all the forts would probably have been surrendered at once. For some
reason not fully known, this was not done. Spasmodic firing began again
in the morning, but a truce was before long arranged, which proved to be
only a device for enabling Arabi and his troops to escape. The city,
meanwhile, was the scene of a furious outbreak against Europeans, in
which some 400 or 500 persons perished. Damage, afterwards assessed at
£7,000,000, was done by fire and pillage. It was not till the 14th
that the admiral, after receiving reinforcements, felt able to send
troops into the city, when a few severe examples cowed the plunderers
and restored order. The Khedive, who had shut himself up in his palace
at Ramleh, now came back to the seaport under the escort of a British
force, and thenceforth remained virtually, though not in name, under
British protection.
The bombardment of Alexandria brought about the resignation of that
sturdy Quaker, and friend of peace, Mr. John Bright from the Gladstone
Ministry; but everything tends to show (as even M. de Freycinet admits)
that the crisis took Ministers by surprise. Nothing was ready at home
for an important campaign; and it would seem that hostilities resulted,
firstly, from the violence of Arabi's supporters in Alexandria, and,
secondly, from their persistence in warlike preparations which might
have endangered the safety of Admiral Seymour's fleet. The situation was
becoming like that of 1807 at the Dardanelles, when the Turks gave
smooth promises to Admiral Duckworth, all the time strengthening their
forts, with very disagreeable results. Probably the analogy of 1807,
together with the proven perfidy of Arabi's men, brought on hostilities,
which the British Ministers up to the end were anxious to avoid.
In any case, the die was now cast, and England entered questioningly on
a task, the magnitude and difficulty of which no one could then foresee.
She entered on it alone, and that, too, though the Gladstone Ministry
had made pressing overtures for the help of France, at any rate as
regarded the protection of the Suez Canal. To this extent, de Freycinet
and his colleagues were prepared to lend their assistance; but, despite
Gambetta's urgent appeal for common action with England at that point,
the Chamber of Deputies still remained in a cautiously negative mood,
and to that frame of mind M. Clémenceau added strength by a speech
ending with a glorification of prudence. "Europe," he said, "is covered
with soldiers; every one is in a state of expectation; all the Power
are reserving their future liberty of action; do you reserve the
liberty of action of France." The restricted co-operation with England
which the Cabinet recommended found favour with only seventy-five
deputies; and, when face to face with a large hostile majority, de
Freycinet and his colleagues resigned (July 29, 1882)[368]. Prudence,
fear of the newly-formed Triple Alliance, or jealousy of England, drew
France aside from the path to which her greatest captains, thinkers, and
engineers had beckoned her in time past. Whatever the predominant motive
may have been, it altered the course of history in the valley of
the Nile.
[Footnote 368: De Freycinet, _op, cit._ pp. 311-312.]
After the refusal of France to co-operate with England even to the
smallest extent, the Conference of the Powers became a nullity, and its
sessions ceased despite the lack of any formal adjournment[369]. Here,
as on so many other occasions, the Concert of the Powers displayed its
weakness; and there can be no doubt that the Sultan and Arabi counted on
that weakness in playing the dangerous game which brought matters to the
test of the sword. The jealousies of the Powers now stood fully
revealed. Russia entered a vigorous protest against England's action at
Alexandria; Italy evinced great annoyance, and at once repelled a
British proposal for her co-operation; Germany also showed much
resentment, and turned the situation to profitable account by
substituting her influence for that of Britain in the counsels of the
Porte. The Sultan, thwarted in the midst of his tortuous intrigues for a
great Moslem revival, showed his spleen and his diplomatic skill by
loftily protesting against Britain's violation of international law, and
thereafter by refusing (August 1) to proclaim Arabi a rebel against the
Khedive's authority. The essential timidity of Abdul Hamid's nature in
presence of superior force was shown by a subsequent change of front. On
hearing of British successes, he placed Arabi under the ban
(September 8).
[Footnote 369: For its proceedings, see Parl. Papers, Egypt, 1882
(Conference on Egyptian Affairs).]
Meanwhile, the British expedition of some 10,000 men, despatched to
Egypt under the command of Sir Garnet Wolseley made as though it would
attack Arabi from Alexandria as a base. But on nearing that port at
nightfall it steered about and occupied Port Said (August 15). Kantara
and Ismailia, on the canal, were speedily seized; and the Seaforth
Highlanders by a rapid march occupied Chalouf and prevented the cutting
of the freshwater canal by the rebels. Thenceforth the little army had
the advantage of marching near fresh water, and by a route on which
Arabi was not at first expecting them. Sir Garnet Wolseley's movements
were of that quick and decisive order which counts for so much against
orientals. A sharp action at Tel-el-Mahuta obliged Arabi's forces, some
10,000 strong, to abandon entrenchments thrown up at that point
(August 24).
Four days later there was desperate fighting at Kassassin Lock on the
freshwater canal. There the Egyptians flung themselves in large numbers
against a small force sent forward under General Graham to guard that
important point. The assailants fought with the recklessness begotten by
the proclamation of a holy war against infidels, and for some time the
issue remained in doubt. At length, about sundown, three squadrons of
the Household Cavalry, and the 7th Dragoon Guards, together with four
light guns, were hastily sent forward from the main body in the rear to
clinch the affair. General Drury Lowe wheeled this little force round
the left flank of the enemy, and, coming up unperceived in the gathering
darkness, charged with such fury as to scatter the hostile array in
instant rout[370]. The enemy fell back on the entrenchments at
Tel-el-Kebir, while the whole British force (including a division from
India) concentrated at Kassassin, 17,400 strong, with 61 guns and
6 Gatlings.
[Footnote 370: _History of the Campaign in Egypt_ (War Office), by Col.
J.F. Maurice, pp. 62-65.]
The final action took place on September 13, at Tel-el-Kebir. There
Arabi had thrown up a double line of earthworks of some strength,
covering about four miles, and lay with a force that has been estimated
at 20,000 to 25,000 regulars and 7000 irregulars. Had the assailants
marched across the desert and attacked these works by day, they must
have sustained heavy losses. Sir Garnet therefore determined to try the
effect of a surprise at dawn, and moved his men forward after sunset of
the 12th until they came within striking distance of the works. After a
short rest they resumed their advance shortly before the time when the
first streaks of dawn would appear on the eastern sky. At about 500
yards from the works, the advance was dimly silhouetted against the
paling orient. Shortly before five o'clock, an Egyptian rifle rang out a
sharp warning, and forthwith the entrenchments spurted forth smoke and
flame. At once the British answered by a cheer and a rush over the
intervening ground, each regiment eager to be the first to ply the
bayonet. The Highlanders, under the command of General Graham, were
leading on the left, and therefore won in this race for glory; but on
all sides the invaders poured almost simultaneously over the works. For
several minutes there was sharp fighting on the parapet; but the British
were not to be denied, and drove before them the defenders as a kind of
living screen against the fire that came from the second entrenchments;
these they carried also, and thrust the whole mass out into the
desert[371]. There hundreds of them fell under the sabres of the British
cavalry which swept down from the northern end of the lines; but the
pursuit was neither prolonged nor sanguinary. Sir Garnet Wolseley was
satisfied with the feat of dissolving Arabi's army into an armed or
unarmed rabble by a single sharp blow, and now kept horses and men for
further eventualities.
[Footnote 371: _Life, Letters, and Diaries of General Sir Gerald Graham_
(1901). J.F. Maurice, _op. cit._ pp. 84-95.]
By one of those flashes of intuition that mark the born leader of men,
the British commander perceived that the whole war might be ended if a
force of cavalry pushed on to Cairo and demanded the surrender of its
citadel at the moment when the news of the disaster at Tel-el-Kebir
unmanned its defenders. The conception must rank as one of the most
daring recorded in the annals of war. In the ancient capital of Egypt
there were more than 300,000 Moslems, lately aroused to dangerous
heights of fanaticism by the proclamation of a "holy war" against
infidels. Its great citadel, towering some 250 feet above the city,
might seem to bid defiance to all the horsemen of the British army.
Finally, Arabi had repaired thither in order to inspire vigour into a
garrison numbering some 10,000 men. Nevertheless, Wolseley counted on
the moral effect of his victory to level the ramparts of the citadel and
to abase the mushroom growth of Arabi's pride.
His surmise was more than justified by events. While his Indian
contingent pushed on to occupy Zagazig, Sir Drury Lowe, with a force
mustering fewer than 500 sabres, pressed towards Cairo by a desert road
in order to summon it on the morrow. After halting at Belbeïs the
troopers gave rein to their steeds; and a ride of nearly 40 miles
brought them to the city about sundown. Rumour magnified their numbers;
while the fatalism that used to nerve the Moslem in his great days now
predisposed him to bow the knee and mutter _Kismet_ at the advent of the
seemingly predestined masters of Egypt. To this small, wearied, but
lordly band Cairo surrendered, and Arabi himself handed over his sword.
On the following day the infantry came up and made good this
precarious conquest.
In presence of this startling triumph the Press of the Continent sought
to find grounds for the belief that Arabi, and Cairo as well, had been
secretly bought over by British gold. It is somewhat surprising to find
M. de Freycinet[372] repeating to-day this piece of spiteful silliness,
which might with as much reason be used to explain away the victories of
Clive and Coote, Outram and Havelock. The slanders of continental
writers themselves stand in need of explanation. It is to be found in
their annoyance at discovering that England had an army which could
carry through a difficult campaign to a speedy and triumphant
conclusion. Their typical attitude had been that of Bismarck, namely,
of exultation at her difficulties and of hope of her discomfiture. Now
their tone changed to one of righteous indignation at the irregularity
of her conduct in acting on behalf of Europe without any mandate from
the Powers, and in using the Suez Canal as a base of operations.
[Footnote 372: _Op. cit._ p. 316.]
In this latter respect Britain's conduct was certainly open to
criticism[373]. On the other hand, it is doubtful whether Arabi would
have provoked her to action had he not been tacitly encouraged by the
other Powers, which, while professing their wish to see order restored
in Egypt, in most cases secretly sought to increase her difficulties in
undertaking that task. As for the Sultan, he had now trimmed his sails
by declaring Arabi a rebel to the Khedive's authority; and in due course
that officer was tried, found guilty, and exiled to Ceylon early in
1883. The conduct of France, Germany, and Russia, if we may judge by the
tone of their officially inspired Press, was scarcely more
straightforward, and was certainly less discreet. On all sides there
were diatribes against Britain's high-handed and lawless behaviour, and
some German papers affected to believe that Hamburg might next be chosen
for bombardment by the British fleet. These outbursts, in the case of
Germany, may have been due to Bismarck's desire to please Russia, and
secondarily France, in all possible ways. It is doubtful whether he
gained this end. Certainly he and his underlings in the Press widened
the gulf that now separated the two great Teutonic peoples.
[Footnote 373: It is said, however, that Arabi had warned M. de Lesseps
that "the defence of Egypt requires the temporary destruction of the
Canal" (Traill, _England, Egypt, and the Sudan_, p. 57). The status of
the Canal was defined in 1885. _Ibid_. p. 59.]
The annoyance of France was more natural. She had made the Suez Canal,
and had participated in the Dual Control; but her mistake in not sharing
in the work of restoring order was irreparable. Every one in Egypt saw
that the control of that country must rest with the Power which had
swept away Arabi's Government and re-established the fallen authority
of the Khedive. A few persons in England, even including one member of
the Gladstone Administration, Mr. Courtney, urged a speedy withdrawal;
but the Cabinet, which had been unwillingly but irresistibly drawn thus
far by the force of circumstances, could not leave Egypt a prey to
anarchy; and, clearly, the hand that repressed anarchy ruled the country
for the time being. It is significant that on April 4, 1883, more than
2600 Europeans in Egypt presented a petition begging that the British
occupation might be permanent[374].
[Footnote 374: Sir A. Milner, _England in Egypt_, p. 31.]
Mr. Gladstone, however, and others of his Cabinet, had declared that it
would be only temporary, and would, in fact, last only so long as to
enable order and prosperity to grow up under the shadow of new and
better institutions. These pledges were given with all sincerity, and
the Prime Minister and his colleagues evidently wished to be relieved
from what was to them a disagreeable burden. The French in Egypt, of
course, fastened on these promises, and one of their newspapers, the
_Journal Egyptien_, printed them every day at the head of its front
columns[375]. Mr. Gladstone, who sought above all things for a friendly
understanding with France, keenly felt, even to the end of his career,
that the continued occupation of Egypt hindered that most desirable
consummation. He was undoubtedly right. The irregularity of England's
action in Egypt hampered her international relations at many points; and
it may be assigned as one of the causes that brought France into
alliance with Russia.
[Footnote 375: H.F. Wood, _Egypt under the British_, p. 59 (1896).]
What, then, hindered the fulfilment of Mr. Gladstone's pledges? In the
first place, the dog-in-the-manger policy of French officials and
publicists increased the difficulties of the British administrators who
now, in the character of advisers of the Khedive, really guided him and
controlled his Ministers. The scheme of administration adopted was in
the main that advised by Lord Dufferin in his capacity of Special
Envoy. The details, however, are too wide and complex to be set forth
here. So also are those of the disputes between our officials and those
of France. Suffice it to say that by shutting up the funds of the
"Caisse de la Dette," the French administrators of that great reserve
fund hoped to make Britain's position untenable and hasten her
evacuation. In point of fact, these and countless other pin-pricks
delayed Egypt's recovery and furnished a good reason why Britain should
not withdraw[376].
[Footnote 376: The reader should consult for full details Sir A. Milner,
_England in Egypt_ (1892); Sir D.M. Wallace, _The Egyptian Question_
(1883), especially chaps, xi.-xiii.; and A. Silva White, _The Expansion
of Egypt_ (1899), the best account of the Anglo-Egyptian administration,
with valuable Appendices on the "Caisse," etc.
A far more favourable light is thrown on the conduct of Arabi and his
partisans by Mr. A.M. Broadley in his work _How We Defended
Arabi_ (1884).]
But above and beyond these administrative details, there was one
all-compelling cause, the war-cloud that now threatened the land of the
Pharaohs from that home of savagery and fanaticism, the Sudan.
NOTE TO THE SECOND EDITION
For new light on the nationalist movement in Egypt and the part which
Arabi played in it, the reader should consult _How we defended Arabi_,
by A.M. Broadley (London, 1884). The same writer in his _Tunis, Past and
Present_ (2 vols. 1882) has thrown much light on the Tunis Question and
on the Pan-Islamic movement in North Africa.
CHAPTER XVI
GORDON AND THE SUDAN
What were my ideas in coming out? They were these: _Agreed
abandonment of Sudan, but extricate the garrisons_; and these
were the instructions of the Government (Gordon's _Journal_,
October 8, 1885).
It is one of the peculiarities of the Moslem faith that any time of
revival is apt to be accompanied by warlike fervour somewhat like that
which enabled its early votaries to sweep over half of the known world
in a single generation. This militant creed becomes dangerous when it
personifies itself in a holy man who can make good his claim to be
received as a successor of the Prophet. Such a man had recently appeared
in the Sudan. It is doubtful whether Mohammed Ahmed was a genuine
believer in his own extravagant claims, or whether he adopted them in
order to wreak revenge on Rauf Pasha, the Egyptian Governor of the
Sudan, for an insult inflicted by one of his underlings. In May 1881,
while living near the island of Abba in the Nile, he put forward his
claim to be the Messiah or Prophet, foretold by the founder of that
creed. Retiring with some disciples to that island, he gained fame by
his fervour and asceticism. His followers named him "El Mahdi," the
leader, but his claims were scouted by the Ulemas of Khartum, Cairo, and
Constantinople, on the ground that the Messiah of the Moslems was to
arise in the East. Nevertheless, while the British were crushing Arabi's
movement, the Mahdi stirred the Sudan to its depths, and speedily shook
the Egyptian rule to its base[377].
[Footnote 377: See the Report of the Intelligence Department of the War
Office, printed in _The Journals of Major-General C.G. Gordon at
Khartum_, Appendix to Bk. iv.]
There was every reason to fear a speedy collapse. In the years 1874-76
the Province of the White Nile had known the benefits of just and
tactful rule under that born leader of men, Colonel Gordon; and in the
three following years, as Governor-General of the Sudan, he gained
greater powers, which he felt to be needful for the suppression of the
slave-trade and other evils. Ill-health and underhand opposition of
various kinds caused him to resign his post in 1879. Then, to the
disgust of all, the Khedive named as his successor Rauf Pasha, whom
Gordon had recently dismissed for maladministration of the Province of
Harrar, on the borders of Abyssinia[378]. Thus the Sudan, after
experiencing the benefits of a just and able government, reeled back
into the bad old condition, at the time when the Mahdi was becoming a
power in the land. No help was forthcoming from Egypt in the summer of
1882, and the Mahdi's revolt rapidly made headway even despite several
checks from the Egyptian troops.
[Footnote 378: See Gordon's letter of April 1880, quoted in the
Introduction to _The Journals of Major-General C.G. Gordon at Khartum_
(1885), p. xvii.]
Possibly, if Mr. Gladstone and his colleagues had decided to crush it in
that autumn, the task might have been easy. But, far from doing so, they
sought to dissuade the Khedive from attempting to hold the most
disturbed districts, those of Kordofan and Darfur, beyond Khartum. This
might have been the best course, if the evacuation could have been
followed at once and without risk of disaster at the hands of the
fanatics. But Tewfik willed otherwise. Against the advice of Lord
Dufferin, he sought to reconquer the Sudan, and that, too, by wholly
insufficient forces. The result was a series of disasters, culminating
in the extermination of Hicks Pasha's Egyptian force by the Mahdi's
followers near El Obeid, the capital of Kordofan (November 5, 1883).
The details of the disaster are not fully known. Hicks Pasha was
appointed, on August 20, 1883, by the Khedive to command the expedition
into that province. He set out from Omdurman on September 9, with 10,000
men, 4 Krupp guns and 16 light guns, 500 horses and 5500 camels. His
last despatch, dated October 3, showed that the force had been greatly
weakened by want of water and provisions, and most of all by the spell
cast on the troops by the Mahdi's claim to invincibility. Nevertheless,
Hicks checked the rebels in two or three encounters, but, according to
the tale of one of the few survivors, a camel-driver, the force finally
succumbed to a fierce charge on the Egyptian square at the close of an
exhausting march, prolonged by the treachery of native guides. Nearly
the whole force was put to the sword. Hicks Pasha perished, along with
five British and four German officers, and many Egyptians of note. The
adventurous newspaper correspondents, O'Donovan and Vizetelly, also met
their doom (November 5, 1883)[379].
[Footnote 379: Gordon's _Journals_, pp. 347-351; also Parl. Papers,
Egypt, No. 12 (1884), pp. 85 and 127-131 for another account. See, too,
Sir F.R. Wingate's _Mahdism_, chaps. i.-iii., for the rise of the Mahdi
and his triumph over Hicks.]
This catastrophe decided the history of the Sudan for many years. The
British Government was in no respect responsible for the appointment of
General Hicks to the Kordofan command. Lord Dufferin and Sir E. Malet
had strongly urged the Khedive to abandon Kordofan and Darfur; but it
would seem that the desire of the governing class at Cairo to have a
hand in the Sudan administration overbore these wise remonstrances, and
hence the disaster near El Obeid with its long train of evil
consequences[380]. It was speedily followed by another reverse at Tokar
not far from Suakim, where the slave-raiders and tribesmen of the Red
Sea coast exterminated another force under the command of Captain
Moncrieff.
[Footnote 380: J. Morley, _Life of Gladstone_, vol. iii. p. 146; Sir A.
Lyall, _Life of Lord Dufferin_, vol. ii. chap. ii.]
The Gladstone Ministry and the British advisers of the Khedive, among
whom was Sir Evelyn Baring (the present Lord Cromer), again urged the
entire evacuation of the Sudan, and the limitation of Egyptian authority
to the strong position of the First Cataract at Assuan. This policy then
received the entire approval of the man who was to be alike the hero and
the martyr of that enterprise[381]. But how were the Egyptian garrisons
to be withdrawn? It was a point of honour not to let them be slaughtered
or enslaved by the cruel fanatics of the Mahdi. Yet under the lead of
Egyptian officers they would almost certainly suffer one of these fates.
A way of escape was suggested--by a London evening newspaper in the
first instance. The name of Gordon was renowned for justice and
hardihood all through the Sudan. Let this knight-errant be sent--so said
this Mentor of the Press--and his strange power over men would
accomplish the impossible. The proposal carried conviction everywhere,
and Lord Granville, who generally followed any strong lead, sent for
the General.
[Footnote 381: Morley, _Life of Gladstone_, vol. iii. p. 147.]
Charles George Gordon, born at Woolwich in 1833, was the scion of a
staunch race of Scottish fighters. His great-grandfather served under
Cope at Prestonpans; his grandfather fought in Boscawen's expedition at
Louisburg and under Wolfe at Quebec. His father attained the rank of
Lieutenant-General. From his mother, too, he derived qualities of
self-reliance and endurance of no mean order. Despite the fact that she
had eleven children, and that three of her sons were out at the Crimea,
she is said never to have quailed during that dark time. Of these sons,
Charles George was serving in the Engineers; he showed at his first
contact with war an aptitude and resource which won the admiration of
all. "We used always to send him out to find what new move the Russians
were making"--such was the testimony of one of his superior officers. Of
his subsequent duties in delimiting the new Bessarabian frontier and his
miraculous career in China we cannot speak in detail. By the consent of
all, it was his soldierly spirit that helped to save that Empire from
anarchy at the hands of the Taeping rebels, whose movement presented a
strange medley of perverted Christianity, communism, and freebooting.
There it was that his magnetic influence over men first had free play.
Though he was only thirty years of age, his fine physique, dauntless
daring, and the spirit of unquestionable authority that looked out from
his kindly eyes, gained speedy control over the motley set of officers
and the Chinese rank and file--half of them ex-rebels--that formed the
nucleus of the "ever victorious army." What wonder that he was
thenceforth known as "Chinese Gordon"?
In the years 1865-71, which he spent at Gravesend in supervising the
construction of the new forts at the mouth of the river, the religious
and philanthropic side of his character found free play. His biographer,
Mr. Hake, tells of his interest in the poor and suffering, and, above
all, in friendless boys, who came to idolise his manly yet sympathetic
nature. Called thereafter by the Khedive to succeed Sir Samuel Baker in
the Governorship of the Sudan, he grappled earnestly with the fearful
difficulties that beset all who have attempted to put down the
slave-trade in its chief seat of activity. Later on he expressed the
belief that "the Sudan is a useless possession, ever was so, ever will
be so." These words, and certain episodes in his official career in
India and in Cape Colony, revealed the weak side of a singularly noble
nature. Occasionally he was hasty and impulsive in his decisions, and
the pride of his race would then flash forth. During his cadetship at
Woolwich he was rebuked for incompetence, and told that he would never
make an officer. At once he tore the epaulets from his shoulders and
flung them at his superior's feet. A certain impatience of control
characterised him throughout life. No man was ever more chivalrous, more
conscientious, more devoted, or abler in the management of inferiors;
but his abilities lay rather in the direction of swift intuitions and
prompt achievement than in sound judgment and plodding toil. In short,
his qualities were those of a knight-errant, not those of a statesman.
The imperious calls of conscience and of instinct endowed him with
powers uniquely fitted to attract and enthral simple straightforward
natures, and to sway orientals at his will. But the empire of
conscience, instinct, and will-power consorts but ill with those
diplomatic gifts of effecting a timely compromise which go far to make
for success in life. This was at once the strength and the weakness of
Gordon's being. In the midst of a _blasé_, sceptical age, his
personality stood forth, God-fearing as that of a Covenanter, romantic
as that of a Coeur de Lion, tender as that of a Florence Nightingale. In
truth, it appealed to all that is most elemental in man.
At that time Gordon was charged by the King of the Belgians to proceed
to the Congo River to put down the slave-trade. Imagination will persist
in wondering what might have been the result if he had carried out this
much-needed duty. Possibly he might have acquired such an influence as
to direct the "Congo Free State" to courses far other than those to
which it has come. He himself discerned the greatness of the
opportunity. In his letter of January 6, 1884, to H.M. Stanley, he
stated that "no such efficacious means of cutting at root of slave-trade
ever was presented as that which God has opened out to us through the
kind disinterestedness of His Majesty."
The die was now cast against the Congo and for the Nile. Gordon had a
brief interview with four members of the Cabinet--Lords Granville,
Hartington, Northbrooke, and Sir Charles Dilke,--Mr. Gladstone was
absent at Hawarden; and they forthwith decided that he should go to the
Upper Nile. What transpired in that most important meeting is known only
from Gordon's account of it in a private letter:--
At noon he, Wolseley, came to me and took me to the
Ministers. He went in and talked to the Ministers, and came
back and said, "Her Majesty's Government want you to
undertake this. Government are determined to evacuate the
Sudan, for they will not guarantee future government. Will
you go and do it?" I said, "Yes." He said, "Go in." I went
in and saw them. They said, "Did Wolseley tell you our
orders?" I said, "Yes." I said, "You will not guarantee
future government of the Sudan, and you wish me to go up to
evacuate now?" They said, "Yes," and it was over, and I left
at 8 P.M. for Calais.
Before seeing the Ministers, Gordon had a long interview with Lord
Wolseley, who in the previous autumn had been named Baron Wolseley of
Cairo. That conversation is also unknown to us, but obviously it must
have influenced Gordon's impressions as to the scope of the duties
sketched for him by the Cabinet. We turn, then, to the "Instructions to
General Gordon," drawn up by the Ministry on Jan. 18, 1884. They
directed him to "proceed at once to Egypt, to report to them on the
military situation in the Sudan, and on the measures which it may be
advisable to take for the security of the Egyptian garrisons still
holding positions in that country and for the safety of the European
population in Khartum." He was also to report on the best mode of
effecting the evacuation of the interior of the Sudan and on measures
that might be taken to counteract the consequent spread of the
slave-trade. He was to be under the instructions of H.M.'s
Consul-General at Cairo (Sir Evelyn Baring). There followed this
sentence: "You will consider yourself authorised and instructed to
perform such other duties as the Egyptian Government may desire to
entrust to you, and as may be communicated to you by Sir Evelyn
Baring[382]."
[Footnote 382: Parl. Papers, Egypt, No. 2 (1884), p. 3.]
After receiving these instructions, Gordon started at once for Egypt,
accompanied by Colonel Stewart. At Cairo he had an interview with Sir
Evelyn Baring, and was appointed by the Khedive Governor-General of the
Sudan. The firman of Jan. 26 contained these words: "We trust that you
will carry out our good intentions for the establishment of justice and
order, and that you will assure the peace and prosperity of the people
of the Sudan by maintaining the security of the roads," etc. It
contained not a word about the evacuation of the Sudan, nor did the
Khedive's proclamation of the same date to the Sudanese. The only
reference to evacuation was in his letter of the same date to Gordon,
beginning thus: "You are aware that the object of your arrival here and
of your mission to the Sudan is to carry into execution the evacuation
of those territories and to withdraw our troops, civil officials, and
such of the inhabitants, together with their belongings, as may wish to
leave for Egypt. . . ." After completing this task he was to "take the
necessary steps for establishing an organised Government in the
different provinces of the Sudan for the maintenance of order and the
cessation of all disasters and incitement to revolt[383]." How Gordon,
after sending away all the troops, was to pacify that enormous territory
His Highness did not explain.
[Footnote 383: Parl. Papers, Egypt, No. 12 (1884), pp. 27, 28.]
There is almost as much ambiguity in the "further instructions" which
Sir Evelyn Baring drew up on January 25 at Cairo. After stating that the
British and Egyptian Governments had agreed on the necessity of
"evacuating" the Sudan, he noted the fact that Gordon approved of it and
thought it should on no account be changed; the despatch proceeds:--
You consider that it may take a few months to carry it out
with safety. You are further of opinion that "the restoration
of the country should be made to the different petty Sultans
who existed at the time of Mohammed Ali's conquest, and whose
families still exist"; and that an endeavour should be made
to form a confederation of those Sultans. In this view the
Egyptian Government entirely concur. It will of course be
fully understood that the Egyptian troops are not to be kept
in the Sudan merely with a view to consolidating the powers
of the new rulers of the country. But the Egyptian Government
has the fullest confidence in your judgment, your knowledge
of the country, and your comprehension of the general line of
policy to be pursued. You are therefore given full
discretionary power to retain the troops for such reasonable
period as you may think necessary, in order that the
abandonment of the country may be accomplished with the least
possible risk to life and property. A credit of £100,000 has
been opened for you at the Finance Department[384]. . . .
[Footnote 384: Parl. Papers, Egypt, No. 6 (1884), p. 3.]
In themselves these instructions were not wholly clear. An officer who
is allowed to use troops for the settlement or pacification of a vast
tract of country can hardly be the agent of a policy of mere
"abandonment." Neither Gordon nor Baring seems at that time to have felt
the incongruity of the two sets of duties, but before long it flashed
across Gordon's mind. At Abu Hammed, when nearing Khartum, he
telegraphed to Baring: "I would most earnestly beg that evacuation but
not abandonment be the programme to be followed." Or, as he phrased it,
he wanted Egypt to recognise her "moral control and suzerainty" over the
Sudan[385]. This, of course, was an extension of the programme to which
he gave his assent at Cairo; it differed _toto caelo_ from the policy of
abandonment laid down at London.
[Footnote 385: Egypt, No. 12 (1884), p. 133.]
Even now it is impossible to see why Ministers did not at once simplify
the situation by a clear statement of their orders to Gordon, not of
course as Governor-General of the Sudan, but as a British officer
charged by them with a definite duty. At a later date they sought to
limit him to the restricted sphere sketched out at London; but then it
was too late to bend to their will a nature which, firm at all times,
was hard as adamant when the voice of conscience spoke within. Already
it had spoken, and against "abandonment."
There were other confusing elements in the situation. Gordon believed
that the "full discretionary power" granted to him by Sir E. Baring was
a promise binding on the British Government; and, seeing that he was
authorised to perform such other duties as Sir Evelyn Baring would
communicate to him, he was right. But Ministers do not seem to have
understood that this implied an immense widening of the original
programme. Further, Sir Evelyn Baring used the terms "evacuation" and
"abandonment" as if they were synonymous; while in Gordon's view they
were very different. As we shall see, his nature, at once conscientious,
vehement, and pertinacious, came to reject the idea of abandonment as
cowardly and therefore impossible.
Lastly, we may note that Gordon was left free to announce the
forthcoming evacuation of the Sudan, or not, as he judged best[386]. He
decided to keep it secret. Had he kept it entirely so for the present,
he would have done well; but he is said to have divulged it to one or
two officials at Berber; if so, it was a very regrettable imprudence,
which compromised the defence of that town. But surely no man was ever
charged with duties so complex and contradictory. The qualities of
Nestor, Ulysses, and Achilles combined in one mortal could scarcely have
availed to untie or sever that knot.
[Footnote 386: _Ibid_. p. 27.]
The first sharp collision between Gordon and the Home Government
resulted from his urgent request for the employment of Zebehr Pasha as
the future ruler of the Sudan. A native of the Sudan, this man had risen
to great wealth and power by his energy and ambition, and figured as a
kind of king among the slave-raiders of the Upper Nile, until, for some
offence against the Egyptian Government, he was interned at Cairo. At
that city Gordon had a conference with Zebehr in the presence of Sir E.
Baring, Nubar Pasha, and others. It was long and stormy, and gave the
impression of undying hatred felt by the slaver for the slave-liberator.
This alone seemed to justify the Gladstone Ministry in refusing Gordon's
request[387]. Had Zebehr gone with Gordon, he would certainly have
betrayed him--so thought Sir Evelyn Baring.
[Footnote 387: _Ibid_. pp. 38-41.]
Setting out from Cairo and travelling quickly up the Nile, Gordon
reached Khartum on February 18, and received an enthusiastic welcome
from the discouraged populace. At once he publicly burned all
instruments of torture and records of old debts; so that his popularity
overshadowed that of the Mahdi. Again he urged the despatch of Zebehr
as his "successor," after the withdrawal of troops and civilians from
the Sudan. But, as Sir Evelyn Baring said in forwarding Gordon's request
to Downing Street, it would be most dangerous to place them together at
Khartum. It should further be noted that Gordon's telegrams showed his
belief that the Mahdi's power was overrated, and that his advance in
person on Khartum was most unlikely[388]. It is not surprising, then,
that Lord Granville telegraphed to Sir E. Baring on February 22 that the
public opinion of England "would not tolerate the appointment of Zebehr
Pasha[389]." Already it had been offended by Gordon's proclamation at
Khartum that the Government would not interfere with the buying and
selling of slaves, though, as Sir Evelyn Baring pointed out, the
re-establishment of slavery resulted quite naturally from the policy of
evacuation; and he now strongly urged that Gordon should have "full
liberty of action to complete the execution of his general plans[390]."
[Footnote 388: Egypt, No. 12 (1884), pp. 74, 82, 88.]
[Footnote 389: _Ibid_. p. 95.]
[Footnote 390: _Ibid_. p. 94.]
Here it is desirable to remember that the Mahdist movement was then
confined almost entirely to three chief districts--Kordofan, parts of
the lands adjoining the Blue Nile, and the tribes dwelling west and
south-west of Suakim. For the present these last were the most
dangerous. Already they had overpowered and slaughtered two Egyptian
forces; and on February 22 news reached Cairo of the fall of Tokar
before the valiant swordsmen of Osman Digna. But this was far away from
the Nile and did not endanger Gordon. British troops were landed at
Suakim for the protection of that port, but this step implied no change
of policy respecting the Sudan. The slight impression which two
brilliant but costly victories, those of El Teb and Tamai, made on the
warlike tribes at the back of Suakim certainly showed the need of
caution in pushing a force into the Sudan when the fierce heats of
summer were coming on[391].
[Footnote 391: For details of these battles, see Sir F. Wingate's
_Mahdism_, chap, iii., and _Life of Sir Gerald Graham_ (1901).]
The first hint of any change of policy was made by Gordon in his
despatch of Feb. 26, to Sir E. Baring. After stating his regret at the
refusal of the British Government to allow the despatch of Zebehr as his
successor, he used these remarkable words:--
You must remember that when evacuation is carried out, Mahdi will come
down here, and, by agents, will not let Egypt be quiet. Of course my
duty is evacuation, and the best I can for establishing a quiet
government. The first I hope to accomplish. The second is a more
difficult task, and concerns Egypt more than me. If Egypt is to be
quiet, Mahdi must be smashed up. Mahdi is most unpopular, and with care
and time could be smashed. Remember that once Khartum belongs to Mahdi,
the task will be far more difficult; yet you will, for safety of Egypt,
execute it. If you decide on smashing Mahdi, then send up another
£100,000 and send up 200 Indian troops to Wady Haifa, and send officer
up to Dongola under pretence to look out quarters for troops. Leave
Suakim and Massowah alone. I repeat that evacuation is possible, but you
will feel effect in Egypt, and will be forced to enter into a far more
serious affair in order to guard Egypt. At present, it would be
comparatively easy to destroy Mahdi[392].
[Footnote 392: Egypt, No. 12 (1884), p. 115.]
This statement arouses different opinions according to the point of view
from which we regard it. As a declaration of general policy it is no
less sound than prophetic; as a despatch from the Governor-General of
the Sudan to the Egyptian Government, it claimed serious attention; as a
recommendation sent by a British officer to the Home Government, it was
altogether beyond his powers. Gordon was sent out for a distinct aim; he
now proposed to subordinate that aim to another far vaster aim which lay
beyond his province. Nevertheless, Sir E. Baring on February 28, and on
March 4, urged the Gladstone Ministry even now to accede to Gordon's
request for Zebehr Pasha as his successor, on the ground that some
Government must be left in the Sudan, and Zebehr was deemed at Cairo to
be the only possible governor. Again the Home Government refused, and
thereby laid themselves under the moral obligation of suggesting an
alternate course. The only course suggested was to allow the despatch of
a British force up the Nile, if occasion seemed to demand it[393].
[Footnote 393: Egypt, No. 12 (1884) p. 119.]
In this connection it is well to remember that the question of Egypt and
the Sudan was only one of many that distracted the attention of
Ministers. The events outside Suakim alone might give them pause before
they plunged into the Sudan; for that was the time when Russia was
moving on towards Afghanistan; and the agreement between the three
Emperors imposed the need of caution on a State as isolated and
unpopular as England then was. In view of the designs of the German
colonial party (see Chapter XVII.) and the pressure of the Irish
problem, the Gladstone Cabinet was surely justified in refusing to
undertake any new responsibilities, except on the most urgent need.
Vital interests were at stake in too many places to warrant a policy of
Quixotic adventure up the Nile.
Nevertheless, it is regrettable that Ministers took up on the Sudan
problem a position that was logically sound but futile in the sphere of
action. Gordon's mission, according to Earl Granville, was a peaceful
one, and he inquired anxiously what progress had been made in the
withdrawal of the Egyptian garrisons and civilians. This question he
put, even in the teeth of Gordon's positive statement in a telegram of
March 8:--
If you do not send Zebehr, you have no chance of getting the garrisons
away; . . . Zebehr here would be far more powerful than the Mahdi, and he
would make short work of the Mahdi[394].
[Footnote 394: _Ibid_. p. 145.]
A week earlier Gordon had closed a telegram with the despairing words:--
I will do my best to carry out my instructions, but I feel conviction I
shall be caught in Khartum[395].
[Footnote 395: _Ibid_. p. 152.]
It is not surprising that Ministers were perplexed by Gordon's
despatches, or that Baring telegraphed to Khartum that he found it very
difficult to understand what the General wanted. All who now peruse his
despatches must have the same feeling, mixed with one of regret that he
ever weakened his case by the proposal to "smash the Mahdi." Thenceforth
the British Government obviously felt some distrust of their envoy; and
in this disturbing factor, and the duality of Gordon's duties, we may
discern one cause at least of the final disaster.
On March 11, the British Government refused either to allow the
appointment of Zebehr, or to send British or Indian troops from Suakim
to Berber. Without wishing to force Gordon's hand prematurely, Earl
Granville urged the need of evacuation at as early a date as might be
practicable. On March 16, after hearing ominous news as to the spread of
the Mahdi's power near to Khartum and Berber, he advised the evacuation
of the former city at the earliest possible date[396]. We may here note
that the rebels began to close round it on March 18.
[Footnote 396: _Ibid_. pp. 158, 162, 166.]
Earl Granville's advice directly conflicted with Gordon's sense of
honour. As he stated, on or about March 20, the fidelity of the people
of Khartum, while treachery was rife all around, bound him not to leave
them until he could do so "under a Government which would give them some
hope of peace." Here again his duty as Governor of the Sudan, or his
extreme conscientiousness as a man, held him to his post despite the
express recommendations of the British Government. His decision is ever
to be regretted; but it redounds to his honour as a Christian and a
soldier. At bottom, the misunderstanding between him and the Cabinet
rested on a divergent view of duty. Gordon summed up his scruples in his
telegram to Baring:--
You must see that you could not recall me, nor could I possibly obey,
until the Cairo _employés_ get out from all the places. I have named men
to different places, thus involving them with the Mahdi. How could I
look the world in the face if I abandoned them and fled? As a gentleman,
could you advise this course?
Earl Granville summed up his statement of the case in the words:--
The Mission of General Gordon, as originally designed and decided upon,
was of a pacific nature and in no way involved any movement of British
forces. . . . He was, in addition, authorised and instructed to perform
such other duties as the Egyptian Government might desire to entrust to
him and as might be communicated by you to him. . . . Her Majesty's
Government, bearing in mind the exigencies of the occasion, concurred in
these instructions [those of the Egyptian Government], which virtually
altered General Gordon's Mission from one of advice to that of
executing, or at least directing, the evacuation not only of Khartum but
of the whole Sudan, and they were willing that General Gordon should
receive the very extended powers conferred upon him by the Khedive to
enable him to effect his difficult task. But they have throughout joined
in your anxiety that he should not expose himself to unnecessary
personal risk, or place himself in a position from which retreat would
be difficult[397].
[Footnote 397: Egypt, No. 13 (1884), pp. 5, 6. Earl Granville made the
same statement in his despatch of April 23. See, too, _The Life of Lord
Granville_.]
He then states that it is clear that Khartum can hold out for at least
six months, if it is attacked, and, seeing that the British occupation
of Egypt was only "for a special and temporary purpose," any expedition
into the Sudan would be highly undesirable on general as well as
diplomatic grounds.
Both of these views of duty are intelligible as well as creditable to
those who held them. But the former view is that of a high-souled
officer; the latter, that of a responsible and much-tried Minister and
diplomatist. They were wholly divergent, and divergence there
spelt disaster.
On hearing of the siege of Khartum, General Stephenson, then commanding
the British forces in Egypt, advised the immediate despatch of a brigade
to Dongola--a step which would probably have produced the best results;
but that advice was overruled at London for the reasons stated above.
Ministers seem to have feared that Gordon might use the force for
offensive purposes. An Egyptian battalion was sent up the Nile to
Korosko in the middle of May; but the "moral effect" hoped for from that
daring step vanished in face of a serious reverse. On May 19, the
important city of Berber was taken by the Mahdists[398].
[Footnote 398: Parl. Papers, Egypt, No. 25 (1884), pp. 129-131.]
Difficult as the removal of about 10,000 to 15,000[399] Egyptians from
Khartum had always been--and there were fifteen other garrisons to be
rescued--it was now next to impossible, unless some blow were dealt at
the rebels in that neighbourhood. The only effective blow would be that
dealt by British or Indian troops, and this the Government refused,
though Gordon again and again pointed out that a small well-equipped
force would do far more than a large force. "A heavy, lumbering column,
however strong, is nowhere in this land (so he wrote in his _Journals_
on September 24). . . . It is the country of the irregular, not of the
regular." A month after the capture of Berber a small British force left
Siut, on the Nile, for Assuan; but this move, which would have sent a
thrill through the Sudan in March, had little effect at midsummer. Even
so, a prompt advance on Dongola and thence on Berber would probably have
saved the situation at the eleventh hour.
[Footnote 399: This is the number as estimated by Gordon in his
_Journals_ (Sept. 10, 1884), p. 6.]
But first the battle of the routes had to be fought out by the military
authorities. As early as April 25, the Government ordered General
Stephenson to report on the best means of relieving Gordon; after due
consideration of this difficult problem he advised the despatch of
10,000 men to Berber from Suakim in the month of September. Preparations
were actually begun at Suakim; but in July experts began to favour the
Nile route. In that month Lord Wolseley urged the immediate despatch of
a force up that river, and he promised that it should be at Dongola by
the middle of October. Even so, official hesitations hampered the
enterprise, and it was not until July 29 that the decision seems to have
been definitely formed in favour of the Nile route. Even on August 8,
Lord Hartington, then War Minister, stated that help would be sent to
Gordon, _if it proved to be necessary_[400]. On August 26, Lord Wolseley
was appointed to the command of the relief expedition gathering on the
Nile, but not until October 5 did he reach Wady Haifa, below the
Second Cataract.
[Footnote 400: Morley, _Life of Gladstone_, vol. iii. p. 164.]
Meanwhile the web of fate was closing in on Khartum. In vain did Gordon
seek to keep communications open. All that he could do was to hold
stoutly to that last bulwark of civilisation. There were still some
grounds for hope. The Mahdi remained in Kordofan, want of food
preventing his march northwards in force. Against his half-armed
fanatics the city opposed a strong barrier. "Crows' feet" scattered on
the ground ended their mad rushes, and mines blew them into the air by
hundreds. Khartum seemed to defy those sons of the desert. The fire of
the steamers drove them from the banks and pulverised their forts[401].
The arsenal could turn out 50,000 Remington cartridges a week. There was
every reason, then, for holding the city; for, as Gordon jotted down in
his _Journal_ on September 17, if the Mahdi took Khartum, it would need
a great force to stay his propaganda. Here and there in those pathetic
records of a life and death struggle we catch a glimpse of Gordon's hope
of saving Khartum for civilisation. More than once he noted the ease of
holding the Sudan from the Nile as base. With forts at the cataracts and
armed steamers patrolling the clear reaches of the river, the defence of
the Sudan, he believed, was by no means impossible[402].
[Footnote 401: For details, see _Letters from Khartum_, by Frank Power.]
[Footnote 402: _Journal_, p. 35, etc.]
On September 10 he succeeded in sending away down stream by steamer
Colonel Stewart and Messrs. Power and Herbin; but unfortunately they
were wrecked and murdered by Arabs near Korti. The advice and help of
that gallant officer would have been of priceless service to the
relieving force. On September 10, when the _Journals_ begin, Gordon was
still hopeful of success, though food was scarce.
[Illustration: MAP OF THE NILE.]
At this time the rescue expedition was mustering at Wady Haifa, a point
which the narrowing gorge of the Nile marks out as one of the natural
defences of its lower valley. There the British and Egyptian Governments
were collecting a force that soon amounted to 2570 British troops and
some Egyptians, who were to be used solely for transport and portage
duties. A striking tribute to the solidarity of the Empire was the
presence of 350 Canadians, mostly French, whose skill in working boats
up rapids won admiration on all sides. The difficulties of the Nile
route were soon found to be far greater than had been imagined. Indeed
many persons still believe that the Suakim-Berber route would have been
far preferable. The Nile was unfortunately lower than usual, and many
rapids, up which small steamers had been hauled when the waters ran deep
and full, were impassable even for the whale-boats on which the
expedition depended for its progress as far as Korti. Many a time all
the boats had to be hauled up the banks and carried by Canadians or
Egyptians to the next clear reaches. The letters written by Gordon in
1877 in a more favourable season were now found to be misleading, and in
part led to the miscalculation of time which was to prove so disastrous.
Another untoward fact was the refusal of the authorities to push on the
construction of the railway above Sarras. It had been completed from
Wady Haifa up to that point, and much work had been done on it for about
fifteen miles further. But, either from lack of the necessary funds, or
because the line could not be completed in time, the construction was
stopped by Lord Wolseley's orders early in October. Consequently much
time was lost in dragging the boats and their stores up or around the
difficult rapids above Semneh[403].
[Footnote 403: See Gordon's letters of the year 1877, quoted in the
Appendix of A. Macdonald's _Too Late for Gordon and Khartum_ (1887);
also chap. vi. of that book.]
Meanwhile a large quantity of stores had been collected at Dongola and
Debbeh; numbers of boats were also there, so that a swift advance of a
vanguard thence by the calmer reaches farther up the Nile seemed to
offer many chances of success. It was in accord with Gordon's advice to
act swiftly with small columns; but, for some reason, the plan was not
acted on, though Colonel Kitchener, who had collected those stores,
recommended it. Another argument for speedy action was the arrival on
November 14, of a letter from Gordon, dated ten days before, in which he
stated that he could hold out for forty days, but would find it hard to
do so any longer.
The advance of the main body to Dongola was very slow, despite the
heroic toil of all concerned. We now know that up to the middle of
September the Gladstone Ministry cherished the belief that the force
need not advance beyond Dongola. Their optimism was once again at fault.
The Mahdists were pressing on the siege of Khartum, and had overpowered
and slaughtered faithful tribes farther down the river. Such was the
news sent by Gordon and received by Lord Wolseley on December 31 at
Korti. The "secret and confidential" part of Gordon's message was to the
effect that food was running short, and the rescuers must come quickly;
they should come by Metammeh or Berber, and inform Gordon by the
messenger when they had taken Berber.
The last entries in Gordon's _Journals_ or in that part which has
survived, contain the following statements:--
December 13. ". . . All that is absolutely necessary is for fifty of the
expeditionary force to get on board a steamer and come up to Halfeyeh,
and thus let their presence be felt; this is not asking much, but it
must happen at once; or it will (as usual) be too late."
December 14. [After stating that he would send down a steamer with the
"Journal" towards the expeditionary force]. . . . "Now mark this, if the
expeditionary force, and I ask for no more than two hundred men, does
not come in ten days _the town may fall_; and I have done my best for
the honour of our country. Good bye."
Owing to lack of transport and other difficulties, the vanguard of the
relieving force could not begin its march from the new Nile base, near
Korti, until December 30. Thence the gallant Sir Herbert Stewart led a
picked column of men with 1800 camels across the desert towards
Metammeh. Lord Wolseley remained behind to guard the new base of
operations. At Abu Klea wells, when nearing the Nile, the column was
assailed by a great mass of Arabs. They advanced in five columns, each
having a wedge-shaped head designed to pierce the British square. With a
low murmuring cry or chant they rushed on in admirable order,
disregarding the heavy losses caused by the steady fire of three faces
of the square. Their leaders soon saw the weak place in the defence,
namely, at one of the rear corners, where belated skirmishers were still
running in for shelter, where also one of the guns jammed at the
critical moment. One of their Emirs, calmly reciting his prayers, rode
in through the gap thus formed, and for ten minutes bayonet and spear
plied their deadly thrusts at close quarters. Thanks to the firmness of
the British infantry, every Arab that forced his way in perished; but in
this _mêlée_ there perished a stalwart soldier whom England could ill
spare, Colonel Burnaby, hero of the ride to Khiva. Lord Charles
Beresford, of the Naval Brigade, had a narrow escape while striving to
set right the defective cannon. In all we lost 65 killed and 60 wounded,
a proportion which tells its own tale as to the fighting[404].
[Footnote 404: Sir C.W. Wilson, _From Korti to Khartum_, pp. 28-35; also
see Hon. R. Talbot's article on "Abu Klea," in the _Nineteenth Century_
for January 1886.]
Two days later, while the force was beating off an attack of the Arabs
near Metammeh, General Stewart received a wound which proved to be
mortal. The command now devolved on Sir Charles Wilson of the Royal
Engineers. After repelling the attacks of other Mahdists and making good
his position on the Nile, the new commander came into touch with
Gordon's steamers, which arrived there on the 21st, with 190 Sudanese.
Again, however, the advance of other Arabs from Omdurman caused a delay
until a fortified camp or zariba could be formed. Wilson now had but
1322 unwounded men; and he saw that the Mahdists were in far greater
force than Lord Wolseley or General Gordon had expected. Not until
January 24 could the commander steam away southwards with 20 men of the
Sussex regiment and the 190 Sudanese soldiers on the two largest of
Gordon's boats--his "penny steamers" as he whimsically termed them.
The sequel is well known. After overcoming many difficulties caused by
rocks and sandbanks, after running the gauntlet of the Mahdist fire,
this forlorn hope neared Khartum on the 28th, only to find that the
place had fallen. There was nothing for it but to put about and escape
while it was possible. Sir Charles Wilson has described the scene: "The
masses of the enemy with their fluttering banners near Khartum, the long
rows of riflemen in the shelter-trenches at Omdurman, the numerous
groups of men on Tuti [Island], the bursting of shells, and the water
torn up by hundreds of bullets, and occasionally heavier shot, made an
impression never to be forgotten. Looking out over the stormy scene, it
seemed almost impossible that we should escape[405]."
[Footnote 405: Sir C.W. Wilson, _op. cit._ pp. 176-177.]
Weighed down by grief at the sad failure of all their strivings, the
little band yet succeeded in escaping to Metammeh. They afterwards found
out that they were two days too late. The final cause of the fall of
Khartum is not fully known. The notion first current, that it was due to
treachery, has been discredited. Certainly the defenders were weakened
by privation and cowed by the Mahdist successes. The final attack was
also given at a weak place in the long line of defence; but whether the
defenders all did their best, or were anxious to make terms with the
Mahdi, will probably never be known. The conduct of the assailants in at
once firing on the relieving force forbids the notion that they all
along intended to get into Khartum by treachery just before the approach
of the steamers. Had that been their aim, they would surely have added
one crowning touch of guile, that of remaining quiet until Wilson and
his men landed at Khartum. The capture of the town would therefore seem
to be due to force, not to treachery.
All these speculations are dwarfed by the overwhelming fact that Gordon
perished. Various versions have been given of the manner of his death.
One that rests on good authority is that he died fighting. Another
account, which seems more consistent with his character, is that, on
hearing of the enemy's rush into the town, he calmly remarked: "It is
all finished; to-day Gordon will be killed." In a short time a chief of
the Baggara Arabs with a few others burst in and ordered him to come to
the Mahdi. Gordon refused. Thrice the Sheikh repeated the command.
Thrice Gordon calmly repeated his refusal. The sheikh then drew his
sword and slashed at his shoulder. Gordon still looked him steadily in
the face. Thereupon the miscreant struck at his neck, cut off his head,
and carried it to the Mahdi[406].
[Footnote 406: A third account given by Bordeini Bey, a merchant of
Khartum, differs in many details. It is printed by Sir F.R. Wingate in
his _Mahdism_, p. 171.]
Whatever may be the truth as to details, it is certain that no man ever
looked death in the face so long and so serenely as Gordon. For him life
was but duty--duty to God and duty to man. We may fitly apply to him the
noble lines which Tennyson offered to the memory of another
steadfast soul--
He, that ever following her commands,
On with toil of heart and knees and hands,
Thro' the long gorge to the far light has won
His path upward, and prevail'd,
Shall find the toppling crags of Duty scaled
Are close upon the shining table-lands
To which our God Himself is moon and sun.
NOTE TO THE SECOND EDITION
Shortly before the publication of this work, Lord Edmund Fitzmaurice
published his _Life of Earl Granville_, some of the details of which
tend somewhat to modify the account of the relations subsisting between
the Earl and General Gordon. See too the issue of the _Times_ of
December 10, 1905 (Weekly Edition), for a correction of some of the
statements, made in the _Life of Earl Granville_, by Lord Cromer (Sir
Evelyn Baring).]
CHAPTER XVII
THE CONQUEST OF THE SUDAN
"The Sudan, if once proper communication was established,
would not be difficult to govern. The only mode of improving
the access to the Sudan, seeing the impoverished state of
Egyptian finances, and the mode to do so without an outlay of
more than £10,000, is by the Nile."--_Gordon's Journals_
(Sept. 19, 1884).
It may seem that an account of the fall of Khartum is out of place in a
volume which deals only with formative events. But this is not so. The
example of Gordon's heroism was of itself a great incentive to action
for the cause of settled government in that land. For that cause he had
given his life, and few Britons were altogether deaf to the mute appeal
of that lonely struggle. Then again, the immense increase to the Mahdi's
power resulting from the capture of the arsenal of Khartum constituted
(as Gordon had prophesied) a serious danger to Egypt. The continued
presence of British troops at Wady Haifa, and that alone, saved the
valley of the Lower Nile from a desolating flood of savagery. This was a
fact recognised by every one at Cairo, even by the ultra-Gallic party.
Egypt alone has rarely been able to hold at bay any great downward
movement of the tribes of Ethiopia and Nubia; and the danger was never
so great as in and after 1885. The Mahdi's proclamations to the faithful
now swelled with inconceivable pride. To a wavering sheikh he sent the
warning: "If you live long enough you will see the troops of the Mahdi
spreading over Europe, Rome, and Constantinople, after which there will
be nothing left for you but hell and damnation." The mistiness of the
geography was hidden by the vigour of the theology, and all the sceptics
of Nubia hastened to accept the new prophet.
But his time of tyranny soon drew to a close. A woman of Khartum, who
had been outraged by him or his followers, determined to wreak her
vengeance. On June 14, 1885, she succeeded in giving him slow poison,
which led him to his death amidst long-drawn agonies eight days later.
This ought to have been the death of Mahdism as well, but superstitions
die hard in that land of fanatics. The Mahdi's factotum, an able
intriguer named Abdullah Taashi, had previously gained from his master a
written declaration that he was to be Khalifa after him; he now produced
this document, and fortified its influence by describing in great detail
a vision in which the ghost of the Mahdi handed him a sacred hair of
inestimable worth, and an oblong-shaped light which had come direct from
the hands of the true Prophet, who had received it from the hands of the
angel Gabriel, to whom it had been entrusted by the Almighty.
This silly story was eagerly believed by the many, the questioning few
also finding it well to still their doubts in presence of death or
torture. Piety and politics quickly worked hand in hand to found the
impostor's authority. A mosque began to rise over the tomb of the Mahdi
in his chosen capital, Omdurman; and his successor gained the support
and the offerings of the thousands of pilgrims who came to visit that
wonder-working shrine. Such was the basis of the new rule, which spread
over the valley of the Upper and Middle Nile, and carried terror nearly
to the borders of Egypt[407].
[Footnote 407: Wingate, _Mahdism_, pp. 228-233.]
There law and order slowly took root under the shadow of the British
administration, but Egypt ceased to control the lands south of Wady
Halfa. Mr. Gladstone announced that decision in the House of Commons on
May 11, 1885; and those who discover traces of the perfidy of Albion
even in the vacillations of her policy, maintain that that declaration
was made with a view to an eventual annexation of the Sudan by England.
Their contention would be still more forcible if they would prove that
the Gladstone Ministry deliberately sacrificed Gordon at Khartum in
order to increase the Mahdi's power and leave Egypt open to his blows,
thereby gaining one more excuse for delaying the long-promised
evacuation of the Nile delta by the redcoats. This was the _outcome_ of
events; and those who argue backwards should have the courage of their
convictions and throw all the facts of the case into their syllogisms.
All who have any knowledge of the trend of British statesmanship in the
eighties know perfectly well that the occupation of Egypt was looked on
as a serious incubus. The Salisbury Cabinet sought to give effect to the
promises of evacuation, and with that aim in view sent Sir Henry
Drummond Wolff to Constantinople in the year 1887 for the settlement of
details. The year 1890 was ultimately fixed, provided that no danger
should accrue to Egypt from such action, and that Great Britain should
"retain a treaty-right of intervention if at any time either the
internal peace or external security [of Egypt] should be seriously
threatened." To this last stipulation the Sultan seemed prepared to
agree. Austria, Germany, and Italy notified their complete agreement
with it; but France and Russia refused to accept the British offer with
this proviso added, and even influenced the Sultan so that he too
finally opposed it. Their unfriendly action can only be attributed to a
desire of humiliating Great Britain, and of depriving her of any
effective influence in the land which, at such loss of blood and
treasure to herself, she had saved from anarchy. Their opposition
wrecked the proposal, and the whole position therefore remained
unchanged. British officials continued to administer Egypt in spite of
opposition from the French in all possible details connected with the
vital question of finance[408].
[Footnote 408: _England in Egypt_, by Sir Alfred Milner, pp. 145-153.]
Other incidents that occurred during the years intervening between the
fall of Gordon and the despatch of Sir Herbert Kitchener's expedition
need not detain us here[409]. The causes which led to this new departure
will be more fitly considered when we come to notice the Fashoda
incident; but we may here remark that they probably arose out of the
French and Belgian schemes for the partition of Central Africa. A desire
to rescue the Sudan from a cruel and degrading tyranny and to offer a
tardy reparation to the memory of Gordon doubtless had some weight with
Ministers, as it undoubtedly had with the public. Indeed, it is doubtful
whether the _vox populi_ would have allowed the expedition but for these
more sentimental considerations. But, in the view of the present writer,
the Sudan expedition presents the best instance of foresight, resolve,
and able execution that is to be found in the recent annals of Britain.
[Footnote 409: For the Sudan in this period see Wingate's _Mahdism_;
Slatin's _Fire and Sword in the Sudan_; C. Neufeld's _A Prisoner of the
Khalifa_.]
With the hour had come the man. During the dreary years of the "mark
time" policy Colonel Kitchener had gained renown as a determined fighter
and able organiser. For some time he acted as governor of Suakim, and
showed his powers of command by gaining over some of the neighbouring
tribes and planning an attack on Osman Digna which came very near to
success. Under him and many other British officers the Egyptians and
Sudanese gradually learnt confidence, and broke the spell of
invincibility that so long had rested with the Dervish hordes. On all
sides the power of the Khalifa was manifestly waning. The powerful
Hadendowa tribe, near Suakim, which had given so much trouble in
1883-84, became neutral. On the Nile also the Dervishes lost ground. The
Anglo-Egyptian troops wrested from them the post of Sarras, some thirty
miles south of Wady Halfa; and the efforts of the fanatics to capture
the wells along desert routes far to the east of the river were bloodily
repulsed. As long as Sarras, Wady Halfa, and those wells were firmly
held, Egypt was safe.
At Gedaref, not very far from Omdurman, the Khalifa sustained a severe
check from the Italians (December 1893), who thereupon occupied the town
of Kassala. It was not to be for any length of time. In all their
enterprises against the warlike Abyssinians they completely failed; and,
after sustaining the disastrous defeat of Adowa (March 1, 1896), the
whole nation despaired of reaping any benefit from the Hinterland of
their colony around Massowah. The new Cabinet at Rome resolved to
withdraw from the districts around Kassala. On this news being
communicated to the British Ministers, they sent a request to Rome that
the evacuation of Kassala might be delayed until Anglo-Egyptian troops
could be despatched to occupy that important station. In this way the
intended withdrawal of the Italians served to strengthen the resolve of
the British Government to help the Khedive in effecting the recovery of
the Sudan[410].
[Footnote 410: See _articles_ by Dr. E.J. Dillon and by Jules Simon in
the _Contemporary Review_ for April and May 1896. Kassala was handed
over to an Egyptian force under Colonel Parsons in December 1897. _The
Egyptian Sudan_, by H.S.L. Alford and W.D. Sword (1898).]
Preparations for the advance southwards went forward slowly and
methodically through the summer and autumn of 1896. For the present the
operations were limited to the recapture of Dongola. Sir Herbert
Kitchener, then the Sirdar of the Egyptian army, was placed in command.
Under him were men who had proved their worth in years of desultory
fighting against the Khalifa--Broadwood, Hunter, Lewis, Macdonald,
Maxwell, and many others. The training had been so long and severe as to
weed out all weaklings; and the Sirdar himself was the very incarnation
of that stern but salutary law of Nature which ordains the survival of
the fittest. Scores of officers who failed to come up to his
requirements were quietly removed; and the result was seen in a finely
seasoned body of men, apt at all tasks, from staff duties to railway
control. A comparison of the Egyptian army that fought at Omdurman with
that which thirteen years before ran away screaming from a tenth of its
number of Dervishes affords the most impressive lesson of modern times
of the triumph of mind over matter, of western fortitude over the weaker
side of eastern fatalism.
Such a building up of character as this implies could not take place in
a month or two, for the mind of Egyptians and Sudanese was at first an
utter blank as to the need of prompt obedience and still prompter
action. An amusing case of their incredible slackness has been recorded.
On the first parade of a new camel transport corps before Lord
Kitchener, the leading driver stopped his animal, and therefore all that
followed, immediately in front of the Sirdar, in order to light a
cigarette. It is needless to say, the cigarette was not lighted, but the
would-be smoker had his first lesson as to the superiority of the claims
of collectivism over the whims of the individual[411].
[Footnote 411: _Sudan Campaign_, 1896-97, by "An Officer," p. 20.]
As will be seen by reference to the map on page 477, the decision to
limit the campaign to Dongola involved the choice of the Nile route. If
the blow had been aimed straight at Khartum, the Suakim-Berber route, or
even that by way of Kassala, would have had many advantages. Above all,
the river route held out the prospect of effective help from gunboats in
the final attacks on Berber, Omdurman, and Khartum. Seeing, however,
that the greater part of the river's course between Sarras and Dongola
was broken up by rapids, the railway and the camel had at first to
perform nearly the whole of the transport duties for which the Nile was
there unsuited. The work of repairing the railway from Wady Haifa to
Sarras, and thenceforth of constructing it through rocky wastes, amidst
constant risk of Dervish raids, called into play every faculty of
ingenuity, patience, and hardihood. But little by little the line crept
on; the locomotives carried the piles of food, stores, and ammunition
further and further south, until on June 6, 1897, the first blow was
dealt by the surprise and destruction of the Dervish force at Ferket.
There a halt was called; for news came in that an unprecedented
rain-storm further north had washed away the railway embankments from
some of the gulleys. To make good the damage would take thirty days, it
was said. The Sirdar declared that the line must be ready in twelve
days; he went back to push on the work; in twelve days the line was
ready. As an example of the varied difficulties that were met and
overcome, we may mention one. The work of putting together a steamer,
which had been brought up in sections, was stopped because an
all-important nut had been lost in transit. At once the Sirdar ordered
horsemen to patrol the railway line--and the nut was found. At last the
vessel was ready; but on her trial trip she burst a cylinder and had to
be left behind[412]. Three small steamers and four gunboats were,
however, available for service in the middle of September, when the
expedition moved on.
[Footnote 412: _Ibid_, p. 54.]
By this time the effective force numbered about 12,000 men. The
Dervishes had little heart for fighting to the north of Dongola; and
even at that town the Dervishes made but a poor stand, cowed as they
were by the shells of the steamers and perplexed by the enveloping moves
which the Sirdar ordered; 700 were taken in Dongola, and the best 300 of
these were incorporated in the Sirdar's Sudanese regiments (Sept.
23, 1896).
Thus ended the first part of the expedition. Events had justified
Gordon's statement that a small well-equipped expedition could speedily
overthrow the Mahdi--that is, in the days of his comparative weakness
before the capture of Khartum. The ease with which Dongola had been
taken and the comparative cheapness of the expedition predisposed the
Egyptian Government and the English public to view its extension
southwards with less of disfavour.
Again the new stride forward had to be prepared for by careful
preparations at the base. The question of route also caused delay. It
proved to be desirable to begin a new railway from Wady Haifa across the
desert to Abu Hamed at the northern tip of the deep bend which the Nile
makes below Berber. To drive a line into a desert in order to attack an
enemy holding a good position beyond seemed a piece of fool-hardiness.
Nevertheless it was done, and at the average rate of about 1 1/4 miles a
day. In due course General Hunter pushed on and captured Abu Hamed, the
inhabitants of which showed little fight, being thoroughly weary of
Dervish tyranny (August 6, 1897).
The arrival of gunboats after a long struggle with the rapids below Abu
Hamed gave Hunter's little force a much-needed support; and before he
could advance further, news reached him that the Dervishes had abandoned
Berber. This step caused general surprise, and it has never been fully
explained. Some have averred that a panic seized the wives of the
Dervish garrison at Berber, and that when they rushed out of the town
southwards their husbands followed them[413]. Certain it is that family
feelings, which the Dervishes so readily outraged in others, played a
leading part in many of their movements. Whatever the cause may have
been, the abandonment of Berber greatly facilitated the work of Sir
Herbert Kitchener. A strong force soon mustered at that town, and the
route to the Red Sea was reopened by a friendly arrangement with the
local sheikhs.
[Footnote 413: _The Downfall of the Dervishes_, by E.N. Bennett, M.A.,
p. 23.]
The next important barrier to the advance was the river Atbara. Here the
Dervishes had a force some 18,000 strong; but before long the Sirdar
received timely reinforcement of a British brigade, consisting of the
Cameron and Seaforth Highlanders and the Lincolnshire and Warwickshire
regiments, under General Gatacre. Various considerations led the Sirdar
to wait until he could strike a telling blow. What was most to be
dreaded was the adoption of Parthian tactics by the enemy. Fortunately
they had constructed a zariba (a camp surrounded by thorn-bushes) on the
north bank of the Atbara at a point twenty miles above its confluence
with the Nile. At last, on April 7, 1898, after trying to tempt the
enemy to a battle in the open, the Sirdar moved forward his 14,000 men
in the hope of rushing the position soon after dawn of the following
day, Good Friday.
Before the first streaks of sunrise tinged the east, the assailants
moved forward to a ridge overlooking the Dervish position; but very few
heads were seen above the thorny rampart in the hollow opposite. It was
judged to be too risky at once to charge a superior force that clung to
so strong a shelter; and for an hour and a half the British and Egyptian
guns plied the zariba in the hope of bringing the fanatics out to fight.
Still they kept quiet; and their fortitude during this time of carnage
bore witness to their bravery and discipline[414].
[Footnote 414: _The Egyptian Sudan: its Loss and Recovery,_ by H.S.L.
Alford and W.D. Sword, ch. iv.]
At 7.45 the Sirdar ordered the advance. The British brigade held the
left wing, the Camerons leading in line formation, while behind them in
columns were ranged the Warwicks, Seaforths, and Lincolns, to add weight
to the onset. Macdonald's and Maxwell's Egyptian and Sudanese Brigades,
drawn up in lines, formed the centre and right. Squadrons of Egyptian
horse and a battery of Maxims confronted the Dervish horsemen ranged
along; the front of a dense scrub to the left of the zariba. As the
converging lines advanced, they were met by a terrific discharge;
fortunately it was aimed too high, or the loss would have been fearful.
Then the Highlanders and Sudanese rushed in, tore apart the thorn bushes
and began a fierce fight at close quarters. From their shelter trenches,
pits, and huts the Dervishes poured in spasmodic volleys, or rushed at
their assailants with spear or bayonet. Even at this the fanatics of the
desert were no match for the seasoned troops of the Sirdar; and soon the
beaten remnant streamed out through the scrub or over the dry bed of the
Atbara. About 2500 were killed, and 2000, including Mahmud, the
commander, were taken prisoners. Those who attempted to reach the
fertile country round Kassala were there hunted down or captured by the
Egyptian garrison that lately had arrived there.
As on previous occasions, the Sirdar now waited some time until the
railway could be brought up to the points lately conquered. More
gunboats were also constructed for the final stage of the expedition.
The dash at Omdurman and Khartum promised to tax to the uttermost the
strength of the army; but another brigade of British troops, commanded
by Colonel Lyttelton, soon joined the expedition, bringing its effective
strength up to 23,000 men. General Gatacre received the command of the
British division. Ten gunboats, five transport steamers, and eight
barges promised to secure complete command of the river banks and to
provide means for transporting the army and all needful stores to the
western bank of the Nile whenever the Sirdar judged it to be advisable.
The midsummer rains in the equatorial districts now made their influence
felt, and in the middle of August the Nile covered the sandbanks and
rocks that made navigation dangerous at the time of "low Nile." In the
last week of that month all was ready for the long and carefully
prepared advance. The infantry travelled in steamers or barges as far as
the foot of the Shabluka, or Sixth Cataract, and this method of advance
left the Dervishes in some doubt by which bank the final advance
would be made.
By an unexpected piece of good fortune the Dervishes had evacuated the
rocky heights of the Shabluka gorge. This was matter for rejoicing.
There the Nile, which above and below is a mile wide, narrows to a
channel of little more than a hundred yards in width. It is the natural
defence of Khartum on the north. The strategy of the Khalifa was here
again inexplicable, as also was his abandonment of the ridge at Kerreri,
some seven miles north of Omdurman. Mr. Bennett Burleigh in his account
of the campaign states that the Khalifa had repaired thither once a year
to give thanks for the triumph about to be gained there.
At last on September 1, on topping the Kerreri ridge, the invaders
caught their first glimpse of Omdurman. Already the gunboats were
steaming up to the Mahdist capital to throw in their first shells. They
speedily dismounted several guns, and one of the shells tore away a
large portion of the gaudy cupola that covered the Mahdi's tomb. Apart
from this portent, nothing of moment was done on that day; but it seems
probable that the bombardment led the Khalifa to hazard an attack on the
invaders in the desert on the side away from the Nile. Nearer to the
Sirdar's main force the skirmishing of the 21st Lancers, new to war but
eager to "win their spurs," was answered by angry but impotent charges
of the Khalifa's horse and foot, until at sunset both sides retired for
the night's rest.
The Anglo-Egyptian force made a zariba around the village of el-Gennuaia
on the river bank; and there, in full expectation of a night attack,
they sought what slumber was to be had. What with a panic rush of
Sudanese servants and the stampede of an angry camel, the night wore
away uneasily; but there was no charge of Dervishes such as might have
carried death to the heart of that small zariba. It is said that the
Sirdar had passed the hint to some trusty spies to pretend to be
deserters and warn the enemy that _he_ was going to attack them by
night. If this be so, spies have never done better service.
When the first glimmer of dawn came on September 2, every man felt
instinctively that the Khalifa had thrown away his last chance. Yet few
were prepared for the crowning act of madness. Every one feared that he
would hold fast to Omdurman and fight the new crusaders from house to
house. Possibly the seeming weakness of the zariba tempted him to a
concentric attack from the Kerreri Hills and the ridge which stretches
on both sides of the steep slopes of the hill, Gebel Surgham. A glance
at the accompanying plan will show that the position was such as to
tempt a confident enemy. The Sirdar also manoeuvred so as to bring on an
attack. He sent out the Egyptian cavalry and camel corps soon after dawn
to the plain lying between Gebel Surgham and Omdurman to lure on the
Khalifa's men.
The device was completely successful. Believing that they could catch
the horsemen in the rocky ridge alongside of Gebel Surgham, the
Dervishes came forth from their capital in swarms, pressed them hard,
and inflicted some losses. Retiring in good order, the cavalry drew on
the eager hordes, until about 6.30 A.M. the white glint of their
gibbehs, or tunics, showed thickly above the tawny slopes on either side
of Gebel Surgham. On they came in unnumbered throngs, until, pressing
northwards along the sky-line, their lines also topped the Kerreri Hills
to the north of the zariba. Their aim was obvious: they intended to
surround the invaders, pen them up in their zariba, and slaughter them
there. To all who did not know the value of the central position in war
and the power of modern weapons, the attack seemed to promise complete
success. The invaders were 1300 miles away from Cairo and defeat would
mean destruction.
Religious zeal lent strength to the onset. From the converging crescent
of the Mahdists a sound as of a dim murmur was wafted to the zariba.
Little by little it deepened to a hoarse roar, as the host surged on,
chanting the pious invocations that so often had struck terror into the
Egyptians. Now they heard the threatening din with hearts unmoved; nay,
with spirits longing for revenge for untold wrongs and insults. Thus for
some minutes in that vast amphitheatre the discipline and calm
confidence of the West stood quietly facing the fanatic fury of the
East. Two worlds were there embattled: the world of Mohammedanism and
the world of Christian civilisation; the empire of untutored force and
the empire of mind.
At last, after some minutes of tense expectancy, the cannon opened fire,
and speedily gaps were seen in the white masses. Yet the crescent never
slackened its advance, except when groups halted to fire their muskets
at impossible ranges. Waving their flags and intoning their prayers, the
Dervishes charged on in utter scorn of death; but when their ranks came
within range of the musketry fire, they went down like swathes of grass
under the scythe. Then was seen a marvellous sight. When the dead were
falling their fastest, a band of about 150 Dervish horsemen formed
near the Khalifa's dark-green standard in the centre and rushed across
the fire zone, determined to snatch at triumph or gain the sensuous joys
of the Moslem paradise. None of them rode far.
[Illustration: THE DERVISH ATTACK ON MACDONALD.]
[Illustration: THE BATTLE OF OMDURMAN.]
Only on the north, where the camel-corps fell into an awkward plight
among the rocks of the Kerreri slope, had the attack any chance of
success; and there the shells of one of the six protecting gunboats
helped to check the assailants. On this side, too, Colonel Broadwood and
his Egyptian cavalry did excellent service by leading no small part of
the Dervish left away from the attack on the zariba. At the middle of
the fiery crescent the assailants did some execution by firing from a
dip in the ground some 400 yards away; but their attempts to rush the
intervening space all ended in mere slaughter. Not long after eight
o'clock the Khalifa, seeing the hopelessness of attempting to cross the
zone of fire around el-Gennuaia, now thickly strewn with his dead, drew
off the survivors beyond the ridge of Gebel Surgham; and those who had
followed Broadwood's horse also gave up their futile pursuit, and began
to muster on the Kerreri ridge.
The Sirdar now sought to force on a fight in the open; and with this aim
in view commanded a general advance on Omdurman. In order, as it would
seem, to keep a fighting formation that would impose respect on the
bands of Dervishes on the Kerreri Hills, he adopted the formation known
as echelon of brigades from the left. Macdonald's Sudanese brigade,
which held the northern face of the zariba, was therefore compelled to
swing round and march diagonally towards Gebel Surgham; and, having a
longer space to cover than the other brigades, it soon fell behind them.
For the present, however, the brunt of the danger fell, not on
Macdonald, but on the vanguard. The 21st Lancers had been sent forward
over the ridge between Gebel Surgham and the Nile with orders to
reconnoitre, and, if possible, to head the Dervishes away from their
city. Throwing out scouts, they rode over the ridge, but soon
afterwards came upon a steep and therefore concealed khor or gulley
whence a large body of concealed Dervishes poured a sharp fire[415]. At
once Colonel Martin ordered his men to dash at the enemy. Eagerly the
troopers obeyed the order and jumped their horses down the slope into
the mass of furious fanatics below; these slashed to pieces every one
that fell, and viciously sought to hamstring the horses from behind.
Pushing through the mass, the lancers scrambled up the further bank,
re-formed, and rushed at the groups beyond; after thrusting these aside,
they betook themselves to less dramatic but more effective methods.
Dismounting, they opened a rapid and very effective fire from their
carbines on the throngs that still clustered in or near the gulley. The
charge, though a fine display of British pluck, cost the horsemen dear:
out of a total of 320 men 60 were killed and wounded; 119 horses were
killed or made useless[416].
[Footnote 415: Some accounts state that the Lancers had no scouts, but
"an officer" denies this (_Sudan Campaign_, 1896-99, p. 198).]
[Footnote 416: The general opinion of the army was that the charge of
the Lancers "was magnificent, but was not war." See G.W. Steevens' _With
Kitchener to Khartum_, ch. xxxii.]
Meanwhile, Macdonald's brigade, consisting of one Egyptian and three
Sudanese battalions, stood on the brink of disaster. The bands from the
Kerreri Hills were secretly preparing to charge its rear, while masses
of the Khalifa's main following turned back, rounded the western spurs
of Gebel Surgham, and threatened to envelop its right flank. The Sirdar,
on seeing the danger, ordered Wauchope's brigade to turn back to the
help of Macdonald, while Maxwell's Sudanese, swarming up the eastern
slopes of Gebel Surgham, poured deadly volleys on the Khalifa's
following. Collinson's division and the camel corps were ordered to
advance from the neighbourhood of the zariba and support Macdonald on
that side. Before these dispositions were complete, that sturdy Scotsman
and his Sudanese felt the full weight of the Khalifa's onset. Excited
beyond measure, Macdonald's men broke into spasmodic firing as the enemy
came on; the deployment into line was thereby disordered, and it needed
all Macdonald's power of command to make good the line. His steadiness
stiffened the defence, and before the potent charm of western discipline
the Khalifa's onset died away.
But now the storm cloud gathering in the rear burst with unexpected
fury. Masses of men led by the Khalifa's son, the Sheikh ed Din, rushed
down the Kerreri slopes and threatened to overwhelm the brigade. Again
there was seen a proof of the ascendancy of mind over brute force. At
once Macdonald ordered the left part of his line to wheel round, keeping
the right as pivot, so that the whole speedily formed two fronts
resembling a capital letter V, pointing outwards to the two hostile
forces. Those who saw the movement wondered alike at the masterly
resolve, the steadiness of execution, and the fanatical bravery which
threatened to make it all of no avail. On came the white swarms of Arabs
from the north, until the Sudanese firing once more became wild and
ineffective; but, as the ammunition of the blacks ran low and they
prepared to trust to the bayonet, the nearest unit of the British
division, the Lincolns, doubled up, prolonged Macdonald's line to the
right, and poured volley upon volley obliquely into the surging flood.
It slackened, stood still, and then slowly ebbed. Macdonald's coolness
and the timely arrival of the Lincolns undoubtedly averted a serious
disaster[417].
[Footnote 417: See Mr. Winston Churchill's _The River War_, vol. ii. pp.
160-163, for the help given by the Lincolns.]
Meanwhile, the Khalifa's main force had been held in check and decimated
by the artillery now planted on Gebel Surgham and by the fire of the
brigades on or near its slopes; so that about eleven o'clock the
Sirdar's lines could everywhere advance. After beating off a desperate
charge of Baggara horsemen from the west, Macdonald unbent his brigade
and drove back the sullen hordes of ed Din to the western spurs of the
Kerreri Hills, where they were harassed by Broadwood's horse. All was
now ended, except at the centre of the Khalifa's force, where a
faithful band clustered about the dark-green standard of their leader
and chanted defiance to the infidels till one by one they fell. The
chief himself, unworthy object of this devotion, fled away on a swift
dromedary some time before the last group of stalwarts bit the sand.
[Illustration: KHARTUM.]
Despite the terrible heat and the thirst of his men, the Sirdar allowed
only a brief rest before he resumed the march on Omdurman. Leaving no
time for the bulk of the Dervish survivors to reach their capital, he
pushed on at the head of Maxwell's brigade, while once more the shells
of the gunboats spread terror in the city. The news brought by a few
runaways and the sight of the Khalifa's standard carried behind the
Egyptian ensign dispelled all hopes of resisting the disciplined
Sudanese battalions; and, in order to clinch matters, the Sirdar with
splendid courage rode at the head of the brigade to summon the city to
surrender. Through the clusters of hovels on the outskirts he rode on
despite the protests of his staff against any needless exposure of his
life. He rightly counted on the effect which such boldness on the part
of the chief must have on an undecided populace. Fanatics here and there
fired on the conquerors, but the news of the Khalifa's cowardly flight
from the city soon decided the wavering mass to bow before the
inscrutable decrees of fate, and ask for backsheesh from the victors.
Thus was Omdurman taken. Neufeld, an Austrian trader, and some Greeks
and nuns who had been in captivity for several years, were at once set
free. It was afterwards estimated that about 10,000 Dervishes perished
in the battle; very many died of their wounds upon the field or were
bayoneted owing to their persistence in firing on the victors. This
episode formed the darkest side of the triumph; but it was malignantly
magnified by some Continental journals into a wholesale slaughter. This
is false. Omdurman will bear comparison with Skobeleff's victory at
Denghil Tepé at all points.
Two days after his triumph the Sirdar ordered a parade opposite the
ruins of the palace in Khartum where Gordon had met his doom. The
funeral service held there in memory of the dead hero was, perhaps, the
most affecting scene that this generation has witnessed. Detachments of
most of the regiments of the rescue force formed a semicircle round the
Sirdar; and by his side stood a group of war-worn officers, who with him
had toiled for years in order to see this day. The funeral service was
intoned; the solemn assembly sang Gordon's favourite hymn, "Abide with
me," and the Scottish pipes wailed their lament for the lost chieftain.
Few eyes were undimmed by tears at the close of this service, a slight
but affecting reparation for the delays and blunders of fourteen years
before. Then the Union Jack and the Egyptian Crescent flag were hoisted
and received a salute of 21 guns.
The recovery of the Sudan by Egypt and Great Britain was not to pass
unchallenged. All along France had viewed the reconquest of the valley
of the upper Nile with ill-concealed jealousy, and some persons have
maintained that the French Government was not a stranger to designs
hatched in France for helping the Khalifa[418]. Now that these questions
have been happily buried by the Anglo-French agreement of the year 1904,
it would be foolish to recount all that was said amidst the excitements
of the year 1898. Some reference must, however, be made to the Fashoda
incident, which for a short space threatened to bring Great Britain and
France to an open rupture.
[Footnote 418: See an unsigned article in the _Contemporary Review_ for
Dec. 1897.]
On September 5, a steamer, flying the white flag, reached Omdurman. The
ex-Dervish captain brought the news that at Fashoda he had been fired
upon by white men bearing a strange flag. The Sirdar divined the truth,
namely, that a French expedition under Major (now Colonel) Marchand must
have made its way from the Congo to the White Nile at Fashoda with the
aim of annexing that district for France.
Now that the dust of controversy has cleared away, we can see facts in
their true proportions, especially as the work recently published by M.
de Freycinet and the revelations of Colonel Marchand have thrown more
light on the affair. Briefly stated, the French case is as follows. Mr.
Gladstone on May 11, 1885, declared officially that Egypt limited her
sway to a line drawn through Wady Haifa. The authority of the Khedive
over the Sudan therefore ceased, though this did not imply the cessation
of the Sultan's suzerainty in those regions. Further, England had acted
as if the Sudan were no man's land by appropriating the southernmost
part in accordance with the Anglo-German agreement of July I, 1890; and
Uganda became a British Protectorate in August 1894. The French
protested against this extension of British influence over the Upper
Nile; and we must admit that, in regard to international law, they were
right. The power to will away that district lay with the Sultan, the
Khedive's claims having practically lapsed. Germany, it is true, agreed
not to contest the annexation of Uganda, but France did contest it.
The Republic also entered a protest against the Anglo-Congolese
Convention of May 12, 1894, whereby, in return for the acquisition of
the right bank of the Upper Nile, England ceded to the Congo Free State
the left bank[419]. That compact was accordingly withdrawn, and on
August 14, 1894, France secured from the Free State the recognition of
her claims to the left bank of the Nile with the exception of the Lado
district below the Albert Nyanza. This action on the part of France
implied a desire on her part to appropriate these lands, and to contest
the British claim to the right bank. In regard to law, she was justified
in so doing; and had she, acting as the mandatory of the Sultan, sent an
expedition from the Congo to the Upper Nile, her conduct in proclaiming
a Turco-Frankish condominium would have been unexceptionable. That of
Britain was open to question, seeing that we practically ignored the
Sultan[420] and acted (so far as is known) on our own initiative in
reversing the policy of abandonment officially announced in May 1885.
From the standpoint of equity, however, the Khedive had the first claim
to the territories then given up under stress of circumstances; and the
Power that helped him to regain the heritage of his sires obviously had
a strong claim to consideration so long as it acted with the full
consent of that potentate.
[Footnote 419: Parl. Papers, Egypt, No. 2 (1898), pp. 13-14.]
[Footnote 420: The Earl of Kimberley's reply of Aug. 14, 1894, to M.
Hanotaux, is very weak on this topic. Parl. Papers, Egypt, No. 2 (1898),
pp. 14-15.]
The British Cabinet, that of Lord Rosebery, frankly proclaimed its
determination to champion the claims of the Khedive against all comers,
Sir Edward Grey declaring officially in the debate of March 28, 1895,
that the despatch of a French expedition to the Upper Nile would be "an
unfriendly act[421]." We know now, through the revelations made by
Colonel Marchand in the _Matin_ of June 20, 1905, that in June 1895 he
had pressed the French Government to intervene in that quarter; but it
did little, relying (so M. de Freycinet states) on the compact of August
14, 1894, and not, apparently, on any mandate from the Sultan. If so, it
had less right to intervene than the British Government had in virtue of
its close connection with the Khedive. As a matter of fact, both Powers
lacked an authoritative mandate and acted in accordance with their own
interests. It is therefore futile to appeal to law, as M. de
Freycinet has done.
[Footnote 421: _Ibid_. p. 18.]
It remained to see which of the two would act the more efficiently. M.
Marchand states that his plan of action was approved by the French
Minister for the Colonies, M. Berthelot, on November 16, 1895; but
little came of it until the news of the preparations for the
Anglo-Egyptian Expedition reached Paris. It would be interesting to hear
what Lord Rosebery and Sir Edward Grey would say to this. For the
present we may affirm with some confidence that the tidings of the
Franco-Congolese compact of August 1894 and of expeditions sent under
Monteil and Liotard towards the Nile basin must have furnished the real
motive for the despatch of the Sirdar's army on the expedition to
Dongola. That event in its turn aroused angry feelings at Paris, and M.
Berthelot went so far as to inform Lord Salisbury that he would not hold
himself responsible for events that might occur if the expedition up the
Nile were persisted in. After giving this brusque but useful warning of
the importance which France attached to the Upper Nile, M. Berthelot
quitted office, and M. Bourgeois, the Prime Minister, took the portfolio
for foreign affairs. He pushed on the Marchand expedition; so also did
his successor, M. Hanotaux, in the Méline Cabinet which speedily
supervened.
Marchand left Marseilles on June 25, 1896, to join his expeditionary
force, then being prepared in the French Congo. It is needless to detail
the struggles of the gallant band. After battling for two years with the
rapids, swamps, forests, and mountains of Eastern Congoland and the
Bahr-el-Ghazal, he brought his flotilla down to the White Nile, thence
up its course to Fashoda, where he hoisted the tricolour (July 12,
1898). His men strengthened the old Egyptian fort, and beat off an
attack of the Dervishes.
Nevertheless they had only half succeeded, for they relied on the
approach of a French Mission from the east by way of Abyssinia. A Prince
of the House of Orleans had been working hard to this end, but owing to
the hostility of the natives of Southern Abyssinia that expedition had
to fall back on Kukong. A Russian officer, Colonel Artomoroff, had
struggled on down the River Sobat, but he and his band also had to
retire[422]. The purport of these Franco-Russian designs is not yet
known; but even so, we can see that the situation was one of great
peril. Had the French and Russian officers from Abyssinia joined hands
with Marchand at Fashoda, their Governments might have made it a point
of honour to remain, and to claim for France a belt of territory
extending from the confines of the French Congo eastwards to Obock on
the Red Sea.
[Footnote 422: _Marchand l'Africain_, by C. Castellani, pp. 279-280. The
author reveals his malice by the statement (p. 293) that the Sirdar,
after the battle of Omdurman, ordered 14,000 Dervish wounded to be
_éventrés._]
As it was, Marchand and his heroic little band were in much danger from
the Dervishes when the Sirdar and his force steamed up to Fashoda. The
interview between the two chiefs at that place was of historic interest.
Sir Herbert Kitchener congratulated the Major on his triumph of
exploration, but claimed that he must plant the flag of the Khedive at
Fashoda. M. Marchand declared that he would hoist it himself over the
village. "Over the fort, Major," replied the Sirdar. "I cannot permit
it," exclaimed the Major, "as the French flag is there." A reference by
the Sirdar to his superiority of force produced no effect, the French
commander stating that if it were used he and his men would die at their
posts. He, however, requested the Sirdar to let the matter be referred
to the Government at Paris, to which Sir Herbert assented. After
exchanging courteous gifts they parted, the Sirdar leaving an Egyptian
force in the village, and lodging a written protest against the presence
of the French force[423]. He then proceeded up stream to the Sobat
tributary, on the banks of which at Nassar he left half of a Sudanese
battalion to bar the road on that side to geographical explorers
provided with flags. He then returned to Khartum.
[Footnote 423: Parl. Papers, Egypt, No. 2 (1898), p. 9; No. 3 (1898),
pp. 3-4.]
The sequel is well known. Lord Salisbury's Government behaved with
unexpected firmness, asserting that the overthrow of the Mahdi brought
again under the Egyptian flag all the lands which that leader had for a
time occupied. The claim was not wholly convincing in the sphere of
logic; but the victory of Omdurman gave it force. Clearly, then, whether
Major Marchand was an emissary of civilisation or a pioneer of French
rule, he had no _locus standi_ on the Nile. The French Government before
long gave way and recalled Major Marchand, who returned to France by way
of Cairo. This tame end to what was a heroic struggle to extend French
influence greatly incensed the major; and at Cairo he made a speech,
declaring that for the present France was worsted in the valley of the
Nile, but the day might come when she would be supreme.
It is generally believed that France gave way at this juncture partly
because her navy was known to be unequal to a conflict with that of
Great Britain, but also because Franco-German relations were none of the
best. Or, in the language of the Parisian boulevards: "How do we know
that while we are fighting the British for the Nile valley, Germany will
not invade Lorraine?" As to the influences emanating from St. Petersburg
contradictory statements have been made. Rumour asserted that the Czar
sought to moderate the irritation in France and to bring about a
peaceful settlement of the dispute; and this story won general
acceptance. The astonishment was therefore great when, in the early part
of the Russo-Japanese war, the Paris _Figaro_ published documents which
seemed to prove that he had assured the French Government of his
determination to fulfil the terms of the alliance if matters came to
the sword.
There we must leave the affair, merely noting that the Anglo-French
agreement of March 1899 peaceably ended the dispute and placed the whole
of the Egyptian Sudan, together with the Bahr-el-Ghazal district and the
greater part of the Libyan Desert, west of Egypt, under the
Anglo-Egyptian sphere of influence. (See map at the end of this volume.)
The battle of Omdurman therefore ranks with the most decisive in modern
history, not only in a military sense, but also because it extended
British influence up the Nile valley as far as Uganda. Had French
statesmen and M. Marchand achieved their aims, there is little doubt
that a solid wedge would have been driven through north-central Africa
from west to east, from the Ubangi Province of French Congoland to the
mouth of the Red Sea. The Sirdar's triumph came just in time to thwart
this design and to place in the hands that administered Egypt the
control of the waters whence that land draws its life. Without crediting
the stories that were put forth in the French Press as to the
possibility of France damming up the Nile at Fashoda and diverting its
floods into the Bahr-el-Ghazal district, we may recognise that the
control of that river by Egypt is a vital necessity, and that the
nation which helped the Khedive to regain that control thereby
established one more claim to a close partnership in the administration
at Cairo. The reasonableness of that claim was finally admitted by
France in the Anglo-French agreement of the year 1904.
That treaty set the seal, apparently, on a series of efforts of a
strangely mixed character. The control of bondholders, the ill-advised
strivings of Arabi, the armed intervention undertaken by Sir Beauchamp
Seymour and Sir Garnet Wolseley, the forlorn hope of Gordon's Mission to
Khartum, the fanaticism of the Mahdists, the diplomatic skill of Lord
Cromer, the covert opposition of France and the Sultan, and the
organising genius of Lord Kitchener--such is the medley of influences,
ranging from the basest up to the noblest of which human nature is
capable, that served to draw the Government of Great Britain deeper and
deeper into the meshes of the Egyptian Question, until the heroism,
skill, and stubbornness of a few of her sons brought about results which
would now astonish those who early in the eighties tardily put forth the
first timid efforts at intervention.
CHAPTER XVIII
THE PARTITION OF AFRICA
In the opening up of new lands by European peoples the order of events
is generally somewhat as follows:--First come explorers, pioneers, or
missionaries. These having thrown some light on the character of a land
or of its people, traders follow in their wake; and in due course
factories are formed and settlements arise. The ideas of the new-comers
as to the rights of property and landholding differ so widely from those
of the natives, that quarrels and strifes frequently ensue. Warships and
soldiers then appear on the scene; and the end of the old order of
things is marked by the hoisting of the Union Jack, or the French or
German tricolour. In the case of the expansion of Russia as we have
seen, the procedure is far otherwise. But Africa has been for the most
part explored, exploited, and annexed by agencies working from the sea
and proceeding in the way just outlined.
The period since the year 1870 has for the most part witnessed the
operation of the last and the least romantic of these so-called
civilising efforts. The great age of African exploration was then
drawing to a close. In the year 1870 that devoted missionary explorer,
David Livingstone, was lost to sight for many months owing to his
earnest longing peacefully to solve the great problem of the waterways
of Central Africa, and thus open up an easy path for the suppression of
the slave-trade. But when, in 1871, Mr. H.M. Stanley, the enterprising
correspondent of the _New York Herald_, at the head of a rescue
expedition, met the grizzled, fever-stricken veteran near Ujiji and
greeted him with the words--"Mr. Livingstone, I presume," the age of
mystery and picturesqueness vanished away.
A change in the spirit and methods of exploration naturally comes about
when the efforts of single individuals give place to collective
enterprise[424], and that change was now rapidly to come over the whole
field of African exploration. The day of the Mungo Parks and
Livingstones was passing away, and the day of associations and companies
was at hand. In 1876, Leopold II., King of the Belgians, summoned to
Brussels several of the leading explorers and geographers in order to
confer on the best methods of opening up Africa. The specific results of
this important Conference will be considered in the next chapter; but we
may here note that, under the auspices of the "International Association
for the Exploration and Civilisation of Africa" then founded, much
pioneer work was carried out in districts remote from the River Congo.
The vast continent also yielded up its secrets to travellers working
their way in from the south and the north, so that in the late seventies
the white races opened up to view vast and populous districts which
imaginative chartographers in other ages had diversified with the
Mountains of the Moon or with signs of the Zodiac and monstrosities of
the animal creation.