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Le diagramme suivant illustre la mAthode : 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 S 6 GENERAL GORDON. 5 *' ' Iv I . .- ■ - _'"^- -r- -«■■ -^j^ y I- I THEE WAR IN THE SODDAiN AND THE CAUSES WHICH LED TO IT, WITH SHORT BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF THE PRINCIPAL PERSONAGES ENGAGED. BY T. ARNOLD HAULTAIN, M.A. XIL.XiTJSTIi-A.TEID. PUBLISHED BT THE GRIP PRINTING and PUBLISHING CO., TORONTO. 1885. 1 ff 7 DT I in .3 M3 •y^V ' '' " 3SKZ: .5 U.M^Z J-/6ui7/)/U T,/9, i Entered aooording to Act of Parliament of Canada, in the year one thousand eigfht hundred and eighty-flve, by The Grip Printinq and Publishiko Company, Toronto, in the Office of the Minister of Agriculture. CONTENTS. f Pkitaoe Chap. I.— Thk First Shot II.— Why England is Fightinq III.— Tbl-el-Kebik FAOK 6 9 11 15 rv.— Internal Reforms 19 v.— The Soudan VI.-Thk Mahdi VII.— Slain in the Desert VIII.— More Disasters IX.— The Call for Gordon X.—" I Will Save the Honour of Egypt " . XI.— At Khartoum , XII.— Still Further Reverses XIII.— El Teb XIV. —What Gordon is Doing 22 29 34 87 39 41 . 46 48 50 53 XV.— Problems 57 XVI.— England Roused 58 XVII.— A Medlrt 62 XVin.-"WHAT Shall We Do?" 66 XIX.— How TO Get There 71 XX. —The Votageurs 76 XXI.— The Camel Corps 80 XXII.— The Beleaguered Citt and Its Three Defenders 86 XXIII.— Relative Distances of Important Places 89 XXIV.— The Toilers of the Nile 94 XXV. -Lei't Alone 100 XXVI.— Thk Horrors of the Desert 103 XXVII.— Abu Klea and Abu Kru 107 XXVIII.— Too Late 115 XXIX.— The Journey Back 118 S:XX.~What Now ? 120 Bioob^phioal Sketches 121-137 -^r \l I I I PREFACE. The historia/n of contemporary events labours under a two-fold disadvantage: the unfinished state of the period he attempts to depict precludes the possibility of representing it in artistic form ; the incom- pleteness of the circ^imstances with which he deals, and the inability accurately to gauge their residts, make it impossible to indulge in any philosophical generalizations. Added to this, the want of perspective that obtains in treating of events still in progress, makes it dijfficult to rightly judge tJmr relative importance. This account of the toar in the Soudan and the causes which led to it, must, therefore, be regarded as a narrative rather than as a history. T. A. H. University Colleqe, Toronto, Canada. l^ * ! if [ i i\ '^ It THE WAR IN THE SOUDAJNT, CHAPTEK I. THE FIRST SHOT. Let u8 imagine ourselves, you and me, my reader, at Alexandria on the night of the 10th of July, 1882. We shall not sleep ; the whole town is in a state of suspense and excitement. Outside there, in the harbor, are thirteen great ships of war, England's ironclads, prowling about within gun-shot of us. This morning, at seven o'clock, the Admiral in command. Sir Beauchamp Seymour, gave notice that if work on the fortifications lining the shore did not cease, twenty-four hours from that time he would open fire. No wonder nobody sleeps. With the muzzles of those 81 ton guns peering at us throu<»h the iron walls of the gieatest naval force in the world who could lie down un- concerned ? No one knows what is going to happen. Arabi Pasha has sent two of his officers to the Admiral to make terms. But the electric light from the fleet which has been silently pouring its searching rays on the Arab gun- ners in the forts, shows that the work is still going on. Now the sun rises and shows the great ships ready for action. Seven o'clock strikes, — boom ; a puflf of smoke from Her Majesty's ship Alexandra shows what is meant. Four minutes' grace is given, then up goes the signal from the Invincible, " Attack the enemies' batteries," immediately the Monarch, Penelope, Invincible,. Sultan, Superb, Tem6raire, Inflexible, and Alexandra, pour in shells which weigh some 1,500 lbs., the cost of firing of each of which would buy a com- fortable lot in a country town. For ten mortal hours the deafening thunder is kept up. One by one the great forts are silenced. The largest of the Egyptian cannons are turned on end like pop-guns. The solid masonry of the parapets yawn with great holes. 10 THK WAR IN THK SOUDAN. The light-houae has holes in it visible at two miles' distance. Powder magazines have been blown up, and where were once trim fortiticationH, are now masses of ruins. But what is it all about 7 What is England doing in thin part of the world, smashing forts, shelling soldiery, and doing damage that will cost soma millions of dollars to rebuild ? To answer this I must trouble you, my reader, with a few dry factn. We shall not lioger over thtim. But before it is possible to know why England is now in Egypt, why she is warring against the Mahdi, why she has voluntarily spent £3,000,()0(), been content to lose some of her bravest generals, and risked the lives of thousands of her Boldiei'S in a foreign country tlxat does not belong to her and probably never will belong to her, it is necessary to go beneath the surface, aud to inquire into a few things not quite so interesting as the destroying of forts. Note. — Arabi'a own version of the bombardment, as given in his newspaper, SI Taif, is very intoresting reiuling: — " War news.— On Tuesday, 25 Shaban, 1209, at 12 o'clock in the morning (July 11, 7 a.m.), the English o{)cned fire on the forts of Alexandria, and we returned the fire. '* At three o'clock (10 a.m.) an ironclad foundered off Fort Ada. " At 6 o'clock (noon) two vessels were sunk between Fort Pharos and Fort Adjeray. "At half-post 6 (1.30 p.m.) a wooden man-of-war of eight guns was sunk. "At 10 o'cl(x:k (5 p.m.) the large ironclad was struck by a shell from Burj-ez-Zefr, the battery was injured, and a v/hite flag was immediately hoisted by her as a signal to cease firing at her, whereupon the firing ceased on both sides, after having lasted 10 hours without cessation. Some of the walls of the forts were destroyed, but they were repaired during the ni^ht. The shots and shells discharged from the two sides amounted to about 6,000, and this is the first time that so large a number of missiles have been discharged in so short a time." And so on. i ■k;> I WHY KMQIiAND IB FIQHTIKO. u f THB LION S SHARK. CHAPTER n. WHY ENGLAND IS FIGHTING. This is by no means an easy thing to find out. Every nation and every country will give us a different answer. France will probably tell us that we are a nation of shopkeepers, and that we are merely fighting for money. Ger- many, perhaps, will say we are fighting to keep up our prestige — whatever that may mean. Russia says we are aggressive. The Conservatives think we are not fighting half enough. Gladstone does not know whether we are or not, but enigmatically says that we must not " merely secure tranquility for the moment, but must obviate future perturbations." Perhaps the truth lies in a mixture of all these. I shall not trouble you, my reader, to go into details ; we will keep clear for the present of all such phrases as condominium, entente cordiale, nnified debt, Daira estates, Domain lauds, caisse, dual control, protocol, finance adviser, procureur-g^neral, etc., etc. Let us put the events that led up to 12 THE WAR IN THE SOUDAN. England's taking the responsibility of helping Egypt to govern herself (for that is what she is really doing) in the form of a fable. In a great street where rich and powerful merchants were wont to con- gregate stood a large shop. This shop was owned by a man who lived far away, and who took little interest in the business as long as his share of the profits was regularly sent to him. The proprietor was called by some people the sick man. This shop of his was very badly managed. The head clerk cared as little as did his master as to how matters stood. He was very extra- vagant, ho spent enormous sums of money, presumably in the management of the business, and his subordinates did the same. The consequence was that both the customers and the wholesale merchants were very harshly treated. The former did not get the worth of their money ; the latter were never paid. The whole affair naturally soon became insolvent. Behind this shop stood a great warehouse. It was a very grand one-^ so grand that the lady ms ho owned it (for it was a lady at the time I speak of) called herself by a title specially on its account. This title was " Kaiser-I- Hind." Unfortunately the only way worth speaking of to get into this ware- house was through the shop I spoke of a moment ago. There was a back way, but it was very round about. Amongst the clerks of another merchant was one clever one who proposed that people should go through the shop into the warehouse. The lady jumped at the idea at once and gladly pnid an enormous sum of money (she was very rich) for the right to go through the sick man's premises whenever she wished. Well, as I have said, the shop was in a bad way. The great lady, seeing how useful, in fact necessary, it was to her that tho business should be kept on, lent the managers money, more money probably than all the other merchants put together felt inclined to do. The consequence was she became the chief creditor — aud i-his is a very important point. The merchant to whom the clever clerk belonged certainly had great claims too, but he did not seem to take any very great interest in matters. He had no warehouse in the rear, you see. Matters instead of getting better grew worse. The hands employed in the shop — and there were very large numbers of them — were harshly treated. But they had no redress. The head clerk pocketed as much money as he could, every other clerk did the same, the expenses were tremendous, the money spent in stationery alone being something fabulous. Amongst the subordinates was a bold man. He saw the disaffection which existed amongst the shop-boys. He made friends with them, and defied the chief manager, the real proprietor, and the great lady — all three. The down trodden shop-boys, and indeed many in higher positiona also, flocked to him ; the managers were powerless ; he seized the shop — and tho greatest tumult arose. WHY BNOLAND IS FIOHTINQ. 13 There are some who think, in fact, I dare say they are very few who do not think, that the sick man connived at what the rebellious clerk was doing. At all events he made no attempt whatever to put a stop to the uproar. He ought, one would have thought, to have upheld the chief manager at all hazards, and to have helped him to quell the rebellion. But this he did not do. What wa8 to be done ? Things could not go on in this way. The interest on the loans must be paid, and while the shop was in this state this was out of the question. Nobody in the C'^tablishment seemed to have any wits about them except the bold man, and his hand was turned against every one. It would never do to let him go on in this way, for what would become of the right of way through the shop to the warehouse 7 In this extremity the great lady asked a friend — the same merchant in whose employ was that clevci' clerk who proposed the shor*^ ^ut — the great lady asked this friend to join her in putting a stop to the rebellion. The friend higgled and haggled a groat deal but finally refused. So there was nothing for it but to do it single handed. The other merchants who lived in the neighbourhood did not object i and so it was determined to send some good strong men down at once to take possession of the premises, and to put an end to the doing:) of the recalcitrant clerk and his followers. This brings us to The First Shot. This fable needs scarce any explanation. The great lady is Her Majesty Queen Victoria ; her warehouse is India, the short-cut to which is the Suez Canal ; the shop is Egypt, with its proprietor the Sultan of Turkey, and its chief clerk the Khedive ; the clever proposer of the short-cut is M. de Le'^seps ; his merchant is France ; and the rebellious clerk is Arabi. I have, perhaps, laid scarcely sufficient stress on the vast mass of corrup- tion which existed in the internal administration of Egyptian affairs, for this, it appears to me, is the secret of England's presence in that country. If Egyptian officials were honest, if they nad a keen sense of justice, if they cared more for the well-being of the lower classes than for the filling of their own pocijets, the fertility of the soil and the industry of its tillers would suffice, not only to pay off the debts with which Egypt is now burdoiied, but to bring the country into a high state of commercial efficiency. But as it is, this was the very remotest of all possibilities. It is not saying too much to assert that as little reliance could be placed in the integrity of the highest as in the integrity of the meanest of the dignitaries employed by the govem- m nt. Bribes were known openly to be the key to all favours. The taxes were farmed. As long as the requisite sum was paid into the treasury what cared any governor of any province how he obtained the remainder ? Corrup- tion existed in the veiy heart of administrative affairs. The London Timet correspondent tells us that the expenditure in Cairo for one year on stationery . k I-I _IJU«U. I 14 THK WAR IH THE SOUDAN. alone amounted fco upwards of $240,000. The fellaheen were ground down. The insolence of their superiors was as intolerable as their taxes. A system of forced labor existed, from which there was no relief. Under these circum- staiices : with the bulk of the working-classes groaning under irremediable wrongs, their spirits broken, their intelligence stunted, their self -respect nowhere, their industry fruitless, their property and even their lives (owiig to the detestable character of the Cadi courts) in jeopardy, what could be expected of poor Egypt if left to herself 1 Only ruin more complete. With an indifferent and apathetic suzerain who never visited his tributary state, who only proved his authority over it by drawing a yearly income and occa- sionally uttering a weak protest against the actions or demands of interested powers, and who openly connived at anarchy ; with a powerless Khedive, an extravagant ministry, and a merciless executive, no wonder that the poverty- stricken natives rallied round Arabi Pasha as their deliverer. No wonder that his fame spread ; that the ranks of his followers were joined by thou- sands. Loyalty there was none, and patriotism in such a country was a misnomer. No wonder then, again, that even from the so-called army his numbers were augmented. But such a state of affairs could not be allowed to exist. If the Sultan would not, and the Klhedive could not, interfere — even if — and there were such rumours — even if these both sided with the rebel, he must be put down ; and if France will not lend a helping hand , England will do it alone. This it was that led to the bombardment of Alexandria, and, in process of time, to a'l those events which it is the object of thia narrative to record. TBL-EL-KEBIB. 16 CHAPTER IIL TELEL-KEBIR. We left Alexandria with its forts dismantled, its gnns dismounted, and its fortiflcationa generally abandoned. The events which followed need noii be described in detail. Arabi and his army left the city, which was now in the hands of marauding hordes, many of them composed of released convicts. The larger portion of the town was burnt, and wholesale depredations and murders continued for two days, after which they were checked by the land- ing of a body of marines and blue-jackets. England now decided to send troops into Egypt to reconquer the country for the Khedive. A vote of credit was passed (July 27), and three days after- wards the Scots Guards sailed for Alexandria, followed at short intervals by tri'ops amounting in all to 1,010 officers, 21,200 non-commissioned officers and men, 54 fie!d guns, 5,600 horses, and 500 mules. But this force was in a short time swelled — including contingents from India, Cyprus, and else- where—to 40,560. Sir Garnet Wolseley took command, arrived at Alexandria on August the loth, and was immeiliately empowered by the Khedive to undertake operations and occupy the country. The campaign against Arabi was destined to witness some notable and successfully carried out surprises by this general. The first wa^' the occupa- tion of Port Said. The fleet sailed, cleared ready for action, from Alexandria as if with the intention of seizing Aboukir, but when night fell, the order to " 'bout ship " was given, and the ships steamed back and took possession of Port Said. Several minor actions took place at Tel-el-Mahuta, Kassassin, etc. , but by a wonderfully accurate prophecy of General Wolseley's the spot on which the whole campaign was settled was Tel-el-Kebir. To this we will at once proceed. The body of the troops was now stationed at Kassassin. The intentions of the General were kept secret in the extreme ; aiid it was not till within twelve hours of the premeditated attack that orders were given to leave the camp. At sundown, on the evening of Tuesday, September 12th, every tent was struck. The men bivouacked on the ground, taking a rest of five or six hours. At midnight, the order was given to march, and in a few moments the men were noiselessly moving over the ground in the direction of the enemy's entrenchments. "Never," says the London Staiidard'a correspondent, "did 16 THE WAR IN THE SOUDAN. a body of 14,000 men get under arras more quietly ; the very orders appeared given in lowered tones, and almost noiselessly the dark columns moved off, ' their footfalls being der«daued by the sand. The silence broken only by the occasional clash of stee,, the certainty that the great strui^gle would commence ■with the dawn, and the expectation that at any inomynt we might be ohal- lenged by the Bedouin horsemen far out in the plain in front of the enemy, all combined to make it an imp'.essive march, antl one which none v7ho shared in * it •will ever forget. " There wei ^ fj" queut halts to enable the regiments to maintain touch, and to allow the transpoi' ; waggons, whose wheels crunched over the sandy plains with a noise which to our ears seemed strangely loud, to keep up with us." This silent march across from Kassassin to Tel-el-Kebir has been most graphically described. The night was pitch dark ; not a word was uttered ; and when nearing the enemy not even a match to light the longed-for cigar- ette was allowed. The line of march was followed by means of the stars, a young lieutenant of the navy leading the way. At times, however, incidents occurred which were within an ace of bringing about the most disastrous re- sults. For instance, the force moved in two divisions, and it sometimes hap- pened that the outer part of the wings moved faster than the centre, thus bringing the men partly opposite and within ear-shot of each other. In the pitch darkness that prevailed, relieved only by starlight, it waa quite possible, nay probable, that each wing might mistake the other for the enemy, and without command open fire. Such a catastrophe was indeed once narrowly averted. '* By early dawn the troops had arrived within a thousand yards of the enemy's lines, and halted there for a short time to enable the fighting line to ijlj be formed, and other preparations to be made. "A perfect silence still reigned over the plains, and it was difficult to credit the fact that some fourteen thousand men lay in a semi-circle round the enemy's lines, ready to dash ffreo ornaments fastened with a silk tassel, generally red, above thick-soled brown leather Hiindals, adorn the feet of the Soudanese girls. The girls themselves are thus described in Petherick's interesting book, Egypt : — " Their colour partakes of various shades, from light to brown, almost black ; and although they scarcely ever wash — using the " dilka," dough and oil, instead of water — their skin appears clean and fresh. The hair, which never reaches below the shoulders, an, is plaited into a variety of forma, but genemlly closely to the head, fitting like a skull-cap, and hanging down in thick masses of innumerable small plaits all round the side and back of the head. Another form is to plait the hair so as to adhere close to the top of the head, as in the former case, but the ends, instead of being plaited, are combed out and stiffened with a solution of grease, forming a thick bushy circle around the head. With this head-dress, as the lady only arranges her hair once or twice a month, she cannot recline upon a pillow, for which she is obliged to substitute a small wooden stool, hollowed out to tit the neck, upon which she reposes." The houses of the people in the Soudan are as simple as their dress, and more simple than their ornaments. They are built of sun-burnt bricks, plastered with a composition made of manure and grey sand. There is gener- ally only one large room in the kouse, which is used both for living and Bleep- ing in, and a small one used as a lumber-room. Often there are no windows, but if there are any, they are placed in very high positions. The children are never dressed until they are eight or nine years old, and they are very young when they are married. A mother carries her baby on her left hip : the baby is always naked, and sits aatride. The following extract from a letter from one of the Canadian Voyageurs, descriptive of this region, will be read with interest : — Meeawi, 31st January, 1885. I know not but I may have convoyed a wrong impression in some of my former letters respecting the fertility of the Soudan, which certainly improves vastly as we go south. The banks of the river from Abbafatma, where not encroached on by the sterile desert, are very fertile. B : 36 THE WAR IN THE SOUDAN, Here we come upon patches of well-tilled soil filled with the vegetable productions of the country. There may be seen on the right or left bank beautiful groves of date palms alternating with thorn trees with lovely green spray and yellow blossoms, a strong contrast with the white thorn ; and every now and then a lawn-like expanse strikes the eye, the ground looking as if it was rolled, so even and smooth is it — fields of barley in all stages of growth, the castor oil plant, cotton, corn and beans of various kin Js, many of the latter having a beautiful purple and white flower. To the eye, tired and sun- scorched with the glare of the desert sand just left behind, it is indeed a vision of the Elysian fields. On the 28th, we passed an island of exceeding fertility and beauty — a very Arca^lia — where one might fancy that they had found a haven of rest and peace, that the desire of their soul and their longings for the beautiful and the " Rest for the weary " had at last been attained, were the scene not marred with the miserable mud huts and filthy corrals of the natives, which are surrounded by such an atmosphere that any description of it would so taint the paper on which it was written that you could not get near tnuugh to read it. I cannot by any description that I can give do justice to Merawi. Stretching tack from the river about a quarter of a mile, the clififs rise boldly and assume quite a castellated form. Huge blocks of white, grey and pink freestone seem to have been laid together like built masonry. But nature haa done a work that man with all his ingenuity and education could only faintly imitate. The impress of the Master hand is there, stamped with the Maker's name from everlasting to everlasting. Right from the foot of this wall of rock to the river edge, a lawn level a: you could imagine slopes gently, dotted with groups of palm and thorn and fringed as it were here and there with crops of young barley, with the odd-looking caustic plant with its broad leaver, very like those of the cactus, interspersed, and ne irer the bank of the stream a belt of grass looking very like our Canadian foxtail, and close on the water edge a broad belt of the bean plant, making a most charm- ing scene. But delightful as all this is, it has only the effect of making me sigh for the green fields, the forest glades and the lovely lakes of dear Canada my home. The tribes up this way are slightly different from those below, the men are certainly better and more indeprndent looking, better clothed also and altogether more manly. The women wear their hair in the form of a fringe, each strand about a quarter of an inch in diameter, plaited and well greased, rings in their noses and their ears, with bracelets and anklets. As a general thing this is " full dress for the belles of the Soudan." i THE SOUDAN. 27 " Though the middle and doubtful aged ladies wear a plaited fringe of hair, something after the fashion of a Highlander's kilt, but — ' rather shorter.' " A race of negroes, very thick-lipped, are scattered thickly among the natives, and I fancy these are slaves — in fact, I saw one poor devil with a heavy ankle lock on the other day. " All traffic is conducted by convoys c.r caravans of camels and donkeys, and there seems to be a very fair share of trade going on." The population of the Soudan, north of 11 N. lat., consists chiefly of Mahommedan Arabs, whilst south of that line, negro tribes, mostly pagans, are scattered more or less densely. For centuries past the former have found among the latter supplies for the slave markets of Cairo, Damascus and Con- stantinople. Egyptian rule was first extended to these dihtricts by Mehemet Ali, under whom Ibrahim Pasha carried it as far south as Kordofan and Sen- naar. The Arabs sullenly acquiesced in this invasion so long as their slave trade was not interfered with. When, however, Ismeul Pasha, under Euro- pean pr<'ssure, was induced to issue his proclamation against slavery ^ he alleged the necessity of extending Egyptian rule to the parts whence the traders drew their supplies. Sir Samuel Baker's expedition in 1870 thus led to the conquest of the equatorial provinces, of which, in 1874, Colonel ("Chinese") Gordon was appointed Governor-General. In the foUowinj^ year Dai-four was added to the Egyptian possessions. Two years later Ismail Pasha brought all his Central African provinces under one Government, and this he entrusted to Colonel Gordon. The induence of the just rule of such a Governor-General can be imagined. By treating his subjects on prin- ciples of absolute justice, by listening attentively to all their little grievances, by mercilessly repressing all those who defied the law, "Chinese" Gordon accustomed the Soudanese to a much higher standard of Government than they had ever yet seen. But alas ! on the fall of Ismail, economy necessitated the recall of their exemplary ruler, and he gone, a whole horde of Turks, Circas- sians, Bashi-Ba^ouks were once more let loose to harass and oppress the un- fortunate Soudanese. Now arose a deliverer, by name Mahomet Achmet, self-called El Mahdi. Carlyle believes the great man is heaven-sent. To say that the time calls forth the man he declares is "melancholy work." "The great man," he says, " with his free force direct out of God's own hand, is the lightning. His word is the wise healing word which all can believe in. All blaze.s round him now, when he has once struck on it, into fire like his own. The dry mouldering sticks are thought to have called him forth. They did want him greatly ; but as to calling him forth — ! — Those are critics of small vision, I think who cry : * See, is it not the sticks that made the fire V " Bo THE WAR IN THE SOUDAN. This sounds very nice ; but Thomas Carlyle's "great man" is so great that Carlyle can see nothing else. He forgets that the dryness of the sticks is one factor in the creating of a great man. If there were no dryness there were no need perhaps of a great man. It is the seeing the dryness and then holding to them a lighted torch that makes the man great. The sticks were very dry indeed in the Soudan, and there was a man there who knew it. Of him let us now take notice. :■ I V.'> ' THE MAHDL 29 •' CHAPTBH VI. := ^ THE MAHDI. In many Mussulman countries there existed a belief that on the com- pletion of twelve centuries from the Hegira, the Mahdi, or new deliverer, would appear. The twelve centuries were reckoned to come to an end on 12th November, 1882. But one who would not await for that eventful day had already arisen, and declared himself the Mahdi. This was a man about thirty years of age, who is described as being tall and slim, and having a light brown complexion. His name was Mahomet Achmet, and he was the son of a carpenter. He was apprenticed to his uncle, who one day gave him a beating, which so enraged him that he ran away and went to a free school kept by one of the dervishes at Hoghali, a village near Khartoum. This school is attached to the shrine of the patron saint of Khartoum, and is greatly venerated by the natives. From this school he went to another at Berber, where also there is a shrine ; and he there seemed to be a religious boy. 30 THE WAR IN THE SOUDAN. In 1870 he became the disciple of Sheikh Nur-el-Danoi, a name which means " continuous light," and he ordained him a faki or sheikh. After this he went to live in the ialand of Abba, on the White Nile, where he dug a cave for himself, which he called a retreat, and into which he went constantly to worship. He began to be known as a very pious man, greatly given to fasting and incense-burning, and prayers. After a time he was joined by followers, who gave him presents, so that he became very wealthy. He married as many wives as he was allowed to have, and airways took them from wealthy families, by which means, of course, his own wealth and influence were increased. In May, 1881, he began to write letters declaring himself the Madhi whom Mahomet had foretold. He said that he had been sent to reform Islam, that he would bring a new state of things into the Mahom- medan world, that he would establish the equality of man, and make tlie rich share with the poor. A great many people at once believed in him and followed him. Then he went further, and said that those who did not receive him should be destroyed, whoever and whatever they were. The world had been so occupied with Arabi Pasha in Egypt, that very little notice was taken of the Mahdi for some time ; but on the 19th December, 1881, news came that there were troubles in the Soudan. The False Prophet, at the head of one thousand five hundred men, totally annihilated an Egyptian force of three hundred and fifty men, who were led against him by the Gover- nor of Faahada. The Governor himself was among the killed. The Governor- General of the Soudan at once sent for reinforcements, and the Black Kegiment, under the command of Abdallah Bey, was ordered to advance. But the Egyptian forces were very half-hearttd in the matter, and were beaten again and again. In July, 1882, the Mahdi brought his followers and made them surround the Egyptian soldiers under Yusef Pasha. The Egyptians were without food, and were easily overcome, the entire army being massacred by the Mahdi. On the 8th of September, he attacked Obeid and was repulsed. He made a second and a third attack with the same result ; and on the last occasion 10,000 of his men were slain. On the 8th of December, a man arrived on the scene who was likely to make things better if it were possible, and that was Colonel Stuart ; but in the beginning of January, 1883, both Bara and Obeid surrendered to the Mahdi, who at once entered the latter town and took up his residence there. The Daily News published a very curious letter from an EflFendi, which had been forwarded by its special correspondent, Mr. O'Donovan, and which shows how some of the Mahdi's followers regard him: — "The Mahdi seeks nothing but God. He is kind and speaks civilly to all. He abhors falsehoods, and his pride is to spread the glory of our religion. He fights in the path of THE MAIIDI. 31 God, and only with those who refuse to obey him. Hia daily life (peace be unto him 1) is quite opposed to worldly matters, nor does he care for its enjoy- ments. He is simple in his diet and plain in dress. Kisaret dourra (millet) steeped in water is all that he eats. A plain shirt and trousers made from the native cloth is all that he wears. He is always smiling, and his face is as resplendent as the new moon. His body and form is of the sons of Israel, and on his right cheek is a mole (khal), and also other marks which are written in the books of the holy law are stamped upon him. He neither honors the rich for their riches, nor does be neglect the poor on account of their poverty. All Muslims to him are equal. Like a kind father to his children, so much is his kindness towards us. Had he punished us for what we have done none of us would be saved, but he forgave us on our repentance. We all received a sufficient sum from the treasury for the support of our family, but do not get any fixed pay. If I were to describe to you all the good qualities of the Mahdi, it would take a long letter to do so. He is following in the footsteps of his grandfather (ancestor ?) — peace be to his bones ! — and if you are Muslims and the sons of Muslims, banish worldly affairs, and follow not the inclination of sinful souls, which leads its possessor to destruction, but look to the end and to Paradise." Such is the man whom England is now doing her best to crush. It would be interesting here to discuss the Tightness or wrongness of so doing — indeed this is a question which not a few of the journals on this side of the Atlantic have already more than once touched upon. On the one side it may be said : His followers, if not he himself, believe him to be the true Imam Mahdi who was to appear ; they are fighting against oppression and a government which they abhor ; and they believe they are doing Ood'a service by exterminating the feringhees or infidels sent by the British and Egyptian Governments to conquer him. The following letter sent to Admiral Hewett and General Graham, signed and sealed by the sheikhs of twenty-one tribes, describes accurately their belief : — *' In the name of the most merciful God, the Lord be praised, etc. — From the whole of the tribes and their sheikhs who have received your writings, and those who did not receive writings, to the Cum nandant of the English soldiers, whom God help to Islam. Amen. Then your letters have arrived with us, and what you have informed us in them — to come in — then know that the gracious God has sent his Madhi suddenly who was expected, the looked-for messenger for the religious and against the infidels, so as to show the religion of God through him, and by him to kill those who hate him, which has happened. You have seen who have gone to him from the people and soldiers, who are countless. God killed them, so look at the multitudes." Here follow verses from the Koran. "You who never know religion till after 32 THE WAR IN THE SOUDAN. death hate God from the beginning. Then we are sure that God, and only Ood, sent the Mahdi, so as to take away your property, and you know this since the time of our Lord Mahomet's coming. Pray to God, and be con- verted. There is nothing between us but the sword, especially as the Mahdi has come to kill you and destroy you unless God wishes you to Ii^iam. The Mahdi's sword be on your necks wherever you may escape, and God's iron be round your necks wherever you may go. Do not think you are enough for us, and the Turks are only a little better than you. We will not leave your heads unless you become Mussulmans and listen to the Prophet and laws of God, and God said in His dear book those who believe Him tight for Him, \ and th'ise who do not believe in Him shall be killed." Here follow many verses from the Koran referring to permission to kill intidels. " Therefore God has waited for you for a ling time, and you have thought that He would always go on waiting for you ; but God said He would wait for you as you were bad. People but know that during the time of the Mahdi he will not accept bribes from you, and also will not leave you in your infidelity, so there is nothing for you but the sword, so that there will not remain one of you on the face of the earth, therefore Islam. On the other hand it may be said : He is no prophet ; he is deceiving his disciples ; even the Mussulmans of India declare he is noMohammedan ; the just rule of England will be superior to any Oriental government ; he is iu revolt against the rightful powers ; Egypt under England is better able to judge what is best for the Soudanese ; and his defeat will lead to the rapid spread of civilization. Some of the former of these considerations, added to the extreme diffi- culty which, it was felt, attended any attempt to bring the whole of the Soudan provinces completely under subjugation, seem to have had great weight with the British Cabinet. The instructions issued to General Gordon on the occasion of employing him as the pacificator of these regions show this. "Her Majesty's Government," said Lord Granville, "are desirous that you should proceed at once to Egypt, to report to them on the military situation in the Soudan, 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 Khartoum. You are also desired to consider and report upon the best mode of ejfecting the evacuation of the interior of the Soudan, and upon the manner in which the safety and the good administration by the Egyptian Government of the porta on the sea coast can best be secured. In coanection with this subject, you should pay especial coi sideration to the question of the steps that may use- fully be taken to counteract the stimulus which it is feared may possibly be ) i 1 \ 1 THB MAHDI. 33 given to the slave trade by the present insurrectionary movement, and by the withdrawal of the Egyptian authority from the interior." However, public opinion is now less soft-hearted, and the intention seems to be at all hazards to — " smash the Mahdi." What a Mahdi is. The ordinary reader is perhaps satisfied to think that el Mahdi signifies nothing more than "the prophet" — or, in the case of Mahomet Achmet, the rebel of the Soudan, " the false prophet. " But the word Mahdi has a deeper meaning, and con- tains a whole history in itself. At the risk of being tedious, not to say '* dry," a few remarks may be here inserted on the origin and growth of the true notion of the Mahdi. On the death of Mahomet, no successor having been appoir ' ed, and uncertainty existing as to whether the succession should be elective or hereditary, three different parties put forward pretensions: first, the Mohadjirs, or early converts; second, the Ansars, who had powerfully contributed to the prophet's success ; third, the prophet's near relations. This last party gained the succession, but personal rivalries led to a long and bitter conflict between the partisans of Ali, the prophet's cousin and son-in- law, and the 8upi)orters of Moawia, a more distant relative. In the long run the latter were successful, Ijut the adherents of All's descendants continued to regard Moawia and his successors as usurpers, and held that the true line would some day again be looked upon as tho proper successors of Mahomet, and the personage who would soon appear to demand and seize the succession would be— the Mahdi. This, in briwf, is the history of the idea, but it is invested with many metaphysical, theological, and mystical doctrines. A renegade Jew, by name Abdallah-ibn-Saba, preached that Ali was an incarnation of the divine essence ; that he had disappeared from tho world for a time, and would reappear as Mahdi. The object of this Abdallah- ibn-Saba was to overthrow the Abbaside dynasty (tha successors of Moawia) ; he cared little for consistency, and explained the Mahdi theory under various forms : to the Jew he represented him &a the Messiah, to the Christian he identified him with the Paraclete. In all ages it has been believed that the Mahdi would have both a political and a religious mission. It is in this sense, probably, that the simple people of the Soudan have received Mahomet Achmet. They think little— probably know little — of his presumed descent from Ali, of his being an incarnation of the divine essence ; they have heard naught of the mystical and theosophical dogmas with which the office is encompassed. " It ic enough for them to know," says a Constantinople correspondent, "that Allah has sent a prophet and a deliverer who is to drive unbelievers and tax- gatherers out of the country, and to give his followers abundance of opportunities for obtaining plunder. So long as he continues to accomplish successfully this holy mission his pretensions to being something more than an ordinary mortal will not be too closely scrutinized, and the fetwahs of learned sheikhs in Cairo, Mecca, or elsewhere, declaring him to be an imposter, will produce very little effect upon his followers. The followers, on their part, need not know anything of the early history of Islam, or be capable of understanding pan-theistii 'octrines. All they require is to be brave and enduring, and to be capable of a cei ii enthusiasm for the cause which they have espoused. That they possess these rec^ i sites in a very high degree they have abundantly proved." ^ 34 THE WAB IN THE SOUDAN. CHAPTER VII. SLAIN IN THE DESERT. To give some of the reasons of the Mahdi's astonishing progress and the successes he achieved, as well as to record the sad fate of Colonel Hicks and his 11,000 men, it will be well to say something of the expedition led by this splendid officer against the forces of the false prophet. The Mahdi's influence was spreading. All the country about Khartoum and El Obeid was ablaze with rebellious and furious fanaticism. The Egyp- tian authorities became seriously alarmed, and it was resolved to send troops immediately for the purpose of quelling the rising. The disbanded soldiers of Arabi's shattered army were sent to the south, and Colonel Hicks, having been created a Pasha, was given the virtual command. He left Cairo accom- panied by several British officers early in February, 1883, and proceeded to Suakim ; from thence they made for Khartoum via Berber. At Khartoum no time was lost in obtaining reinforcements and organizing an army. From March to October various reverses and s.tccesses were recorded. Amongst the latter being the battle of Assalia, fought on April 29th. The desperate way in which the Arabs rushed fearlessly to certain death in this engagement has been described by Colonel Colborne. "With t5e greatest sang froid," he says, " they came up within a few paces. Those whose horses were killed advanced on foot. One Arab coolly walked up to within ten yards of us, and when told to lay down his spear brandished it in defiance. Call this valour, infatuation, madness, or what you will, such cool determination and such utter disregard of certain death has seldom been equalled on the battle-field." This reminds one strongly of the recklessness of the Zulus, who rushed frantically, armed perhaps only with a spear and an ox-hide shield, upon the ranks of their foes. Or of the Moplahs in the south-west of Hindustan, who, it is said, even when transfixed by the bayonet i strive to reach their opponent by drawing themselves up the musket. The last telegram received from Hicks was on the 17th of October, and not till the last week in November was it known that he and his army had perished in the desert, fighting doggedly for three days against countless numbers of the enemy. The most authentic accounts give the following particulars : — In September, Hicks Pasha set out from Duem on the Nile for a two- hundred-mile maroh across the desert with the intention of capturing El (• \ SLAIN IN THB DESERT. 36 Obeid. His army bore the character more of a mob than of disciplined soldiers, and although consisting of some 11,000 men it seemed to all a sort of forlorn hope to attempt to vie with the hosts of the Mahdi, especially in such a country. Worse than all, they could never be sure that they were free from treachery. Indeed, as the sequel will show, this it was that brought on the almost unparalleled disaster of which I am about to speak. On November 3rd, the army entered a sort of defile. Unsuspecting danger they entered fearlessly, but when fairly enclosed, suddenly they found themselves absolutely surrounded by the enemy. It was an ambuncade. The guide had deceived them. And now alone in the desert, encompassed by thousands of wildly fanatical rebels, scarce of water, and with no path by which to advance or retreat, there was nothing for it but to stolidly fight it out to tlie bitter end. And this they did. For three days did that army under the inspiring valour of their magnificent leader, repel the onslaughts of their foes. Day and night they fought though parched with thirst and with aching limbs. Night only brought fears of surprises, and dawn only showed the numbers of the enemy augmented with fresh and vigorous reinforcements* Ammunition ran short ; the foe pressed closer. A third of the Egyptian troops surrendered; and the remainder, with the courage of despair, resolved to die in a last charge upon the foe. The last cartridge was fired. Bayonets were fixed, and recklessly they threw thfemselves against the dark wall of men before them. It was useless. The bullets of the opposing forces mowed them down by hundreds ; and of that army of eleven thousand men it is said that one man only escaped to record the dauntlessnesa of his fellows. Hicks Pasha himself was found dead, a bloody sword grasped in one hand, and in the other a pistol. With him fell Mr. O'Donovan, correspondent of the Daily News, famous for his adventures in Merv ; AUa-ed-Deen Pasha, Governor-General of the Soudan, and several British officers, pashas, and beys. Such a victory naturally set the whole Soudan in a blaze. The fiction of the Mahdi's divine mission required no further confirmation, and additional thousands rallied to his standard. The history of the events which led up to the war in the Soudan would have been incomplete without special mention of this expedition and its sad ' termination This, more perhaps than any other success achieved by the Mahdi, tended to spread his fame far and wide. The consternation even at < Cairo was profound. If the false prophet continued upon his path of victory what hindered his marching on the very palace of the Khedive ? He had myriads at his beck, and the fate of those sent against him showed the com- parative uselessness of the Egyptian soldiery when pitted against men fighting 1 86 THE WAR IN THE SOUDAN. for their liberty, their country, their prophet, and their God. The rebellion of Arabi was, as compared with thia, as a momentary blaze to a vast and rush- ing prairie fire. So useless did the British Government consider it to oppose this new-arisen Soudanese spectre, that it earnestly advised the Khedive to leave that country to its own fate, and not to attempt further the reconquest of those distant provinces. Reluctant as the Egyptian Government evidently was to act upon such advice, there seemed but little possibility for anything else to be done. Fre^h troubles sprang up. The Soudanese spectre of fanaticism and revolt h&< ' atherto haunted the deserts of the west ; now it stalked through the east also. Sinkat was surrounded by the exasperated foe ; Tokar was surrounded ; the high road between Berber and Suakim was seized ; Suakim itself threatened ; a relief force for Tokar was cut to pieces ; 760 men out of 800 fell in cue day at Sincat. . I MORE DI8A8TEB8. 37 CHAPTER VIU. MORE DISASTERS. To the civilian and to the ordinary reader the chief business of the soldier aeems to be to fight : to form square when the enemy appears ; to put a cart- ridge into his rifle and fire it off ; to charge at the sound of the bugle ; to kill as many men as he can ; and to avoid being killed himself. People do not think of the long, long marches with heavy knapsacks ; the getting up to start per- haps across a waterless desert, at half-past one in the morning ; the looking after jaded horses and unruly camels ; the going without water under a terrific sun for hours and hours ; the dragging of guns over, commonly speaking, im- passable ground ; the hard fighting for long weiirying hours, at any time of day or night, with or without meals ; the glaring sun ; the intense heat ; the parched throat ; the aching legs and arms ; the likelihood of surprises ; and, not least, the absence of all news from home : no letters, no newspapers, no word at all from the longing wife and the loving children ; really quite alone in the horrible desert ; behind — a thousand miles to the nearest seaport ; in front — three hundred miles of desert, and two hundred thousand black savages waiting for blood. These are some of the things that make up war. Perhaps the fighting is the best part of it. There is excitement in that, there is some tangible evidence of the result of hard work ; there is the chance of being mentioned in despatches ; there is the praise given in the general orders. But before the battle — what hardships ! and after it — what agony often ! If one hundred men die on the battlefield, how many people, think you, weep at home ? Too many poets ting the " pomp and circumstance of war ; " too few poets weep the pain cf wounds, the pang of loss. Wounds and loss now followed in thick succession. Elated by the grand defeat of the gallant Hicks the rebels grew bold. Tokar is surrounded, Sincat is surrounded. The latter place cannot be reached, and brave Tewfik Bey, the commander of its little force, is left to die. The black hordes come up to the walls and shout curses at its gallant defenders. There is no food ; the last dog even is killed to keep off starvation. Half a pound of grain in the twenty-four hours is all the fighting men get now. And at last there is but one sack of this left. They make up their minds. The guns are spiked ; the stores burned ; the magazines blown up, and the six hundred men who are left to defend Sincat resolve to cut their way through the enemy. They fill their pouches with cartridges and sally forth. Osmau's . 38 THE WAR IN THE HOUDAN. men at once rush down. The six hundred fomi square and fighb, — it ia true fighting this, but it is useless. One side of the square is burst in and that brave little band is masnacred to a man. Sincat is oapturod. Five men and thirty women are spared — that is all, and when the news reaches Suakim there are streets filled with weeping women and — yes — weeping men. Sincat fallen and Tokar surrounded, something must be done. In this dilemma the Khedive turned to Baker Pasha, now at the head of a creditable body of gendarmerie. This general managed to get together 3,000 troops of an utterly nondescript character, and with these attempted the relief of Tokar. m His men were perfectly useless. In the first battle, about 10 miles from Trinkitat, they fell on their knees and begged for mercy from the rebels. It was not a battle, said a correspondent, but a butchery. Soon Graham is ordered to take 4,000 men and fight for Tokar. He does so, and the battles of El Teb, in which he was victorious, did a little to damp the ardor of the rebels. It is necessary now to go back a little and speak of the causes which broUj^ht the groat Gordon on the scene. i a TU£ CALL FOK UUUDOIf. 39 CHAPTER IX. THE CALL FOR GORDON. MBANWHiiiB the cry went up from all sides •' Send Gordon." Every one who had heard his name and knew of his popularity as Govemor-Genorul of the Soudan cried out for him. Why not sent Gordon? said newspaper correspondents ; whore is Gordon 7 said natives who had experienced his beneficial rule. Above all, the Pall Mall Gazette urged his employment. " Why not send Chinese Gordon," it wrote, '• with full powers to Khar- toum, to assume absolute control of the territory, to treat with the Mnhdi, to relieve the garrisons, and do what can be done, to save what can bo saved from the wreck in the Soudan ? There is no necessity to speak of the pre- eminent qualifications which he possesses for the work. They are notorious, and are as undisputed as they are indisputable. His engagement on the Congo could surely be postponed. No man can deny the urgent need in the midst of that hideous welter of confusion for the presence of such a man, with a bom genius for command, an unexampled capacity in organising ' Ever- Victorious Armies,' and a perfect knowledge of the Soudan and its people. Why not send him out with carte-blanche to do the best that can be done ? He may not be able, single-handed, to reduce that raging chaos to order, but the attempt is worth making, and if it is to be made it will have to be made at once. For before many days Gonoral Gordon will have left for the Congo, and the supreme opportunity may have pissed by." The cry was echoed and re-echoed till it became the voice of public opinion. The Government recognized it, saw the cogency and force of the appeal, and at once decided to act. On Wednesday, January the 16th, Gordon had started for Belgium on his way to the Congo, which region ho had undertaken to administrate for the King of the Belgians. On Thursday he received a telegram from the British Government asking him if would undertake the pacilication of the Soudan. He returned to London at once ; and Friday evening saw him e)i route for Cairo. This, as it proved, the most momentous errand of his whole life, was commenced in the simple, quiet way in which this truly wonderful man was accustomed to conduct all his affairs. Accompanied only by Lieutenant- Colonel Stewart, of the 11th Hussars, he left Charing Cross Station by the evening train for Dover. The Duke of Cambridge, Lord Wolseley, Colonel I 40 'iHE WA\. IN THE SOUDAN. Brocklehurst, and Lord Hartington's private secretary, were the only ones to see him off. The Puke got the ticket ; the hero of Tel-el-Kebir carried the portmanteau, and Coloiiel Brocklehurst opened the carriage door for th? quiet gentleman who was going away never to return. Who does not envy the men who were able to render to him the last little services England could do ? It was the last London saw of him. For one year and eight days there were thousands in England who watched and waited anxiously for any, the minutest piece of, information they could obtain about him. At the end of that lime there arrived the news that he was no more. A grand history his ; full of infinito sadness, inexpressible nobility. — Are they ever separable ? — ! f "I WILL SAVE THE HONODB OF EGYPT." 41 CHAPTEB X. ♦'I WILL SAVE THE HONOUR OF EGYPT." "Bvx what definitely is the object of Gordon's mission ? Briefly, the paci- fication of the Soudan. But how to be accomplished ? This it is not easy, even with the light of after events, accurately to determine. We have seen that the British Government at one time recommended Egypt to give up the southern provinces. We have seen that notwithstanding this she permitted or allowed Generals Hicks, Baker and Graham to march against (a part at all events of) the foe that was menacing these southern provinces. One thing, however, is clear : a resort to arms will be the last resort ; that is r<:-solved upon, and a man is sent whose chief influence lies in his known distaste for an appeal to the sword. General Gordon is to use his friendship with the Sheikhs and his popularity with the people, not his power as the representa- tive of a belligerent intruder. " You will bear in mind," writes Sir Evelyn Baring to him, "that the main end to be pursued is the evacuation of the Soudan. This policy was adopted, after very full discussion; by the Egyptian Government on the advice of Her Majesty's Government. It meets with the full approval of His Highness the Khedive and of the present Egyptian Min- istry. I understand also that you entirely concur in the desirability of adopting this policy, and that you think that it should on no account bo changed. You consider that it may take a few months to curry it out with safety. You are further of opinion that the restoration of the countrj' should be made to the petty Sultans who afisisted at the time of Mehemet Ali's con- quest, and whose families still exist ; and tliat an endeavour should be made to form a confederation of those Sultans. In this view the Egyptian Govern- ment entirely concurs. It will, of course, be fuUy understood that the Egyptian troops are not to be kept in the Soudan merely with a view to consolidating the power of the new rulers of the country. But the Egyptian Government has the fullest confidence in your judgment, your knowledge of the country, and of 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 accomplislied with the least possible risk to life and property." This was written after a long and earnest conversation with General Gordon himself, his own phrases being occasionally inserted. \\ \ asa 42 THE WAR IN THE SOUDAN. It will be well if we enter into this intricate subject at some little length, seeing that on the solution of this problem depended (indeed wo may say depends) the whole of the future conduct of affairs in Egypt. The state of the Soudan at the time of Gordon's arrival at Cairo was this : The Mahdi's power had swelled to gigantic proportions. It now extended from beyond El Obeid to within a few miles of Suakim. His troops were elated with successes, and having been promised a certain and immediate entrance into paradise by death on the battlefield, they fought with a reck- lessness that might truly be called supernatural. They were consequently to be dreaded. Sincat was in their hands ; the battles of El Teb (which to a slight extent decreased their ardour) had not yet been fought ; Tokar was not yet saved. Osman Digna was rivalling his master in daring. The Egyp- tian garrisons were faltering, and the rebels were correspondingly exultant. Every day added fresh numbers to the foe. Years of oppression had done their work but too well, and it might be said without exa