the time that
the Europeans there were about to be threatened with renewed
attacks and when British vessels of war were already preparing to
defend them, and but for the restraining influences of civilized
policy might have landed enough men to overawe their assailants.
Ten years before there were 212,000 inhabitants in Alexandria,
of whom 48,000 were Europeans, the remainder being made up of
Arabs, Turks, Copts, Greeks, Armenians, Jews, Maltese, and a
mixed group of Levantines.

The British squadron, which with that of France anchored off
Alexandria on the 20th of May, consisted of eight iron-clads of a
weight and construction which had not yet been tested in actual
warfare, and five gun-boats. The iron-clads were : —

The Alexandra (Flagship) : armed with two 25-ton guns, and
ten of 18 tons each; armour, 8 to 12 inches thick. The Inflexible:
armed with four guns of 81 tons each; armour, 16 to 24 inches
thick. The Temeraire: armed with four guns of 25 tons each,
and four of 18 tons each; armour, 8 to 10 inches thick. The
Superb: armed with sixteen guns, four being of 25 tons, and four
of 12 tons each; armour, 10 to 12 inches thick. The Sultan: armed
with eight 18-ton guns, and four 12-ton guns; armour, 6 to 9
inches thick. The Monarch: armed with four 25-ton guns, and
two of 6j5^ tons each; armour, 8 to 10 inches thick. The
Invincible: armed with fourteen guns, two being of 12 tons each;
armour, 5 to 6 inches thick. The Penelope: armed with ten 1 2-ton
guns; armour, 5 to 6 inches thick. The gun-boats Bittern, Cygnet,
Beacon, Condor, and Decoy were each armed with three guns, and
furnished with Catling and Nordenfeldt guns, and with torpedo
apparatus. The total force was 3539 men and 102 guns.

This formidable naval force was under the command of vice-
admiral Sir Frederick Beauchamp Paget Seymour, who may be

262

EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

called a veteran, since he was in his 6ist year. He had entered
the navy as a boy, and passed through the grades till he became
commander of H.M.S. Harlequin in 1848. He was on the staff
of General Godwin in the Burmese war in 1852, where he led the
storming party of the Pegu Pagoda, and was afterwards appointed
to the command of the Meteor. From 1868 to 1870 Sir Frederick
was private secretary to the first lord of the admiralty, and was
subsequently, from 1876 to 1879, in command of the Channel fleet
and the Mediterranean squadron.

On the news of the arrival of the fleets the ministers had
presented themselves to the khedive at the Ismailia Palace and
made their submission. The French and English consuls projDosed
that the khedive should issue a decree proclaiming a general
amnesty, and at the same time asked the president of the council,
the minister of war, and the three military pashas to quit the
country for a year. Arabi at first declined either to resign or to
leave the country. Everybody believed that France and England
would not despatch troops, and that France would not permit
a Turkish intervention.

On the 20th of May the ministry resigned in a body, alleging
that the khedive in accepting conditions from France and England
had acquiesced in foreign interference, in violation of the firmans.
Tewfik was bold (too late), he accepted the resignations, told the
ministers that it was for him to arrange relations between himself
and the sultan, and summoned the chief personages of state,
members of the chamber, and merchants, with the superior officers
of the Cairo garrison, to consider the situation. General Toulbeh
at once told him that the army rejected the joint note, and only
recognized the authority of the Porte. On the following day
Arabi held a demonstration. The deposition of the khedive was
proposed, but was negatived; but it was demanded that Arabi
should be reinstated as minister of war, or the life of the khedive
would not be safe.

The presence of the allied fleet at Alexandria seemed to
increase the anxieties of the foreigners there. The Egyptian
troops at once began to form batteries and earthworks, and within

ARABI BECOMES DICTATOR. 263

the city the feeling against Europeans was that of undisguised
hostility. During twenty-four hours, from the 26th to the 27th
of May, the town was in continual danger of being stormed by the
soldiery, who actually had demanded and received cartridges to be
used against Europeans. It was evident even then that a mistake
had been made in not providing a sufficient force to land and
protect the inhabitants of the city, for all the squadron could do
was to silence the forts, and when they were destroyed the soldiers,
smarting under defeat, would turn upon the Europeans.

Tewfik was powerless. Dervish Pasha's mission from the
sultan was only to see whether he could reduce the khedive's
authority still further, and gain an influence over the Egyptian
army for the ultimate extinction of Arabi, when the Porte would
hold the fate of Egypt in its hands. No ministry could be formed.
Anarchy was really imminent; and the principal inhabitants of
Cairo asked for the reinstatement of Arabi and his colleagues, to
prevent, as they alleged, an insurrection and the slaughter of the
Europeans.

Arabi then became sole dictator; and it cannot be denied that
he had remarkable powers of administration and, in appearance, an
earnestness and sympathy with his countrymen which led numbers
of them to regard him as a patriot. Probably he was not destitute
of those qualities which belong to the patriot who thinks that the
well-being of his country depends upon its submission to his advice
and authority. He ordered the Alexandria forts to be placed in
a position for defence, and the soldiery began to work upon them
day and night. Repeated orders that they should cease were
issued by the khedive and the English admiral. For some time
the remonstrances from the admiral were met by a denial that the
men were so engaged, but this falsehood was discovered. Long
lines of earth-works were erected to cover the entrance to the
harbour, and a strong light suddenly thrown upon them from one
of the vessels showed the men at work upon them by night.
Arabi had drawn round Alexandria the principal regiments of the
Egyptian army.

On the nth of June the spark that caused the conflagration

264 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

fell. A riot broke out in the town, commencing with a street
brawl between a Maltese and an Arab. This appeared to be the
mere cover for the riot which the military conspirators had planned
that they might attack the foreigners. An Arab gave the signal
for a Mussulman rising, in which the rioters assaulted, wounded,
and killed a great number of Europeans and pillaged their houses.
Mr. Cookson, the British consul and judge, was dragged out of
his carriage and severely injured, the Greek consul-general was
attacked, and a French consular dragoman with several French
and British subjects were killed. The total loss of life was
variously estimated, but the largest number was said to be two
hundred.

Some officers and men of the British squadron were among
the victims; with some exceptions the troops and police held aloof
till the mischief was done. There was no direct evidence that
Arabi had a hand in these outrages, but he was the head of the
party which instigated them. He was still regarded by numbers
of his countrymen only as a patriot desiring the independence of
Egypt from foreign control; but though some of his actions and
the apparent personal observance of the engagements he made
with Europeans to some extent bore out this assumption, his con-
duct was also explicable by referring it to native craft, and the
sultan's open encouragement of him, added to his defiance of the
demands of the western powers, made a reckoning inevitable.

The khedive and Dervish Pasha, accompanied by the European
consuls -general, had hastened to Alexandria, leaving Arabi in
supreme power at Cairo. The uneasiness of the Europeans in-
creased with the violence of the Arabs. The dictator had been
recognized by the sultan, who conferred on him the highest rank of
the medjidie. It was uncertain whether the Porte intended to suborn
him or to crush him. He was now openly preparing resistance at
Alexandria and a raid on the Suez Canal. International jealousies
were suspended. The conference met, and a protocol was signed
by all the powers and intrusted to the western powers. Efforts
were made to induce the Porte to act under strict limitations as
mandatory of Europe.

MASSACRE AT ALEXANDRIA.

EUROPEANS RESISTING ATTACK AT CORNER OF SISTER STREET,
JUNE, 1882.

& BON; LONDON, QLASOOW, AND EDINBURGH.

England's determination. 265

After the Alexandria massacre the European representatives
had applied to Dervish Pasha, as the sultan's representative, to
insure the protection of Europeans in Egypt. Dervish replied
that neither he nor the khedive had the power to do so, and being
without troops must decline the responsibility; it was then found
necessary to apply to Arabi himself, who at once undertook to
make the orders of the khedive respected. Then, strangely enough,
Dervish Pasha was ready to share the responsibility with Arabi
for the execution of the khedive's orders, and the suppression of
the inflammatory addresses and publications, but the apprehensions
of the Europeans were so little allayed that a general exodus had
taken place, totally paralysing trade even, before the khedive and
Dervish Pasha had left Cairo.

The delusive delays of the sultan kept up the uncertainty of the
situation. France, it was pretty well known, would not intervene,
and it was supposed that if Turkey did not consent, England
would not act without support. Those who thought so did not
know England. Arabi, as Mr. Gladstone said, had thrown off the
mask, and was aiming at the deposition of the khedive and the
expulsion of the Europeans. England had determined to act, if
possible, with the authority of Europe, with the support of France
and the co-operation of Turkey; but if necessary, alone. Alone
she had to stand, for when it became necessary to proceed to active
measures, the French squadron withdrew and went to Port Said.
Alone she has had to continue those strenuous efforts which arose
from conditions which none could foresee, and involved principles
from the assertion of which, in the estimation of a large number of
our countrymen, she could not honourably or consistently have
shrunk. Alone she has, at all events, attempted (even if it has
been mistakenly) to vindicate right and justice against fanatic
lawless barbarism. Perhaps the attempt has resulted in serious
material loss; but it has at least shown the world that England is
not merely a name in Europe, and that her old renown for courage
and endurance may yet be perpetuated. It has done more, for
after all we have not stood alone. Men of the same race and
breed came from the Antipodes and stood with us. Our brethren,

266 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

children of the mother country, in the great colony in which the
men and women are English still, and recognize the empire that
claims them and us together, unostentatiously joined our ranks
when there was nothing to be gained by it, no material reward,
few honours, little of what is called glory; and the arrival at
Suakim of that phalanx of stalwart and efficient soldiers from New
South Wales will never be forgotten, for the English in England
have taken the event to heart.

In spite of broken pledges and orders from the khedive and
the sultan. Sir Beauchamp Seymour reported that the works on
the fortifications at Alexandria were still actively carried on, and it
became necessary to act with decision. The admiral's remon-
strances had been met by persistent denials and by evasive replies.
On the 7th of July, he decisively intimated that he should not
hesitate to commence a bombardment of the forts if his request
was not complied with. Three days later he sent an ultimatum
demanding the cessation of work on the fortresses, and the
immediate surrender of those nearest to the entrance to the
harbour. If these terms were not complied with in twenty-four
hours the bombardment would commence. By that time most
of the European inhabitants had embarked on board the ships
which had been provided to receive them; and no satisfactory
reply having been received from Arabi, the British.ships at night-
fall on the loth began to take up positions for the attack.

July had opened threateningly, the state of tension at Alex-
andria was extreme, the irritation in the fleet at seeing the Egyp-
tians throwing up batteries and mounting heavy guns under their
very eyes grew hourly greater, while the Egyptians, confident in
their numbers, in the strength of their forts, and in their fanaticism,
had no doubt whatever of their power to repel any attack the fleet
might make. They knew, too, of the preparations which England
was making for war, and thus the outbreak of hostilities became
hourly more imminent; still, when on the morning of Monday,
July the loth, the last of the European residents in Alexandria
embarked on board ship, and Admiral Seymour sent in his
ultimatum, people could hardly believe that a serious engagement

THE FLIGHT FROM THE TOWN. 267

between the British fleet and the forts of Alexandria was about to
commence.

Rarely has such a scene, as that which the harbours of Alex-
andria presented, been witnessed. The transition from peace to
war is generally gradual, and long before a hostile fleet appears off
a town which it intends to bombard, the harbour is deserted by
shipping, the defenders are at their guns, and a broad space of
water separates the parties about to engage in battle. But there
was no such line of separation here; although already many of the
merchant steamers had left, crowded with fugitives, there were
many still in port.

Boats moved to and fro between them, the flags of the various
nationalities flew from the peaks and mast-heads, the rolling
masses of smoke from the funnels, the hoarse roar from the steam-
pipes, the movements of the sailors as they prepared to cast ofi"
from their mooring -buoys, and the low thud of the propellers,
as one after another the steamers glided slowly out from the
harbour, all told of departure. But a departure, it would have
been thought, on some distant expedition ; no looker-on could have
dreamt that all this life, and stir, and movement was but a prelude
for a deadly conflict between the ships of war and the town, whose
houses were reflected in the still water of the landlocked harbour.

There the population gathered on the now deserted walls, and
gazed wonderingly at the departing ships. Groups of soldiers
stood on the ramparts of the forts on the sand-hills between Fort
Gabarrie and Fort Mex. Knots of women on the flat-topped
roofs of the houses looked wonderingly at the scene. Even those
most assured that hostilities were about to commence, could hardly
credit their eyes, or believe that this peaceful spectacle would be
succeeded by a tremendous struggle.

As the morning went on, the movement of departure acceler-
ated. Scarce a breath of wind was blowing. The various
ensigns drooped against the masts. The eastern sky was bright
overhead. The deep blue of the sea was unbroken by a ripple.
The white-clothed crews of the men-of-war were clustered in the
rigging, and the decks of the merchant steamers were black with

268 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

the fugitives, who, as the vessels steamed out of harbour, gazed at
the town, and in low tones chatted of what would happen to the
liouses, and stores, and possessions they had left behind.

There were still boats passing between the ships and the shore
as the last lingerer put off. In some cases there was difficulty in
getting on board. The two English engineers on board the tug
Chatnpion were. seized by the Arab crew, and were being carried
away, when the gun-boat Bittern started in pursuit and rescued
them. The director of customs was stopped on his way, and
taken, with the cash-box which was carried with him, before Arabi,
who confiscated the cash, but allowed him to go on board.

Now the men-of-war of the various nationalities beoan to move
out. These steamed out in regular squadrons, saluting as they
passed the flagship of the English admiral, the bands playing the
national airs, and, in the case of the Italian vessels and the
American warship, the crews manning the rigging and cheering
lustily, their greeting being heartily answered by our tars.
There was less demonstration from the French vessels, for the
officers and men were alike sore and humiliated. It was the
quarrel of France as much as of England, and up to the last
moment the crews had thought that in the approaching struggle
they would fight side by side with us.

It was not until that morning that their admiral had received
definite instructions from his government, that they were to draw
off and take no part in the conflict. On board our own men-of-war
all was preparation, for it was possible that at any moment Arabi
might take the initiative, and might open a fire from all the forts
commanding the harbour upon the men-of-war still within them.
The men were at their quarters, the heavy guns were laid on the
ports in readiness for instant action, the water-tight compartments
closed, the topmasts struck, and sandbags piled on the upper battery-
decks to protect the men working the Gatling guns and the rifle-
men posted there.

At eleven o'clock the Invincible, Monarch, and Peitelope moved
out from the inner harbour and cast anchor in the outer harbour.
At one o'clock a steam launch towing a large boat full of Egyptian

FLIGHT OF REFUGEES FROM ALEXANDRIA,

JUNE, 1S82

& son: LONDON, GLASGOW AND EDINBURGH

THE HARBOUR CLEARED. 269

officials was seen approaching the flagship. It contained Raghed
Pasha and other members of the ministry. They had an interview
with the admiral, but on being told that a letter had been already
sent on shore with a demand that the forts commanding the
harbour should be immediately dismantled, they returned to confer
with Arabi.

In the city a great commotion reigned, crowds of the better
class of the inhabitants were leaving the town. The streets were
full of an excited populace eager to commence the work of plunder
from the deserted houses of the Europeans, but, so far, strong
bodies of the Egyptian troops who paraded the streets checked
any attempts at plundering. In the quarter inhabited by the
Greeks and Levantines all was quiet. These people, for the most
part fishermen, boatmen, and employes at the wharves and ware-
houses, did not care to leave, but, barricading themselves in their
houses, awaited the result.

By three o'clock the whole of the vessels in the harbour, with
the exception of the three English men-of-war, had left. Outside,
facing the sea forts, from Fort Pharos to the breakwater, lay the
Thnii-aire, Alexandra, Superb, Stiltan, and Injlexible ; while behind
them were the gun-boats Bittern, Decoy, Cygnet, and Condor;
and behind these again lay, as a background to the scene, a great
fleet of steamers, men-of-war, and merchantmen, curious spectators
of the tremendous struggle which was about to begin.

At nine o'clock at night the Invincible and Monarch quietly
steamed out of harbour. All lights were extinguished and perfect
quiet prevailed fore and aft, the screws scarcely revolved, for
the greatest care was necessary. The entrance to the harbour
is, even at daylight, extremely difficult for vessels with a large
draft of water, doubly so at night, especially as the Egyptians had
extinguished the harbour light, and the exact position of the ships
could only be ascertained by the lights in the shore batteries.

It was an anxious time, for at any moment the guns in these
batteries might open and a hail of shot and shell be poured upon
the ships; while the slightest mistake in steering would lay them
ashore, a target for the enemy's guns on the morrow. There was

270 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

a sigh of relief on board, prepared and ready as all were for the
worst, when the difficult passage was passed and the vessels
anchored outside.

It was now ten o'clock, and the crews at once turned in. At
four in the morning steam was got up, and the crews were piped to
quarters. At half-past four the ships got under weigh and quietly
assumed the positions which had been marked out for them. As
the light increased the scene became gradually visible. The
Penelope, Monarch, and Invincible were facing Fort Mex and
the other batteries on the sand-hills; the Alexandra, Superb, and
Sultan were lying near each other, facing Forts Ada, Pharos, and
Ras-el-Teen; while the TimSraire and Inflexible were steaming
slowly towards the Invincible to aid her in her attack upon Fort
Mex.

The Penelope and Invincible being broadside ships prepared to
anchor, while the Monarch, being a turret vessel and having an
all-round range for her guns, was to fight under steam. On shore,
the Egyptians could be seen grouped round the guns in their
batteries, and evidently prepared to resist. A grim satisfaction lit
up the faces of the crews as the word was passed round that the
Egyptians were going to fight, for the sailors had, up to the last
moment, feared that when the time came the Egyptians would not
reply, but would allow their forts to be destroyed without firing a
shot in their defence.

At a quarter past five the Helicon despatch boat, which had
remained alone in the harbour, was seen steaming out. As she
approached she signalled that she had Egyptian officials on board.
When she reached the flag-ship it appeared that the officers were
bearing a letter from the ministry to the admiral deprecating
hostilities and offering to dismount their guns. The admiral felt
that, however willing the Egyptian ministry might be to agree to
his demands, they were powerless in the face of the opposition of
Arabi and the army. He replied, however, in writing, that his
demand was not only that the guns should be dismounted, but the
forts dismantled, and that an hour would be given for the receipt
of a reply again to his demand. While the admiral was discussing

THE FIRST SHOT. 27 1

the matter in his cabin with the principal Egyptian official, the
other Egyptian officers mingled and conversed with those of the
Invincible. They acknowledged that they had no hope whatever
that Arabi would give way, and that they looked forward to the
approaching hostilities as the only means of settling the deadlock
which prevailed on shore, and determining whether the khedive
and his ministers or Arabi and his officers were to govern Egypt.

After the Helicon had steamed away to shore a pause ensued,
the crews still stood at their quarters ready for action. Scarce a
word was spoken on board the great ships, and the slow beat of
the engines, the word of command to the helmsman, and the
striking of the ships' bells alone broke the silence. At half-past
six the order was passed round the decks, " Load with common
shell!" Another half hour passed, and then at seven o'clock the
signal was made to the Alexandra to open the engagement by
firing a single gun.

The great puff of white smoke burst out from her side, and the
heavy boom came across the water. Every eye was fixed on
shore. There was a stir among the groups of soldiers at the guns
of the various batteries, and it could be seen that they were hard
at work loading for her reply; then the signal was run up for the
whole fleet to engage the forts.

In an instant the roar of the cannon of the broadside-ships
crashed out, with the still deeper boom of the heavy guns in the
turrets; while from the ships near the shore arose a steady con-
tinuous tapping like the beating of a drum, which told that the
Nordenfeldt guns were at work in the tops. In an instant the ships
were shrouded in white smoke, which piled up higher and higher
as the firing continued; there was scarce a breath of wind blowing,
and the vast quantity of smoke produced by the immense charges
of gunpowder used in the guns hung round the ships, completely
impeding the view of the gunners, and well-nigh hiding the vessels
themselves from the sight of their opponents on shore and the
spectators in the great fleet of merchantmen.

In no way appalled by the mighty roar, by the howling of the
huge shell smashing into ruin and splinters everything they struck,

272 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

or by the hail of bullets from the machine-guns in the tops, the
Egyptian artillerymen returned the fire of the fleet with steadiness
and resolution. The scene was grand in the extreme. For the
first time since the introduction of what are now considered as
heavy guns, ships and forts were engaged in conflict.

A great problem, hotly discussed for years by military and
naval men, was at last in process of solution. Now was to be
seen in actual practice what was the efifect on buildings and forts,
masonry and earthwork, of the enormous masses of iron discharged
by the huge weapons which skill and science, aided by tremendously
powerful machinery, had constructed. Now was to be proved
whether earthworks on shore were, or were not, a match for the
iron-clad sides of modern vessels of war.

Few more picturesque scenes could have been chosen for the
solution of the problem. Facing the Alexandra and her consorts
were the batteries of the Pharos or lighthouse of Fort Ada and
of Ras-el-Teen. Behind the last-named was the palace of the
khedive; in line with this, behind the other forts, were barracks
and storehouses, every outline and angle showing hard and
distinct in the clear air of an Egyptian morning; behind them rose
gradually the mass of the city, with its flat roofs, its houses painted
white, brown, pink, or yellow, according to the taste of their
owners, with here and there a dome or minaret.

Away on the right, where the Invincible was engaging Fort
Mex and the other batteries along the shore, the sand-hills rose
from the water's edge, dotted here and there by white houses, and
surmounted by numerous low windmills. The results of the fire
were speedily visible, great gaps appeared in the masonry of the
buildings, yawning cavities in the smooth sand at the foot of the
batteries marked tlie spot where the huge shell had exploded, the
embrasures through which the Egyptian guns were replying were
torn and widened, and although this could not be seen from the
ships, every wall and house facing the sea was marked and pitted
with the hail from the machine-guns. It would have been thought
by those looking on that it was scarcely possible for men to stand
by their guns before such a fire as this, but the Egyptian artillery-

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A PROBLEM SOLVING. 273

men showed that whatever might be the value of Egyptian troops
in the open field, they could fight their guns with a pluck and
determination equal to that which the troops of any army in Europe
could have displayed.

Around the ships the water was torn up by shot and shell, they
hammered on the iron sides, hummed between the masts, and flew
far out to sea, throwing up fountains of spray as they danced
along the water before sinking. Fortunate was it for the fleet
that the Egyptian artillerymen had had but little practice with the
heavy Krupp guns which formed the chief part of the armaments
of the forts. Had they done so the British ships could scarcely
have maintained their position, but very few of their heavy bolts
struck the vessels, most of them going overhead. The aim of the
smaller guns was much more accurate, their shot striking the
vessels continually, but falling innocuous from the iron sides.

A very few minutes after the firing began, the Tdmiraire
grounded slightly, and the Cygnet and the Condor gun-boats went
to assist her. She was soon afloat again, and the Condor, which
was commanded by Lord Charles Beresford, then steamed away
to engage Fort Marabout, which was assisting Fort Mex by
keeping up a distant cannonade with her heavy guns upon the
Invincible and her consorts. For a time the tiny gun-boat was
the mark of all the heavy ordnance of the fort, but, steaming
slowly backwards and forwards, she continued to send the shot
from her seven-inch rifle-guns and her two sixty-four pounders
into the fort. The Cygnet, Decoy, Beacon, and Bittern hastened
away to aid the gallant little craft, and the signal, " Well done.
Condor" was made by the admiral from the mast-head of the
Inflexible.

The boom of the fire from fort and fleet was now continuous,
the air quivered with the deep roar of the heavy guns, the hum
of shot and shell, the rush of the rockets which the Monarch was
firing, and the continuous angry rattle of the Nordenfeldts and
Catlings.

So dense was the smoke which clouded the ships that between
each round of the heavy guns the sailors had to pause for a while

Vol. I. 18

2 74 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

until it lifted and they were able to take aim again, the smoke
again instantly shrouding the view and preventing them from seeing
when the shot had struck. The midshipmen were placed in the
tops where they were above the smoke, and whence they signalled
to the deck the direction in which each shot had struck, thus
enabling the sailors to correct their aim without seeing their target.
By eight o'clock the Monarch had silenced a small fort opposed to
her, set fire to the buildings and dismounted the guns, and she
then joined the Inflexible and Penelope in their duel with Fort
Mex.

By nine o'clock all the guns in that fort were silenced except
four, two of which were heavy rifle guns well sheltered and
handled, and the Timiraire was signalled to come up and aid the
others in silencing them. The Egyptian officers could be seen
whenever the smoke cleared away setting an example of coolness
and courage to their men, jumping upon the parapets, and exposing
themselves to the shots of the machine-guns to ascertain the effects
of the fire. To the left the forts opposed to the Inflexible, Sultan,
Superb, and Alexandra had soon begun to show the effects of the
fire — the Pharos at the end of the point suffered most heavily, one
of its towers was knocked down, its guns were absolutely silenced,
while those of Fort Ada and Ras-el-Teen slackened considerably.

At half past ten the Ras-el-Teen or Karem Palace was dis-
covered to be on fire, and in another hour the fire from the forts had
all but subsided. The signal was therefore made to cease firing.
As the smoke cleared away the effects of the five hours' artillery
duel became visible. The shore presented a line of crumbling ruins,
the forts were knocked out of all shape, yawning gaps showed
themselves in the buildings behind them, guns could be made out
lying dismounted or standing with their muzzles straight in the air.

The ships showed signs of the encounter in rigging cut away,
yards damaged, splintered bulwarks, and dinted sides. The
Penelope had been seriously struck five times, and eight men
wounded and one gun disabled; the Invincible had been struck
many times, but only six shot had penetrated, she had six men
wounded; the armour of the Superb had been penetrated, one man

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THE FORTS DESTROYED. 275

had been killed and one wounded ; two of the Alexandras guns
were disabled, she had one killed and three wounded; the Sultan
had two killed and seven wounded ; the Inflexible had one killed
and two wounded.

The ships during the afternoon kept up an occasional fire upon
the forts to prevent the Egyptians from repairing damages. Now
that there was less smoke their aim was much more accurate than
before, several small magazines were exploded, and a shell from
the Inflexible blew up a large one in Fort Ada and completed
the ruin of that fort.

At one o'clock the admiral called for volunteers on board the
Invincible to go on shore and destroy the guns in Fort Mex,
which the fire of the ships had failed to dismount. The service
was a dangerous one, for, although the fort was silenced and no
man could be seen in the battery, any number of troops might
have been lying behind ready to oppose a landing; there was,
however, a rush of volunteers ready to undertake the enterprise.
Twelve men were chosen. Lieutenant Bradford was in command,
and Major Tulloch and Lieutenant Lambton accompanied him,
the guns were loaded, and the men stood at the Nordenfeldts and
Catlings, ready to open fire to support their comrades should
opposition be attempted.

The surf was heavy on the shore and a landing was imprac-
ticable. The boat, therefore, lay to off the shore, and Major
Tulloch and a party swam ashore and made their way into the
fort. It was found to be deserted. The havoc wrought by the fire
of the guns was so terrible and complete that the masonry was torn
and shattered in all directions. Most of the guns were dismounted
and their carriages smashed. Numbers of dead, shattered and
torn by the explosion of the shells, or pierced by the fire from the
machine-guns, lay about in all directions.

Two ten-inch guns were found still in position. Charges of gun-
cotton, which had been brought ashore by the swimmers, were
exploded in them, bursting them at the muzzle and rendering them
unfit for service; the party then swam off again to the boat, and
returned on board the Inflexible. Although the fire of the enemy

276 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

had been silenced, there were no signs of surrender on the part
of the Egyptians, and when day closed the fleet prepared to re-
sume the action in the morning. Fort Marabout and several of
the batteries on the shore had still to be silenced. Forts Pharos,
Ada, and Ras-el-Teen were mere heaps of ruins, but two heavy guns
in a battery near the last named had continued throughout the day
to reply steadily in spite of all the efforts of the fleet to silence
them.

These guns were mounted on the Moncrieff system, being
mounted on platforms, which, when the gun was ready for firing,
rose to the level of the parapet, sinking again the instant it was
discharged; the pieces, therefore, were entirely protected from fire,
Lmless struck by a chance shot during the few seconds they were
exposed above the battery. In the morning, however, the wind
rose and a long heavy swell got up, the iron-clads rolling heavily
at their anchoraofe. At eig-ht o'clock the admiral summoned the
captains of the ships of war on board the Invincible, and it was
agreed to postpone the bombardment, as, with the vessels rolling
-SO heavily, accuracy of aim would be impossible, and the shots
might fly high and damage the town, which it was particularly
desired to avoid.

At half-past ten the Tdmeraire signalled that parties could be
seen at work at the Moncrieff battery, and asking whether fire
should be opened upon them. An affirmative signal was made, and
the hiflexible and Temiraire opened fire. Only six rounds of shot
and shrapnel shell were fired when the Egyptians were seen run-
ning back to the shelter of the buildings behind the battery, and
a few minutes later a white flag was hoisted at the Pharos.

Lieutenant Lambton was ordered to go inside with the Bittern
to inquire if the government was ready to come to terms. His
return was awaited with great anxiety by the fleet, for all were
most anxious to know what was passing inside the town. Not
only had the Ras-el-Teen Palace burned all night, but the flames of
a great conflagration in the heart of the town rose high in the air,
and as this fire could be made out to be in or near the European
quarter, the numerous refugees on board the merchant steamers

A FRUITLESS MISSION. 277

were full of anxiety respecting the fate of their houses and pro-
perty.

At three o'clock the Bittern steamed out again, and Lieutenant
Lambton reported that his mission had been fruitless, the white
flag, indeed, had been only hoisted by the officer in command of
the troops, who had retired on the ships opening fire, in order to
enable himself and his men to get away unmolested. As the
Bittern had steamed in large bodies of troops were seen evacu-
ating the barracks behind the forts.

Lieutenant Lambton found that the ministers had no proposals
of any kind to make. He informed them that we did not consider
ourselves at war with Egypt, but had simply destroyed the forts
which threatened our fleet, and that we had no conditions to
impose upon the government, but were ready to discuss any pro-
posals they might make to us. Loufti Pasha, the military governor,
had conducted the interview on the part of the government; he-
had been in command of the troops on the previous day, and
admitted that they had suffered very heavily from the effects of
the fire.

Lieutenant Lambton informed him, on the part of the admiral,
that should he agree to the occupation of the forts by our troops
the Egyptians would be allowed to evacuate them with the honours
of war. As Loufti could give no definite reply whatever, the
Bittern returned to the fleet. The sea had now got up so much
that the bombardment could not be resumed. A few shots only
were fired and the fleet then waited for the sea to subside. While
the Bittern was absent the Achilles arrived and took up her posi-
tion with the fleet ready for the recommencement of hostilities.
News, too, came by telegraph that the Orontes with marines had
arrived at Malta, and she was at once ordered to come on with all
speed.

Had a regiment or two of troops been available they could have
been landed at once, and in that case a great part of the terrible
destruction which took place in Alexandria would have been averted.
Unfortunately, the admiral had no such force under his command,
and, in face of the large body of troops commanded by Arabi, and

2yS EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

the hostile population of the town, which was still protected by a
number of land batteries, could not venture upon landing until the
enemy gave some signs of surrender. At five o'clock a shell from
the hivincible set Fort Mex on fire, and a few minutes later a
white flag was hoisted there.

The Helicon was sent in from the authorities stating that the
admiral would not notice white flags unless hoisted by authority,
and that if again flown he should consider them as signs of a general
surrender, and should act accordingly.

As the evening approached, fires were seen to break out in
other quarters of the town, a dense pall of smoke hung over the
city, and, as darkness fell, the whole place was lit up with the
lurid light of the flames. The greatest anxiety was felt on board
the fleet, for it was feared that Arabi had determined to destroy
the city entirely, and the unfortunate refugees and merchants
on board the steamers were distracted at the total ruin which
appeared to await them. The Helicon, after being absent for a
considerable time, returned with the news that no communication
had been opened by the enemy, that the barracks and arsenal
were deserted, and, as far as could be seen, the whole town
evacuated.

The conflagration became more and more terrible, fresh fires
continually breaking out, and it was no longer possible to doubt
that the mob were plundering and burning the city, and that all
the Europeans remaining there were being massacred. Admiral
Seymour determined to make an attempt to ascertain the position
of affairs. The steam pinnace of the Invincible was lowered,
and Lieutenant Forsyth with an armed crew started up the
harbour. Mr. Ross, one of the contractors for the supply of the
fleet with meat, volunteered to accompany it and to land. As he
was thoroughly acquainted with the city, the offer was accepted,
and the boat put off

It was a strange journey for the little craft up the harbour;
tlie ships of the fleet were no longer in sight, the harbour was
dark and deserted, not a light was to be seen in the houses near
the water, not a sound to be heard on the shore. As the pinnace

THE TOWN EXPLORED. 279

proceeded on her way, her screw being occasionally stopped to enable
those on board to listen for sounds which might tell of the presence
of the enamy, a faint, roaring, crackling sound could be heard from
the spot where, in the background, great sheets of flame were
leaping up.

Louder and louder rose the sounds as the pinnace proceeded
up the harbour. Now the dull crash of falling walls and roofs
rose above the roar of the flames, but still no signs of human
presence were manifest. On nearing the wharf the pinnace lay
still for a minute or two, and then, as all was quiet, steamed up
and Mr. Ross jumped on shore, and the boat backed on for a few
yards, and there lay, the men musket or rifle in hand in case an
attack should come. A quarter of an hour passed slowly, then
a footfall was heard, the screw moved again, and, as the bow
touched the wharf, Mr. Ross leapt on board, and they steered
out again for the fleet. The explorer reported that he had met
no living soul, that quarter of the town was entirely deserted ; he
had pushed on until his further advance was arrested by a barrier
of flames.

The great square was on fire from end to end, the European
quarter generally was in flames, and looking down the burning
streets he could see by the litter which strewed the roadway that
the houses had been plundered before being fired. The news
excited the greatest indignation on board the fleet. Under the
cover of the flags of truce, which had arrested the action of the
fleet, Arabi had unmolested carried out the evacuation of the town
and the destruction and ruin of the European quarter. Not only
was the destruction of property enormous, but the gravest fears
were entertained for the lives of the Europeans who had remained
in the city.

Nothing could be done that night but to watch the ever-
increasing conflagration, and to discuss the fate of the European
population on shore, and the situation which had been created by
the retreat of Arabi. Before daybreak boats were sent on shore,
and it was found that all the forts had been evacuated. As soon
as it was light, a number of persons were seen gathered by the

28o EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

edge of the water in the harbour, and telescopes soon showed that
these were Europeans. The boats of the nearest men-of-war were
lowered and rowed to shore, the crews being armed to the teeth.
They found about a hundred Europeans gathered on the wharf,
many of these were wounded.

On the previous day, when rioting had broken out, they had,
according to previous agreement, assembled at the Anglo- Egyptian
bank, which was a strongly-constructed building, and there, through
the afternoon and later on into the night, they had defended them-
selves desperately and successfully against the attack of the mob.
As the evacuation of the city had proceeded, the assailants had
drawn off, and they had towards morning made their way through
the now deserted streets down to the water.

They reported that Arabi, before he left with the troops, had
opened the gates of the prisons, and the convicts, joined by the
lower class of the town and by the Arabs, who had for some days
been hovering round the place ready to take their share in the
plunder, had proceeded to sack the city, to kill every Christian
they could find, and to set fire to the European quarter. From
their post at the bank they could hear the sounds of shrieks
and cries, and the crack of rifles and pistols. Numbers of
wretched fugitives, trying to make their way to the bank, were
cut down or beaten to death before their eyes, and they believed
that they themselves were the sole survivors of the European
population.

This, however, turned out not to be the case, as in some of the
streets inhabited by the Maltese and Levantines these had
barricaded their houses, and had opposed so desperate a resistance
that the mob, knowing that little plunder was to be obtained there,
had drawn off from the attack, and had retired to sack the wealthier
portions of the town, where booty was to be obtained in abundance
for the carrying away. Several fresh fires were seen to break out
in the town, and, as this was a proof that a portion of the lower
class of the population still remained and were continuing their
work of plunder, the ships of war, which had hitherto been most
careful to avoid firing at the town, now sent shells wherever flames

THE Khedive's return. 281

were seen to arise, in order to scare the ruffians from their work of
destruction. This appeared to have a good effect, as from the
time the firing began no fresh conflagration was seen to break out.
The party of Europeans brought off from the shore were taken
in the ships' boats to the merchant steamers lying behind the fleet,
when their narratives confirmed the worst fears of the fugitives
there, and destroyed the last hope that remained that their houses
and property had escaped destruction.

The Invincible, Monarch, and Penelope now steamed into the
inner harbour. From the tops people could be seen moving about
plundering and setting fire to houses. The three ships could onl)-
land a contingent of three hundred men for shore service, and the
admiral determined to land them, although the risk was unquestion-
ably great, as the fugitives reported that Arabi with nine thousand
men was lying just outside the gate in readiness to enter and
destroy any force that might be landed from the ships. Virtually,
however, nothing was done to check the work of destruction until
eleven a.m. the next day (the 14th), when the rest of the fleet
entered the harbour, and a party of blue-jackets were landed and
took possession of Ras-el-Teen Palace. At noon two of the khedive's
aides-de-camp came in from Ramleh Palace to say that the khedive
was there with three hundred soldiers and was in considerable
danger. By the orders of Arabi the palace had been surrounded
by Toulbeh Bey with two cavalry and one infantry regiment. A
party of armed soldiers entered the khedive's apartment and
declared that they had orders to kill him and then burn the palace.
By dint of lavish promises and money a portion of the force were
bought over, and these escorted the khedive and Dervish Pasha
to the Ras-el-Teen Palace, where they arrived at four o'clock in
the afternoon- The khedive was received by a force of five
hundred blue-jackets and marines, and the Egyptian escort were
not allowed to enter the palace.

The arrival of the khedive was a great relief to the British
admiral. Hitherto the position had been most anomalous. We
were not at war with Egypt, for we were indeed fighting the
khedive's battle against Arabi and the party which defied his

282 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

authority, and we had bombarded the forts of Alexandria because
these forts threatened our ships; but the khedive and his govern-
ment had declared neither for nor against us. We had, previous to
opening fire, negotiated with the government, and not with Arabi
direct; but the government, really incapable of enforcing its orders
upon Arabi, puzzled and bewildered at the singular situation which
had been created, had contented itself by returning evasive
answers.

To bombard the forts which threatened us without being at
war with the country in which they were situated was a singular
proceeding; but it would have been a step further in the same
anomalous course, had we landed and occupied Alexandria without
permission from any authority, and simply on the plea of humanity.
There would, indeed, have been plenty of precedents for such
action. In the disturbances, revolts, and military imeutes which
are constantly breaking out in communities like the petty republics
of South America, it is no unusual thing for marines and sailors to
be landed from European ships of war, which may happen to be
in the harbour, to protect the lives and property of the European
inhabitants. But such action in Egypt, a country in which there
had been for years an extreme rivalry and jealousy between
ourselves and France, was a more delicate matter.

Up to the time when the messenger arrived it was not known
what had become of the khedive, whether he had fallen a
victim to the troops or had been carried off by Arabi to be used
as a puppet by him. His safe arrival at the palace put an end to
all the difficulties; he became, in fact, our puppet, instead of that of
Arabi, and henceforth our operations were conducted nominally by
his orders or on his behalf It was then by his authority that we
at once landed the troops and began to suppress the disorders. A
strong body of sailors and marines advanced into the town,
carefully feeling their way, for nothing authentic was known as to
the proceedings or position of A rabi.

A good many natives caught in the very act of pillaging and
burning were at once shot, but nevertheless fresh fires continued
to break out in various parts of the town. The scene in the city

A SCENE OF DESTRUCTION. 283

was terrible. The grand square was entirely destroyed; all the
houses in the European quarter, without an exception, had been
plundered, and most of them were burning fiercely. The streets
were almost impassable from the ruins of fallen houses, and from
the heaps of litter of all kinds, smashed furniture, bedding, mer-
chandise, clothes, boxes, in fact, the entire contents of the houses,
save the articles carried away by the plunderers.

The troops had the greatest difficulty in making their way
along. The streets were thick with smoke, and as they advanced,
the plunderers could be seen issuing from the houses and making
their way off laden with spoil. Several parties of fugitives had
during the day made their way down to the wharves, and as the
troops advanced, windows and doors were opened and many
Greeks and Italians, with their families, came out and greeted the
rescuers with tears of joy and gesticulations of enthusiastic wel-
come. For four days these poor people had been expecting instant
destruction. Many had become insane from the long reign of
terror.

Numbers of bodies of murdered Europeans were found in the
streets. Fort Napoleon and the other land forts were soon
occupied and the guns spiked, for the force was too small to hold
them, and had Arabi's troops returned, they could from them have
shelled the city. The American fleet had now entered the harbour,
and the naval officer in command, moved by the terrible scene of
destruction, took upon himself, without orders from home, the
responsibility of aiding us in restoring order, and landed a hundred
and twenty-five men to assist us. It wis by this time known that
Arabi had retired with his army to the neck of land connecting the
line of sand-hills forming the sea-coast with the land, having on
one side Lake Mareotis and on the other the Lake of Aboukir,
and there encamped on the line of the railway and the fresh-water
canal at a distance of ten miles from the city.

The Rosetta gate of Alexandria, through which the road in
that direction passed, was guarded at night by a strong force under
Major Phillips. By eleven o'clock at night all the members of the
khedive's government, with the exception of Arabi, were assembled

284 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

in the palace of Ras-el-Teen, and the ministry nominally resumed
their functions as the governing body of Egypt. In the course of
the day all the guns in the sea batteries had been spiked or burst,
and the officers of the fleet were able to ascertain the exact result
of the fire of the ships. It was found to have been even greater
than had been anticipated, the forts were in a complete state of
ruin, the strongest walls had crumbled into dust before the explosion
of the great shells.

In the first battery entered, the ground was torn up, the wall
shattered, and the whole place dismantled. One of the two ten-
inch rifle guns which it contained had been dismounted, the gun
having been tilted backwards, making a complete somersault,
crushing as it fell several of the artillerymen. It was an Armstrong
gun, and its shot had struck the Alexandra several times before it
was silenced. Numbers of dead were found in the batteries,
which all presented a scene of havoc and destruction as complete
as that which was first entered. The Egyptians had themselves
dug deep pits in the rear of their batteries, and most of the dead
had been thrown by them into these as they fell. Upwards of 400
of the Egyptians had fallen in Forts Pharos, Ada, and Ras-el-Teen.

On Saturday, the 15th, the work of suppressing the mar-
auders began in a methodical manner. Captain Fisher, R.M.,
who had been placed in command of the town and forts, left the
palace with a strong force of sailors, with four Catling guns, and
marched right round and through the city and reinforced the posts
at the gates. At Fort Cabarrie Midshipman Stracey, who was in
command, reported that during the night an armed body of
Bedouins had approached the fort ; they were challenged, and shots
were fired ; two of them were killed and the rest fled, leaving their
booty behind them.

At the Rosetta gate the guard observed a party of Egyptian
soldiers plundering the adjacent houses. When challenged the
soldiers fired a volley ; the marines on guard replied and killed four
of the plunderers, the rest fled. At other posts it was found that
some thirty men had been arrested for plundering during the
night. These were afterwards flogged, the order being now

POLICE ARRANGEMENTS. 285

issued that all plunderers were to be flogged, and that incendiaries
caught in the act were to be shot.

Lord Charles Beresford had been appointed to the command of
the police arrangements of the town, having a strong marine force
under his orders, together with three hundred disarmed Egyptian
soldiers. Large numbers of the Arab population were also set
to work in clearing away the ruins. Fire-engines, and two
steam-engines belonging to the town, were set to work; and Lord
Beresford used dynamite and powder to blow up the houses
and arrest the progress of the flames. While Major Fisher's
column was passing round the walls another force two hundred
strong, under Major Phillips, landed at Ras-el-Teen, and moved
towards the centre of the town.

Passing through the native quarter, which was found untouched
either by shot or flames, but few of the inhabitants were seen in
the streets. Each of these displayed a white handkerchief tied to
a small stick. As the governor's quarters were passed half a dozen
soldiers turned out; each wore a red ribbon tied on his arm,
this having been adopted as the sign of allegiance to the khedive.
The governor himself came out and greeted Major Phillips with
a humility and deference which formed a very strong contrast to
the arrogant insolence which, during the negotiations, he had dis-
played to the English officer with whom he then came in contact.

The column next passed through one of the low Christian
quarters. Here they had to pick their way often in single file,
the narrow street being bordered on each side by smouldering
ruins, and the roadway strewn with rubbish of all kinds, the
remains of the loot. They then entered what had been the great
square; the equestrian statue of Mohammed AH still stood in the
centre, and behind it rose the Palais de Justice. The fountains
still played in the centre of the garden. Along both sides and
one end of the square the ruin was complete. Volumes of smoke
still rose from behind the fa9ades of the houses, bleached white by
the intense heat to which they had been exposed; there were
great gaps in this line of skeleton walls, where the whole face of
the houses had fallen across the road.

286 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

A horrible smell of burning flesh from time to time assailed the
nostrils of the party, and told of bodies of murdered Europeans
upon whom the heated walls had fallen. Many trembling Euro-
peans came out from the houses to inquire if the danger was over.
Several Arabs were found looting and were taken prisoners. In
spite of the patrols by the troops, fresh fires continued to break out ;
these were, many of them, in the native quarter, the Arabs appear-
ing to take this opportunity of wreaking their spite against those
with whom they had private quarrels. There no longer remained
any doubt that the work of burning and spoliation had been carried
out by the troops of Arabi, under the instigation of his ofificers.

On the 1 7th the Tamar with the marines, and the Agincourt
and Northumberland vi'ith the 38th Regiment and the third battalion
of the 60th Rifles arrived. Sir Archibald Alison also arrived
from England, and his small contingent was allowed to land,
but there were at present no hostilities with the army of Arabi.
Captain Maude with a small escort of the khedive's cavalry made
a reconnaisance to within half a mile of Arabi's outworks. His
army was found to be strongly posted on the neck of land
between the two lakes. Politically the situation was most singular;
the members of the government were all creatures of Arabi.
F"rom the palace of Ras-el-Teen telegraph wires extended along
the line of railway which ran through Arabi's camp, and a constant
exchange of communication was kept up between the rebel leader
and his friend the minister of the khedive.

Tewfik had ordered Arabi to come in to Alexandria, but the
command was of course disobeyed. The English admiral pressed
the khedive to declare Arabi a rebel. This was of great import-
ance, as it was of the utmost necessity that the population of
Egypt should be made to understand that the war was being made,
not upon Arabi as the leader of the Egyptian army and the
representative of the cause of Egypt, but against Arabi acting in
defiance of the authority of the khedive and his government.

The khedive, however, could not be induced to issue the pro-
clamation. Surrounded as he was by Arabi's friends, and wholly
uncertain as to the length which England was prepared to go to

ORDER RESTORED IN THE TOWN, 287

uphold him in power, he feared to break altogether with the party
of which Arabi was the leader. The influence of Arabi's party
with the population was far greater than had been believed; the
majority of the people of Egypt viewed him as their champion,
they regarded the khedive as a prisoner in the hands of the
English, and his proclamations as emanating from them rather
than from him. Arabi was the champion and defender of Egypt,
and Tewfik a prisoner and tool of the English; any proclamations
that the latter might issue against the former, therefore, weighed
nothing in their minds.

Order was by this time restored in the town. Several frays
had taken place between the Greeks and the native population,
the former, finding themselves now safe, indulging in retaliations
upon the natives, several of whom were stabbed; and the pro-
ceedings were only stopped by the execution of two Greeks who
were taken red-handed in the act of murder. Much alarm was
caused by the report, which turned out to be correct, that Arabi
intended to cut the fresh-water canal, upon which the city almost
entirely depended for its supply of water.

Directions were issued that all the wells in the city should be
cleaned out and made available, that the cisterns should be all
filled, and water stored wherever practicable. A daring effort was
made by some of the native engine-drivers on the railway to make
off with several engines and a number of carriages and trucks to
Arabi, to whom they would have been of the greatest utility in
bringing up troops or supplies from the interior. Fires were got
up, and the trains were actually in motion when the attempt
was fortunately found out, and the drivers stopped and arrested.
A strong guard was placed in the railway depot to prevent any
repetition of the attempt. The shops gradually opened, and the
country people began to bring in supplies. The rubbish was so
far cleared away in the principal street as to admit of passage along
the centre. The refugees from on board the ships were landed,
and those who were fortunate enough to find their houses still
standing, although with everything in them smashed or destroyed,
began the work of rendering them again habitable.

288 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

Had the line regiments, marines, and sailors marched at once
against Arabi, there can be no doubt that they would easily have
defeated his dispirited army; but the reluctance of our govern-
ment to commence actual hostilities caused delay, which enabled
him to regain the prestige which he had lost in the country from
having been driven from Alexandria, and allowed him to strongly
fortify his position, to bring up hekvy artillery, and to add
immensely to his army.

For some time after the bombardment of Alexandria Cairo
and the rest of Egypt remained quiet watching events. It was
only when it was found that the English remained apparently
inactive shut up within the walls of Alexandria, that the belief in
the star of Arabi revived, and the whole country again threw in
iis lot with him.

END OF VOL. I.

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