REVOLT OF THE EGYPTIAN TROOPS.
The situation in the Equatorial province--First mutiny of the
troops--Emin at Mswa--Revolt of the garrison at Laboré--Arrest
and imprisonment of Emin and Jephson--Arrival of the Mahdists
at Lado--Dervish ambassadors at Dufilé--Message from Omar
Saleh--Capture of Rejaf--Revolt of the Bari--Anarchy--Second
battle at Rejaf--Emin and Jephson at liberty--Siege of
Dufilé--Defeat of the Mahdists--Emin at Tunguru.
In realising the events that occurred in the province of the Equator
from the time that Stanley left Lake Albert in May 1888 to the date of
his return in the following January, it is requisite to bear in mind
what must have been the true relation subsisting between 1500 armed
and semi-barbarous mercenaries and the solitary European, devoted
by taste and education to the study of science, and only placed by
adventitious circumstances in the position of a military governor. It
was a position in which he was supported by no authority except the
prestige of his nationality and official rank; and for four years he
had been unaided and uncheered by any communication with the civilised
world. Little by little his authority declined, and with it declined
also the consciousness of stability on the part of the man who thus saw
years pass on without bringing relief to a situation which could hardly
do otherwise than continually become more difficult, embarrassing, and
critical.
Possibly some stringent and severe measures adopted at first, and the
enforcement of capital sentence in several cases, might have nipped the
first signs of mutiny in the bud, and have obviated their reappearance.
But it should be asked, was it to be expected of Schnitzer, the
physician and the botanist, any more than of Livingstone, the
conciliating missionary, that he should exhibit the stern energy and
the sharp decision of a Stanley or a Wissmann?
As matter of fact, it is plain that for a considerable period Emin
Pasha had had little beyond a semblance of power. Whenever he required
anything of consequence to be carried out, he could not simply issue
an order, he had to submit a request to his Egyptian and Soudanese
officers that what he desired should be done. These officers, as a
rule, were unfortunately nearly all of that wily and hypocritical class
who had caused so much misery and disappointment to Baker and Gordon;
they were such as had recently betrayed Khartoum and massacred its
valiant defender.
The position of things in the province had become worse than dubious,
and an outbreak sooner or later was inevitable. The arrival of the
relief expedition precipitated the event.
Report was circulated among the troops that an armed force was close
at hand, coming from the south, and that it was the object of the
strangers to carry Emin Pasha off by an unknown route. In consequence
of this, 190 soldiers at Dufilé, instigated by their officers, entered
into a compact that they would at once seize his person, and thus
prevent his leaving their country, if he were to leave it at all, by
any other route than the northern route, which they knew, and by which
they had come.
Emin was made aware of this plot by his faithful adherent Major
Awach, and by some of the officers of the second battalion, at whose
suggestion he left Wadelai, retreating to Mswa, one of the other
settlements on the Lake. Mswa at that time was under the command of
Shukri-Aga, a brave and intelligent officer, who had been promoted to
his present rank in recognition of the services he had rendered in the
campaign against the Mahdists of Karam-Allah in 1884.
When a detachment of the first battalion arrived at Wadelai and learnt
that the officers of the second battalion had advised Emin to withdraw,
there was a vehement outbreak of wrath. The Commandant at Wadelai was
seized and beaten with the kurbatch; the rebel soldiers, moreover,
carrying off with them to Dufilé a number of people as hostages.
This had been the actual state of things at the time when Stanley first
arrived with his expedition at the margin of Lake Albert; but Emin does
not appear to have disclosed to Stanley what was the extremity to which
matters were reduced. Very likely, in the kindness of his disposition,
he was indulging the hope that the arrival of the Europeans would
reassure his followers, and would be effectual in the restoration of
order, so that the mutinous soldiers would be brought back to their
allegiance. As he wrote to Stanley: “The first battalion in the
northern garrisons has always been extremely averse to any proposal
of retreat to the south. But now that you have come, and as several of
the soldiers remember seeing you at Mtesa’s court when they were there
with M. Linant de Bellefond in 1876, and as others know you personally,
and still more by hearsay, it is quite probable that they may change
their minds. They must now be convinced that there is another way to
Egypt besides that to the north, because they will see that you have
succeeded in getting here by it.”
But Emin had not taken account of the moral malady which was poisoning
the minds of such a large proportion of the Egyptians in the Soudan
army; he was not allowing for treason.
Whilst, in the middle of August, Emin Pasha and Mr. Jephson were
retiring along the Nile from Dufilé to Rejaf, the troops of the
first battalion were being agitated into revolt by one of their
officers named Abdul Vaal Effendi. He assured them that Stanley had a
commission from the English Government to carry off all the Egyptians
and Soudanese in the province, with their wives and children, to
Zanzibar, and that there they would be subject to punishment and
reduced to slavery by the Christians. In such a land, where ignorance
and fanaticism were universal, words like these acted as a train of
gunpowder. There was mutiny at once.
It would appear to have been on the 18th of August, one day after
Stanley’s reaching Banalya, where his rear-caravan had been in camp,
that Emin Pasha and Mr. Jephson were arrested and were being carried as
prisoners to Dufilé.
The leaders of the insurrection next summoned the officers to a divan,
where all those who ventured to oppose the movement were so insulted
and abused that for their own personal safety they were compelled to
acquiesce. At the meeting the Pasha was formally deposed, and all the
officers who sympathised with him were deprived of their commissions.
After all the revolution was the act of hardly more than half-a-dozen
disaffected Egyptians, who by intimidation succeeded in rallying around
them a certain number of officers and others. The soldiers, with the
exception of those at Laboré, where the flame of insurrection was first
ignited, took no part in the original outbreak, and only yielded to the
pressure put upon them by their leaders. Indeed, it was to the fidelity
of the troops that Emin owed his life; they resolutely maintained that
no one should lay violent hands upon the governor, and to the utmost of
their power withstood his being removed to Rejaf, the station on the
extreme north.
Only a slight modification of affairs ensued during the following month
of October. Mr. Jephson regained his liberty, but on the condition that
he should not leave Dufilé; the Pasha was still kept in chains and
might expect day by day to receive sentence of death.
Then came the sudden and startling intelligence that a Mahdist army,
about 1500 strong, under the command of Omar Saleh, had made its
appearance before Lado. The troops had been brought from Khartoum in
three steamers and nine boats, and had made their encampment upon the
site of the now abandoned station.
A few days later three dervishes arrived at Dufilé and demanded an
audience of the governor of the province. They were the bearers of a
long written message, of which the substance is given in the subjoined
abbreviation:--
“From the servant of God, Omar Saleh, officer of the Mahdi, to whom we
give reverential greetings.
“To the honoured Mahomed Emin, Mudir of Hatalastiva.
“May God lead him in the paths of His gifts. Amen.
“After greeting you, I would remind you that the world is a house of
change and decay, and everything in it must one day perish. God is the
Master of all His creatures.
“We are of the army of God. With our army is victory. Victory is to the
believers. God help the Faithful. It is written in the Koran.
“The whole country is subject to the prophet. Hicks, Stewart, Gordon,
all are dead. Make peace with the Mahdi.
“We have landed here with an army of the defenders of the faith. It
is your duty to submit. Submit and be assured of a free pardon, of
protection for your children and your property, and of the blessing of
God. We bid you come and join us.
“And now be of good cheer and do not delay. I have said enough for one
whose intelligence is bright as yours. Come to me and I will honour
you. Become a true believer as the master wishes.
“May God bless and assist you in all you do. Salaam.”
The dervishes waited for a reply; the only answer that was vouchsafed
was to seize them and put them all to death.
Preparations were at once made for resistance.
Within a few days the Mahdists had assaulted the station at Rejaf,
killing five Egyptian officers, and a considerable number of soldiers.
All the provisions as well as the ammunition fell into their hands.
Simultaneously with the news of this disaster came the intelligence
that the Bari, who had long been restless under the Egyptian rule, had
revolted and joined the invaders.
From all the stations along the river there was forthwith a general
stampede. The garrisons of Bedden, Kiri, and Muggi fled with their
wives, children, and servants to Laboré, forsaking their posts and
all the goods which they contained. Consternation reigned supreme.
Inevitably the position of Emin and Jephson, who were still held
captive by the rebels, was becoming more and more perilous.
On the 7th of November, Jephson wrote from Dufilé to Stanley, urging
the necessity of there being no loss of time. “Our position here,” he
said, “is extremely unpleasant; for three months everything has been
chaos and confusion; half-a-dozen conflicting orders are given every
day, and no one obeys. The rebel officers are absolutely incapable
of controlling the soldiers.” He proceeded to explain that the
officers were now very much alarmed at what had happened, that they
were reckoning very much on Stanley’s return to the Lake, and that
he believed the great majority were quite ready to quit the province
with him. “As for Emin and myself,” he added, “we are like rats in a
trap. They will neither let us act or retire. Had this rebellion not
happened, the Pasha would at least for a time have been able to hold
the Mahdists in check; but as it is he is powerless to act.” “Unless,”
he says finally, “you come promptly, I fear you will come too late,
and that our fate will be that of the other defenders of the Soudan
garrisons. Should we not succeed in getting out of the country, please
remember me to all friends.”
But sad to relate, on that very date when Mr. Jephson was writing
to Stanley that he must come soon, Stanley and Mr. Bonny had hardly
reached the confluence of the Ihuru. They were some hundreds of miles
away, and had to push along for more than two months before they could
reach the Lake. The prospects of Emin and his partner in trouble were
indeed becoming desperate.
Worse still did the look-out grow. The Egyptians, in an attempt to get
Rejaf back from the Mahdists, were repulsed with heavy loss, and six
of their leaders were killed; but the defeat had one happy result; it
brought about Emin’s liberation from prison.
Mr. Jephson, writing on November 24th from Wadelai, thus describes the
circumstances: “Among the officers killed were some of the Pasha’s
worst enemies. The soldiers in all the stations were so panic-stricken
and angry at what had happened that they declared they would not
attempt to fight unless the Pasha was set at liberty; so the rebel
officers were obliged to free him, and sent us to Wadelai, where he
is free to do as he pleases, but at present he has not resumed his
authority in the country; he is, I believe, by no means anxious to do
so.
“Our danger, as far as the Mahdists are concerned, is, of course,
increased by this last defeat, but our position is in one way better
now, for we are further removed from them, and we have now the
option of retiring if we please, which we had not before while we
were prisoners. We hear that the Mahdists have sent steamers down to
Khartoum for reinforcements; if so, they cannot be up here for another
six weeks. If they come up here with reinforcements it will be all up
with us, for the soldiers will never stand against them, and it will be
a mere walk over.
“Every one is anxiously looking for your arrival, for the coming of the
Mahdists has completely cowed them.”
Meanwhile the Mahdists were making rapid advances. After placing their
headquarters at Rejaf, which the Egyptian troops had failed to recover,
they had successively occupied Bedden, Kiri, Muggi, Laboré, and
Khor-Aju. On November 25th they appeared before Dufilé and blockaded it
for four days. The station, however, was in a good state of defence,
having 500 men under the command of Emin’s lieutenant, Selim Bey. The
garrison made a successful sortie, and the besiegers were repulsed,
leaving no less than 250 dead upon the field. They then fell back
upon Rejaf, and entrenched themselves, awaiting the arrival of their
reinforcements.
This engagement, although it gave encouragement to the Egyptians, does
not seem to have much improved the position of Emin, who retired to
Tunguru, a station on a small island not far from the west shore of
the Nyanza; whence on the 18th of December Mr. Jephson wrote again to
Stanley: “The Pasha is unable to move hand or foot, as there is still
a very strong party against him, and the officers are no longer in
immediate fear of the Mahdists.
“Make your camp at Kavalli, send a letter directly you arrive there,
and I will come to you.
“I trust you will arrive before the Mahdists are reinforced, or our
case will be desperate.”
But at the time when this urgent letter was being written Stanley was
far off. He had not yet arrived at Fort Bodo, which he did not reach
until December 20th. It will at once be understood that his anxiety was
only too well founded, and that he had not been wrong in attributing
the long silence of Emin and Jephson to something untoward.