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PICTORIAL

OF THE

ENGLISH IN EGYPT,

WITH LIFE OF GENERAL GORDON.

Pomp of Egypt's elder day.
Shade of the mighty passed away,
Whose giant works still frown sublime
'Mid the twilight shades of time ;
Fanes, of sculpture vast and rude,
That strew the sandy solitude!
Lo I before our startled eyes,
As at a wizard 's wand, ye rise,
Glimmering larger through the gloom I
While on the secrets of the tomb,
Rapt in other times, we gaze.
The Mother Queen of ancient days,
Her mystic symbol in her hand,
Great Isis, seems herself to stand,

WILLIAM LISLE BOWLES.

Hail I Egypt ! land of ancient pomp and pride,
Where Beauty walks by hoary Ruin's side ;
Where Plenty reigns, and still the seasons smile,
And rolls rich gift of Godexhaustless Nile.
Land of the Pyramid and Temple lone,
Where fame, a star, on earth's dark midnight shone,
Bright seat of wisdom, grand with arts and arms,
'Ere Rome was built, or smiled fair Athens' charms ;
Wliat owes the past, the living world to t/iee f
All that refines, sublimes humanity.

NICHOLAS MICHELL.

-t-

GENERAL GORDON.

"FOR ALL MEN RECOMMKND PATIF.NCK ; FKW, HOWEVER, THEY ARE WHO ARE
WILLING TO SUFFER. Thotnas a k'cmpis.

_5 , 5 j _ - _ ,

LONDON:
c'l fl \\>{ <rl "J Jl Ira Iru <* /

D D^iif tru J ilxi ti

PATERNOSTER ROW.

PICTORIAL

OF THE

ENGLISH IN EGYPT,

WITH A
FULL AND DESCRIPTIVE LIFE OF

GENKRAL GORDON,

THE HERO OF KHARTOUM.

Together with Graphic Narratives of the Lives and Adventures of

Lord Wolseley, Stewart, Burnaby, Horatio Nelson, Abercromby,

Sidney Smith, Sir John Moore, Bruce, and other

World-famous Heroes.

WITH UPWARDS OF

ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY WOOD ENGRAVINGS,

AND A SERIES OF COLOURED PORTRAITS FROM AUTHENTIC PHOTOGRAPHS,
PRINTED IN THE BEST STYLE OF CHROMO-LITHOGRAPHY.

JAMES SANGSTER & COMPANY,

PATERNOSTER ROW.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGE

INTRODUCTION i

CHAP. I. THE EGYPT OF TO-DAY THE

MYSTERIOUS NILE 5

II. GORDON THE HERO AND DELIVERER 10

III. GORDON His YOUTH AND EARLY
CAREER ADVENTURES DURING THE
SIEGE OF SEBASTOPOL 15

IV. GORDON IN ASIA MINOR ASCENT
OF MOUNT ARARAT RETURNS TO
ENGLAND 19

V. GORDON THE CHINESE WAR SACK
OF THE SUMMER PALACE JOURNEY TO
THE GREAT WALL 21

VI. GORDON THE TAIPINGS AND THE
EVER-VICTORIOUS ARMY OUR HERO'S
WONDERFUL EXPLOITS 25

VII. GORDON THE WAND OF VICTORY

COLLAPSE OF THE REBELLION . . 32

VIII. GORDON RESIDENCE AT GRAVES-
END DEEDS OF CHRISTIAN CHARITY
His RELIGIOUS OPINIONS .... 41

IX. GORDON SOME ACCOUNT OF THE

SOUDAN ITS RESOURCES AND HISTORY 50

X. THE WONDERS OF ANCIENT EGYPT

ITS GREATNESS, THOUGH IN RUIN . 54

XI. ANCIENT EGYPT OPINIONS ABOUT

THE NILE FABLE OF THE PHCENIX . 60

XII. GENERAL HERBERT STEWART A
BRIEF RECORD OF THE LIFE AND
SERVICES OF THAT ABLE SOLDIER . 68

XIII. GENERAL EARLE A LIVERPOOL
LAD QUALITIES OF HEAD AND HEART
DEATH IN THE MOMENT OF VICTORY 75

XIV. COLONEL FRED BURNABY His

FAMOUS RIDE TO KHIVA 78

XV. BURMABY His ADVENTURES IN ASIA
MINOR STANDS FOR BIRMINGHAM-
CAREER AS A BALLOONIST .... 83

XVI. BURNABY His SHARE IN THE Ex-
PEDITION TO KHARTOUM His DEATH
AND CHARACTER 87

XVII. ANCIENT EGYPT "THE CON-
STANT SERVICE OF THE ANTIQUE
WORLD" 92

XVIII. THE PRIESTS AND RELIGION OF

THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS 97

XIX. VARIOUS CURIOUS CUSTOMS OF THE

EGYPTIANS 102

XX. GORDON SOME MORE FACTS ABOUT

THE SOUDAN no

XXL GORDON THE SOUDAN SLAVE-
TRADE AN ACCOUNT OF KHARTOUM . 115

PAGE

XXII. BRUCE His NOBLE DESCENT

His AFRICAN TRAVELS 119

XXIII. BRUCE His ADVENTURES IN

ABYSSINIA 125

XXIV. BRUCE His LAST YEARS . . . 131

XXV. THE HISTORY OF EGYPT THE

OLD KINGS 135

XXVI. GORDON GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF

THE EQUATORIAL PROVINCES ... 141

XXVII. GORDON ADMINISTRATION OK

THE SOUDAN 144

XXVIII. SIR RALPH ABERCROMBY His

EARLY SERVICES 148

XXIX. SIR RALPH ABERCROMBY VIC-
TORIES OVER THE FRENCH .... 152

XXX. "THE NILE'S PROUD FIGHT "-

EARLY CAREER OF NELSON .... 159

XXXI. THE HISTORY OF EGYPT CLEO-
PATRA 170

XXXII. THE HISTORY OF EGYPT AN-
TONY AND CLEOPATRA 179

XXXIIL THE HISTORY OF EGYPT THE

FALL OF CLEOPATRA 184

XXXIV. GORDON CHINA ONCE MORE

THE CAPE 195

XXXV. GORDON IN PALESTINE. ... 199

XXXVI. SIR SIDNEY SMITH His DE-
FENCE OF ACRE 205

XXXVIL SIR SIDNEY SMITH THE EL
ARISCH CONVENTION AN HONOUR-
ABLE SOLDIER 211

XXXVIII. SIR JOHN MOORE A SOL-
DIER'S CAREER 216

XXXIX. SIR JOHN MOORE SERVICES IN

EGYPT DEATH AT CORUNNA . . . 225

XL. MODERN EGYPT ENGLISH CRU-
SADERS OUR OWN DAY 230

XLL MODERN EGYPT ARAIU'S REBEL-
LION BOMBARDMENT OF ALEXANDRIA 234

XLIL A ROMANCE FROM THE BLUE-
BOOKS 237

XLIII. THE ALEXANDRIA RIOTS NAR-
RATIVES OF EYE-WITNESSES .... 244

XLIV. LORD ALCESTER A BRIEF RE-
CORD OF ins CAREER 250

XLV. GORDON His OPINION AS TO THE

SOUDAN 253

XLVI. GORDON EN ROUTE FOR KHARTOUM 259

XLVIL MODERN EGYPT THE VICTORY

OF TEL-EL KEBIR 268

XLVIII. MODERN EGYPT EXPEDITION

OF HICKS PASHA 271

TABLE OP CONTENTS.

XLIX. MODERN EGYPT DESTRUCTION

OF HICKS PASHA'S ARMY 274

L. THE MAHDI THE STORY OF HIS

ORIGIN 279

LI. THE MAHDI How HE ATTAINED

POWER 282

LII. THE MAHDI THE SECRET OF HIS

SUCCESS 285

LI II. GORDON His MISSION IN THE

SOUDAN 288

LIV. GORDON ARRIVAL IN KHARTOUM

THE SLAVERY PROCLAMATION . . 293

LV. Two BRITISH WAR CORRESPONDENTS
MR. CAMERON AND MR. ST. LEGER
HERBERT 298

LVI. LORD WOLSELEY EARLY YEARS OF

SERVICE 303

LVI I. LORD WOLSELEY RECORDS OF AN

ACTIVE CAREER 310

LVI1I. LORD WOLSELEY SERVICES IN

AMERICA AND AFRICA 314

LIX. -LORD WOLSELEY FURTHER TOILS

AND SUCCESSES 320

LX. LORD WOLSELEY EGYPTIAN EX-
PEDITION CHARACTERISTICS AS A
WRITER 324

LXI. LORD WOLSELEY ILLUSTRATIONS
FROM SCENES IN HIS LIFE His
CHARACTER AS DRAWN BY MR. ARCHI-
BALD FORBES 327

LXII. GRAHAM'S EXPEDITION DEFEAT

OF BAKER PASHA NEW PREPARATIONS 332

LXIII. GRAHAM'S EXPEDITION EL TEB

AND TAMANIEB 337

LXIV. OSMAN DlGNA HIS LlFE AT

SOUAKIN BECOMES THE MAHDI'S
LIEUTENANT 343

LXV. GORDON THE SIEGE OF KHAR-
TOUM SUMMARY 347

LXVL GORDON DESPATCHES RELATING

TO THE KHARTOUM EXPEDITION . . 356

LXVII. GORDON LIFE IN KHARTOUM

THE DOOMED CITY 361

LXVIII. GORDON INCIDENTS OF THE

SIEGE OF KHARTOUM 366

LXIX. GORDON His KHARTOUM DIARIES 368

LXX. GORDON His KHARTOUM DIARIES 371

LXXI. GORDON SCENES OF SUFFERING
AT THE FALL OF KHARTOUM THE
END OF THE TRAITOR 373

LXXII. GORDON His DEATH SUCCESS

OF THE MAHDI 376

LXXIII. GORDON EFFECT OF NEWS OF
HIS DEATH IN ENGLAND THE EX-
AMPLE OF HIS LIFE- 380

LXXIV. GORDON A NATION'S GRIEF

AN ELOQUENT TRIBUTE 384

LXXV. GORDON THE NATIONAL

MEMORIAL 388

LXXVI. GORDON THE BOYS' CAMP

FAMILY WISHES AND THOUGHTS . . 392

PAG tt

LXXVII. GORDON CONCLUDING RE-
FLECTIONS AND REMINISCENCES . . 394
LXXVIII. ADDITIONAL FACTS ABOUT

OUR WAR CORRESPONDENTS .... 398
LXXIX. HASSAN, THE EGYPTIAN SOL-
DIER PRINCE A SUMMARY OF HIS
CAREER 402

LXXX. THE AUSTRALIAN CONTINGENT
IN THE SOUDAN "FiT TO Go ANY-
WHERE AND Do ANYTHING" . . . 406

LXXXI. THE AUSTRALIAN CONTINGENT 408

LXXXII. THE KHARTOUM RELIEF EXPEDI-
TION THE START THE CAMEL CORPS 41 1

LXXXIII. THE KHARTOUM RELIEF EXPE-
DITION LORD WOLSELEY'S PLANS . . 413

LXXXIV. THE KHARTOUM RELIEF EX-
PEDITION ABU KLEA BEFORE THE
BATTLE 418

LXXXV. THE KHARTOUM RELIEF EX-
PEDITION BATTLE OF ABU KLEA . . 420

LXXXVL THE KHARTOUM RELIEF EX-
PEDITIONABU KLEA CLOSE OF THE
BATTLE 425

LXXXVIL THE KHARTOUM RELIEF EX-
PEDITIONON TOWARDS THE NlLE ! . 429

LXXXVIII. THE KHARTOUM RELIEF EX-
PEDITION BATTLE OF GUBAT THE
NILE REACHED 432

LXXXIX. THE KHARTOUM RELIEF EX-
PEDITION HOPES AND PLANS . , . 437

XC. THE KHARTOUM RELIEF EXPEDITION
NARRATIVE OF WILSON'S VOYAGE
AND BERESFORD'S RESCUE .... 439

XCI. THE KHARTOUM RELIEF EXPEDI-
TIONRETREAT FROM ABU KRU TO
ABU KLEA 445

XCII. THE KHARTOUM RELIEF EXPEDI-
TION RETREAT FROM ABU KLEA TO
GAKDUL 451

XCIII. THE KHARTOUM RELIEF EXPEDI-
TION LIFE AT KORTI 456

XCIV. THE KHARTOUM RELIEF EXPEDI-
TION EARLE'S ADVANCE FORCE RE-
CALLED TO KORTI 462:

XCV. THE EASTERN SOUDAN CAMPAIGN

SOUAKIN TO BERBER 464

XCVI. THE EASTERN SOUDAN CAMPAIGN

THE BATTLE OF HASHEEN. . . . 467

XCVII. ENGINEERING IN THE DESERT

THE SOUAKIN-BERBER RAILWAY . . 470

XCVIII. AN ENGLISHMAN'S LIFE IN

EGYPT A SUMMER'S DAY IN SOUAKIN 474

XCIX. EVACUATION OF THE SOUDAN

DEATH OF THE MAHDI 477

C. EGYPTIAN INCIDENTS A CAMEL JOUR-
NEY 480

CL EGYPTIAN INCIDENTS TRAVELLING

NEAR KHARTOUM 486

CII. EGYPTIAN INCIDENTS 491

CIII. EGYPTIAN INCIDENTS FATHER

BONONI'S NARRATIVE ...... 495

LIST OF COLOURED PL/TES /NO WOOD

COLOURED PLATES.

GENERAL GORDON Frontispiece

EMBLEMATIC DESIGN ENGLAND AND EGYPT Vignette Title

COL. FRED BURNABY 78

JAMES BRUCE AND M. PARK 119

THE SULTAN OF TURKEY 239

LORD ALCESTER 250

GENERAL LORD WOLSELEY 303

PRINCE HASSAN 410

WOOD ENGRAVINGS.

PAGE

EMBLEMATIC DESIGN I

SCENE ON THE BANKS OK THE NILE . . 4

EMBLEMATIC DESIGN 5

EGYPTIAN WOMAN 9

GORDON ON THE WAY TO KHARTOUM . . 13

EMBLEMATIC DESIGN 14

-GORDON'S BATTERY, CRIMEA 17

EMBLEMATIC DESIGN 18

GORDON IN ARMENIA, 1857 20

GORDON IN CHINA, 1863 NARROW ESCAPE

NEAR SOOCHOW 21

GORDON IN CHINA, 1863 THE STORMING

OP LEEKU 28

GORDON'S SHIP, THE " HYSON " . . . . 33

CHINESE JUNKS 37

GRAVESEND GORDON AND " His KINGS " 40

GORDON VISITING CARTER AT GRAVESEND 44

THE PRAYER IN THE DESERT .... 48

GORDON DISCOVERING HIDDEN SLAVES . 49
GORDON A JOURNEY THROUGH THE

DESERT 53

CAIRO FROM THE CITADEL 57

THE RUINS OF THEBES 64

THE SPHINX 65

THE PYRAMIDS, GIZEH 65

GENERAL SIR HERBERT STEWART ... 72
SOMERBY HALL COLONEL BURNAHY'S RE-
SIDENCE 73

BURNABY STOPPED BY CARLIST OUTPOSTS 80

THE RIDE TO KHIVA 81

JOSEPH'S WELL AT CAIRO 88

PAGE

EGYPTIAN PEASANT IRRIGATING HIS FIELD 89

STORING CORN 96

ANCIENT EGYPTIAN CARTS. FROM A BAS-
RELIEF 97

EGYPTIAN TEMPLE TO GOD APIS . . . 100

VIEW OF KHARTOUM 104

THE ISLAND OF TUTI, OPPOSITE KHARTOUM 105
THE CAMEL'S NECK A DIFFICULT PAS-
SAGE ON THE NILE 112

TOWING A BOAT up THE RAPIDS ... 113

EMBLEMATIC DESIGN 114

SCENE ON THE EQUATORIAL NILE . . . 120

SITE OF TADMOR 121

THE DIREFUL SIMOON 128

JAMES BRUCE 129

OSYMANDUS RAMESES-MIAMUN SESOSTRIS

PSAMMETICHUS 137

GORDON TRAVELLING IN THE SOUDAN . 144
THE PALACE WHERE GORDON LIVED,

KHARTOUM 145

THE FRENCH IN EGYPT 152

MENOU'S HOUSE IN CAIRO 153

BATTLE OF THE NILE ON BOARD THE

FLAGSHIP 161

RUINS OF PALACE ON THE BANKS OF THE

NILE 169

CHINA REVISITED 176

ST. STEPHEN'S GATE, JERUSALEM , . . 184

THE GOLDEN GATE, JERUSALEM .... 185

STREET IN CAIRO 193

GORDON IN MANDARIN'S DRESS .... 196

via

U'OOD ENGRAVINGS.

EMBLEMATIC DESIGN 198

GORDON IN PALESTINE NAZARETH. . . 200
GORDON IN PALESTINE INTERIOR OF THE

CHURCH OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE . 201

I'.MI.I i MAI i> DESIGN 204

EGYPTIAN BAZAAR 217

EGYPTIAN CATTLE MARKET 224

THE RETURN FROM THE FIELD .... 225

EGYPTIAN BEGGARS 232

AN EGYPTIAN INTERIOR A FEAST DAY . 233

TEWFIK, KHEDIVE OF EGYPT 240

THE GRAND SQUARE, ALEXANDRIA ... 241

ARABI, THE REBEL PASHA 248

EMBLEMATIC DESIGN 249

SIR E. MAI KI- 257

ARABI'S HOUSE, CEYLON 272

VIEW NEAR ARABI'S RESIDENCE IN CEYLON 273

BERBER 276

EL OBEID, NEAR WHICH THE ARMY OF

HICKS PASHA WAS DESTROYED . . . 277

EMBLEMATIC DESIGN 278

MOHAMMED AHMED, THE MAHDI ... 281
THE MIRAGE AN INCIDENT OF DESERT

TRAVEL 289

GORDON THE RETURN TO THE SOUDAN . 296

MARKET PLACE, KHARTOUM 297

A SLAVE MERCHANT 304

THE SLAVE MARKET 305

GOLDEN BRIDGE HOUSE, COUNTY DUBLIN 312

HOLLYMOUNT, RATHMINES, DUBLIN . . 313

EMBLEMATIC DESIGN 319

THE ZULU CHIEFS SIGNING THE PEACE

STIPULATIONS AT ULUNDI . . . . 321
THE RETURN FROM EGYPT THE WELCOME

AT DOVER, OCTOBER 28, 1882 . . . 329
LIEUT.-GENERAL SIR GERALD GRAHAM,

V.C., K.C.B 333

SOUAKIN, FROM THE ENTRANCE TO THE

HARBOUR 337

OSMAN DlGNA 345

OUTSKIRTS OF GAREFF 348

MAP OF THE SOUDAN 349

EMBLEMATIC DESIGN 355

ZEBEHR PASHA 360

SHALLOWS OF THE BLUE NILE NEAR

KHARTOUM 361

ONE OF GORDON'S NOTES IN CIRCULATION

AT KHARTOUM 367

MR. FRANK POWER, " TIMES " CORRESPON-
DENT AT KHARTOUM 369

GORDON'S STEAMERS 372

WOMAN OF KHARTOUM 377

'THE MAGIC WAND OF VICTORY .... 395

THE PEACEFUL DAYS OF EGYPTIAN TRAVEL 400

EGYTIAN SUGAR CANE MARKET .... 401

EGYPTIAN HERD-BOY 402

RETURN AT EVENING 403

YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY IN EGYPT . . 405

A DANGEROUS BIT OF THE RIVER . . . 414
REPAIRING A BOAT ON THE BANKS OF

THE NILE 415

LORD WOLSELEY'S YACHT AT THE HEAD

OF THE FIRST CATARACT 416

EMBLEMATIC DESIGN 417

BATTLE OF ABU KLEA DEATH OF BUR-

NABY 421

BATTLE OF GUBAT " THE THICK OF THE

FIGHT" . 433

WATER AT LAST FIRST SIGHT OF THE

NILE AFTER THE BATTLE OF GUBAT . 436

COLONEL SIR CHARLES WILSON .... 440

LORD CHARLES BERESFORD 441

LORD WOLSELEY'S HEADQUARTERS. . . 457

EGYPTIAN PORTER 475

LIQUORICE WATER SELLER 476

AN OASIS IN THE DESERT 481

A COUNTRY REPAST 485

A BEND IN THE RIVER 489

AN ANGLO-EGYPTIAN TOWN 497

EMBLEMATIC DESIGN 502

INTRODUCTION.

ENGLAND and Egypt ! How strange it seems
that these two countries should in any way
be connected ! How wonderful that the one should
now so powerfully influence the other ! In the whole
world it would be impossible to find any pair that are
more dissimilar. The one, though cold in climate,
wanting in sunshine, is inhabited by a race of hardy
and active men, who have however to turn the very
disadvantages under which they labour into advan-
tages ; to spread themselves over all the world, and
to fill the whole earth with the fame of their deeds.

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

The other is placed under a burning sun, which produces either the terrible sterility
of the desert or the rank luxuriance of the moistened valley. It is inhabited by a race
of princes, oppressors, and their miserable serfs. Here is liberty, progress, wide-
spread comfort, Christian civilization ; there is slavery, ignorance, heathen barbarism.
Yet it was not always so. Unlike in many things, England and Egypt are most unlike
in their past history. The history of our own country is all a thing of yesterday ; the
history of Egypt takes us back to the most remote past. It is connected with the
very earliest annals of our race. Let us take a thousand years from the records of
England : there remains but the story of a barbarous people. The exploits of Julius
Caesar in Britain belong to Rome, not to England. It is only from a good many
centuries later that we can really say our history begins. Nay, if we take little more
than five hundred years from our records, there is very little that is worth recording
left. Let us take a little more than this. Let us go back to Magna Charta, which
was obtained in 1215. There is perhaps no event before this, with the exception of the
exploits of Alfred, which Englishmen can dwell upon with unmixed pleasure. After it
came the growth of parliament and of constitutional freedom ; all the great names in
English literature; all the prosperity of our country; all the world-wide fame of our
empire.

Look now at Egypt, and consider how great the difference. A thousand years ago
all that makes Egypt famous in the history of the world had not only already happened,
but was already in the distant past. The pyramids had been built, her great cities had
flourished and decayed, Alexander and Caesar had passed as conqueror over her; the
lustre of her renown had at that distant time a hoary antiquity which is not perceptibly
greater now than it was then. In old times Egypt was famed for the wisdom of its
learned men and the fertility of its soil. It is said that Plato, one of the greatest men
the world ever saw, travelled to Egypt 2,400 years ago, and learned the germs of his
system of philosophy from the priests of that country.

According to the most authentic account, Greece derives many of her arts from it.
Cecrops and Danaus were Egyptians.

" The countries which these adventurers abandoned had not, according to modern
ideas, attained a very high degree of maturity in laws and government. Yet it cannot
be doubted that the natives of Egypt and the East were acquainted with many improve-
ments unknown to the Hellenic tribes. Conjectures are not to be placed in the rank
of facts ; yet, in matters so ancient and obscure, we may be allowed to conjecture from
the only facts on record, that the invaders of Greece introduced into that country the
knowledge of the Phoenician alphabet, improved the practice of agriculture, multiplied
the rites of religion, and discovered to the Greeks several uses of the metals."

The fertility of Egypt was so highly esteemed in later times that that country was
known as the granary of Rome. From this " granary " the supplies were drawn with
which the pauper masters of the world were fed. It is to her wealth as much as to that
of India, that the term " exhaustless " is applied by our own poets. How her riches had
impressed the minds of our greatest poets let this extract from Shakespeare, telling of the
splendid appearance of Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt, testify :

INTROD UCTION.

"The barge she sat in, like a burnished throne,
Burned on the water : the poop was beaten gold ;
Purple the sails, and so perfumed, that
The winds were love-sick with them : the oars were silver,
Which to the tune of flutes kept stroke, and made
The water which they beat to follow faster,
As amorous of their strokes. For her own person,
It beggared all description : she did lie
In her pavilion cloth-of-gold, of tissue
O'er-picturing that Venus where we see
The fancy out-work nature : on each side her
Stood pretty dimpled boys, like smiling Cupids,
With divers-coloured fans, whose wind did seem
To glow the delicate cheeks which they did cool,
And what they undid did.

* * *

From the barge

A strange invisible perfume hits the sense
Of the adjacent wharfs. The city cast
Her people out upon her; and Antony,
Enthroned i' the market-place, did sit alone,
Whistling to the air ; which, but for vacancy,
Had gone to gaze on Cleopatra too,
And made a gap in nature."

This is a splendid description of female beauty ; but it is the beauty of an Egyptian
woman, and it is painted with the rich luxury of her country for a background.

The same English notion of Egyptian wealth appears in Spenser, though in a more
commonplace and almost comical form :

" As when old father Nilus 'gins to swell

With timely pride above the /Egyptian vale,
His fattie waves do fertile slime outwell,
And overflow each plain and lowly dale."

And then the poet goes on to tell us how out of this rich and rank fertility all sorts
of strange shapes are produced.

Within the past hundred years or so English interest has on several occasions been
most powerfully attracted to Egypt Our travellers, from Bruce to Livingstone, have
sought the long hidden sources of the Nile ; our wise men have studied the monuments
of distant ages which abound in Egypt ; and our soldiers have dyed its sands with their
blood, and gained just glory on many a hard-fought field in that country.

Napoleon attempted through it to strike at our Indian empire ; but he was checked,
and his soldiers were at last utterly routed by the bravery of our troops and the skill
of our generals. In our own day we have been obliged to interfere in the affairs of that
country. Here our soldiers, Wolseley, Burnaby, Stewart, and many others, have added
to their laurels by deeds of skill and daring. It was here that Chinese Gordon per-
formed actions so heroic and remarkable that they are almost without parallel in the
history of mankind. His former exploits were indeed remarkable, but these are more
so, and his name will go down to a remote posterity connected rather with Egypt, with
the Soudan, and with Khartoum still more, than with China. When will that adventurous

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

and almost solitary journey to Khartoum, and bis heroic defence of that town against
fearful odds and with the scantiest of resources, be forgotten ?

It is the purpose of this work, then, to tell of the famous deeds of our countrymen in
Egypt We shall take occasion to describe that country, and to record the most remark-
able and interesting facts in the past and present condition of its people. We shall
tell of the brave deeds of former days wrought by Britons there ; but with special and
particular fulness we shall describe the war that grew out of Arabi's rebellion, and give
prominence to the varying fortunes of the expedition for the relief of Khartoum.

We shall intersperse our narrative with copious and entertaining biographies of men
like Gordon, Wolseley, Burnaby, and Stewart. In this we shall not only describe their
Egyptian exploits, but also note what is of interest in their past life.

Our work will be copiously illustrated by some of the best artists of the day, and
altogether it will form a highly entertaining and instructive record of British valour and
heroism in one of the most remarkable countries in the world.

SCENE ON THE BANKS OF THE NILE.

THE EGYPT OF TO-DAY THE J^YSTERIOUS

NILE.

N order that we may start with a clear and
precise idea of the country about which we
are writing, let us give first some account of
Egypt as it exists at the present day. The
name Egypt, we may remark, means black ;
thus Egypt is the black land, and it is so called from the
dark colour of its fertile soil. In Hebrew it has a name
meaning fruitful ; in Greek, also a word of the same signifi-
cation.

"The extent of the cultivated land in Egypt," says Mr.
Lane, " is equal to rather more than a square degree and a
half; in other words, 5,500 square geographical miles. This
is less than half the extent of the land which is compassed
within the confines of the desert ; for many parts within the
limits of the cultivated land are too high to be inundated, and
consequently are not cultivated ; and other parts, particularly
in Lower Egypt, are occupied by lakes, or mostly a drifted
sand. Allowance also must be made for the space which is

THE ENGLISH /A EGYPT.

occupied by towns and villages, the river,
canals, etc. Lower Egypt comprises about
the same extent of cultivated land as the
whole of Upper Egypt" Of late years there
has been a slight increase.

Some years ago the rule of the Viceroy
was established over an extensive region
to the south, officially called the Soudan,
which comprises Lower Nubia, Senaar,
Dongola, Tabia, etc., etc. Also this being
taken in, Egypt comprises about 730,000
square miles. " With the exception of a
few small rivers that empty into the Red
Sea, the Nile is the main irrigator of the
country. The White and Blue Nile unite
near the city of Khartoum, forming the Nile
proper, which assumes a winding north-east
course through Nubia, and receives near
El-Damar the Atbara coming from the south-
east It enters Egypt proper at Philal, where
it descends the famous cataracts, and flows
thence, unbroken by falls or rapids, and not
augmented even by a rivulet, till it reaches
the Mediterranean. From the cataracts the
river, whose general breadth is about half a
mile, flows for 600 miles through a valley
bounded by hills varying in height from
300 to 1,200 feet The average breadth of
the valley is seven or eight miles ; its great-
est breadth is eleven miles. Anciently the
whole of this valley was called Upper Egypt,
but afterwards the term Middle Egypt was
applied to the northern part of it About
100 miles from the sea the hills disappear,
and the river enters an extensive and per-
fectly level alluvial plain, where, twelve
miles north of Cairo, it separates into two
great streams which continually diverge
until they reach the Mediterranean by
mouths about eighty miles apart : the east-
ern at Damietta, and the western at Rosetta.
This great plain is Lower Egypt. The tri-
angular space inclosed by the two arms of
the river and the sea is called the Delta,
from its resemblance in shape to the Greek
letter A ; but the term Delta is sometimes
applied to the whole plain, or to so much
of it as consists of fertile land. The greater
part of the country consists of deserts, with

the exception of the valley of the Nile and a
few oases. The one which was said to con-
tain the temple of Jupiter Ammon is the
largest. The desert between the Nile and
the Red Sea is intersected by chains of
mountains, whose highest summits attain an
elevation of 6,000 feet The most noted
lake of Egypt is Berbet-el-Keroon, which
is thirty miles long and three miles broad.
The remains of the famous ancient arti-
ficial lake, Moeris, have been identified.
North of it, at the distance of fifty miles,
are the natron lakes, from which the water
evaporates in the dry season, leaving the
ground covered with a crust of natron, or
carbonate of soda. Along the sea-coast of
the Delta is a series of lagoons, stretching
for nearly 200 miles. From a very ancient
period Egypt has been divided by canals,
chiefly constructed to facilitate the distribu-
tion of the water of the Nile for irrigation.

The most striking geological feature of
Egypt is the vast bed of alluvium deposited
by the Nile, which covers all Lower Egypt
to a depth that probably averages thirty or
forty feet. The predominant rocks are
limestone, sandstone, and granite. The
great pyramids are built of limestone, and
stand on a limestone plateau. From the
quarries of this sandstone most of the
temples of Egypt have been built. At
Assuan, at the southern extremity of the
country, granite predominates, and the quar-
ries there have chiefly furnished the ma-
terials for the obelisks and colossal statues
of Egypt. The soil is of unsurpassed fer-
tility, and its richness is annually revived
by the inundation of the Nile, which de-
posits upon the land a coating of mud,
rendering needless any other manure. In
many parts ploughing is dispensed with, the
seed being thrown upon the mud, and
sheep, goats, and oxen turned loose in the
fields to trample in the grain ; though in
other parts agriculture is carried on with
considerable labour and care, especially
where artificial irrigation can be resorted
to."

" As a waterway," remarks Mr. H. A.

THE EGYPT OF TO-DAY. THE MYSTERIOUS NILE.

Webster, the well-known scientist and geo-
grapher, in his article in the Encyclopaedia
Britannica, " leading into the heart of
Africa, the Nile at first sight might appear
to be of more importance than it is.
Steamers, it is true, as well as sailing craft,
can pass up from Egypt as far as Bedden, a
distance of 2,900 miles ; but even at the
period of high water (June to August) the
ascent of the cataracts between Wady
Haifa and Berber is so dangerous for vessels
of any size that the river-route is seldom
followed throughout. From Wady Haifa
the traveller may proceed by camel to El
Ordeh (New Dongola), thence take boat to
El Dabbeh or to Old Dongola, and again
proceed by land either to Berber, Shendy,
or Khartoum. Or, instead, he may leave
the river at Korosko, and strike through
the Nubian desert direct to Berber. From
Berber, which is also the terminus of a
route often used from Souakim (Suakin) on
the Red Sea, steamers ply up the river, but
it sometimes takes nineteen days to reach
Khartoum. The difficulties of navigating
the Kir have already been described.
Above Bedden the steamer again finds a
free course from Dufile to the neighbour-
hood of the Murchison Fall ; but the route
to Victoria Nyanza is again overland from
Magungo. It is found more expeditious
to come to the equatorial regions from the
east coast than up the Nile valley.

The ancients knew little of the course
of the Nile above MERGE. Juba, in his
Libyca, quoted by Pliny, makes the Nile
rise in western Mauretania, not far from the
ocean, in a lake presenting characteristic
Nile fauna," then pass underground for
several days' journey to a similar lake in
Mauretania Caesariensis, again continue
underground for twenty days' journey to
the source called Nigris, on the borders of
Africa and Ethiopia, and thence flow through
Ethiopia as the Astapus. This tissue of
invention received strange favour in the
eyes of many subsequent geographers, and
actually left its traces in some of our maps
down to a comparatively modern time.

Strabo, who ascended the river as far as
Syene, states that very early investigators
had connected the inundation of the lower
Nile with summer rains on the far southern
mountains, and that their theory had been
confirmed by the observations of travellers
under the Ptolemies. Nero despatched two
centurions on an expedition for the express
purpose of exploring the Nile ; and Seneca
informs us that they reached a marshy
impassable region, which may be easily
identified with the country of the White
Nile above the mouth of the Sobat. To
what they referred when they reported a
great mass of water falling from between
two rocks is not so readily determined.
By the time of Ptolemy information had
somewhat accumulated. Two streams, he
says, issuing from two lakes * Cone in 6
and the other in 7 S. lat), unite in 2 N.
lat. to make the Nile, which in 1 2 N. lat.
receives the Astapus, a river flowing from
Lake Coloe (on the equator). Thus it
would appear that he had heard vaguely
about the lakes which we know as Victoria
Nyanza, Albert Nyanza, and Tana. His
two southern lakes, he conceived, were fed
by the melting of snows on a range of
mountains running east and west for up-
wards of 500 miles the Mountains of the
Moon. To this opinion he was probably
led by hearsay about the snow-clad summits
of Kilimanjaro and Kenia. On all the
subsequent history of the geography of the
Nile Ptolemy's theory had an enormous
influence. Mediaeval maps and descrip-
tions, both European and Arabian, repro-
duce the Mountains of the Moon and the
equatorial lakes with a variety of probable
or impossible modifications. Even Speke
congratulated himself on identifying the old
Ptolemean range with the high lands to the
north of Tanganyika, and connected the
name with that of Unyamwezi, the ' country
of the moon.' Attacking the lake region
from the east coast, the Portuguese cx-

* The two lakes afterwards received the names
Lake of Crocodiles and Lake of Cataracts.

THE ENGLISH IN EGYP1

plorers gained a good deal of information,
which found its way into such maps as
those of Pigafetta (1580); but it was not
till the present century that the geography
of those parts was placed on the basis of
fully accepted observations. On November
i4th, 1770, Bruce reached Lake Tana, and
considering, as he did, that the Blue Nile
was the main branch, very fairly claimed
for himself the honour of being the dis-
coverer of the long-sought caput Nili, the
source of the Nile."

In Egypt* grapes are plentiful, and other
fruits abound, of which the most common
are dates, figs, pomegranates, apricots,
peaches, oranges, lemons, citrons, bananas,
mulberries, and olives. There are no forests
in Egypt, and few trees of any kind except
the palm, of which there are usually groves
around the villages. From the absence of
forests there are few wild beasts, the prin-
cipal species being the wolf, fox, jackal,
hysena, wild ass, and some herds of ante-
lope. The chief domestic animals are
camels, horses, asses, horned cattle, and
sheep. The hippopotamus is no longer
found in Egypt, though it is met with in
the Nile above the cataracts ; and the croco-
dile has abandoned the lower part of the
river and is rare even in Upper Egypt.
Among the birds are vultures (which some-
times measure 15 feet across the wings),
eagles, falcons, hawks, the ibis, and the
beautiful hoopoe, which is regarded with
superstitious reverence. The ostrich is found
in the desert. Among the reptiles is the
deadly asp. Fishes abound in the Nile
and in the lakes, and furnish a common
and favourite article of food. Locusts occa-

* Consult American Clyclofadia for a complete
account.

sionally invade the country and commit
great ravages.

The climate of Upper Egypt differs from
that of Lower Egypt, which has occasionally
considerable rain, while the former is an
almost totally rainless district. The average
temperature of Lower Egypt ranges be-
tween 80 and 90 in summer, and 50 to
60 in winter. In Upper Egypt it is about
ten degrees hotter. One of the most dis-
agreeable features of the climate is the
khamsin, a hot wind from the desert, which
prevails for fifty days, beginning generally
about May 2nd, and has a peculiarly op-
pressive and unhealthy effect. The popu-
lation is about 6,000,000, of whom about
100,000 are foreign. The inhabitants are
nearly all Mohammedans. They call them-
selves Arabs, though they are probably in
great part descended from the ancient
Egyptians. They are handsome, well-made,
and courteous. In Northern Egypt they
are of a yellowish complexion, growing
darker towards the south, until they here
become a deep bronze. Mr. Lane speaks
highly of their mental capacity, and gives
them credit for considerable quickness of
apprehension and readiness of wit. They
are highly religious, and are generally
honest, cheerful, humane, and hospitable.
The Arabs of pure blood belonging to
Egypt are chiefly Bedouins, who dwell in
tents in the desert. The native Christians,
termed Copts, are the recognised descend-
ants of the ancient inhabitants. Agriculture
is the occupation of the greater part of the
people.

At the head of the Government stands
the Khedive, a vassal of the Sultan of Tur-
key, whose office is hereditary from father
to son. He pays an annual tribute to Tur-
key. Such then is a brief picture of the
present state of Egypt.

THE EGYPT OF TO-DAY.

EGYPTIAN WOMAN.

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

CHAPTER II.

GORDON THE fiERO AND DELIVERER.

MOTLEY and excited
crowd thronged the streets
of old Khartoum on the
morning of February igth,
1884. A proclamation had
been issued the previous day by the famous
General Gordon, promising the natives that
their grievances would be redressed, and
the iniquitous rule of Turk and Egyptian
broken for ever. The Pall Mall Gazette
thus described the remarkable scene that
took place :

"General Gordon arrived at Khartoum
on February iSth. His arrival led to a
wonderful demonstration of welcome by
the people, thousands of them crowding to
kiss his hands and feet, and calling him the
' Sultan of the Soudan.'

The Times correspondent, telegraphing
the same day, says : His speech to the
people was received with enthusiasm. He
said : ' I come without soldiers, but with
God on my side, to redress the evils of the
Soudan. I will not fight with any weapons
but justice. There shall be no more Bashi-
Bazouks.' It is now believed that he will
relieve the Bahr Gazelle garrisons without
firing a shot. Since they heard that he was
coming the aspect of the people has so
changed that there are no longer any fears
of disturbances in the town. They say
that he is giving them more than even the
Mahdi could give. He is sending out
proclamations in all directions. Such is the
influence of one man, that there are no
longer any fears for the garrison or people
of Khartoum.

What happened on the day of his arrival
is thus described by Mr. Power : Yesterday
was one series of acceptable surprises for
the people of Khartoum. General Gordon's
proclamation preceded him, and immedi-

ately on his arrival he summoned the
officials, thus preparing the people for some
salutary changes. He next held a levee at
the Mudirieh, the entire population, even
the poorest Arab, being admitted. On his
way between the Mudirieh and the palace
about 1,000 persons pressed forward kiss-
ing his hands and feet, and calling him
'Sultan,' 'Father,' and 'Saviour of K6r-
dofan.'

General Gordon and Colonel Stewart at
once opened offices in the palace, giving
to every one with a grievance admittance
and a careful hearing. The Government
books, recording from time immemorial the
outstanding debts of the overtaxed people,
were publicly burned in front of the palace.
The kourbashes, whips, and implements for
administering the bastinado from Govern-
ment House were all placed on the blazing
pile. The evidence of debts and the em-
blems of oppression perished together.

In the afternoon General Gordon
created a council of the local notables, all
Arabs. Then he visited the hospital and
arsenal. With Colonel Stewart, Coetlogon
Pasha, and the English consul, he visited
the prison, and found it to be a dreadful
den of misery. Two hundred wretches
loaded with chains lay there. They were
of all ages, boys and old men, some having
never been tried, some having been proved
innocent, but forgotten for over six months,
some arrested on suspicion and detained
there more than three years, many merely
prisoners of war, and one a woman, who
had spent fifteen years in the prison for
a crime committed when she was a girl.
General Gordon at once commenced to
demolish this Bastille. All the prisoners
will be briefly examined, and, if it be ad-
visable, set at liberty. Before it was dark

GORDON THE HERO AND DELIVERER.

scores of wretches had had their chains
struck off, and to-day Colonel Stewart is
continuing this work.

Last night the town was in a blaze of
illumination, the bazaar being hung with
cloth and coloured lamps, and the private
houses beautifully decorated. There was
even a fine display of fireworks by the
negro population, who indulged in great
rejoicings till midnight.

The people are devoted to General
Gordon, whose desire is to save the gar-
rison and for ever leave the Soudan as
perforce it must be left to the Soudanese.

General Gordon has appointed Afresh
Bey Shilook, a negro, who won the Legion
of Honour under Bazaine in Mexico, com-
mandant of the troops remaining in Khar-
toum. All the Soudanese are to stay, all
the white troops are to go to Omdurman,
on the other side of the White Nile, and to
be sent down the river in detachments,
with their families, and the Europeans who
wish to go. On the 2oth he opened two
new gates in the fortifications, and abolished
the octroi and market duties.

A correspondent thus reports his pro-
ceedings on the 2ist :

All the fellaheen troops have been
ordered back to Cairo. General Gordon
is perfectly confident that he will accom-
plish the pacification of the Soudan without
firing a shot, such is the effect of the
almost incredible influence which he has
hourly manifested.

Colonel Stewart is hard at work exami-
ning the prisons and liberating the poor
wretches confined in them. Many of them
have been waiting several years for trial ;
many have remained long after their sen-
tences had expired. In many cases the
offences are unknown to the gaolers, and
one man has been in confinement for a
year awaiting his trial for stealing property
to the value of five shillings.

To-day Sheikh Belud, of Khartoum,
was carried into General Gordon's presence
with his feet fearfully mutilated. Six weeks
ago Hussein Pasha Cheri, the late Vice-

Governor, bastinadoed the old man till the
sinews of his feet were exposed. General
Gordon has telegraphed to Cairo to have
^50 stopped from Hussein Pasha Cheri's
pay for the benefit of the sheikh. If he
objects to this deduction he is to be re-
turned for trial.

The minor authorities are accustomed
to demand baksheesh from all people
entering the one gate which is left open.
General Gordon has now opened two
more gates and prohibited the custom, and
he has proclaimed a free market. He has
also established boxes, into which the
people can drop petitions and complaints.
All these are examined, and the blame is
quickly saddled on any official guilty of
not allowing a petitioner the full benefit of
the proclamation.

The proclamation is posted everywhere.
It gives more than the Mahdi has promised,
and is quickly restoring peace and secure
government. The General believes that
the petition-box system is equally applicable
to Lower Egypt, and that it would go far to
abolish the abuses incident to pasha rule."

For long years the inhabitants of the
countries bordering on Upper Egypt had
been ground down by taxation and harried
by the slave-dealers. The brave Gordon
came amongst them as their friend ; under
his former rule the resources of the country
had been wonderfully developed, and when
he left the Soudan in the year 1879 after
five and a half years of unwearied and un-
selfish labour he could say with truth, " I
have cut off the slave-dealers in their
strongholds ; and I made the people love
me!"

Gordon has ever shown amazing patience
in his dealings with the African natives.
"Theirs is a life," he said, "of fear and
misery night and day ! One does not
wonder at their not fearing death. No one
can conceive the utter misery of these
lands heat and mosquitoes day and night
all the year round. But I like the work, for
I believe I can do a great deal to amelio-
rate the lot of the people."

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

Tliis spirit of unselfishness and of a
sublime charity runs through all his work.
Every man, black or white, was "neigh-
bour " to him, and he ever fulfilled the
command of his great Master, to " love his
neighbour as himself." Against oppression
and vice he could, however, be stern and
severe. Not a few ruffians whom he caught
red-handed in flagrant acts of cruelty were
executed without mercy. So that the same
man who, by the down-trodden people, was
called the " Good Pasha," was to the
robber and murderer a terror and an
avenger. Gordon was determined to do
what lay in his power, even if it cost him
his life, to put down the slave-trade. " I
will do it," he said, " for I value my life as
nought, and should only leave much weari-
ness for perfect peace."

The same record is borne of his previous
career in China. He found the richest and
most fertile districts of that country in the
hands of the most savage brigands. The
silk districts were the scenes of their cruelty
and riot, and the great historical cities of
Hankow and Soochow were rapidly follow-
ing the fate of Nanking, and were be-
coming desolate ruins in their possession.
Gordon recovered the great cities, isolated
and utterly discouraged the brigand power,
and left them nothing but a few tracts of
devastated country and their stronghold of
Nanking.

Writing to Earl Russell in the year 1864,
Sir Frederick Bruce, the English ambassa-
dor at Pekin, bore the following testimony
to Gordon's services : " Independently of
the skill and courage he has shown, his
disinterestedness has elevated our national
character in the eyes ol the Chinese. Not
only has he refused any pecuniary reward,
but he has spent more than his pay in con-
tributing to the comfort of the officers who
served under him, and in assuaging the dis-
tress of the starving population, whom he
relieved from the yoke of their oppressors.
Indeed the feeling that impelled him to
resume operations after the fall of Soochow
was one of the purest humanity. He

sought to save the people of the districts
that had been recovered from a repetition
of the misery entailed upon them by this
cruel civil war."

The life of General Gordon has been
full of deeds of daring and hairbreadth
escapes. He was not much past middle
life, but in his adventurous career he saw
more active and arduous service than most
veterans of threescore and ten. Events fol-
low each other in the life of Gordon with
such rapidity that it is almost as difficult to
give a sketch of his career as it is for an
artist to draw his features. He flashes from
Asia to Europe, and then to Africa, more
after the manner of a telegraphic message
than of a living being subject to the fa-
tigues and necessities of a mortal man.

That he was a genius none will deny, but
he had higher qualities than mere superiority
of intellect or force of will. Gordon com-
bined within himself not only the strength
of purpose, the nobility of soul, the bravery
and contempt of personal danger, that
characterize the Paladin of romance, but
within and above all this, are modesty,
unselfishness, devotion to duty, and un-
questioning faith. " His individuality," says
Archibald Forbes, "stands out in its incom-
parable blending of masterfulness and
tenderness, of strength and sweetness. His
high nature is made the more chivalrous by
his fervent piety. His absolute trust in
God guides him serenely through the stern-
est difficulties. Because of that he is alone
in no solitude, he is depressed in no ex-
tremity. The noble character has its com-
plement in a keen sense of humour. No
matter how sombre the situation, if there
be a comic side to any incident, Gordon
sees it and enjoys it. That he has lived
through strain so intense, and toil so ardu-
ous, is probably due to the never-failing
fountain of blitheness that wells up in his
nature. He must be richly endowed with
the rare gift of personal magnetism. With-
out that men have attained to greatness :
but never with the scantiness of means at
command that has thrown Gordon back

GORDON THE HERO AND DELIVERER.

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT,

mainly on the resources of his own person-
ality ; nor ever with the scrupulousness that
has been one of the most strongly marked
traits of his career.

This may be a plodding and prosaic age;
but no age can be so conventionalised that
a man of Gordon's attributes may not find
his opportunities to perform achievements
the lustre of which stirs the astonishment
and admiration of peoples who can yet
appreciate the gifts that alone render those
achievements possible. Gordon's modesty
is great, but it would be unnatural and im-
possible that he should not feel an honest
pride in the implicit confidence that leans
on his ability to perform, single-handed,
the seemingly impossible. This confidence
has been earned by deeds, not words ; no
arts have fostered its growth ; it may be
said to have come almost in spite of the
man in whom it is reposed."

Gordon's career may be roughly divided
as follows : In the Crimea, during the war
with Russia; settling the frontier lines in
Bessarabia, and afterwards in Asia Minor ;
suppressing the Taiping rebellion in China ;
engaged on the defences of the Thames
at Tilbury ; appointed to the control of the
Soudan ; a visit to the Mauritius, and a
brief sojourn at the Cape (the latter colony,
it is said, being the only place in which his
great capabilities and high character were
unappreciated) ; and a briefer visit to India
as private secretary to Lord Ripon; and

finally his defence of Khartoum, and
murder there.

But China was the country destined to
give to the young engineer the sobriquet
by which he is now best known " Chinese
Gordon." Here he first developed that
marvellous power above all other men, of
engaging the confidence, respect, and love
of wild and irregular soldiery.

With the rank of captain he joined the
army before Pekin, in 1860. Accompanied
by Lieutenant Cardew, of the 6 7th Regi-
ment, he soon after made his celebrated
tour, on horseback, to the Great Wall of
China, at Kalgan.

We next hear of him at Shanghai, de-
fending it against the Taipings, who threat-
ened its destruction. In storming the town
of Kin tang, Gordon was shot through the
leg ; but the rebels were beaten off, and the
Chinese Government, in its gratitude for
his services, made him a mandarin and
gave him the highest rank in their army, and
well did he deserve the honour. " Never,"
wrote the Times, " did soldier of fortune
deport himself with a nicer sense of military
honour, with more gallantry against the
resisting, and with more mercy towards the
vanquished, with more disinterested neglect
of opportunities of personal advantage, or
with more active devotion to the objects
and desires of his own Government, than
this officer who, after all his victories, has just
laid down his sword." This was in 1864.

GORDON HIS YOUTH AND EARLY CAREER.

CHAPTER III.

PORDON J-fis YOUTH AND EARLY CAREER ADVENTURES
DURING THE SIEGE OF JSEBASTOPOL.

HE life of Gordon is so re-
markable, and contains so
much of unique and special
interest, that we intend to
describe even the parts of
it that are not directly connected with Egypt
with some moderate degree of fulness. At
the end of our last chapter we gave in a
few lines the headings, so to speak, of the
various divisions into which his life naturally
falls. This division we now proceed to
follow :

Charles George Gordon was the fourth
son of Lieutenant-General Henry William
Gordon, of the Royal Artillery, and was
born at Woolwich, in January, 1833. His
early education was received at a school at
Taunton. At the age of fifteen he entered
the Royal Military Academy at Wool-
wich. He must have worked hard at the
Academy, for in July, 1852, he received
his commission as second lieutenant in the
Royal Engineers. For a short time he was
engaged in making plans for forts at the
entrance of Pembroke Haven, and in No-
vember, 1854, he received orders to sail for
Corfu.

Charles Gordon was naturally anxious to
see more active service, and lived in the
hope of being sent to the Crimea. The
accounts of the protracted siege works
aroused deep interest in the mind of the
young lieutenant of Engineers. It was
natural that he shou'd display no great
eagerness to revisit the Ionian Islands,
where his father had commanded the Artil-
lery at Corfu for some years during Charles's
boyhood. He therefore asked two months'
leave, to be spent on duty at Pembroke.
This he obtained, and at length his heart's

! desire was granted, his route was changed,
and in December he left England for the
j Crimea.

On January ist, 1855, Gordon landed at
3 Balaklava from the transport Goldcji Fleece.
A few months earlier the Times correspon-
dent, Dr. Russell, had voyaged in this same
vessel, when he had a rough time of it.
On rounding Cape Malea, he says, " the
wind rushed at us with fury, and we saw
the sea broken into crests of foam, making
right at our bows. In fact we had good
reason for believing that the old mariners
i were not without warranty when they ad-
vised 'him who doubled Cape Malea to
forget his home.' We had got right into
an Etesian wind one of those riolent
\ Levanters which the learned among us said
ought to be the Euroclydon, which drove
St. Paul to Malta. Its violence was con-
siderable, and sheltered as we were to east-
ward by clusters of little islands, the sea
began to get up, and roll in confused wedges
towards the ship. She behaved nobly, and
went over them buoyantly and with great
ease, but with her small auxiliary steam
power she could scarcely hold her own
against the stiff breeze. As it increased we
were driven away to leeward, and did not
make much headway. The gusts came
I down furiously between all kinds of classical
islands, which we could not make out, for
our Maltese pilot got frightened, and re-
vealed the important secret that he did not
know one of them from the other! The
men bore up well against their Euroclydon,
i and emulated the conduct of the ship, and
night came upon us, labouring in black
jolting seas, dashing them into white spray,
and running away into dangerous unknown

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

parts, without caring in the least for the
consequences. It passed songless, dark,
agitated, and uncomfortable, and much was
the suffering in the hermetically-sealed cells
in which our officers reposed."

Gordon landed in the very middle of the
terrible "black winter." The great storm
of the previous November had caused great
havoc with the encampments, and had ship-
wrecked a great fleet of vessels laden with
stores that would have mitigated the rigour
of the bitter winter. Everywhere prevailed
misery, disease, and discontent

" Evidence of military capacity is not
wanting," says Mr. Hake, " even at this early
period of Gordon's soldiering ; and the
serene, earnest, and religious fervour which
has since been characteristic of the man was
at this time distinctly marked. Years have
only served to strengthen, not to change it"

From February 28th to April gth,
Gordon's duty was limited to the making
of new batteries in the advance trenches.
During the whole of this time active opera-
tions against the enemy seemed to have
almost ceased, save for a prolonged and
feeble duel between the French rocket
battery and the Russian artillery, the effect
of which was very slight on either side.
Now and then the wearisome work of throw-
ing up battery after battery was relieved by
the excitement of a dropping fire, either
from the enemy's trenches or from the
heights in the rear, and this was returned
by the working-party under the command
of the Engineer officer.

It was during this time that Gordon met
with a very narrow escape from a bullet
fired at him from one of the lower Russian
rifle-pits, some 180 yards away. The mis-
sile passed within an inch of his head ; but
in referring to the incident in one of his
letters home his only comment is : " The
Russians are very good marksmen; their
bullet is large and pointed."

A few days after this one of his captains,
named Craigie, was killed by a splinter
from. the enemy's shells ; and Gordon, writ-
ing home of the casualty, winds up by

saying : " I am glad to say that he (Captain
Craigie) was a serious man. The shell
burst above him, and by what is called
chance struck him in the back, killing him
at once."

On April Qth, heavy firing, which had
ceased for a little, was resumed on both
sides, and continued, with short intervals
of cessation, up to the 3oth. During this
time the casualties in the trenches were
many, with a large proportion of officers to
men among the killed. Gordon was un-
touched, though actively engaged during
the whole time, and present at several
sorties in front of the Redan, in one of
which several officers and seventy men
were killed and wounded. Writing on
April 2oth, he refers to the weakness of our
allies. He says : " I think we might have
assaulted on Monday, but the French do
not seem to care about it. The garrison
is 25,000, and on that day we heard after-
wards that only 800 men were in the place,
so the rest had gone to repel an attack
(fancied) of ours at Inkerman." And on
April 3oth he says : " We are still pushing
batteries forward as much as possible, but
cannot advance until the French take the
Mamelon, as it enfilades our advance
works. Until that occurs, things are at
a standstill." This was on April soth.
Thenceforward, until early in the month of
June, active operations ceased ; and, though
innumerable councils of war were held,
nothing definite was done or decided
upon.

Gordon's letters home during this time
have no special interest for readers now-a-
days. In one he says, " We have a great
deal to regret in the want of good, working
clergymen, there being none here that I
know of who interest themselves about
the men." He had a high respect for
the soldierhood of the Russians : " The
Russians certainly are inferior to none ;
their work is stupendous, and their shell-
practice beautiful." Again he says, " The
Russians are downhearted though deter-
mined ; they are much to be admired, and

GORDON HIS YOUTh AND EARLY CAREER.

their officers are quite as cool as our
officers under fire."

On the 6th of June the English opened
fire from all their batteries, and there
ensued a tremendous artillery duel, in
which 1,000 guns were engaged. The
casualties on the Russian side were
numerous, while our own were few.
Gordon, who was in the trenches during
the whole time, was returned as among
the wounded, but his injury was such that

he was able to continue his duty. A
stone, thrown up by a round shot, stunned
him for a second, but did him no further
hurt

On the following day the French attacked
the Mamelon, and the redoubts of Seling-
hinck and Volhynia. The Russians re-
treated towards the Malakoff, and were
rapidly followed by the French ; but the
latter were so punished by the guns from
the tower that they had to retire, pursued

GORDON'S BATTERY, CRIMEA.

by the very enemy they had been pursuing.
However, they attacked again, and while
we secured the Quarries, they carried the
Mamelon, as well as the redoubts before-
named. " Only a few lines," writes his
brother from the scene of action, " to say
Charlie is all right, and has escaped amidst
a terrific shower of grape and shells of every
description. You may imagine the sus-
pense I was kept in until assured of his
safety. He cannot write himself, and is
now fast asleep in his tent, having been in

the trenches from two o'clock yesterday
morning during the cannonade until seven
last night, and again from 1 2.30 this morn-
ing until noon."

Gordon, in his account of this successful
assault says : " I do not think the place
(Sebastopol) can hold out another ten days ;
and once taken, the Crimea is ours." Sebas-
topol did hold out for nearly ten times ten
days, but many officers in high command
have since expressed their belief that the
siege might have been brought to an end

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

in June instead of September. When Gor-
don wrote, the allied armies numbered nearly
165,000; the French were erecting a bat-
tery on the Mamelon ; the Russian works
had been completely ruined, and their
fleet its old position made untenable by
the capture of the redoubts had moved
out into the middle of the harbour. There
was an armistice for a few days for the
burial of the dead, and had it been suc-
ceeded by a bold assault upon the Malakoff
Tower, the Redan, and the central bastion,
the probability is that Gordon's impression
as to the duration of the siege would have
proved correct.

Instead of this, however, there ensued a
period of inactivity, during which Gordon
in his letters home for the first and only
time alludes to his wants, a map of the
Crimea and a bottle of Rowland's Odonto.
From this time forth to the evacuation of
Sebastopol on September 8th, the siege
operations were proceeded with slowly and
deliberately, but with a lack of energy and
activity that was wearisome and irritating.
Gordon's duty kept him in the trenches
during the whole time.

In writing his biography of "Gordon
of Gordon's Battery," Colonel Chesney takes
occasion to say something of the character
his Crimean service had earned for that
gallant officer's junior of the same name.
He says : " Gordon had first seen war in
the hard school of the ' black winter ' of the
Crimean War. In his humble position as
an engineer subaltern he had attracted the
notice of his superiors, not merely by his
energy and activity (for these are not, it
may be asserted, uncommon characteristics

of his class), but by an extraordinary apti-
tude for war, developing itself amid the
trench-work before Sebastopol in a personal
knowledge of the enemy's movements such
as no -other officer attained. ' We used
always to send him out to find what new
move the Russians were making,' was the
testimony given to his genius by one of
the most distinguished officers he served
under."

Here is another bit from Gordon's
experiences during this great siege, which
was indeed a baptism of fire to him :
" During the night of the 8th I had heard
terrific explosions, and going down to the
trenches at four next morning, I saw a
splendid sight. The whole of Sebastopol
was in flames, and every now and then
terrible explosions took place, while the
rising sun shining on the place had a most
beautiful effect. The Russians were leaving
the town by the bridge ; all the three-
deckers were sunk, the steamers alone
remaining. Tons and tons of powder must
have been blown up. About eight o'clock
I got an order to commence a plan of the
works, for which purpose I went to the
Redan, where a dreadful sight was pre-
sented. The dead were buried in the ditch
the Russians with the English Mr.
Wright reading the burial service over
them." The fires in the town continued
until the following day, so that it was not
safe for the English troops to attempt to
effect an entry until the evening of the
loth ; and when they did enter it was but
to take possession of the heap of ruins that
had once been the strong fortress of Sebas-
topol.

GORDON IN ASIA MINOR.

CHAPTER IV.

GORDON JN ASIA J&INOR ASCENT OF jVLouNT

JR.ETUR.NS TO pNGLAND.

OUNG as he was, Gordon
had made his mark. His
devotion to his profession
had well earned the warm
commendation of his su-
periors. Sir Harry Jones especially men-
tioned him as an officer who had done
gallant service, and indicated that he
had earned promotion, if the regulations
of his corps had permitted that advance-
ment. From the French Government
he received the order of the Legion of
Honour, a token of distinction conferred
on few officers of his rank, for as yet he
was a subaltern. His promotion as first
lieutenant had come to him in February,
1855, just as he began his trench work, but
he was not to get his captaincy until three
years after the Crimean War had ended.

Gordon was afterwards engaged for a
period of four months, almost without inter-
ruption, in destroying the dockyard, forts,
quays, barracks, and store-houses of the
fallen stronghold. With this work of de-
molition a work as uninteresting as it was
arduous his duties in the Crimea came to
an end.

In May, 1856, Gordon was appointed
Assistant Commissioner, and ordered to
join Major Stanton in Bessarabia, to help
in the work of laying down the new fron-
tiers of Russia, Turkey, and Roumania.
The duties of Gordon and his colleague
James were to trace a boundary about 100
miles in length, and then to compare the
Russian maps with their own to discover
in fact whether the former were correct,
and in case they were not, to survey the
ground afresh. To go about in the sum-
mer days and nights, with Eastern cities to
visit, and a new and delightful country to

explore, was no unpleasant change for two
young fellows, war-worn and wear}' with a
year's service in the Crimea, and with
month after month of bitter work in the
trenches. Gordon enjoyed himself greatly,
and was keenly interested in all he saw.

So many disputes arose between the vari-
ous representatives that the settlement of
the question detained the commissioners
eleven months in these districts. During
this period Gordon was engaged in travel-
ling from place to place, now on surveying
expeditions, now as the bearer of despatches,
now as the maker of fresh maps of disputed
points. In this way he visited Akerman,
Bolgrad, Kotimore, Kichenev, Reni Sera-
tyika, and Jassy. There was great variety
in the life he led, and with his inquiring
mind and sunny temper he was not the
man to let time hang heavily on his hands ;
yet when the survey came to an end, he
was sorry to find himself ordered to un-
dertake similar duties in another country.
Indeed, in April, 1857, when he received
instructions to join Colonel Simmons for
delimitating the boundary in Asia, he sent a
telegram home asking whether it were pos-
sible for him to exchange. But his value
was already known, and the answer said :
" Lieutenant Gordon must go."

While in the execution of his duties as
commissioner he visited many places
Erzeroum, Kars, Erivan, the ruins of Ami
he yet found time to study the strategic
points of a country illustrious and interest-
ing as the scene of many battles. And
while at Erivan lie ascended Little and
Great Ararat, with the view of personally
ascertaining their respective heights. Here
it was that he first met with uncivilized
tribes tribes not unlike those with which in

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

later life he was so brilliantly to deal ; and
he already showed how he would one day
influence such in the manner in which he
mixed with Kurds, and fraternized with
their chiefs.

After six months thus spent in these
regions, he went back to Constantinople to
be present at a conference of the commis-
sion. Here he remained longer than he
expected, to nurse his chief, who had fallen
ill. This done, he was not sorry to return
to England after his three years' absence.

Another six months in England and he was
once more sent to Armenia as commis-
sioner. Here he remained from the spring
of 1858 until nearly the end of the year,
employed in verifying the frontier he had
taken so active a part in laying down, and
in examining the new road between the
Russian and Turkish dominions.

In April, 1859, Gordon attained the
rank of captain, and for some months he
was engaged at Chatham as Field-work
Instructor.

GORDON IN ARMENIA, 1857.

What was thought of Gordon at this
early period of his career by those with
whom he was brought into contact ? Their
opinion was highly favourable, it is true,
yet they scarcely could fathom as yet the
nobility of his character or the greatness
of his genius. England hardly gave scope
in which the character of such a man could
develop itself, though it was characteristic
of him that he soon attacked the most

difficult task in all modern England that
task being the spiritual and material improve-
ment of the masses lapsed in vice and
ignorance. It was however among the
crowded population of China and among
the vast and solitary deserts of Africa that
he was to prove how great a man he was.
He was also there to show, not only that he
was a great man, but that he was a humble
Christian.

GORDON THE CHINESE WAR.

CHAPTER V.

GORDON THE CHINESE WAR JSACK OF THE JSUMMER PALACE-
TOURNEY TO THE GREAT WALL.

ORDON now entered upon
one of the most interesting
parts of his romantic career.
He left England for China
in 1860, and on reaching
Hong Kong the mail came in with the

news of the capture of the Taku forts. He
continued his journey to Tientsin, where
he learned that the representatives of the
British ambassador, with their escort, had
been made prisoners and carried off to
Pekin. One of the party was his old friend

GORDON IN CHINA, 1863 NARROW ESCAPE NEAR SOOCHOW.

De Norman, with whom he had served in
India, Messrs. Parkes, Loch, and Boulby,
the correspondent of the Times, Captains
Anderson and Brabazon, and fourteen
others. They were taken prisoners by
Sankolinsin, the Chinese general, and
treated with horrible cruelty in the dun-
geons of Pekin, whence few of the party
emerged alive.

To avenge this barbarous insult, Lord
Elgin at once informed the Chinese
authorities that he would sign no conven-
tion with the Imperial commissioners
except within the walls of Pekin. The
penalty must be one that would ring
throughout the whole empire. The British
troops, under Sir Hope Grant, were set in
motion, and Pekin was reached on October

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

6th. Giving the Chinese till noon of the
1 3th to surrender the Anting Gate, the
allied troops prepared for the assault.
Gordon was busy getting the siege-train
ready for action. " We were sent down,"
he writes, " in a great hurry to throw up
works and batteries against the town. . . .
We made a lot of batteries, and everything
was ready for the assault of the wall, which
is battlemented, and forty feet high, but of
inferior masonry." The day previous, how-
ever, the gate was opened, so their work
was of no avail.

As it was proved that the prisoners had
been tortured in Yuen-ming-yuen, the cele-
brated Summer Palace, the clothing of the
victims having been found in it, and their
horses in the stables, orders were given to
destroy it by fire.

"What remains of the palace," sternly
said Lord Elgin, " which appears to be the
place at which several of the British cap-
tives were subjected to the grossest in-
dignities, will be immediately levelled to
the ground : this condition requires no
assent on the part of His Highness Prince
Kung" (the plenipotentiary of the em-
peror), " because it will be at once carried
into effect by the commander-in-chief."

The costly bonfire was kindled on Octo-
ber 1 8th, and burned fiercely during the
whole of the next day. Prince Yung
unconditionally submitted to the demands
of the allies, and a few days later a treaty
was signed with much pomp in the Hall of
Ceremonies, around which bristled British
bayonets in the very heart of the Imperial
city. The Imperial palace, with its sur-
rounding buildings, upwards of two hundred
in number, covered an area of eight by ten
miles in extent. Gordon deplored the stern
necessity ; he says, " It made one's heart
sore to burn them." And we cannot wonder
at this, for the Summer Palace was at once
the Windsor Palace, the South Kensington
Museum, and the British Museum of China.
And though it was all this it was set on fire,
and in two days the splendid palace was
completely destroyed.

The author of " Our Own Times " thus
writes of this Summer Palace : " It covered
an area of many miles. The palace of
Adrian, at Tivoli, might have been hidden
in one of its courts. Gardens, temples,
small lodges and pagodas, groves, grottoes,
lakes, bridges, terraces, artificial hills, diver-
sified the vast space. All the artistic trea-
sures, all the curiosities archaeological and
other that Chinese wealth and Chinese
taste, such as it was, could bring together,
had been accumulated in this magnificent
pleasaunce. The surrounding scenery was
beautiful. The high mountains of Tartary
ramparted one side of the inclosure."

With Sir Hope Grant's force Gordon
went into winter quarters at Tientsin, and
here he remained in command of the Royal
Engineers until the spring of 1862.

In December, 1861, accompanied by
Lieutenant Cardew, he made a tour on
horseback to the Outer Wall of China, at
Kalgan. A Chinese lad, of the age of
fourteen, who knew a little English, acted
as their servant and interpreter, while their
baggage was carried in two carts. In the
course of their journey they passed through
districts which had never before been
visited by Europeans. Against the northern
side of the city of Sinen-hoa they found
that the sand had drifted with the wind,
till it had formed a sloping bank so high
that it reached to the top of the walls,
though they were nearly twenty feet high.
Nature had followed in the steps of the
generals of old, and had cast up a bank
against the tower. At Kalgan, the Great
Wall was, with its parapet, about twenty-
two feet high and sixteen feet broad.

A good account of a recent visit to this
border town of China, is given by Mr.
Gilmour in his vastly interesting book,
" Among the Mongols." He says :

" The traveller coming from the north by
the zigzag course of the torrent-bed leading
down from the ' Handle Pass,' travels ten
or twelve miles without seeing anything of
Kalgan, till, turning a corner, he comes
upon houses so crowded upon insufficient

GORDON THE CHINESE WAR.

standing-ground in a recess of the valley,
that some of them are perched high up on
natural or artificial terraces on the hillside.
This may be called the north-west suburb
of Kalgan, and here it is that the Russians
engaged in the tea trade are located. From
this point down to Kalgan proper, the
traveller passes between two almost con-
tinuous lines of Chinese shops, defended
from the river by substantial masonry, and
pressed back close to the steep hill, looking
like spectators forced up against the walls
when the street is cleared to allow a proces-
sion to pass along a narrow roadway. The
great highway from the river-bed into Kalgan
goes straight up a breakwater, rising so high
and so abruptly, that it is only with great
difficulty that loaded carts can ascend or
descend. Attempts are made from time to
time to make the ascent more gradual by
heaping up gravel, but it seems to be no
one's duty to keep this part of the road in
permanent repair ; the continual traffic, or
a flood in the river, wears down, or carries
away, this temporary embankment, and the
struggling of horses and oxen to drag their
loads up this breakwater are painful to
witness. Most likely, when this point is
reached, the traveller finds the way blocked
by some disabled team, which makes re-
peated and ineffectual efforts to scramble
up the steep, the obstruction thus offered
to trie traffic not only causing a crowd of
carts to collect in the river, but packing up
the narrow street leading to the gate in
such a way as to make it difficult even for
a horseman to pass. At the gate itself, it
seems to be the custom for riders to dis-
mount, probably as a means of showing
respect to, and thus in a manner propitiat-
ing, the officials and underlings who watch
the traffic in the interest of the inland
revenue.

Kalgan is divided into two parts, upper
and lower, and is a busy, crowded place,
with streets not much too wide for carts to
pass, and paved with great blocks of stone.
When first laid, these stones were doubtless
smooth and made a good road, but long

wear has made havoc of them. In some
places they are worn into deep ruts, and in
some places large parts seem to have dis-
appeared. Bounded on one side by the
river, the houses are built so closely into
the foot of the steep hill that forms the
limit of the town on the other side, that
some considerable danger is to be appre-
hended lest masses of rock, disintegrated
by frost and rain from the precipices that
frown above, should rush down the hill-
side and crush the houses beneath. One
night in summer people in bed heard the
rush as of an avalanche on the side of the
hill, and the light of next morning revealed
a mass of stones that had descended from
a position high up the cliff. Many of the
stones were large, but one larger than the
rest, and of a shape somewhat resembling
that of a block from which a millstone nine
feet thick and twelve feet in diameter could
be conveniently hewn, had bounded away
far beyond them all, and had been brought
up only by having happened to leap down
into a water-cut gully, where it stuck fast.
Had this boulder not been stopped here,
it would have leaped crashing down through
the roofs of the outhouses of a Chinese
merchant's store. The story goes that some
time before, a missionary had made some
attempt at buying or renting the premises
in question, but unsuccessfully. The sight
of the stone, however, and the narrowness
of the escape, were not without effect on
the Chinaman's mind, and it is said that a
few days afterwards word was sent to the
foreigner that he might have the place if he
wished it.

In some places the houses come so
closely in to the foot of the mountain that
in climbing it is needful to be careful lest
the foot should dislodge a stone that might
fall down, endangering life and property.
The houses so situated, however, are for
the most part those of the poorest class ;
but the shops and establishments of many
wealthy firms, though situated on the main
street, do not consider themselves safe from
the dangers of the floods ; and the observing

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

stranger on his first arrival may be puzzled
by noticing grooved stones or timbers
standing on either side of the front en-
trances of places of business. A set of
planks are kept in readiness somewhere
inside, and when a dangerous inundation
seems imminent, these planks are brought
out, let into the grooves, and driven home,
thus forming a barrier to the flood, should
it come surging down.

One of my most weird recollections of
Kalgan, is that of making my way to an inn
along the great length of its streets one
summer evening, fording or being carried
across the yellow streams that flowed from
a thunderstorm in which I had been caught
when out on a visit The light of day was
prematurely extinguished by the great
clouds that were fast gathering, black and
thick among the mountain-tops ; belated
travellers hurrying homewards clambered
eagerly on the backs of bare-legged men
that stood on the edges of the streams
ready to transport passengers for a few cash ;
and from end to end the streets resounded
with the din of the shopmen hammering in
their water-boards, afraid of a flood in the
night The weirdness of the situation was
heightened by the recollection of the flood
which a year or two before had broken its
bounds, and, amid the horrors of storm and
darkness, had swept to destruction some
scores of panic-stricken people."

An adventure in a dust storm which
Gordon experienced is thus described in
his own words : " The sky was as dark as
night ; huge columns of dust came sweep-
ing down, and it blew a regular hurricane,
the blue sky appearing now and then
through the breaks. The quantity of dust
was indescribable. A canal, about fifty
miles long and eighteen feet wide, and
seven feet deep, was completely filled up ;
and boats which had been floating merrily
down the Tientsin found themselves at the
end of the storm on a bank of sand, the
canal being filled up, and the waters
absorbed. They will have to be carried to
the Peiho, and have already commenced to

move. The canal was everywhere pass-
able, and will have to be re-excavated."

But we cannot go fully into all Gordon's
wonderful adventures during this journey.
Let us again pick up our travellers at
Taitang, on the Great Wall of China, which
Gordon minutely examined.

There they saw huge caravans of camels,
laden with "brick tea," going towards
Russia. They were now forced to have the
axle-trees of their carts widened, for they
had come into a part of the country where
the wheels were always set wider apart than
in the province whence they came. Their
carts, therefore, were no longer fitted for
the deep ruts which had been worn in the
roads. The chief object of their journey
had been to ascertain whether there was
in the Inner Wall any pass besides the
Tchatiasu, which on that side of the
country led from the Russian territory to
Pekin. They pushed along southwards, in
vain trying for a long time to find a way
eastward over the mountains. It was not
till they reached Taiyuen that they struck
into the road that led to Pekin or Tientsin.

In this town, for the first time on their
journey, they got into any kind of trouble.
When the bill was brought them for their
night's lodging, they found that the charge
was enormous. Seeing that a dispute would
arise, they sent on their carts, and waited
at the inn till they felt sure that these had
got well on their way. They then offered
what they thought a reasonable sum. It was
refused. They tried to mount their horses,
but the people of the inn stopped them.
Captain Gordon took out his revolver, for
show more than for use, for he allowed them
to take it from him. He thereupon said,
" Let us go to the mandarin." To this
they agreed, and at the same time they gave
him back his revolver. They all walked
towards the mandarin's house, the two
Englishmen alongside their horses. On the
way Gordon and his companion mounted
quietly and went on with the people.
When they reached the mandarin's, they
turned their horses, and scampered after

GORDON THE TAIPINGS AND THE EVER-VICTORIOUS ARMY. 25

their carts as fast as they could. The
people yelled and rushed after them, but it
was too late.

Some way beyond Taiyuen they came
upon the pass over the mountains which
led down into the country drained by the
Peiho. The descent was a terrible one.
All along the cold had been intense, so
much so, that raw eggs were frozen hard as
if they had been boiled. To add to their
troubles, when they were on in front their
carts were attacked by robbers ; but the
Chinese lad an ugly imp kept them off
with his gun. When they drew near Pao-
ting-fu they sent on with the lad the two
carts and their tired horses, which had now

carried them for three weeks without the
break of a single day, and they hired a fresh
cart, in which they thought to ride to Tien-
tsin. But with the boy gone they had no
interpreter, and in their impatience, " their
new driver got rather crossly dealt with."
They stopped near Paoting-fu for the night.
Early next morning, as they were washing,
they heard the gates of the inn open, and
the rumble of cart-wheels. They guessed
what was happening. " Half-stripped as I
was, I rushed out, and saw our cart bolting
away. I ran for a mile after it, but had to
come back and hire another, with which we
got to Tientsin more than fourteen days
over our leave."

CHAPTER VI.

PORDON THE TAIPINGS AND THE EVER-VICTORIOUS ARMY-
PUR BERG'S WONDERFUL EXPLOITS.

BOUT thirty years ago a
religious sect arose in the
south of China, near Can-
ton, under the denomina-
tion of "God-worshippers,"
whose tenets were based upon the lead-
ing doctrines of Christianity. " The
leader of the sect was a poor, unsuccessful
schoolmaster named Hung-tsue-tsuen, who
had imbibed his views from reading
religious tracts in Ihe Chinese language,
issued by Protestant missionaries. He was
a man of a fanatical disposition, and in his
enthusiasm for the new doctrines that
dawned upon his mind, he mingled political
views of a revolutionary character to over-
throw the reigning Manchoo Tartar
dynasty, and restore in his person one
purely Chinese. This politico-religious
movement found acceptance among the
many discontented people that always exist

in China, where rebellion is the rule in one
or other of its provinces.

At the outset, it comprised a small
resolute band of men, who came into colli-
sion with a party of Imperial troops, whom
they defeated. They marched northwards
in their career, increasing in strength until
they became a mighty host, numbering
millions in their ranks, devastating the
fairest provinces and capturing some of the
greatest cities.

For twelve years they traversed the
country from south to north through twelve
hundred miles of latitude, and from west to
east over six hundred miles of longitude,
creating an internecine strife over an area
approximating to seven hundred and twenty
thousand square miles, equal to six times
the superficies of the entire United King-
dom. Like a vast flight of locusts devour-
ing every green thing in their way, ' leaving

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

not a wrack behind,' this revolutionary
horde swept over the land, consuming the
food of the industrious inhabitants, burning
and sacking cities, towns, and villages, and
strewing their path with victims until more
than ten millions of human beings were
either killed in fight or died from famine,
disease, and massacre. Yet the leaders of
the movement impiously promulgated their
dogmas as sanctioned by the Almighty for
the establishment of a ' Peaceful Heavenly
Kingdom,' based upon Christianity.

When the first accounts of the movement
reached Europe, most people thought they
saw in it the hand of Divine Providence for
the regeneration of the Chinese through
the dissemination of the gospel. But these
hopes gradually faded away as the move-
ment progressed in its hideous career,
subversive of all the laws of God and man.
As the monster horde increased in power
and success, its leader from time to time
abandoned the quasi-Christian views he
had started with, until he assumed the
attributes of divinity, and styled himself the
' Heavenly King,' who had ascended into
heaven and held converse with the Deity."

From the impious assertion that he held
communication with the heavenly host, it is
evident that Hung-tsue-tsuen was conver-
sant with the Koran, and had taken a leaf
out of Mohammed's book to mingle with
the garbled quotations from the Scriptures.
Be that as it may, there is abundant reason
in all his writings, sayings, and doings to
pronounce him one of the most blasphe-
mous impostors the world has ever seen.
Neither at this time nor in 1847, when he
went to Canton and put himself under the
teaching of Mr. Issachar Roberts, a resi-
dent American missionary, did he show
any disposition to be a sober searcher
after religious truth, but only sought that
which would give force and shape to his
own Divine mission.

From the hour when Hung arose from
his sick-bed, after his first forty-days' trance,
and, poor and nameless, proclaimed his
avatar by fixing on his door-post the pro-

clamation, " The noble principles of the
Heavenly King, the Sovereign King Isuen,"
on through success and defeat and Imperial
opposition, up to the hour of his death at
Nanking, when human flesh was selling in
the market at so much per catty, he seems
never to have wavered or abated one jot of
his claim to supreme rule on earth.

The son of a small peasant farmer, and
himself a poor literate, afflicted with fits of
madness, and trances, and visions, he was
to sweep over the great Flowery Land, and
cause devastation in sixteen provinces and
six hundred cities. His earthly existence
was extinguished amid the horrors of the
siege of Nanking ; his body was found by
the Imperial conqueror "enveloped inyellow
satin embroidered with dragons ; his head
was bald, without hair ; his moustache re-
mained, but had become grey." As soon as
the examination had been concluded, the
head was secured, and the remainder of the
body was burned, almost all China ex-
claiming, with Pekin officialdom, "Words
cannot convey any idea of the misery and
desolation he caused : the measure of his
iniquity was full, and the wrath of both
gods and men was roused against him."

Soon after establishing himself at Nan-
king, he entirely secluded himself within the
walls of a large palace, beyond the outer
court of which no male attendants were
allowed to enter. In the interior the
Heavenly Prince was waited upon by
females alone by his numerous wives, and
still more numerous concubines. Occasion-
ally he held levees of the leading kings and
chief men ; but only his brothers and the
Kan Wang, his cousin and prime minister,
were admitted freely into his presence.
Notwithstanding this seclusion, the Tien
Wang exercised despotic power, and his
edicts were usually implicitly obeyed.
According to his own belief, and the pro-
fession of his followers, he was distinguished
from men by being a veritable son of God,
coequal with Christ, and commissioned to
afford a new revelation to mankind.

According to the account of that eminent

GORDON THE TAIPINGS AND THE EVER-VICTORIOUS ARMY. 27

Chinese missionary, the Rev. J. L. Holmes,
who had a conference with this pretender,
he said, they had received a new ad-
ditional revelation ; and upon this they
could adopt a new mode of worship. " I re-
plied, that if the Tien Wang had obtained a
revelation, we could determine its genuine-
ness by comparing it with the Scriptures.
If they coincided, they might be parts of
the same ; if not, the new revelation could
not be true, as God did not change. He
suggested that there might be a sort of dis-
paragement which was yet appropriate, as
in the Chinese garment, which is buttoned
at one side. To this comparison I ob-
jected, as comparing a piece of man's work
with God's work. Ours were little and
imperfect ; His great and glorious. We
should compare God's works with each
other. The sun did not rise in the east
to-day and in the west to-morrow. Winter
and summer did not change their respective
characters. Neither would the Heavenly j
Father capriciously make a law at one time
and contradict it at another. His Majesty
seemed rather disconcerted at thus being
carried out of the usual track in which he
was in the habit of discoursing ; and we
parted, proposing to talk further upon the
subject at another time.

At daylight we started for the Tien
Wang's palace. The procession was headed
by a number of brilliantly coloured banners,
after which followed a troop of armed
soldiers. Then came Chung Wang, in a
large sedan, covered with yellow satin and
embroidery, and borne by eight coolies;
next came the foreigner on horseback, in
company with Chung Wang's chief officer,
followed by a number of other officers on
horseback. On our way several of the
other kings who were in the city fell-in
ahead of us with similar retinues. Music
added discord to the scene, and curious
gazers lined the streets on either side, who
had, no doubt, seen kings before, but pro-
bably never witnessed such an apparition
as that. . . . Reaching, at length, the
palace of Tien Wang, a large building re-

sembling very much the best Confucian
temples, though of much greater size than
these generally are, we entered the outer
gate, and proceeded to a large building to
the east of the palace proper, and called the
Morning Palace. Here we were presented
to the Tien Wang and his son, with several
others. After resting a little while, during
which two of the attendants testified their
familiarity with, and consequently irrever-
ence for, the royal palace, by concluding a
misunderstanding in fisticuffs, we proceeded
to the audience-hall of the Tien Wang. I
was here presented to the Tien Wang's two
brothers, two nephews, and son-in-law.
They were seated at the entrance of a deep
recess, over which was written, ' Illustrious
Heavenly Door.' At the end of this recess,
farther in, was pointed out to us His
Majesty Tien Wang's seat, which was as
yet vacant. The company awaited for
some time the arrival of the Western King,
whose presence seemed to be necessary be-
fore they could proceed with the ceremonies.
That dignitary, a boy of twelve or fourteen,
directly made his appearance, and entering
at the Holy Heavenly Gate, took his place
with the royal group. They then proceeded
with their ceremonies as follows : First,
they kneeled with their faces to the Tien
Wang's seat, and uttered a prayer to the
Heavenly Brother; then kneeling, with
their faces in the opposite direction, they
prayed to the Heavenly Father, after which
they again kneeled with their faces to the
Tien Wang's seat, and in like manner re-
peated a prayer to him. They then con-
cluded by singing in a standing position.
A roast pig, and the body of a goat, were
lying, with other articles, on tables in the
outer court ; and a fire was kept burning
on a stone altar in front of the Tien Wang's
seat, in a sort of court intervening between
it and the termination of the recess leading
to it. He had not yet appeared ; and
though all waited for him for some time
after the conclusion of the ceremonies, he
did not appear at all."

Such was the extraordinary individual

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

who was destined to ravage such vast dis-
tricts of the Flowery Land, and to inflict
such misery on its inhabitants. Before
very long, as his band felt their strength
increase, they determined to attack Shang-
hai.

One by one the walled towns and large
villages in the immediate vicinity fell into
their hands. A force of more than two
hundred thousand armed men had driven
in the Imperialist troops at every point, and
only a few hundred foreign soldiers, with

several men-of-war, were left to defend
Shanghai.

" At that time it was calculated that the
value of merchandise and bullion in the
foreign hongs and banks was not less than
five millions sterling, and that belonging to
native merchants and bankers upwards of
two millions sterling. Added to these were
other descriptions of property afloat in the
harbour, such as opium, that swelled the
amount to at least ten millions, that might
be plundered by a successful enemy.

JRDON IN CHINA, 1863 THE STORMING OK LEEKU.

Knowledge of this was conveyed to the
Taipings by their spies, who had free ingress
and egress to and from the city. This
spurred them on to prosecute the winter
campaign with vigour. Emboldened by
their previous success, they swept down
upon the devoted settlement, * like the wolf
on the fold,' from every point of the com-
pass. While the inhabitants supposed them-
selves living in comparative security, they
were suddenly startled by the reports of the
fugitives from the country, that the dreaded
Chang-maou were rapidly approaching.

These accounts were verified by distant
clouds of smoke by day and fires by night,
which were visible on the horizon from the
high buildings in Shanghai. Reconnoitring
parties were sent out to ascertain the extent
of danger which threatened the place. On
their return, the authorities were informed
that the accounts of the affrighted inhabit-
ants were in no way exaggerated. The
neighbouring towns and villages were de-
vastated by fire and sword, and stockades
erected in all directions, with an advancing
force of 120,000 armed men.

GORDON THE TAIPINGS AND THE EVER-VICTORIOUS ARMY. 29

This alarming aspect of affairs roused the
foreign community from their lethargy. A
meeting was convened of military, naval,
and consular officials, together with the
most influential civilians, at which a Com-
mittee of Public Safety was formed, to find
means for constructing defensive works
under the superintendence of the military.
On looking round the settlement, they saw,
with increased feelings of alarm for the
safety of life and property from attack, that
it was vulnerable at almost every approach.
The available defensive force comprised
about 2,000 infantry, one-half French, the
other Indian troops and volunteers ; and
about 300 marines and sailors from the
British squadron, under Admiral Hope, be-
sides a half-battery of artillery. That gallant
officer took the command of this small force,
to contend against the overwhelming Tai-
ping hordes until reinforcements could be
brought from Tientsin and Hong Kong.
From day to day he reconnoitred the
country in all directions, and came upon
the most direful scenes of terrorism, blood-
shed, and anarchy. It was evident that
the remorseless rebels were determined to
capture Shanghai at all hazards.

Matters continued in this alarming state
for two or three weeks, during which time
much fear and dread was entertained by
foreigners as well as natives. Almost every
residentwent about armed, and had weapons
handy in his house night and day ; the
native domestics were held in distrust,
especially if they were Cantonese. The
ordinary affairs of the settlement were in
a measure suspended, and all who were
friends of law and order cheerfully lent
their aid in money and person to defend
it Besides doing so, the walled city was
garrisoned by Indian troops.

At last the banners of the Taiping
advanced force could be seen in the
suburbs, and a notice was surreptitiously
posted up, proposing to the foreign authori-
ties that if they gave up the native city the
settlement should not be interfered with.
This proposition was rejected, although it

was favourably entertained by those who
carried on a contraband traffic in arms and
munitions of war. However, there were
good men and true at the helm of affairs,
who informed the invaders that unless they
retired beyond the thirty-mile boundary
around the port, as stipulated with the
chiefs at Nanking, they would be driven
over it by main force. Still it was
abundantly evident that both city and
settlement were in imminent peril.

Just at this time, when everything pre-
sented the most gloomy aspect, a provi-
dential check was given to the progress
of the main body of the rebels by an un-
precedented fall of snow. This heavy
snowstorm continued almost incessantly
for fifty-eight successive hours, and covered
the ground to the height of thirty inches.
It remained more or less for several weeks,
to obstruct communications before it entirely
thawed away. On ordinary land this would
not have been the case, but the country
around Shanghai is so intersected with
creeks, canals, and ditches, that it is a
most difficult matter for any body of men
to traverse it at other times. About a fort-
night elapsed before any of the rebels made
their appearance again within view of the
settlement, leaving time to finish the con-
struction of substantial inner barricades,
and push on the works forming an embank-
ment and ditch for the outer defences.

This providential delay of hostilities was
most valuable in allowing time for the ar-
rival of reinforcements. Among the first to
make their appearance at this fresh seat of
war were the Royal Engineers, under the
command of Major Gordon, who subse-
quently performed so distinguished a part
in crushing this hydra-headed monster of
rebellion.

These were days of great rejoicing to the
inhabitants, both foreign and native, of the
beleaguered settlement and city, when they
saw regiment after regiment of British sol-
diers land upon the spacious Bund, or
marine parade. As they marched through
the streets with bands playing, colours fly-

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

ing in the breeze, and bayonets glittering
in the sun, crowds of Chinese, male and
female, lined the route, every one grinning
and chin-chinning with the greatest satis-
faction. It was curious to note their high
estimation of the valour of our forces, and
the protection of our authorities, as com-
pared with those of their own soldiers and
mandarins. In them they had little or no
confidence for the protection of their per-
sons and property against the insurgents,
and they openly solicited the aid of the
British authorities.

As to the Chinese authorities, they were
in raptures at the arrival of our forces, and
did everything in their power to make them
comfortable. There being no barracks in
the city or settlement, the greater number
of the troops were quartered in the Bud-
dhist temples, some of which are spacious
buildings, with abundance of accommoda-
tion. In these cases the priests were con-
fined to some obscure part of the edifice,
or turned out altogether, while all public
service in them was suspended."

Before commencing operations, the British
and French military and naval authorities
held a council of war, at which they drew
up an agreement for the defence of Shang-
hai, and resolved to capture all the towns
and fortified posts in possession of the
rebels within a radius of thirty English
miles. The allied force to take the field
was calculated at about three thousand
military and one thousand naval British
officers and men of all arms ; about two
thousand French, equally furnished by the
army and navy, and some thirty-five guns.

The campaign began in March, and in
t\vo months five of the enemy's strongholds
were captured, with great loss on their side,
and comparatively small on that of the
allies. During the progress of the oper-
ations, the force was augmented by two
thousand disciplined Chinese and Imperial
troops under the command respectively of
General Ward, an American, and a native
general.

The next successful affair was at the re-

capture of Tsing-poo, in about the middle
of May. This was a walled city of great
strength, which the insurgents had held for
several years. It was taken by escalade,
after a stubborn resistance, and two thou-
sand prisoners were captured, besides half
that number killed and wounded. The
French did good service in this engagement,
where they made a great breach in the city
wall with a 68-pounder gun in a gunboat
which they managed to navigate up the
intricate channel leading from the Wong-
poo River to the city moat.

These operations were carried on to the
north-west, west, and south-west of Shang-
hai, within the circumscribed radius. After
the capture of Tsing-poo, the allied army
marched in a south-eastern direction from
the boundary, crossing the Wong-poo River
into the country between its eastern bank
and the sea, where the Taipings held a chain
of fortified stockades and towns leading

i along the coast to Ningpo. The first strong-
hold attacked was called Nan-jao, where
the Allies sustained a great loss in the death
of Admiral Protet, who was shot through
the heart while bravely leading his men on
to the attack. His death was felt as a
severe loss by his brother commanders ;
and from the universal esteem in which he
was held as a man and an officer, great
sympathy was felt by all ranks at his un-
timely fate. His remains were brought to

! Shanghai, and interred with the highest
honours that could be bestowed upon the
deceased, not only by the representatives
of his own nation and foreign powers, but
by the highest Chinese functionaries. Even
the Emperor of China issued an imperial
decree acknowledging the services he had
rendered to His Majesty, and conferred post-
humous honours on his memory, according
to the formula for a high mandarin.

By this time the deadly heats of summer
had set in, with the rainy south-west mon-
soon, which annually brings in its train
increased disease and mortality on the pes-
tilential plain around Shanghai. The allied
ranks became decimated, and the forces

GORDON THE TAIPINGS AND THE EVER-VICTORIOUS ARMY. 31

returned to Shanghai and other towns. So
great were the effects of the oppressive heat
and disease, that a cessation of hostilities
took place for several months.

Meanwhile the Taipings took advantage
of this stoppage of the campaign. They
attacked Tsing-poo, which was garrisoned
by the ordinary Chinese soldiery, who could
make no stand against the enemy, and it
was once more in their hands. General
Ward, the American, seeing this, advanced
with his disciplined Chinese upon the city,
and recaptured it He also achieved further
successes, in all of which it was evident
that Chinese troops, armed and disciplined
in the European manner, with foreign
officers to command them, were not much
inferior to ordinary British or French in-
fantry and artillery. The men had con-
fidence in their commander, and so had he
in them, for he displayed great coolness
and personal courage. Unfortunately his
fearless disposition led him into danger,
and he met with a premature death in
action. This was at a place named Tzoo-
che, twenty- five miles from Ningpo, his
mortal wound having come from the hands
of a foreigner in the rebel ranks, armed with
a rifle. As in the case of Admiral Protet's
death, the emperor issued a decree recount-
ing the eminent services of General Ward,
in which it states that, " His Majesty has
inspected the report, and is filled with ad-
miration and grief. Truly he was a brave
man a soldier that caused no shame. We
order the Board of Ceremonies to bestow
rites upon him, according to his rank, to
comfort his departed spirit : publish it far
and wide. Respect this ! "

After Ward, Burgevine had charge, but
this was not found to be a good appoint-
ment. He was cashiered, and Captain
Holland was placed in command. Holland
was not successful however, and finally the
British commander, General Staveley, pro-
moted Gordon, of whom he had already
said, "What he was before Sebastopol he
has been since faithful, trusty, and suc-
cessful. Before Pekin and at Shanghai he

has evinced just the qualities that are
needed now. Although he has never been
in command, he will rise to this occasion,
to which he is more fitted than any other
man whom I know."

In a letter to a relative Gordon thus
writes of the matter : " I am afraid you will
be much vexed at my having taken the
command of the Sung-kiang force, and that
I am now a mandarin. I have taken the
step on consideration. I think that any
one who contributes to putting down this
rebellion fulfils a humane task, and I also
think tends a great deal to open China to
civilization. I will not act rashly, and trust
to be able soon to return to England ; at
the same time I will remember yours and
my father's wishes, and endeavour to re-
main as short a time as possible. I can
say that if I had not accepted the com-
mand, I believe the force would have been
broken up and the rebellion gone on in its
misery for years. I trust this will not now
be the case, and that I may soon be able
to comfort you on this subject. You must
not fret on this matter : I think I am doing
a good service. ... I can assure you
and my father that I will not be rash, and
that as soon as I can conveniently, and
with due regard to the object I have in
view, I will return home."

Others spoke of him more enthusiasti-
cally.

Of this appointment Colonel Chesney
thus writes : " If General Staveley had
made any mistake in the operations he per-
sonally conducted the year before, he more
than redeemed it by the excellence of his
choice." The Ever- Victorious Army found
itself under a leader whose courage it had
constant occasion to admire, whose justice
it honoured, whose firmness availed to sup-
press the daily quarrels of its officers and
I to shield the men from abuse of their
power. The private plundering which
disgraced the force when with Ward dis-
appeared under a general whose eye was
as keen as his soul was free from the love
of lucre. Stern against iniquity as the

THE ENGLISH JN EGYPT.

Baptist himself (for Gordon was of the
religious type of soldier which England has
learnt to reverence in such characters as
Havelock and Hedley Vicars), he from the
first taught his force to " do violence to no
man, and be content with their wages " ;
whilst the milder side of the gospel by
which he lived was displayed to the de-
feated Taipings ; and the humane treatment
which their prisoners met with at his hands
did almost as much after the first for the
cause which he served as his inborn skill
in the art of war. Among the strange
medley of adventurers who held com-
missions under him were Englishmen,

Americans, French, Germans, Spaniards.
Some were ex-mates of merchant ships,
some old soldiers of good character, some
refugees of no character at all. Among
them were avowed sympathisers with the
rebels, and avowed defiers of Chinese law ;
but all classes soon learnt to respect a
general in whose kindness, valour, skill,
and justice they found cause unhesitatingly
to confide ; who never spared himself per-
sonal exposure when danger was near ; and
beneath whose firm touch sank into insig-
nificance the furious quarrels and personal
jealousies which had hitherto marred the
usefulness of the force.

CHAPTER VII.

POR.DON THE WAND OF VICTORY POLLAPSE OF THE

REBELLION.

ITHOUT delay Gordon took
the field, and struck out an
entirely new plan of military
operations from that pursued
by his predecessors, which
proved in the end to be most successful

A mere summary of that brilliant cam-
paign would fill many chapters. Instead
of marching by land to the seat of war
across the boundary line, the army was
conveyed by water up the estuary of the
Yang-tsze, to a point where a wide creek
led into the very heart of the country
around Soochow, occupied by the enemy.
The first operation of General Gordon was
the relief of Chang-za, a considerable
walled town built on the slope of a hill,
and commanding an extensive view of the
country from its heights. It contained a
crowded population who had fled to it for
refuge from the surrounding villages ; and
at one time the authorities and inhabitants

had to become Taipings in order to save
the place from destruction.

However, when they saw the approach of
a relieving force, they closed their gates
against the rebels, who closely invested the
city. Then they suffered from famine,
having no animal food, and only a scanty
supply of rice. They were likewise out of
ammunition, and were unable to take any
offensive measures against the besiegers,
depending on the stout walls of the city for
their defence. Great delight was mani-
fested on the arrival of Gordon's force, and
the defeat of their assailants. The gates
were opened wide for their entrance, and
the general was received with great honour
by the authorities in their official robes, and
by crowds of the rejoicing inhabitants.

Several other successful engagements
followed this, the most important being the
capture of Tai-tsang, where the disciplined
force had been defeated. This proved to

GORDON THE WAND OF VICTORY.

be one of the toughest encounters with the
enemy, as the place was garrisoned by ten
thousand men, of whom one-fifth were
veteran soldiers. There were also a num-
ber of foreigners in the place as artillery
officers. It was captured, however, but at
a heavy loss to the disciplined force, while
the English officer bravely leading the
storming party was killed in the breach.

"In almost all these engagements Colonel
Gordon was very much exposed, for he

found it necessary, or at least expedient, to
be constantly in the front, and often to lead
in person. Though brave men, the officers
of his force would sometimes hang back,
and their commander had occasionally to
take one of them by the arm and lead him
into the thick of the fire. He himself
seemed to bear a charmed life, and never
carried any arms, even when foremost in
the breach. His only weapon on these
occasions was a small cane, with which he

GORDONS SHIP, THE "HYSON."

used to direct his troops ; and in the Chinese
imagination this cane soon became magni-
fied into

'GORDON'S MAGIC WAND OF VICTORY.'"

Besides the land force brought into the
field in these engagements, Gordon saw,
with his astute mind, that in a region so
intersected with navigable channels for ves-
sels of light draught, it would be advan-
tageous to bring up a small armed steamer.
Accordingly he obtained one, and putting
on board 300 riflemen and some field artil-

lery, he was enabled to do great execution
to the surprise of the foe. But what as-
tonished the enemy even more was the
extraordinary rapidity of his movements
with the attacking force from one point to
another. Hitherto it was the practice on
both sides for the combatants to rest on
their arms for several days after an engage-
ment before another was commenced.
Now each success was followed up by the
immediate advance of the victorious troops,
who carried everything before them. The
Taipings saw at once that they had a

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

different foreign general to deal with from
any previously brought against them, and
his name was mentioned with dread through-
out their ranks.

The most gallant exploit of this little
man-of-war, which was named Hyson a
peaceful cognomen suggestive of tea was
before the capture of Quinsan, the chief
strategical point at the seat of war. To
reach this place it was necessary to make a
detour through the country held by the
enemy for a distance of twenty miles.

Gordon discovered that the only land
communication between Quinsan and Soo-
chow was by a single causeway, narrow in
places, flanked all the way by a canal, and
that canal accessible to his flotilla ap-
proaching it by a creek from the south.
By seizing this causeway he would cut the
communication between the two cities, and
so the reinforcement of the Quinsan garri-
son from as well as its retreat to Soochow
being hindered, he might deal with it pre-
sently as circumstances should suggest.
" He started on this romantic expedition,"
says Mr. Archibald Forbes, " on board the
Hyson with a flotilla of sailing gunboats,
which carried, too, a picked but small
infantry battalion armed with rifles. The
Hyson, which mounted a 32-pound gun
and a 1 2-pound howitzer, was commanded
by a rugged but valiant American skipper,
named Davidson, and craft and skipper had
already made their names. She had the
reputation of being amphibious able to
drive over the bed of a creek on her paddle-
wheels, when there was not water enough
to float her ; he, man enough to fight the
Hyson, as if she had been a puissant iron-
clad. - Chunye, about eight miles west from
Quinsan, was the point at which Gordon's
flotilla approached the causeway. The
approach was protected by piles, which had
to be pulled up, and by stockades on the
land about the causeway, within which was
a strong stone fort. This position he did
not need to assault. A panic seized the
defenders, and they bolted, a part running
in upon Quinsan, the rest making along the

causeway westward for Soochow. The
troops were landed to occupy a position so
important and so fortunately acquired, and
the Hyson made a reconnaissance along the
canal towards Soochow, her fire sweeping
from the adjacent causeway, and from the
canal banks, alike detachments on the
march, and those holding intermediate
stockaded positions. The little craft pushed
to within sight of Soochow, went about and
returned towards Chunye.

She was only just in time. A desperate
fight was raging in the darkness on the
causeway and its vicinity. The garrison of
Quinsan, scared by the tidings the fugitives
had brought in, and, since Gordon had
beset the town on the three other sides
with his own and Imperialist troops, in a
panic lest their means of retreat should
utterly fail them, had sallied out under
cover of darkness, and were heading along
the causeway in the direction of Soochow,
when they encountered Gordon's detach-
ment commanding it at Chunye. To this
struggling confused melee, the Hyson came
steaming through the darkness, her lights
ablaze, her steam whistle emitting de-
moniacal yells a mysterious, awe-inspiring
monster. At the sight a spasm of frantic
terror seized the hapless Taipings. They
recoiled and drew apart from the close
struggle with Gordon's men. Into them,
thus huddled, tore the fire from the steam-
er's foregun, and sent them back on the
beleaguered town a crazed mob of fugitives.
The Imperialists on the east side of the
city marched in and took possession.
Quinsan had fallen without having been
assaulted ! "

In this and similar cases of prisoners
captured General Gordon made it a sine
qua non with the Imperial generals that
they must not be cruelly punished accord-
ing to the barbarous practice of Chinese
warfare, but that they should be dealt with
as having surrendered to a British officer.
This is an important point for considera-
tion by those who might consider Gordon's
services under the Chinese authorities as a

GORDON THE WAND OF VICTORY.

servile obedience to their behests ; for, as
will be seen presently, a breach of this con-
dition was the cause of his first throwing
up the command. Not only did this mag-
nanimous officer show his humanity on
such occasions, but he repelled the insinua-
tions that he was merely a mercenary
soldier by refusing a large money reward
for his services offered by the Government
beyond his legitimate pay.

These honourable features in the charac-
ter and conduct of General Gordon were
exemplified at the siege of Soochow and
the surrender of its garrison. By this time
his armed force afloat was augmented into
a flotilla of two steam gun-vessels and sixty
Chinese boats armed with small brass guns.
His land force was increased also, to about
four thousand disciplined troops, assisted
by double that number of undisciplined
Imperialists commanded by General Ching.
On the other hand, the Taipings had an
addition to their foreign auxiliaries, under
the American Burgevine, who had joined
the rebels with an armed steamer, which
he and his companions had stolen from an
Imperial arsenal. At the first engagement
between these mixed forces Gordon was
victorious, and the foreign renegades inti-
mated their intention to surrender if he
would guarantee their safe conduct to
Shanghai. With his usual generosity he
agreed to this, and his fallen predecessor
arrived safely at the settlement, where he
was tried by the United States' consul-
general, and sentenced to be deported
Irom China.

It was now evident to the Taiping leaders
in Soochow that the capture of the city by
Gordon and his " Ever- Victorious Army"
was only a question of time, so they coun-
selled together as to the best terms on
which they should surrender. Among the
five Wangs there was one who dissented
from the course, namely, the Mo Wang,
who was determined to hold out to the
last. Nevertheless, his colleagues opened
negotiations with Gordon and the Chinese
general, and the former had an interview

with the Na Wang, who had been the
first to propose capitulation. This inter-
view took place in a vacated stockade
outside the walls, and Gordon told him
that he wanted to make the Taipings and
Imperialists friends, so that the shedding
of blood should cease ; and that since the
rise of the rebellion the latter did not dare
to perpetrate the wholesale executions they
had done at Canton from fear of the foreign
forces in China. Moreover, he explained
to him the small chance of success the
garrison had against the disciplined corps,
and that his cause was about lost The
Na Wang, in reply, said he had every con-
fidence in the honour of his noble foreign
adversary, but he had not much faith in
the promises of the mandarins. However,
he would see General Ching, and if he
showed the same clemency the garrison
would surrender.

At their next meeting in the Council
Hall the question of surrender was proposed
by the Kang Wang. A stormy discussion
ensued, and the Mo Wang denounced the
proposed capitulation as cowardly, and
praised the faithfulness of the Cantonese,
saying that the followers from the other
provinces were neither brave nor trust-
worthy. These insinuations caused the
other Wangs to resent the affront in strong
language, and an angry altercation took
place, which grew hotter and hotter, until
the chamber was in an uproar. Then the
Kang Wang stood up, divested himself of
his robe, and from underneath his vestment
drew a sharp dagger, which he plunged
into the heart of the Mo Wang, who fell
dead on the spot. One of the other Wangs
then drew his scimitar, and cut off his
head. The council then resolved to sur-
render, and the Mo Wang's head was sent
to General Ching as a proof that they were
ready to capitulate.

Next day, returning from marching his
troops out to Quinsan, Gordon rode into
the city to the Na Wang's house. There
he found all the Wangs, their horses
saddled, just starting to go out to Governor

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

Li, for the meeting at which the city would
be formally given over. In his anxiety to
be assured that everything was well, he
called aside the Na Wang, who told him
all was right. Then he bade them good-
bye, and saw them ride off to the rendezvous.

Gordon saw that decent burial was given
to the Mo Wang's body, and then sauntered
towards the East Gate. He had not gone
far when a great force of Imperialist soldiery
went by firing and yelling. After a few
minutes General Ching appeared on the
scene, looking pale and agitated.

Gordon addressed him sharply, asking,
"Was the interview between the rebel
chiefs and the governor satisfactory, and is
the ceremony of submission over?"

"Your excellency," replied the treach-
erous general, " they have not seen Gover-
nor Li."

" That is strange, for I saw them in the
city with some twenty attendants, all
mounted, proceeding towards the East
Gate on their way to the governor's camp.
How was it, then, that they did not see
him?"

The lying mandarin said he did not
know, but supposed that they had run
away. He also made some other excuses
and statements which Gordon could see
were all subterfuges, and he was impressed
with the conviction that something serious
had befallen the insurgent Wangs, who
themselves had been accessory to the assas-
sination of their chief colleague. Now,
as the general had given his word for their
safety, and had relied upon the faith of the
governor, who had written to his Govern-
ment that mercy would be extended to
these men on giving in their allegiance, he
felt his honour involved in the matter.

Accordingly he rode into the city to see
if the Na Wang was in his palace, and to
learn the true state of affairs. The streets
were full of rebels standing to their arms,
while bands of Imperialist soldiers were
plundering the houses. When he reached
the Na Wang's palace, he found it ran-
sacked, and there met the uncle of the

chief, who begged him to come to protect
his house. Night was far advanced, and
from the alarming appearance of affairs
Gordon was apprehensive of a general
massacre in the city.

It was barely daylight when Gordon's
party got out of the city and arrived at the
governor's stockade, to await the armed
steamers. Major Bailey, who commanded
the artillery in General Ching's army, now
came up to Gordon and informed him that
the four Taiping Wangs had been be-
headed. He also said that the general was
very much put out about the affair, and had
sent him to say that he was not responsible
for the act, that Governor Li Hung-chang
had ordered General Ching to execute the
rebel chiefs, and also gave permission to
the troops to plunder the city. The major
further stated that he had the Na Wang's
son at his quarters, and he afterwards
brought him up.

The young man was in great distress as
he pointed to the opposite side of the creek,
saying that his father and the other Wangs
had been beheaded there. Gordon crossed
over in a boat to examine the place, and
saw the six bodies fearfully gashed and cut
down the middle. It appeared that the
chiefs, on reaching the camp, were received
with friendly demonstrations by the gover-
nor and General Ching, and that while
conversing with them the executioners
suddenly rushed forward and decapitated
these victims of treachery. It is said that
Gordon burst into tears at the sight. They
were tears not alone of sorrow, but of
disappointment, shame, and fierce wrath.
The foulest despite had been done him.
His honour had been mocked at by the
wanton butchery. " It is not to be
wondered at," writes Mr. Hake, " that
Gordon was enraged beyond bounds ; it is
not surprising that for the first time during
the war he armed himself and went out to
seek the life of an enemy. He took a
revolver and sought the governor's quar-
ters, fully resolved to do justice on his
body and accept the consequences.

GORDON THE WAND OF VICTORY.

But Governor Li had come to realize
what manner of man Gordon in his wrath
could be, and had escaped into the town.
Gordon pursued him, but he got into hiding
and eluded his search. By this time one of
the steamers came up, and General Gordon,
seeing that he could do no more in this san-
guinary affair, took his departure for Quin-
san. On the voyage he discussed with his
officers this cold-blooded act of treachery,
and announced his resolve to resign his

command of the disciplined force and to
quit the Chinese service." As it would be
injudicious, however, to do so precipitately
he wrote to the General Brown, the British
commander at Shanghai, giving a detailed
account of the affair as far as that came
under his own observation, and intimating
his desire to give up the command.

This put the Chinese Government in a
great state of fear, and to pacify Gordon
they issued the following command.

CHINESE JUNKS.

" Gordon, specially appointed a general
in the army of Kiang-soo, has shown pro-
found skill and great zeal Let him there-
fore receive a military character of the
first rank and a sum of 10,000 taels
(^33oo)-" He replied:

"Major Gordon receives the approbation
of His Majesty the Emperor with every
gratification, but regrets most sincerely that,
owing to the circumstances which occurred
since the capture of Soochow, he is unable

to receive any mark of His Majesty the
Emperor's recognition, and therefore re-
spectfully begs His Majesty to receive his
thanks for his intended kindness, and to
allow him to decline the same."

He was at length persuaded to again
resume command with better prospects of
extinguishing the rebellion than had ever
before presented themselves.

Hitherto Gordon had no difficulty in ob-
taining commissariat supplies, as his base

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

of operations was open to Shanghai, where
unlimited stores could be obtained. In
this part of the campaign he could not
depend upon these resources, as he was
inarching his army into the heart of the
rebel forces ; consequently it was necessary
for his men to carry sufficient provisions for
their consumption in the field. Notwith-
standing this extra encumbrance, and in
spite of most inclement weather, his force
captured the posts and carried all before
them. The last of these was the strongly
fortified city of Liyang, where twenty thou-
sand rebels surrendered themselves; and
he took good care that none of them should
be handed over to the tender mercies of
Governor Li. By this strategic success
the enemy's forces were cut in two the
hour-glass was broken at the waist. Not
only did it sever their communications, but
it relieved fifteen thousand men of the
Imperial army, under Tsen-kwo-fan (one
of the greatest mandarins in China), who
marched on to Nanking. Gordon followed
up this success in the opposite direction,
to co-operate with the Franco-Chinese, and
was successful in every engagement, al-
though the enemy fought with despairing
energy and considerable military skill.

Such an instance occurred during the
siege of Chang-chow. The disciplined
force had arrived before the city, driving
the rebels from the posts previously cap-
tured. They attacked twelve formidable
stockades, and carried them with compara-
tively small loss. Next day the siege bat-
teries were placed in position, and the
artillery encamped in the trenches near
their guns. In the night General Gordon
rode with his staff to superintend the opera-
tions, and unfortunately, in the darkness,
his own men mistook them for a recon-
noitring party from the enemy, and fired
on them. Most providentially the general
himself escaped harmless, but one of his
staff, Colonel Tapp, was unfortunately killed
on the spot, while several officers were
seriously wounded, amongst others myself.

This untoward circumstance was followed

up by a still heavier loss amongst his offi-
cers and men in an assault upon the city.
On that occasion the storming party en-
countered such desperate resistance that
it was compelled to retire, after a severe
struggle, with the loss of twenty-seven
officers and three hundred men killed and
wounded. The marvel is that General
Gordon came almost scathless out of these
desperate engagements, for, excepting a
slight flesh wound on one occasion, he was
never disabled, although he exposed him-
self to the enemy's fire as much as any of
his officers. In the opinion of his men he
led a charmed life, which excited in them a
superstitious reverence for his person. This
idea was also entertained by the Taipings,
which, coupled with the rapidity and suc-
cess of his movements, overwhelmed them
with a kind of awe on his approach at the
head of his troops.

After the repulse of his forces at the
assault on Chang-chow, General Gordon
set to work in making engineering ap-
proaches, by raising breastworks within
eighty feet of its walls. When these were
finished an attack was made simultaneously
at two breaches in the south wall. A severe
struggle ensued, but the rebels were over-
powered and the city captured. It was
evident that the Taipings were fighting with
the courage of despair. Next to Nanking
this city was their chief stronghold; its
loss, therefore, was a severe blow to their
failing strength.

Several other places were taken by both
disciplined and undisciplined troops, until
the ancient southern capital was the only
important city under the rule of Taipingdom,
which had been in possession of the Wangs
for eleven years. The besieging force
under Tsen-kwo-fan learned that the Tien
Wang, seeing that his cause was lost, com-
mitted suicide by eating gold leaf. This
caused them to push on their works, and
an enormous mine, which had been run up
to the north-east gate, was exploded, de-
stroying about one hundred and twenty
feet of wall, sixty feet high and forty feet

GORDON THE WAND OF VICTORY.

thick, by a discharge of sixty-eight thousand
pounds of Chinese gunpowder. Through
the breach the Imperialists rushed, and
when they reached the Tien Wang's palace,
they found his wives hanging on the trees
in the garden, where his own body lay un-
buried.

By this time General Gordon had re-
turned to Quinsan with his " Ever- Victori-
ous Army," and seeing that there were no
fears to be entertained from Taiping incur-
sions, he prepared to disband the force.
This was done in the most cautious man-
ner, by ordering the men to deliver up their
arms and accoutrements, with the exception
of some batteries of artillery. So the dis-
ciplined Anglo-Chinese force, which had
been mainly instrumental in recovering the
province of Kiang-soo from the rebels, was
broken up, and the British officers con-
nected with it returned to their respective
regiments. This was in pursuance of an
order in council after the account of the
Soochow assassinations.

Gordon shortly afterwards left for Eng-
land, where his eminent services were ac-
knowledged by her Majesty the Queen, in
conferring upon him the honourable order
of Companion of the Bath.

Thus was brought to a successful con-
clusion one of the most brilliant campaigns
of modern warfare in the far East, in which
British valour and generalship maintained
its supremacy in the field. "And so,"
writes Colonel Chesney, " parted the Ever-
Victorious Army from its general, and its
brief but useful existence came to an end.
During sixteen months' campaigning under
his guidance, it had taken four cities and a
dozen minor strong places, fought innumer-
able combats, put hors de combat numbers
of the enemy, moderately estimated at
fifteen times its own, and finding the re-
bellion vigorous, aggressive, and almost
threatening the unity of the Chinese em-
pire, had left it at its last gasp, confined to
the ruined capital of the usurper."

The large money present again offered
to Gordon he declined, as he had done the

previous grant. He had spent his pay in
promoting the efficiency of his force. " I
leave China as poor as when I entered it,"
were the simple, modest words he wrote
home. He left China, however, with the
goodwill, respect, and esteem of all with
whom he had to do. The merchants and
bankers of Shanghai expressed their col-
lective gratitude. The British minister
wrote, " Lieutenant-Colonel Gordon well
deserves Her Majesty's favour, for inde-
pendently of the skill and courage he has
shown, his disinterestedness has elevated
our national character in the eyes of the
Chinese."

We will close this chapter with the fol-
lowing extract from Colonel Chesney's
sketch of Gordon and the Taiping re-
bellion. He writes : " Much has been said,
and fairly said, in eulogy of the moderation
and patriotism of those volunteer generals
of the victorious armies of the Union who,
at the close of the American Civil War, laid
down their important charges to return
cheerfully to the counting-house, the fac-
tory, or even to the humblest appointment
in the regular service on the frontier. Eng-
lishmen who bestowed admiration on this
conduct of their transatlantic kinsfolk
should certainly yield no less to that of
their own countryman, since he, his task
once accomplished, sought for no irregular
employment in China, asked for no pro-
longation in any form of his high command,
but laid it down to return straightway to the
ordinary life of a captain of Engineers on
home duty, his highest ambition the fur-
therance of some local good work, his daily
business for years to come the building ob-
scure forts from the designs of others on an
Essex swamp. The very papers in which
the record of his services was inscribed lay
thrust out of sight, their existence forgotten
save in Mr. Wilson's mention of them.
They might have mouldered for him away
unread, but for that appeal, made almost as
a demand, of certain of his brother officers,
awakening to the knowledge that out of
their own corps there were few who were

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

GORDON RESIDENCE AT GRAVESEND.

aware of the extent and bearing of Gordon's
services, and the importance of the Chinese
campaign of 1863-4.

The writer is far from being one of those
who would have the world racked with war
in order that we may learn what generals
lie hid among us ; but he cannot be insen-
sible to the fact that England's interests are
so vast, so numerous, so complicated, that
it is impossible to predict that the day shall
ever come when the hero's arm and the
captain's brain shall be unnecessary to her
greatness or her safety. Ever and anon, too,
there comes across the ocean the cry of
some one of her scattered offspring, aban-
doned perhaps by a vacillating policy and
false humanitarianism (akin to those which
misguided us in our Chinese dealings) to a
disastrous war. Fitly, therefore, may we

close this brief record of great deeds done
from no mere love of glory or of gain, with
words suggested long since by one who,
himself a soldier, whose name has become
a household word in England, had been
among the first to note the warlike genius
of young Gordon when together they bore
the fire of Sebastopol : ' Another Colonial
war, and no help to be given ! If we can't
spare an army, if we can't spare a staff, let
us at least send them one captain of En-
gineers. If there is a man in the world
who can conduct such a war with honour,
thoroughness, and humanity, and bring it
to a satisfactory close without needless de-
lay or expense, England has that man in
Chinese Gordon ! '" After-events make these
words read like a prophecy, so true and
apposite are they.

CHAPTER VIII.

PORDON RESIDENCE AT GRAVESEND DEEDS OF CHRISTIAN

CHARITY jpfis RELIGIOUS OPINIONS.

}

HE gratitude," says Mr.
Hake, " of the Empress,
the Regent, the Man-
darins in fact of all
China for the great ser-
vice Gordon had rendered was unbounded.
But it was enough for him that he had done
his duty, and had brought to its end a strife
involving so much misery. Therefore
when the Court of Pekin twice sent him a
fortune as his reward, he twice declined to
accept it. He had spent all the surplus of
his pay in contributing to the comfort of
his followers, now disbanded and scattered.
But he preferred the reward of his choice ;
and it was with great difficulty that Prince
Rung persuaded him to leave the Empire
a Mandarin and the bearer of the Yellow

Jacket. This, however, he did, and with a
magnificent gold collar which the Prince
had transferred from his own neck to
Gordon's, saying : ' This, at any rate, you
shall not refuse.' The fate, of this collar
was the noble fate of many other gifts. On
the voyage back to England a subscription
was got up for a poor widow on board, and
Gordon was asked to subscribe. He looked
in his pocket, and there found only enough
to take him home. Then he went down to
his cabin, and returned with the collar,
which he handed in as his contribution.
The act was a symbol of his life, but
especially of the six years he was about to
enter on at Gravesend. There, as com-
mander of the Royal Engineers, he lived a
life of charity and peace, giving to the poor

D *

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

and attending the bedsides of the sick and
dying; and when in 1871 he was called
away to his new duties at Galatz, the
gratitude and sorrow that followed him
were heartfelt and universal."

A local paper at the time of his depar-
ture thus gave expression to their feelings
of gratitude and sorrow : Our readers,
without exception, will learn with regret of
the departure of Lieutenant-Colonel Gordon,
C.B., R.E., from the town, in which he has
resided for six years, gaining a name by
the most exquisite charity that will long be
remembered. Nor will he be less missed
than remembered : for in the lowly walks of
life, by the bestowal of gifts ; by attendance
and ministrations on the sick and dying ;
by the kindly giving of advice ; by attend-
ance at the Ragged School, Workhouse,
and Infirmary ; in fact, by general and
continual beneficence to the poor, he has
been so unwearied in well-doing that his
departure will be felt by many as a personal
calamity. There are those who even now
are reaping the rewards of his kindness.
His charity was essentially charity, and had
its root in deep philanthropic feeling and
goodness of heart; shunning the light of
publicity, but coming even as the rain in
the night-time, that in the morning is noted
not, but only the flowers bloom and give
a greater fragrance. Colonel Gordon, al-
though comparatively a young man, has
seen something of service, having obtained
his brevet and order of Companion of
the Bath by distinguished service in China.
He is thus eminently fitted for his new post,
and there is no doubt but that he will prove
as beneficent in his station under the
Foreign Office as he was while at Graves-
end ; for it was evidently with him a
natural heart-gift, and not to be eradicated.
Colonel Gordon's duties at Gravesend ter-
minated on the 3oth September, and by
this time he is on his way to Galatz,
in Turkey, where he will take up his
residence as British Commissioner on the
Danube. He is succeeded by Colonel the
Hon. G. Wrottesley, as Commandant of

Royal Engineers for the Gravesend district.
All will wish him well in his new sphere ;
and we have less hesitation in penning these
lines from the fact that laudatory notice will
confer but little pleasure upon him who
gave with the heart, and cared not for
commendation.

Of some of his good deeds at Gravesend
we shall now give a short account. First
let us give a short note written by a gentle-
man in Woolwich, and hitherto unpublished,
about Gordon's father and Gordon in his
youth : When I came to this town thirty-
five years ago, the father was head of the
'carriage department' in the Royal Arsenal.
At the time I mention young Gordon must
have been sixteen years old, and was pro-
bably a cadet. His brother was afterwards
the head of one of the departments in the
Arsenal. He has had his services recog-
nised since then by a title.

The men who then worked under him
are all passed away. I think they have to
retire at the age of sixty.

I recollect that Gordon's name was con-
stantly mentioned in one's hearing, as his
power was so extensive in admitting men to
Government employment. There was no
other name I so often heard, though there
are some three or four heads, as of the
Carriage Department, the Royal Labora-
tory, etc., etc.

The next memorandum we give is one of
peculiar interest. As far as we know, no
part of the circumstances in it has yet found
its way into print. Perhaps it never would,
but the "fierce light" that must now beat
upon the defender of Khartoum as long as
tales of courage and heroism charm the
human race has brought it to notice. This,
as will be plainly seen, is in accordance
with no wish of Gordon's, 'who was certainly
one of those who " do good by stealth, and
blush to find it fame." The circumstances
of the discovery are as follows : A gentle-
man of position in the city became very
much interested in the career of Gordon,
and began to follow all his movements with
interest It occurred to him to go down

GORDON RESIDENCE AT GRAVESEND.

to Gravesend, and find out what the people
there thought of him. He found his praise
in every mouth. Somehow or other he
heard mysterious whispers of a man in a
terrible state of infirmity who was supported
by the subject of our memoir. He has
written out the following account, which
will be read with painful interest We give
it in his own words, merely assuring the
reader of its absolute authenticity :

Only three weeks ago, when at Graves-
end, we were told of the case of a poor man
who for the past fourteen years had been
a pensioner of General Gordon. We were
taken to the house of a poor widow in
whose care this unconscious being was pass-
ing away his life, perfectly ignorant of the
affairs of this world, or even of those kind
people who attended him. His history is
not well known save to those who were in
General Gordon's confidence, and who will
not on any account divulge the secret, or
even that the General pays a monthly sum
for his food and nursing.

In the small, clean room into which we
were shown there lies C. Carter, bedridden,
blind, almost deaf and dumb, and unable to
move a limb. Not even when his attendant
strove to rouse him from his death-like pallor
by shouting "Mr. Carter, here is a gentleman
that wants to speaks to you about Colonel
Gordon," did he take the least notice, or
make the slightest effort to move, speak, or
show signs of life. " Yes," said the maiden
daughter of the widow, " he has been like
that, sir, the past ten years, and only
mother's voice will rouse him. He knows
none of us, and if we were to neglect feed-
ing him he would be dead before the morn-
ing. But please not to tell Colonel Gordon,
sir, for he will be angry at its being known
that we let you know anything at all about
him."

It appears from what I gathered elsewhere
that the life of this most distressing object
was somewhat shrouded in mystery. He
had been either a lawyer or banker, the girl
said, but she wasn't sure, and a lady had
the paying of the money ; so far from the

facts of the case being made public, she
was bound to study Colonel Gordon's orders,
and to let no one know that he was the
benefactor of this distressing object.*

We were further told of other good works
carried out by Gordon when residing in
Gravesend, and of his constant attendance
at the Parish Church, where he always sat
in the gallery, but this is pretty well known
by the public already.

One remarkable proof of Gordon's power
over his fellow-creatures is the influence he
had with the ragged boys of the neighbour-
hood. He taught in the ragged school,
where he was very popular. " Many of us
went to the night school only that we might
be near him : we loved him so much," said
one of them afterwards. Rough testimonies
to his worth were written up by some of
these youngsters all over Gravesend. Such
were " C. G. is a jolly good feller;" " God
bless the Kernal;" "Long life to our
beloved teacher, Gordon."

Many lads who seemed destined to a life
of sin and misery were rescued and placed
in a fair way of becoming worthy citizens
by this noble man. In a great number of
cases berths on board ship were procured
for them. He had a large map of the
world which was stuck all over with pins.
A friend of his noticed this, and saw that
these pins were continually changing their
position. He asked the reason, and Gor-
don told him that each of these pins repre-
sented a ship, where one of " his kings," as
he loved to call his boys, was, and that as
the ship mQved so the pins were changed

Our illustration represents him explaining
to a number of ragged boys the map of the
world, and the position and fortunes of
their predecessors in the class.

We conclude this chapter with some
account of Gordon's religious opinions,
which we have excerpted from the Pall
Mall Gazette.

The religious convictions of General
Gordon play so conspicuous a part in his

C. Carter has now passed away.

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

political actions that it may be worth while
to endeavour to form some idea of the
theological ideas which dominate his life.
To begin with, General Gordon is a believer
in the pre-existence of the soul. "I think,"
he wrote in January, 1876 ("Colonel
Gordon in Central Africa," p. 306) "that
this life is only one of a series of lives
which our incarnated part has lived. I

have little doubt of our having pre-existed ;
and that also in the time of our pre-
existence we were actively employed."

In the present life, everything that
happens to man of good or evil he believes
was settled from all eternity or, as he
once phrased it, " one million million years
ago " by a Higher Power who is infinite
wisdom. " No comfort is equal to that

GORDON VISITING CARTER AT GRAVESEND.

which he has who has God for his stay,
who believes, not in words but in fact, that
all things are ordained to happen, and
must happen. He who has this has already
died, and is free from the annoyance of this
life."

In following the Divine direction you
have not to think, to consider difficulties.
Keep your eyes on the cloud by day, and
the pillar by night, and never mind your

steps. The direction is the main point.
He dwells in communion with the Almighty,
and feels in close and active alliance with
God. It is the Divine will, he thinks, that
we should be His friends, and not His
servants.

On one occasion when in terrible diffi-
culties he wrote :

"I will tell you a story of 1848 years
ago. There was a workman of Bethlehem

GORDON RESIDENCE AT GRAVESEND.

who did not agree with the great teachers
of an old religion, who answered them
roughly, and who did not conform to their
views, or pay them the attention to which
they were accustomed. He was always in
the slums with very dubious characters.
This annoyed the church class. ' Why do
you frequent those slums ? ' He said,
' These slums need me to go to them ; for
they are sick at heart, and I bear them
good news. I tell them they are worth
something, in spite of their ill deeds. I
tell them their God is a merciful God, and
that He has worked out their salvation not
for their merits.' Now, these slum people
liked their [visitor. He had kind words
for them. He did not look on them as
pariahs. He rather encouraged these
people, and He never said words of despair j
against their evil ways ; but He pointed out <
that happiness resulted from a holy life.
His strong rebukes were against the white- |
robed, clean, respectable people, who
thought they were everything that was
good, because they had prayer-meetings
and sacrifices, and washed their hands
before eating. Well, you know the story.
The good people could not bear the home-
thrusts they received, and so they murdered
Him. They were too good to do it
directly, but they worked up others to do
it. The slum people liked this man ; He
was never hard on them. Some very
dubious characters were well received by
Him ; but He was not polite to those who
thought themselves good. He found fault
with the invitations they gave to dinner,
though He was their guest. He would
have called on the 'divorced.' He would
have tried to cheer their life, and have
aided them to see that, though the clerical
party would not notice them, they were
still God's children. Fancy that none of
these slum people ever went to church, or
ever gave a sacrifice ! They were like our
own slum people. They would not have
liked any of the clerical people to come
among them, for the clerical people would
have exclaimed, ' I am better than you ; '

and human nature does not like that, and
will never crush and crowd to hear it."

In speaking of professing Christians,
General Gordon sometimes permits himself
to be carried away into extravagances which
he would be the first to regret if he could
be prevailed upon to read in print that
which he has spoken or written. But as
he refuses even to look at anything printed
relating to himself, there is probably no
one who would be more surprised at seeing
what he said on many subjects than Gordon
himself. It is impossible that he can en-
tertain so very contemptuous an idea of
Christians generally when he is constantly
asking for their prayers, and declaring, as
he did immediately before his departure,
that he would rather have the prayers of a
small company of Christians at Southampton
than all the riches of the Soudan. But in
1878 this is what he said of those whom he
calls " Christian Pharisees " : "I say the
Christian Pharisees deny Christ. They
ignore Him, or at the most throw Him in
as a makeweight. I see no resemblance
to Him in them. A hard, cruel set they are
from high to low. You can form some
idea of what Christ was like. Do you
know any single one of Christ's pretended
successors who is like Him ? Pure religion
and undented, to visit the poor and afflicted,
and to keep unspotted from the world.
Tell me one you know, who professes to
teach you, who does this. I am sick of
your burnt-offerings and your prayer-meet-
ings ; my soul hateth them ; they are a
trouble to me. I am weary of them."

The essence of a Christian life, he is
never weary of repeating, is the same as
that which was the essence of Christ's life,
whose quiet, peaceful existence he holds
was solely due to His submission to God's
will. Those who submit to the will of God
will pass through many tribulations, but as
their day is so shall their strength be. Or,
as he put it in 1874, "There will be times
when a strain may come on me, but as the
strain *so will your strength be." Many
people say this ; Gordon believes it.

4 6

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

Naturally enough there is a strong sym-
pathy in his character with Mahommed-
anism. Replying to a correspondent who
had spoken of Mahommedanism as being
imperilled, he said : " Not so. I find the
Mussulman quite as good a Christian as
many a Christian, and do not believe he is
in any peril. All of us are more or less
Pagans. I like the Mussulman ; he is not
ashamed of his God ; his life is a fairly pure
one; certainly he gives himself a good
margin in the wife line, but, at any rate, he
never poaches on others. Can our Chris-
tian people say the same ? "

There is a story to the effect that when
the King of Abyssinia said to him, " You
are an Englishman and a Christian," Gordon
replied, " I am an Egyptian and a Mussul-
man." But whatever truth there may be
in this story, he certainly views all religious
questions in a very broad and catholic
spirit. " The heathen are God's inheritance,
and He hears their prayers." The incanta-
tions of the native magicians, when employed
in good faith, are to him prayers which the
Highest does not disdain to hear. When a
Moogi Balaam cursed him from the river
bank he noted that it was odd a disaster
soon afterwards followed. " I believe," he
writes, " that God may listen to the cries
for help from the heathen who know Him
not. These prayers were earnest prayers
for celestial aid, in which the pray-er knew
he would need help from some unknown
power to avert a danger. That the native
knows not the true God is true, but God
knows him, and moved him to prayer and
answered his prayer."

General Gordon is absolutely free from
all fear of death. The story of his conver-
sation with the King of Abyssinia is well
known, in which he informed the King that,
so far from dreading him because his life
was in his hands, he would be exceedingly
obliged to any one who would relieve him
of the burden of life. That expression,
however, conveys a very erroneous im-
pression of Gordon's habitual mode of
thought. No one is more cheerful, and

few people have less patience with what he
calls " the cruet-stand " expression of coun-
tenance.

" Why are people like hearses, and look
like pictures of misery ? It must be from
discontent with the government of God,
for all things are directed by Him. If by
being doleful in appearance it did good, I
would say, be very doleful ; but it does not
do any."

So strongly indeed does he follow this
out, that on one occasion he maintained
that a cheerful man of the world was much
more acceptable in God's sight than a
gloomy Christian. The passage is as
follows :

" Taking two people, one who is called a
worldly person, and one who is called a
religious person, the one taking evil with
good with calmness, doing what he or she
can to alleviate the evil and yet enjoying
the good ; the other bearing, or in vain
imagination bearing, the burden of the
world, always sad and discontented ; of the
two I should say the first (although seldom
reading his Bible, and knowing little be-
yond the fact that he had done and can do
nothing to pay or purchase God's mercy) is
more pleasing to God than he who lives a
gloomy life, however much he may read or
pray. ' So-and-so is dead' who caused or
permitted his death ? ' God.' Then if you
are content with His government, and if
you believe that the future world is better
than this, there is no cause for any melan-
choly about it : and the same with every
event. If we believe, we ought to show it,
and to acknowledge openly that we agree
to God's government. I think that, taking
the two parties as a mass, the worldly-
minded so called, remember, by their
religious brethren live more pleasing in
the sight of God than the religious so
called, remember, by their worldly brethren.
There are the true religious and the true
worldly-minded, and my remark does not
apply to them, but ive cannot sift the two."

Gordon's view of death was that it was
a release, and an entry upon a world of

GORDON RESIDENCE AT GRAVESEND.

greater activity; although sometimes he |
sighs for death that would be merely rest.
He writes in January, 1876 :

" I would that all had the full assurance of
future life. It is precisely because we are
despicable and worthless that we are ac-
cepted. Till we throw over the idea that
we are better than others, we can never
have that assurance. We must give up
keeping credit lists with God, which are
not true ones ; they are all debtor lists. Do
you know that verse, Eph. ii. 10, which
says that ye are ordained to bring forth
good works ? If certain good works are
ordained to be brought forth, why should
you glory in them ? Do not flatter yourself
that you are wanted that God could not
work without you it is an honour if He
employs you. No one is indispensable,
either in this world's affairs or in spiritual
work. You are a machine, though allowed
to feel as if you had the power of action.
When things turn out in a way we do not
wish, we quarrel with God if we feel put out.
Most difficult is this lesson, and only to
be learned by a continual thought of this
world being only a temporary one i.e., by
continually thinking of death as a release.
What a calm life a man living thus would
have ! What services he would render !
Nothing would move him, whether he were
soldier, statesman, or what not

I do nothing. I am a chisel which cuts
the wood. The Carpenter directs it. If
I lose my edge He must sharpen me. If ;
He puts me aside and takes another it is j
His own good will. None are indispensable
to Him. He will do His work with a
straw equally well."

His attitude in relation to this question
was expressed as follows in 1876 : " Here
I am, a lump of clay. Thou art the Potter. ]
Mould me as Thou in Thy wisdom wilt.
Never mind my cries. Cut my life off so
be it ; prolong it so be it. Just as Thou
wilt, but I rely on Thy unchanging guid-
ance during the trial. Oh, the comfort
that comes from this ! "

There is a long passage in one of his

letters concerning the relations of man to
his Maker, which is too long to quote here.
But his philosophy in life is expressed with
much fulness. " God," he writes, " is truth,
love, wisdom, and all might. We are, as
it were, blind. By degrees He opens our
eyes and enables us by dint of sore trial to
know Him little by little. Every time the
flesh is foiled by the spirit, so often is a
rent made in the veil, and we know more
of God. Every time the reverse takes place,
so often does the veil fall again and God
disappears from our view. When death
occurs the veil is rent altogether and no
mystery remains. The flesh is finally van-
quished by the spirit, who lives the con-
queror of his lifelong foe." The doctrines
of men thicken this veil, and the first thing
for the acceptance of truth is to unlearn
human doctrines and become as a little
child. " Hence a publican finds it easier
to accept the truth than a Pharisee."

Nothing seems to rouse his indignation
so much as the doctrine of eternal dam-
nation ; and whilst many will not be able
to agree with him, it is at least interesting
to know what he has to say on the question.
General Gordon himself has never felt the
least doubt about his own salvation, not
because of his worthiness, but of the
infinite goodness of God. A passage from
a letter written in 1878 on this subject is
very much to the point :

" I may say I^have died suddenly over a
hundred times ; but in these deaths I have
never felt the least doubt of our salvation.
Nothing can be more abject and miserable
than the usual conception of God. Accept
what I say namely, that He has put us in
a painful position (I believe with our per-
fect consent, for if Christ came to do His
will, so did we, His members) to learn
what He is, and that He will extricate us.
Imagine to yourself, what pleasure would it
be to Him to burn us or to torture us ? Can
we believe any human being capable of
creating us for such a purpose ? Would it
show His power ? Why, He is omnipotent !
Would it show His justice ? He is righteous

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

no one will deny it. We credit God
with attributes which are utterly hateful
to the meanest of men. Looking at our
darkness of vision, how can He be what
we credit Him with? I quite wonder at
the long time it has taken us to see that

the general doctrine of the Church is so
erroneous. Think over what I say. Is
not the preaching of every place of worship
you have entered this ' If you do well,
you will be saved ; if you do ill, you will be
damned ' ? Where is the Gospel or ' good

THE PRAYER IN THE DESERT.

news' in this? I know it, for the law says
it; it is implanted in every human being,
but the ' good news ' is, ' Whatever you
do, God, for His Son's sake, pardons you ; '
and thus the love of God constraineth us
from evil. For one feels that, enticing as

evil is, it is not compared to the peace one
derives from being in accord with Him.
When one thinks of the millions on whom
weighs that yoke of bondage, one wonders.
I do not know a single person who says
the real truth straight out. When one

GORDON RESIDENCE AT GRAVESEND.

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

thinks of the real agony one has gone
through in consequence of false teaching,
it makes human nature angry with the
teachers who have added to the bitterness
of life."

Speaking of the future he says : " The
future world must be much more amusing,
more enticing, and more to be desired than
this world, putting aside its absence of
sorrow and sin. The future world has
somehow been painted to our minds as a
place of continuous praise, and though we

may not say it, yet one cannot help feeling
that if thus, it would be monotonous. It
cannot be thus ; it must be a life of activity,
for happiness is dependent upon activity.
Death is cessation of movement. Life is
all movement."

" 1 believe," he writes on another occa-
sion, " in our active employment in future
life, and like the thought. We shall, I
think, be far more perfect in a future life,
and indeed go on towards perfection, but
never attain it."

CHAPTER IX.

GORDON jbOME ACCOUNT OF THE SOUDAN JTS RESOURCES

AND HISTORY.

^E shall not give a detailed
account of the doings of
Gordon at Galatz, or of his
work as British Commis-
sioner on the Danub e.
Suffice it to say that he was very successful
in this post. It was whilst engaged in it
that he met Nubar Pasha, minister of the
Khedive of Egypt, who was so much
struck by what he saw of him, that he, after
obtaining Gordon's permission, got the Khe-
dive to apply to the British Government
in order that the Egyptian Government
might have the benefit of his services. This
was granted, and Gordon was appointed
Governor of the Soudan, to carry out the
suppression of the slave-trade there, at
which suppression Sir Samuel Baker had
already laboured from 1869 to 1873.

Thus the scene of Gordon's labours was
again to be changed. The contrast, and
yet the essential unity in diversity, is for-
cibly presented to the eye by the three
pictures with which, at this part of our
work, we present our readers. The one
represents Gordon visiting the unfortunate
Charles Carter at Gravesend; the second

depicts an incident in his efforts for
the suppression of the slave-trade in the
Soudan ; the third shows him in one of his
adventurous camel journeys.

The reader will not fail to remark that
the two first pictures bear witness to deeds
of self-sacrificing kindness the one, under
the burning sun of Africa ; the other,
amidst the fogs of England ; but the man
and the motive the same.

But now let us try to reply to a question
which during Gordon's life so often rose to
the lips of those who read about him. What
is the Soudan?

The Soudan must be regarded in the
light of a rich country, to which there is
practically no access. It would be of the
greatest value if developed by modern en-
gineering, but it would remain as a mill-
stone, upon the neck of Egypt, unless such
means of transport are encouraged without
delay.

There is, probably, no other country so
eminently adapted for the cultivation ot
cotton as the Soudan.

The soil is extremely rich ; the climate
is perfection, as there is a perfect dryness

GORDON THE SOUDAN.

S 1

in the atmosphere, which, during the pro-
cess of ripening and gathering, is indispens-
able. The cotton can be dried, cleaned,
and packed without a moment's hindrance
from adverse weather; and, were railway
communication established to Souakim, the
crop would be shipped direct to Liverpool
within three weeks by steamer.

The cultivation of flax and hemp is en-
tirely neglected, but these valuable com-
modities could be produced to any extent
upon the fat soil bordering the Atbara River,
between Soft and Kadarif.

In England we are so fully occupied with
the affairs of everyday life, and our food
supply is delivered with such unbroken
regularity, that few persons consider the
danger that would be caused by a sudden
interruption during a time of war in which
we might be ourselves engaged. We are
a hungry nation, dependen upon [foreign
shores for our supply of wheat, and our
statesmen should devote particular attention
to ensure that supply under any circum-
stances; otherwise the democratic power
which they are about to raise will be exerted
in a manner that may surprise the ministers
of the day when the high price of wheat
shall have doubled the cost of the quartern
loaf.

There is no portion of the world that will
be better guarded in time of war than the
route from Egypt to Great Britain. With
Cyprus, Malta, and Gibraltar in our posses-
sion, the Mediterranean will be secured
from Alexandria to the Straits.

It is accordingly important to provide a
food supply that would be transported
through the well protected route. The
Soudan would supply England with the two
great commodities required cotton and
wheat

Nothing has been done by the Govern-
ment to encourage the industry of the
people ; on the contrary, they have been
ill-treated and oppressed. Before the rainy
season, the surface of the earth, parched
and denuded of all semblance of vegetation
by the burning sun, is simply scratched by a

small tool similar to an inferior Dutch hoe,
and a few grains of dhurra are dropped into
a hole, hardly one inch in depth. This is
repeated at distances of about two feet.
The rain commences towards the end of
May, and in a few days the dhurra shoots
appear above the ground. The extreme
richness of the soil, aided by plenteous
rains and a warm sun, induces a magical
growth, which starts the hitherto barren
wilderness into life. The surface of the
country, which in the rainless months ap-
pears a desert incapable of producing vege-
tation, bursts suddenly into a brilliant green,
and the formerly sunburnt area assumes the
appearance of rich velvet, as it becomes
carpeted throughout with the finest grass.
Dhurra, that first threw up delicate shoots
above the hardened and ill-tilled soil, grows
with extreme rapidity to the height of nine
or ten feet, and the produce can be im-
agined from the fact that there were once
counted 4,840 grains in only one head of
this prolific sorghum. Cotton, and all other
vegetation, grows with similar vigour im-
mediately after the commencement of the
rains.

This picture of abundance is confined to
those districts which are beneath the influ-
ence of the rainy zone, but there are other
lands equally rich and capable of produc-
tion which must be cultivated by artificial
irrigation. In the absence of any organized
method, such as exists in Lower Egypt, by
the extension of a canal system, the banks
of rivers, including the Rahad, Blue Nile,
and Main Nile, are alone watered by the
ordinary cattle-wheels (sakeeyahs) ; the
cultivation is accordingly restricted to a
comparatively small area that is within the
power of irrigation by the simple machinery
of the inhabitants.

If any person will study the map of the
Soudan, he will at once observe the natural
facilities for a general plan of irrigation
that would combine the supply of water
with the means of transport by canals. As
the uniform drainage is from S.E. to N.W..
the rivers Rahad, Dinder, Blue Nile, and

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

Atbara, traverse the rich lands of the Sou-
dan exactly in the same direction. These
rivers are impetuous torrents, which by their
extreme velocity quickly exhaust themselves
after the termination of the rains in Abys-
sinia. A series of weirs upon the Rahad,
Dinder, and Atbara would thoroughly con-
trol the waters, that would thus be kept at
higher levels, and would enable them to be
conducted by canals throughout the fertile
lands which at present are neglected in the
absence of sufficient moisture. As those
rivers are unnavigable, the weirs might be
constructed in the most simple manner, as
there is no traffic to require special adapta-
tion.

Another account of the Soudan is here
transcribed, as it gives us, among other
interesting matter, a brief view of the for-
mer dealings of Egypt with that country.
That account, after remarking that the Sou-
dan is as large as India, goes on to say
that it stretches 1,600 miles in one direc-
tion, and 1,300 in another. Unlike India,
it is inaccessible by the sea. It is inha-
bited by warlike tribes of the same faith ; it
has neither railways, canals, nor navigable
rivers, except the Nile at some periods of
the year ; and its only roads are camel
tracks. From first to last it has never paid
its expenses. The attempt to hold it has
cost fifty thousand lives at the least

This country is a vast tract of Africa,
stretching from Egypt on the north to the
Nyanza Lakes on the south, and from the
Red Sea on the east to the western boun-
dary of Darfur on the west Khartoum,
lying, as it does, at the junction of the Blue
and White Niles, is about equally distant
that is to say, between 1,100 and 1,200
miles as the crow flies from the northern
boundary of Egypt, the Mediterranean, and
from the southern limit of the Khedive's
equatorial dominions, the Lake Victoria
Nyanza, and the kingdom of Uganda.
From Khartoum to the ports of Souakim
and Massowa on the Red Sea, the eastward
limit of the Soudan, is about 400 miles, and
to the westward limit, which is the most

indefinite of all, but is generally fixed at
the western boundary of Darfur, it is nearly
800 miles. Going down the Nile from
Khartoum, in the direction of Egypt, the
principal places are Berber, about 200, and
Dongola, about 350 miles to the north.
The direct route from Khartoum to Egypt
does not, however, go through Dongola,
but, leaving the Nile at Abu Hamet, 220
miles below Berber, where the river makes
its great bend to the west in the direction
of Dongola, it strikes across the desert to
meet the river again at Korosko, and to
follow it thence down to Assouan, the
nearest point of Egypt, which by this route
is about 850 miles from Khartoum. Ber-
ber is a point of special importance, be-
cause it is here that the desert route from
Souakim, the chief port of the Soudan,
strikes the Nile. From Souakim to Berber
is 280 miles, and this is the line of the
proposed railway, which would open out
all the Soudan country east of the Nile,
and bring it into direct communication with
Egypt and the commerce of the Red Sea.

If we look in the other direction namely,
southward and follow the course of the
White Nile from Khartoum towards the
Equator, the principal places are El Duem,
rather more than 100 miles ; Fashoda, 500
miles ; and Gondokoro and Lado, 800
miles from Khartoum. These distances are
measured as the crow flies. By river the
journey from Khartoum to Gondokoro is
estimated by Baker Pasha at 1,400 miles,
Gondokoro (Ismailia) and Lado were the
headquarters of Baker and Gordon Pashas
during the years in which, as Governors ot
the Equatorial Soudan, they were engaged
in attempts to suppress the slave-trade.

The sovereignty of the Soudan was first
seized by Egypt in the year 1819, when
Mehemet Ali, hearing of the anarchy pre-
vailing in that country, wishing to introduce
the benefits of a regular government and of
civilization, and at the same time to occupy
his troops, ordered his son, Ismail, with a
large army of regulars and irregulars, and
with many learned men, to invade the

GORDON THE SOUDAN.

country. Ismail reached Khartoum, and
for a time governed the Soudan ; but he
and all his followers were burned alive by
a native ruler, who first made them drunk

at his own table, and then burned his house
over their heads. Terrible vengeance was
taken, and Egyptian sovereignty was estab-
lished over Senaar and Kordofan. It was

OORDON A JOURNEY THROUGH THE DESERT.

not until the year 1826 that the Soudan
derived any benefit from its Egyptian rulers.
In that year Khurshid Pasha was appointed
Governor of the Soudan. He reigned for

eleven years, establishing Egyptian sove-
reignty over Fashoda, and teaching the
people of Khartoum to substitute brick
houses for their huts of skin and thatch.

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

In 1841 a rebellion broke out in Kassala,
which was quelled only to break out next
year, when it was finally suppressed. At
that time the Soudan consisted of seven
provinces, namely, Fazaglou, Senaar, Khar-
toum, Tokha, Berber, Dongola, and Kor-
dofan. In 1856 the Khedive, Said Pasha,
visited the Soudan, and had almost decided
to abandon the country, but desisted in
deference to the representations of the
skeikhs and notables, who laid great stress
upon the inevitable anarchy which would
result from such an abandonment. He
decreed five reforms, most of which appear
to have been punctually neglected. One
Governor-General succeeded another, their
chief duty being border-warfare with Abys-
sinia, and the suppression of rebellions
which periodically broke out. In 1865,
8,000 negro troops at Tokha, whose pay
was in arrear for eighteen months, revolted.

Troops were sent from Cairo by Korosko,
while others were landed at Souakim. The
rebellion was quelled, the negro troops sent
to Egypt, and the Soudan garrisoned with
Egyptian troops. In 1866 Massowa and
Souakim were given to Egypt by the Sultan
of Turkey. In 1870 Sir Samuel Baker set
out to conquer the Equatorial Provinces,
and in the same year the German Munzinger
annexed Senaar to Egypt. Sir Samuel
Baker having returned from the Equator
in 1873, Colonel Gordon was appointed
Governor-General of the Equatorial Pro-
vinces in the following year. In 1875
Darfur was annexed in the west, and in the
extreme east, to the south of Abyssinia,
Harrar was conquered.

Such, then, is that remarkable country,
which will be for ever associated with
Gordon's name, since it was the scene of
his heroic labours and heroic death.

CHAPTER X.

THE WONDERS OF ANCIENT EGYPT JTS PREATNESS,

THOUGH IN RUIN.

E have already given some
account of modern Egypt,
and we now (chiefly follow-
ing the carefully compiled
version of the entertaining
M. Rollin) proceed to place before our
readers a description of ancient Egypt,
combining with this some description of
the marvels of that wonderful land.

Egypt comprehended anciently, within
limits that were not of a very wide extent,
a* prodigious number of cities, and an
incredible multitude of inhabitants.

It was bounded on the east by the Red
Sea and the Isthmus of Suez, on the south

f * It is related that under Amasis there were
twenty thousand inhabited cities in Egypt.

by Ethiopia, on the west by Libya, and on
the north by the Mediterranean. The
Nile ran from south to north, through the
whole country, about two hundred leagues
in length. This country was enclosed on
each side with a ridge of mountains, which
very often left, between the foot of the hills
and the river Nile, a tract of ground of not
above half a day's journey in length,f and
sometimes less.

On the west side, the plain grew wider
in some places, and extended to twenty-five
or thirty leagues. The greatest breadth of
Egypt was from Alexandria to Damietta,
being about fifty leagues.

t A day's journey is 24 eastern, or 33$ English
miles.

THE WONDERS OF ANCIENT EGYPT.

Ancient Egypt may be divided into three
principal parts : Upper Egypt, otherwise
called Thebais, which was the most southern
part; Middle Egypt, or Heptanomis, so
called from the seven Nomi or districts it
contained ; Lower Egypt, which included
what the Greeks call Delta, and all the
country as far as the Red Sea, and along
the Mediterranean to Rhinocolura or
Mount Castus. Under Sesostris, all Egypt
became one kingdom, and was divided
into thirty-six governments or Nomi ; ten
in Thebais, ten in Delta, and sixteen in
the country between both.

The cities of Syene and "Elephantina
divided Egypt from Ethiopia ; and in the
days of Augustus were as bounds to the
Roman Empire.

Thebes, from whence Thebais had its
name, might vie with the noblest cities in
the universe. Its hundred gates, celebrated
by Homer, are universally known, and
acquired it the surname of Hecatonpylos,
to distinguish it from another Thebes, lying
in Bceotia. It was as large as populous ;
and according to history could send out at
once two hundred chariots, and ten thou-
sand fighting-men at each of its gates.
The Greeks and Romans have celebrated
its magnificence and grandeur, though they
beheld its ruins only, so august were the
remains of this city.

In Thebes, now called Said, have been
discovered temples and palaces which are
still almost entire, adorned with innumerable
columns and statues. One palace especially
is admired, the remains whereof seem to
have existed purely to eclipse the glory of
the most pompous edifices. Four walks
extending farther than the eye can see, and
bounded on each side with sphinxes, com-
posed of materials as rare and extraordinary
as their size is remarkable, serve for avenues
to four porticos, whose height is amazing
to behold. Besides, they who give us the
description of this wonderful edifice, had
not time to go round it ; and are not sure
that they saw above half; however, what
they had a sight of, was astonishing. A

hall, which in all appearance stood in the
middle of this stately palace, was supported
by a hundred and twenty pillars six fathoms
round, of a proportionable height and
intermixed with obelisks, which so many
ages have not been able to demolish.
Painting had displayed all her art and
magnificence in this edifice. The colours
themselves, that is things which soonest
feel the injury of time, still hold amidst the
ruins of this wonderful structure, and pre-
serve their beauty and lustre; so happily
could the Egyptians imprint a character of
immortality on all their works. Strabo,
who was on the spot, describes a temple he
saw in Egypt, very much resembling this
we have been speaking of. Our illustration
represents a part of it

The same author, describing the curi-
osities of Thebais, speaks of a very famous
statue of Memnon, the remains whereof he
had seen. It is said that this statue, when the
beams of the rising sun first shone upon it
in the morning, gave an articulate sound.
And, indeed, Strabo himself was an ear-
witness of this ; but then he doubts whether
the sound came from the statue.

Memphis was the capital of Middle
Egypt. Here were many stately temples,
especially that of the god Apis, who was
honoured in this city after a particular
manner. We shall speak of it hereafter, as
well as of the pyramids which stood in the
neighbourhood of this place, and rendered
it so famous. Memphis was situated on
the west side of the Nile.

Grand Cairo, which seems to have suc-
ceeded Memphis, was built on the other
side of that great river. We give a picture
of the town as it now is. The castle of
Cairo is one of the greatest curiosities in
Egypt It stands on a hill without the
city ; has a rock for its foundation, and is
surrounded with walls of a vast height and
solidity. You go up to the castle by a way
hewn out of the rock, and which is so easy
of ascent that loaded horses and camels
get up without difficulty. The greatest
rarity in this castle is Joseph's well, so

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

called, either because the Egyptians are
pleased with ascribing their most remarkable
particulars to that great man, or because
there is really such a tradition in the
country. This is a proof, at least, that the
work in question is very ancient ; and it is
certainly worthy the magnificence of the
most powerful kings of Egypt. This well
has, as it were, two stories, cut out of the
rock to a prodigious depth. One descends
to the reservoir of water between the two
wells, by a staircase seven or eight feet
broad, consisting of two hundred and
twenty steps, and so contrived that the
oxen employed to throw up the water go
down with all imaginable ease, the descent
being scarce perceptible. The well is
supplied from a spring, which is almost the
only one in the whole country. The oxen
are continually turning a wheel with a
rope, to which are fastened buckets. The
water thus drawn from the first and lower-
most well is conveyed by a little canal
into a reservoir, which forms the second
well ; from whence it is drawn to the top in
the same manner, and then conveyed by
pipes to all parts of the castle. As this
well is supposed by the inhabitants of the
country to be of great antiquity, and has
indeed much of the antique way of the
Egyptians, we thought it might deserve a
place among the curiosities of ancient
Egypt. We afterwards give a portrait of it.

Strabo speaks of such an engine, which
by wheels and pulleys threw up the water
of the Nile to the top of a vast high hill ;
with this difference, that instead of oxen,
a hundred and fifty slaves were employed
to turn these wheels.

This part of Egypt we are treating of
is famous for several rarities, each of which
deserves a particular examination. We
shall mention only the principal, such as
the obelisks, the pyramids, the labyrinth,
the lake of Moeris and the Nile.

Egypt seemed to place its chief glory in
raising monuments for posterity. Its obe-
lisks form at this day, on account of their
beauty as well as height, the principal orna-

ment of Rome ; and the Roman power,
despairing to equal the Egyptians, thought
it honour enough to borrow the monuments
of their kings.

An obelisk is a quadrangular, taper, high
spire or pyramid, raised perpendicularly
and terminating in a point, to serve as an
ornament to some open square, and is very
often filled with inscriptions or hierogly-
phics, that is with mystical characters or
symbols, used by the Egyptians to conceal
and disguise their sacred things, and the
mysteries of their theology.

Sesostris erected in the city of Heliopolis
two obelisks of an extremely hard stone,
brought from the quarries of Syene, at the
extremity of Egypt. They were each one
hundred and twenty cubits high, that is,
thirty fathoms, or one hundred and eighty
feet.* The Emperor Augustus, having
made Egypt a province of the Empire,
caused these two obelisks to be transported
to Rome, one whereof was afterwards bro-
ken to pieces. He durst not venture upon
a third, which was of a monstrous size. It
was made in the reign of Rameses. It is
said that twenty thousand men were em-
ployed in the cutting of it. Constantius,
more daring than Augustus, ordered it to
be removed to Rome. Two of these obe-
lisks are still seen, as well as another of a
hundred cubits, or twenty-five fathoms high,
and eight cubits or two fathoms in diameter.
Caius Caesar had brought it from Egypt in
a ship of so odd a form, that, according to
Pliny, the like had never been seen.

Every part of Egypt abounded with this
kind of obelisks ; they were for the most
part cut in the quarries of Upper Egypt,
where some are now to be seen half finished.
But the most wonderful circumstance is,
that the ancient Egyptians should have had
the art and contrivance to dig even in the
very quarry a canal, through which the
water of the Nile ran in the time of its in-

* It must be observed once for all, that an
Egyptian cubit, according to Mr. Greaves, was
about I foot 9! inches of our measure.

THE WONDERS OF ANCIENT EGYPT.

undation, from whence they afterwards
raised up the columns, obelisks, and statues
on rafts, proportioned to their weight, in
order to convey them into Lower Egypt.
And as the country abounded everywhere
with canals, there were few places to which
those huge bodies might not be carried with
ease, although their weight would have
broken every other kind of engine.

A pyramid is a solid or hollow body,
having a large and generally a square base,
and terminating in a point.

There were three pyramids in Egypt
more famous than the rest, one whereof
deserved to be ranked among the Seven
Wonders of the World ; they did not stand
very far from the city of Memphis. We
shall take notice here only of the largest of

CAIRO FROM THE CITADEL.

the three, though two are depicted in our
illustration. This pyramid was built on a
rock, having a square base, cut on the out-
side as so many steps, and decreasing
gradually quite to the summit. It was built
with stones of a prodigious size, the least
of which were thirty feet, wrought with
wonderful art, and covered with hiero-
glyphics. According to several ancient

authors, each side was eight hundred feet
broad, and as many high. The summit of
the pyramid, which to those who viewed it
from below seemed a point, was a fine
platform composed of ten or twelve massy
stones, and each side of that platform six-
teen or eighteen feet long.

M. de Chazelles, of the Academy of
Sciences, who went purposely on the spot

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

in 1693, gives us the following dimensions :

The side of the square base no fathoms.

The fronts are equilateral N

triangles, and therefore ( 12,100 square
the superficies of the C fathoms,
base is J

The perpendicular height 77 \ fathoms.

The solid contents j 3 '3, 5 9 cubical
) fathoms.

A hundred thousand men were con-
stantly employed about this work, and were
relieved every three months by the same
number. Ten complete years were spent
in hewing out the stones, either in Arabia
or Ethiopia, and in conveying them to
Egypt, and twenty years more in building
this immense edifice, the inside of which
contained numberless rooms and apart-
ments. There was expressed on the pyra-
mid, in Egyptian characters, the sums it
cost only in garlic, leeks, onions and the
like, for the workmen, and the whole
amounted to sixteen hundred talents of silver,
that is, four millions five hundred thousand
pounds sterling, from whence it was easy to
conjecture what a vast sum the whole must
have amounted to.

Such were the famous Egyptian pyra-
mids, which by their figure, as well as size,
have triumphed over the injuries of time
and the barbarians. But what efforts so-
ever men may make, their weakness will
always be apparent These pyramids were
tombs, and there is seen at this day, in the
middle of the largest, an empty sepulchre,
cut out of one entire stone, about three feet
deep and broad, and a little above six feet
long.* Thus all this bustle, all this expense,
and all the labours of so many thousand
men, ended in procuring a prince in this
vast and almost boundless pile of building,
a little vault six feet in length. Besides,
the kings who built these pyramids had it
not in their power to be buried in them,
and so did not rest in the sepulchre they
had built. The public hatred which they

* Strabo mentions the sepulchre lib. xvii., p.
808.

incurred, by reason of their unheard-of
cruelties to their subjects, in laying such
heavy tasks upon them, occasioned their
being interred in some obscure place, to
prevent their bodies from being exposed to
the fury and vengeance of the populace.

This last circumstance, which historians
have taken particular notice of, teaches us
what judgment we ought to pass on these
edifices, so much boasted of by the an-
cients. It is but just to remark and esteem
the noble genius which the Egyptians had
for architecture ; a genius that prompted
them from the very first, and before they
could have any models to imitate, to aim
in all things at the grand and magnificent,
and to be intent on real beauties, without
swerving ever so little from a noble simpli-
city, in which the highest perfection of art
consists. But what idea ought we to form
of those princes, who considered as some-
thing grand the raising by a multitude ot
hands, and by the help of money, immense
structures, with the sole view of rendering
their names immortal, and who did not
scruple to destroy thousands of their sub-
jects to satisfy their vain-glory ! They
differed very much from the Romans, who
sought to immortalize themselves by works
of a magnificent kind, but which at the
same time were of public use.

Pliny gives us in few words a just idea
of these pyramids, when he calls them a
foolish and useless ostentation of the wealth
of the Egyptian kings ; and adds, that by a
just punishment their memory is buried in
oblivion, the historians not agreeing among
themselves about the names of those who
first raised those vain monuments. In a
word, according to the judicious remark of
Diodorus, the more the industry of the
architects of these pyramids is valuable and
praiseworthy, the more the attempt of the
Egyptian kings is contemptible, and de-
serves censure.

But what we should most admire in these
ancient monuments is, the true and standing
evidence they give of the skill of the Egyp-
tians in astronomy, that is, in a science

THE WONDERS OF ANCIENT EGYPT.

which seems incapable of being brought to
perfection, but by a long series of years,
and a great number of observations. M.
de Chazelles, when he measured the great
pyramid in question, found that the four
sides of it were turned exactly to the four
quarters of the world, and consequently
showed the true meridian of that place.
Now, as so exact a situation was in all
probability purposely pitched upon by those
who piled up this huge mass of stones above
three thousand years ago, it follows that
during so long a space of time there has
been no alteration in the heavens in that
respect, or (which amounts to the same
thing) to the poles of the earth or the
meridians. This is M de Fontenelle's re-
mark in his eulogium of M. de Chazelles.

What has been said concerning the judg-
ment we ought to form of the pyramids,
may also be applied to the labyrinth, which
Herodotus, who saw it, assures us was still
more surprising than the pyramids. It was
built at the most southern part of the lake
of Mceris, whereof mention will be made
presently, near the town of Crocodiles, the
same with Arsinoe. It was not so much
one single palace, as a magnificent pile
composed of twelve palaces, regularly dis-
posed, and which had a communication
with each other. Fifteen hundred rooms
interspersed with terraces were ranged
round twelve halls, and discovered no out-
let to such as went to see them. There
were the like number of buildings under-
ground. These subterraneous structures
were designed for the burying place of the
kings, and (who can speak this without
confusion, and without deploring the blind-
ness of man !) for keeping the sacred cro-
codiles which a nation, so wise in other
respects, worshipped as gods.

In order to visit the rooms and halls of
the labyrinth, it was necessary, as the reader
will naturally suppose, for people to take
the same precaution as Ariadne made The-
seus use, when he was obliged to go and
fight the Minotaur in the labyrinth of Crete.
That is, to take a thread with him, so as to

have a clue by which he might retrace his
steps. Virgil describes it in this manner,

" And as the Cretan labyrinth of old,

With wandering ways, and many a winding fold,

Involved the weary feet, without redress,

In a round error, which denied recess :

Not far from thence he graved the wondrous maze ;

A thousand doors, a thousand winding ways."

The noblest and most wonderful of all the
structures or works of the kings of Egypt,
was the lake of Mceris ; accordingly, Hero-
dotus considers it as vastly superior to the
pyramids and labyrinth. As Egypt was
more or less fruitful in proportion to the
inundations of the Nile ; and as in these
floods the too general flow or ebb of the
waters was equally fatal to the lands, King
Moeris, to prevent these two inconveniences,
and correct, as far as lay in his power, the
irregularities of the Nile, thought proper to
call art to the assistance of nature ; and so
caused the lake to be dug, which afterwards
went by his name. This lake was about
three thousand six hundred stadia, that is,
about four hundred English miles round, and
three hundred feet deep. Two pyramids,
on each of which stood a colossal statue,
seated on a throne, raised their heads to
the height of three hundred feet, in the
midst of the lake, whilst their foundations
took up the same space under the water,
a proof that they were erected before the
cavity was filled, and a] demonstration that
a lake of such vast extent was the work of
man's hands, in one prince's reign. This
is what several historians have related con-
cerning the lake Mceris, on the testimony
of the inhabitants of the country. And the
Bishop of Meaux, in his discourse on uni-
versal history, relates the whole as fact.
But we confess that we do not see the least
probability in it. Is it possible to conceive,
that a lake of about four hundred English
miles in circumference could have been dug
in the reign of one prince ? In what manner,
and where, could the earth taken from it
be conveyed ? What should prompt the
Egyptians to lose the surface of so much
land ? By what arts could they fill this vast

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

tract with the superfluous waters of the Nile?
Many other objections might be made. In
our opinion, therefore, we ought to follow
Pomponius Mela, an ancient geographer;
especially as his account is confirmed by
several late travellers. According to that
author, this lake is but twenty thousand
paces, that is, about twenty English miles,
in circumference.

This lake had a communication with the
Nile, by a great canal, ten miles long,
and fifty feet broad. Great sluices either
opened or shut the canal and lake, as
there was occasion.

The charge for opening or shutting them
amounted of itself to an enormous sum.
The fishing of this lake brought the
monarch immense revenue ; but its chief
use related to the overflowing of the Nile.
When it rose too high, and was likely to

be attended with fatal consequences, the
sluices were opened ; and the waters, hav-
ing a free passage into the lake, covered
the lands no longer than was necessary to
enrich them. On the contrary, when the
inundation was too low, and threatened a
famine, a sufficient quantity of water, by the
help of drains, was let out of the lake, to
water the lands. In this manner the irre-
gularities of the Nile were corrected ; and
Strabo remarks, that in his time, under
Petronius, a Governor of Egypt, when the
inundation of the Nile was twelve cubits, a
very great plenty ensued ; and even when
it rose but to eight cubits, the dearth was
scarce felt in the country ; doubtless be-
cause the waters of the lake made up for
those of the inundation, by the help of
canals and drains, through which they
were widely distributed wherever required.

CHAPTER XI.

ANCIENT ^GYPT OPINIONS ABOUT THE NILE J^ABLE OF

THE PHCENIX.

HE Nile is the greatest
wonder of Egypt. As it
seldom rains there, this
river, which waters the
whole country by its regu-
lar inundations, supplies that defect, by
bringing, as a yearly tribute, the rains of
other countries, which made a poet say
ingeniously: The Egyptian pastures, how
great soever the drought may be, never im-
plore Jupiter for rain.

To multiply so beneficent a river, Egypt
was cut into numberless canals, of a length
and breadth proportioned to the different
situation and wants of the lands. The Nile
brought fertility everywhere with its salutary
streams ; united cities one with another,
and the Mediterranean with the Red Sea ;
maintained trade at home and abroad, and
fortified the kingdom against the enemy ;

so that it was at once the nourisher and
protector of Egypt. The fields were de-
livered up to it; but the cities that were
raised with immense labour, and stood like
islands in the midst of the waters, looked
down with joy on the plains which were
overflowed, and at the same time enriched
by the Nile.

This is a general idea of the nature and
effects of this river, so famous among the
ancients. But a wonder so , astonishing in
itself, and which has been the object of the
curiosity and admiration of the learned in
all ages, seems to require a more particular
description, in which we shall be as concise
as possible.

The ancients placed the sources of the
Nile in the Mountains of the Moon (as they
are commonly called) in the loth degree of
south latitude. But our modern travellers

ANCIENT EGYPT OPINIONS ABOUT THE NILE.

have discovered that they lie in the i2th
degree of north latitude : and by that means
they cut off about twelve hundred English
miles of the course which the ancients
gave to that river. It rises (so it was sup-
posed a little later) at the foot of a great
mountain in the kingdom of Goyam, in
Abyssinia, from two springs, or eyes, to
speak in the language of the country, the
same word in Arabic signifying eye and
fountain. These springs are thirty paces
from one another, each as large as one of
our wells or a coach-wheel. The Nile, said
the ancients, is increased with many rivulets
which run into it ; and after passing through
Ethiopia, in a meandrous course, flows at
last into Egypt.

The name of cataracts was given to some
parts of the Nile where the water falls down
from the steep rocks. This river, which at
first glided smoothly along the vast deserts
of Ethiopia, before it enters Egypt, passes
by the cataracts. Then growing on a
sudden, contrary to its nature, raging and
violent in those places where it is pent up
and restrained, after having at last broke
through all obstacles in its way, it precipi-
tates from the top of some rocks to the
bottom with so loud a noise that it is heard
a great way off.

The inhabitants of the country, accus-
tomed by long practice to this sport, exhibit
here a spectacle to travellers that is more
terrifying than diverting. Two of them go
into a little boat, the one to guide it, the
other to throw out the water. After having
long sustained the violence of the raging
waves, by managing their little boat very
dexterously, they suffer themselves to be
carried away with the impetuous torrent
as swift as an arrow. The affrighted spec-
tator imagines they are going to be swal-
lowed up in the precipice down which they
fall ; when the Nile, restored to its natural
course, discovers them again, at a distance,
on its smooth and calm waters. This is
Seneca's account, which is confirmed by
our modern travellers.

The ancients invented many subtil reasons

for the Nile's great increase, as may be
seen in Herodotus, Diodorus Siculus, and
Seneca. But it is now no longer a matter
of dispute (it being almost universally
allowed, that the inundations of the Nile
are owing to the great rains which fall in
Ethiopia, from whence this river flows. These
rains swell it to such a degree, that Ethiopia
first, and then Egypt, is overflowed ; and
that which at first was but a large river,
rises like a sea, and overspreads the whole
country.

Strabo observes that the ancients only
guessed that the inundations of the Nile
were owing to the rains which fall in great
abundance in Ethiopia; but adds that
several travellers have since been eye-wit-
ness of it. Ptolemy Philadelphus, who was
very curious in all things relating to arts
and sciences, sent thither able persons, pur-
posely to examine this matter, and to ascer-
tain the cause of so uncommon and remark-
able a circumstance.

Herodotus, and after him Diodorus Sicu-
lus, and several other authors, declare that
the Nile begins to flow in Egypt at the
summer solstice, that is, about the end of
June, and continues to rise till the end of
September, and then decreases gradually
during the months of October and Novem-
ber; after which it returns to its channel,
and resumes its wonted course. This ac-
count agrees almost with the relations of all
the moderns, and is founded in reality on
the natural cause of the inundation ; viz.,
the rains which fall in Ethiopia. Now, ac-
cording to the constant testimony of those
who have been on the spot, these rains
begin to fall in the month of April, and
continue during five months, till the end of
August and beginning of September. The
Nile's increase in Egypt must consequently
begin three weeks or a month after the rains
have begun to fall in Abyssinia, and accord-
ingly travellers observe that the Nile begins
to rise in the month of May, but so slowly
at first that it probably does not yet over-
flow its banks. The inundation happens
not till about the end of June, and lasts the

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

three following months, according to Hero-
dotus.

The just height of the inundation, accord-
ing to Pliny, is sixteen cubits. When it
rises but to twelve or thirteen, a famine is
threatened ; and when it exceeds sixteen,
there is danger. It must be remembered,
that a cubit is a foot and a half. The
Emperor Julian takes notice in a letter to
Ecdicius, prefect of Egypt, that the height
of the Nile's overflowing was fifteen cubits,
the 2oth of September, in 362. The
ancients do not agree entirely with one
another, nor with the moderns, with regard
to the height of the inundation ; but the
difference is not very considerable, and may
proceed: (i) From the disparity between
the ancient and modern measures, which it
is hard to estimate on a fixed and certain
foot ; (2) from the carelessness of the obser-
vators and historians; (3) from the real
difference of the Nile's increase, which was
not so great the nearer it approached the
sea.

As the riches of Egypt depended on the
inundation of the Nile, all the circumstances
and different degrees of its increase have
been carefully considered ; and by a long
series of regular observations, made during
many years, the inundation itself discovered
what kind of harvest the ensuing year was
likely to produce. The kings had placed
at Memphis a measure on which these
different increases were marked ; and from
thence notice was given to all the rest of
Egypt, the inhabitants of which knew, by
that means, beforehand what they might
fear or promise themselves from the harvest.
Strabo speaks of a well on the banks of the
Nile, near the town of Syene, made for that
purpose.

The same custom is observed to this day
at Grand Cairo. In the court of a mosque
there stands a pillar, on which are marked
the degrees of the Nile's increase ; and
common criers every day proclaim in all
parts of the city how high it is risen. The
tribute paid to the Grand Signer for the lands
is settled by the inundation. The day it

rises to such a height is kept as a grand
festival, and solemnized with fireworks,
feastings, and all the demonstrations of
public rejoicing ; and, in the remotest ages,
the overflowing of the Nile was always
attended with an universal joy throughout
all Egypt, that being the fountain of its
happiness.

The heathens ascribed the inundation
of the Nile to their god Serapis ; and the
pillar on which was marked the increase
was preserved religiously in the temple of
that idol. The Emperor Constantine having
ordered it to be removed into the church
of Alexandria, the Egyptians spread a report
that the Nile would rise no more by reason
of the wrath of Serapis ; but the river over-
flowed and increased as usual the following
years. Julian the Apostate, a zealous pro-
tector of idolatry, caused this pillar to be
replaced in the same temple, out of which
it was again removed by the command of
Theodosius.

Divine Providence, in giving so bene-
ficent a river to Egypt, did not thereby
intend that the inhabitants of it should be
idle, and enjoy so great a blessing, without
taking any pains. One may naturally sup-
pose, that as the Nile could not of itself
cover the whole country, great labour was
to be used to facilitate the overflowing of
the lands ; and numberless canals cut, in
order to convey the waters to all parts.
The villages, which stood very thick on the
banks of the Nile on eminences, had each
their canals, which were opened at proper
times to let the water into the country.
The more distant villages had theirs also,
even to the extremities of the kingdom.
Thus the waters are successively conveyed
to the most remote places. Persons are
not permitted to cut the trenches to receive
the waters, till the river is at such a height,
nor to open them all together ; because
otherwise some lands would be too much
overflowed, and others not covered enough.
They begin with opening them in Upper,
and afterwards in Lower Egypt, according
to the rules prescribed in a roll or book, in

ANCIENT EGYPT OPINIONS ABOUT THE NILE.

which all the measures are exactly set down.
By this means the water is disposed with
such care that it spreads itself over all the
lands. The countries overflowed by the
Nile are so extensive, and lie so low, and
the number of canals so great, that of all
the waters which flow into Egypt during
the months of June, July and August, it is
believed that not a tenth part of them
reaches the sea.

But as, notwithstanding all these canals,
there are many high lands which cannot
receive the benefit of the Nile's overflow-
ing ; this want is supplied by spiral pumps,
which are turned by oxen, in order to bring
the water into pipes, which convey it to
these lands. Diodorus speaks of such an
engine invented by Archimedes in his tra-
vels into Egypt.

There is no country in the world where
the soil is more fruitful than in Egypt, which
is owing entirely to the Nile. For whereas
other rivers, when they overflow lands, wash
away and exhaust their vivific moisture ;
the Nile, on the contrary, by the excellent
slime it brings along with it, fattens and
enriches them in such a manner, as suf-
ficiently compensates for what the foregoing
harvest had impaired. The husbandman,
in this country, never tires himself with
holding the plough, or breaking the clods
of earth. As soon as the Nile retires, he
has nothing to do but to turn up the earth,
and temper it with a little sand, in order to
lessen its rankness ; after which he sows it
with great ease, and with little or no
expense. Two months after, it is covered
with all sorts of corn and pulse. The
Egyptians generally sow in October and
November, according as the waters draw off,
and their harvest is in March and April.

The same land bears, in one year, three
or four different kinds of crops. Lettuces
and cucumbers are sown first ; then corn ;
and, after harvest, several sorts of pulse
which are peculiar to Egypt. As the sun is
extremely hot in this country, and rains
fall very seldom in it, it is natural to sup-
pose that the earth would soon be parched,

and the corn and pulse burnt up by so
scorching a heat, were it not for the canals
! and reservoirs with which Egypt abounds ;
and which, by the drains from thence,
amply supply water wherewith to refresh
the fields and gardens.

The Nile contributes no less to the
nourishment of cattle, which is another
source of wealth to Egypt The Egyptians
begin to turn them out to grass in Novem-
ber, and they graze to the end of March.
Words could never express how rich their
pastures are, and how fat the flocks and
herds (which, by reason of the mildness of
the air, are out night and day) grow in a
very little time. During the inundation of
the Nile, they are fed with hay and cut
straw, barley, and beans, which are their
common food.

A man cannot, says Corneille le Bruyn
in his travels, help observing the admirable
Providence of God to this country, who sends
at a fixed season such great quantities ot
rains in Ethiopia, in order to water Egypt,
where a shower of rain scarce ever falls ;
and who, by that means, causes the driest
and most sandy soil to become the richest
and most fruitful country in the universe.

Another thing to be observed here is that

(as the inhabitants say) in the beginning of

j June and the four following months, the

j north-east winds blow constantly, in order

I to keep back the waters which otherwise

I would flow too fast ; and to hinder them

! from discharging themselves into the sea, the

entrance to which these winds bar up, as it

were, from them. The ancients have not

omitted this circumstance.

The same Providence, whose ways are

wonderful and infinitely various, displayed

itself after a quite different manner in

i Palestine in rendering it exceedingly fruit-

j ful, not by rains, which fell during the

| course of the year, as is usual in other

places ; nor by a peculiar inundation, like

that of the Nile in Egypt ; but by sending

fixed rains at two seasons, when the people

were obedient to God, to make them more

: sensible of their continual dependence upon

THE ENGLISH IN EG YPT.

THE RUINS OF THEBES.

ANCIENT EGYPT OPINIONS ABOUT THE NILE.

at two seasons of
the year. For if
a man ascends
some mountain,
or one of the
largest pyramids
of Grand Cairo,
in the months of
July and August,
he beholds a vast
sea, in which num-
berless towns and
villages appear,
with several cause-
ways leading from
place to place ;
the whole inter-

Him. God Himself
commands them, by
His servant Moses, to
make this reflection.
" The land whither
thou goest in to possess
it, is not as the land of
Egypt, from whence ye
came out, where thou sowedst
thy seed, and wateredst it with
thy foot, as a garden of herbs :
but the land, whither ye go to
possess it, is a land of hills and val-
leys, and drinketh water of the rain of
heaven" (Deut. xi. 10-13). After this, God
promises to give His people, so long as they
shall continue obedient to Him, the former
and the latter rain : the first in autumn, to
bring up the corn ; and the second in the
spring and summer, to make it grow and
ripen.

There canr.ot be a finer sight than Egypt

THE PYRAMIDS, GIZEH.

spersed with groves and fruit-trees, whose
tops only are visible, all which forms a de-
lightful prospect. This view is bounded
by mountains and woods, which terminate,
at the utmost distance the eye can discover

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

a most lovely sky. On the contrary, in
winter that is to say, in the months of
January and February the whole country
is like one continued scene of beautiful
meadows, whose verdure, enamelled with
flowers, charms the eye. The spectator
beholds on every side flocks and herds
dispersed over all the plains, with infinite
numbers of husbandmen and gardeners.
The air is then perfumed by the great
quantity of blossoms on the orange, lemon,
and other trees; and is so pure that a
wholesomer or more agreeable is not found
in the world ; so that nature, being then
dead as it were in all other climates, seems
to be alive only for so delightful an abode.
We are now to speak of Lower Egypt. Its
shape, which resembles a triangle or delta (A),
gave occasion to its bearing the latter name,
which is that of one of the Greek letters.
Lower Egypt forms a kind of island; it
begins at the place where the Nile is divided
into two large canals, through which it
empties itself into the Mediterranean. The
mouth on the right hand is called the
Pelusian, and the other the Canopic, from
two cities in their neighbourhood, Pelu-
sium and Canopus, now called Damietta
and Rosetta. Between these two large
branches, there are five others of less note.
This island is the best cultivated, the most
fruitful, and the richest in Egypt. Its chief
cities (very anciently) were Heliopolis,
Heracleopolis, Naucratis, Sais, Tanis, Can-
opus, Pelusium ; and in later times, Alex-
andria, Nicopolis, etc. It was in the country
of Tanis that the Israelites dwelt.

There was at Sais a temple dedicated to
Minerva, who is supposed to be the same as
Isis, with the following inscription : " I am
whatever hath been, and is, and shall be ;
and no mortal hath yet pierced through the
veil that shrouds me."

Heliopolis, that is, the city of the sun,
was so called from a magnificent temple
there dedicated to that planet. Herodotus,
and other authors after him, relate some
particulars concerning the phoenix and this
temple, which, if true, would indeed be very

wonderful Of this kind of birds, if we may
believe the ancients, there is never but one
at a time in the world. He is brought forth
in Arabia, lives five or six hundred years,
and is of the size of an eagle. His head
is adorned with a shining and most beau-
tiful crest ; the feathers of his neck are of
a gold colour, and the rest of a purple ; his
tail is white, intermixed with red, and his
eyes sparkling like stars. When he is old,
and finds his end approaching, he builds a
nest with wood and aromatic spices, and
then dies. Of his bones and marrow, a
worm is produced, out of which another
phoenix is formed. His first care is to
solemnize his parent's obsequies, for which
purpose he makes up a ball in the shape
of an egg, with abundance of perfumes of
myrrh, as heavy as he can carry, which he
often assays beforehand ; then he makes a
hole in it, where he deposits his parent's
body, and closes it carefully with myrrh
and other perfumes. After this he takes up
the precious load on his shoulders, and
flying to the altar of the sun, in the city of
Heliopolis, he there burns it.

Herodotus and Tacitus dispute the truth
of some of the circumstances of this inci-
dent, but seem to suppose it true in general.
Pliny, on the contrary, in the very beginning
of his account, insinuates plainly enough
that he looks upon the whole as fabulous ;
and this is of course the case.

This ancient tradition, thougli grounded
on an evident falsehood, has yet introduced
into almost all languages the custom of
giving the name of Phcenix to whatever is
singular and uncommon in its kind : Rara
avis in terris, says Juvenal, speaking of the
difficulty of finding an accomplished woman
in all respects. And Seneca observes the
same of a good man.

What is reported of the swans, viz., that
they never sing but in their expiring mo-
ments, and that then they warble very
melodiously, is likewise grounded merely
on a vulgar error ; and yet it is used, not
only by the poets, but also by the orators
and even the philosophers.

ANCIENT EGYPT OPINIONS ABOUT THE NILE.

It was in Heliopolis that an ox, under
the name of Mnevis, was worshipped as a
god. Cambyses, king of Persia, exercised
his sacrilegious rage on this city ; burning
the temples, demolishing the palaces, and
destroying the most precious monuments
of antiquity in it. There are still to be seen
some obelisks which escaped his fury ; and
others were brought from thence to Rome,
to which city they are an ornament even at
this day.

Alexandria, built by Alexander the Great,
from whom it had its name, vied almost
in magnificence with the ancient cities of
Egypt. It stands four days' journey from
Cairo, and was formerly the chief mart of
all the eastern trade. The merchandise
was unloaded at Portus Muris, a town on
the western coast of the Red Sea ; from
whence it was brought upon camels to
a town of Thebais, called Copht, and con-
veyed down the Nile to Alexandria, whither
merchants resorted from all parts.

It is well known, that the East India
trade hath at all times enriched those who
carried it on. This was the chief fountain
of the vast treasures that Solomon amassed,
and which enabled him to build the mag-
nificent temple of Jerusalem. David, by
his conquering Idumea, became master of
Elath and Ezion-Geber, two towns situated
on the eastern shore of the Red Sea. From
these two ports, Solomon sent fleets to
Ophir and Tarshish, which always brought
back immense riches. This traffic, after
having been enjoyed some time by the
Syrians, who regained Idumea, shifted from
them to the Tyrians. These got all their
merchandise conveyed, by the way of
Rhinocolura (a seaport town lying between
the confines of Egypt and Palestine), to
Tyre, from whence they distributed them
all over the western world. Hereby the
Tyrians enriched themselves exceedingly,
under the Persian Empire ; by the favour
and protection of whose monarchs they
had the full possession of this trade. But
when the Ptolemies had made themselves
masters of Egypt, they soon drew all this

trade into their kingdom, by building Beer-
nice and other ports on the western side of
the Red Sea, belonging to Egypt ; and
fixed their chief mart at Alexandria, which
thereby rose to be the city of the greatest
trade in the world. There it continued for
a great many centuries after ; and all the
traffic which the western parts of the world
from that time had with Persia, India,
Arabia, and the eastern coasts of Africa,
was wholly carried on through the Red Sea,
and the mouth of the Nile, till a way was
discovered, a little above three hundred
years since, of sailing to those parts by the
Cape of Good Hope. After this, the Portu-
guese for some time managed this trade ; but
now it is in a manner engrossed wholly by
the English.

For the conveniency of trade, there was
built near Alexandria, in an island called
Pharos, a tower which bore the same name.
At the top of this tower was kept a fire, to
light such ships as sailed by night near
those dangerous coasts, which were full of
sands and shelves ; from whence all other
towers, designed for the same use, have
been called, as Pharo di Messina, etc. The
famous architect Sostratus built it by order
of Ptolemy Philadelphus, who expended
eight hundred talents upon it. It was
reckoned one of the Seven Wonders of the
World. Some have commended that prince
for permitting the architect to put his name
in the inscription which was fixed on the
tower instead of his own. It was very short
and plain, according to the manner of the
ancients : " Sostratus the Cnidian, son of
Dexiphanes, to the protecting Deities, for
the use of sea-faring people." But certainly
Ptolemy must have very much undervalued
that kind of immortality which princes are
very fond of, to suffer that his name should
not be so much as mentioned in the inscrip-
tion of an edifice so capable of immortal-
izing him. What we read in Lucian con-
cerning this matter, deprives Ptolemy of a
modesty which indeed would be very ill
placed here. This author informs us that
Sostratus, in order that the whole glory of

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

that noble structure might be ascribed to
himself, caused the inscription with his own
name to be carved in the marble, which he
afterwards covered with lime, and thereon
put the king's name. The lime soon
mouldered away ; and by that means, in-
stead of procuring the architect the honour
with which he had flattered himself, served

only to discover to future ages his mean
fraud, and ridiculous vanity.

Riches failed not to bring into this city,
as they usually do in all places, luxury and
licentiousness ; so that Alexandrian volup-
tuousness became a proverb. Yet the
arts and sciences were also here cultivated
in a very high degree.

CHAPTER XII.

PENERAL HERBERT STEWART ft. JSRIEF RECORD OF THE
LIFE AND SERVICES OF THAT ^BLE

N the morning of Friday,
February 20, 1885, a se-
cond edition of the great
London papers announced
to the metropolis and to

England, that General Herbert Stewart had

succumbed to the wounds he had received

some time previously. Men turned away

with a sigh as they thought of this sad close

of a career of promise, and of the untimely

death of one who, young in years, but old in

service, had deserved so well of his country.

Was it a "sad close" after all? Surely

not! for

" How can man die better

Than facing fearful odds,
For the ashes of his fathers
And the temples of his gods?"

So Macaulay makes the old Roman say,
and the universal testimony of all time is
that the man who dies on the field of bat-
tle fighting for his country is not one of
whom it is becoming to speak too sorrow-
fully.

Yet one could not refrain from feeling
grief when it was decisively known that " un-
happily the worst fears had been realized,
and, to the grief of the whole army, and
indeed of the nation, the galla'nt General

Stewart had succumbed to the grievous
wound which he sustained almost in the
moment of victory, on January 19, as his
little column was fighting its way to Me-
temmeh. His case was well-nigh desperate
from the first. The bullet lodged at the
base of the stomach, and, in consequence
of the weak condition of the patient, no
attempt seems to have been made to ex-
tract it. But his courage never failed him.
Notwithstanding his own sufferings, his con-
stant thoughts were with his men, and his
cheerfulness and excellent spirits for a time
caused his friends to hope that he might
eventually rally. Not so the doctors ; they
realized the gravity of the case from the
outset, without ceasing to do all that atten-
tion and human skill could effect to miti-
gate his pain. After being tended for some
weeks on board one of the river steamers
at Gubat, General Stewart was removed
along with other wounded officers and men
to Gakdul. On the way, it will be remem-
bered, the convoy had a smart skirmish
with a large body of Arabs, who were
beaten off. Further than Gakdul it was
not deemed advisable to move the dying
General. Fever had set in, accompanied
by other alarming symptoms, and the end

GENERAL HERBERT STEWART.

came on the i6th inst. Thus died one
who, according to the oft-repeated testi-
mony of Lord Wolseley, was one of the
most distinguished officers in the army.

Though Major-General Sir Herbert
Stewart was only forty-two years of age, he
had seen much active service, and gained
more rewards than fall to the lot of many
officers. He joined the army as ensign in
the 37th Foot on Nov. 24, 1863, and was
transferred to the 3rd (Prince of Wales)
Dragoon Guards as captain in 1873, in
which he attained the rank of colonel in
1882. In the Zulu war of 1879 he served
as brigade-major of cavalry, and was pre-
sent at the engagement of Erzungayan.
After the break-up of the Cavalry Brigade
he was employed on the line of communi-
cation, and was specially mentioned by
Colonel Baker Russell. In the operations
against Sekukuni he served as principal
staff officer, and subsequently acted as Lord
Wolseley's military secretary and chief of
staff when winding up the Zulu campaign.
For this he was again mentioned in des-
patches and rewarded with a lieutenant-
colonelcy. South Africa was also the scene
of his next campaign, which, however, was
not so fortunate. In the Boer war of 1881
he acted as assistant-adjutant and quarter-
master-general to Sir George Colley, with
whom he was present at the disaster of
Majuba Hill. In the Egyptian campaign
of 1882 he was appointed assistant-adjutant
and quartermaster-general to the Cavalry
Division, and was present at the engage-
ments of El Magfar and Tel-el-Mahuta, the
two actions at Kassassin, the battle of Tel-
el- Kebir, and the capture of Cairo. For
these services he was appointed aide-de-
camp to the Queen and Companion of the
Bath. In the campaign of 1884, in the
Eastern Soudan, he was appointed to the
command of the Cavalry Brigade attached
to Major-General Sir Gerald Graham's Divi-
sion, and for his services was created a
K.C.B. It was after the hard victories of
Teb and Tamai that the gallant leader, as
is well known, offered, and even entreated

to be sent from Suakim to Berber at the
head of fourteen hundred cavalry, a step
which, if adopted, would probably have
saved Gordon and Khartoum, and perhaps
averted the present war. At the time he
received his death-wound he had the tem-
porary rank of major-general in command
of the Camel Column of Lord Wolseley's
force, and it will be remembered that after
his victory at Abu Klea this rank was con-
firmed, at the special command of the
Queen. Sir Herbert Stewart, who was the
eldest son of the Rev. Edward Stewart, and
the grandson of the Hon. Edward Stewart,
was born in 1843, and was educated at
Winchester. He married, in 1877, Geor-
gina Janet, daughter of Admiral Sir James
Stirling, and widow of Major-General Sir
Henry Tombs, V.C., K.C.B.

Numerous correspondents wrote expres-
sive of the regret felt throughout the country
at the death of General Stewart. From
Dublin it was stated that he was exceedingly
popular while acting as aide-de-camp to
Lord Spencer. He was specially promi-
nent in shooting matches and other sports.
His fondness for athletics dates, indeed,
from his school-days at Winchester, where
he was foremost in most outdoor games.
Another correspondent mentioned a fact not
generally known, that General Stewart was
at one time a student of law at the Inner
Temple. Although he kept all his ' terms,'
the gallant officer was never called to the
bar," though in this indeed he was like the
majority of those who enter themselves as
students at our ancient Inns of Court.

It will be of great interest to read
Stewart's own account of the desperate
battle of Abu Klea, and we here append
the official report to headquarters, as well
as Lord Wolseley's accompanying state-
ment :

"CAMP KORTI,/*//. 26M, 1885.

My Lord, I forward herewith the copy
of a despatch from Brigadier-General Sir
Herbert Stewart, K.C.B., in which he
describes the action he fought on the i7th
inst. at Abu Klea. I am now awaiting

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

reports from him as to his further proceed-
ings subsequent to that battle, and I reserve
comments upon his operations until I am
in receipt of them. At present I shall
content myself with remarking that all he
has done proves him to be a real leader of
men and an able general. All ranks under
his command have displayed that discipline
and those high fighting qualities for which
her Majesty's army has always been re-
nowned.

I deeply deplore our loss, which was
considerable in proportion to the numbers
engaged ; but this must generally be the
case where we have to contend with a
brave and determined enemy, five or more
times our strength, and who invariably come
to close quarters and hand-to-hand fighting.
I have, etc., WOLSELEY, General

The Right Hon. the Marquis of
Hartington, M.P."

" From Brigadier-General Sir H. Stewart to

the Chief of the Staff.
ABU KLEA WELLS, Jan. iSt/i, 1885.

Sir, In continuation of my report of
the 1 4th inst, I have the honour to inform
you that the force under my command has
made the following movements in carrying
out your orders.

On the 1 4th inst. the force left Gakdul
at two p.m., and marching until dark
bivouacked for the night some ten miles on
the road to Metemmeh. On the i5th inst.
a distance of twenty-four miles was accom-
plished, and a bivouac formed among the
hills marked Gebel Es Sergain on the map.

On the 1 6th inst. the force left camp at
5 a.m., and halted for breakfast at 11.30
a,m. at the spot marked in the map by the
84oth kilometre. Whilst halted a report
was received from Lieutenant-Colonel
Barrow, igth Hussars, who had been sent
forward with his squadron to reconnoitre
the neighbourhood of the Abu Klea Wells,
informing me that he had seen about fifty
of the enemy standing in groups on the
hills about four miles north-east of Abu
Klea. Shortly afterwards the whole force

was advanced the Guards Camel Regi-
ment, Heavy Camel Regiment,and Mounted
Infantry Camel Regiment, moving on a
broad front in line of columns, at half
distance, the ground being favourable.

It soon became manifest that the enemy
was in force, and, looking to the hour (two
p.m.), it did not seem desirable to attempt
to attack until the following morning.
Another bivouac was therefore selected,
protected from the enemy's fire so far as
the ground would permit, and various small
works were constructed. During the night
a continuous light fire at long ranges was
kept up by the enemy, doing little damage.

Upon the xyth inst. it was plain that
the enemy was in force. During the night
they had constructed works on our right
flank, from which a distant but well-aimed
fire was maintained. In our front the
manoeuvring of their troops in line and in
column was apparent, and everything pointed
to the probability of an attack upon our
position being made. Under these cir-
cumstances no particular hurry to advance
was made, in the hope that our apparent
dilatoriness might induce the enemy to
push home. The camp having been
suitably strengthened to admit of its being
held by a comparatively small garrison, viz.,
40 Mounted Infantry, 125 Sussex and
details, and the enemy still hesitating to
attack, an advance was made to seize the
Abu Klea Wells. The force moved on
foot in a square, which was formed as
follows : Left front face, two companies
Mounted Infantry; right front face, two
companies Guards, with the three guns
Royal Artillery in the centre ; left face, two
companies Mounted Infantry, one company
Heavy Camel Regiment; right face, two
companies Guards, detachment Royal
Sussex; rear face, four companies Heavy
Camel Regiment, with Naval Brigade and
one Gardner gun in the centre. The
advance at once attracted a fairly-aimed
fire from the enemy in front and on both
flanks, which, in order to enable the square
to continue moving, it was absolutely

GENERAL HERBERT STEWART.

necessary to hold in check by the fire of
skirmishers. The enemy's main position
was soon apparent, and by passing that
position well clear of its left flank it was
manifest that he must attack or be enfiladed.
As the square was nearly abreast of the
position the enemy delivered his attack in
the shape of a singularly well organized
charge, commencing with a wheel to the
left.

A withering fire was at once brought
to bear upon the enemy, especially from
the more advanced portion of the left front
face of the 'square. The rear portion of
this face taking a moment or two to close
up was not in such a favourable position
to receive the enemy's attack, and I regret
to say that the square was penetrated at
this point by the sheer weight of the
enemy's numbers. The steadiness of the
troops enabled the hand-to-hand conflict to
be maintained, whilst severe punishment
was still being meted out to those of the
enemy continuing to advance, with the
result that a general retreat of the enemy
under a heavy artillery and rifle fire soon
took place. After reforming the square,
the iQth Hussars, who had been acting in
difficult ground supporting our left flank,
were pushed on to seize the Abu Klea
Wells, and at 5 p.m. those wells were
completely in our possession. Detach-
ments of the corps then returned to the
bivouac of the i6th inst. to bring up the
camel and impedimenta left there, thus
completing the force here this morning at
8 a.m.

The strength of the enemy is variously
estimated from 8,000 to 14,000 men. My
opinion is that not less than 2,000 of the
enemy operated on our right flank, 3,000
in the main attack, and 5,000 in various
other positions; but it is difficult to
estimate their numbers with any exactness.
Their losses have been very heavy, not less
than 800 lay dead on the open ground
flanking our square, and their wounded
during the entire day's fighting are reported
by themselves as quite exceptional. Many

are submitting. I deeply regret that the
necessity of obtaining water delays my
immediate advance on Metemmeh, but I
trust this may be overcome in a few hours.
I cannot too deeply lament the loss of
the many gallant officers and men that the
force has suffered ; but looking to the
numbers of the enemy, their bravery, their
discipline, and the accuracy of fire of those
possessing rifles, I trust that this loss, sad
as it is, may be considered as in some
measure inevitable. In conclusion, I would
add that it has been my duty to command
a force from which exceptional work, ex-
ceptional hardships, and, it may be added,
exceptional fighting, has been asked. It
would be impossible for me adequately to
describe the admirable support that has
been given to me by every officer and man
of the force. A return of casualties is
attached. Every possible care is being
taken of the wounded. Tents have been
pitched, and a strong post established over
the Wells, garrisoned by a detachment of
the Sussex Regiment. I have, etc.,
HERBERT STEWART,

Brigadier-General."

In Parliament, on the evening of the 2oth
of February, 1885, the death of General
Stewart was referred to in fit terms, as will
be gathered from the following condensed
account of the proceedings :
In the House of Lords,
Viscount Hardinge asked whether the
Under Secretary for War had any further
information to communicate to the House
in regard to General Buller's force.

The Earl of Morley : I have, my Lords,
no further information beyond what I stated
to your Lordships yesterday in regard to
that force, but before I sit down I have an
extremely melancholy task to discharge. I
think it is my duty to inform the House
that a telegram was received to-day from
Lord Wolseley, and the best way I can com-
municate the news is to read the telegram,
which is as follows :
"Telegram from Lord Wolseley, to Secre-
tary of State for War, dated Korti,

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

February, 1885. Received iQth Feb-
ruary :

It* is my most painful duty to announce
to you the death of Sir H. Stewart, at
5.0 p.m., on the i6th inst, from the effects
of the wound received in the action of the
1 9th ulL Colonel Talbot, in reporting this
sad event to me, says : ' I beg to be allowed
to express the deep grief of all ranks who
have had the privilege of serving under this
distinguished officer, especially of those who
have so lately
followed him in-
to action, and
also their sense
of the great loss
which they, the
army generally,
and the country
have sustained.'
He was to be
buried by the
soldiers whom he
so recently led
to victory, at the
entrance to the
valley leading to
the Gakdul Wells.
No braver soldier
or more brilliant
leader of men
ever wore the
Queen's uniform.
England can ill

afford the loss of

this young gene-
ral, while his

death robs me of the services of a dear
friend and of a dear comrade. All the other
sick and wounded are well."

I am unwilling, my Lords, by any words
of mine to mar the effect of Lord Wolseley's
touching message, every word of which will
find an echo in the heart of those who knew
him (hear, hear). Within a very brief
period of time the army and the country
have had to mourn the loss of two of the
most able generals, two of the bravest
soldiers, and two of the truest men, in

GENERAL SIR HERBERT STEWART.

General Stewart and General Earle, who
died, as they lived, true soldiers, leading
their men against fearful odds to victory,
gained by their own skilful dispositions and
by the heroic bravery of their troops, but
gained all too dearly by the loss of two
such men. My Lords, the army and the
country have to mourn the loss of two able
soldiers whom we can ill spare (hear, hear).
The Duke of Cambridge : My Lords, I
should wish to take this opportunity to add
my testimony to

the memory of

the gallant men
and soldiers to
whom the noble
Earl has just re-
ferred. Sir Her-
bert Stewart was
a young officer
who, by his own
merits and his
personal bravery,
had brought him-
self into a pro-
minent position
in the army ear-
lier than usually
happens in the
ordinary course
of events. I take
this opportunity
also of express-
ing my sense of
the gallantry and
high conduct of
General Earle

(hear, hear). Both those officers have served
their Queen and country with that distinc-
tion which I am sure is so dear to the
heart of every Englishman if in a position
to show it. They have had that oppor-
tunity, and they have nobly carried out
their duty, and they have fallen in the ser-
vice of their Queen and country. The army
is proud of such men, and the country is
proud to number such men in the army
(hear, hear). I also wish to take this op-
portunity of referring to another brave

GENERAL HERBERT STEWART.

officer. I fear there is now
little hope of the safety of
General Gordon. They were
three of the finest soldiers the
kingdom ever produced from
its earliest history, and the
country greatly mourns their
loss. Every one in this cam-
paign has done his duty, and
certainly no man could have
done his duty more honestly,
fearlessly, and conscientiously
than the late General Gordon.
Whether in China or the
Soudan, his power was most
remarkable, whilst as to his
merits, we know from what he
did in the Soudan how to
judge of them (hear, hear).
In his, as in the case of the
other two distinguished offi-
cers I have mentioned, I
must express, on the part of
the army, our sincere and
deep sympathy and regret at
the loss which the army, Her
Majesty, and the country have
sustained (hear, hear).

In the House of Commons,
Sir W. Barttelot asked the
Secretary for War whether he
had received official informa-
tion of the death of that most
gallant and distinguished offi-
cer, General Sir Herbert Stew-
art?

The Marquis of Hartington,
although he believed the
House generally was in pos-
session of the melancholy in-
telligence, read the telegram
which he had received from
Lord Wolseley respecting the
death of General Stewart, and
added : I cannot allow this
opportunity to pass without
referring also to the loss which
her Majesty's service has sus-
tained in the death of the

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

gallant General Earle (hear, hear). General
Earle had certainly in this and in previous
campaigns rendered the most brilliant and
distinguished services (hear, hear). I am
quite certain that the unfortunate, but most
honourable circumstances of his death,
command, equally with that of Sir Herbert
Stewart, the universal regret of members of
this House, and their respectful sympathy
with his relatives (hear, hear).

A few words from an eloquent memoir
may fitly close this chapter :

" The loss, though not unexpected, adds
another brave and brilliant name to the list
of victims the war in the Soudan has al-
ready claimed from the British army. His
name had been associated with the most
daring, skilful, and successful action that
has yet been fought in this unhappy cam-
paign, and the nation reasonably hoped
that he would have developed those quali-
ties of foresight and courage that constitute
the main requisites of a first-rate com-
mander. Lord Wolseley had already placed
on record his opinion that he knew no more
promising officer in the whole of the service,
and he must feel especially grieved by the
loss of one upon whom he counted to co-
operate with him in the execution of an
original and difficult enterprise. Wherever
General Stewart had been called upon to
exhibit the characteristics that stamp the
military man of action, he had responded
to the appeal ; and he had won the attach-
ment and confidence of his subordinates as
much as he had extorted the admiration of
his superiors. Such men are developed, we
may say without exaggeration, only in an
army that is aristocratic in one sense, and
democratic and popular in another. The
habits of command that are traditional in
the English gentleman are happily combined
with that unaffected geniality that is found
so winning and irresistible by all classes.
Under such a leader as General Stewart,
our voluntary soldiers will go anywhere and
do anything. An English officer is at once
the embodiment of hereditary dignity and
of the most sympathetic familiarity. He

represents discipline of the sternest kind,
yet never imposes hardships or risks on
others that he is not himself prepared and
prompt to share. We may regret and must
regret that so many officers of high stand-
ing should have fallen in this miserable
scuffle with desert savages; but it will
hardly be doubted that the rank and file
who are asked to face the Arab spears
will be more likely to do so when they
observe that their officers set them so
intrepid an example. The proof, perhaps,
was not needed, but it is as well that a
noble tradition should be maintained by
fresh instances. We will not say, as the
Spartan mother said of her dead boy,
' Sparta hath many a worthier son than he.'
But this realm and the British army contain
thousands of men as worthy, who would
demonstrate that they were so, had they
only Stewart's chance. He had the good
fortune to be in command at a critical
moment, and the danger as well as the
honour of the occasion fell to his lot. He
dies lamented by his countrymen, and his
name will not soon be forgotten. Even the
death of the ' Christian Hero,' as Lord
Salisbury called Gordon on a recent oc-
casion though it overshadows all our other
losses, does not make the country un-
mindful of such servants, who have perished
in its cause, as General Earle and General
Stewart." Nay, our memory of the one
only serves to make us more mindful of the
others.

The portrait of General Stewart, which
accompanies this chapter, is from a likeness
recently taken. It will serve to bring
vividly before our readers the features of
him who is gone.

Napoleon said to his soldiers, when en-
couraging them in an Egyptian fight, " From
these pyramids forty centuries look down
upon you." The forty centuries of Egyptian
history may be challenged to produce the
record of deeds so brave and daring as
those of Stewart and the other officers and
men who have here fought and died for
their country.

GENERAL EARLE.

CHAPTER XIII.

GENERAL |IAR,LE A. LIVERPOOL J^AD QUALITIES OP HEAD AND
HEART DEATH IN THE JMOM.ENT OF YICTORY.

N our last chapter we have
very briefly referred to ex-
pressions of sorrow at the
death of General Earle, and
we are sure that some notice
of that able officer will be welcome to our
readers. According to the Pictorial World,
Death found a shining mark, and struck
a signal blow, when General Earle fell in
the moment of victory after the capture of
the heights of Kerbekan. One of the most
brilliant campaigns in the desert has been
clouded over by the loss of a commander
who could ill be spared by his soldiers at
such a crisis. And his countrymen at home
have felt also a common sorrow that a
career which was so full of promise should
be so abruptly terminated. The words,
" Killed in action," have been declared to
be the most appropriate epitaph which a
warrior could wish for, and the subject of
this memoir desired no better ; but it has
seemed to all who have read the story of
his gallant fight, that that was a bitter for-
tune, which suddenly quenched, in the very
blaze of victory, the directing spirit whose
skill, judgment, and daring had secured
success.

Major-General William Earle was born at
Liverpool in 1833 the same year as his
friend and chief, Lord Wolseley and was
the third son of the late Sir Hardman Earle,
of Woolton, who was created a baronet in
1869, and was a great friend of the present
Premier. The Earles are an old Lancashire
family, and have for several generations
been associated with Liverpool, many mem-
bers having been long and honourably
connected with commercial pursuits and
public duties in that locality. Educated
first at a private school in Liverpool, Wil-

liam Earle went then to Harrow, where one
of his class-fellows was the late gallant
Burnaby. In 1851 he was gazetted to an
ensigncy in the 49th Foot, of which regi-
ment he became Adjutant in June, 1854.
This corps was part of the Second Division
in the Crimean War, forming, with the 4ist
and 47th Foot, the brigade well-known as
the " Forty Brigade," under General Adams,
and was one of the regiments which suffered
most severely during the campaign. The
duties of an adjutant were not easy or
pleasant in those days of hard work and
scanty fare, but Earle was energetic and
punctilious in the performance of all details
of duty, and was most popular amongst his
brother officers. He was present at the
battle of the Alma, and at the more stub-
born fight of Inkermann, where, when at
one time the fate of the day trembled in
the balance, Adams's Brigade helped, by a
desperate charge, to save it. He had, a
few days before Inkermann, taken his part
in repelling the sortie made by the Rus-
sians on October 26th the day following
the battle of Balaclava when the Second
Division, under Sir de Lacy Evans, repulsed
4,000 of the enemy, killing and wounding
500, and taking 100 prisoners. During the
siege of Sebastopol, Earle did regimental
duty in the trenches and at the two attacks
upon the Redan. For his services he was
specially mentioned in despatches, and, be-
sides the Crimean medal, with three clasps,
and the Turkish medal, was awarded the
Sardinian medal and the fifth class of the
Medjidie. Promoted to a company, he
became Aide-de-Camp to the chief of the
staff from October, 1855, to June, 1856.
Leaving the 49th, he joined the Grenadier
Guards in 1859, and in that distinguished

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

regiment held the posts of Instructor of
Musketry and Adjutant. He served as
Military Secretary at Gibraltar from May,
1859, to October, 1860 ; was Brigade-Major
in Canada from October, 1862, to January,
1863; and Military Secretary in British
North America from June, 1865, to Octo-
ber, 1870. In the meantime he had re-
ceived his colonelcy, and when Lord North-
brook was appointed Viceroy and Governor-
General of India he was offered, and ac-
cepted, the post of Military Secretary.

The office of Military Secretary to the
Viceroy of India is a delicate and difficult
one to fill adequately. A great deal of
military patronage is in the hands of the
Viceroy, independent of the Commander-
in-Chief. Opinions have differed as to the
wisdom or expediency which for many years
deprived the military head of the armies of
India of any direct control over an import-
ant part of that army especially that to
which was committed the defence of the
Punjaub frontier but the custom remained,
and it was not seldom that certain jarrings
and discords took place in the relations
between the Military Secretariat of the
Viceroy and that of the Commander-in-
Chief. These differences, although noted
in confidential papers only, were not un-
known to the general body of officers, and
sometimes occasioned no little scandal in
camp or cantonment. It is to Colonel
Earle's credit that during the four years,
from May, 1872, to April, 1876, he held
the appointment of Military Secretary to
Lord Northbrook, there was no such clash-
ing or jarring between the military depart-
ments under the Viceroy and those under
the Commander-in-Chief. He " pulled
well," to use a common but expressive
phrase, with all parties ; and whilst carrying
out the views and wishes of the Governor-
General faithfully and without swerving, he I
succeeded in winning the confidence and
esteem of all other heads of the departments
which go to form the complex machine
known as the military administration of
India. He had wonderful tact in dealing

with men of different dispositions and tem-
pers, and a clear head and a calm, cheery
manner gave him a quiet power which was
only exerted for the public good. It is no
secret now that Lord Northbrook, himself
a shrewd judge of character, speaks of him
as having been one of the ablest of staff
officers, having extraordinary power of or-
ganization and mastery of detail, and show-
ing a readiness of resource and a soundness
of judgment seldom at fault. His lordship
mourns his death not only as a personal,
but as a public loss.

After his return from India, Colonel
Earle served on the home staff at Chatham
and Shorncliffe until March, 1881. In
August, 1882, he was appointed Brigadier-
General on the expeditionary force in Egypt,
and was promoted to the rank of Major-
General in October that year. He had
been made a Companion of the Star of
India in 1876, and in November, 1882, he
received the Companionship of the Bath,
in recognition of his services during the
Egyptian campaign, and also the thanks of
Parliament. In that campaign he had
rendered most valuable service, being
placed in command of the base and lines
of communication when Wolseley seized
the Suez Canal, and moved from Ismailia
to attack Arabi. All was chaos and confu-
sion at Ismailia when Earle got there, but
his energy and administrative ability soon
evolved order and organization. Stores
had to be landed and forwarded, sick and
wounded had to be looked after, transport
had to be found, a tramway had to be laid
down, and all this had to be done with a
deficiency of labourers, a want of money
(the Government at home wishing to avoid
any expenditure requiring a Parliamentary
grant), and in the face of all manner of
difficulties. But in spite of every obstacle,
accidental or intentional, placed in his way,
General Earle succeeded in keeping the
line of communication perfect, and gained
for himself the highest praise from Lord
Wolseley, who mentioned in his despatches
the good serviceslie had rendered.

GENERAL EARLE.

At the conclusion of the campaign he
was appointed to the command of the
English garrison at Alexandria, and in that
capacity he won the good-will of all classes,
Europeans and Egyptians.

But more active duties were soon to be
required of him. Lord Wolseley had de-
termined to advance up the Nile in his
attempt to relieve Khartoum and to rescue
Gordon, and General Earle was selected to
head the force proceeding to Berber. The
work of dragging the boats over the cata-
racts was found to be much more severe
than at first expected, and the progress
made was in consequence slow. But day
after day the soldiers toiled on, animated
by the determined and cheerful spirit which
they saw in their leader. They heard of
the splendid fight which Stewart had had at
Abu Klea, and the news of Wilson's brilliant
dash for the river must also have reached
them. For them there seemed to be no
chance of earning distinction, except as
toilers working their way laboriously along
the weary and troublesome river. At Berti,
where it had been anticipated that the
enemy would make a stand, only a deserted
camp was found, and so further disappoint-
ment came, but stern duty had to be done.
At length, however, the opportunity which
they were longing for arrived. At Kerbekan
the Arabs had assembled, and were pre-
pared to give battle. They occupied a
position of extraordinary natural strength,
holding a high ridge of razor-backed hills,
with advanced koppies in front close to the
river a position most difficult of access,
and which could only be carried by assault.
Such a situation, held by men who despised
the fear of death as these brave tribesmen
of the desert did, was indeed a most for-
midable one to attack. In the disposition
of his forces for that purpose General Earle
showed himself to be a tactician and an
able strategist He knew that Orientals
always endeavour to keep a way of retreat
open, and that an attack in rear has always
been a movement which they dread. Leav-
ing two companies with two guns to hold

I the enemy in front, Earle marched with the
j remainder of his men round the high range
I of hills, thus turning the position and attack-
i ing it from behind, sending his cavalry in
I the meantime to sweep on further to the
rear, and endeavour to capture the enemy's
! camp. No arrangements could have been
i better planned, or more brilliantly executed,
i The foe were taken aback at the audacity
I of the manoeuvre, but fought with all the
I courage of wild fanaticism. Behind rocks
and broken ground and loop-holed walls
they kept up a withering fire upon all sides.
i Earle, keeping his men in loose order of
! formation, advanced boldly to storm. A
terrific rush of the enemy was met, not in
I square, but in the ordinary British line, and
I was coolly and gallantly repelled, and the
Arab spearmen bit the dust. But the rocks
j had to be scaled before victory could be
assured. Earle gave the signal, and to the
wild music of the bagpipes, and to the still
wilder music of cheers, which rang above
the din of battle, the Highlanders and the
men of Stafford rushed at their foe. They
scaled the rocks and carried the position at
all points with the bayonet. The success
was complete, and ten standards, and the
whole of the position, together with the
enemy's camp, were soon in the hands of
the stormers. It was a bold and brilliant
feat of arms, excellently conceived, splen-
didly carried out But in the very moment
; of victory a mighty sorrow fell upon the
i little band of conquerors. An Arab bullet
had struck to death the general whom they
I loved, and who had led them so well.
" General Earle," says the official despatch,
"was among the foremost in this attack,
and, to the deep sorrow of every officer and
| man in the force, was killed on the summit
of the koppie."

It may be argued that it is not the duty of
| a commander to expose himself unneces-
; sarily, that it is contrary to the recognised
strict rules of war. But there are moments
when rules are of no account, and when
all personal considerations must be thrown
1 to the winds. Earle was not the man to

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

say " Go ! " when he knew that to place
himself in front would be an inspiration to
all who followed. He did so, and "fore-
most fighting fell." A bright place will
ever be his in the military annals of his

country, and all who knew him will bear
willing testimony to his great worth as a
soldier, and will long cherish his memory as
a friend.

He whose memory lives, dies not.

CHAPTER XIV.

COLONEL FRED BURNABY fiis FAMOUS JR.IDE TO KHIVA.

OULD there be any greater
contrast than Somerby Hall,
Leicestershire, that quiet
country house in the heart
of rural England, and the
places where Colonel Fred Burnaby, the man
who held that house, spent his life and met
his death ! In the picture of Somerby Hall,
with which we here present our readers,
something of that peace and quiet is repre-
sented. In another picture, drawn from
scenes in Burnaby's life, the contrast will
be seen, as well as in the various illustra-
tions of thrilling battle-pieces with which
we accompany our narrative.

It is very well remarked, that " in a time
like ours, when it is often complained that
the age of romance has ceased, a career
like that of the late colonel of the Royal
Horse Guards is very unusual Burnaby
was more than a soldier. He was a man
who, without being in any sense entitled to
be called great, yet united in his person
many of the qualities which Englishmen
are most accustomed to admire. His phy-
sical bravery and his extraordinary personal
strength are almost as well-known to-day as
are the similar qualities of Richard Cceur
de Lion. His intellectual were on a cor-
responding plane with his physical quali-
ties. His mind was strong, active, tenacious.
He had decided opinions, and expressed
them with emphasis. He was as ready in
debate as in action. On the platform at
large political gatherings he displayed the

same qualities of energy and dash which he
displayed on the Khivan steppes, or before
an Arab fortress in the Soudan. If he was
unpopular at the Horse Guards, he was
daily becoming more popular with the
people ; and by his adventurous journeyings
in Asia and his repeated excursions in
balloons, he added something to our know-
ledge of both geography and aeronautics.
Burnaby was therefore a public man in a
wider sense than that in which the mere
soldier, however distinguished, is a public
man. His qualities of mind were not rare ;
but seldom have mental and physical quali-
ties been so happily blended.

Frederick Gustavus Burnaby was born at
Bedford, March 3rd, 1842. He was the
son of the Rev. G. Burnaby, by Harriett,
sister of Mr. H. Villebois, of Marham
House, Norfolk. His family was a good
one; and he could boast, it is said, of being
nineteenth in descent from Edward I. At
Harrow he distinguished himself more by
his mastery of modern languages than his
knowledge of the classics. His literary
tastes were developed early ; for rebelling,
as so many high-spirited boys have, against
the fagging system then so prevalent in large
public schools, young Burnaby wrote a hot
protest, which was accepted and printed by
the edjtor of Punch. From Harrow young
Burnaby passed to Germany, where he
much improved his knowledge of modern
languages; and on September 3oth, 1859,
he was gazetted Cornet in the Royal Horse

COLONEL FRED BURNABY.

KILLED AT ABU KLEA, ON THE 1 -Jth JANUARY, 1 88jJ.

BURNABY EARLY ADVENTURES.

Guards (Blue), with which crack corps he
served ever since ; rising to be Lieutenant
in 1861 ; Captain in 1866; Major in 1879;
Lieutenant-Colonel in 1880; and Colonel
in September, 1884.

Captain Burnaby was able very early to
indulge his taste for foreign travel. In 1868
he left England for a long continental tour,
visiting Bayonne, Bordeaux, the Pyrenees,
and Pau. Wherever he went adventures
attended his steps. Now he was helping
the soldiers of some little French town to
extinguish a fire ; then riding across coun-
try on a curious horse (' Qui saut comme
un chamois ; qui marche comme un loco-
motif) after half-tamed foxes scented with
aniseed ; or, again, armed with a bedpost,
he would be aiding a young Frenchman to
beat back in Tangiers the attack of some
Moorish soldiers eager to arrest some danc-
ing girls who had been secretly showing
the Giaours the real Moorish dance (not
the Hebrew jig which is usually palmed off
upon the ignorant tourist). From Biarritz
Burnaby crossed into Spain, visiting San
Sebastian, Madrid, Seville, and Gibraltar,
and crossing to Tangiers, whence he returned
to England. He eventually became a pro-
ficient linguist, being able to speak no less
than seven languages (including Arabic,
Russ, and Turkish) with fluency. In 1870
Captain Burnaby was in Russia, and on his
way home he passed through Paris, then
in the hands of the Commune. The year
1873 saw him again in Spain, where the
Carlist war was raging. From Madrid he
made his way to ^Vittoria, and thence to
the Carlist lines. These he penetrated,
although not always without difficulty. Our
illustration represents him during one of
those difficulties. Going along a mountain
road he was met by a company of Carlists.
With easy address he got out of his carriage,
spoke to the Carlist captain in his own
tongue, and, in a few minutes, was again on
his way, and passed on to San Sebastian,
and thence to Irun. Next year the colonel
again visited Spain, this time as the corres-
pondent of the Times on the Carlist side.

His letters show considerable literary
facility, and some of his descriptions are
excellent specimens of the best kind of
rapid writing. His next journey was a
much more formidable undertaking. It was
nothing less than an excursion to Central
Africa to join General Gordon, then em-
ployed under Ismail Pasha in suppressing
the slave-trade in the Soudan. From Suez
Burnaby sailed down the Red Sea to
Suakim, whence, with a caravan party, he
journeyed on camels across the desert to
Berber. From Berber he addressed his
second letter to the Times, dated January
1 3th, 1875, describing his desert journey,
and dwelling upon the dreadful horrors of
the slave-trade which Gordon was then
endeavouring with such extraordinary exer-
tions to suppress. From Berber Captain
Burnaby sailed up the Nile to Khartoum,
whence he pushed on by boat far up the
White Nile. His third and last letter to
the Times, dated from Soubat, Central
Africa, February 5th, 1875, gives some
interesting details of the work then being
carried on by General Gordon.

While at Khartoum Burnaby made a re-
solution to ride alone to Khiva. It was
like the man to make so wild a resolve, and
it was like him too to carry it out with such
unflinching courage and such readiness of
resource. Not long before, Colonel C. M.
MacGregor had been foiled by the British
Government in his attempts to penetrate to
Merv. Fifteen months after MacGregor
had returned from his eight months' ride,
Burnaby set out on his adventurous journey.
He proposed to ride through Khiva to Merv,
to see what the Russians were about in
Central Asia. It was a difficult and dan-
gerous journey ; but accidental circum-
stances have perhaps given an undue promi-
nence to the undertaking. With MacGahan
to coach him as to the route, with the assist-
ance of Mr. Schuyler at St. Petersburg, with
a ready knowledge of Russ, with the cer-
tainty that there was a Russian garrison at
Khiva, and with plenty of money and an
unrivalled physique, Captain Burnaby started

THE ENGLISH JN EGYPT.

with unusual advantages. His feat is in
no way to be compared to the much more
dangerous and adventurous journeys of

Vambe'ry and MacGahan, norl has ' The
Ride to Khiva ' the same interest or worth
as Vambe'ry's ' Travels,' MacGahan's

UURNABY STOPPED BY CARLIST OUTPOSTS.

'Campaigning on the Oxus,' MacGregor's
'Khorassan,' or O'Donovan's 'Merv Oasis.'
Much of his journey was over ground tra-
velled almost daily by Russian merchants ;

and the pith of the enterprise was the ride
of three hundred miles over the desert in
the depth of winter, from Kazala to Khiva.
Advertising skill and the fact that his book

BURNABTS RIDE TO KHIVA.

was published at a moment when the public
were eager to obtain information about the
doings of Russia in Central Asia are the

two chief reasons which led to the extra-
ordinary success of Captain Burnaby's book.
It is a book, too, written in just the vein to

THE RIDE TO KHIVA.

tickle the taste of the circulating-library
public light, easy, and good-natured, with
bits of personal description, and some good

descriptions of natural scenery. Leaving
Charing Cross with eighty-five pounds of
baggage on the 20th of November, 1875,

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

Captain Burnaby quickly made his way to
St. Petersburg, and thence to Orenburg.
From Orenburg to Kazala was a rush of
664 miles across the snow-covered desert ;
and at Kazala the traveller was welcomed
politely by the Russian Commandant,
Colonel Goloff. Fearing, however, a design
on the part of Goloflf to send him a prisoner
to the Fortress of Petro-Alexandrovsk, Cap-
tain Burnaby declined Colonel Goloff's
proffered escort, and set out, with only his
servant and guide, on the ride of 370 miles
to Khiva. A visit to Khiva in 1875 was a
very different thing to a visit to the Khan's
capital twelve years before, when Vambe'ry,
disguised in his dervish rags, was the first
European who had penetrated to the mys-
terious capital of the Khivans. Much had
happened in the meantime. Said Maho-
med, in whose austere presence poor Vam-
be'ry had trembled with such good reason,
had humbled himself to General Kauf-
mann ; and when Captain Burnaby visited
the Khan he incurred no more risk, says
Mr. Charles Marvin, than an English tourist
visiting the capital of any Indian feudatory
prince. Burnaby accomplished his ride in
thirteen days, nor did he suffer any extreme
hardship. Once, indeed, he ran much
danger of frostbite, having by inadvertence
left off his fur gloves. Falling asleep in his
sledge, he woke to find his fingers a lurid
blue, while his wrists and the extremities of
his arms were like those of a dead man.
Vigorous rubbing, however, restored the
circulation. By the Khan of Khiva the
English captain was received with con-
sideration, and 'I was surprised,' wrote Cap-
tain Burnaby, ' that after all that has been
written in Russian newspapers about the
cruelties and other iniquities perpetrated by
this Khivan potentate [Vambe'ry had seen
the eyes of Tchaudor Turcomans gouged
out by order of this same Khan], to find
the original such a cheery sort of fellow.'
At Khiva the English officer stopped some
days ; and then, instead of pushing on to
Merv, according to his original intention,
he decided to turn off to Bokhara. But

before he had time to leave, an imperative
message came from the Russian Governor
Ivanoff, requiring his presence at Petro-
Alexandrovsk. On arriving at the fortress
(two days' journey from Khiva) Burnaby
found a telegram from the Duke of Cam-
bridge, ordering his immediate return. The
Beaconsfield Cabinet had yielded to the
diplomatic pressure of the Court of St.
Petersburg, and had recalled the zealous
traveller, who was prying too closely, the
Russians feared, into their Central Asian
transactions. Burnaby returned by almost
exactly the same route by which he went.
The publication of his book soon after his
return at once raised him to the rank of a
notoriety.

Enough has been said above to indicate
Burnaby's true position as a Central Asian
pioneer. He does not stand in the front
rank of such; but his journey was a fine
example of the enterprise of an officer
determined to undertake a useful duty."

In order to give the reader some notion
of how Burnaby wrote, we extract two brief
passages from the " Ride to Khiva." The
first describes waters by a " stern frost trans-
formed into a solid mass. Pillars and
blocks of the shining and hardened element
were to be seen modelled into a thousand
quaint and grotesque patterns. Here a
fountain, perfectly formed, with Ionic and
Doric columns, was reflecting a thousand pris-
matic hues from the diamond-like stalactites
which had attached themselves to its crest.
There a huge obelisk, which if of stone
might have come from ancient Thebes, lay
half buried beneath a pile of fleecy snow.
Further on we came to what might have
been a Roman temple or vast hall in the
palace of a Caesar, where many half-hidden
pillars and monuments erected their taper-
ing summits above the piles of the debris.
The wind had done in that northern lati-
tude what had been performed by some
violent pre-Adamite agency in the Berber
desert. Take away the ebon blackness of
the stony masses which have been cast there
forth from the bowels of the earth, and

BURNABYHIS ADVENTURES IN ASIA MINOR.

replace them on a smaller scale by the
crystal forms I have attempted to describe,
and the resemblance would be striking."

Burnaby again describes another scene
thus :

" It was a glorious evening. The stars
as seen from the snow-covered desert were
brighter and more dazzling than any I had
hitherto witnessed. From time to time
some glittering meteor would shoot across
the heavens. A momentary track of vivid
flame traced out its course through space.
Showers of orbs of falling fire flashed for a
moment, then disappeared from our view.
Myriads of constellations and worlds above
sparkled like gems in a priceless diadem.
It was a magnificent pyrotechnic display,
nature being the sole actor in the spectacle."

And again: "The sunlight was bright
and glorious, and in no part of the world
hitherto visited by me had I seen the aurora
in such magnificence. First a pale blue
streak, gradually extending over the whole

of the Eastern horizon, arose like a wall
barring the unknown beyond. Suddenly it
changed colour. The summit became like
lapis-lazuli, the base a sheet of purple, waves
of grey and crystal radiating from the
darker hues. These relieved the eye, ap-
palled by the vastness of the barrier. The
purple foundations were in turn upheaved
by seas of fire. The eyes were dazzled by
the glowing brilliancy. The wall of colours
floating in space broke up into castles,
battlements, and towers. They were wafted
by the breezes far from ', our view. The
seas of flame meanwhile had lit up the
whole horizon; they burst through their
borders ; they formed one vast ocean ; the
eye quailed beneath the blaze ; the snowy
carpet at our feet reflected like a camera
the wonderful panorama overhead. Flakes
of light in rapid succession bound earth to
sky. At last the globe of sparkling light
appeared rising from the depths of the
ocean of fire."

CHAPTER XV.

J-fis ADVENTURES IN ASIA

BIRMINGHAM - CAREER AS A BALLOONIST.

STANDS FOR

N the autumn of 1876 all
eyes ; were anxiously turned
towards the East. The
Bulgarian atrocities had
been committed, and had
given Mr. Gladstone the text for his fiery
pamphlet. Lord Beaconsfield had char-
acterized the rumours from Bulgaria as
coffee-house babble. Journeying on the
Danube, Canon Liddon and Canon
MacColl had seen a Bulgarian impaled
upon a pike. Other witnesses came for-
ward, who alleged that the impaled being
seen by the Canons was a stack of beans.
Public opinion ran high. There were many

who declared that the Turks ought to be
driven out of Europe. A strong Russian
party was formed in England ; and it was
evident that before long war would break
out between Russia and Turkey. Such
was the state of affairs when Burnaby, fresh
from his Khivan exploit, determined to cap
it by another ride. ' Were the Turks such
awful scoundrels ? ' said the guardsman to
himself. He determined to ascertain ; and
accordingly, in the autumn of 1876 he
found himself leaving London with his
faithful servant, Radford, and with only
five months' leave in which to explore Asia
Minor. In this brief time he rode over

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

2,000 miles of country, much of it barren
wilderness. The journey gave him ample
material for a second book, 'On Horse-
back Through Asia Minor.' It was dis-
tinguished by the same qualities of fluency,
happy good nature, and high spirits, as
1 The Ride to Khiva ; ' but it proved less
of a public success. The exploit was less
striking; the route better known. From \
Scutari Burnaby travelled almost due east |
past Angora and Sivas to Erzeroum. From ;
Erzeroum he made a southerly detour to
Lake Van, and continued as far east as |
Khoi, near the northern shores of Lake
Uruinia. Thence he struck northwards, <
reaching Kars, and finally embarking at
Batoum for his return journey. He re-
turned with a good opinion of the Turks, |
and with a much increased dislike for the j
Russians and their mode of government |
This journey was saddened by the death
at Dover of the faithful Radford, who had
followed his master with uncomplaining
fidelity through all his adventures. The
faithful servant had contracted typhus fever
at Constantinople. The fever developed
itself at Vienna, he arrived at Dover un-
conscious, and died at the end of the
second day on shore. Radford was buried
at Dover, and his master put this record
on his tomb : ' He was a brave soldier, a
faithful servant, and as true as steel.'

The next year (1877) found Burnaby
again in the East. Russia had declared
war against Turkey, and Captain Burnaby
went out to join the Turkish forces as
agent to the Stafford House Committee.
But though his position was purely that of 1
a civilian he could not bear to be out of
fighting. Accordingly he joined Baker
Pasha, and was present at several engage-
ments. He endured all hardship cheer-
fully, and defied all dangers with impunity.
With his strong views on the Eastern
Question it is not surprising that Burnaby
should have endeavoured to obtain a
hearing for them in the House of Com-
mons. Accordingly, in June, 1878, he was
accepted as the Conservative candidate for

Birmingham ; and it is characteristic of the
man that he should have selected the very
hot-bed of Radicalism as the place wherein
to expound strong Conservative opinions.
From the beginning the Captain's candida-
ture was hopeless. He made a series of
rattling political speeches, and attended
a series of noisy meetings. But he had
no chance against the Midland triumvirate,
Messrs. Bright, Chamberlain, and Muntz.
It speaks well, however, for the plucky
fight that Burnaby made, that at the
General Election, in 1880, he obtained
15,716 votes. After his defeat he did not
despair of Birmingham ; and he recently
visited the Midland capital in conjunction
with Lord Randolph Churchill, the other
Conservative candidate. In June, 1879,
Major Burnaby married at St. Peter's
Church, Onslow Gardens, Miss Elizabeth
A. F. H. Whitshed, only child of the late
Sir St. Vincent Whitshed, Bart., of Wick-
low, the Prince of Wales being present.
Mrs. Burnaby shares much of the strength
of mind and love of adventure which
always distinguished her gallant husband.
Though she cannot be credited with
discovering the good effects of cold dry
Alpine air in cases of chest complaint, she
has at least the distinction of being the
pioneer of Alpine climbing in winter. In
the summer of 1881 Mrs. Burnaby arrived
at Chamounix for the first time. She was
in bad health, and the doctors feared con-
sumption. She had tried in vain all the
usual winter health resorts Algiers, Hyeres,
Mentone, Meran. From none did she gain
more than temporary benefit. But the
pure mountain air of Chamounix gave her
new life. She left with health restored.
But the depressing airs of the valleys had
the usual result, and after spending a bad
winter at Mentone, Mrs. Burnaby resolved
to take the management of her health into
her own hands, and to try a winter in
Chamounix. The doctors and friends pro-
tested. But the result was excellent. Since
then Mrs. Burnaby has spent most of her
time in Switzerland. She has become one

BURNABYHIS ADVENTURES IN ASIA MINOR.

of the most expert lady climbers, and her
pleasant book, ' The High Alps in Winter,'
contains a climbing record which many
Alpine clubmen will never equal. At
Zermatt and Chamounix Mrs. Burnaby's
slight figure is well known, and it is to
Switzerland that the Queen has sent her
sympathetic inquiries for the widow so
suddenly bereaved."

Fred Burnaby was not content with
travelling into out-of-the-way corners of the
earth. He also aspired to explore the air
also. Accounts of his balloon voyages were
eagerly read, and hence our readers will
peruse with peculiar interest this delineation
of Burnaby as a balloonist, written soon
after his death by that eminent aeronaut,
Mr. Henry Coxwell.

" Among the military aeronauts who as-
cended with me more than twenty years
since was the lamented and distinguished
Englishman who has met with a soldier's
death, but who never, I believe, suffered
any personal injury during his numerous
aerial travels. Long before his famous ride
to Khiva we journeyed together with the
balloon I made for the experiments in
behalf of the British Association. It was
in the year 1864 that a party of the Royal
Horse Guards engaged every available seat
in one of my trips from the Crystal Palace
grounds. We were nearly, if not quite,
twelve, all told, and the most prominent
figure seated on the hoop, with a bugle or
cornet in his right hand, was 'Burnaby of
the Blues,' as that officer was familiarly
styled on being introduced. No sooner
had we started than this majestic com-
panion struck up a lively tune, and his
conversation afterwards, by no means osten-
tatious, afforded evidence of minute and
extensive observation, impressing me with
the idea that his first, or perhaps second,
experience in mid-air was undertaken con
ainore. After crossing the Thames and
bearing away over the Essex marches, I
was reminded of having, albeit reluctantly,
consented to attach a certain hamper out-
side the car, which appeared to me a very

ponderous addition to the weighty occupants
who allowed me to conduct them to cloud-
land. I now retain a vivid recollection of
the amiable and jocular manner with which
Captain Burnaby at that time received my
protest. It was excused, and, indeed with-
drawn, when Mr. Boswell whispered that a
messman had brought down the hamper
expressly from the Albany Barracks, and
that it was charged with all sorts of creature
comforts, including pies, pasties, chicken,
and various other tempting morsels, admir-
ably calculated to shake the most stoical
objection, so that it was at last attacked.
The diverting incident of a luncheon aloft
having passed off with not a single fault-
finding as to the chefs proficiency in the
culinary art, some meteorological records
were made, but they were in all truth ex-
tremely limited, as the hygrometric state of
the atmosphere was no sooner pronounced
dry than the hamper, rather than the at-
tacked thermometer, was again consulted.
This time the solids were permitted to rest,
but a flighty cork, as it careered downwards,
was watched with attention, and in justice
to the moderation of our thirst it should, in
fairness, be recorded that a full half of the
champagne, which was of course well up,
escaped ere the glasses were forthcoming.
I can vouch for it that an infinitesimal
portion of the contents of that basket was
all that we consumed, and that the re-
mainder rejoiced sundry good fellows at
the descent who had been alarmed at our
sudden appearance, as a brisk breeze had
sprung up before we landed, and the grapnel
tore down the branch of an elm-tree and
trailed over a meadow, much to the con-
sternation of the country folk, but consider-
ably to the diversion of Captain Burnaby
and his brother officers. The journey was
pronounced if I remember rightly by
Lieutenant Westcar a most enjoyable one.
There is, however, more than one melan-
choly association connected with the three
names I have mentioned. Those who bore
them have all gone over to the majority.
Burnaby, Boswell, and Westcar all stood

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

quite six feet four, and were noble, hand-
some men. If the fittest survive, they are
not always the finest

Just a decade after this event Captain
(then Major) Burnaby made another ascent
in one of my balloons. It was on a re-
markable occasion. A French balloonist and
his wife having ascended from Calais when
the wind blew towards the sea, they were
carried away northwards, and thereby in-
creased the dangers of their venture. A
descent was made, but it was on the wild
waves in the line of the Dogger Bank, and
there they struggled until a Grimsby smack
rescued them. M. Duruof and his faithful
partner met with a warm reception in Eng-
land. He was invited to appear at Syden-
ham, but his balloon was damaged, and I
was enabled to offer some attention to this
young Frenchman, who had the honour of
being the first aeronaut who passed out of
Paris during the siege. Major Burnaby,
hearing probably of the fact that I had
given M. Duruof the free use of my balloon,
together with the proceeds of the car, de-
termined to patronise them. It was a great
day at the Crystal Palace, and the muster
roll of celebrities was unusually large. Major
Burnaby seated himself near M. Duruof
and the enterprising M. de Fonvielle, seve-
ral paying passengers being in by their side.
There was nothing worth chronicling in this
ascent beyond the circumstance of its being
a fraternal proof of goodwill and sympathy
between English and French air travellers,
not forgetting the respective nationalities
represented. In reference to Colonel Bur-
naby's Channel voyage I cannot lay claim
to having provided a balloon for this daring
feat, but I hold a correspondence in which
a similar suggestion was made as to my
loaning my largest balloon to promote a
voyage to Belgium. My conditions proved
scarcely acceptable. I could only consent
to the pilot being myself, and I incurred,
possibly, some slight odium by not resign-
ing the proposed seat of honour and pro-
viding a balloon. Not the slightest degree
of resentment, however, followed, although

it has been my lot to meet with this sort of
feeling ; but I have point-blank declined to
gratify amateurs and meteorologists when-
ever our views were not in unison. I may
here allude most opportunely to a recent
proof of this. In an article by Colonel
Burnaby, which appeared in the Fortnightly
Review of May Day last, on ' The Possi-
bilities of Ballooning,' my own experiences
were alluded to in the kindest and most
complimentary terms. Again, in his narra-
tive of the Channel voyage was this friendly
notice expressed. As to the application of
balloons in Egypt and the Soudan, we were
clearly of one way of thinking. When I
heard that the Colonel had embarked for
the Nile, I was hoping that, as he was to
be working with the Intelligence Depart-
ment, balloons might be utilized (or at any
rate, miniature despatch balloonets, either
composed of skin or thin gutta-percha) for
signalling with. Major Jones proposed
cipher messages, or as I have long advo-
cated in my own way. In the Times and
Standard of February, 1884, I sent forth,
and not before it was wanted, a timely war
balloon cry. The purport of my letter was
literally in the following words, ' Be ready
with your war balloons ; ' and had this been
heeded I have no hesitation in saying
General Gordon would have been materially
helped : and if Sir Herbert Stewart in his
desert march had been provided even with
a huge paper fire balloon, such as men
have gone up in, and capable of being in-
flated on an emergency with a bundle of
sticks, who can say but what our brave
opponents might have been descried the
other side of the hills, or in force on them,
and that the British square at Abu Klea
might have been in consequence better able
to bear the shock of ten thousand Arabs,
and Colonel Burnaby preserved to us, be-
sides many others who can ill be spared at
this momentous period of our national
history, when at least the resources of
science should be brought into requisition,
and the opinions based on long practice
treated with proper and polite respect ? "

BURNABY HIS DEATH AND CHARACTER. 87

CHAPTER XVI.

J3UR,NABY JilS j$HARE IN THE j^XPEDITION TO KHARTOUM

ffis DEATH AND PHARACTER.

T was quite natural that the
recent stirring events in
Egypt should direct Fred
Bumaby's attention to that
country. Indeed it was his
strong desire to be attached to all the
military expeditions undertaken in Egypt,
but it was only in the case of the Nile force
that his wish was gratified. He did, how-
ever, share, though informally, in the Soua-
kim campaign. To a person of Colonel
Burnaby's temperament, however, the po-
sition of a " non-combatant " was intoler-
able, and the moment of danger once more
found him in the van. The special corres-
pondent of The Daily Telegraph, describing
the memorable struggle of El Teb, thus
spoke of the bravery of the enemy, and of
the equally undaunted courage of the gal-
lant colonel :

" As we moved, firing the while, numbers
of the rebels, most of them armed with
spears, and others with huge cross-hilted
swords, rose up boldly within 200 yards,
and rushed for us at break-neck speed. It
was marvellous to see how they came on,
heedless and fearless of death, shouting and
brandishing their weapons. To the right
and left they fell, but those who survived,
even when wounded, rushed on. A few
got within five or ten paces of the square,
proving how many bullets it takes to kill a
man. There was no running away yet on
the enemy's part ; only a sullen falling back.
At length we cleared the front with the
Martinis, and then, with a cheer, rushed
the fort. Colonel Burnaby was the first to
mount the parapet, firing with a double-
barrelled shot-gun into the rebels, many of
whom still hung about the works. As their

hiding nooks were discovered, the Soudan-
ese would rise and run at our men, spear
in hand. Several of our fellows got
wounded in this way, and two or three
were killed while standing in the ranks,
and at times it was almost a melee of bay-
onets versus spears.'

On this occasion, it will be remembered,
Colonel Burnaby, as well as General Baker,
sustained a severe wound, and Sir Herbert
Stewart (then colonel) had a narrow escape
of being cut to pieces when rescuing Colonel
Barrow from certain death. Of this wild
fight the first in which our young troops
dearly learnt the lesson that their Arab op-
ponents were not to be despised Colonel
Burnaby was peculiarly well qualified to
speak ; and, not only on this account, but
also because of the probable similarity of
that engagement to the one in which he has
fallen, the following sketch, which, in the
course of a lecture at Birmingham, he re-
cently gave of General Graham's victory,
will be read with interest. On that oc-
casion the Colonel still bore his arm in a
sling, from the effects of the encounter he
was describing :

"On February 28th," said Colonel Bur-
naby, " the whole force under General Gra-
ham bivouacked at Fort Baker. During
the night some heavy rain fell, which had
the good effect of refreshing the horses, and,
as there was no water for them in the morn-
ing, was decidedly an advantage, although
the ground was somewhat heavy going for
cavalry. The order of march was in one
large square, surrounded by a screen of
cavalry and mounted infantry, General
Baker guiding the force ; General Graham
being with the square, and attended by a

BURNABYHIS DEATH AND CHARACTER.

mounted soldier carrying a large red flag, to
enable those officers who had reports to
make to the commander to find him with-
out a moment's delay. On reaching Teb
itself they found that earthworks had been

thrown up in front of the enemy's position.
The cavalry still advanced, and in a few
minutes were half a mile in rear of the Arabs'
entrenchments. They could detect some
Krupp guns mounted, but not more than

EGYPTIAN PEASANT IRRIGATING HIS FIELD.

thirty or forty men could be seen in the
batteries. Yet the site was not at all well
adapted for the concealment of troops. It
was difficult to imagine where the enemy
could have hidden themselves. General
Graham determined to turn the enemy's
position. The Highlanders' pipes played

an inspiriting air, and the soldiers moved
forward rapidly, and then they were on a
line with the earthworks and about 1,000
yards from them. Suddenly a brisk shell
and rifle fire was opened. The enemy had
a large target to fire at, but fortunately his
practice was by no means good. A few

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

shells, however, burst in the square, to the
great alarm of some Egyptian officers and
non-commissioned officers, picked men from
the Egyptian army, who were employed in
transporting ammunition. These warriors
at once crouched down behind the camels.
It was pleasant to see the cool bearing of
the young English troops. We had been
rather prejudiced against them by the many
reports in circulation as to the want of dash
on the part of the useful Tommy Atkins ;
however, there was no want of courage
evinced by Tommy on that day. The po-
sition was a trying one, and he was sure
that General Graham would not have
changed his young soldiers at Teb for the
best veterans who had ever fought Eng-
land's battles. Then some canister shot
burst before the square, a large bullet, weigh-
ing three ounces, striking General Baker
half an inch under the left eye, smashing
his cheek-bone, and lodging in the roof of
his mouth. He lost much blood, but with
the greatest difficulty was persuaded to dis-
mount to have his face bandaged, and five
minutes afterwards he was again in the
saddle. The order was then given for the
men in the square to lie down, and for the
artillery to open fire on the Arabs' Krupp
guns. The practice made by the sailors
with the Gardners was excellent, and they
much preferred them to the Catlings. The
repeated volleys of the Gardners doing con-
siderable execution, the Krupp guns were
nearly silenced, and then the advance was
sounded. Tremendous rushes were made
by the Arabs against the front and flank
with undaunted courage. It was as mag-
nificent a spectacle of courage on the part
of an enemy as the world had ever seen.
Hand-to-hand fights took place, England's
young soldiers crossing bayonets with the
Arabs' lances. Then the earthworks were
reached, and, after a desperate struggle,
taken. Meantime the cavalry had been at
work, and very usefully employed in pre-
venting any fresh concentration of those foes

who had been driven from their positions.

The manner in which the Arabs had con-

cealed themselves was then evident. Hun-
dreds of rifle-pits had been dug, and as they
advanced towards the front of the positions
the soldiers had to avoid stumbling into
these holes. The battle was over, some
2,000 bodies strewed the ground, and the
supremacy of the Anglo-Saxon race over
the children of the desert was amply mani-
fested. That after General Baker's reverse
at Teb it was absolutely necessary for the
Government to send troops to the Soudan
he firmly believed, or otherwise the Mahdi's
agitation would have spread to Arabia and
on to India. But then the Mahdi's move-
ment might have been suppressed some
months before, and with one-tenth the loss
of blood, if England had at that time acted.
Then the wounded had to return to Trinki-
tat. While they were returning to Trinkitat
their comrades at Teb were busily employed
interring the dead bodies of their foes, the
rifle-pits dug by themselves making fit tombs,
and many a pang of sorrow was felt by the
English soldiery at having had to kill such
gallant Arabs, and many an Arab wife and
Arab mother doubtless mourned for them."

Colonel Burnaby took part in General
Wolseley's expedition, but that part was a
very brief one. He arrived at the front on
1 3th January, and only four days after, on
1 7th January, 1885, he fell at the battle of
Abu Klea. Fighting in the front rank, a
javelin, thrown probably at random, divided
his jugular vein. His death was almost
immediate. Says a correspondent : " But I
must tell the last of poor Colonel Burnaby.
When he fell, his head was raised by Pri-
vate Wood, of the Grenadier Guards. This
good fellow, seeing the case was hopeless,
said, 'Oh, Colonel, I fear I can say no
more than 'God bless you.' The dying
man, his life-blood running out in a stream
from his jugular vein, opened his eyes,
smiled, gave a gentle pressure of the hand,
and passed away, having tempted fate once
too often. Of others than he the same may,
alas ! be said."

Many anecdotes were told of Burnaby,
but these we cannot find space to insert.

BURNABY HIS DEATH AND CHARACTER.

The following words of Mr. John M. Cook
(of " Cook's Tours "), who knew him well,
must be here inserted in preference to much
else that might under other circumstances
fitly find a place. Speaking at a lecture
the day after the news of Burnaby's death
reached London, Mr. Cook said :

" The news of last night impels me to utter
a few words respecting one whose figure
was familiar to many in Upper Norwood,
and who was known to myself and all my
family from boyhood. I refer to Colonel
Burnaby. His was the last figure I remem-
ber on the banks of the Nile at the Cataract
of Dal on the morning of December i2th,
waving his adieus, wishing me a happy
Christmas and New Year, and reminding
me that I was under a promise to bring
him back from Egypt to resume his duties
at Windsor before May ist next. Then,
turning to my son, he reminded him that,
whether I could take a holiday or not in
the summer, he was to spend a portion of
his summer holiday at his (Colonel Burna-
by's) residence (see p. 73). As to the gallant
colonel's fate, it is exactly the way in which
you would expect him to end his days.
He has volunteered into almost everything.
He volunteered to go to Souakim, and he
was wounded, fighting by the side of Baker.
On this occasion it is pretty well known
that he went away from England, if not
exactly in opposition to the instructions of
the War Office, at all events without their
direct sanction, and he gave it out that he
was going to Central Africa. He told me
at Dal that if the British Government had
not sent an expedition to Khartoum, he and
his friend Captain Gascoigne had intended
to get there, if it were possible, in order to
see what position General Gordon was in.
That is the kind of pluck and daring which
not only Colonel Burnaby, but so many of
our English officers have shown in this ex-
pedition an expedition for which neither
they, nor Egypt, nor England can ever be
repaid. Pardon these few words, but the
news of Colonel Burnaby's death has thrown
a cloud over me."

A writer who evidently knew him well
thus sums up his impressions of his char-
acter :

" Colonel Burnaby was in body and
mind, breeding and habits, courage and
kindliness, a representative Englishman
a magnificent type of the vigorous,
resolute, and enduring Anglo-Saxon race.
In physique, as in accomplishments, he
was a man of whom his compatriots at
home and abroad had excellent and abun-
dant reason to be proud. Englishmen
resident in foreign cities through which
he happened to pass in the course of his
adventurous wanderings were proud to point
to the comely and courtly Colossus, remark-
able even among the giant warriors of Berlin
and St. Petersburg for his stately stature
and formidable breadth of shoulder, and
who spoke seven Continental tongues with
as much ease and fluency as though to their
respective manners born; and to reply,
when asked who that splendid man might
be, ' That is my countryman, Colonel Fred
Burnaby, an English Guardsman.' Some
years ago, before he had to some extent
drawn too largely upon the resources of his
exceptionally vigorous constitution by reck-
lessly exposing himself to fatigue, privation,
and exposure, he was one of the strongest
men in the Household Brigade, which is as
much as to say that few athletes throughout
Europe were more powerful than he. At
the fencing rooms that were formerly his
favourite resort attendants still show, with
the pride that such men take in great feats
of strength, the huge dumb-bells with which
Colonel Burnaby used to go through his
calisthenic exercises, and which men of
average strength experience considerable
difficulty in lifting from the ground. He
was an accomplished swordsman and pugi-
list, an excellent shot, and a horseman of
remarkable solidity and endurance; the
bravest of the brave, even carrying valour
so far as, not infrequently, to incur the re-
proach of rashness. Wherever danger was
to be found he sought it and met it face to
face in the service of his country. The

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

weight of physical odds against him never
seemed to cross his mind ; it was his in-
stinct to encounter them and his conviction
that he could overcome them. This his
extraordinary bodily strength and prompti-
tude in action enabled him to do over and
over again, until it may well be supposed
that he had almost come to deem himself
invincible. Grievous as is the thought,
to all who knew and loved him, that he
should have been struck down by the sword
or spear of some fanatic savage, who little
knew how precious to England was the
blood that stained his primitive weapon,
one cannot help feeling that Burnaby has
died the only death worthy of him the
one he repeatedly courted, and would pro-
bably have chosen could he have been
made the arbiter of his own destiny. He
fell facing England's foes, in the thick of
the fray, and, we may be sure, fighting with
heroic gallantry to the very last the fierce
light of battle flashing in his eye and the
certainty of conquest ineradicably implanted
in his heart

It will be long ere his regimental com-
rades men as well as officers will cease
to mourn the loss they have sustained by
the death of their brave colonel and staunch
friend ; for, though Burnaby was a strict
disciplinarian, he was beloved by those of
every rank under his command. English

society too, of which he was justly a favour-
ite, is bereft of one of its brightest orna-
ments by his untimely fall. In all the
social circles he frequented and they were
many, for Colonel Burnaby was a citizen ot
the world, absolutely free from prejudices
of caste or class his genuine amiability,
frank cordiality of manner, pleasant hum-
our, and bright intelligence endeared him
to men and women alike. As a public
speaker he was remarkable for his excellent
delivery, and for a sturdy, downright way
of 'hitting the nail on the head' that often
proved extraordinarily effective. The sim-
plicity of his style and happy abruptness of
his transitions from gravity to gaiety showed
him to be an adept in the art one that is
more frequently intuitive than acquired of
talking to Englishmen in such sort as to
awaken their interest and secure their sym-
pathy. The Queen had no more loyal
subject, the army no finer officer, the coun-
try no truer patriot than Frederick Gustavus
Burnaby, mart sur le champ cThonneur. His
name shall live in the annals of this Empire
and in the memories of his compatriots as
long as valour, devotion to duty, and faith-
fulness unto death shall remain the watch-
words of the sons of the Island Queen."

And so we take a last farewell of that
daring soldier and adventurous man, Colonel
Frederick Burnaby.

CHAPTER XVII.

.NCIENT

,GYPT

"THE CONSTANT SERVICE OF THE
ANTIQUE WORLD."

F the reader will turn back
to page 56, he will there
find a description of Joseph's
well, of which we here give
an illustration. Situated
within the citadel at Cairo, it is yet shaded
with graceful palms, and noted for the

purity and coolness of its water. Our
illustration, however, does not represent
the lowest well, but a part at some little
distance, to which a canal conducts the
waters. Modern authorities are of opinion,
we may add, that Joseph is Saladin, whose
name was Youssoof, Arabic for Joseph.

ANCIENT EGYPT THE KINGS.

He built the citadel and constructed the
well. It need not surprise us, however,
that the name of Joseph should be attached
to this well. The centuries pass on and
change little in Egypt. The customs of
the people remain the same for long
periods. Let us call the reader's attention
to the picture with which we embellish this |
part of our narrative, of a peasant watering
his little field. It might serve for a picture
of a thousand years ago, or for a picture of
to-day. The customs of courts and cities
and laws have indeed altered more. We
now proceed to give some account of what j
they once were.

Egypt was ever considered by all the
ancients as the most renowned school for
wisdom and politics, and the source from
whence most arts and sciences were derived.
This kingdom bestowed its noblest labours
and finest art on improving mankind;
and Greece was so sensible of this, that its
most illustrious men, as Homer, Pytha-
goras, Plato, even its great legislators,
Lycurgus and Solon, with many more
whom it is needless to mention, travelled
into Egypt, there to complete their studies,
and draw from that fountain whatever was
most rare and valuable in every kind of
learning. God Himself has given this king-
dom a glorious testimony; when praising
Moses, He says of him that he was learned \
in all the wisdom of the Egyptians.

To give some idea of the manners and
customs of Egypt, we shall confine our-
selves principally to these particulars : Its ,
kings and government ; priests and re- '
ligion ; soldiers and war ; sciences, arts,
and trades.

The reader Jmust not be surprised if he
sometimes finds in the customs we take
notice of a kind of contradiction. This
circumstance is owing either to the differ-
ence of countries and nations, which did
not always follow the same usages ; or to
the different way of thinking of the his-
torians whom we copy.

The Egyptians were the first people who
rightly understood the rules of government.

From a gravity and seriousness natural to
them, they immediately perceived that the
true end of politics is to make life easy and
a people happy.

The kingdom was hereditary ; but accord-
ing to Diodorus, the Egyptian princes
conducted themselves in a different manner
from what is usually seen in other mon-
archies, where the prince acknowledges no
other rule of his actions but his arbitrary
will and pleasure. But here kings were
under greater restraint from the laws than
their subjects. They had some particular
ones digested by a former monarch, that com-
posed part of those books which the Egyp-
tians called sacred. Thus everything being
settled by ancient custom, they never sought
to live in a different way from their ancestors.

No slave or foreigner was admitted into
the immediate service of the prince ; such
a post was too important to be intrusted to
any persons except those who were the
most distinguished by their birth, and had
received the most excellent education ; to
the end that, as they had the liberty of
approaching the king's person day and
night, he might, from men so qualified,
hear nothing which was unbecoming his
royal majesty ; or have any sentiments in-
stilled into him, but such as were of a noble
and generous kind. For, adds Diodorus,
it is rarely seen that kings fly out into any
vicious excess, unless those who approach
them approve their irregularities, or serve
as instruments to their passions.

The kings of Egypt freely permitted, not
only the quality and proportion of their
eatables and liquids to be prescribed them
(a thing customary in Egypt, the inhabitants
of which were all sober, and whose air in-
spired frugality), but even that all their
hours, and almost every action, should be
under the regulation of the laws.

In the morning at daybreak, when the
head is clearest and the thoughts most un-
perplexed, they read the several letters they
received, to form a more just and distinct
idea of the affairs which were to come under
their consideration that day.

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

As soon as they were dressed, they went
to the daily sacrifice performed in the
temple, where, surrounded with their whole
court, and the victims placed before the
altar, they assisted at the prayer pro-
nounced aloud by the high priest, in which
he asked of the gods health and all other
blessings for the king, because he governed
his people with clemency and justice, and
made the laws of his kingdom the rule and
standard of his actions. The high priest
entered into a long detail of his virtues,
observing that he was religious to the gods,
affable to men, moderate, just, magnani-
mous, sincere, an enemy to falsehood,
liberal, master of his passions, punishing
crimes with the utmost lenity, but prescrib-
ing no bounds in his recompensing of merit
He next spoke of the faults which kings
might be guilty of; but supposed at the
same time that they never committed any
except by surprise or ignorance ; and
loaded with imprecations such of their
ministers as gave them ill counsel, and
suppressed or disguised the truth. Such
were the methods of conveying instruction
to their kings. It was thought that re-
proaches would only sour their tempers;
and that the most effectual method to in-
spire them with virtue would be the
pointing out to them their duty in praises
bestowed conformably to the sense of the
laws, and pronounced in a solemn manner
before the gods. After the prayers and
sacrifice were ended, the counsel and
actions of great men were read to the
king out of the sacred books, in order that
their maxims might prompt him to govern
his kingdom agreeably thereto, and to
maintain the laws which had made his
predecessors and their subjects so happy.

We have already observed that the
quantity as well as quality of both eatables
and liquids were prescribed by the laws to
the king; his table was covered with nothing
but the most common meats ; because eat-
ing in Egypt was designed, not to tickle
the palate, but to satisfy the cravings of
nature. One would have concluded, ob-

serves the historian, that these rules had
been laid down by some able physician,
who was attentive only to the health of the
prince, rather than by a legislator. The
same simplicity was seen in all other things ;
and we read in Plutarch, of a temple in
Thebes, which had one of its pillars in-
scribed with imprecations against that king
who first introduced profusion and luxury
into Egypt.

The principal duty of kings, and their
most essential function, is the administering
justice to their subjects. Accordingly, the
kings of Egypt cultivated more immediately
this duty ; persuaded that on this depended
not only the ease and comfort of the several
individuals, but the happiness of the State,
which would be a herd of robbers rather
than a kingdom, should the weak be un-
protected and the powerful enabled by their
riches and credit to commit crimes with
impunity.

Thirty judges were selected out of the
principal cities, to form a body or assembly
able and fit to judge the affairs of the
whole kingdom. The prince, in filling
these vacancies, used to choose men who
were most renowned for their honesty, and
put at their head him who was most dis-
tinguished for his knowledge and love of
the laws, and was had in the most universal
esteem. By his bounty they had revenues
assigned them, to the end that being disen-
cumbered from domestic cares, they might
devote their whole time to the execution of
the laws. Thus honourably subsisted by
the generosity of the prince, they adminis-
tered justice gratuitously to the people, who
have a natural right to it ; among whom it
ought to have a free circulation, and, in
some sense, among the poor more than the
rich, because the latter find a support
within themselves, whereas the very condi-
tion of the former exposes them more to
injuries, and for that very reason calls
louder for the protection of the laws. To
guard against surprise, affairs were trans-
acted by writing in the assemblies of these
judges. That species of eloquence (a false

ANCIENT EGYPT THE LAWS.

kind) was dreaded, which dazzles the mind
and raises the passions. Truth could not
be exhibited with too much plainness, as it
was to have the only sway in judgments,
because in this virtue only the rich and
the poor, the powerful and the weak, the
learned and the ignorant, were to find relief
and security. The president of this Senate
wore a collar of gold set with precious
stones, at which hung a figure represented
blind, this being called the emblem of
truth. When the president put this collar
on, it was understood as a signal to enter
upon business. He touched the party with
it who was to gain his cause, and this was
the form of pronouncing sentence.

The most excellent circumstance in the
laws of the Egyptians was that every indi-
vidual from his infancy was admonished to
adhere strictly to them. A new custom in
Egypt was a kind of miracle. All things
there ran in the old channel, and the exact-
ness with which little matters were adhered
to preserved those of more importance,
and indeed no nation ever preserved their
laws and customs longer than the Egyptians.

Wilful murder was punished with death,
whatever might be the condition of the
murdered person, whether he was freeborn
or otherwise. In this the humanity and
equity of the Egyptians was superior to that
of the Romans, who put the slave (as to
life or death) in the absolute power of his
master. The Emperor Adrian indeed abol-
ished this law, from an opinion that an
abuse of this nature ought to be reformed,
let its antiquity or authority be ever so
great.

Persons who foreswore themselves were
likewise punished with death, because per-
jury attacks the gods, whose majesty is
trampled upon by the invoking of their
name to a false oath ; and at the same time
men, in breaking! he strongest tie of human
society, viz., sincerity and honesty.

The slanderer was condemned to under-
go the punishment which the person ac-
cused was to have suffered had the accusa-
tion been proved.

He who had neglected or refused to save
a person when attacked, if it was in his
power to assist him, was punished with the
rigour due to an assassin ; but if the unfor-
tunate person could not be succoured, the
offender was at least to be impeached, and
penalties were decreed for any neglect of
this kind. Thus the subjects were a guard
and protection to one another, and the
whole body of the community was united
against the designs of evil men.

No man was allowed to be a burden to
the State, but every man was obliged to
enter his name and place of abode in a
public register that remained in the hands
of the magistrate, by which his profession
was known, and in what manner he lived.
If such a one gave a false account of him-
self, he was immediately put to death.

To prevent borrowing of money, King
Asychis made a very judicious law. The
wisest and best regulated States, as Athens
and Rome, ever found insuperable diffi-
culties in contriving a just medium to
restrain on one hand the cruelty of the
creditor in the exaction of his loan, and
on the other the knavery of the debtor
who refused or neglected to pay his debts.
Now Egypt took a wise course on this
occasion, and without doing any injury
to the personal liberty of its inhabitants,
or ruining their families, pursued the debtor
with incessant fears of infamy from his dis-
honesty. No man was permitted to borrow
money without pawning to the creditor the
body of his father, which every Egyptian
embalmed with great care, and kept rever-
entially in his house, as will be observed in
the sequel, and therefore might be easily
moved from one place to another. But it
was equally impious and infamous not to
redeem soon so precious a pledge, and he
who died without having discharged this
duty, was deprived of the customary honours
paid to the dead.*

This law put the whole sepulchre of the debtor
into the power of the creditor, who removed to his
own house the body of the father. The debtor re-

9 6

THE ENGLISH JN EGYPT,

Diodorus remarks an error committed by
some of the Grecian legislators. They for-
bid, for instance, the taking away to satisfy
debts the horses, ploughs, and other imple-
ments of husbandry employed by peasants,
they judging it inhuman to reduce by this
security these poor men to an impossibility
of discharging their debts, and gaining a
livelihood. But at the same time they per-
mitted the creditor to imprison the peasants
themselves, who were only capable of using
these implements, which exposed them to
the same inconveniences, and at the same
time deprived the Government of persons
who belonged to and are necessary to it,
who labour for the public good. We here
give two illustrations of the implements
used by the ancient Egyptians. One shows

their carts, of which a rude simplicity seems
to have been the chief feature ; the other
exhibits the various processes employed in
storing corn.

Polygamy was allowed in Egypt, except-
ing to priests, who could marry but one
woman. Whatever was the condition of
the woman, whether she was free or a
slave, her children were deemed free and
legitimate.

A very great respect was there paid to
old age. The younger were obliged to rise
before those in 'advanced years, and on
every occasion to resign to them the most
honourable seat. The Spartans borrowed
this law from the Egyptians.

The virtue which held the first rank
among the Egyptians was gratitude. The

STORING CORN.

glory which has been given them of being
the most grateful of all men, shows that
they were best formed of any nation for
the social life. Benefits are the band of
concord, both public and private. He who
acknowledges favours, loves to do good
to others ; and in banishing ingratitude,
the pleasure of doing good remains so pure
and engaging that it is impossible for a
man to be insensible of it. But no kind of

fusing to discharge his obligation was to be deprived
of burial, either in his father's sepulchre or any
other ; and whilst he lived he was not permitted to
bury any person descended from him.

gratitude gave the Egyptians a more pleas-
ing satisfaction than that which was paid
to their kings. Princes, whilst living, were
by them honoured as so many visible repre-
sentations of the Deity ; and after their
death were mourned as the fathers of their
country. This sentiment of respect and
tenderness proceeded from a strong per-
suasion that the Deity itself had placed
them upon the throne, since it distinguished
them so greatly from all other mortals ; and
that kings bore the most noble character-
istics of the Deity, since in their persons
were united the power and will of doing
good to others.

PRIESTS AND RELIGION OF ANCIENT EGYPTIANS.

CHAPTER XVIII.

THE PRIESTS AND RELIGION OF THE ANCIENT ^GYPTIANS.

RIESTS, in Egypt, held the
second rank to kings. They
had great privileges and
revenues ; their lands were
exempted from all imposts,
of which some traces are seen in Genesis,
where it is said Joseph made it a law over
the land of Egypt that Pharaoh should
have the fifth part, except the land of the
priests only, which became not Pharaoh's.
The prince usually honoured them with

a large share in his confidence and govern
ment, because they, of all his subjects, had
received the best education, had acquired
the greatest knowledge, and were most
strongly attached to the king's person and
the good of the public. They were at one
and the same time the depositaries of
religion and of the sciences ; and to this
circumstance was owing the great respect
which was paid them by the natives as well
as foreigners, by whom they were equally

ANCIENT EGYPTIAN CARTS. FROM A BAS-RELIEF.

consulted upon the most sacred things
relating to the mysteries of religion, and
the most profound subjects in the several
sciences.

The Egyptians pretend to be the first
institutors of festivals and processions in
honour of the gods. One festival was
celebrated in the city of Bubaste, whither
persons resorted from all parts of Egypt,
and upwards of seventy thousand, besides
children, were seen at it. Another, sur-
named the feasts of the lights, was solem-
nized at Sais. All persons, throughout
Egypt, who did not go to Sais, were obliged
to illuminate their windows.

Different animals were sacrificed in differ-
ent countries ; but one common and general
ceremony was observed in all sacrifices, viz.
the laying of hands upon the head of the

victim, loading it at the same time with
imprecations, and praying the gods to
divert upon that victim all the calamities
which might threaten Egypt

It is to Egypt that Pythagoras owed his
favourite doctrine of the metempsychosis,
or transmigration of souls. The Egyptians
believed that at the death of men their souls
transmigrated into other human bodies, and
that if they had been vicious they were
imprisoned in the bodies of unclean or un-
happy beasts, to expiate in them their past
transgressions ; and that after a revolution
of some centuries they again animated
other human bodies.

The priests had the possession of the
sacred books, which contained at large the
principles of government, as well as the
mysteries of divine worship. Both were

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

commonly involved in symbols and enig-
mas, which, under these veils, made truth
more venerable, and excited more strongly
the curiosity of men. The figure of Har-
pocrates, in the Egyptian sanctuaries, with
his finger upon his mouth, seemed to in-
timate that mysteries were there inclosed,
the knowledge of which was revealed to
very few. The sphinxes, placed at the
entrance of all temples, gave the same
intimation. It is very well known that
pyramids, obelisks, pillars, statues, in a
word all public monuments, were usually
adorned with hieroglyphics, that is, with
symbolical writings; whether these were
characters unknown to the vulgar, or figures
of animals which couched a hidden and
parabolical meaning. Thus, by a hare,
was signified a lively and piercing attention,
because this creature has a very delicate
hearing. The statue of a judge without
hands, and with eyes fixed upon the ground,
intimated the duties of those who were to
exercise the judiciary functions.

It would require a volume to treat fully
of the religion of the Egyptians. But we
shall confine ourselves to two articles, which
form the principal part of the Egyptian
religion ; and these are the worship of
the different deities, and the ceremonies
relating to funerals.

Never were any people more superstitious
than the Egyptians; they had a great number
of gods, of different orders and degrees,
which we shall omit, because they belong
more to fable than to history. Among the
rest, two were universally adored in that
country, and these were Osiris and Isis,
which are thought to be the sun and moon ;
and indeed the worship of those planets
gave rise to idolatry.

Besides these gods, the Egyptians wor-
shipped a great number of beasts : as the
ox, the dog, the wolf, the hawk, the croco-
dile, the ibis,* the cat, etc., many of these
beasts were objects only of superstition of
some particular cities ; and whilst a people

* Or Egyptian stork.

worshipped one species of animals as gods,
their neighbours had the same animal gods
in abomination. This was the source ot
the continual wars which were carried on
between one city and another; and this
was owing to the false policy of one of their
kings, who, to deprive them of the oppor-
tunity and means of conspiring against the
State, endeavoured to amuse them by en-
gaging them in religious contests.

Every nation had a great zeal for their
gods. Among us, says Cicero, it is very
common to see temples robbed and statues
carried off; but it was never known that
any person in Egypt ever abused a croco-
dile, an ibis, a cat; for its inhabitants
would have suffered the most extreme tor-
ments rather than be guilty of such a
sacrilege. It was death for any person to
kill one of these animals voluntarily ; and a
punishment was decreed against him who
should have killed an ibis or a cat with or
without design. Diodorus relates an inci-
dent, to which he himself was an eye-
witness during his stay in Egypt. A
Roman having inadvertently, and without
design, killed a cat, the exasperated popu-
lace ran to his house, and neither the
authority of the king, who immediately
detached a body of his guards, nor the terror
of the Roman name, could rescue the un-
fortunate criminal. And such was the
reverence which the Egyptians had for these
animals, that in an extreme famine they
chose to eat one another rather than feed
upon their pretended deities.

Of all these animals, the bull Apis, called
Epaphus by the Greeks, was the most
famous. Magnificent temples were erected
to him ; extraordinary honours were paid
him while he lived, and still greater after his
death. Egypt then went into a general
mourning. His obsequies were solemnized
with such a pomp as is hardly credible. In
the reign of Ptolemy Lagus, the bull Apis,
dying of old age*, the funeral pomp, besides

* Pliny affirms that he was not allowed to exceed
a certain term of years, and was drowned in the
priests' well.

PRIESTS AND RELIGION OF ANCIENT EGYPTIANS.

the ordinary expenses, amounted to upwards
of fifty thousand French crowns. After the
last honours had been paid to the deceased
god, the next care was to provide him a
successor, and all Egypt was sought through
for that purpose. He was known by certain
signs, which distinguished him from all other
animals of that species : upon his forehead
was to be a white spot, in form of a cres-
cent ; on his back, the figure of an eagle ;
upon his tongue, that of a beetle. As soon
as he was found, mourning gave place to
joy ; and nothing was heard, in all parts of
Egypt, but festivals and rejoicings. The
new god was brought to Memphis, to take
possession of his dignity, and there installed
with a great number of ceremonies. Cam-
byses, at his return from his unfortunate
expedition against Ethiopia, finding all the
Egyptians in transports of joy for their new
god Apis, and imagining that this was
intended as an insult upon his misfortunes,
killed, in the first starts of his fury, the
young bull, who by that means had but a
short enjoyment of his divinity. Our illus-
tration represents one of the gorgeous
temples of Apis.

It is plain that the golden calf set up
near Mount Sinai by the Israelites was
owing to their abode in Egypt, and an
imitation of the god Apis, as well as those
which were afterwards set up by Jeroboam,
(who had resided a considerable time in
Egypt) in the two extremities of the king-
dom of Israel.

The Egyptians, not contented with offer-
ing incense to animals, carried their folly
to such an excess as to ascribe a divinity
to the pulse and roots of their gardens, For
this they are ingeniously reproached by the
satirist :

" Who has not heard where Egypt's realms are

named ?

What monster gods her frantic sons have framed ?
Here Ibis gorged with well-grown serpents, there
The crocodile commands religious fear :
Where Memnon's statue magic strings inspire
With vocal sounds that emulate the lyre :
And Thebes, such, Fate, arc thy disastrous turns !
Now prostrate o'er her pompous ruins mourns ;

A monkey-god, prodigious to behold !
Strikes the beholder's eye with burnished gold :
To godship here, blue Triton's scaly herd,
The river progeny is there preferred :
Through towns Diana's power neglected lies,
Where to her dogs aspiring temples rise :
And should you leeks or onions eat, no time
Would expiate the sacrilegious crime.
Religious nations sure, and blest abodes,
Where every orchard is o'er-run with gods !"

It is astonishing to see a nation
which boasted its superiority above all
others with regard to wisdom and learning,
thus blindly abandon itself to the most
gross and ridiculous superstitions, and yet
to prove it was so we have the attestation
of all antiquity. You enter, says Lucian,
into a magnificent temple, every part of
which glitters with gold and silver. You
there look attentively for a god, and are
cheated with a stork, an ape, or a cat; a
just emblem, adds that author, of too many
palaces, the masters of which are far from
being the brightest ornaments of them.

Several reasons are given of the worship
paid to animals by the Egyptians.

The first is drawn from the fabulous
history. It is pretended that the gods, in a
rebellion made against them by men, fled
into Egypt, and there concealed themselves
under the form of different animals ; and
that this gave birth to the worship which
was afterwards paid to those animals.

The second is taken from the benefit
which the several animals procure to man-
kind : oxen by their labour ; sheep by their
wool and milk ; dogs by their service in
hunting and guarding houses, whence the
god Anubis was represented with a dog's
head. The ibis was worshipped because he
put to flight the winged serpents with which
Egypt would otherwise have been grievously
infested ; the crocodile, an amphibious
creature that is, living alike upon land and
water of a surprising strength and size, was
worshipped because he defended Egypt
from the incursions of the wild Arabs. The
ichneumon was adored because he pre-
vented the too great increase of crocodiles,
which might have proved destructive to

IOO

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

Egypt. Now the little animal in question
was said to do this service to the country
in iwo ways. First, it watched the time when

the crocodile was absent, and broke its
eggs, but did not eat them. Secondly,
when he slept upon the banks of the Nile

(which he always did with his mouth open),
this small animal, which lay concealed in
the mud, leapt at once into his mouth, got
down to his entrails, which he gnawed,

then piercing his skin, which is very tender,
he escaped with safety; and thus, by his
address and subtilty, returned victorious
over so terrible an animal.

PRIESTS AND RELIGION OF ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. TOT

We shall now give a concise account of
the funeral ceremonies of the Egyptians.

The honours which have been paid in all
ages and nations to dead bodies, and the
religious care taken to provide sepulchres
for them, seem to insinuate a universal
persuasion that bodies were lodged in
sepulchres merely as a deposit or trust.

When any person in a family died, all
the kindred and friends quitted their usual
habits and put on mourning, and abstained
from baths, wine, and dainties of every
kind. This mourning held forty or seventy
days, probably according to the quality of
the person.

Bodies were embalmed three ways. The
most magnificent was bestowed on persons
of distinguished rank, and the expense
amounted to a talent of silver.

Many hands were employed in this
ceremony. Some drew the brain through
the nostrils, by an instrument made for that
purpose. Others emptied the bowels and
intestines, by cutting a hole in the side
with an Ethiopian stone that was as sharp
as a razor : after which the cavities were
filled with perfumes and various odoriferous
drugs. As this evacuation (which was
necessarily attended with some dissections)
seemed in some measure cruel and inhu-
man, the persons employed fled as soon as
the operation was over, and were pursued
with stones by the standers-by. But those
who embalmed the body were honourably
treated. They filled it with myrrh, cinna-
mon, and all sorts of spices. After a certain
time the body was swathed in lawn fillets,
which were glued together with a kind of
very thin gum, and then crusted them over
with the most exquisite perfumes. By this
means it is said that the entire figure of
the body, the very lineaments ot the face,
and the hairs on the lids and eyebrows
were preserved in their natural perfection.
The body thus embalmed was delivered to
the relatives, who shut it up in a kind of
open chest, fitted exactly to the size of the
corpse ; then they placed it upright against
the wall, either in sepulchres (if they had

any) or in their houses. These embalmed
bodies are now what we call mummies,
which are still brought from Egypt, and are
found in the cabinets of the curious. This
shows the care which the Egyptians took
of their dead. Their gratitude to their
deceased relations was immortal. Children,
by seeing the bodies of their ancestors thus
preserved, recalled to mind those virtues
for which the public had honoured them ;
and were excited to a love of those laws
which such excellent persons had left for
their security. We find that part of these
ceremonies were performed in the funeral
honours done to Joseph in Egypt (see
Gen. 1. 26).

We have said that the public recognised
the virtues of deceased persons, because
that before they could be admitted into
the sacred asylum of the tomb, they under-
went a solemn trial. And this circumstance
in the Egyptian funerals is one of the most
remarkable that is found in ancient history.
It was a consolation among the heathens,
to a dying man, to leave a good name
behind him ; and they imagined that this is
the only human blessing which death can-
not ravish from us. But the Egyptians
would not suffer praises to be bestowed
indiscriminately on all deceased persons.
This honour was to be obtained only from
the public voice. The assembly of the
judges met on the other side of a lake,
which they crossed in a boat He who sat
at the helm was called Charon in the
Egyptian language ; and this first gave the
hint to Orpheus, who had been in Egypt,
and after him to the other Greeks, to invent
the fiction of Charon's boat. As soon as a
man was dead, he was brought to his trial.
The public accuser was heard. If he proved
that the deceased had led a bad life, his
memory was condemned, and he was
deprived of burial. The people were
affected with laws which extended even
beyond the grave ; and every one, struck
with the disgrace inflicted on the dead
person, was afraid to reflect dishonour on
his own memory, and that of his family.

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THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

But if the deceased person was not con-
victed of any crime, he was interred in an
honourable manner.

A still more astonishing circumstance in
this public inquest upon the dead was that
the throne itself was no protection from it.
Kings were spared during their lives,
because the public peace was concerned in
i his forbearance; but their quality did not
exempt them from the judgment passed
upon the dead, and even some of them
were deprived of sepulture. This custom
was imitated by the Israelites. We see in
Scripture that bad kings were not interred
in the monuments of their ancestors. This
practice suggested to princes that if their
majesty placed them out of the reach of
men's judgment whilst they were alive, they
would at last be obnoxious to it when death
should reduce them to a level with their
subjects.

When, therefore, a favourable judgment
was pronounced on a deceased person, the
next thing was to proceed to the ceremonies
of interment. In his panegyric, no
mention was made of his birth, because
every Egyptian was deemed noble. No
praises were considered as just or true but
such as related to the personal merit of the
deceased. He was applauded for having
received an excellent education in his
younger years, and in his more advanced age
for having cultivated piety towards the gods,
justice towards men, gentleness, modesty,
moderation, and all other virtues which
constitute the good man. Then all the
people shouted and bestowed the highest
eulogiums on the deceased, as one who
would be received for ever into the society
of the virtuous in Pluto's kingdom.

Thus reverently did the ancient Egyptians
dispose of their dead.

CHAPTER XIX.

VARIOUS CURIOUS CUSTOMS OF THE EGYPTIANS.

HE profession of arms was
in great repute among the
Egyptians. After the
sacerdotal families, the most
illustrious, as with us, were
those devoted to a military life. They
were not only distinguished by honours,
but by ample liberalities. Every soldier
was allowed an aroura, that is a piece of
arable land very near answering to half an
acre, exempt from all tax or tribute. Be-
sides this privilege, each soldier received a
daily allowance of five pounds of bread,
two of flesh, and a pint of wine. This
allowance was sufficient to support part of
their family. Such an indulgence made
them more affectionate to the person of
their prince and the interests of their

country, and more resolute in the defence
of both ; and, as Diodorus observes, it was
thought inconsistent with good policy, and
even common sense, to commit the defence
of a country to men who had no interest in
its preservation.

Four hundred thousand soldiers were
kept in continual pay ; they being all
natives of Egypt, and trained up in the
exactest discipline. They were inured to
the fatigues of war by a severe and rigorous
education. There is an art of forming the
body as well as the mind. This art, lost by
our sloth, was well known to the ancients,
and especially to the Egyptians. Foot,
horse, and chariot races were performed in
Egypt with wonderful agility, and the world
could not show better horsemen than the

CURIOUS CUSTOMS OF THE EGYPTIANS.

Egyptians. The Scripture in several places
speaks advantageously of their cavalry.

Military laws were easily preserved in
Egypt, because sons received them from
their fathers ; the profession of war, as
all others, being transmitted from father
to son. Those who fled in battle, or dis-
covered any signs of cowardice, were only
distinguished by some particular mark of
ignominy ; it being thought more advisable
to restrain them by motives of honour rather
than by the terrors of punishment.

But notwithstanding this, we will not
pretend to say that the Egyptians were a
warlike people. It is of little benefit to
have regular and well-paid troops, to have
armies exercised in peace, and employed
only in mock fights : it is war alone, and
real combats, which form the soldier.
Egypt loved peace, because it loved justice,
and maintained soldiers only for its security.
Its inhabitants, content with a country
which abounded in all things, had no am-
bitious dreams of conquest. The Egyp-
tians extended their reputation in a very
different manner, by sending colonies into
all parts of the world, and with them laws
and politeness. They triumphed by the
wisdom of their counsels and the superiority
of their knowledge ; and this empire of the
mind appeared more noble and glorious to
them than that which is achieved by arms
and conquest. But nevertheless Egypt has
given birth to illustrious conquerors, as will
be observed hereafter, when we come to
treat of its kings.

The Egyptians had an inventive genius,
and they turned it to profitable specula-
tions. Their Mercuries filled Egypt with
wonderful inventions, and left it almost
ignorant of nothing which could accom-
plish the mind or procure ease and happi-
ness. The discoverers of any useful
invention received, both living and dead,
rewards equal to their profitable labours,
It is this consecrated the books of their
two Mercuries, and stamped them with a
divine authority. The first libraries were
in Egypt; and the titles they bore inspired

the reader with an eager desire to enter
them, and dive into the secrets they con-
tained. They were called the Office for
the diseases of the soul ; and that very justly,
because the soul was there cured of ignor-
ance the most dangerous, and the parent
of all her maladies.

As their country was level, and the air of
it always serene and unclouded, they were
some of the first who observed the courses
of the planets. These observations led
them to regulate the year from the course
of the sun ; for, as Diodorus observes, their
year, from the most remote antiquity, was
composed of three hundred and sixty-five
days, six hours. To adjust the property of
their lands, which were every year covered
by the overflowing of the Nile, they were
obliged to have recourse to surveys ; and
this first taught them geometry. They
were great observers of nature, which, in a
climate so serene and under so intense a
sun, was vigorous and fruitful.

By this study and application they in-
vented or improved the science of medicine.
The sick were not abandoned to the arbi-
trary will and caprice of the physician.
He was obliged to follow fixed rules, which
were the observations of old and ex-
perienced practitioners, and written in the
sacred books. While these rules were
observed, the physician was not answerable
for the success; otherwise a miscarriage
cost him his life. This law checked indeed
the temerity of empirics; but then it
might prevent new discoveries, and keep
the art from attaining to its just perfection.
Every physician, if Herodotus may be
credited, confined his practice to the cure
of one disease only ; one was for the eyes,
another for the teeth, and so on.

What we have said of the pyramids, and
the labyrinth, and that infinite number of
obelisks, temples, and palaces, whose pre-
cious remains still strike with admiration,
and in which were displayed the magnifi-
cence of the princes who raised them, the
skill of the workmen, the riches of the
ornaments diftused over every part of them,

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THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

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THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

and the just proportion and beautiful sym-
metry of the parts in which their greatest
beauty consisted ; works in many of which
the liveliness of the colours remain to this
day, in spite of the rude hand of time, which
either deadens or destroys them. All this
shows the perfection to which architecture,
painting, sculpture, and all other arts had
arrived in Egypt

The Egyptians entertained but a mean
opinion of that sort of exercise which did
not contribute to invigorate the body or
give a vigorous health ; nor of music, which
they considered as a useless and dangerous
diversion, and only fit to enervate the mind.

Husbandmen, shepherds, and artificers
formed the three stages of lower life in
Egypt, but they nevertheless were had in
very great esteem, particularly husbandmen
and shepherds. The body politic requires
a superiority and subordination of its
several members; for as in the natural
body the eye may be said to hold the
first rank, yet its lustre does not dart con-
tempt upon the feet, the hands, or even on
those parts which are less honourable. In
like manner among the Egyptians, the
priests, soldiers, and scholars were dis-
tinguished by particular honours, but all
professions, to the meanest, had their share
in the public esteem, because the despising
any man whose labours, however mean,
were useful to the State, was thought a
crime.

A better reason than the foregoing might
have inspired them at the first with those
sentiments of equity and moderation which
they so long preserved. As they all de-
scended from Cham, their common father,
the memory of their origin occurring fresh
to the minds of all in those first ages
established among them a kind of equality,
and stamped, in their opinion, a nobility on
every person derived from the common
stock. Indeed the difference of conditions,
and the contempt with which persons of
the lowest rank are treated, are owing
merely to the distance from the common
root, which makes us forget that the

meanest plebeian, when his descent is
traced back to the source, is equally noble
with those of the most elevated rank and
titles.

Be that as it will, no profession in Egypt
was considered as grovelling or sordid. By
this means arts were raised to their highest
perfection. The honour which cherished
them mixed with every thought and care
for their improvement. Every man had his
way of life assigned him by the laws, and it
was perpetuated from father to son. Two
professions at one time, or a change of that
which a man was born to, were never
allowed. By this means men became
more able and expert in employments
which they had always exercised from their
infancy ; and every man adding his own
experience to that of his ancestors, was
more capable of attaining perfection in his
particular art Besides, this wholesome
institution, which had been established
anciently throughout Egypt, extinguished
all irregular ambition, and taught every
man to sit down contented with his condi-
tion, without aspiring to one more elevated,
from interest, vain-glory, or levity.

From this source flowed numberless in-
ventions to bring every art to its perfection,
and render life more commodious and
trade more easy. Diodorus relates con-
cerning the Egyptian industry, that this
people had found out a way, by an artificial
fecundity, to hatch eggs without the sitting
of the hen ; and all modern travellers
declare it to be a fact, which certainly is
worthy our curiosity. His relation informs
us that the Egyptians stow eggs in ovens,
which are heated so temperately, and with
such just proportion to the natural warmth
of the hen, that the chickens produced from
these ovens are as strong as those which
are hatched the natural way. The season
of the year proper for this operation is from
the end of December to the end of April,
the heat in Egypt being too violent in the
other months. During these four months,
upwards of three hundred thousand eggs
are laid in these ovens, which, though they

CURIOUS CUSTOMS OF THE EGYPTIANS.

107

are not all successful, they nevertheless
produce vast numbers of fowls at an easy
rate. The art lies in giving the ovens a
just degree of heat, which must not exceed
a fixed proportion. About ten days are
bestowed in heating these ovens, and very
near as much time in hatching the eggs.
It is very entertaining, say these travellers,
to observe the hatching of these chickens,
some of which show at first nothing but
their heads, others but half their bodies,
and others again come quite out of the
egg. These last, the moment they are
hatched, make their way over the un-
hatched eggs, and form a diverting spec-
tacle. Corneille le Bruyn, in his travels,
has collected the observations of other
travellers on this subject. Pliny likewise
mentions it ; but it appears from him that
the Egyptians anciently employed warm
dung, not ovens, to hatch eggs.

We have said that husbandmen particu-
larly, and those who took care of flocks,
were in great esteem in Egypt, some parts
in it excepted, where the latter were not
suffered. It was, indeed, to these two pro-
fessions that Egypt owed its riches and
plenty. It is astonishing to reflect what
advantages the Egyptians, by their art and
labour, drew from a country of no great
extent, but whose soil was made wonder-
fully fruitful by the inundations of the Nile
and the laborious industry of the inhabit-
ants.

And now a word as to the ancient fer-
tility of Egypt Under this head we shall
treat only of some plants peculiar to Egypt,
and of the abundance of corn which it pro-
duced.

PAPYRUS. This is a plant from whose
root shoot out a great many triangular
stalks, to the height of six or seven cubits.
The ancients wrote at first upon palm leaves;
next on the inside of the bark of trees, from
whence the word liber, or book, is derived ;
after that upon tables covered with wax,
on which the characters were impressed
with an instrument called stylus, sharp-
pointed at one end to write with, and flat

at the other to efface what had been
written ; which gave occasion to the follow-
ing expression of Horace,

" Oft turn your stile, if you desire to write
Things that will bear a second reading."

The meaning of which is, that a good
performance is not to be expected without
many corrections. At last the use of
paper * was introduced, and this was made
of the bark of papyrus, divided into thin
flakes or leaves, which were very proper
for writing, and this papyrus was likewise
called biblos.

" Memphis as yet knew not to form in leaves
The watery biblos."

Pliny calls it a wonderful invention, so
useful to life that it preserves the memory
of mighty actions and immortalizes those
who achieved them. Varro ascribes this
invention to Alexander the Great, when
he built Alexandria ; but he had only the
merit of making paper more common, for
the invention was of much greater antiquity.
The same Pliny adds that Eumenes, King
of Pergamus, substituted parchment instead
of paper ; in emulation of Ptolemy, King
of Egypt, whose library he was ambitious
to excel by this invention, which carried
the advantage over paper. Parchment is
the skin of a sheep dressed, and made fit
to write upon. It was called pcrgamenum,
from Pergamus, whose kings had the
honour of the invention. All the ancient
manuscripts are either upon parchment or
vellum, which is calf-skin, and a great deal
finer than the common parchment. It is
very curious to see white fine paper wrought
out of filthy rags picked up in the streets.
The plant papyrus was useful likewise for
sails, tackling, clothes, coverlets, etc.

LINUM. Flax is a plant whose bark, full
of fibres or strings, is useful in making fine
linen. The method of making this linen in

* The papyrus was divided into thin flakes (into
which it naturally parted), which being laid on a
table, and moistened with the glutinous waters of
the Nile, were afterwards pressed together and dried
in the sun.

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THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

Egypt was wonderful, and carried to such
perfection that the threads which were
drawn out of them were almost too small
for the observation of the sharpest eye.
Priests were always habited in linen, and
never in woollen ; and not only the priests,
but all persons of distinction generally wore
linen clothes. This flax formed a con-
siderable branch of the Egyptian traffic,
and great quantities of it were exported
into foreign countries. The making of it
employed a great number ot hands, espe-
cially of the women, as appears from that
passage of Isaiah, in which the prophet
menaces Egypt with a drought of so
terrible a kind that it should interrupt
every kind of labour. "Moreover, they that
work in fine flax, and they that weave net-
work shall be confounded." We likewise
find in Scripture that one effect of the
plague of hail called down by Moses upon
Egypt was the destruction of all the flax
which was then boiled. This storm was in
March.

BYSSUS. This was another kind of flax,
extremely fine and small, which often re-
ceived a purple dye. It was very dear,
and none but rich and wealthy persons
could afford to wear it. Pliny, who gives
the first place to the asbeston or asbesti-
num (i.e., the incombustible flax), places the
the byssus in the next rank, and says that
it served as an ornament to the ladies. It
appears from the Holy Scriptures that it
was chiefly from Egypt that cloth made of
this fine flax was brought. "Fine linen,
with broidered work, from Egypt"

We take no notice of the lotus or lote
tree, a plant in great request with the
Egyptians, and whose berries served them
in former times for bread. There was
another lotus in Africa, which gave its
name to the lotof>Jiagi, or lotus-eaters, be-
cause they lived upon the fruit of this tree,
which had so delicious a taste, if Homer
may be credited, that it made the eaters
of it forget all the sweets of their native
country, as Ulysses found to his cost in
his return from Troy.

In general it may be said that the
Egyptian pulse and fruits were excellent
and might, as Pliny observes, have sufficed
singly for the nourishment of the inhabit-
ants, such was their excellent quality and
so great their plenty. And indeed working
men lived then almost upon nothing else,
as appears from those who were employed
in building the pyramids.

Besides these rural riches, the Nile, from
its fish, and the fatness it gave to the soil
for the feeding of cattle, furnished the
tables of the Egyptians with the most
exquisite fish of every kind and the most
succulent flesh. This it was which made
the Israelites so deeply regret the loss of
Egypt, when they found themselves in the
dreary desert. " Who," say they in a
plaintive and at the same time seditious
tone, " shall give us flesh to eat ? We re-
member the fish which we did eat in Egypt
freely; the cucumbers, and melons, and
the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick.
We sat by the flesh pots, and we did eat
bread to the full."

But the great and matchless wealth ot
Egypt arose from its corn, which, even in
an almost universal famine, enabled it to
support all the neighbouring nations, as it
particularly did under Joseph's administra-
tion. In later ages it was the resource and
most sure granary of Rome and Constanti-
nople. It is a well-known story, how a
calumny raised against St. Athanasius viz.,
of his having menaced Constantinople, that
lor the future no more corn should be im-
ported to it from Alexandria incensed the
Emperor Constantine against that holy
Bishop, because he knew that his capital
city could not subsist without the corn
which was brought to it from Egypt The
same reason induced all the Emperors of
Rome to take so great a care of Egypt,
which they considered as the nursing
mother of the world's metropolis.

Nevertheless the same river which en-
abled this province to subsist the two most
populous cities in the world sometimes re-
duced even Egypt itself to the most terrible

CURIOUS CUSTOMS OF THE EGYPTIANS.

109

famine. And it is astonishing that Joseph's
wise foresight, which in fruitful years had
made a provision for seasons of sterility,
should not have hinted to these so much
boasted politicians a like care against the
changes and inconstancy of the Nile.
Pliny, in his panegyric upon Trajan,
paints with wonderful strength the ex-
tremity to which that country was reduced
by a famine under that prince's reign, and
his generous relief of it. The reader will
not be displeased to read here an extract
of it, in which a greater regard will be had
to Pliny's thoughts than to his expressions.
The Egyptians, says Pliny, which gloried
that they needed neither rain nor sun to
produce their corn, and who believed they
might confidently contest the prize of plenty
with the most fruitful countries of the world,
were condemned to an unexpected drought
and a fatal sterility ; from the greatest part
of their territories being deserted and
left unwatered by the Nile, whose inunda-
tion is the source and sure standard of their
abundance. They then implored that as-
sistance from their prince which they used
to expect only from their river. The delay
of their relief was no longer than that
which employed a courier to bring the
melancholy news to Rome ; and one would
have imagined that this misfortune had be-
fallen them only to distinguish with greater
lustre the generosity and goodness of
Caesar. It was an ancient and general
opinion that our city could not subsist
without provisions drawn from Egypt This
vain and proud nation boasted that, though
it was conquered, it nevertheless fed its
conquerors ; that by means of its river,
either abundance or scarcity were entirely
in its disposal. But we now have returned
the Nile his own harvests, and given him
back the provisions he lent us. Let the
Egyptians be then convinced by their own
experience, that they are not necessary to
us, and are only our vassals. Let them
know that their ships do not so much bring
us the provision we stand in need of, as
the tribute which they owe us. And let

them never forget that we can do without
them, but that they can never do without
us. This most fruitful province had been
ruined had it not wore the Roman chains.
The Egyptians in their sovereign have
found a deliverer and a father. Astonished
at the sight of their granaries, filled without
any labour of their own, they were at a loss
to know to whom they owed this foreign
and gratuitous plenty. The famine of a
people at such distance from us, and which
was so speedily stopped, served only to let
them feel the advantage of living under our
Empire. The Nile* may in other times
have diffused more plenty on Egypt, but
never more glory upon us. May heaven,
content with this proof of the people's
patience, and the prince's generosity, re-
store for ever back to Egypt its ancient
fertility.

Pliny's reproach to the Egyptians, for
their vain and foolish pride with regard to
the inundations of the Nile, points out one
of their most peculiar characteristics, and
recalls a fine passage of Ezekiel, where
God thus speaks to Pharaoh, one of their
kings, " Behold I am against thee, Pharaoh,
king of Egypt, the great dragon that lieth
in the midst of his rivers, which hath said,
My river is my own, and I have made it for
myself." God perceived an insupportable
pride in the heart of this prince. A sense
of security and confidence in the inunda-
tions of the Nile, independent entirely of
the influences of Heaven ; as though the
happy effects of this inundation had been
owing to nothing but his own care and la-
bour, or those of his predecessors : " The
river is mine, and I have made it."

Before we conclude this account of the
manners of the Egyptians, we think it in-
cumbent on us to bespeak the attention of
our readers to different passages scattered
in the history of Abraham, Jacob, Joseph,
Moses, which confirm and illustrate part of
what we meet with in profane authors upon

Nilus jEgypto quiclem sscpe, scd gloriae nostrae
nunquam largior fluxit.

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

this subject. They will there observe the
perfect polity which reigned in Egypt, both
in the court and the rest of the kingdom ;
the vigilance of the prince, who was informed
of all transactions, had a regular council,
a chosen number of ministers, armies
ever well maintained and disciplined, and
of every order of soldiery, horse, foot, armed
chariots ; intendants in all the provinces ;
overseers or guardians of the public gran-

aries ; wise and exact dispensers of the corn
lodged in them ; a court composed of great
officers of the Crown ; a captain of his
guards, a cup-bearer, a master of his pantry ;
in a word, all things that compose a prince's
household and constitute a magnificent
court. But above all these the reader will
admire the fear in which the threatenings of
God were held, the inspector of all actions,
and the judge of kings themselves.

CHAPTER XX.

rORDON jbOME MORE j^ACTS ABOUT THE SOUDAN.

we have already given a
carefully compiled account
of the Soudan, we should
under ordinary circum-
stances at once proceed
with our narrative. But
that tract of country is of such interest to
Britain, and besides is so intimately con-
nected with the heroic Gordon, that we in-
tend still to dwell upon a few circumstances
regarding it.

In order that our readers may have the
very best information which can be pro-
cured on this important subject, we shall
proceed as is done in trials, and call in one
after another the most trustworthy witnesses,
who will give the most reliable as well as
the most interesting evidence.

The first witness, a well-known writer,
will tell us of the remains of former civiliz-
ation in the Soudan.

The name Soudan means "the country
of the blacks. This agrees with its old
appellation of Cush, a term derived from
the son of Ham, who we are told was the
great progenitor of the black races of
Africa, It is at the same time the counter-
part of the word Ethiopia, by which the
same region was designated in the Bible, as

well as by all the writers of antiquity. As
a division of the earth's surface, Ethiopia
was not very clearly defined ; this resulted
from its almost inaccessible position, on
which account authors could only speak of
it from the vaguest hearsay. It is only in
our day that travellers can be said to have
penetrated into this part of the world, and
brought back reliable accounts of it. Even
yet our knowledge is far from complete, and
information regarding many districts is still
to be desired.

We have, however, quite sufficient data
upon which to declare that there was in the
past a much higher condition of civilization
than we now find in the Soudan. It might
perhaps be put that it was as far superior
to the present state of the country as the
former civilization of the Pharaohs was in
advance of that under the Pachas and
Khedives of our own day. Ethiopia was
celebrated in more ways than one. Isaiah
mentions the " merchandise of Ethiopia."
The Queen of Sheba brought gold, precious
stones, and spices it is even stated that
" there came no more such abundance of
spices as these which the Queen of Sheba
gave to Solomon."

We have lately had experience of the

GORDON THE SOUDAN IN ANCIENT TIMES.

Ill

Soudanese as fearless fighters, but in the
time of Jeremiah the people of the same
locality seem to have been equally famed,
and the prophet's account of them will be
recognised as correctly descriptive yet He
says : " Come up, ye horses ; and rage, ye
chariots ; and let the mighty men come
forth the Ethiopians and Libyans, that
handle the shield." Chariots are not a
feature of the Soudan in the present day,
but they seem to have been plentiful at one
time ; for Ghishak, King of Egypt, came
up against Jerusalem with twelve hundred
chariots, and his forces are described as
" the Lubims, the Sukkiims, and the Ethi-
opians " (2 Chron. xii. 3). The Lubims
are supposed to be the ancient Libyans,
and the Sukkiims have been suggested, by
at least one writer, as a tribe of the desert
who have left their name in the present
Souakim. Memnon, a king of Ethiopia,
came with 10,000 men and took part in the
defence of Troy. The Greeks seemed to
have believed in an Ethiopia in the East as
well as in the West, and this idea was not
confined to them ; but the Ethiopians which
have been here referred to as having a
reputation in ancient history, belonged to
the region now known as the Soudan.

When Egyptology was a young science,
there was much discussion as to whether
the civilization of Egypt came originally
from Ethiopia, or if the process had taken
place in the opposite direction. Many
writers have held that the source from which
the ancient wisdom of the Egyptians came
was the upper regions of the Nile. Dio-
dorus Siculus gives a curious passage,
stating that the Ethiopians themselves used
to boast of the Egyptians having been a
colony from themselves, and that Osiris led
the colony ; that they carried with them
the alphabet, the mode of forming their
statues, and the peculiar funereal customs
at the burial of their kings. To this was
added what seems to be a boastful re-
minder, that " the soil of Egypt was only
the mud of Ethiopia," That there had
been some early connection is evident from

what Herodotus affirms, that previous to
Sesostris there were 130 kings in Egypt,
and eighteen of them had been Ethiopians.
Later still the 25th dynasty was formed of
three Ethiopian monarchs, one of which
was Tirhakah, mentioned in 2 Kings xix. 9.
These events are evidence of the existence
of power and an advanced condition of
civilization on the part of the invaders.

That Egypt did lead armies and conquer
Ethiopia is also well known in history ; but
how far south these conquests were carried
is not very clearly stated. The probability
is that the Egyptian power never extended
much beyond the region about Old Don-
gola, or Meroe at the farthest. The fate
of armies sent in this direction in ancient
times presents a lesson to be recalled with
attention in the present day, for what hap-
pened in the past bears a strong resem-
blance to the events of the last few months.
The army of Psammitichus, according to
Herodotus, deserted, and went over in mass
to the Ethiopians. Cambyses sent an
army to Ethiopia, and, after they had eaten
all their provisions, they devoured the
beasts of burden, and finally they had to
kill every tenth man, and become cannibals,
to preserve their lives. The expedition
was a failure.

In the Acts of the Apostles mention is
made of the servant of Candace, " Queen
of the Ethiopians ; " he had come to
Jerusalem to worship, and was travelling
in a chariot. This queen is supposed to
have reigned at Meroe. This was a very
important kingdom at one time, it was
called the Island of Meroe, for it was
bounded on the west by the Blue Nile,
and on the east by the Astaboras, the
present Atbara these rivers almost sur-
rounding it. Strabo describes its shape as
being like a shield ; from north to south it
may be roughly put as about 300 miles, and
about 200 in its widest, from east to west.
The capital had the same name as the
country ; its site is generally supposed to
have been at a spot on the right bank of
the Nile, about 120 miles below Khartoum,

112

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

where there still remains a group of about
eighty pyramids, marking the ancient place
of sepulchre of the Kings of Meroe. These
pyramids differ from those of Egypt, in
being higher in proportion to their base,
and in having a portico, or ante-chamber,
on one of
their sides.
Lepsius,
who visited
these monu-
ments, came
to the con-
clusion that
they dated
about a cen-
tury before
the birth of
Christ, thus
reversing
the conclu-
sions of ear-
lier travel,
lers, who
made them
the models
after which
the pyra-
mids of the
north were
copied ; but
he consid-
ered that
they were
royal sepul-
chres, and
that they
indicated a
long succes-
sion of kings

as well as an established state of tranquillity
which must have existed for a series of
centuries. This period of greatness coin-
cides closely with the time of Queen
Candace, and her wealth, which is men-
tioned in the Acts of the Apostles.

About fifty miles nearer to Khartoum,
and also on the east bank of the river,
there are some considerable ruins at Ben

THE CAMEL'S NECK. A DIFFICULT PASSAGE ON THE NILE.

Naga, and in the Wadi Sofra. The Kings
of Meroe were elected by a college of
priests, and when they thought he had
reigned long enough, a messenger was sent
to command him to die. This peculiar
custom lasted till the time of the second

Ptolemy,
when a king
named Er-
gamenes, or
Arkaman,
changed the
whole ar-
rangement
by massa-
cring the
priests.
Lepsius
learned that
a similar
custom has
survived to
the present
day in the
district of
Fazuklo, on
the Blue
Nile. The
father of a
king reign-
ing at the
time of Lep-
sius's visit,
1 844, had
been hang-
ed, as he
had ceased
to have the
confidence
of his peo-
ple. The manner in which the " vote of
censure " is proceeded with might be worthy
of consideration at home, where we are in
troducing new forms in our parliamentary
customs. The relatives ot the king, as
well as his ministers, assemble round him,
and announce that his conduct does not
give satisfaction to the men and women of
the country, nor to the oxen, asses, and

GORDON RUINS IN THE SOUDAN.

fowls, etc, and he is implored to submit at
once to a " happy despatch."

Shendy was for a long time the capital of
the same district, and was the residence of
a race of Maleks or kings. Their palace
or castle still remains ; it was in this strong-
hold that

King Nimr ,

got up a
grand festival
in honour of
Ismael Pacha,
which was
concluded
during the
night by his
destruction
through set-
ting fire to
the place he
was^in. There
are consider-
able architec-
tural remains
on both sides
of the river
as far down as
Old Dongola,
but the most
important are
those at Jebel
Berkel, where
there are tem-
ples, some of
them with the
adytum exca-
vated in the
rock, and two

groups of
pyramids.

This is supposed to have been the ancient
Napata. There are also some pyramids
on the opposite side of the Nile from
Jebel Berkel. These remains, although
inferior as works of art, and not comparable
in any respect with the grandeur of the
ancient monuments of Egypt, yet imply a
condition of civilization which contrasts
sadly with what is now found in the Soudan.

TOWING A BOAT UP THE RAI'IDS.

The fame of ancient Ethiopia implies a
larger population than is now found in that
region; its prosperity and wealth are evi-
dence of a more extensive cultivation than
what is carried on in the present day.
Lepsius considers that he so far solved the

difficulty by

., discovering,

near to Ben
Naga, which
is not far from
the present
Shendy, the
remains of
large artificial
reservoirs.
The locality
is within the
limits of the
tropical rains,
and in this he
came to the
conclusion
that he had
discovered
the source
from which in
the past the
people were
able to found
large and im-
portant cities
in what is
now only a
desert. It
may also be
supposed that
the Nile
would be
utilized as in

Egypt, and irrigation along its banks
would be carried on by means of canals.
If water was the basis of past opulence and
development, it teaches a valuable lesson.
Without this means no progress is possible
in such a country. Armies may occupy
and conquer, but without reservoirs and
canals the land will remain barbarous.
Whoever has read Mr. Villiers Stuart's

114

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

work, " Egypt after the War," will see how
the Fellahin are limited in their power of
cultivation for want of an ample supply of
water.

In Darfour there are similar evidences of
a former better state of things. In that
division of the Soudan, there are very large
wells, some of them over one hundred feet
in depth. A description of them will be
found in Mr. Ensor's small book, with a
very delightful account of the expedition
under his charge, sent by Mr. Fowler to
make a survey for a railway to Fasher, the
capital of Darfour. These wells are cut
through the very hardest rock, and the
making of them would be quite impossible
by the present inhabitants. "When the rains
come on the surface, water is allowed to
run into them, carrying all the accumula-
tion of the filth from the ground, and thus
making the water for some time dangerous
to health.

Abyssinia is not now, in a political sense,
a part of the Soudan, but it was always in-
cluded in the older term of Ethiopia. King
John still calls himself the "king of the
kings of Ethiopia." This country presents
the same features of decay which are so
striking over the whole of North-Eastern
Africa ; the deterioration in this case is not
so great, for the ground is fertile, and the
mountainous nature of the country has en-
abled the Abyssinians to preserve some
vestiges of national independence ; still, the
wattle-and-dab huts and churches of the
present day contrast strangely with the
older remains. There is an obelisk at Axum

which, according to a legend, was erected
by Ham, in his division of the world, as a
record of the flood. At the same place
there are a number of fallen obelisks and
numerous fragmentary remains. Even in
Christian times the Abyssinians must have
been in a superior condition to what they
are now. Their churches at present are
mere sheds littered with straw, but at one
time they were able to erect stone churches
with some pretence of architecture, and
even to excavate some very large ones in
the solid rock. One of these was passed
by our troops on the route to Magdala,
and was still used as a church.

In the time of Justinian, Axum was a
large and populous city, and must have had
a considerable commerce, for Justinian
sent Nonnosus as an ambassador to make
arrangements in connection with the silk
trade. Zoula, where our expedition landed
in the Abyssinian war, was the ancient
Adulis, and at a former period was Abys-
sinian territory. Not a vestige of the place
is now visible above ground, but Captain
Goodfellow, R.E., made some excavations,
and laid bare the foundations of a Christian
church, in which fragments of marble and
alabaster were found. These fragments
confirm what we know, that Adulis was
once a wealthy town, with a busy harbour ;
now the Danakit or the Shoho idly wanders
over the dusty plain, presenting to the
mind an almost perfect type of the primitive
man, thus illustrating vividly how the civiliz-
ation of the ancient Ethiopia has sunk^to
the modern barbarism of the Soudan.

GORDON AND THE SLAVE-TRADE.

CHAPTER XXI.

PORDON THE SOUDAN ^SLAVE-^RADE AN ACCOUNT OF

KHARTOUM.

N artist to one of the great
illustrated London papers
gave us a half ludicrous
account of the great diffi-
culty he had to get to-
gether materials for a proper picture of
Khartoum. When that town suddenly
rose into a subject of public notice, his
employers said, " Go and ' do ' an illustra-
tion for us." Our friend is accustomed
to this sort of work. He knew how to
get at the vast stores of knowledge per-
plexing from their very vastness hid in
the British Museum. The library of the
Royal Geographical Society, presided over
by that most urbane of librarians, Mr.
Scott Keltic, was at his command ; yet with
all this he was in a difficulty. There really
seemed no authentic picture of Khartoum.
We believe that after a long search he did
manage to get a sketch plan ; and having
supplemented by careful reading the in-
formation it gave him, he finally produced
his sketch. Well ! "many things have hap-
pened since then," as Lord Beaconsfield
used to say. Pictures of Khartoum are
now plentiful enough, and having carefully
selected the best of these, we here present
it to our readers. As a companion sketch
we give the suburb or outpost of Tuti,
which is situated on the island of Tuti,
opposite Khartoum, and at the junction of
the White and Blue Nile.

Resuming our narrative, we now call Sir
Samuel Baker, Gordon's predecessor in
the Governor-Generalship of the Soudan.
From him we shall learn something of the
active slave trade that flourishes there.
Without the White Nile trade, Khartoum
would almost cease to exist ; that trade is
kidnapping and murder. The character of
Khartoumers needs no further comment.

The amount of ivory brought down from
the White Nile is a mere bagatelle as an
export, the annual value being ,40,000.
The people for the most part engaged in
the nefarious traffic of the White Nile are
Syrians, Copts, Turks, Circassians, and some
few Europeans. So closely connected with
the difficulties of my expedition is that
accursed slave-trade, that the so-called
ivory trade of the White Nile requires an
explanation.

Throughout the Soudan money is ex-
ceedingly scarce, and the rate of interest
exorbitant, varying, according to the secur-
ities, from thirty-six to eighty per cent ;
this fact proves general poverty and dis-
honesty, and acts as a preventive to all
improvement. So high and fatal a rate
deters all honest enterprise, and the coun-
try must lie in ruin under such a system.
The wild speculator borrows upon such
terms, to rise suddenly like a rocket, or to
fall like its exhausted stick.

Thus, honest enterprise being impos-
sible, dishonesty takes the lead, and a suc-
cessful expedition to the White Nile is
supposed to overcome all charges. There
are two classes of White Nile traders the
one possessing capital, the other being
penniless adventurers ; the same system of
operation is pursued by both, but that of
the former will be evident from the descrip-
tion of the latter.

A man without means forms an expedi-
tion, and borrows money for this purpose
at one hundred per cent., after this fashion;
he agrees to pay the lender in ivory at one-
half its market value. Having obtained the
required sum, he hires several vessels, and
engages from one hundred to three hun-
dred men, composed of Arabs and runaway
villains from distant countries, who have

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

found an asylum from justice in the ob-
scurity of Khartoum. He purchases guns
and large quantities of ammunition for his
men, together with a few hundred pounds
of glass beads. The piratical expedition
being complete, he pays his men five
months' wages in advance, at the rate of
forty-five piastres (nine shillings) per month,
and agrees to give them eighty piastres per
month for any period exceeding the five
months advanced. His men receive their
advance partly in cash and partly in cotton
stuffs for clothes, at an exorbitant price.
Every man has a strip of paper, upon
which is written, by the clerk of the ex- |
pedition, the amount he has received, both
in goods and money ; and this paper he
must produce at the final settlement.

The vessels sail about December, and
on arrival at the desired locality, the party
disembark and proceed into the interior,
until they arrive at the village of some
negro chief, with whom they establish an
intimacy. Charmed wkh his new friends,
the power of whose weapons he acknow-
ledges, the negro chief does not neglect
the opportunity of seeking their alliance
to attack a hostile neighbour. Marching
throughout the night, guided by their negro
hosts, they bivouac within an hour's march
of the unsuspecting village doomed to an
attack about half an hour before the break
of day. The time arrives, and quietly
surrounding the village while its occupants
are still sleeping, they fire the grass huts
in all directions, and pour volleys of mus-
ketry through the flaming thatch. Panic-
stricken, the unfortunate victims rush from
their burning dwellings, and the men are
shot down like pheasants in a battue,
while the women and children, bewildered
in the danger and confusion, are kidnapped
and secured. The herds of cattle still
within their kraal, or " zareeba," are easily
disposed of, and are driven off with great
rejoicing as the prize of victory. The
women and children are then fastened to-
gether, the former secured by an instru-
ment called a sheba, made of a forked

pole, the neck of the prisoner fitted into
the fork, secured by a cross piece lashed
behind, while the wrists, brought together in
advance of the body, are tied to the pole.
The children are then fastened by their
necks with a rope attached to the women,
and thus form a living chain, in which
order they are marched to the head-quar-
ters in company with the captured herds.

This is the commencement of business ;
should there be ivory in any of the huts not
destroyed by the fire, it is appropriated ; a
general plunder takes place. The traders'
party dig up the floors of the huts to search
for iron hoes, which are generally thus con-
cealed, as the greatest treasure of the
negroes ; the granaries are overturned and
wantonly destroyed, and the hands are cut
off the bodies of the slain, the more easily
to detach the copper or iron bracelets that
are usually worn. With this booty, the
traders return to their negro ally : they have
thrashed and discomfited his enemy, which
delights him ; they present him with thirty
or forty head of cattle, which intoxicates
him with joy ; and a present of a pretty
little captive girl, of about fourteen, com-
pletes his happiness.

But business is only commenced. The
negro covets cattle, and the trader has now
captured perhaps two thousand head. They
are to be had for ivory, and shortly the
tusks appear. Ivory is daily brought into
camp in exchange for cattle, a tusk for a cow,
according to its size a profitable business,
as the cows have cost nothing. The trade
proves brisk, but still there remain some
little customs to be observed some slight
formalities, well understood by the White
Nile trade. The slaves and two-thirds of
the captured cattle belong to the trader,
but his men claim, as their perquisite, one-
third of the stolen animals. These having
been divided, the slaves are put up to pub-
lic auction among the men, who purchase
such as they require; the amount being
entered on the papers (serki) of the pur-

j chasers, to be reckoned against their wages.

I To avoid the exposure, should the docu-

GORDON'S HEROIC COMPANION, COLONEL STEWART. 117

raent fall into the hands of the Government
or European consuls, the amount is not
entered as for the purchase of a slave, but
is divided for fictitious supplies. Thus,
should a slave be purchased for one thous-
and piastres, that amount would appear on
the document somewhat as follows :

Soap 50 piastres.

Tarboash (cap) . . . 100 ,,

Araki 500

Shoes 200 ,,

Cotton cloth ... 150 ,,

1000

The slaves sold to the men are con-
stantly being changed and resold among
themselves ; but should the relatives of the
kidnapped women and children wish to
ransom them, the trader takes them from
his men, cancels the amount of purchase,
and restores them to their relatives for a
certain number of elephants' tusks, as may
be agreed upon. Should any slave attempt
to escape, she is punished either by brutal
flogging, or shot, or hanged, as a warning
to others. An attack, or razzia, such as
described, generally leads to a quarrel with
the negro ally, who, in his turn, is murdered
and plundered by the trader his women
and children naturally becoming slaves. A
good season for a party of a hundred and
fifty men should produce about two hun-
dred cantars (twenty thousand Ibs.) of
ivory, valued in Khartoum at four thou-
sand pounds.

The men being paid in slaves, the wages
should be nil, and there should be a sur-
plus of four or five hundred slaves for the
trader's own profit worth, on an average,
five to six pounds each.

The boats are accordingly packed with
a human cargo, and a portion of the trader's
men accompany them to the Soudan, while
the remainder of the party form a camp or
settlement in the country they have adopted,
and industriously plunder, massacre, and en-
slave, until their master's return with boats
from Khartoum in the following season, by
which time they are supposed to have a
cargo of slaves and ivory ready for ship-

ment. The business thus thoroughly estab-
lished, the slaves are landed at various
points within a few days' journey of Khar-
toum, at which places are agents, or pur-
chasers, waiting to receive them with dollars
for cash payments.

The purchasers and dealers are for the
most part Arabs. The slaves are marched
across the country to different places ; many
to Sennaar, where they are sold to other
dealers, who sell them to the Arabs and
Turks. Others are taken immense dis-
tances to ports on the Red Sea Souakim,
and Massowa there to be shipped for
Arabia and Persia. Many are sent to
Cairo; and, in fact, they are disseminated
throughout the slave-dealing east, the White
Nile being the great nursery for the supply.
The amiable trader returns from the White
Nile to Khartoum ; hands over to his credi-
tor sufficient ivory to liquidate the original
loan of ; 1,000; and already a man of
capital, he commences as an independent
trader.

We shall now have recourse to the testi-
mony of Colonel Stewart, the heroic com-
panion of Gordon in the glorious though
unsuccessful defence of Khartoum; and
alas ! that it should be so also a sharer in
the fatal issue of the enterprise.

His account will fitly serve as letterpress
to our engravings of the desert city. The
town of Khartoum, the capital of the Soudan
and emporium for the whole country (see
p. 104) is built on a barren, stoneless, and
wide plain, on the western bank of the Blue
Nile, and about a mile above its junction
with the White Nile. Its river frontage is
about one-and-a-half mile ; its depth inwards
from the river about a mile. As its site is
somewhat lower than the point reached by
both rivers when in flood, a dyke fifteen
feet to twenty feet in height has been made
along the banks of the Blue Nile; and
another somewhat lower, immediately at
the back of the town, to protect it against
the overflow of the White Nile. When at
their lowest point, both streams are from six
hundred to eight hundred yards in width,

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

and have several islands, which are culti-
vated. The White Nile is unfordable, ex-
cept in one or two places far up the river ;
but the Blue can be forded in many places
above the town. When in flood, the White
Nile increases its width to a very great
extent, but not so the Blue Nile, as its
banks are much steeper. Around Khar-
toum are several small villages. Both above
and below the town are small plantations
of date palms and plantains, also a number
of vegetable gardens. According to an old
custom or privilege, none of these gardens
pay any taxes; with the exception of the
river banks, the country is bare and tree-
less. During the hot season, which lasts
from the beginning of April till the middle
of November, the heat is severe, averaging
in the shade from 90 to 95 Fahrenheit.
The rains generally begin about the middle
of July, and last till the middle of Septem-
ber. They are, however, said to be very
irregular, and sometimes there is little or no
rainfall. In the rainy season the barren
ground stretching between the two rivers is
covered with grass, affording very good
pasture. The rivers begin to rise on the
ist of June, and reach their highest point
about the beginning of September. They
remain stationary at that point till about
the 1 5th, and then begin to fall. The cold
weather begins about the middle of Decem-
ber, and lasts till the middle of February.
From November to March high north winds
prevail, and during the remainder of the
year south. In winter the thermometer
sometimes goes down as low as 46 Fah-
renheit ; except in the regular rainy season
there is no rain. The unhealthy season is
during the months of June, July, October, !
November, when typhoid fevers and dysen- |
tery are prevalent The winter is the
healthy season. The resident population j
is generally estimated at from 50,000 to
55,000 souls, of which two-thirds are slaves.
There is also a floating population estimated
at from 1,500 to 2,000 souls, and consisting
of Europeans, Syrians, Copts, Turks, Alba-
nians, and a few Jews. The free resident

population are mostly Makhass or aborigi-
nies, Dongolawees from Dongola, Shaghhi-
ye~s from a district along the Nile north of
Khartoum, and Rubatat, a district north of
Berber. The slaves belong mostly to the
Nuba, Dinka, Shulook, Berta, and other
negro tribes. Both the free population and
the slaves are all Mahommedans of the
Maliki school of divinity, and are also fol-
lowers of either the Rufai, Kadri, Hamdi,
or Saadi sect of dervishes. They are very
superstitious. Their political creed is to
side with whichever side is the strongest.
The free inhabitants are mostly engaged in
trades or commerce, and the slaves in agri-
culture, or else hired out as daily labourers
by their masters ; but few are employed as
domestic servants. Of the floating popu-
lation, the Copts are mostly employed in
Government service or trade. The Turks,
Albanians, etc., are generally irregular
soldiers or loafers. The European element
is represented by about one hundred indi-
viduals, mostly Greeks. There are also
some Italians, French, Austrians, and Ger-
mans. The chief export and import trade
is in the hands of the Europeans, Copts,
and Syrians.

Except the manufacture of mats, cotton
cloths, a rope made from palm leaves, and
some filigree silver work, there is no manu-
facture worth speaking of. The bazaar is
of considerable size, and tolerably well sup-
plied with Manchester goods, cheap cutlery,
etc. The export and import trade is con-
siderable, and, besides numerous caravans,
is said to employ over three hundred boats
of various sizes. A considerable trade in
grain is also carried on with Sennaar and
Karkotsch. These districts are practically
the granaries of the Soudan.

In shape the town is very irregular. Its
appearance is also poor and miserable.
Except the Government House and one or
two other buildings, there is hardly a house
worthy of the name. The houses are mostly
built of sun-dried brick, generally without
an upper storey, and nearly all surrounded
by courtyards with mud walls. To prevent

o
o
z

w
u

c/3

THE EXPLORATIONS OF BRUCE.

119

these houses crumbling away during the
rains they are every year plastered over
with dung before the rainy season com-
mences. This plastering process is doubt-
less the cause of a good deal of the illness.
As the town is so low there is no drainage,
and the consequence is that during the
rains the whole place is deep in water, and
it is almost impossible to move about. As
there is no stone throughout the whole dis-
trict, the streets are full of dust during the
summer and mud during the rains. The
chief buildings are: (i) Government
House and offices, large brick buildings on
the banks of the Blue Nile; (2) arsenal,
with smithy, carpenter's shop, smelting

furnaces, stoves, etc. ; attached to this
arsenal are some fourteen steamers for the
navigation of the rivers, and also boats of
various kinds ; (3) a large, commodious
hospital, built by Colonel Gordon; (4) a
mosque or jami, built by Khurshid Pasha ;
(5) a sibil or small mosque, provided with
a well, and some rooms for the convenience
j of travellers and poor people ; (6) a large
barrack of mud without an upper storey,
and large barrack square ; (7) powder
magazine and workshop for the refilling of
cartridges; (8) a large Roman Catholic
missionary building, established 1848; stone
building with church, etc. ; (9) a Coptic
church. Such is Khartoum.

CHAPTER XXII.

BRUCE ffis NOBLE DESCENT ffis AFRICAN TRAVELS.

VEN with all the resources
of modern civilization, sail-
ing on the Nile in the upper
part of that river is no easy
matter. The two illustra-
tions which we here give, and which are
both drawn from the records of the 1885
campaign in the Soudan, bring this before
us. One of these represents our troops
dragging a boat up a dangerous and diffi-
cult part of the river called the " Camel's
Neck"; the other shows navigation in a
calmer but still troublesome part of this
same "mysterious Nile."

But if such are the difficulties of travel-
ling there to-day, what were they a century
ago ? To answer this is the purpose of the
three chapters to which we now direct the
notice of our reader. We have another
object ; for fearing lest our readers may be
a little weary of the continuous records of
war and battles, we here present them with
a life of a British citizen whose name will

for ever be connected with Egypt, though
not as a soldier but as a traveller.

We refer to Bruce, who, though he did
not completely solve the problem, yet did
so much towards the discovery of the
sources of the Nile.

James Bruce was born about the year
1733. The family, of which he was to be-
come the representative, descended, most
probably, from one of the brothers, or other
collateral relations, of the heroic Robert
Bruce, King of Scotland. Robert Bruce, of
Kinnaird, an eminent and very turbulent
Presbyterian minister in the reign of King
James VI., was one of his immediate suc-
cessors. His parents held a respectable
rank among the gentry of Stirlingshire.

He received a very excellent education
at one of the most distinguished seminaries
in England. The languages of Greece and
Rome ; mathematics, and the sciences ; the
arts of design, and every liberal accom-
plishment, were the objects of his study.

I2O

THE ENGLISH IN EG YPT.

When he grew up, he gradually formed in
his mind a mind widened by the noblest
classical culture the resolution to solve
the problem of the mysterious Nile. His

imagination was then warm with those de-
lightful visions which the perusal of the
classics naturally excites in every ingenuous
mind. To discover those remains of Roman

SCENE ON THE EQUATORIAL NILE.

art and of Grecian colonization which had
hitherto eluded the researches of the
moderns; to penetrate to the sources of
the Nile, which Julius Caesar had in vain
desired to detect, seemed to him objects

of pursuit not unworthy of the most ardent
literary enthusiasm and the most generous
ambition.

Throughout Europe discoveries like these
were, at that time, passionately desired, in

BRUCE HIS EARLY YEARS.

121

order to fill up the chasms in the system of
natural and civil history, and to facilitate
the improvements of the fine arts. Sweden
had just sent out, from among the pupils of
the great Linnaeus, a Hesselquist, a Kalm,
and other scientific missionaries, to explore
the most distant regions of the earth. The
King of Denmark, also, had lately em-

ployed a company, consisting of an engi-
neer, a draughtsman, a linguist, a botanist,
and a physician, to investigate the history
of the ancient and present state of Arabia,
and the other most famous countries of the
East. The islands scattered throughout
the wide expanse of the southern seas
were beginning to be numbered. France

SITE OF TADMOR.

and Spain were sending out philosophers to
Siberia and Peru for the purpose of ascer-
taining, by means of an astronomical pro-
cess, the'precise figure of the earth. The
love of science, and the beneficent desire
to promote the civilization of mankind, had
everywhere inspired a desire to prosecute
discoveries which had been hitherto only

obtained in consequence oi the accidental
communications arising from military con-
quest, mercantile avarice, or religious
enthusiasm. It was not merely a pedantic
fancy or a quixotic dream that impelled
Bruce to enter on those bold enterprises
which he was destined to accomplish. He
was to contend with a number of the most

i *

122

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

enlightened of his contemporaries for the
attainment of objects whose importance
the whole world was ready to acknowledge.

Many of the most eminent philosophers
in Europe earnestly offered him their advice
for the direction of his enterprise. From
Italy and from England he was supplied
with the best instruments for every purpose
of the draughtsman and the astronomer.
Some necessary assistants were engaged to
follow him. He accordingly departed from
Europe, and soon arrived in safety at
Algiers. Some time was necessarily spent
in the study of the language of the Moorish
Arabians, and in fulfilling the functions of
his official character, before he could pro-
ceed upon his researches. But, within no
long period after his arrival, he boldly com-
mitted himself to the dangerous faith of
some tribes of wandering Arabs, and ad-
vanced, in search of ancient ruins, into
regions which no visitant from modern
Europe had as yet successfully explored.
Associating with his Arabian hosts and
guides, and displaying a skilful use of their
language and manners which left him
scarcely under the disadvantages of a
stranger, he was thus enabled to discrimi-
nate the peculiarities of their respective
characters with an accuracy of observation
perhaps unequalled by any former traveller.

Being, perhaps, more a master of the
pencil than of the art of literary composi-
tion, he executed many drawings of the
various ruins now discovered by him ; of
which the singular excellence was afterwards
doomed to excite the false 1 and invidious
cavil that they could not be his own.
While he shared the hospitality of the
Arabs in these deserts, he had occasion to
live with them on the flesh of lions, a
species of animal food so very different
from roast beef, and. so much less easy
than hare or venison to be procured by the
chase, that some untravelled Englishmen
may, perhaps, be inclined to deny that it
can ever have been used as food.

From Africa he passed, in prosecution of
greater designs, to the Grecian isles and the

coast of Syria. An unfortunate shipwreck
damaged his valuable collection of instru-
ments for astronomical observations, but
could not deter his resolute mind from its
adventurous pursuits. In Syria he surveyed
the ruins of Tadmor, of the site of which
we give an illustration, and executed many
valuable drawings of those noble, though
mutilated monuments of ancient art which
they display. In the hospitable society of
European friends, whom he found in the
commercial cities, he passed the time
necessary for him to await the arrival of
various articles from Europe, without which
he could not adventure upon his grander
enterprise. During this period of leisure
he diligently studied medicine, in order to
recommend him to the barbarous in-
habitants of the regions which he proposed
to explore.

From Syria- he repaired to Egypt Its
great towns, its pyramids ; the sites and
remains of its ancient cities; the pheno-
mena of the overflowings of its mighty
river, the Nile ; the formation of its lower
territory, which advances to bound the
Mediterranean Sea; the comparison of its
present local circumstances with its ancient
history, joined to the character of its
government and inhabitants, all excited
and engaged Bruce's attention. His
science, the manly dignity and firmness of
his personal character, the advantages
arising from the recommendations with
which he travelled, and some lucky con-
curring accidents, introduced him to the
friendship and protection of the famous
AH Bey, who was then all-powerful in
Egypt, and by this means procured him
facilities for observation and inquiry which
have rarely been possessed by Europeans
in that land. He was accordingly enabled
to visit, without personal danger, various
remote and interesting scenes, in the course
of which almost any other traveller would
have been inevitably robbed and probably
murdered. The sacred code of the Jewish
and Christian religions was in his hands, as
well as the Grecian records of Homer and

BRUCE AT GONDAR.

123

Herodotus; and, comparing what these
books relate concerning ancient Egypt with
the scenes and the state of society before
him, he was enabled to understand a num-
ber of hitherto unexplained particulars, in
the hints which those eldest of books pre-
sent respecting the early annals of a country
that was almost the primeval seat of civil-
ized society; and to confirm the truth of
the Christian revelation, by discovering
various new proofs of the scrupulous fidel-
ity of the Mosaic history.

From Egypt Bruce sailed southward, on
the Red Sea, to Jeddah in Arabia Felix.
He had the good fortune to find at Jeddah a
number of his own countrymen from India,
ship captains and merchants in the service
of the English India Company. They
welcomed him among them with kind
hospitality; heard with pleasure and ad-
miration of his bold purpose of penetrating
into Abyssinia, and exploring the sources
of the Nile ; procured whatever directions
were there to be obtained for his conduct
during his journey; introduced him to the
powerful protection of the prime minister
to the sherriffe or religious prince of Mecca ;
offered him the free use of their purses and
credit ; and, in fine, espoused all his in-
terests so openly, so earnestly, and with
such a show of deference and respect, that
the whole influence of the English name
and greatness in the East appeared to be
interposed for his security among those
barbarians to whose doubtful faith he was
now hastening to commit himself.

With every generous wish on the part of
these kind Englishmen for his welfare and
success, he sailed for Massowah, the maritime
key of the entrance into Abyssinia, on the
western coast of the Red Sea. That sea
he, on this occasion, and during the pre-
vious navigation from Suez to Jeddah, sur-
veyed and sounded with hydrographical
care and skill, by which he was enabled
to form a better naval chart of it' than the
world had hitherto been in possession of.
At Massowah the benevolent exercise of his
medical skill, the influence of the British

name, the firmness, vigilance, and boldness
of his personal character, could, with great
difficulty, save him from being robbed by
the Naybe, a knavish and rapacious chief-
tain, who was ready to violate, without
scruple, the universally acknowledged prin-
ciples of the law of nations, and to trample
upon the generous usages of even bar-
barian hospitality.

After many perils from the fierceness, the
deceit, and the thievish rapacity of the in-
habitants on this eastern frontier of the
Abyssinian empire, our traveller happily
made his way to a considerable mercantile
town within its confines. The name of
Ras Michael, to whom he had been re-
commended, and who was at this time
master of both the king and his kingdom,
began here to afford him as much security
as a stranger could expect to find among a
barbarous people, and amid the horrors of
civil war. His intrepid boldness and vigi-
lance, well adapted to contend with, to
defeat, and to overawe, the fierceness and
the cunning of savages ; his noble liberality
in the distribution of presents fitted to strike
and please the fancy of a rude nation ; his
gallantry, which slighted not the proffered
favours of the Abyssinian damsels : some
lucky but unexpected incidents ; and the
admiration which his dexterity in shooting
and horsemanship excited, did all the rest.
He accordingly arrived safe at Gondar, the
Abyssinian capital.

To penetrate to the sources of the Nile,
and to discover with certainty the causes of its
periodical overflowings, formed the primary
object of his journey. But he was destined
to accomplish others, which, although of a
secondary nature, were to prove more use-
ful and interesting to the world. Abyssinia,
a country comprehending several extensive
provinces at the eastern extremity of the
great peninsular continent of Africa, pro-
bably received its first inhabitants from
Egypt or Yemen. The imperfect remains
of the history of ancient Egypt bespeak a
not unfrequent intercourse, at least of war-
fare and reciprocal conquest, to have taken

124

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

place, in times the most remote, between
the Egyptians and the people of Habesh.
Colonies appear to have migrated, in turns,
between the eastern and the western coasts
of the Red Sea, from Abyssinia to Yemen,
and from Yemen to Abyssinia. Commercial
adventure carried the Phoenicians and the
Jews into Abyssinia, at the time when they
were masters of the navigation of the Red
Sea. It is also possible that the Jews at
the time when they were, by the conquests
of Nebuchadnezzar, dispersed abroad as
captives or as fugitives from their native
land, might flee in part into Abyssinia as
well as into Egypt. By whatever means it
may have occurred, certain it is that the
religion and literature of the Jews had been
very anciently introduced into Abyssinia;
and that the Abyssinians had been taught
to respect the race of their kings as de-
scendants from the famous Solomon.
Missionaries from Arabia and Egypt con-
verted this people from Judaism to a sort
of impure Christianity. Their empire was,
in the meanwhile, a territory of varying
extent ; including, on the north side, the
sandy deserts contiguous to the Mediter-
ranean Sea, and towards the south, low and
unhealthy regions, as well as many lofty
mountains, both insulated and in contin-
uous ranges, deep and wide-spreading
forests, expansive lakes, swelling and ma-
jestic rivers, broad plains, and flat sullen
morasses ; exposed for one part of the year
to a climate of a dry and warm tempera-
ture, for another part of it regularly subject
to heavy and incessant rains ; at its western
confines meeting those unknown interior
parts of Africa, concerning which European
curiosity has only suspected that they are
inhabited by savages and barbarians unac-
quainted with the virtues and the blessings
of civilized life.

In these circumstances, local disadvan-
tages, the character of the surrounding tribes
and nations, and the want of a religion
friendly to mild and benign yet active
virtue, concurred with an ill-compacted
government to retain the people of Abys-

sinia in a state of perpetual barbarism, still
unmitigated and unenlightened. Christian-
ity could not improve the manners of the
converts whom it here gained in a propor-
tion equal to that in which it was obliged
to debase its own reasonableness and
morality for the purpose of winning their
favour. The feudal form of government,
under some modifications peculiar to Asia
and Africa, but in all that barbarous dis-
order in which it subsisted in the twelfth
and thirteenth centuries in modern Europe,
was the species of political combination
under which the Abyssinians had lived
almost from the earliest times of their
known existence as a nation. While the
Portuguese, to whom Europe owes so
much for their discovery of the great
maritime route to the East, were in their
highest commercial and naval greatness,
they introduced themselves, the Jesuits,
and the Romish form of Christianity, into
Abyssinia; and, under the most specious
pretexts, strove in vain to subject Abys-
sinia to the dominion of Portugal and
Rome. The attempt, and the miseries
and dissensions which ensued from it,
served but to perpetuate the almost un-
social disorder of the Abyssinian govern-
ment, and to enhance the barbarism of the
manners of the people. The Abyssinians
found that they were likely to derive
nothing but mischiefs from their connec-
tion with the Christians of Europe; and
Rome and Portugal were disappointed of
those advantages which they had expected
to obtain in achieving the temporal and
spiritual conquest of Abyssinia. The im-
mediate intercourse between Europe and
Abyssinia was accordingly broken off, be-
fore the Abyssinians could derive any
material improvement from the arts of the
Europeans, or from the refinement of their
manners. From this period the empire re-
mained unchanged, faithful to the Coptic
Christianity of Egypt, and, though afflicted
with continual revolutions, yet without ex-
periencing any fundamental alteration of
its code of government.

BRUCE ABYSSINIAN ADVENTURES.

125

CHAPTER XXIII.

His ADVENTURES IN ABYSSINIA.

RUCE arrived at the Abys-
sinian capital in the midst
of one of the fiercest and
most afflicting civil wars by
which this country had ever
been visited. But even in these circum-
stances, and among a race so barbarous,
the felicity of his genius preserved him
safe. The small-pox, one of those terrible
diseases whose inextinguishable infection
has conspired with the ignorance and im-
prudence of mankind to subject every
human life to be once endangered by its
malignity, was at that very time outrival-
ling the havoc of war by its terrible de-
vastations throughout all Abyssinia.
Bruce's medical pretensions introduced him
to the women and children of the house-
hold of the dreaded Ras Michael, at a
moment when charms and prayers had
proved equally vain ; when the fondled
infant, the beauteous maid, scarcely yet
nubile, and the gallant youth, amid his first
untried ardour, after the perils and the
glory of war, were, in spite of every effort,
cut off together by this baleful distemper.
Our traveller was sufficiently acquainted
with the Turkish and the English methods
of treating the small-pox ; and his art res-
cued from the brink of the grave several
lives of which the preservation had been
deemed hopeless, the beautiful Ozoro
Esther, the beloved wife of Michael; her
mother, the Iteghe, whose state, as queen-
dowager, remained inviolate amid the dis-
tractions of civil war. Some gallant youths,
the sons and grandsons of these ladies,
grateful for Bruce's medical assistance, and
charmed with the mingled boldness and
gentleness of his character, quickly became
his zealous friends and protectors.

When Michael, and with him the young

king whom he sustained on the throne,
returned from a successful campaign to
Gondar, the stranger was presented to them
with recommendations which secured a very
flattering reception. His own personal
qualities soon did the rest. Eminently ex-
pert in the horsemanship of Britain and of
the Arabs ; bold, daring, intrepid, possessing
true greatness of soul, and having softened
his native roughness with something of
uncouth refinement ; able to drink with the
Abyssinians, without getting drunk with
them ; qualified to astonish them with the
powers of a double-barrelled gun, and with
a marksman's skill in shooting, which they
could not imitate; exhibiting a lofty dis-
interestedness of spirit, which, though it did
not reject their pecuniary favours with in-
solence, yet refused them with an air of
dignity such as might well bespeak a man
incapable of receiving the bribe of the
courtier, the hire of the mechanic, or the
sordid gains of the merchant : the Scottish
traveller thus successfully attracted to him-
self the admiration and favour of all that
was great in rank or magnanimous in sen-
timent about the Abyssinian court The
Alexandrian patriarch had, by a pastoral
letter, enjoined the Coptic and Greek
Christians then in Gondar, to make atone-
ment for their sins of vanity and pre-
sumption, by doing public homage to
Bruce. The beauties of the capital, never
coy in the distribution of their favours,
contended to bestow them with a lavish
fondness on a youth in whom the graces of
Europe were combined with the robust
vigour of an Abyssinian warrior. The king
and the minister conceived a warm partiality
for him. He endeared himself to the most
eminent among the young nobility, by in-
structing them in some of the most notable

126

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

military exercises of Arabia and of Europe.
High offices in the court were offered for
his acceptance. To obtain the protection
necessary to enable him to accomplish the
purposes of his journey, he was obliged to
accept the government of a small province,
and even to enrol himself among the lords
of the bed-chamber of the Abyssinian
monarch.

He associated with the nobility in the
amusements of the court ; ate with them
raw flesh, while it still trembled with life
and sensation ; drank deep of their bouza,
mead, and wine ; and is not said to have
sullenly refused those favours which their
noblest and fairest dames were willing, even
amid scenes of public festivity, to lavish on
so accomplished a stranger. Affecting a
much more dignified character than that of
the Greek Christians, whom he found in
high estimation among these barbarians, he
lived at a great expense, drawn from his
own supplies, not from their bounty ; main-
tained the character of a physician, even
after finding that the custom of the country
required of the physician rather to give fees
to his patients than to enrich himself by
receiving them ; and uniformly evinced by
his conduct, that all he desired to gain from
his kind hosts was simply freedom and
security while he should make those obser-
vations and inquiries for the sake of which
he had come into their country.

Religion, and the subjection of the Abys-
sinian Church to the ecclesiastical authority
of the Roman pontiff, had been the grand
concerns of the Portuguese Jesuits, the last
Europeans by whom these regions had been
visited. To obtain their ends they had
excited terrible mischiefs among a people
who were but too prone to civil war, and
the Abyssinian clergy, therefore, could not
now behold another European amongst
them without being alarmed with the fears
of jealous orthodoxy and inflamed by the
furor of religious persecution. But pru-
dence, a philosophical indifference to re-
ligious disputes, his gentleman-like manners,
remote from those of the priest, and the

high esteem with which he was regarded by
the monarch, and the Ras, his minister,
effectually screened Bruce from that thun-
der which priestly bigotry and malevolence
strove to hurl with fatal efficacy upon his
head.

It was his fortune to witness some terrible
scenes of civil war and political vengeance.
He saw a king the property of the ablest,
the most powerful, and the most wicked of his
nobles obliged to obey the dictates of the
minister's cruelty and revenge ; catching the
infection of his crimes, and ready to exas-
perate against himself those whose hatred
was originally directed against the Ras
alone. He beheld ambition, resentment,
fickle turbulence, demoniac craft, and a
ferocious delight in continual bloodshed
all the fierce passions and all the dark vices
of barbarians excite rival chiefs in endless
rebellion against a king whom they were
led to oppose, partly from the wish to de-
stroy his minister, and partly from the habit
of eternal contention. He witnessed a
wantonness of cruelty and carnage which
could have place only where native bar-
barism was infuriated by the mutual resent-
ments of political discord. Amidst general
cruelty, inhumanity, grossness of manners,
and meanness of intellects, he discovered
some of the most amiable feminine virtues,
and some of the most generous and dig-
nified masculine ones, joined to talents of
which the force and the comprehension
have rarely been excelled among mankind.
To penetrate to the sources of the Nile,
and to examine everything relative to the
natural history of the country, had been
the first objects of his inquiry when he
made his way into Abyssinia. Obtaining
at length a feudal grant of the very ter-
ritory in which the fountains of the Nile
had been so long hidden from the Euro-
pean world, he set out to visit them ;
arrived after many perils, and drank
libations of water more grateful and intoxi-
cating to a romantic traveller than the
Falernian of old. After remaining there
for a few days, highly gratified with the

BRUCE ABYSSINIAN ADVENTURES.

127

company of his male, and still more with
his female vassals, who were worshippers
of the deity of the Nile, he took his way
back to Gondar, proud of having actually
achieved what Julius Caesar had only wished
for, and what the Jesuits had lyingly pre-
tended to have accomplished in narratives
of which the very tenour sufficiently be-
trayed their falsity.

Having now accomplished the chief
purposes of his journey into Abyssinia, he
was excited by every consideration to hasten
his return. With great difficulty he ob-
tained that permission to depart which the
custom of the Abyssinian court made them
extremely unwilling to grant to a stranger
from whom much might be learned, and
from whose services there were many
advantages to be derived.

Persuaded that if he should again put
himself within the power of the Naybe of
Massowah, he would hardly be able to escape
alive out of the hands of that robber, who
was still angry for his former disappoint-
ment, Bruce dared not now attempt to
leave Abyssinia by the same route by which
he had entered it. His only alternative
was to take a journey through those
deserts, hitherto unexplored by the tra-
vellers of modern Europe, in which the
armies of the Persian Cambyses had
perished in ancient times. He accordingly
set out from the Abyssinian capital, accom-
panied by many friends, at whose departure
he shed tears. That province, of which
he himself had been solicited to accept the
government, was the last within the limits
of the Abyssinian empire through which
he had to pass. A Moor, named Yasine,
having accidentally been the companion of
his journey in his first entrance into Abys-
sinia, had merited his kindness, and been
advanced by him to its subordinate com-
mand. Yasine took this last opportunity
of testifying his gratitude to his benefactor, j
by entertaining him with respectful hos-
pitality, negotiating for his friendly treat-
ment by the Arabs through whose territories
he was next to travel, and escorting him

with a company of horsemen to a con-
siderable distance.

He was at last obliged to bid farewell to
every Abyssinian, and to commit himself to
the faith of the Arabs of the desert. In
his company were some travellers who had
put themselves under his protection; he
was attended by guides and servants ; and
they had with them horses, camels, and
their baggage. Through hardships, which,
though considerable, were petty in com-
parison with those which he had to encoun-
ter, he made his way in a few days to Teawa.
Carrying powerful recommendations to the
Arab chief of this place, and being ready
to gratify him with moderate presents, Bruce
had hopes of being hospitably received
here, and of obtaining, without difficulty or
delay, fresh camels, water, and guides for
his journey onwards to the next insulated
settlement amid the sandy waste. The
Chief of Teawa was, however, one of the
most faithless, rapacious, and needy of all
the Arabians of the desert. He fancied
that Bruce carried with him immense trea-
sures, and he resolved, either by craft or
violence, to make those treasures his own ;
for these Arabs, upon the same principle on
which European governments demand cus-
tom, tolls, and taxes upon post horses, shut
up the navigation of rivers, and regulate
preferences in commercial intercourse, think
they have a right to levy exactions upon all
strangers coming within their territories;
and since the measure of these exactions
is not fixed by laws or treaties, it can be
modified only by the power of him who
demands and the opulence or penury of
those who are compelled to pay them.

Bruce not only refused to comply with
his requisitions, but signified a resolute de-
termination to resist force by force, and
secretly despatched messengers to solicit
interposition from Abyssinia and Sennaar
for his deliverence. While, on the one
hand, the Arab, hoping to overcome by de-
lay the obstinacy of his guest, hesitated to
have recourse to violence, and meditated
new wiles ; on the other, Bruce impatiently

128

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

awaited that succour which he had so
earnestly craved. A lodging and enter-
tainment were still supplied to the traveller,
the chiefs own wives cooked his meals ;

he was called, in his medical capacity, to
administer remedies of powerful efficacy to
the Arab chief, and all his family ; and he
was captivated by his charms, and won the

favour of his host's lovely daughter, the
beautiful Aisach of Teawa. When the
chief, having his courage fortified by
drunkenness, tried at one time to reduce
Bruce to compliance with his demands by

menaces of instant death, our traveller
always prepared by means of secret arms,
and replete with intrepidity, quickly over-
powered the treacherous and cowardly Arab
with the dread of that violence which he

BRUCE AT TEAWA.

129

had dared to threaten. The women, too,
were on Bruce's side; and, warned from
time to time by them, he kept himself
sufficiently on his guard against all the
secret snares which the wily and rapacious
chief continued to spread for him.

At last, sufficient protection arrived for
our traveller; and the Arab was obliged,
reluctantly, to dismiss out of his hands
without injury, that prey which he had in
imagination already devoured. An astro-
nomical prediction which Bruce was enabled

to make, with an affectation of preternatural
sagacity, being quickly accomplished in an
eclipse, completed the mortification and
terror of the petty tyrant, and procured to
the wanderer a triumphant departure from
Teawa. Camels, guides, water, and the
other necessaries were now readily sup-

plied, and at parting Bruce surprised his
unkind host by bestowing a remuneration
which had been ill-deserved at his hands.

A dreary desert was nowjto be passed
before the travellers could reach another
cultivated spot Rapacious Arabs roved
around of whom, if one or two tribes were

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

friendly, others were on this very account
so much the more ready to treat them as
foes. Their camels became weary; their
water and other provisions began to be ex-
hausted. They arrived, however, at length,
after many perils, and with infinite fatigue,
at the capital of the kingdom of Sennaar.
Here the selfish knavery of a banker, on
whom our traveller had an order for a
supply of money, which he declined to pay,
reduced Bruce to the necessity of disposing
of the greater part of a golden chain of an
hundred and eighty links, which had been
bestowed upon him by the monarch of
Abyssinia as an honourable reward for his
gallant behaviour in a pitched battle.
After various delays, difficulties, and lucky
escapes from robbery and assassination,
having the good fortune to be protected by
the authority of the chief minister, Bruce
was at length enabled to take his departure
from Sennaar, with a due supply of camels,
water, and meal of millet seed, for the con-
tinuation of his journey through the desert.
He had still greater difficulties to en-
counter before he could reach the confines
of Egypt. They travelled in constant
dread of being suddenly intercepted or
overtaken by some wandering Arabs, who
would rob and then leave them to perish in
the desolate wilderness. Their water also
began to be exhausted, their camels to turn
lame, and their own strength to diminish.
Their feet were excruciatingly lacerated and
swollen ; and still they were far, far distant
from the cheering comforts of hospitality.
One evening had almost completed their
misfortunes. They had halted by a well
which they were inexpressibly glad to have
reached ; an Arab family, unseen by them,
passed the night near the same spot ; and
had it not been for the lucky vigilance of
Bruce, their camels would have been stolen,
and they themselves left to inevitable death.
Discovering the mischief soon enough to
prevent it, they compelled the thief to
return with them as a guide.

As they proceeded, the terrors of nature
were continually renewed before them, in
forms more menacing and more awfully
sublime. The direful simoon, whose blast
is death, repeatedly overtook them ; and had
they not, though with infinite difficulty,
avoided inhaling its poisonous breath, they
must have instantly perished by the inspi-
ration. Gigantic columns of sand, blazing
i with the colours of flame, were seen to
start suddenly up in ranks before or behind,
and to approach with rapid and tremendous
movements, as if to overwhelm them.
Even their camels, animals which seem to
have been specially destined by Divine
Providence to enable men to traverse those
vast and barren deserts, without them in-
accessible, even these patient and hardy
creatures, being at last overcome with the
fatigue of so long a journey, sunk under
their burdens, groaned, and expired. Their
baggage was now destined to be left be-
hind them, and Bruce, when he saw him-
self obliged to relinquish his journals, his
drawings, his collection of specimens, his
precious Ethiopic manuscripts, every
memorial that could demonstrate to the
European world that he had, indeed,
travelled into Abyssinia, and penetrated
to the sources of the Nile, doubted
whether, after these had been cast away,
even life itself were worthy of a further
struggle to preserve it.

With difficulty they crept on yet a little
farther ; and still the way seemed to lengthen
before them, while desire was every moment
at once anticipating its end, and extending
the paces, as they passed, into miles. At
last various indications began to prove
that they had reached the verge of the
desert. A Turkish village at length ap-
peared in view. This they reached; were
there hospitably received ; procured persons
to go into the wilderness in search of their
baggage ; recovered it ; and then refreshed
and solaced themselves at their ease, after
their grievous trials.

BRUCE HIS LAST YEARS.

CHAPTER XXIV.

BRUCE Jiis LAST YEARS.

RUCE, having thus accom-
plished the object of his
adventurous journey into
Abyssinia, and happily sur-
mounted the tremendous
perils of a return through the desert of
Sennaar, now proceeded gaily down the
Nile to Cairo. Wherever he came, the
dignified prudence and intrepidity of his
character, overawing the rapacious and
dishonest, inclined the humble and the
good to apply to him as a potent and
beneficent protector. An act of kindness
to one of the officers of Mohammed Bey,
who had by this time supplanted Ali Bey
in the administration of the Egyptian
government, proved the occasion of intro-
ducing Bruce to that ruler with advantages
which made the bey willing to gratify him
with almost any favour. On this occasion
he was not unmindful of the commercial
interests of his country. Grateful for the
favours he had received from the servants
of the British East India Company at
Jeddah, he procured from Mohammed Bey
a firman, or letters patent, authorizing the
English to transmit their merchandise
thither on the payment of more moderate
duties than had ever before been exacted
from them in any part of the Red Sea.
This was Bruce's last remarkable transac-
tion with the great men of the East. He
soon after sailed from Alexandria, and
arrived safe in Europe.

His countrymen, those in particular who
had hoped to do honour to themselves and
to their sovereign's reign by encouraging
this expedition, men of learned curiosity
throughout all Europe, received Bruce, at
his return from those regions till now
unexplored, with an eager admiration and
applause by which, to a mind like his, all

his toils and perils seemed to be well
repaid. Schoolboys and the vulgar might
wonder to hear of the discovery of the
sources of the Nile ; but philosophers were
much more gratified by the information
that in approaching them he had made
observations which would enlarge and
correct our knowledge of the character of
barbarous life. None of the congratulations
which awaited his return were more grateful
to his heart than that of the great French
naturalist, the Count de Buffon, whose
studies qualified him to judge of the im-
portance and authenticity of Bruce's dis-
coveries ; who consulted him with the
veneration of a disciple, and became the
glad harbinger of his fame.

At the British court the African traveller's
first reception was sufficiently flattering.
His drawings were accepted to enrich the
collection of his sovereign ; and he was
in return presented with the sum of two
thousand pounds. Proud of his adventures
and discoveries, and pleased with the
respect and admiration which they attrac-
ted, Bruce for a time abandoned himself
for exultation, and hoped that a character
tried in an enterprise so perilous and
splendid would not fail to be employed
by a discerning king and ministry in some
of the most honourable offices his country
could bestow.

But he was soon to experience the most
bitter disappointment Suspicions were
invidiously suggested that his drawings
were too exquisitely fine to have been
executed, as'he pretended, by his own pen-
cil. He was also unfortunate in not know-
ing how to make due concessions, in his
accounts of what he had seen and achieved,
to the incredulity of ignorance.

This spirit of invidious detraction from

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

merit, which, though not free from an alloy
of human imperfections, was, however,
eminently excellent, failed not to impress
the mind of Bruce with a number of those
indignant sensations which it is natural for
genius and virtue to feel whenever their
hopes and efforts are disappointed by the
opposition of unworthy arts. He disdained
to contend with the incredulity of prejudice
and ignorance. He would not meanly
solicit that official employment to which he
thought that his distinguished abilities and
experience might, without other aid, suffi-
ciently recommend him.

He now retired from public life, to a
residence on his patrimonial estate. A
lively woman, perhaps not without some-
thing of the partiality of a Desdemona,
listened to his vows, and became the wife
of his affections. The duties and amuse-
ments of a country gentleman ; the philo-
sophical inspection of nature and of rustic
life; the individual resources of a well-
furnished library ; the recollection of all
that he had observed and meditated and
suffered in his travels, were sufficient to
hinder even his vigorous and active mind
from languishing in retirement.
t But unfortunately his domestic happiness
was soon interrupted by the premature
decease of his wife in the very bloom of
youth and beauty. His fortitude was
almost overpowered by the loss. He
mourned her death, for a while, in that
deep, unutterable anguish which refuses
consolation ; honoured her memory by the
erection of a noble funeral monument ;
then summoned up the energies of his
mind, returned to the duties of life, and
endeavoured to soothe his sorrow by the
education of her children.

In the meantime the public was greatly
dissatisfied with his delay to produce a
complete narrative of his travels. His
friends dreaded lest he should procras-
tinate a publication which they anxiously
longed to obtain, till, perhaps, his death
might for ever frustrate his uncertain in-
tentions of giving it to the world. His

enemies maliciously attributed his delay to
the consciousness of the imposture and
falsehood of his pretensions. The lively
De Tott, returning into Europe from Tur-
key and Tartary, pretended to have received
from the very servant who had attended
Bruce into Abyssinia, an account of the
Scottish traveller's adventures in that
country, which was directly contradictory
of that which Bruce himself had given out.
Although the Honourable Daines Barring-
ton, in a very ingenious paper, refuted the
calumny of De Tott; and though all the
friends of Bruce were ready to rise up with
indignation against this impeachment of his
veracity, yet nothing less than the publi-
cation of the long-expected narrative by
the traveller himself would now satisfy the
suspicion and demands of the public.
Other French adventurers beside De Tott
in particular Savary, more remarkable for
glowing ardour of imagination, and enthu-
siastic sensibility, than profundity and
accuracy of erudition, or for philosophical
penetration and comprehension of mind ;
and Volney, bold, ardent, scientific, com-
bining in the character of his genius a keen
inventive energy of judgment with rare
sublimity of imagination, presented to
the world books of their travels into some
of those very countries which Bruce had
visited; excited throughout Europe an
astonishing degree of eagerness about every-
thing relative to the East; anticipated the
British traveller in the communication of
not a few of the most interesting facts which
he had to relate ; and, by the success of
of their labours, partly encouraged his
hopes, partly provoked his emulation, so
that he was at length induced to prepare
his journals for immediate publication.

The task was, after all he had formerly
done, still a difficult one. His astronomical
observations were to be revised and verified.
It was necessary for him once more to
ransack the depths of Grecian and Oriental
erudition, in order to discover the disagree-
ment or coincidence between what the Jews,
Arabs, and Greeks had recorded, and that

BRUCE HIS LAST YEARS.

133

which he himself had observed concerning
Abyssinia and the other countries of the
East. His journals were to be wrought
into a regular continuous narrative. His
observations on subjects of natural history
were to be carefully compared with the
scientific elements of this branch of know-
ledge ; and were, if possible, to be accom-
modated in his account to the technical
phraseology of naturalists. The beauty of
arrangement, the propriety and the graces
of style, with all those delicacies of compo-
sition which, without long practice, even
taste and genius are rarely able to display,
were to be attempted by a man who, though
no mean judge of elegance, had long been
more attentive to the matter than to the
manner of whatever he wrote or read.

A considerable period, therefore, was
necessarily spent in revising his journals
and improving their form. A young man
of the name of Fennels, then an actor on
the Edinburgh stage, and who afterwards
acquired some distinction as a reader of
lectures on elocution in Philadelphia, was
employed as his amanuensis, perhaps not
without being allowed to suggest some oc-
casional corrections of the style. When
ready for the press, the work was carried to
Edinburgh ; and, at the author's own ex-
pense, beautifully and correctly printed in
the house of Sibbald, a man of eminence
in his profession.

The king willingly permitted such of
Brace's drawings as had been placed in the
royal collection to be copied on this occa-
sion ; and it is said that the engravings
were executed at his majesty's expense.
The queen also condescended to express a
solicitude, about the time of the publication
of his work, that his details of the Abyssinian
manners might be written with such delicacy
of thought and expression as to render a
book that promised so much instructive
amusement not improper to be perused by
the princesses. When it was ready for pub-
lication, Messrs. Robinsons, of Paternoster
Row, became the purchasers, not of the
copyright, but of the whole first edition.

Although the work consisted of five
volumes in quarto, yet it experienced a very
rapid sale, and in France a translation of it
was executed with a degree of haste which
almost anticipated the circulation of the
original. Bruce himself, favouring the
undertaking of the French translator, was
pleased to enrich the book by the com-
munication of some facts, which respect for
the delicacy of the British fair had withheld
him from publishing in English, but con-
cerning which he believed that the literary
ladies of France would not be so scrupu-
lous.

Magazines, reviews, and periodical publi-
cations of all kinds, in Britain, in Ireland,
in America, in the British dominions in
India, and among the enlightened nations
on the continent of Europe, were filled for
a time with abstracts from his narrative.

All owned that they found in the works
of Bruce much to warm the imagination,
much that deeply touched the dearest
sensibilities of the heart. If his. erudition
were often more ostentatious than correct ;
if his philosophy were sometimes flippant
and superficial ; if his astronomical facts
occasionally excited against him the sus-
picion of both ignorance and imposture ;
yet the whole train of his narrative carried
with it an intrinsic evidence incapable of
being conterfeited, and, like the writings of
the holy evangelists, appeared to demon-
strate that, in spite of every inferior matter
of objection, its general tenour could not
possibly be false. His style might be, on
meaner occasions, rugged and ungrateful,
but whenever he was to relate the dangers
through which he had passed, to describe
the impressions with which new and extra-
ordinary appearances had affected his
feelings, to paint the characters of the bar-
barians with whom he had conversed, or to
repeat with dramatic effect the impassioned
dialogues in which he had borne a part, the
ideas, the images, the emotions with which
his mind was big, seemed then to create a
language for themselves ; and his style was
perceived to assume, without effort, all the

'34

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

expressive energies and all the endlessly
changing colours of a Shakespeare's.

The beauty and apparent accuracy of the
engravings, whether maps, charts, or figures,
by which the narrative was illustrated, could
not but add a considerable recommenda-
tion to the general merits of the work.
The whole, taken together, afforded indu-
bitable proofs that Bruce was assuredly
not unendowed with those powers which
he pretended to have exercised in the
course of his travels.

His last visit to London occurred during
the publication of his travels. He returned
soon after to Scotland; and the few re-
maining years of his life were spent either
at Edinburgh or at one of his seats in the
country. He at length resolved to publish
a new edition of his travels in octavo ; and,
in order to have it printed under his own
immediate inspection, he intended to fur-
nish a printer in Falkirk with the necessary
implements, and to have the whole exe-
cuted there at his own expense.

To every criticism that was thrown out
he had carefully attended; and, notwith-
standing a doughty arrogance which seemed
to enter deeply into his character, yet was
he preparing to make every alteration and
amendment of which the propriety appeared
to have been at all evinced. He anxiously
consulted the Rev. Dr. Blair concerning
those alterations which the doctor's exqui-
site taste as a critic, and his judgment as a
man of sagacity and discretion, might sug-
gest as fit to be made for the improvement
of the work. The revision of his astro-
nomical facts ; that correction and polishing
anew of the style ; that erasure of indeli-
cacies, whether of vanity or obscenity ; that
amended arrangement ; that more complete
and satisfactory detail of Abyssinian man-
ners, which Blair, with friendly criticism,
recommended, Bruce respectfully consented
to execute.

In the year 1794, and within a very few
months after this interview, as he had just
risen from entertaining a company of friends
in his house at Kinnaird, and while he was

turning round to conduct some of the ladies
from the drawing-room to their carriage, he
was suddenly attacked with an apoplectic
fit, and expired almost immediately.

It has been endeavoured to mark what-
ever was peculiar in the character of Bruce
in the particulars of his life. A robust con-
stitution of body, great energy and acute-
ness of mind, added to a Scotsman's spirit
of adventure, appear to have been among
his most distinguishing qualities at the time
he set out upon his African travels. It was
perhaps a schoolboy fancy that Caesar was
the greatest hero of antiquity, and that
whosoever should explore the sources of
the Nile would be greater than Caesar
which first inspired him with the passion
for his journey into Abyssinia.

During his long intercourse with barba-
rians and savages, it was exceedingly natural
that he should contract an arrogance, an
overweening notion of the superiority of his
own knowledge and personal qualities, and,
perhaps, also a tincture of the irascible
passions which might prove somewhat
offensive when he returned to the scenes of
polished life. His lofty disdain of those
who dared to throw out suspicions against
his veracity kept him for a number of
years in a sort of sullen retirement from all
but a select society of friends.

Among those friends, whenever he chose
to throw aside the bearskin, no man could
be more courteous and polite than he. In
his gallantry towards the female sex there
was a delicacy, a devotedness, an incessant
yet not troublesome officious vigilance of
attention, which could not but prove ex-
ceedingly flattering. To compare, on such
occasions, his courteous manners and ele-
gance of conversation with his tall, muscular,
athletic form, it might seem that the frame
of the Tyrrd of the philosophical novelist
was here animated by the spirit of his
Falkland.

He was very fortunate in the defenders
whom he found to protect his fame. To
be vindicated by such as Sir William Jones,
the Honourable Daines Barrington, and

THE HISTORY OF EGYPT THE OLD KINGS.

Buffon, one would almost wish to be ac-
cused by those by whom the veracity of
Bruce had been impeached. He was a
kind, nay doting, husband, a prudent
and affectionate father, and a friend who
knew how to attach his friends to himself.
In short, his mind was greatly above any-
thing like that falsehood of which he had

been accused j for the veracity of Psalmana-
zar was not more inviolably sacred, in his
old age, than that of Bruce seems to have
been at all times of his life.

That our readers may have an idea of
the appearance of this remarkable man, we
give his portrait at page 129. It is from
an authentic likeness.

CHAPTER XXV.

THE HISTORY OF EGYPT THE PLD KINGS.

S we have now given a full
account of Egypt both in
its ancient and modern state,
we shall proceed to make a
few remarks on the history
of that country. In order to bring our
readers to modern times, we shall pass over
the ancient period as speedily as possible,
only selecting for particular comment the
most interesting periods of her annals.
From the most remote antiquity, Egypt was
ruled by kings. We now append brief bio-
graphical notices of the most eminent. We
also give representations of four of these
taken from stone figures. The first whom
we shall note is Osymandus. He is known
to the modern reader by Shelley's magnifi-
cent sonnet beginning, " I met a traveller
from an antique land," and going or\ to
tell how in the desert there lay a huge stone
head "whose wrinkled lip and sneer of
cold command" still struck the beholder
with awe. Near was a pedestal with the
inscription, " My name is Osymandus, King
of kings. Look on my works, ye mighty,
and despair." This king was very powerful.
Diodorus gives a very particular descrip-
tion of many magnificent edifices, raised by
this king, one of which was adorned with
sculptures and paintings of exquisite beauty,
representing his expedition against the

Bactrians, a people of Asia, whom he had
invaded with four hundred thousand foot,
and twenty thousand horse. In another
part of the edifice was exhibited an assembly
of judges, whose president wore on his
breast a picture of Truth, with her eyes
shut, and himself surrounded with books,
an emphatic emblem, denoting that judges
ought to be perfectly versed in the laws, and
impartial in the administration of them.

The king likewise was painted here,
offering to the gods gold and silver, which
he drew every year from the mines of Egypt,
amounting to a great sum.

Not far from hence was seen a magnifi-
cent library, the oldest which is mentioned
in history. Its title or inscription on the
front was, " The office or treasury for the
diseases of the soul." Near it were statues,
representing all the Egyptian gods, to each
of whom the king made suitable offerings,
by which he seemed to be desirous of in-
forming posterity that his life and reign
had been crowned with piety to the gods
and justice to men.

His mausoleum discovered an uncommon
magnificence; it was encompassed with a
circle of gold divided into parts, each of
which showed the rising and setting of the
sun, moon, and the rest of the planets : for
from this king's reign, the Egyptians divided

136

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

the year into twelve months, each consist-
ing of thirty days, to which they added
every year five days and six hours. The
spectator did not know which to admire
most in this stately monument, whether the
richness of its macenals, or the genius and
industry of the artists and workmen.

Long after his reign, Joseph was brought
a slave into Egypt by some Ishmaelitish
merchants, sold to Potiphar, and, by a
series of wonderful events, enjoyed the
supreme authority by his being raised to
the chief employment of the kingdom.

Jacob also went into Egypt with his whole
family, met with the kindest treatment from
the Egyptians, whilst Joseph's important
services were fresh in their memories. But
after his death, say the Scriptures, " there
arose up a new king, which knew not
Joseph."

Rameses-miamun, according to Arch-
bishop Ussher, was the name of the king
who is called Pharaoh in Scripture. He
reigned sixty-six years, and oppressed the
Israelites most grievously. He " set over
them taskmasters, to afflict them with their
burdens. And they built for Pharaoh trea-
sure-cities Pithom and Raamses. . . .
And the Egyptians made the children of
Israel to serve with rigour, and they made
their lives bitter with hard bondage, in
mortar, and in brick, and in all manner of
service in the field; all their service, where-
in they made them serve, was with rigour."
Amenophis, his eldest son, succeeded
him. He was the Pharaoh under whose
reign the Israelites departed out of Egypt,
and who was drowned ir* his passage
through the Red Sea.

Diodorus, speaking of the Red Sea, has
made one remark very worthy our obser-
vation ; a tradition (says that historian) has
been transmitted through the whole nation,
from father to son, for many ages, that once
an extraordinary ebb dried up the sea, so
that its bottom was seen ; and that a vio-
lent flow immediately after brought back
the waters to their former channel. It is
evident that the miraculous passage o

Moses over the Red Sea is here hinted at ;
and we make this remark purposely to ad-
monish young students not to slip over, in
their perusal of authors, these precious re-
mains of antiquity; especially when they
bear, like this passage, any relation to re-
ligion.

Sesostris was not only one of the most
powerful kings of Egypt, but one of the
greatest conquerors that antiquity has to
boast of.

His father, whether by inspiration, ca-
price, or, as the Egyptians say, by the
authority of an oracle, formed a design of
making his son a conqueror. This he set
about after the Egyptian manner ; that is,
in a great and noble way : all the male
children born the same day with Sesostris
were, by the king's order, brought to court.
Here they were educated as if they had
been his own children, with the same care
that was bestowed on Sesostris, with whom
they were lodged. He could not possibly
have given him more faithful ministers, or
officers who more zealously desired the
success of his arms. The chief part of
their education was, the inuring them, from
their infancy, to a hard and laborious life,
in order that they might one day be capable
of sustaining with ease the toils of war.
They were never suffered to eat till they
had run, on foot or horseback, a consider-
able race. Hunting was their most com-
mon exercise.

When Sesostris was more advanced in
years, his father sent him against the Ara-
bians, in order that, by fighting against
them, he might acquire the military science.
Here the young prince learned to bear
hunger and thirst, and subdued a nation
which till then had never been conquered.
The youth educated with him attended him
in all his campaigns.

Accustomed by this conquest to martial
toils, he was next sent by his father to try
his fortune westward. He invaded Libya,
and subdued the greatest part of that vast
continent.

In the time of this expedition, his father

THE HISTORY OF EGYPT THE OLD KINGS.

137

died, and left him capable of attempting
the greatest enterprises. He formed no
less a design than that of the conquest of
the world. But before he left his kingdom,
he had provided for his domestic security,
by winning the hearts of his subjects by
his generosity, justice, and a popular and
obliging behaviour. He was no less stu-
dious to gain the hearts of his officers and
soldiers, who were ever ready to shed the
last drop of their blood in his service,
persuaded that his enterprises would all be
unsuccessful, unless his army should be
attached to his person by all the ties of
esteem, affection, and interest. He divided
the country into thirty-six governments

(called Nomi), and bestowed them on per-
sons of merit and the most approved
fidelity.

In the meantime he made the requisite
preparations, levied forces, and headed
them with officers of the greatest bravery
and reputation, that were taken chiefly
from among the youths who had been
educated with him. He had seventeen
hundred of these officers, who all were
capable of inspiring his troops with resolu-
tion, a love of discipline, and a zeal for the
service of their prince. His army con-
sisted of six hundred thousand foot, and
twenty-four thousand horse, besides twenty-
seven thousand armed chariots.

OSYMANDUS.

RAMESES-MIAMUN.

SESOSTRIS.

PSAMMETICHUS.

He began his expedition by invading
Ethiopia, situated to the south of Egypt.
He made it tributary, and obliged the
nations of it to furnish him annually with a
certain quantity of ebony, ivory, and gold.

He had fitted out a fleet of four hundred
sail, and, ordering it to sail to the Red Sea,
made himself master of the isles and cities
lying on the coasts of that sea. He him-
self heading his land army, overran and
subdued Asia with amazing rapidity, and
pierced farther into India than Hercules,
Bacchus, and, in after times, Alexander
himself had ever done ; for he subdued the
countries beyond the Ganges, and advanced
as far as the ocean. One may judge from

hence how unable the more neighbouring
countries were to resist him. The Scythians,
as far as the river Tanais ; Armenia and
Cappadocia were conquered. He left a
colony in the ancient kingdom of Colchos,
situated to the east of the Black Sea, where
the Egyptian customs and manners have
been ever since retained. Herodotus saw
in Asia Minor, from one sea to the other,
monuments of his victories. In several
countries was read the following inscription
engraven on pillars, "Sesostris, King of
kings and Lord of lords, subdued this
country by the power of his arms." Such
pillars were found even in Thrace, and his
empire extended from the Ganges to the

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

Danube. In his expeditions, some nations
bravely defended their liberties, and others
yielded them up without making the least
resistance. This disparity was denoted by
him in hieroglyphical figures on the monu-
ments erected to perpetuate the remem-
brance of his victories, agreeably to the
Egyptian practice.

The scarcity of provisions in Thrace
stopped the progress of his conquests, and
prevented his advancing farther in Europe.
One remarkable circumstance is observed
in this conqueror, who never once thought,
as others had done, of preserving his ac-
quisitions ; but, contenting himself with the
glory of having subdued and despoiled so
many nations, after having made wild havoc
up and down the world for nine years, he
confined himself almost within the ancient
limits of Egypt, a few neighbouring pro-
vinces excepted ; for we do not find any
traces or footsteps of this new empire,
either under himself or his successors.

He returned therefore laden with the
spoils of the vanquished nations ; dragging
after him a numberless multitude of
captives, and covered with greater glory
than his predecessors. He rewarded his
officers and soldiers with a truly royal
magnificence, proportionable to the quality
and merit of each. He made it both his
pleasure and duty to put the companions
of his victory in such a condition as might
enable them to enjoy, during the remainder
of their days, a calm and easy repose, the
just recompense of their toils.

With regard to himself, for ever careful
of his own reputation, and still more of
making his power advantageous to his
subjects, he employed the repose which
peace allowed him, in raising works that
might contribute more to the enriching of
Egypt, than the immortalizing his name ;
works, in which the art and industry of the
workman were more admired than the im-
mense sums which had been expended on
them.

An hundred famous temples, raised as
so many monuments of gratitude to the

tutelar gods of all the cities, were the first
as well as the most illustrious testimonies
he exhibited of his victories ; and he took
care to publish in the inscriptions of them
that these mighty works had been completed
without the assistance of any of his subjects.
He made it his glory to be tender of them,
and to employ only captives in these
monuments of his conquests.

His great work was the raising, in every
part of Egypt, a considerable number of
high banks or moles, on which new cities
were built, in order for them to be a security
for men and beasts, during the inundations
of the Nile.

From Memphis as far as the sea he cut
on both sides of the river a great number of
canals, for the conveniency of trade, and
the conveying of provisions ; and for the
settling an easy correspondence between
such cities as were most distant from one
another. Besides the advantages of traffic,
Egypt was, by these canals, made inacces-
sible to the cavalry of its enemies, which
before had so often harassed it by repeated
incursions.

He went farther : to secure Egypt from
the inroads of its nearer neighbours, the
Syrians and Arabians, he fortified all the
eastern coast from Pelusium to Heliopolis,
that is for upwards of seven leagues.

At length he died full of years and
honour. A multitude of obscure kings
succeeded, till finally, after great disputes,
twelve of the principal noblemen, conspir-
ing together, seized upon the kingdom, and
divided it into so many parts. It was
agreed by them that each should govern
his own district with equal power and
authority, and that no one should attempt
to invade or seize the dominions of another.
They thought it necessary to make this
agreement, and to bind it with the most
dreadful oaths, to elude the prediction of an
oracle, which had foretold that he among
them who should offer his libation to
Vulcan out of a brazen bowl should gain
the sovereignty of Egypt. They reigned
I together fifteen years in the utmost

THE HISTORY OF EGYPT THE OLD KINGS.

139

harmony : and to leave a famous monu-
ment of their concord to posterity, they
jointly, and at a common expense, built the
famous labyrinth, which was a pile of
building consisting of twelve large palaces,
with as many edifices underground as
appeared above it

One day, as the twelve kings were assist-
ing at a solemn and periodical sacrifice,
offered in the temple of Vulcan, the priests,
having presented each of them a golden
bowl for the libation, one was wanting;
when Psammetichus, one of the twelve,
without any design, supplied the want of
this bowl with his brazen helmet (for each
wore one) and with it performed the cere-
mony of the libation. This accident struck
the rest of the kings, and recalled to their
memories the prediction of the oracle above
mentioned. They thought it therefore
necessary to secure themselves from his
attempts, and therefore, with one consent,
banished him into the fenny parts of Egypt.

After Psammetichus had passed some
years in them, waiting a favourable oppor-
tunity to revenge himself for the affront
which had been put upon him, a courier
brought him advice that brazen men were
landed in Egypt. These were Grecian
soldiers, Carians, and lonians, who had
been cast upon Egypt by a storm, and were
completely covered with helmets, cuirasses,
and other arms of brass. Psammetichus
immediately called to mind the oracle,
which had answered him, that he should be
succoured by brazen men from the seaward.
He did not doubt but that the prediction
was now fulfilled. He therefore made a
league with these strangers, engaged them
with mighty promises to stay with him,
privately levied other forces, put these
Greeks at their head ; when, giving battle to
the eleven kings, he defeated them, and
remained sole possessor of Egypt, which he
ruled ably.

As this prince owed his preservation to
the lonians and Carians, he settled them in
Egypt (from which all foreigners hitherto
had been very rigorously excluded) ; and,

by assigning them sufficient lands and
fixed revenues, he made them obliterate the
remembrance of their native country. By
his order, Egyptian children were put under
their care to learn the Greek tongue ; and
on this occasion, and by this means, the
Egyptians began to have a correspondence
with the Greeks; and from that era, the
Egyptian history, which till then had been
intermixed with pompous fables, by the
artifice of the priests, begins, according to
Herodotus, to exhibit greater truth and
certainty.

As soon as Psammetichus was settled on
the throne, he engaged in war against the
king of Assyria, on account of the limits of
the two empires. This war was of long
continuance. Ever since that Syria had
been conquered by the Assyrians, Pales-
tine, being the only country that separated
the two kingdoms, was the subject of con-
tinual discord, as afterwards between the
Ptolemies and the Seleucidas. They were
eternally contending for it, and it wa
alternately won by the stronger. Psam-
metichus, seeing himself the peaceable
possessor of all Egypt, and having restored
the ancient form of government,* thought
it high time for him to look to his frontiers,
and to secure them against the Assyrian,
his neighbour, whose power increased
daily. For this purpose he entered
Palestine at the head of an army.

Till his reign, the Egyptians had ima-
gined themselves to be the most ancient
nation upon earth. Psammetichus was
desirous to prove this himself, and he
employed a very extraordinary experiment
for this purpose. He commanded (if we
may credit the relation), two children,
newly born of poor parents, to be brought
up (in the country) in a hovel, that was to
be kept continually shut. They were com-
mitted to the care of a shepherd (others
say, of nurses, whose tongues were cut out)
who was to feed them with the milk of

This revolution happened about seven years
after the captivity of Manasseh, king of Judah.

140

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

goats; who was commanded not to suffer
any person to enter into this hut, nor him-
self to speak even a single word in the
hearing of these children. At the expira-
tion of two years, as the shepherd was one
day coming into the hut, to feed these
children, they both cried out, with hands
extended towards their foster-father, bekkos,
bfkkos. The shepherd, surprised to hear a
language that was quite new to him, but
which they repeated frequently afterwards,
sent advice of this to the king, who ordered
the children to be brought before him, in
order that he himself might be witness to
the truth of what was told him ; and accord-
ingly both of them began in his presence,
to stammer out the sounds above mentioned.
Nothing now was wanting but to inquire
what nation it was that used this word ; and
it was found that the Phrygians called bread
by this name. From this time they were
allowed the honour of antiquity, or rather
of priority, which the Egyptians themselves,
notwithstanding their jealousy of it, and the
many ages they had possessed this glory,
were obliged to resign to them. As goats
were brought to these children, in order
that they might feed upon their milk, and
historians do not say that they were deaf,
some are of opinion that they might have
learnt the word bek, or bekkos, by mimick-
ing the cry of those creatures.

A near successor of this king attempted
to join the Nile to the Red Sea, by cutting
a canal from the one to the other. They
are separated by a considerable distance.
After an hundred and twenty thousand
workmen had lost their lives]m_this attempt,
he was obliged to desist ; the oracle which
had been consulted by him having answered
that this new canal would open a passage to
the Barbarians (for so the Egyptians called
another nations) to invade Egypt

Soon after, Amasis became peaceable
possessor of Egypt, and reigned forty years
over it. He was, according to Plato, a
native of the city of Sais.

As he was but of mean extraction, he
met with no respect, but was only con-

temned by his subjects, in the beginning of
his reign. He was not insensible of this ;
but nevertheless thought it his interest to
subdue their tempers by an artful carriage,
and win their affection by gentleness and
reason. He had a golden cistern, in which
himself, and those persons who were ad-
mitted to his table, used to wash their feet
He melted it down, and had it cast into a
statue, and then exposed the new god to
public worship. The people now hasted in
crowds, and paid their adoration to the
statue. The king, having assembled the
people, informed them of the vile uses to
which this statue had once been put, which
nevertheless had now their religious prostra-
tions. The application was easy, and had
the desired success ; the people thencefor-
ward paid the king all the respect that is
due to majesty.

He always used to devote the whole
mornings to public affairs, in order to re-
ceive petitions, give audience, pronounce
sentence, and hold his councils. The rest
of the day was given to pleasure ; and as
Amasis, in hours of diversion, was ex-
tremely gay, and seemed to carry his mirth
beyond proper bounds, his courtiers took
the liberty to represent to him the unsuit-
ableness of such a behaviour, when he
answered that it was as impossible for the
mind to be always serious and intent upon
business, as for a bow to continue always
bent.

It was this king who obliged the inhabi-
tants of every town to enter their names in
a book kept by the officer of public order.
Continental nations of the present day do
exactly the same. Thus there is nothing
new under the sun.

Shortly after his reign, Cambyses, the
famous conqueror of antiquity, quite sub-
dued Egypt.

After the death of Alexander, a new
monarchy arose in that country. This
monarchy was founded by Ptolemy, the son
of Lagus. It continued to Cleopatra that
is, for about three hundred years. Here we
shall, for the present, leave this subject.

GORDON IN THE SOUDAN.

141

CHAPTER XXVI.

GORDON GOVERNOR~PENERAL OF THE EQUATORIAL PROVINCES.

E now resume our narrative
of the life of Gordon, and
proceed to describe how he
acted as Governor-General
of the Equatorial Provinces,
to which post, as we have already noted,
he was appointed in 1874. The instruc-
tions given him by the Khedive (according
to Mr. Birkbeck Hill's summary) were as
follows : " The province which Colonel
Gordon has undertaken to organize and to
govern is but little known. Up to the last
few years it had been in the hands of
adventurers, who had thought of nothing
but their own lawless gains ; and who had
traded in ivory and in slaves. They es-
tablished factories, and governed them with
armed men. The neighbouring tribes were
forced to traffic with them whether they
liked it or not. The Egyptian Govern-
ment, in the hope of putting an end to this
inhuman trade, had taken the factories into
their own hands, paying the owners an in-
demnification. Some of these men had
nevertheless been still allowed to carry on
trade in the district, under a promise that
they would not deal in slaves. They had
been placed under the control of the
Governor of the Soudan. His authority,
however, had scarcely been able to make
itself felt in these remote countries. The
Khedive therefore had resolved to form
them into a separate Government, and to
claim as a monopoly of the State the whole
of the trade with the outside world. There
was no other way of putting an end to the
slave-trade, which at present was carried on
in defiance of law. Once the brigandage
had been stamped out, trade might become
free to all."

Now these instructions were all very well,
but Gordon was not so sure that real work

was meant. He thought the whole affair
was a sham to catch the attention of the
English people. He himself had nothing
to complain of. He was offered ,10,000,
but he would only take ,2,000. A great
retinue was assigned to him, but this he
got rid of as soon as possible.

He pushed southward, going 280 miles
in nine days on camel-back. Then he
arrived at Khartoum, where he was re-
ceived with the greatest respect. He only
stayed a few days here, and then proceeded
on his voyage up the Nile. After twenty-
three days' travel he reached Gondokoro,
which for some time became his head-
quarters. From this place he " darted " (if
we may use the word) about in all direc-
tions, and seized and punished the slave-
dealers, till his name became a terror to
them throughout the length and breadth of
the land. He thought that the terrible evil
of slavery was that it kept the country in
continual war ; yet he recognised that
something might be said in that barbarous
land for domestic slavery, which, after all,
is but a kind of domestic service. "I
think that the slavers' wars, made for the
purpose of taking slaves, are detestable ;
but if a father or mother of their own free-
will, and with the will of the child, sells
that child, I do not see the objection to it.
It was and is the wholesale depopulation of
districts which makes slavery such a curse,
and the numbers killed or who perish in
the collection of slaves." He also con-
fessed that their lot was not quite miserable.
" I declare, I think there is more happiness
among those miserable blacks, who have
not a meal from day to day, than among
our own middle classes. The blacks are
glad of a little handful of maize, and live
in the greatest discomfort. They have not

14 =

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

a strip to cover them, but you do not see
them grunting and groaning all day long, as
you see scores and scores in England, with
their wretched dinner-parties and attempts
at gaiety, where all is hollow and miser-
able." Still there was always terrible
misery about him, but this he strove hard
to alleviate. There is a case which he
himself describes with " smiles and
tears " :

" I took a poor old bag-of-bones into my
camp a month ago, and have been feeding
her up ; but yesterday she was quietly taken
off, and now knows all things. She had her
tobacco up to the last, and died quietly.
What a change from her misery! I sup-
pose she filled her place in life as well as
Queen Elizabeth. ... A wretched sister
of yours is struggling up the road, but she
is such a wisp of bones that the wind
threatens to overthrow her; so she has
halted, preferring the rain to being cast
down. I verily believe she could never get
up again. I have sent her some dhurra,
which will produce a spark of joy in her
black and withered carcass. She has not
even a cotton gown on, and I do not think
her apparel would be worth one-fiftieth part
of a penny.

August 4. I am bound to give you the
sequel of the lady whom I helped yesterday
in the gale of wind. I had told my man to
see her into one of the huts, and thought
he had done so. The night was stormy and
rainy, and when I awoke I heard often a
crying of a child near my hut, within the
enclosure. When I got up I went out to
see what it was, and, passing through the
gateway, I saw your and my sister lying
dead in a pool of mud ; her black brothers
had been passing and passing, and had
taken no notice of her. So I went and
ordered her to be buried, and went on. In
the midst of the high grass was a baby about
a year or so old, left by itself. It had been
out all night in the rain, and had been left by
its mother children are always a nuisance !
I carried it in, and seeing the corpse was
not moved, I sent again about it, and went

| with the men to have it buried. To my
surprise and astonishment, she was alive.
After some considerable trouble, I per-
suaded the black brothers to lift her out of
the mud, poured some brandy down her
throat, and got her into a hut with a fire,
having the mud washed out of her sightless
eyes. She was not more than sixteen years
of age. There she now lies ; I cannot help
hoping she is floating down with the tide to
her haven of rest. The babe is taken care
of by another family for a certain consider-
ation of maize per diem. I dare say you
will see in fact, I feel sure you will see
your black sister some day, and she will tell
you about it, and how Infinite Wisdom
directed the whole affair. I know this is
a tough morsel to believe, but it is true. I
prefer life amidst sorrows, if those sorrows
are inevitable, to a life spent in inaction.
Turn where you will, there are sorrows and
troubles. Many a rich person is as unhappy
and miserable as this ray of mortality, and
to them you can minister. ' This mustard
is very badly made,' was the remark of one
of my staff some time ago, when some of
our brothers were stalking about showing
every bone in their poor bodies.

August 5. The Rag is still alive. The
babe, who is not a year old, seized a gourd
of milk and drank it off like a man last
night, and is apparently in for the pilgrim-
age of life. It does not seem the worse for
its night out depraved little wretch.

August 5. Just a line. Your black
sister departed this life at four p.m., deeply
lamented by me."

And so our hero laboured on.

Gordon's accuteness in detecting the
tricks played on him seemed somewhat
supernatural to his ignorant opponents.

A boat would float quietly past. Ap-
parently it was loaded with wood and ivory,
but Gordon thought its crew seemed terribly
anxious to get past his post of observation.
He stops the boat and causes an examina-
tion to be made. The cargo is a mere blind !
The whole boat is packed with slaves, with
a certain number of elephants' tusks and a

GORDON RESULTS OF HIS RULE.

143

few planks of wood to keep up appearances.
Of course the boat and all it contains is at
once confiscated.

Gordon had great difficulties with his
subordinates. One of these, Abou Saoud,
whom he had treated very kindly, was found
to be behaving ill. Gordon dismissed him j
with these words : " Abou ! when I took
you up at Cairo, there was not an Arab or
a foreigner who would have thought of em-
ploying you, but I trusted to your protesta-
tions and did so. When I got to Gondokoro
you were behaving properly, and I con-
gratulated myself on your appointment to
the high post I gave you. Soon, however,
I came little by little to repent my action,
and to find out that my fair treatment was
thrown away. You deceived me. To
come to more personal matters, you strangely
forgot our relative positions ; you have
forced your way into my private apartment
at all times, have disputed my orders in my
presence, and treated all my other officers
with arrogance, showing that you are an
ambitious grasping man, and unworthy of
the authority I gave you. If you do this
under my eyes, and at the beginning of
your work, what will you do when you are
away from me ? Now, hear my decision !
Your appointment is cancelled, and you
will return to Gondokoro and wait my
orders. Remember, though I remove you
from your office, you are still a Government
officer, subject to its laws, which I will not
hesitate to put in force against you if I find
you intriguing."

Thus it will be seen that Gordon, though

tender-hearted to women and children,
could be severe enough to rascals. His
most efficient lieutenant through it all was
Romulus Gessi, an Italian, who served him
faithfully, and whom he came to trust im-
plicitly. But help or no help, on he worked.
He penetrated far up to the very sources of
the Nile, and surveyed the neighbouring
region. Then he returned to Cairo and
resigned his commission. Mr. Archibald
Forbes thus sums up what he did during
the eighteen months of his administration :
" He had mapped the White Nile from
Khartoum to within a short distance of
the Victoria Nyanza. He had given to the
slave-trade on the White Nile a deadly
blow. He had restored confidence and
peace among the tribes of the Nile Valley,
so that they now freely brought into the
stations their beef, corn, and ivory for sale.
He had opened up the water communica-
tion between Gondokoro and the Lakes.
He had established satisfactory relations
with King M'tesa. He had formed Govern-
ment districts, and established secure posts
with safe communication between them. He
had contributed a revenue to the Khedivial
exchequer, and this without oppression.
The Taiping Rebellion established Gor-
don's genius as a military commander ; the
Equatorial Provinces, when he left them,
testified not less to his genius as a philan-
thropic and practical administrator."

He got back to England on the Christ-
mas Eve of 1876. But he was not allowed
to remain long there, as we shall find in the
next chapter.

'44

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

CHAPTER XXVII.
GORDON ADMINISTRATION OP THE ^SOUDAN.

ARLY in 1877, Gordon was
summoned to Cairo, where
he had an interview with
the Khedive. Ismail Pasha-
Yacoub, who while at
Khartoum had really governed in the

interests of the slave-dealers, was now
removed and Gordon put in his place.
" Setting a just value," wrote the Khedive
to the latter on February i7th, 1877, "on
your honourable character, on your zeal,
and on the great services you have already

GORDON TRAVELLING IN THE SOUDAN.

done me, I have resolved to bring the
Soudan, Darfour, and the provinces of the
Equator into one vast province, and place
it under you as Governor-General."

Gordon thus told the matter : " I had an
interview with the Khedive. He looked at
me reproachfully, and my conscience smote
me. . . . Then I began and told him
all ; and then he gave me the Soudan, and
I leave on Saturday. I am very glad to
get away, for I am very weary. I go up
alone with an infinite Almighty God to
direct and guide me, and am glad to so

trust Him as to fear nothing and to feel
sure of success."

Gordon was not a man to let the grass
grow under his feet. On the 26th of Feb-
ruary he had reached Massowah. Before
he could take possession of his government
at Khartoum, he was obliged to settle a
dispute in Abyssinia, between Johannis,
the king of that country, and Walad el
Michael, a successful rebel. The dispute
threatened to stir up a war in the Egyptian
territory, but Gordon gave Walad a govern-
ment in his own territory, and thus quieted

GORDON.

'45

the affair. Gordon, in a sort of parable,
thus describes the matter :

"There were two courses open to me
with respect to this Abyssinian question :

the one to negotiate peace with Johannis
and ignore Walad el Michael, and if after-
wards Walad turned rusty, to arrange with
Johannis to come in and catch him. This

certainly would have been easiest for me.
Johannis would have been delighted, and
we would be rid of Walad ; but it would
first of all be very poor encouragement to

any future secessions, and would debase
Egyptian repute. The process of turning
in the polecat Johannis to work out the
weasel (Walad) would play havoc with the

i 4 6

THE ENGLISH JN EGYPT.

farmyard (the country) in which the opera-
tion was carried on ; and it might be that
the polecat Johannis having caught the
weasel Walad, might choose to turn on the
hens (which we are), and killing us, stay in
the farmyard. For, to tell the truth, we,
the hens, stole the farmyard, this country,
from the polecats when they were fighting
among themselves, and before they knew
we were hens. The other course open to
me was to give Walad a government sep-
arated from Johannis, which I have done,
and I think that was the best course; it
was no doubt the most honest course, and
though in consequence we are like a fat nut
between the nutcrackers, it will, I hope,
turn out well."

He then moved on to Khartoum, where
he made his declaration of policy in a few
brief words.

With the help of God I will hold the
balance level," he said. This was received
with great joy by the poor people.

Difficulties were all around him, some of
them rather ludicrous, but still troublesome.
The palace he found had all its windows
one hundred and thirty in number broken ;
and the luxuriant divans that adorned the
state rooms were all hacked and cut ! How
was this ? It seemed that the sister of the
late governor had taken this remarkable
method of showing her disgust at the
appointment of Gordon.

Gordon smiled, ordered the necessary
repairs to be executed, and proceeded with
the work of reform.

He placed a box in the palace door to
receive complaints. It was soon full to
overflowing, and as it was emptied and
examined it soon began to fill again. The
people found their new governor was ready
to listen to them, and they took full advan-
tage of his kindness. Before they found
him incorruptible they brought him ' back-
sheesh.' He took it all and placed it in
the public treasury !

And so on he went with his task.
"A stupendous task, this," writes Mr.
Hake, " to give peace to a country quick

with war; to suppress slavery among a
people to whom the trade in human flesh
was life and fortune ; to make an army out
of perhaps the worst material ever seen ; to
grow a flourishing trade and a fair revenue
on the wildest anarchy in the world. The
immensity of the undertaking; the infinity
of details involved in a single step toward
the end ; the countless odds to be faced ;
the many pests, the deadly climate, the
horrible vermin, the ghastly itch, the nightly
and daily alternations of overpowering heat
and bitter cold to be endured and over-
come ; the environment of bestial savagery
and ruthless fanaticism all these combine
to make the achievement unique in human
history."

As our space does not permit us to go
with full detail into his actions, we shall take
a selection from them, by which the reader
will be able to have before him a very vivid
idea of how he proceeded. We shall give
his adventures in his own words as ex-
hibited in his letters carefully edited by
Mr. Birkbeck Hill.

Gordon had to make many journeys in
the desert. Here is how he talks of such :
"These interminable deserts and arid
mountains fill the heart with far different
thoughts than civilized lands can do. It
was for this that the Israelites were led
through them. You must not imagine the
desert as a flat, sandy country : the features
of the ground are what they are in other
countries. There are scrubby trees and
stubbly grasses, but no water, though there
are water-courses. Water these lands and
they would blossom as the rose. I would
infinitely sooner travel alone in these
countries than with a companion. Of
course I never can converse with the
Arabs; so on one goes stalking along the
camel's cushioned foot makes no noise, and
you learn yourself."

He had many wonderful adventures, but
none more wonderful than this : when
near Dara, he received information that
some thousands of adherents of the slave-
holding rebels were encamped near under

GORDON INTERVIEW WITH JOHANNIS.

command of the son of Zebehr, afterwards
so notorious. This, he tells us, is what
he did :

" At dawn I got up, and putting on the
golden armour the Khedive gave me,
..... rode out to the camp of the
robbers three miles off. I was met
by the son of Zebehr a nice-looking lad of
twenty-two years and rode through the
robber band. There were about 3,000 of
them, men and boys. I rode to the tent
in the camp ; the whole body of chiefs were
dumfounded at my coming among them.
After a glass of water, I told the son of
Zebehr to come with his family to my
divan. They all came, and sitting there in
a circle, I gave them in choice Arabic my
ideas. That they meditated revolt ; that I
knew it, and that now they should have my
ultimatum, viz., that I would disarm them
and break them up. They listened in
silence, and then went off to consider what
I had said. They have just now sent me
a letter stating their submission, and I
thank God for it. ... Maduppa Bey
has come here and says, when the son of
Zebehr got home, he lay down and said not
a word, and that the Arabs say I have
poisoned him with coffee." And so actually
a whole army quietly submitted to one
man.

Towards the end of his sojourn at this
time in the Soudan he again went to
Abyssinia, and entered into negotiations
with Johannis about Egyptian business. He
is taken prisoner by the Abyssinians, and
this is, according to one authority, an
account of the interview between Gordon
and Johannis, or John, as he is often called.

" When Gordon Pasha was lately taken
prisoner by the Abyssinians he completely
checkmated King John. The king received
his prisoner sitting on his throne, or what-
ever piece of furniture did duty for that
exalted seat, a chair being placed for the
prisoner considerably lower than the seat
on which the king sat. The first thing the
Pasha did was to seize this chair, place it
alongside that of his Majesty, and sit down

on it ; the next, to inform him that he met
him as an equal, and would only treat him
as such. This somewhat disconcerted his
sable majesty; but on recovering himself
he said, ' Do you know, Gordon Pasha,
that I could kill you on the spot if I liked ? '
' I am perfectly well aware of it, your
Majesty,' said the Pasha. ' Do so at once,
if it is your royal pleasure ; I am ready.'
This disconcerted the king still more, and
he exclaimed, ' What ! ready to be killed ! '
' Certainly,' replied the Pasha ; ' I am
always ready to die ; and so far from fearing
your putting me to death, you would confer
a favour on me by so doing, for you would
be doing for me that which I am precluded
by my religious scruples from doing for
myself you would relieve me from all the
troubles and misfortunes which the future
may have in store for me.' This completely
staggered King John, who gasped out in
despair, ' Then my power has no terrors for
you ? ' ' None whatever,' was the Pasha's
laconic reply. His Majesty, it is needless
to add, instantly collapsed."

But at length rest was absolutely needed.
All seemed against Gordon. Tewfik, wha
had succeeded Ismail as Khedive, gave
him but lukewarm support ; nearly all the
officers in the Soudan were hostile; and
the powerful slave-dealers were of course
bitterly opposed to him ; so that at the end
of 1879 he resigned and returned home.

"It was none too soon," writes Mr.
Birkbeck Hill, "that Colonel Gordon
brought his work to an end and came
home. Even his iron frame and unconquer-
able will must soon have given way under
the vast strain that had been so long upon,
him. He had indeed ruled the great
country over which he had been set. On
his shoulders each man's burden lay, and
such a burden had brought, as it ever must,
dangers, troubles, cares, and sleepless
nights. He had been ill very ill, as some
of his letters show when he set out on his
mission to Abyssinia. The hard usage
which he had undergone, and the risks he
had run in that kingdom, had still more

148

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

tried his health. On his return to Alex-
andria, he was examined by Dr. Mackie,
the surgeon to the British Consulate, who
certified that he was 'suffering from
symptoms of nervous exhaustion, and
alteration of the blood, giving rise to
haemorrhagic (purpuric) spots on the skin,
or cicatrices of former sores or wounds. I
have recommended him,' added Dr.
Mackie, 'to retire for several months for
complete rest and quiet, and that he may
be able to enjoy fresh and wholesome food,
as I consider that much of what he is

suffering from is the effect of continued
bodily fatigue, anxiety, and indigestible
food. I have insisted on his abstaining
from all exciting work especially such as
implies business or political excitement"

Very good sound advice, no doubt ; and
Gordon actually meant to follow it. He
really intended to take it easy, to have
what the Americans call a " good time " of
it How much rest he had will be seen in
the chapters that we, when we again take
up the subject, devote to the record of his
exploits.

CHAPTER XXVIII.
SIR RALPH ABERCR.OMBY jiis JIARLY CERVICES.

ORACE, in a well known
passage, tells us that there
were famous warriors before
Agamemnon ; and we ought
to remember that before the
exploits of Stewart, Burnaby, Wolseley, and
Gordon, men like Abercromby, Moore, and
Sidney Smith had already shown, by their
opposition to Napoleon in his Egyptian
Expedition, of what sort of material the
British race is made. We shall enrich our
gallery of Egyptian portraits with chosen
biographies of these heroes. First let us
call the reader's attention to the exploits of
Abercromby.

Among the distinguished heroes who
have contributed to elevate the glory of
the British arms in the Egyptian wars, the
actions of Abercromby will be dwelt upon
with peculiar animation by the historian,
and will be regarded with pride, admira-
tion, and sympathy, by the reader.

The family of Abercromby is very ancient
and distinguished in North Britain,and pos-
sessed of an estate bearing the same name.
The father of Sir Ralph had a numerous

family, and according to the custom of that
country which gave him birth, the sons were
destined for active employments. Thus we
find one of the brothers of Sir Ralph
brought up to the law, another to maritime
pursuits, and two more to a military life.
The third brother of the General was killed
in America, in the hard-contested battle of
Bunker's-hill. He was at that time a lieu-
tenant-colonel in the 22nd Regiment of Foot.
Indeed, each of the brothers in his peculiar
profession was engaged in supporting the
State, in some one of its departments or
dominions.

The first commission borne by Sir Ralph
was as cornet of the 3rd Dragoon Guards,
into which he entered on the 23rd May,
1756. He obtained a lieutenancy in the
same regiment on the igth February, 1760 ;
and continued in this corps till the 24th
April, 1762, when he obtained a company
in the 3rd Regiment of Horse. In this
regiment he rose to the rank of major and
lieutenant-colonel ; to the former on the
6th June, 1770, and to the latter the igth
May, 1773. In November, 1780, he was

SIX RALPH ABERCROMBYHIS EARLY SERVICES.

149

included in the list of brevet colonels ; and
on the 3rd of the same month, next year,
was made colonel of the 1 03rd, or King's
Irish Infantry, a new raised regiment, but
which being reduced at the peace in 1783,
the colonel was placed on half-pay. On the
28th September, 1787, he was promoted to
the rank of major-general, and on the i7th
September, 1790, he obtained the com-
mand of the 6gth Regiment of Foot, from
which in April, 1792, he was removed to
an older corps, viz. the 6th, from which he
was again removed, the 5th November,
X 795> to the 7th Regiment of Dragoons.

Sir Ralph was employed on the continent
soon after the French war broke out. On
the 25th of April, 1793, he had the local
rank of lieutenant-general conferred on him ;
and, although the ultimate issue of those
two campaigns afforded but a small portion
of glory for the most meritorious officers to
emblazon their military escutcheons with,
yet Sir Ralph was entitled to a full share.
He enjoyed on all occasions not only the
esteem, but the confidence, of the Duke of
York.

He commanded the advanced guard in
the action on the heights of Cateau, April
1 6th, 1794. The Duke of York, in his
despatches relative to this affair, makes the
following commendatory representation of
his conduct : " I have particular obligations
to Lieutenant-General Sir William Erskine,
as well as to Major-General Abercromby."
His Royal Highness further adds, in his
despatches of the igth of May: "The
abilities and coolness with which Lieuten-
ant-General Abercromby and Major-General
Fox conducted their different corps, under
these trying circumstances, require that I
should particularly notice them." The
Lieutenant-General was wounded at Nime-
guen, the 27th of October following.

No part of the service of this able officer
had ever been so painful to him, or called
so forcibly upon his humanity and exertion,
as the duty he performed when the army
retreated from Holland, in the winter of
1794. The Guards, as well as all the sick,

were left under his conduct and care, after
Lieutenant-General Harcourt had gone into
cantonments behind the Ems. His sensi-
bility was as conspicuous as his judgment
in the disastrous march from Deventer to
Oldensaal, at which last place his corps
arrived on the 3oth and 3ist of January,
J 795- This was the first time in the
General's life when his talents could not
keep pace with circumstances ; but the
incessant harassing of a victorious enemy
on the one hand ; bad roads, and the incle-
mency of the weather on the other, added
to the difficulty of procuring shelter for the
men, was sufficient to depress the spirits of
the bravest, and leave the most sagacious
mind without resources.

The affairs in the West Indies, as left by
Sir Charles Grey, had exhibited a less pleas-
ing aspect since that commander's return
to England. The French, after their suc-
cesses nearer home, had made very con-
siderable, and even unexpected exertions to
recover their losses abroad. This object
they attained to a certain degree ; they
repossessed themselves of Guadeloupe and
St. Lucia, made good a landing at more
than one place on the island of Martinico,
and effected partial descents and hoisted
the tri-coloured flag on several forts in the
island of St. Vincent's, Grenada, and Maria-
Galante. They possessed themselves of
immense booty from the property of the
rich emigrants on the several islands, but
especially on that of Guadeloupe. On this
last only, according to the report made by
Fermond to the Committee of Public Safety,
the value was estimated at the enormous
sum of i, 800 million pounds sterling.

To stop the ravages thus committing on
the British allies, for such the French emi-
grants were then considered, and to check
the depredations on our own colonies, a fleet
was fitted out in the autumn of 1795, to
convey a military force to the West Indies,
sufficient to answer the necessity of the
case. To General Sir Ralph Abercromby
was given the charge of the troops, and he
was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

forces in the West Indies. He accordingly
repaired to Southampton on the 3oth of
August, 1795, an d took charge of the re-
mainder of the British troops that had been
under the command of the Earl of Moria.
Sir Ralph was unfortunately detained in
that district so long beyond the expected
period of his departure, that after the troops
had assembled, and were embarked, the
equinox set in, and several transports were
lost in endeavouring to clear the Channel.
Notwithstanding these disasters, and in spite
of the lateness of the season, every exertion
was made, and the General, with his staff,
etc., made the best of their way to the West
Indies.

On his arrival, no time was lost in form-
ing a plan for the operations of the army,
and as soon as the season permitted, the
troops moved in every quarter. On the
24th of March, a detachment suddenly
attacked and obtained possession of the
island of Grenada. The General afterwards
found no difficulty in obtaining possession
of the settlements of Demerara and Esse-
quibo, in the province of Surinam, in South
America.

The Commander-in-Chief had made the
necessary arrangements with the Admiral
for conveying the troops destined for an
attack upon the island of St. Lucia, and the
armament sailed on the 26th of April. The
enemy had a garrison in Morne Fortune of
nearly 2,000 well-disciplined black troops,
some hundred whites, and a number of
black people who had taken refuge in the
fortress. In carrying the battery Seche,
within a short distance of the works of
Morne Fortune, the difficulties of approach
were found greater, from the intricate nature
of the country, than were expected. The
General was obliged to undertake a laborious
communication from Choc Bay to that of
Morne, by means of a new road, capable of
allowing the transportation of heavy cannon.
These difficulties, with numerous other im-
pediments which the enemy threw in the
way of the army, he, however, overcame ;
and upon the evening of the 24th of May

a suspension of arms was desired till noon
the next day ; a capitulation for the whole
island ensued, and on the 26th the garrison,
to the amount of 2,000 men, marched out,
laid down their arms, and became prisoners .
of war. This capture was followed by that
of Pigeon Island.

Brigadier-General Moore being left in
quiet possession of St. Lucia, the General
hastened the embarkation of the artillery
and troops destined to act in St. Vincent's,
and by the middle of June, every part of
that valuable island was in the hands of the
British troops.

The fortunate issue of all these services
enabled the Commander-in-Chief to visit
Grenada, where his presence may be sup-
posed to have contributed not a little to
conclude the hostilities still carried on
under the orders of Major-General Nicholls.
Fedon, the celebrated chief, at the head of
the insurgents, was not easily to be over-
come ; his native courage and acquired
talents, added to his fierceness of disposi-
tion, had drawn about him a mass of force,
partly voluntary, partly constrained. Major-
General Nicholls was now ordered to
straiten him in his retreat as much as pos-
sible, and to grant him no terms short of
unconditional submission. The troops
were successful, everywhere, and nearly at
the same hour, on the morning of the ipth
of June, full possession was obtained of
every post on the island.

The General having thus effected every-
thing which could be undertaken against
the French, directed his attention to the
Spanish island of Trinidad. The arrival of
part of a new convoy from England enabled
him to undertake this expedition with con-
fidence of success. The precision with
which the fleet of ships of war and trans-
ports had been assembled, prevented the
loss of a moment when the season for
operations commenced. On the i6th of
February, 1797, the fleet passed through
the Bocas, or entrance into the Gulf of
Paria, where the Spanish admiral, with four
sail of the line and a frigate, were found at

SIX RALPH ABERCROMBYHIS EARLY SERVICES.

anchor, under cover of the'island of Caspar-
Grande, which was fortified. The British
squadron worked up, and came to an
anchor opposite to, and nearly within gun-
shot of the Spanish ships. The frigates
and transports anchored higher up the bay.
The disposition was made for landing at
daylight next morning, and for a general
attack upon the town and ships of war.
At two o'clock in the morning (the lyth)
the Spanish squadron was perceived to be
on fire ; the ships, except one line-of-battle,
were all consumed, and that which escaped
the conflagration was taken possession of
by the boats ; the enemy at the same time
evacuated this quarter of the island. The
General's whole attention was paid to the
town. As soon, therefore, as the troops
were landed, about five hundred advanced
to the westward of it, meeting but little
opposition; and before night they were
masters of the town of Port d'Espagne, and
the whole neighbourhood, except two small
forts. The next morning the governor, Don
Chalcon, capitulated, and the whole colony
passed under the dominion'of his Britannic
Majesty.

Thus far our General had succeeded in
fulfilling the instructions of his sovereign.
An unsuccessful attempt upon the Spanish
island of Porto Rico concluded his cam-
paign of 1797, in the West Indies. If
nothing was gained to the country by this
last attempt, no loss of reputation in its
military character was sustained by the
failure ; and indeed the manner in which
the General was received on his return to
Europe, testified the estimation in which
his military talents were held by the British
Government.

On the 2nd of November, 1796, while
on this service, Sir Ralph (for he had now
been invested with a red ribbon), was pre-
sented to the second, or North British
Dragoons, commonly called the Scots
Greys ; and in the same year he was made
Lieutenant-Governor of the Isle of Wight,
and afterwards still further rewarded with

the more lucrative governments of Forts
George and Augustus. On the 26th of
January, 1797, he was raised to the rank
of Lieutenant-General.

The ferment in Ireland threatening every
day to break out into a flame, Sir Ralph
was not allowed to remain long in a state
of repose. He was fixed upon to take the
chief command of the forces in that king-
dom. He paid great attention to the dis-
cipline of the army, and was anxious to
restore to the soldiers that reputation which
had been sullied by repeated acts of licen-
tiousness. His declaration " that their
irregularity and insubordination had ren-
dered them more formidable to their friends
than to their enemies," however true, was
deemed harsh by some who neither con-
sidered the delicacy and responsibility of
his situation, nor the danger of military
insubordination, by allowing disorders in
any army, like those he complained of, to
grow -by example. The General's removal,
however, from his command, was in no
respect the effect of dissatisfaction on either
side, but the result of an unanimous opinion,
that it would be expedient and efficacious
i to unite the civil and military authority in
the same person, the benefits of which had
been so obvious in the dominions of the
East In this view of the precedent, it
was impossible not to fix upon the Marquis
Cornwallis.

From that station he was called to the
command of his Majesty's forces in North
Britain, and was soon after employed under
the Duke of York in the great enterprise
against Holland, where, it was universally
allowed, that even victory the most decisive
could not have more conspicuously proved
the talents of this active and intelligent
general, than the conduct pursued by him
in an arduous struggle against the diffi-
culties of the ground, the inclemency of
the season, inconvenient yet unavoidable
delays, the disorderly movements of the
Russians, and the timid duplicity of the
Dutch.

'5*

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

CHAPTER XXIX.

SIR RALPH ^.BERCROMBY YICTORIES OVER THE FRENCH.

HEN it was deemed expe-
dient to send an armament
for the purpose of dispos-
sessing the French of Egypt,
the command was given,

with general approbation, to Sir Ralph
Abercromby. The fleet reached the Bay
of Aboukir on the ist of March, 1801, but
the wind blew so fresh toward the land, and
such breakers were raised in the shallow

THE FRENCH IN EGYPT.

water near the shore, that it was impossible
to attempt a landing. On the 6th the
violence of the storm had considerably
abated ; but still the agitated waters
swelled in such tremendous waves, that it
was deemed imprudent to order the soldiers
into the boats. The French were employed
in making preparations for opposing the
descent It was evident that the landing
of the forces would meet with powerful re-
sistance,

In the meantime, Sir Ralph Abercromby
went on board a small vessel, and recon-
noitred the shore; and Sir Sidney Smith,
with three armed launches, examined the
entrance into the Lake Aboukir. By the
assistance of a party of men belonging to
the Foudroyant, some partial injuries were
done to the works of the enemy ; but a
seasonable retreat was at length necessary
to save our adventurous countrymen from
the violence and power of the French.

SIR RALPH ABERCROMBY LANDING OF THE EXPEDITION. 153

Upon the 7th the sea continued rough,
but it was returning so evidently to a state
of calmness, that orders were issued through-
out the fleet to prepare for landing on the
following day. By two o'clock in the
morning, a rocket, the appointed signal,
was fired from
the admiral's
ship, and in less
than two hours
the boats, being
filled with troops,
were ready to
obey the com-
mand. Just with-
out the reach
of the guns on
shore, some
armed vessels
were anchored
near one an-
other, about
which the boats
were to rendez-
vous, and be
ready, under pro-
per orders, to
pull in concert
toward the land.
The division
which was then
preparing to ad-
vance consisted
of those soldiers
who were under
the command of
Major-General
Moore, Ludlow,
and Coote, toge-
ther with Briga-

dier - General
Oakes, and they

amounted to more than 5,000 men, with
ten pieces of cannon. Being commanded
to depart, they moved off with regularity
and courage, and all was silence but the
noise of the oars. Awe and deep con-
templation sat on the brow of every be-
holder, while hope and courage beamed

MENOU'S HOUSE IN CAIRO.

from the eye of those who were hastening
to the shore. It was a serious attempt;
and though none could doubt the courage
of the soldiers and sailors of Great Britain,
yet there are certain deeds and arduous
undertakings which no prowess nor per-
severance can
accomplish. The
French were al-
ready on shore,
they were power-
ful in artillery,
and had num-
bers of cavalry at
their command ;
whereas the Brit-
ish were to ap-
proach the land
in boats, and
might L be routed
by a prepared
enemy, ^without
having time to
form upon , the
beach.

Soon J after
eight o'clock in
the morning, the
boats had all
arrived at |the
vessels, which
have already
been mentioned
as stationed for
the rendezvous.
Being instantly
formed into a
line, the signal
was made by the
honourable Cap-
tain Cochrane
of the navy ;

and the whole were instantly in motion,
pulling undauntingly toward the shore.
No enemy was seen, either upon the k beach
or posted upon the sand-hills ; everything
was silent, as if no human eye had spite-
fully watched their motions. But no
sooner were the boats within their reach,

'54

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

than the batteries were opened, and the
guns from the castle of Aboukir were
pointed with effect. Still, however, the
danger was comparatively small, and few
losses were sustained.

Though the Fury and Tartarus bomb
vessels, with various sloops and gunboats,
were stationed in the bay to protect the
landing of the British forces, yet they were
not able to accomplish the end which was
desired. In proportion as the boats ap-
proached the shore, so the danger became
greater, and the resistance more alarming.
It is impossible to describe the dreadful
situation in which the men were placed.
Grape-shot and shells, musket-bullets, and
diversified means of destruction, were flying
so thick and constant, that the sea about
the boats was in perfect agitation. The
soldiers were seated so closely, that nothing
could be done by them either for their own
defence or to annoy the enemy. The
sailors were exposed to a tremendous fire
in rowing and pulling forward; but no
fearfulness or dismay appeared throughout
the whole scene. Their honour, the love
of their country, and that resignation which
unavoidable danger produces, directed their
feelings and guided their conduct.

When they were ready to leap upon the
beach, the French soldiers rushed towards the
boats, and, with fixed bayonets, dealt death
and destruction. But nothing could appal
the courage or shake the resolution of the
British forces. In this scene of horror and
devastation they sprung upon the shore,
and, while some of them formed in regular
order upon the beach, others rushed up a
steep sand-hill, where the strength of the
army was concentrated, and resolutely be-
came masters of an advantageous position.
The French forces extended on their right
toward the Lake Aboukir, and their left was
flanked and protected by the fort; but
their ardour and confidence were rather
abated when they found the centre of their
position occupied by the British.

After the violence of the contest had
lasted about twenty minutes on shore, the

French began to give way, and retired
along the peninsula toward the city of
Alexandria. It was the 23rd Regiment,
and four flank companies of the 4oth,
under the command of General Oakes,
attached to General Moore and the re-
serve, who with such inestimable courage
and perseverance climbed up a steep hill
opposite the landing-place, while the sand
was every moment yielding under their feet,
and where the instruments of death were
pointed against them. The Guards, under
the direction of General Ludlow, and the
corps who were commanded by General
Coote, merited and received universal
approbation. In short, every soldier on
shore did honour to himself and his coun-
try ; and those who had not yet landed
panted for the glory of that illustrious day.

Scarcely 2,000 of the British forces were
engaged in this splendid victory, for the
rest of the divisions were not ready to land
till the triumph was obtained. The valour
and conduct of the invading troops are thus
placed in a striking and honourable point
of view, for they were opposed by a power-
ful body of the French. Their number,
even as stated by themselves, was 1,780, and
among these were 230 cavalry well mounted.
They had the advantage of a fort and
batteries, they were well acquainted with
the nature of the ground, and had chosen
the most favourable position on the shore,
while the forces of Sir Ralph Abercromby
were under the necessity of attacking the
enemy in detached parties, and in bodies
comparatively small. Yet in circumstances
so discouraging and unfavourable, they
were never thrown into disorder, but in
one point, and that only for an instant, till
the 5 8th Regiment flew to their relief, and
enabled them to restore their firmness and
their defence.

The French forces were under the com-
mand of General Friant, and their conduct
was neither disgraceful to themselves nor
dishonourable to their country. It was an
action pregnant with honour to the British
name, and the veteran Commander-in-Chief

SIX RALPH ABERCROMBY AT LAKE ABOUKIR.

'55

spoke of it in terms of the highest praise.
Sir Ralph Abercromby, with all his natural
anxiety and care, hastened on shore to
direct the movements of his troops, but
the day was won before his arrival; and
though the armies continued for a while to
cannonade each other, yet nothing impor-
tant occurred.

During the course of this day, the forces
were mostly landed ; but some time elapsed
before the whole stores and baggage were
gotten on shore. The Greek and Turkish
vessels had not hitherto arrived; and for
several days the men were without tents.
The greater part of the peninsula was now
abandoned to the British ; but the fort of
Aboukir refused to surrender, and a detach-
ment of the troops was sent to besiege it.
The lake of Aboukir being at the command
of General Abercromby, it was taken pos-
session of by armed launches ; and a de-
pository being formed upon the peninsula
at its bank, great convenience was after-
wards enjoyed in supplying the army by
boats upon the lake.

On the 1 3th of March the British army
advanced, and, after a severe conflict, drove
the French from their position ; but it was
found difficult and dangerous to pursue this
advantage. In this affair both armies suffered
severely, and Sir Ralph Abercromby was
in imminent danger, as his horse was shot
dead under him.

On the 2oth General Menou arrived at
Alexandria, with 9,000 men, from Grand
Cairo. He had resided there in a magnifi-
cent building of a part of which we give an
illustration. The imperious call of war soon
summoned him to the field. He prepared
to attack the army of Sir Ralph Aber-
cromby in the morning of the clay after
his arrival. Various appearances induced
a belief that Menou had reached the French
camp, but while the matter was still in
doubt, a friendly sheik of the Arabs des-
patched a letter to Sir Sidney Smith, with
intelligence of that general's arrival, and of
his intended attack. Though some were
inclined to discredit the communication.

yet it met with general belief ; and it was at
least a judicious measure to provide for an
event so probable and important.

In the evening of the 2oth, the sentinels
and outposts were carefully stationed ; and
the army continued to be strongly en-
camped, upon the favourable position
which they had taken up after returning
from the engagement upon the i3th of
March. In the centre of the first line,
situated upon sand-hills, was Major-General
Ludlow with the Guards, and Major-General
Coote with the Royals, two battalions of the
54th, and the 92nd Regiment, which was
marching to Aboukir, but was brought back
by Colonel Napier, when the noise of the
firing was heard upon the right near the
sea-shore ; and in advance, within a quarter
of a mile from the Guards, was Major-
General Moore, placed with the troops of re-
serve, which consisted of the 28th and 58th
Regiments, the 23rd, the 42nd, the flank
companies of the 40th, and the Corsican
! Rangers. In this situation was the ruined

I palace of the Caesars, and a battery formed

! in front. Upon the left wing of the army,

j reaching to the canal of Alexandria, were

the 8th and i8th Regiments, the i3th and

9oth, under the command of Major-General

Cradock. The two last were thrown back

i from the line, and formed so as to face the

! canal, that they might watch any move-

j ments upon the Lake Mareotis. A little

! further on the left was a redoubt, with one

twelve-pounder. Between this and the 1 3th

' Regiment, near the point of the Lake Abou-

: kir, were placed the staff; and the whole

i extent of the army, in a straight direction,

I was about a mile in length.

Upon the right of the second line were

i Minorca, De Rolle, and Dillon's regiments,

commanded by Brigadier-General Stuart

' In the centre, next to those, were the 3oth,

j the 44th, and 891)1, under the command of

i Brigadier-General Doyle. Upon his left

! was Brigadier-General Finch, with the 26th,

I and both the mounted and dismounted

' parts of the i2th Dragoons. Lord Cavan

commanded the 27th, the soth, and

'56

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

Regiments, which formed the left wing
of the second line. The cavalry of re-
serve were placed behind General Moore's
troops, and in advance of his position
Captain Maitland was stationed, with
several gunboats near the beach, and the
fleet was cruising off the ports of Alexan-
dria.

The French army, which was encamped
in the strongholds of Nicopolis, was com-
manded by General Regnier on the right,
Rampon in the centre, and Lanuse on the
left. The right was extended toward the
canal of Alexandria, and the left approached
the sea. Behind the centre was a strong
body of cavalry, commanded by General
Roise, and in the rear of the whole was a
large park of artillery.

On the following morning the troops were
under arms about three o'clock ; and though
they were not certain of being attacked by
the French, yet their anxiety had been
roused, and they rather expected to meet
the enemy.

Every eye was open, and every ear at-
tentive to give the first notice of an ap-
proaching alarm. But the horizon was
covered with a thick mist, and no distant
object could be seen. Stillness reigned
throughout the neighbourhood, and nothing
was heard for the space of half an hour,
when the report of musketry resounded
from the left, and the noise of cannon in-
stantly succeeded. It was a dromedary
corps of 130 men, commanded by Colonel
Cavalier, whom the French had employed
for swiftness. They had parted from the
army at the heights of Nicopolis, crossed
the canal of Alexandria, by the fortified
bridge in their neighbourhood, traversed the
bed of the Lake Mareotis, and early in the
morning seized a small battery near the Lake
Aboukir. It was the taking of this battery
which produced the discharge of musketry,
and it was turning the gun of this small
fortification against the advanced posts of
the British, which alarmed the army by the
firing of a cannon.

No doubt could remain that the enemy

was at hand, and General Stuart was upon
his march to support the left. But the
Commander-in- Chief considered the noise
as a false alarm; for the French having
lately encamped upon that situation, were
well acquainted with the ground, and it was
scarcely to be supposed that they would
spend their force in the least important
quarter. They might indeed have brought
an attack upon the whole lines at once ;
but General Moore's position, supported by
the gunboats near the shore, was too power-
ful for the left wing of the French army,
and too important to be left deliberately
unsubdued. It was therefore necessary
that the right of the British lines should be
first attacked, and that the principal strength
of the French army should be directed to-
ward that position. Such were, probably,
the views which directed Menou ; for im-
mediately after the alarm had been given
upon the left, shouts and the clashing of
arms were heard upon the right, and the
division of General Lanuse had almost ap-
proached to the position of General Moore.
Silley's brigade directed its course toward
the redoubt, and that of General Valentin
moved along the sea-shore, and attempted to
enter the ruined palace of the Caesars. There
the s8th Regiment was posted, and when
Colonel Houston observed the column of
the enemy advancing, he was afraid for an
instant to fire, because it was yet dark, and
he was apprehensive of wounding or killing
some outposts of the British. But as soon
as he discovered the uniform of the French,
and saw none of his own countrymen be-
fore them, several rounds were fired with
such effect that the brigade quickly retired.
But returning to the battle, and attempting
to force the redoubt, the 6gth demi-brigade
was flanked by grape-shot from a twenty-
four-pounder, and almost cut to pieces.
General Lanuse, while endeavouring to rally
the shattered remains of that corps, had one
of his limbs shot off by a cannon ball. The
rest of Valentin's division forced their way
into the ruins, where the 58th British regi-
ment performed prodigies of valour. In

SIR RALPH ABERCROMBYHIS DEATH.

the meantime General Silley's brigade was
engaged with the 28th Regiment; and there
too British valour shone conspicuously.
During these trying moments, the 23rd and
42nd Regiments flew to the relief of their
fellow-soldiers, and bravely resisted the foe.
Rampon, with the centre division of
the French, attempted to turn the left
of the Guards, and penetrated through
the lines of the British ; but he was
warmly received, and forced to retire with
considerable loss. D'Estaing advanced
too far into the lines of General Aber-
cromby, and a body of French troops
called the " Invincible Legion," being com-
pletely overthrown, their standard was taken
by Major Sterling, of the 42nd Regiment,
who gave it in charge to Sergeant Sinclair ;
but this non-commissioned officer was
wounded and the famous ensign was lost.
The trophy was, however, immediately re-
taken by Anthony Lutz, a private in the
Queen's German regiment. In the midst
of dismay, when hope scarcely dared to put
forth a single ray, Menou had commanded
General Roise to make a charge on the
right of the British, and Regnier to support
him with infantry in powerful columns.
The first charge was made with such fury
by General Boussart, that his troops passed
through the ranks toward the rear of the
camp; but the horses, entangled among
the cords of the tents, or floundering
amongst numerous holes, which were in
that part of the field, were many of them
destroyed, and their riders put to death. A
second charge, under Roise himself, was
not more successful ; for seeing it impos-
sible to withstand so violent a shock, the
42nd Regiment opened their ranks, and let
the cavalry dart through. No sooner was
this effected than, facing about, they poured
upon them such volleys as strewed the
ground with horses, and few of the party
returned to join the ranks of the French
army. The enemy now reluctantly retired
to their position on the heights and acknow-
ledged a victory honourable to the British
name, who were greatly inferior in numbers,

artillery, and cavalry. Three French gene-
rals suffered amidst the dreadful havoc of
this furious battle.

But the joy of the British army was
damped, and their triumph abated, in con-
templating the sufferings of Sir Ralph
Abercromby, the tried and much-esteemed
Commander-in-Chief. When riding in the
hottest part of the battle, and giving direc-
tions to the army, he was surrounded by
the French cavalry and thrown from his
horse. While lying upon the ground, and
suspected of being an officer by his dress,
a dragoon belonging to the enemy levelled
a stroke at him with his sabre in passing,
but only touched his clothes, or slightly
grazed his skin. The French soldier ap-
prehending what an object of value was in
his power, speedily wheeled his horse, and
made a desperate thrust, by which the sabre
passed between Sir Ralph's side and his
right arm.

Danger, and a high feeling of courage,
gave strength to the aged General's nerves,
and being now on his feet, a struggle
ensued. In the meantime, the French
dragoon was put to death by a soldier of
the 42nd Regiment, and the veteran com-
mander retained the sword. Striking oc-
currences happen among the active and the
brave. Sir Sidney Smith had broken his
sword in the conflict of that day, and meet-
ing Sir Ralph immediately after the late
rencounter, the Commander-in-Chief felt a
peculiar pleasure in delivering to the hero
of SL John d'Acre the sabre which he had
wrested from the French dragoon. He
complained of a contusion on his breast,
which had probably been received in the
struggle ; but the wound which proved
mortal was occasioned by a bullet, which,
entering his thigh pretty far up, took its
direction towards the groin, and sunk so
deep into the bone that it could not be
extracted. He was not aware of the wound
when it was received, and only became
sensible of it from the blood which ran
down. No persuasion could induce him
to quit the field, till the day was secured.

'58

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

His mind being then unbent, and his
anxious exertions abated, the wound be-
came painful, and himself rather faint. It
was dressed by a surgeon on the field, and
being unable to ride on horseback, he was
placed in a hammock, and carried to the
depository, upon the bank of the Lake
Aboukir. Attended by his friend and aid-
de-camp, Sir Thomas Dyer, he was then
put into a boat, and, with every degree of
tenderness, conveyed to Lord Keith, and
affectionately treated on board the admiral's
ship, the Foudroyant. The eyes of the
army eagerly followed him as he was carried
from the field of battle, and the warmest
wishes of the soldiers attended him in his
sickness. He bore his sufferings with great
fortitude, and he dwelt with peculiar ad-
miration and delight upon the conduct of
his troops and the glory of the day. But
notwithstanding every attention and medical
aid, a fever ensued, and, upon the evening
of the eighth day, a mortification put a
period to his life, in the sixty- eighth year
of his age.

The body of Sir Ralph Abercromby was
removed from the bay of Aboukir, and upon
Wednesday, the 2Qth of April, A.D. 1801, it
was deposited in a vault at the north-west
bastion of Fort St. Elmo, in the island of
Malta. He was buried with all the honours
of war, and the sorrow expressed was not
assumed, but entered deep into the soul.
Everything, both in form and in substance,
being in unison with mourning, the parole of
the day was Abercromby, and the counter-
sign grief. An epitaph, written by Fra.
Glascchino Navarro, who was librarian to
the order of Malta, is inscribed upon a
black marble tombstone, which lies upon
upon the grave of the much-lamented
general.

Wherever the triumphs are contemplated,
which Great Britain obtained with such
splendour in Egypt ; in whatever language
they are recorded ; and whithersoever the
fame of those deeds shall be wafted, there
the conduct and character of General Sir
Ralph Abercromby, of Tullibody, will be

viewed with reverence and held in esteem.
He was eminently endowed with those
valuable qualities which constitute the
great general and the distinguished com-
mander. He possessed a clearness of con-
ception which enabled him to form accurate
plans ; and he was blessed with a sound-
ness of judgment which assisted him to
draw just conclusions, and prosecute with
success practicable schemes. Having pro-
secuted studies with the view of practising
at the bar, his mind was well cultivated ;
and thus to the experience of a general, he
added the acute discernment of a polished
scholar. He was conspicuous in courage,
and firm in action ; but the boldness of
enterprise never made him forgetful of
tenderness to his army, nor humanity in
the day of victory.

In public or in private, he was the
soldiers' friend; and the voice of misery,
which never reached his ear in vain, was
conveyed with additional claims on his
compassion when it came from an afflicted
soldier, who had bled, or become old, in
the cause of his country. He possessed
the interesting and valuable art of gaining
the affection of his army ; and never was
there a general in the field of battle who
enjoyed more completely than he the love
and confidence of his soldiers.

But the superior conduct of Sir Ralph
Abercromby was not confined to the public
departments of his office, nor limited by
the boundaries of martial connections. He
carried with him, into private life, a dis-
tinguished steadiness of conduct, and an
amiable deportment in all his pursuits.
The friends of his youth were not forsaken
in advanced years ; and never did sordid
or ungenerous motives drive, from his
paternal farms, the persons or the descend-
ants of those who held them in former
days. His domestics served him with the
sincere attachment, and the permanent
regards, of former and less changeable
times. In all the family relations of life,
he was dutiful and kind. To the general
excellence of his character he added a love

THE NILES PROUD FIGHT

of decorum ; and pious respect for the
duties of religion adorned the general con-
duct of his life. Sir Ralph also served his
country as a legislator. In 1774 he was
chosen representative of the county of
Kinross, and continued to sit in the House
of Commons till the general election in
1780. At the general election in 1796, he
was again elected for that county.

Though far advanced in years, he was
roused with the vigour of his country ; and
during the great French war, he undertook
and suffered the hardships of the field, at
that feeble period of life when even the
brave and patriotic are willing, and per-
mitted to retire. He had long been hon-
oured with the esteem of his sovereign, and
by royal favour had been invested with the
order of the Bath. After his victory in

Egypt, a monument, with descriptive em-
blems, was appointed to be erected to his
honour, in the cathedral church of St. Paul,
London ; and the king, in affectionate re-
gard, was pleased to command, that the
famous French standard, which was taken
in Egypt upon the 2ist of March, 1801,
should be deposited upon his tomb.
All this was afterwards duly carried out.
Further to illustrate the royal favour, and
the high sense of his merits, the lady of the
brave but departed General, was dignified
with the title of Baroness Abercromby, of
Aboukir and Tullibody, with remainder to
the heirs male of her deceased lord.
Other remunerations accompanied this gift
of honour, and the national feelings were
indulged by these generous marks of royal
and public favour.

CHAPTER XXX.

NILE'S PROUD FIGHT " EARLY CAREER OF NELSON.

and

HE navy of England has al-
ways been considered as a
hardy indigenous produc-
tion, in some measure pecu-
liar to our soil, our climate,
our inhabitants. The oak, which is

destined at once to adorn and defend the
British Isles, flourishes there in the highest
perfection ; the natives, inured to all the
varieties of a changeable atmosphere, be-
come more hardy by constant habit ; while
the ocean which surrounds us points out
the element by means of which our wealth
and glory have been obtained, and our in-
dependence is to be secured.

The encouragement given to this grand
national establishment by a provident policy
has effected wonders. Our flag has been
displayed in the remotest seas, sometimes
in search of a beneficial commerce, and at

other times in quest of a fugitive enemy.
Our manufactures and our arms have been
extended in conjunction to the remotest
corners of the globe. A numerous and
gallant race of seamen and of officers has
been produced, such as the Venetians, the
Genoese, and the Portuguese, our precur-
sors, but not our equals, in maritime great-
ness, never witnessed; and a school of
naval heroes has been thus established
infinitely superior to what any nation could
ever boast of.

The result has been uniform and con-
sistent. Our Drakes, our Raleighs, our
Cavendishes, our Howards, have adorned
one period of our history ; our Montagues,
our Ayscues, our Blakes, another; our
Rookes, our Vernons, our Wagers, our
Ansons, and our Hawkes, a third. In the
present age the number of our great cap-

i6o

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

tains has been rather increased than
diminished, although death thinned their
ranks ; and we have but too often planted
funereal cypress on the graves of those
around whose temples, while living, we had
entwined the victorious laurel. Rodney,
grown hoary in the service, died peacefully
on shore, after many celebrated victories
over the fleets of the house of Bourbon.
Howe resigned his breath in the arms of
his family, but not until he had overcome
the formidable navy fitted out by France
while a republic. Duncan, the conqueror
of the Dutch, passed away full of years and
honour ; and Nelson, the hero of Aboukir
and Trafalgar, perished likewise, but not
until his flag was flying triumphant amidst
the discomfited squadrons of a vanquished
enemy.

We leave it to our poets to sing his dirge ;
to our orators to raise trophies of eloquence
to his memory ; to our statesmen to deduce
the calamities averted, and the advantages
obtained, by his exploits ; to our historians
to record his actions in works more durable
than brass and marble ; it is merely our in-
tention here to enumerate his exploits with
special reference to their connection with
Egypt.

Horatio Nelson, the fourth son of the
Rev. Edward Nelson, rector of Burnham-
Thorpe, in the county of Norfolk, was born
in the parsonage-house of that parish Sep-
tember 28, 1758. His family was respect-
able. His father's progenitors were originally
settled at Hilsborough, where, in addition
to a small hereditary estate, they possessed
the patronage of the living, which one of
them enjoyed for several years. By his
mother's side he was related to three great
Norfolk families, the Walpoles, the Chol-
mondeleys. and the Townshends.

He was placed, while yet of a tender age,
at the high school of Norwich, whence he
was removed to North Walsham, both with-
in the precincts of his native county. But
he did not long remain there ; for being the
younger son of a numerous family, an
opportunity was eagerly seized of obtaining

some professional employment for him early
in life. This occurred when he was only
twelve years old.

Some disputes having taken place be-
tween the courts of St James's and Madrid,
relative to the possession of the Falkland
Islands, an armament was immediately
ordered, and Captain Suckling, his mater-
nal uncle, having obtained a ship, he was
placed on his quarter-deck as a midship-
man, on board the Raisonable, of 64 guns.
But after his family had been at the expense
of his outfit, negotiations were entered into
in consequence of which hostilities were
suspended, and a treaty concluded, which
neither proved gratifying to the honour nor
the interests of the nation. On this, the
ships in commission were laid up in ordi-
nary, and the officers dismissed. But instead
of returning home, young Nelson, who felt
no abatement of his ardour, entered on
board a merchantman, in which he made a
voyage to the West Indies.

On this occasion, although he obtained
considerable nautical knowledge so far as
bare practice extended, yet having no field
for his ambition, he became disgusted, and
would have willingly embraced any other
profession. On his return, however, finding
that his uncle had obtained the Triumph,
he repaired on board of her in his former
capacity, and soon became reconciled to
his service ; but as he possessed an inhe-
rent ardour, coupled with an unabating
spirit of enterprise, and utter scorn of
danger, he was ever active to participate in
those scenes where knowledge was to be
obtained or glory earned.

An opportunity of this kind soon pre-
sented itself, and appeared admirably
calculated to satiate that romantic taste
for adventure which, from the earliest
periods of his life, seemed at once to fill
and to agitate the bosom of our youthful
hero. One of the most brilliant circum-
stances of the reign of George III. consists
in that spirit of discovery which constantly
prevailed from the time of the accession of
that king to the throne. It was in pur-

BATTLE OF THE NILE ON BOARD THE FLAGSHIP.

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

suance of this plan, which was afterwards
extended under Captain Cook to another
hemisphere, that Captain Phipps, afterwards
Lord Mulgrave, sailed June 2nd, 1773, to-
wards the North Pole. He himself was on
board the Racehorse, while Captain Lutwidge
commanded another bomb vessel called the
Carcass, both of which had been fitted out
on purpose to ascertain to what degree of
latitude it was possible to penetrate. On
board the latter of these vessels Nelson was
admitted with great difficulty, and in conse-
quence of his own pressing solicitation, in
the humble capacity of a coxswain ; for, in
consequence of an order from the Admiralty,
boys were not permitted to be received on
board.

After passing Shetland, they came in
sight of Spitzbergen, and afterwards pro-
ceeded to Moffen Island, beyond which
they discovered seven other isles, situated
in 8 1 deg. 21 min. When they had sailed
a little further north, they became suddenly
fast wedged in the ice on the 3ist of July ;
so that the passage by which the ships
entered was suddenly and completely
blocked up, while a strong current set in to
the eastward. In this critical situation they
remained five whole days, during which
period their destruction appeared inevit-
able ; but the young hero, instead of being
depressed, actuated by that filial love and
passion for enterprise which were ever
uppermost in his breast, ventured on the
ice during a fine moonlight, and on being
interrogated relative to his conduct, pointed
to a dead bear, and observed, at the same
time, "that he wished to obtain the skin
for his father."

At length, on the 7th of August, the wind
luckily changed, and set in from the east-
ward ; and on the 9th, the current having
changed so as to assume an opposite direc-
tion, they were borne to the open sea, and
the adventurous navigators were thus de-
livered from the apprehension of perishing
by the intensity of the polar cold. Finding
it now utterly impossible to penetrate any
further in this intended course, they entered

the harbour of Smeerenburg, whence they
shaped their way homewards, and on the
24th of September arrived safe at Orford-
ness, after an absence of one hundred and
fourteen days.

Soon after his return, instead of being
appalled by the dangers recently encoun-
tered, young Nelson applied for and was
appointed to a berth in the Seahorse^ a
twenty-gun ship, in which he repaired to
the East Indies, and, by visiting every part
of the coast from the Bay of Bengal to
Bassorah, was exposed to an extreme of
heat in the course of this voyage nearly
equal to the degree of cold he had experi-
enced in the former. These sudden
changes could not but prove very injurious,
and his health accordingly yielded to the
pressure, so that he was obliged to return
home on purpose to breathe his native air.

This being fortunately accomplished, on
the 8th of April, 1777, he passed the usual
examination before the Board for the rank
of lieutenant, and on the subsequent day
received his commission as second of the
Lmvestqffe, of 32 guns. In this vessel he
cruised against the Americans, and happen-
ing to capture a letter of marque belonging
to the colonies, then in a state of insurrec-
tion, the first lieutenant proved unable to
take possession of her, in consequence of a
most tremendous sea, that seemed to inter-
dict all approach. The captain, piqued at
this circumstance, and desirous of effecting
the object of his wishes, inquired " Whether
he had not an officer capable of boarding
the prize ? " On hearing this, Lieutenant
Nelson immediately jumped into the boat,
and told the master, who wished to have
anticipated him, "That if he came back
without success, it would be his turn."

In 1778 he was appointed to the Bristol,
and rose by seniority to be first lieutenant.
In the course of the succeeding year (June
n, 1779) he obtained the rank of post-
captain, on which occasion he was ap-
pointed to the command Qi ft\zHinchinbroke.
Having sailed in this vessel for the West
Indies, he repaired to Port Royal, in the

THE NILE'S PROUD FIGHTS

163

island of Jamaica, and an expedition against
one of the Spanish settlements being then
in contemplation, he had now an oppor-
tunity, for the first time, of distinguishing
himself as a commanding officer. The enter-
prise to which we allude was planned by
Sir John Balling, the then governor, for the
purpose of seizing on Fort St. Juan, in the
Gulf of Mexico. On this occasion the com-
mander of the Hinchinbroke conveyed the
troops, which were so few in point of
number that they were destitute of a field-
officer. Edward Marcus Despard, who
afterwards suffered for high treason, acted
as chief engineer, while Captain Poison
commanded the land forces ; but the place
would never have been taken had not the
first of these officers landed, directed the
assault, and even pointed the guns with his
own hand.

His ship being paid off on his return to
England, he retired to the place of his
nativity, the parsonage-house of Burnham-
Thorpe. But he did not remain there long,
for he was nominated to the command of
the Boreas, in which he repaired to the Lee-
ward Islands, and had under him His Royal
Highness the Duke of Clarence, who then
commanded the Pegasus. While on this
station, he changed his condition in life, on
the nth of March, 1787, by a marriage with
Frances Woodward, daughter and coheiress
of William Woodward, Esq., senior judge
of the island of Nevis, and widow of Josiah
Xesbit, M.D., of that island, by whom she
had a son, afterwards a captain in the navy.

On his return from the West Indies,
Captain Nelson repaired with his wife to
the parsonage-house of his father, which
that venerable clergyman gladly relin-
quished for their accommodation, and
there, at a distance from bustle and strife,
he passed a quiet and happy life, until again
called into action by the concurrence of
unforeseen events. He appeared, indeed,
during the "piping times of peace," to affect
a taste for rural affairs ; to be addicted to
quiet, and even to solitude ; to hate the
"busy hum" of men; and to abhor any

event that could tear him from his dear
home. But no sooner did the British
ministers indicate a determination to inter-
pose in the domestic concerns of France,
and a war appear unavoidable, than he
eagerly repaired to town and offered his
services to the Admiralty.

Fortunately for his country, these ser-
vices were accepted, and he was appointed
to the Agamemnon of sixty-four guns. That
able and gallant officer, Lord Hood, being
at that period appointed to command in
the Mediterranean, he accompanied him
thither, and was present at the time his
lordship occupied Toulon, which he garri-
soned with English, Spanish and Neapolitan
troops. Captain Nelson was also present
at the siege of Bastia, having landed at the
head of a body of seamen, with whom he
served in the batteries until the capture of
that city, which surrendered May 22nd,
1795. He afterwards repaired to Calvi,
and while busily employed before it lost an
eye. His conduct on both these occasions
excited the highest eulogiums on the part
of the admiral who commanded.

On the 25th of April, 1805, being ac-
companied by the Meleager, Diadem, and
Petterell, he performed a brilliant exploit at
Laona, having boarded and cut out four
French store-ships by means of the boats
of his squadron, under the fire of the bat-
teries, and amidst an incessant discharge of
musketry. Several vessels laden with can-
non destined for the siege of Mantua, were
also captured in the neighbourhood of
Oneglia ; so that his name became a terror
to the foe.

Vice-Admiral Hotham having succeeded
Lord Hood in the command, Captain Nel-
son was present at the action with the
French fleet (March isth, 1795,) on which
occasion he served in the centre division,
counting as follows :

1. Agamemnon, Captain Nelson, 64 guns,
491 men.

2. Illustrious, Captain Frederic, 74 guns,
590 men.

164

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

3. Courageux, Captain Montgomery, 74
guns, 640 men.

4. Britannia, Vice-Admiral Hotham,
Captain Halloway, 100 guns, 859 men.

5. Egtnont, Rear- Admiral Linzee, Captain
Sutton, 74 guns, 590 men.

The English fleet consisted of fourteen sail
of the line, and that of the enemy of fifteen,
with an admiral's flag flying on board the
Sans- Culottes, of 120 guns and 2,000 men.

After a sharp and bloody conflict, two
ships were captured, and the Agamemnon
was twice called off by signal, on account
of his eagerness for a close action. Soon
after this he was detached with a small
squadron from the Mediterranean fleet, by
means of which he swept the adjacent
coasts of the enemy, and cut out nine ships
belonging to the French from the bays of
Alassio and Anguelia, in the neighbourhood
of Vado.

When the Viceroy of Corsica (Sir Gilbert
Elliott, afterwards Lord Minto), foreseeing
the approaching evacuation of that island,
thought fit to seize on the isle of Elba, he
was employed for this purpose ; and having
first effected a landing, and then placed the
Captain, of 74 guns, within half a pistol
shot of the grand bastion, the governor
consented to a capitulation, and the town
of Porto Ferrajo, with one hundred pieces
of cannon, was immediately surrendered.

In December, 1796, Captain Nelson was
rewarded for his services by the permission
of hoisting a broad pendant as commodore
on board La Minerve, in which frigate he
captured La Sabina, a forty-gun ship. Of
the enemy one hundred and sixty-four were
killed and wounded, while the loss was only
forty-one on board his own vessel. Soon
after this he descried the Spanish fleet, and
immediately steered with the intelligence
to the squadron commanded by Sir John
Jervis, who by his conduct on that day
(February i4th, 1797), merited and ac-
quired the title of Earl of St. Vincent.

The subject of this memoir had barely
time to communicate the particulars rela-

tive to the force and state of the enemy,
and to shift his pendant on board the Cap-
tain, of 74 guns, commanded by Captain
Miller. The commander-in-chief, who had
relinquished the blockade of Cadiz in order
to pursue the fleet under Don Joseph de
Cordova, no sooner received the joyful
tidings, than he prepared for action, al-
though he had only fifteen to oppose
twenty-seven sail of the line. He however
did not upon this occasion disdain to make
use of the advantages arising out of superior
seamanship ; for, by sailing down in a close
and compact order, he contrived to begin
the engagement before the Spanish admiral
was able to complete his line of battle, as
a number of ships had been separated from
the main body. Seizing, therefore, the
critical moment when they were still in
disorder, by carrying a press of sail the
English suddenly passed through the Spanish
squadron, after which they tacked in so
judicious a manner, as to cut off all that
portion which had fallen to leeward. About
eleven o'clock the signal was made from
the Victory for close fight, and after a severe
cannonade the following ships were cap-
tured : i. Salvador del Mundo, 112 guns.
2. San Josef, 112 guns. 3. San Nicolas,
80 guns. 4. San Ysidoro, 74 guns.

The effect produced at home by this
victory was prodigious. Great rejoicings
took place everywhere ; the officers of the
victorious fleet received the thanks of both
Houses of Parliament ; the king conferred
a patent of an earldom, with a pension of
^3,000 per annum, on the commander-in-
chief; while Commodore Nelson, by whose
gallantry and exertions two of the prizes
had been taken, was honoured with the
Order of the Bath, together with a gold
medal and chain.

In consequence of a promotion in the
navy, Sir Horatio hoisted his flag as a rear-
admiral of the blue in April, 1797, and was
detached soon after to bring away the gar-
rison of Porto Ferrajo. After performing
this service, on the 27th of May he changed
to the Theseus, and was appointed to com-

"THE NILE'S PROUD FIGHT."

165

mand the inner squadron then blockading
Cadiz. An attempt was made by him, dur-
ing the night of the 3rd of July, to bombard
this city, and he conducted this enterprise
with his usual spirit and resolution, the
Thunderer bomb having been stationed,
under his management, within two thousand
five hundred yards of the walls. On this
the Spaniards, anxious to prevent the con-
sequences, sent out all their armed craft,
consisting of mortars, gunboats, and
launches. The conflict was long and ob-
stinate ; both sides exhibited great valour ;
and a singular event ensued, scarcely to be
paralleled in the history of modem warfare.
The brave Don Miguel Terrason, who
commanded the armament, in a barge
rowed by twenty-six oars and thirty men,
made a most desperate effort to overpower
Sir Horatio Nelson and his boat's crew.
They fought with their swords, hand to
hand, and the conflict was long and doubt-
ful. At length, however, eighteen of his
crew having been killed, and himself to-
gether with the remainder wounded, the
Spanish rear-admiral sheered off. Nor was
the British commander exempt from dan-
ger ; for Captain Freemantle, who accom-
panied him, was hurt, and his coxswain,
Sykes, with several sailors, disabled.

Two nights after, another bombardment
was attempted, and effected with superior
success ; for ten sail of the line, including
the flag-ships of the Admirals Mazzaredo
and Gravina, were obliged to warp out of
the range of the shells. Lord St. Vincent,
no indifferent judge of bravery and good
conduct, concludes an account of these
achievements, in a letter addressed to the
Admiralty, with emphatically observing,
" That any praise of his would fall far short
of Admiral Nelson's merits."

The next exploit in which we find him
engaged was an attempt to obtain posses-
sion of Teneriffe. Earl St. Vincent having
received intelligence, while stationed oft
Cadiz, that this island was utterly destitute
of the means of defence, and that a con-
siderable quantity of treasure had been

landed there, determined to detach a
squadron against it, commanded by an
enterprising officer. Rear- Admiral Nelson
being accordingly selected for this purpose,
was invested with the command of the
following ships :

1. Theseus, 74 guns, Rear-Admiral Nelson,
Captain R. W. Miller.

2. Culloden, 74 guns, Captain Trowb ridge.

3. Zealous, 74 guns, Captain Samuel Hood.

4. Leander, 50 guns, Captain Thompson.

5. Emerald, 44 guns, Captain Waller.

6. Seahorse, 32 guns, Captain Freemantle.

7. Terpsichore, 36 guns, Captain Bowen.

8. Fox cutter, 14 guns, Captain Gibson.

9. Bomb ketch.

This armament arrived before Santa Cruz
on the 22nd of July, 1797, and as it was
intended to take the place by surprise, the
undertaking was deferred until night, but
the morning was far advanced in conse-
quence of unforeseen delays. A body of
men, including one thousand marines, was
then landed under the direction of Captain
Trowbridge of the Culloden, assisted by
Captains Hood, Thompson, Freemantle,
Bowen, Miller, and Waller, all of whom
volunteered their services upon this occa-
sion.

The enemy, however, appear to have
been far better prepared than had been
imagined, for a very sharp fire was kept up
from their batteries ; one boat was stove,
several were damaged, and the Fox cutter
lost. Lord Nelson, who had gone on shore
with the first division, accompanied it nearly
to the spot which was destined for the
assault; but having lost his right arm by a
cannon-shot, he was left behind. His son-
in-law, Lieutenant (afterwards Captain) Nes-
bit, of the royal navy, on missing his leader,
returned, and finding him speechless, placed
Sir Horatio on his back, and carried him to
a boat, which conveyed him on board the
T/useus under a most tremendous fire from
the enemy's batteries.

While their commander lay in this de-
plorable state, the storming-party advanced,
scaled the walls, and penetrated into the

i66

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

great square of the town, where having
formed, to the number of about four hun-
dred, they marched towards the citadel, but
found it too strong for them to attack with
any hopes of success, being unprovided
with cannon. In the meantime Captain
Trowbridge was informed by some of his
prisoners that a large body of Spaniards,
assisted by some French, and supported by
five field-pieces, was preparing to give them
battle. On this, perceiving the utter im-
possibility of receiving any further aid from
the ships, he despatched Captain Hood
with a message to the Spanish governor,
purporting, <f That if he would allow him
freely, and without molestation, to embark
his people, and furnish him with boats for
that purpose, in the place of those which had
been stove, the squadron before the town
should not be permitted to molest it." On
his Excellency's replying, " That they must
surrender prisoners of war," the messenger
observed, " That if the terms preferred by
him were not instantly complied with, Santa
Cruz would be set fire to, and the Spaniards
attacked at the point of the bayonet." On
hearing this resolute declaration, Don Juan
Antonio Gutturez thought it prudent to
comply, and Captain Trowbridge immedi-
ately marched with his men, colours flying
and drums beating, to the head of the mole,
where, boats being furnished by the Span-
iards, they immediately embarked, their
wounded men having been kindly received
into the hospital, while those who had
escaped unhurt received a plentiful supply
of provisions of all kinds.

Sir Horatio immediately returned to Eng-
land, and it was not until many months after
his arm had been amputated that he was pro-
nounced out of danger. On his first appear-
ance at court, His Majesty received him in
the most gracious manner, and was pleased
to express regret that his state of health and
wounds were likely to deprive the nation
of his future services. On this the gallant
and undaunted tar replied, with all that
enthusiasm peculiar to his character, "I
can never think that a loss which the per-

formance of my duty has occasioned ; and
so long as I have a foot to stand on, I will
combat for my king and country."

As it was proposed at this period to
confer a pension of ; 1,000 per annum
upon him, on account of his exploits and
his losses, it became necessary, according
to the custom of the navy, that he should
give in a distinct statement of his claims.
In consequence of this he drew up the
following paper, which stands unrivalled of
its kind either in our own or any other
service whatsoever.

" To the King's most Excellent Majesty.

The Memorial of Sir Horatio Nelson,
K.B., and a Rear- Admiral in your Majesty's
Fleet.

That during the present war your
Memorialist has been in four actions with
the fleets of the enemy, viz., on the i3th
and 1 4th of March, 1795 > on the I 3 t ^ 1 f
July, 1795; an d on the i4th of February,
1797 ; in three actions with frigates ; in six
engagements against batteries ; in ten actions
in boats employed in cutting out of har-
bour ; in destroying vessels, and in taking
three towns. Your Memorialist has also
served on shore with the army four months,
and commanded the batteries at the sieges
of Bastia and Calvi.

That during the war he has assisted at
the capture of seven sail of the line, six
frigates, four corvettes, and eleven privateers
of different sizes ; and taken and destroyed
near fifty sail of merchant vessels ; and your
Memorialist has actually been engaged
against the enemy upwards of one hundred
and tiuenty times.

In which service your Memorialist has
lost his right eye and arm, and been severely
wounded and bruised in his body. All of
which services'and wounds your Memorial-
ist most humbly submits to your Majesty's
most gracious consideration.

HORATIO NELSON.

October, 1797."

He was now enabled, had he been so
inclined, to have retired altogether from the

THE NILE'S PROUD FIGHT."

167

service, and lived equally exempt from
danger and from want, on his pension and
half-pay. But his heart still panted after
glory ; and having rejoined Lord St. Vin-
cent's fleet, a new scene opened for the
solace of his ambition and the display of
his talents.

The eyes of all Europe were at that
moment fixed on Bonaparte. After con-
quering Italy, and effecting a peace on the
continent, he had fitted out a large fleet,
and embarked an army of veteran soldiers.
The immediate object of his attack was as
yet unknown ; and while mankind remained
involved in suspense, the English ministry
deemed it prudent to fit out a squadron in
pursuit of them.

Sir Horatio Nelson, the officer fixed upon
for the command, was detached by Earl St.
Vincent into the Mediterranean, on the 7th
of May, 1798, with his flag flying on board
the Vanguard, of 74 guns, together with
the Orion and Alexander, of equal force,
the Emerald and Terpsichore frigates, and
La Bonne Citoyenne sloop of war. Having
reached the Gulf of Lyons, they were as-
sailed by a very violent gale of wind, which
carried away a topmast, as well as the fore-
mast, of the rear-admiral's ship, on the 22nd,
the very day on which the French fleet, with
Bonaparte on board, ''sailed from Toulon.
Having refitted in St. Pierre's Road, in the
island of Sardinia, the harbour of which
they were not allowed to enter, the English
squadron reached the place of rendezvous
on the 4th of June, and were joined, on the
8th, by ten sail of the line under Captain
Trowbridge.

With this force, which he deemed suffi-
cient to encounter any fleet of the enemy,
Admiral Nelson proposed to steer after
them immediately, and knowing that they
had sailed with the wind at north-west, he
was induced to think they were destined up
the Mediterranean. Neither on the coast
of Italy, nor in the port of Naples, could
any intelligence be obtained of the ultimate
intentions of the French ; all that was
learned amounted to a mere supposition

that they had proceeded towards Malta.
To facilitate the passage thither, it was
determined to pass through the Straits of
Messina, and this was accomplished on the
2oth with a fair wind ; and two days after,
intelligence was received that the French
had captured Malta, and sailed thence on
the 1 8th with a fresh breeze at north-west.

On this Sir Horatio took an opposite
direction, and was not a little mortified, on
discovering Alexandria, that not a single
French ship was anchored there. In this
state of uncertainty, he instantly returned
to Sicily, entered the port of Syracuse, took
in a supply of fresh water, steered on the
25th of July for the Morea, and, in con-
sequence of new and more correct infor-
mation, determined once more to visit
Alexandria, which he descried on the ist
of August at noon. The enemy's fleet was
first discovered by Captain Hood, in the
Zealous, who immediately communicated by
signal that it consisted of thirteen sail of
the line, and four frigates, lying at anchor
in a line of battle in Aboukir Bay.

The formidable fleet appeared to be
moored in a compact line of battle, sup-
ported by a battery of guns and mortars on
an island in their van, while their flanks
were strengthened by gunboats. Although
the wind blew fresh, and the day was far
spent, yet the Admiral made the signal for
battle, and signified at the same time that
it was his intention to attack the enemy's
van and centre as it lay at anchor, accord-
ing to the plan already communicated by
him to the respective captains.

The British fleet, every ship of which
sounded its way as it proceeded, stood in ;
and Sir Horatio being struck with the idea
that where there was room for one ship to
swing there was opportunity for another to
anchor, measures were taken for carrying
this idea into effect, notwithstanding the
Culloden had grounded on Bequier Island.
The Gonath and Zealous, together with the
Orion, the Audacious, and the Theseus, led
inside, and received a most tremendous
fire from the van of the fleet, as well as the

i68

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

batteries on shore, while the Vanguard
anchored on the outside of the enemy,
within half a pistol-shot of Le Spartiate.
The Minotaur^ Defence, Bellerophon, Ma-
jestic, Swiftsure, and Alexander, came up
in succession ; and Captain Thompson, of
the Leander, making up in seamanship for
the deficiency of a 5o-gun ship in point
of metal, dropped her anchor athwart the
hawse of Le Franklin, an 8o-gun ship, in
such a masterly manner, as to annoy both
her and L Orient.

Notwithstanding the darkness that soon
ensued, Le Guerrier was dismasted in the
course of a few minutes, while the twilight
yet remained ; Le Conquerant and Le Spar-
tiate were also soon reduced to a similar
state ; three more, L'Aquilon, Le Souverain
Peuple, and Le Spartiate, surrendered ; soon
after which the Admiral's ship, L Orient, was
discovered to be on fire, and the flames burst
forth with such rapidity, that great appre-
hensions were entertained not only for her
safety, but also for such ships of the British
fleet as were in her immediate vicinity.

Sir Horatio Nelson, who had retired below
in consequence of a wound received during
the action, no sooner received intelligence
of this alarming event, than he came upon
the deck, and, with that inborn humanity
which is the best characteristic of a hero,
bethought him of the most likely means to
save the lives of as many of the enemy as
possible. The only boat in a condition to
swim was therefore immediately despatched
from the Admiral's ship, and the com-
manders of others following the example,
about seventy lives were saved ; and many
more would have been rescued from death,
had not the vessel alluded to blown up sud-
denly with a most tremendous explosion. In
the meantime the firing continued, with the
interval of this awful moment only excepted ;
and the victory having been now secured
in the van, such ships as were not disabled
bore down upon those of the enemy that
had not been in the engagement.

When the dawn developed the scene of
this terrible conflict, only two sail of the

line were discovered with their colours
flying, all the rest having struck their en-
signs ! These, conscious of their danger,
together with two frigates, cut their cables
in the course of the morning, and stood
out to sea. After this signal victory, the
victorious commander lost no time in re-
turning thanks to God for his success.

It was the fourth day after the action
before the Admiral could transmit intelli-
gence of this memorable event. His des-
patches upon this occasion were entrusted
to Captain Berry, in the Leander ; and no
sooner were they made public, than the
greatest sensation was occasioned through-
out Europe. The Emperor of Germany
immediately broke off the conferences for
a peace at Rastadt; the Ottoman Porte
declared war against the French ; and the
king of Naples marched an army to Rome,
of which he for a time dispossessed them.
In England the victory of the Nile was
celebrated by means of bonfires and illu-
minations ; while the king and both Houses
of Parliament were eager to bestow marks
of favour on the triumphant fleet and its
gallant leader. His Majesty immediately
conferred upon him the dignity of a baron
of Great Britain, and he was accordingly
called up to the house of peers, as Lord
Nelson of the Nile. The grand seignior
transmitted a superb diamond cheleng, or
plume of triumph, taken from one of the
imperial turbans ; and the king of Naples
soon after granted the title of Duke of
Bronte, with an estate in Sicily.

Instead of returning home to repose
under his laurels, the Admiral immediately
sailed for Sicily, where he was received as
a deliverer by the king. The subjects of
that monarch, discontented at his conduct,
and supported by the French, had but
lately driven him from his capital, after
which they established, or rather pro-
claimed, the " Parthenonian Republic."
The zeal of Cardinal Ruffo, however, who
successfully mingled the character of a sol-
dier with that of a priest, proved signally
efficacious towards the restoration of the

"THE NILE'S PROUD FIGHT."

169

deposed monarch. Having marched to
Naples at the head of a body of Cala-
brians, he obliged " the patriots," as they
were termed, who were in possession of all
the forts, to capitulate ; and to this treaty
the English, Turkish, and Russian com-
manders acceded. On the appearance of
Lord Nelson, however, Ferdinand publicly
disavowed " the authority of Cardinal Ruffo
to treat with subjects in rebellion," and the
capitulation was accordingly violated, with

the exception of the prisoners in Castella
Mare alone, who had surrendered to the
English squadron under Commodore Foote.
This is the only portion of the Admiral's
public conduct which has ever been cen-
sured ; for an Englishwoman, residing
abroad, having obtained the original treaty
in question, thought fit to publish it, ac-
companied with the severest animad-
versions.

After having effected the blockade of

RUINS OK PALACE ON THE BANKS OF THE NILE.

Malta, procured the evacuation of Rome,
greatly contributed to the restoration of the
king of Naples to his capital and his throne,
Lord Nelson embarked with the English
minister (Sir William Hamilton) to the court
of Naples, and landed at Yarmouth, in his
native country, on the 6th of November,
after an absence of three years, which had
been wholly occupied by a series of most
brilliant and magnanimous achievements.
The populace assembled in crowds to be-
hold the hero of the Nile, and harnessing

themselves to his carriage, dragged him to
the inn. On his arrival in London, similar
honours attended him; and, after dining
at the Guildhall, he was presented with a
superb sword by Mr. Chamberlain Clarke,
in the name of the Lord Mayor and Cor-
poration, in testimony of an action " per-
haps unequalled in the history of mankind."
The reply, which is as follows, was delivered
amidst bursts of applause :

" Sir, It is with the greatest pride and
satisfaction I receive from this honourable

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

court such a testimony of their approbation
of my conduct ; and with this very sword
[his lordship at the same time holding it up
in his remaining hand] I hope soon to aid
in reducing our implacable and inveterate
enemy to proper and due limits ; without

which this country can neither hope for nor
expect a solid, honourable, and permanent
peace ! "

So closed the Egyptian part of Nelson's
career, establishing his character as our
greatest Naval Hero.

CHAPTER XXXI.

THE J^ISTORY OF EGYPT : PLEOPATRA.

E now resume the story of
ancient Egypt, and show
how the baneful influences
of the beautiful Cleopatra
affected the destinies of the
surrounding nations.* We shall give a
somewhat detailed account of the life of
that queen, for nothing could more vividly
bring before us the state of Egypt under
the Romans than the narrative of the reign
of that extraordinary woman.

Ptolemy Auletes, who reigned in Egypt
fifty-one years before the Christian era, and
the remains of whose splendid palace are
represented in our illustration, bequeathed
at his death the sovereignty to his eldest
son and daughter, who, according to the
custom of his country, were to be united
in marriage, and reign jointly. Cleopatra,
the eldest, being only seventeen years of
age, was, with her brother, committed, by
the will of her father, to the care and
tuition of the Roman senate. Posthinus,
the eunuch, with Achillas, general of the
Egyptian army, and Theodotus, a rheto-
rician, preceptor to the prince, ambitious
and aspiring men, contrived to get into
their hands the young king, who, by their
counsel and persuasions, raised a force for
the assistance of Pompey, in the disputes
which had taken place between him and
Caesar. In recompense for this service,

" See Chapter XXV.

Pompey procured a decree of the senate to
vest the government of Egypt solely in the
hands of the prince. But after the battle
of Pharsalia, Pompey, flying for refuge to
Egypt, was, by the intrigues of these very
men, basely murdered.

Caesar, after this catastrophe, coming to
Alexandria while Cleopatra, with her sister
Arsinoe, were collecting in Syria troops for
the recovery of their rights, the decision of
the dispute between the prince and his
sisters was referred to his tribunal, and
advocates on both sides appointed to plead
before him. Cleopatra, on this occasion,
aware of the frailty of the judge, and con-
fiding in her personal charms, formed the
project of an interview with Caesar, whose
passions she doubted not to interest in her
favour. Arsinoe and her younger brother
had obtained an easy admittance into
Alexandria ; but Achillas, .the general of
Ptolemy, jealous of the address and talents
of Cleopatra, sought to prevent her from
entering the city. But the princess, fertile
in expedients, having obtained from Caesar
permission for the solicited conference,
eluded the precautions of her enemy, by
causing herself to be secretly conveyed in
a small galley, in the dusk of the evening,
by Apollodorus the Sicilian, to the port of
Alexandria, and landed near the palace;
whence she was carried, folded in a mat-
tress, through the gates of the castle, into
the presence of Caesar. Her enterprise

THE HISTORY OF EGYPT: CLEOPATRA.

171

produced the effect she had foreseen:
Caesar, captivated by her youth, her beauty,
and her address, granted all her demands,
and purchased her favours by the sacrifice
of integrity and justice.

On the ensuing day, her brother was
exhorted to accede to the terms demanded
by his sister; but Ptolemy, finding in his
judge a prejudiced advocate, appealed from
his decision to that of the people. An en-
tire exclusion of the prince from the throne
had been the purpose of Caesar; but, to
appease the murmurs of the populace, the
destiny of Ptolemy was mitigated to a
participation with Cleopatra of the regal
dignity, according to the will of their
father. In this situation he was incited,
by the turbulent and aspiring temper of
Achillas, to raise new commotions and
tumults, which terminated in a war. After
various disputes and skirmishes, a decisive
battle was at length fought, in which the
fortune of Caesar prevailed. The unhappy
Ptolemy, seeking safety in flight, was
drowned while endeavouring to regain, in
a boat, his ships in the Nile. On this
catastrophe, a younger brother of Cleopa-
tra, a youth only eleven years of age, was
associated with her in the government.
Caesar, plunged in voluptuousness and
luxury, continued near twelve months a
guest in the Alexandrian court. Soon after
his departure, Cleopatra was delivered of a
son, to whom, with the permission of his
father, she gave the name of Caesarion.

There is not an event in the whole
history of human passions and pursuits
which is more astonishing and dishonour-
able than the long residence of Caesar in
Egypt. Though he pursued Pompey to
the shores of that country, he should have
returned with speed into Europe; and
though, by the Etesian winds, his ships
were shut up for a season in the harbours
of Egypt, yet it was his business to have
travelled by land into Syria, and thence to
have prosecuted his journey to Rome.
Upon what principles of policy, honour, or
advantage, could he spend his time in the

impure embraces of the Egyptian queen,
when the most eventful movements in
every province of Rome had an immediate
reference to him ? How could he indulge
himself in low pursuits, when the fate of a
mighty empire waited in awful suspense
for his important decision ? His favourite
propensity was the love of power ; and to
procure what he so much desired, he had
spent profusely, and by undue measures
supplied his extravagant waste. For it he
corrupted the depositories of trust and
power; for it he formed friendships, and
wantonly violated them ; and for it, by the
havoc of war, he covered the empire with
mourning ; and yet that darling, that highest
object of ambition, was forgotten in Egypt,
for dalliance with the false but beautiful
Cleopatra.

To secure the tranquillity of Egypt,
Arsinoe, Cleopatra's sister, was sent to
Rome, and there, by savage treatment, she
was led in chains to grace Caesar's triumph,
and aftenvards banished into Asia. Caesar
caused a statue of the queen of Egypt to
be placed with that of the goddess in a
temple dedicated to Venus. Cleopatra,
accompanied by her brother, followed her
lover to Rome, where, to the disgust of the
people, she was lodged in an apartment of
the palace. A war which raged in Spain,
compelling the emperor to quit Rome, he
prevailed upon Cleopatra, whom he was un-
willing to expose, during his absence, to
popular insult, to return, laden with'mag-
nificent presents, to her own dominions.

Cleopatra, from political motives, had
contrived to leave her brother in Italy,
where, jealous of his future interference
with her authority, she caused him to be
despatched by poison. The unhappy
youth having expired in a foreign country,
far removed from his adherents and friends,
no inquisition was made into the manner
Of his death, or the arts to which he fell
a victim. Cleopatra had scarcely reached
Alexandria, when tidings arrived in Egypt
of the assassination of Caesar in the senate.
On this intelligence, far from consuming

172

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

her time in fruitless sorrow, she formed
with the eldest son of Pompey, the most
inveterate enemy of her deceased lover, an
immediate treaty, in expectation of the
revival of the interest of his family at
Rome. During the civil war that ensued,
the queen of Egypt, with a view of securing
the favour of the victorious party, afforded
to the contending factions alternate aid :
while she sent troops to the assistance of
Dolabella in Syria, Serapion, her lieutenant
in Cyprus, had orders to declare in favour
of Cassius.

After the battle of Philippi, when Augus-
tus and Mark Antony shared the world
between them, Antony came into Cilicia,
whence he sent Delius to summon Cleo-
patra before him, to justify herself from the
charge of having assisted the enemies of
Caesar. But upon whatever pretence he
summoned Cleopatra to appear before him,
it is to be presumed that he was influenced
by a softer passion than that of resentment.
The fame of Cleopatra's beauty and elegance
had probably awakened the tenderest feel-
ings, and having seen her perhaps in all her
bloom and attractions, while in Italy with
Julius Caesar, he might be deeply captivated
with her charms. If Cleopatra had not
been induced by other motives than those
of obedience to Antony, much as she
respected and perhaps feared Rome, she
would have spurned at his commands, and
shown her indignation. But having con-
quered Julius Caesar, and held him in her
chains, she was disposed, we may presume,
through vanity, to try her power also upon
Mark Antony.

The day being appointed, Cleopatra,
bearing magnificent presents, embarked in
regal pompon the Cydnus, in a small galley,
the head of which was inlaid with gold ; the
sails were of purple silk, and the oars of
silver, which, dashing the waves, kept time
to the sound cf musical instruments. The
queen, habited as Venus, reposed under a
canopy of cloth of gold richly embroidered,
while beautiful boys, representing Cupids,
fanned her on either side; her women,

attired as sea-nymphs and graces, sur-
rounded their mistress in respectful silence.
Perfumes breathed a fragrance around,
wafted by the breeze to the shores, which
were crowded by people, who flocked to
gaze on a scene so novel and splendid.
Antony, seated on his tribunal in the forum,
found himself wholly deserted. Venus, it
was said, had arrived to feast with Bacchus,
and to consult with him on the common
welfare of Asia.

Cleopatra, having landed, was invited
by Antony to supper; but, still further
to irritate him, she very artfully eluded
this request, pleading her privilege, as a
woman and a stranger, to be first allowed
the honour of entertaining the greatest man
in the world, to whom, as a Roman senator,
all the potentates of the earth owed homage.
Antony, gratified by her flattery, readily
acceded to her request, while every prepara-
tion which the time would allow was made
by her court for his reception. Soft music,
lights advantageously disposed, crowds of
beautiful women magnificently attired, every
elegance that could charm the fancy, gave
zest and variety to the entertainment. The
queen, still more lovely and splendid than
her attendants, reclining in a pensive and
studied attitude, her head resting on her
hand, contrived to be seen by her guest
without being supposed to observe him ;
till, on his nearer approach, rising suddenly
to receive him, she fell, as by accident, on
her knees before him. As Antony hastened
to raise her, she pretended to recover her-
self; and, addressing him in an elegant
compliment, affected to construe her fall
into a favourable omen, that her weakness
would receive support from his strength,
and that he would defend and protect a
queen who wholly resigned herself into his
power. Still leaning on Antony, she
suffered herself to be placed by him in a
chair of state, which had by her orders been
prepared for her guest, who gallantly seated
himself beside her. This interview proved
decisive : Antony became tascinated by the
beauty and artifices of the fair Egyptian,

THE HISTORY OF EGYPT: CLEOPATRA.

whose only passion was ambition ; and who,
by the coldness of her own heart, was
enabled the more effectually to triumph
over that of her lover.

The following evening Cleopatra was
invited by Antony to return his visit, when
the festivities were renewed, and the chains
of the enamoured Roman completely
riveted. Credulous, ardent, voluptuous,
and sincere, Antony was, without difficulty,
induced to yield his judgment to the charms
that had subjugated his senses : a dupe to
the artifices of Cleopatra, he blindly gave
credit, without troubling himself to investi-
gate facts, to whatever she thought proper
to assert. By her intrigues and address she
separated from him those friends whose
integrity gave her umbrage, or whose pene-
tration she feared ; while, availing herself of
his boundless love of pleasure, she acquired,
by her arts and caprices, an unlimited con-
trol over his actions. Governing him with
a secret but absolute sway, friendship,
honour, reason, humanity, and justice, were
the sacrifices which she exacted from her
victim. Having long coveted the posses-
sions of her young sister, to whom, in con-
junction with her deceased brother, the
kingdom of Cyprus had been allotted by
Caesar, she induced Antony, by her insinu-
ations, to stain his hands in the blood of
Arsinoe, whose death, to throw from herself
the odium of the crime, she afterwards
affected to deplore. Her sister had indeed,
she pretended, conspired against her life
and dignity, nevertheless she would have
pardoned her, and must ever remain incon-
solable for her fate. To appease her grief,
and to reward her magnanimity, Antony
presented to her the kingdom of Cyprus,
the object of her cruel ambition.

She gave a new instance of her power
over her lover, in leading him back with
her to Alexandria, while his presence was
indispensable at Rome, where Fulvia, his
wife, maintained with Augustus an unequa
contest. The Parthian troops had at the
same time assembled in Mesopotamia
under the command of Labienus, and were

ready to enter Syria. In vain the friends
of Antony exhorted him to disentangle him-
self from the toils of this Armida : held in
dangerous bondage, he wholly disregarded
their entreaties and representations. Cleo-
patra gloried in thus holding in her chains
one of the masters of the world : it was of
his power rather than of his person that she
was enamoured ; she dreaded his absence,
lest he should escape her fascinations ;
above all, she feared the influence of Fulvia,
a woman of high and masculine spirit, who
had fomented the disputes between Augus-
tus and her husband for the purpose of
detaching him from the spells of her rival.
Cleopatra exhausted her invention in devis-
ing new pleasures and spectacles for Antony,
with a view of detaining him in her snares.
An order, the members of which bore the
title of the Inimitable Livers, was instituted
at Alexandria, the grand rule of which was,
by varying their enjoyments, to exclude
every interval of satiety or reflection.

Of the excessive expense and profusion
attending these festivals, the following
curious instance is related by historians :
A young Greek, who came to study physic
at Alexandria, had the curiosity to procure
himself admission into the kitchen of
Antony, where, among other provisions in
preparation for a repast, he beheld eight
wild boars roasting whole at the same time.
Having expressed his surprise at the great
number of guests which he supposed must
be expected to partake of the feast, one of
the officers smiled, and informed him that
ten only were invited ; but as the moment
when Antony would choose his supper was
uncertain, and it was necessary that the
table should be served in the utmost per-
fection, not one only, but many suppers,
were always prepared. To this it is added,
that it was the custom of Antony and Cleo-
patra to present to their guests the gold and
silver vessels in which the entertainment
was served up.

The queen, aware that to an enchant-
ment which depended on caprice, serious
thought was the most formidable enemy,

174

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

surrounded her captive by the creatures of
her power, and carefully excluded from him
his real friends. Festivals, carousals, gam-
ing, hunting, warlike amusements, and
lethargic repose, alternately occupied and
diversified their hours. When Antony
exercised in arms, his mistress was near
him ; he was by turns her Hercules, her
Hector, or her Alexander. At other times,
habited as gods, they caroused on ambrosia
and nectar ; or, as the caprice seized them,
strolled disguised through the city on noc-
turnal rambles, amusing themselves in wild
frolics and dissolute mirth. Every casualty
which seemed to threaten an interruption
to their pleasures, served, by the wit and
ingenuity of Cleopatra, but to improve and
heighten their zest. Sometimes, dissolving
in softness, she overwhelmed her lover with
caresses ; then, in fits of feigned anger,
compelled him to sue for her returning
smiles. By keen and delicate strokes of
satire, she would frequently contrive to
rouse his anger and alarm his pride, when,
by the most artful and ^ingenious turns, she
would suddenly convert into compliment
the implied censure.

Antony, one day on a fishing party, being
irritated by ill success, gave secret orders to
the fishermen to cause divers, under water,
to fasten to his hook fishes newly taken.
The scheme succeeded, the fish were drawn
up, and Antony triumphed in his skill.
Cleopatra, suspecting the cause of this sud-
denly acquired dexterity, privately imparted
her suspicions to the courtiers, whom she
invited to be present on the ensuing day, to
witness the catastrophe of the adventure.
Everything being prepared accordingly,
Antony again let down his line, assured of
prey, and again in a few minutes drew it
forth exulting, when, behold, a salted fish,
of a species originally taken in the Pontic
Sea, appeared suspended to the hook. Con-
founded by the burst of mirth which this
incident produced, he reddened with indig-
nation ; when the queen, approaching him
with a smiling countenance, "Leave the
line, brave general," said she in a soft tone

of voice, " to us, the poor inhabitants of
Pharos and Canopus : kingdoms, provinces,
and cities, are your nobler game."

Cleopatra, by holding the passions of her
lover in perpetual agitation by the varied
pleasures and vivid emotions she prepared
for him, maintained undiminished her
ascendency over his mind : a stranger to
genuine tenderness, it was her pride to dis-
play her power to an indignant world in
the degradation of the man whom she pre-
tended to love. By her management, his
faithful servants were driven from the pre-
sence of their master, whom, with Circean
arts, she retained as in a magic circle ; his
reason, his affections, his glory, were sacri-
ficed to the enchantress, for whom he con-
temned a prostrate world. Intoxicated
with the success of her spells, Cleopatra
sported with deceit, and wantoned in new
inventions, with which she daily beguiled
her fascinated victim. Yet, amidst the
intoxications of pleasure, she omitted not
to cultivate the sciences and elegant arts.
In the place where the celebrated Alexan-
drian library had suffered destruction, she
erected a new one, to the augmentation of
which Antony considerably contributed, by
presenting her with the libraries of Perga-
mus, which contained more than two
hundred thousand volumes. Her collec-
tion of books was not merely ostentatious ;
she delighted in literature ; there were few
nations, however barbarous, to which she
needed an interpreter. With the languages
of the Ethiopians, Troglodyte, Arabians,
Syrians, Medes, and Parthians, she was
familiar, nor was she unacquainted with
those of several other nations ; while the
greater part of the sovereigns of Egypt who
preceded her, wrapt in profound ignorance,
had been unable to acquire even the lan-
guage of Egypt.

Antony was at length roused from his
bewitching trance by messengers from
Rome, from whom he received informa-
tion that Lucius Antonius, his brother, and
Fulvia his wife, had, after many disputes,
united against Octavius ; and, failing in

THE HISTORY OF EGYPT: CLEOPATRA.

'75

success, had been compelled to abandon
Italy : while Octavius, having made himself
master of Gaul, had gained the legions
stationed there to his party. From another
courier, who arrived at the same time, he
learned that the Parthians, under the com-
mand of Pacorus the son of their king,
assisted by Labienus and Barzapharnes,
had made themselves masters of Syria, and
marched to Jerusalem ; which having sacked,
they carried away Hyrcanus the high-priest,
with Phaznaal the brother of Herod, pris-
oners ; Herod himself having fled for safety
to the mountains.

Cleopatra, filled with consternation by
these accounts, which threatened to rob
her of her captive, and dreading more
than all his return to Italy and Fulvia,
prevailed on him to turn his attention to
the East, and to recover Syria, which she
regarded as her own. With this view, she
affected to treat lightly the Italian war, and
magnified the importance of his presence
in the East After various delays and ob-
stacles which she opposed to the departure
of Antony, for the purpose of displaying
her power in his weakness, two hundred
ships, with a considerable army, were col-
lected to oppose the Parthians. Cleopatra
omitted no artifice, on this separation, to
convince her lover of the sacrifice she
made of her tenderness to his glory, in
suffering him to depart. But her triumph
received an alloy, when, some time after,
intelligence arrived from the" spies she had
placed about him, that Antony had steered
his course for Italy, and had already reached
Athens, where he had been joined by Fulvia.
Stunned by a blow thus unforeseen, her
first idea was to repair to Athens, and to
dispute with Fulvia the heart of her hus-
band ; but further reflection induced her to
abandon a project which, in its possible
failure, would overwhelm her with humilia-
tion. Her apprehensions were in some
degree softened when she learned that
Antony and his wife passed their time in
mutual reproaches ; Antony upbraiding her
with the war she had kindled at Rome, and

Fulvia retorting upon him his inglorious
captivity in Egypt, to which she imputed
the calamities that had taken place. En-
couraged by this intelligence, and by the
consciousness of superior charms, a com-
parison which she believed her lover could
not fail of making in her favour, Cleopatra
addressed to him an epistle, in which, after
artfully insinuating her claims, her passion,
her sufferings, and the sacrifices she had
made to him, she ridiculed, with poignant
satire, the age, the person, the character,
and the privileges of her rival ; while, with
mingled flattery, affecting to rally the re-
spect of Antony for the conjugal tie. This
address concluded with exaggerated ex-
pressions of her despair in his absence.
The letter produced the effect intended by
the writer, who, on the return of her
messenger, received from Antony the ten-
derest assurances of affection and fidelity.
She had also the satisfaction of learning
that, on hearing of the nuptials of Octavius
with Scribonia, he had advanced towards
Italy, without taking leave of Fulvia, whom
he left at Scyon, or showing any concern
for an indisposition under which she then
laboured. A valuable present was at the
same time sent by Antony, as a testimony
of his love, to his mistress. Fulvia sur-
vived not long this new instance of her
husband's contempt, while her rival rejoiced
at an event which she fancied secured to
her for ever the heart of her lover.

Antony having made a league with Pom-
pey against Octavius, the queen of Egypt
flattered herself that he would be enabled
to lay the world at her feet. Ventidius, his
lieutenant, recovered for him Parthia and
Syria, while Antony was besieging Brun-
dusium, the gates of which had been shut
against him by the order of Octavius, whose
troops murmured at being compelled to
turn their arms against their former com-
mander : a disposition which promised to
facilitate to Antony a victory or an hon-
ourable peace.

In the midst of these flattering prospects,
an event took place that appeared to give

x 7 6

THE ENGLISH IN EG YPT.

to the hopes of Cleopatra a mortal blow.
Through the interposition of Julia, the
mother of Antony, he became reconciled

to Octavius, from whom he received, as a
pledge of their union, the hand of his
sister Octavia. Octavius and Antony,

CHINA REVISITED (page 197).

leading Octavia between them, had entered
Rome in triumph, amidst the acclamations
of the army and people. A new division
was made of the empire, by which the

western provinces, including Gaul, were
given to Octavius, while to Antony was
allotted the empire of the east. Codro-
polis, a town of Illyria, on the confines of

THE HISTORY OF EGYPT: CLEOPATRA.

177

Macedon, was appointed the boundary be-
tween their domains : Africa was to remain
in the possession of Lepidus, and the
dominion of Sicily to be continued with
Pompey. In token of his entire satis-
faction with these measures, Antony ac-
cepted the priesthood of the temple newly
erected in honour of Julius Caesar by
Octavius his successor.

The queen of Egypt, filled with surprise
and anguish, was, on the first tidings of
what had taken place, nearly deprived of
sense and life. On the recovery of her
faculties, fury succeeded to grief; she struck
the messenger of the unwelcome news, and
would have stabbed him to the heart, had
he not saved himself by a precipitate flight.
She vented her passions, unaccustomed to
control, in rage and execration : while all
who surrounded her suffered the effects of
her vehemence and disappointment. The
tumult of her feelings having abated, she
sought to learn the character of a rival, the
report of whose youth and beauty had
filled her with dismay. In the description
of the mild, unassuming virtues of Octavia,
she found some alleviation to her despair :
acquainted with the temper of Antony, she
felt a conviction that his passions, accus-
tomed to a stronger stimulus, would languish
in the possession of a woman whose simple
goodness and unaffected graces could but
feebly affect a vitiated taste, and a heart
exhausted by voluptuous excesses. To
this confidence in her own discernment,
and in her knowledge of her lover, other
circumstances were added, which tended to
cherish a latent and almost expiring hope.
Antony had, on a frivolous pretence, caused
Marsius to suffer death ; a man who, by
firmly censuring his connection with the
queen of Egypt, had exasperated Fulvia,
and occasioned the war which the present
alliance had so happily terminated. He
also loaded with favours an astrologer,
whom, at the recommendation of Cleopatra,
he had brought with him from Egypt, and
who, with a view of ensnaring him to
return, perpetually declared, that his for-

tune, however glorious, was overshadowed
by that of Octavius, from whom it behoved
him to remove to a distance. " Your genius,"
he was accustomed to repeat, " is menaced
by his; in his absence you are great; in
the presence of your rival, you sink into
comparative littleness. In every conten-
tion, even in every game, you are van-
quished by Octavius." Antony, disgusted
and humbled by these representations,
which were not without a foundation in
truth, resigned, after a time, to Octavius,
the regulation of Rome ; and, quitting Italy,
repaired with his wife to Athens.

Here he again gave the reins to his
inclinations, and plunged into dissipation
and pleasure ; yet, at intervals, emerging
from these excesses, he courted the society
of the learned; while Octavia, by her
virtues, conciliated the popular esteem.
To fill up the measure of his extravagance,
Antony assumed the title and insignia of
Bacchus, under which he caused himself to
be worshipped by the Athenians in a temple
near the city. He also ordered a throne
to be erected in a grotto, to which was
given the name of the Cave of Bacchus ;
and where, enervated by soft music, he
indulged in voluptuousness. To his effem-
inacy was added an insatiable rapacity : the
Athenians having supplicated their new
deity to take to wife Pallas, their tutelary
goddess and protectress, he consented to
their request, but stipulated that the god-
dess should bring to him, as her dowry, a
thousand talents. The servile crowd,
alarmed by the consequences of their
absurd and licentious superstition, hesitated
at this unexpected demand, while they
alleged in reply, that his father Jupiter had
exacted no portion with his mother Semele.
"True," answered their new god ; "my father
was rich, but I stand in need of money."
The ridiculous festival of the nuptials of
Bacchus with Pallas was kept in all the
Peloponnesian towns ; each, in its pro-
portion, contributing to defray the expenses.
Antony, charmed with his new dignity,
which had proved more than an empty

i 7 8

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

title, ordered the name of Bacchus to be
inscribed at the feet of every statue which
had been raised to his honour.

From Athens he sailed to Syria, for the
regulation of his affairs, and thence re-
turned to Athens, where, irritated by some
reports concerning Octavius, he remained
but a short time. Having departed for
Italy with a fleet of an hundred sail, and
being refused harbour at Brundusium, he
sailed indignantly to Tarentum. From
Tarentum, Octavia, who accompanied her
husband, and who was then pregnant,
prevailed on him to suffer her to repair to
her brother. Having met Octavius on the
road, she held with him a conference in the
presence of two of his friends, by her tears
and representations softened his anger,
induced him to yield his resentment, to
accompany her back to Tarentum, and to
make an amicable visit to Antony. It was
in this interview mutually agreed, that
Octavius should give to his brother-in-law
two legions, and one thousand foot soldiers,
to serve in the Parthian war, while Antony
should leave with him one hundred armed
galleys and twenty brigan tines. After
parting on terms of cordiality, Octavius
prepared to dispute Sicily with Sextus
Pompeius : while Antony, leaving with her
brother his wife and family, sailed for Asia.

Cleopatra, who had been watchful of his
steps, seized this occasion to allure her
captive back to her arms. She had en-
trusted with one of her spies a letter to be
put into the hands of Antony whenever he
should be separated from Octavia. This
letter, containing a mixture of submission
and tenderness, of insinuations and reflec-
tions, calculated to touch the heart, and
rouse the pride of him to whom it was
addressed, could scarcely fail of its purpose.
Should Antony, it intimated, show com-
passion for the only woman who had really
loved him, and who was ready to expire
the victim of his neglect, Octavius, to
whose power and fortune respect was cer-
tainly due, would, it was but too probable,
vindicate the cause of his sister. The vain
and feeble-minded Antony, softened by the

recollection of his former mistress, and the
images which she had conjured up of her
passion and of her despair, and piqued at
the supposition of his being held in vas-
salage by the brother of his wife, deter-
mined, by the sacrifice of his principles,
to assert his courage and independence.
The queen of Egypt (learning from her
agent the impression which her epistle had
produced) continued daily to importune
him with messages ; till, on his arrival in
Syria, Antony, against the remonstrances
and entreaties of his friends, sent to her to
join him. This summons was heard with
exultation, and obeyed with facility. An-
tony advanced to receive his mistress on
her way, and to conduct her himself to his
palace. On their meeting, she affected an
air the most humble and submissive, and
prostrated herself before him ; when he
raised and embraced her in a transport of
joy and passion.

The purpose of Cleopatra thus accom-
plished, and her triumph over her rival
complete, she resumed her former artifices ;
banished from the presence of Antony his
friends ; and, plunging him in dissolute
pleasures, barred by her insinuations, and
by the whirl of dissipation, in which reflec-
tion was drowned, every avenue of his
heart against the virtuous Octavia. Ap-
parently watchful of his interest and safety,
new alarms of plots and treacheries were
daily fabricated ; while by multiplied con-
fiscations her rapacity was gratified, and
the hearts of the people alienated from
Antony. Lysanias, whom he had made
king of Chalcis, and for whose spoils she
thirsted, was sacrificed by him to the
avarice of his mistress : Cyrene, Cyprus,
Ccelo-Syria, Iturea, and Phenicia, with great
part of Cilicia and Crete, were added to
her dominions. The kingdoms of Judea
and Arabia, over which Herod and Malchus
reigned, became objects of her ambition :
to possess herself of their territories, she
brought an accusation of tyranny and
mal-administration against Herod ; while
Malchus, she affirmed, had favoured the
enemies of her lover.

THE HISTORY OF EGYPT: CLEOPATRA.

179

CHAPTER XXXII.
THE DISTORT OF EGYPT ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA.

HESE [affairs were yet un-
decided when the season
of the year called upon
Antony to quit Antioch, and
to march towards Armenia.
Cleopatra, afraid of trusting him out of her
presence, accompanied him to the banks of
the Euphrates; where, by her caprices,
dissipating his attention, and occupying his
time, she caused him to neglect the warlike
preparations indispensable for the occasion.
It was here that, apprehensive lest the
chance of war might deprive her of the
advantages which she derived from his in-
fatuation, she again importuned him to
grant to her the kingdoms of Judea and
Arabia. Herod and Malchus attended at
Laodicea the summons of the triumvir, to
clear themselves from the charges preferred
against them. The injustice of the process
appeared so manifest, that, notwithstanding
the arts and solicitations of their formidable
adversary, Antony contented himself with
dismembering their dominions. Jericho
and the balsam gardens were taken from
Herod ; and from Malchus, Arabia Nabath,
famed for its perfumes. The profusion of
Antony, however lavish, was insufficient to
gratify his venal mistress. On being re-
proached for his extravagant donations
"The greatness of the Roman empire,"
replied he, with a specious magnanimity,
"consists in bestowing, rather than in con-
quering, kingdoms."

Cleopatra, compelled at length to leave
her lover to the prosecution of the Parthian
war, omitted no artifice before her departure
that might tend to insure his return. To
beguile the time during the interval of his
absence, she passed through the principal
towns of Syria; and, coming to Judea, was
received by Herod, who sought, with re-

spectful attentions, to procure her favour
and interest. She is accused of having been
prompted by vanity, during her stay in the
court of Judea, to rival his beloved Mari-
amne in the affections of Herod, who,
either blind to the charms of the Egyptian,
or aware of the danger of contesting a
heart with Antony, affected to overlook her
advances ; while he confined his behaviour
to a distant and respectful homage. Morti-
fied by the coldness or the prudence of
Herod, rage succeeded to coquetry in the
heart of the vindictive queen, who silently
meditated the future destruction of the man
who contemned her attractions. With a
view of softening the malignant spirit of his
guest, Herod, on her departure, attended
her to the boundaries of Egypt ; where, on
taking his leave, he loaded her with
magnificent presents.

On her return to Alexandria, Cleopatra
received intelligence that Octavius, having
made a glorious campaign, had conquered
Sicily, whence he had driven Sextus Pom-
peius ; also that he had compelled Lepidas
to renounce the dignity of a triumvir. That
the senate, of Rome, lavishing honours on
its hero, had decreed to him and to his
family a festival in the capitol. At the
same time, a messenger arrived from Antony
with news of an opposite nature : his im-
patience to return to Egypt had, notwith-
standing his formidable power, which had
spread throughout Asia terror and dismay,
rendered his campaign disastrous ; harassed
and defeated in all his projects, having lost
in the expedition more than thirty thousand
of his best troops, he had been compelled
to make an inglorious retreat To this
intelligence was added, that having with
difficulty reached Leucone in safety, he
there impatiently awaited his mistress. The

i8o

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

mortification which this account produced
was in some degree softened to Cleopatra
by the reflection, that it was to the power of
her charms that the discomfiture of Antony
might be attributed ; her presence and her
fascinations having robbed him of his
accustomed activity.

Couriers succeeded to couriers to hasten
her departure, the impatience of her lover
enduring no delay ; while he waited her
coming, anxiety and grief evidently preyed
upon his health. Cleopatra was, by an
earnestness so flattering, induced still to
procrastinate her journey ; wantoning in the
power of giving pain, and gratified by the
extravagance and infatuation of her lover.
When she at length joined him, his trans-
ports knew no bounds ; having brought
with her clothing and presents for the troops,
magnificent liberalities were added to her
gift by Antony, who contrived to give to
his mistress all the honour. By her advice,
he softened and falsified, in a letter to
the senate, his unsuccessful campaign, of
which the truth had already reached them.
Octavius, nevertheless, on the receipt of his
letters, ordered thanks to be offered to the
gods for his success. Octavia, who had re-
mained at Rome during this interval, now
solicited permission of her brother to de-
part in search of her husband. Her request
was the more readily granted, as Octavius
foresaw, in the indignity with which she
would be treated by Antony, a pretence for
a rupture which he had for some time
meditated. Carrying with her magnificent
presents from her brother, Octavia im-
mediately commenced her journey. Cleo-
patra, alarmed by the purpose of her rival,
by her insinuations prevailed on Antony to
signify to his wife that she should wait at
Athens till the embarrassments of his affairs
should allow him the satisfaction of joining
her. Octavia, but too sensible of the truth,
appeared to acquiesce in these pretences,
and, resigning herself with respect to the
commands of her husband, entreated only
to be informed in what manner she was to
dispose of the money and horses, the

presents for his friends and officers, and the
clothing for his soldiers, with which she was
charged. She had also brought with her
two thousand chosen soldiers for recruiting
the praetorian cohorts, which had suffered
during the campaign. Neiger, a friend of
Antony's, was deputed with this message,
who concluded his commission with high
and just praises of the virtue and conduct
of Octavia. In this panegyric, the queen ot
Egypt, who was present, affected to join,
yet not without artful allusions to the re-
lationship which she bore to the victorious
and powerful Octavius.

The purpose of Antony was, in union with
the king of Media, once more to take the
field against the Parthians ; but Cleopatra,
apprehensive lest he should, when so near,
visit Athens and Octavia, redoubled her
efforts to turn him from his design. She
affected to deprecate his absence in trans-
ports of grief and passion ; while she
thought to persuade him that the moment
of their separation must inevitably be that
of her death. By refusing to take nourish-
ment, and by a studied negligence in her air
and dress, she contrived to appear wasted
by sickness and sorrow : when Antony
entered her apartment, she would assume
an air of grief and surprise ; and with eyes
bathed in tears, which she yet seemed to
struggle to suppress, appear, when he quitted
her, to sink into anguish and despondency.
Her creatures, by whom she had surrounded
him, aided her views by their arguments,
their representations, and their appeals to
his passions. A dupe to the blandishments
of a vain and capricious woman, whose
tenderness was a fiction to cover her venal
purposes, Antony became entangled in the
toils which encompassed him, through
which he wanted firmness to break. His
projects were abandoned, and, while Octavia
awaited him at Athens, he suffered him-
self to be led in triumph, the scorn of an
indignant world, by Cleopatra back to
Alexandria.

Yet, unsatisfied with her victory, she left
no means unessayed to prevail on her lover

THE DEVICES OF CLEOPATRA.

181

to treat with indignity his blameless wife ;
and without admitting her to his presence,
to crder her back to Rome. By irritating
his pride and his jealousy of Octavius,
whose power she extolled and magnified,
she at length brought him to her purpose.
To assert his independence, and humble his
rival, Antony heroically determined to in-
sult and outrage his admirable wife. Cleo-
patra, by seeming to oppose it, strengthened
his resolution, till her design was fully
completed. Octavia received the commands
of her husband, in which a studied con-
tempt was mingled with asperity, to quit
Athens, and to return to Rome. Without
condescending to contest with her rival, she
meekly obeyed the mandate, and prepared
for her departure.

Sextus Pompeius, who had about this
period been driven from Sicily by Octavius,
sought protection from Antony ; and, at the
same time, lest his negotiation should fail,
had, by his ambassadors, endeavoured to
secure for himself a refuge with the
Parthians. This duplicity, which had been
betrayed to Antony, Pompeius sought to
excuse on the plea of necessity and distress.
The queen of Egypt, with a view to
strengthen her party against Rome, espoused
the cause of Pompeius ; but, persevering in
a crooked policy, he at length fell into the
hands of his enemy Titius, who, having
against him a personal pique, put a period
to his life by a pretended mistake of the
orders of Antony. On this event, disap-
pointed in her plans, Cleopatra induced
Antony to turn his arms against Artabazes,
the king of Armenia, whose dominions she
thirsted to annex to her own. Artabazes,
pretending to be the ally of Antony, had,
during the Parthian war treacherously with-
drawn his troops, the result of which had
been fatal to the campaign. While Antony
was absent on this expedition, Cleopatra
heard with rage and mortification of the
fortune of Octavius in Illyria, who, crowned
with success, carried the glory of the Roman
arms where, till now, its name had been
unknown. To this intelligence it was added,

that he had, with the spoils of the Illyrian
war, raised a magnificent portico, orna-
mented with pictures and statues of
inestimable value, on which was placed the
standard taken from the enemy, and which
he had consecrated to the honour of his
sister, Octavia. To increase the anguish
and malignity of Cleopatra, she also learned
that her rival, on her return to Rome, re-
sisting the entreaties of her brother to
abandon the house of her unworthy
husband, had declared that no injuries
from Antony should induce her to forget
the duties of a wife, to which it was her
determination, in every instance, to adhere.
Remaining in his house, she had, in con-
formity to this resolution, devoted herself to
the cares of his family, and reared, with her
own children, those of Fulvia, his former
wife. His friends were also received by her
with kindness, while she promoted their
interest and preferment with her brother.
In the most cruel species of widowhood she
lived at Rome amidst the sympathy and
affection of her family, and the respect and
admiration of the people.

Cleopatra sickened at the virtues and
magnanimity of her rival, whose superiority
she could scarcely conceal from herself:
incapable of a generous emulation, she de-
termined to leave no effort unessayed to
shake her fortitude, and tarnish her repu-
tation. Addressing herself to Antony, she
implored his return, and exhorted him,
should force or stratagem prove ineffectual
for the conquest of Armenia, to delay his
operations till another season. To this re-
quest was added a declaration, that she
was unable longer to endure their separ-
ation.-

A civil war with Octavius was the project
now revolving in the thoughts of Cleopatra ;
her restless ambition aspired to the empire
of the world, in the humiliation of the family
of her rival. Occupied with these plans,
she gave the reins to her imagination, in-
dulging in fancied triumphs in the capitol
of Rome, where she seemed already, in
idea, to trample her adversaries under her

182

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

feet. Dazzled with vanity, and frenzied
with passion, she beheld no obstacles to
her wishes ; every difficulty receded before
her ardent fancy while she waited in breath-
less expectation the return of Antony, in
whose presence she saw the accomplish-
ment of her daring plans.

Hastily obeying her summons, he arrived
in Alexandria, having adopted the insidious
policy recommended to him by his mistress,
of betraying into his power, under fair pre-
tences, and by solemn engagements, the
king of Armenia, whom, with his family, he
brought back with him in chains. His
entrance into the city was by a triumphal
procession in the manner of the Romans,
in which Artabazes and his family, their
misfortunes aggravated by insult and
mockery, preceded the chariot of victory.
The procession, which in Rome terminated
at the temple of Jupiter, ended in Egypt
at the foot of the throne ; where Cleopatra,
surrounded by the people, received, as a
goddess, the homage of the victor. The
royal captives, presented in fetters to the
queen, having refused with sullen dignity
the prostration demanded of them, ex-
perienced, in their subsequent treatment,
the vindictive malice of a mind to which
magnanimity was a stranger.

A short time after his return Antony gave
a festival to the Alexandrians, whom he
afterwards assembled in the place of public
exercises; where, seated with their queen,
on a throne of gold, he declared Csesarion,
the son of Cleopatra and Julius Caesar, in
conjunction with his mother, sovereign of
Egypt, Cyprus, Libya, and Ccelo-Syria.
Among the three children which she had
borne to himself, he divided the remainder
of his dominions in the East. To Alex-
ander, the eldest, he gave Armenia, Media,
Parthia, and the country which should be
yet subdued from the Euphrates to India ;
to Cleopatra, his twin sister, he gave Libya
and Gyrene ; and on Philadelphus, the
younger, he bestowed Phenicia, Syria,
Cilicia, with the countries of the Lesser
Asia, from the Euphrates to the Hellespont ;

while he conferred on each the title of
king of kings. The princes, in the appro-
priate habits of the respective countries
bestowed upon them, rising from their seats
as the ceremony concluded, approached
the throne, and, putting one knee to the
ground, kissed the hands of Antony and
Cleopatra. A retinue, suited to their new
dignities, was assigned to them, with regi-
ments of guards drawn from the families of
the principal nobility.

To the queen was given the name of Isis,
while Antony assumed to himself that of
Osiris, the tutelar deities of the Egyptians.
They appeared in public in the habits of
these divinities ; while, in a studied oration,
Antony made the panegyric of his mistress,
acknowledging her as the lawful wife and
widow of Julius Caesar, to whose rights her
son was justly entitled. The eldest son of
Antony and Fulvia, present on this oc-
casion, was passed over with entire neglect
This youth had been brought to Egypt at
the request of Cleopatra, who, humbled by
the generosity of Octavia, was desirous of
withdrawing from her protection the chil-
dren of Antony. Having, by her blandish-
ments, prompted the prodigality of her
lover towards her children, she had, at the
same time, instigated him to assert the
legality of the birth of Csesarion, with a
view of irritating Octavius, by raising to
him a rival in the empire, to an incurable
rupture with Antony.

But, amidst her aspiring projects, she
omitted not by inexhaustible varieties of
luxury and pleasure, to rivet her chains on
the voluptuous Antony. At a splendid
feast which he had caused to be prepared
for her, she affected to undervalue the en-
tertainment, boasting that she would, in
her turn, provide for him a supper, on
which should be expended more than a
million of sesterces (^52,500 sterling).
Antony, mortified at her raillery, dared her
to the performance of her engagement.
The evening was accordingly appointed,
and the supper served up, in which there
appeared to be nothing extraordinary. An-

ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA.

183

tony, smiling, called for a bill of the amount.
Cleopatra, with an appearance of good
humour, suffered his raillery for some time
in silence. At length, taking from her ear
a pearl of immense value, and dissolving it
in vinegar, she swallowed it, inviting her
lover to pledge her with that which re-
mained. Lucius Blancus, who stood near
the queen, snatched from her hand the gem,
declaring the wager to be already decided.
For a moment Antony appeared con-
founded, till Cleopatra, laughing gaily,
assured him, that not only three pearls,
transmitted to her from a long race of illus-
trious ancestors, but the world itself, were
it at her disposal, should, to afford him one
moment's gratification, be lavished without
regret. Transported by a compliment thus
extravagant, Antony was careful to return,
by a profuse magnificence, the gallantry of
his mistress.

The contest between the rival heroes
now drew near to a decision ; the rendez-
vous of the fleet was appointed at Ephesus,
whither Antony sailed with the queen of
Egypt His force consisted of eight hun-
dred vessels. Egypt supplied, for the main-
tenance of two hundred of these, twenty
thousand talents, with provision for the
whole army, during the continuance of the
war. The friends of Antony pressed him
to send back Cleopatra to wait in Alexan-
dria the event of the battle ; but, dreading
lest she should be made the sacrifice of a
new reconciliation between the chiefs, she
left no means untried to secure her stay.
Canidius was bribed by her to plead her
cause with Antony, and to paint to him the
injustice of depriving of her share of the
glory the woman who had so largely con-
tributed to the charge of the expedition.
To this he added a representation of the
impolicy of disgusting the Egyptians, who
composed a great part of the naval force,
and concluded by commending the talents
and prudence of their queen. Cleopatra
entering during this remonstrance, com-
pleted, by her blandishments, the ruin of
her lover, who yielded to all her demands.

From Ephesus they sailed to Samos,
where the allies of Antony were to bring
the stores stipulated for his use. While he
appeared thoughtful for the event of so
important a contest, Cleopatra, alarmed
lest he should be meditating a compromise
with Octavius, invited to Samos every art
and every diversion that could beguile
anxiety or dissipate apprehension. The
allies emulated each other in gallantry and
magnificence ; spectacles occupied the day,
and carousals shortened the night. Samos
became a new Alexandria, while everything
wore the aspect of triumph and joy.
" How," said the reflecting few, " will they
celebrate their victories, who commence a
war with such useless expense ? "

In despite of the enchantments of his
Circe, a cloud still hung on the brow of the
chief; he became morose, suspicious of
those who surrounded him, and distrustful
even of the queen herself. He appeared
restless with undefined apprehensions, and
would take no sustenance till it had first
been tasted. Cleopatra, solicitous to cure
him of these inquietudes, and, more than
all, hurt by his apparent distrust of herself,
determined to convince him, by a stratagem,
of her power and his injustice. She caused
the tops of a garland, which they were accus-
tomed on festivals to wear on their heads,
to be dipped in a subtle poison, and in the
midst of the entertainment, when wine had
banished all care, proposed as in sport that
the flowers should be thrown into the bowl.
With this frolic, Antony, accustomed to her
caprices, immediately complied, and, raising
the vessel to his lips, was about to pledge
her in the poisoned liquor. " Hold, my
friend," said she, seizing his hand, " I am
the poisoner against whom you employ these
useless precautions. If it were possible for
me to live without you, judge whether I
should want the opportunity or provocation
to render them fruitless." She then, having
sent for a criminal, obliged him to drink
from the bowl, when he instantly expired at
her feet Antony seemed for some moments
to be lost in astonishment, till Cleopatra,

184

THE ENGLISH IN EG YPT.

observing his features soften, burst into a
passionate flood of tears, and with difficulty
suffered herself to be appeased by his
apologies and caresses.

The court went from Samos to Athens,
where they passed many days in the same
excesses. Cleopatra spared no pains to
obtain the same marks of affection and

esteem Octavia had received during her
residence in that city. But whatever she
could do, she could extort from them only
forced civilities, that terminated in a trifling
deputation, which Antony obliged the
citizens to send to her, and of which he
himself would be the chief, in quality of
a citizen of Athens.

ST. STEPHEN'S GATE, JERUSALEM (page 199).

CHAPTER XXXIII.
THE DISTORT OF EGYPT THE J^ALL OF CLEOPATRA.

HE new consuls, Cajus So-
sius and Domitius ^Eno-
barbus, having declared
openly for Antony, quitted
Rome and repaired to
him. Caesar, instead of seizing them, or
causing them to be pursued, ordered it to

be given out that they went to him by
his permission ; and declared publicly that
all persons who were so disposed had his
consent to retire whither they thought fit.
By that means he remained master at
Rome, and was in a condition to decree
and enact whatever he thought proper for

" THE VOICE OF THE CHARMER."

his own, or contrary to the interests of
Antony.

When Antony was apprised of this, he
assembled all the heads of his party ; and
the result of their deliberations was, that
he should declare war against Caesar, and
repudiate Octavia. He did both. Antony's
preparations for the war were so far ad-
vanced, that if he had attacked Caesar
vigorously without loss of time, the ad-
vantage must inevitably have been on his

side ; for his adversary was not then in a
condition to make head against him, either
by sea or land. But voluptuousness carried
it, and the operations were put off to the
next year. This was his ruin. Caesar, by his
delay, had time to assemble all his forces.

The deputies sent by Antony to Rome
to declare his divorce from Octavia had
orders to command her to quit his house,
with all her children, and in case of refusal,
to turn her out by force, and to leave

THE GOLDEN GATE, JERUSALEM (page 199).

nobody in it but the son of Antony by
Fulvia : an indignity the more sensible
to Octavia, as a rival was the cause of it.
However, stifling her resentment, she an-
swered the deputies only with her tears ;
and unjust though his orders were, she
obeyed them, and removed with her chil-
dren. She even laboured to appease the
people, whom so unworthy an action had
incensed against him, and did her utmost
to mollify the rage of Caesar. She repre-

sented to them, that it was inconsistent
with the wisdom and dignity of the Roman
people, to enter into such petty differences;
that it was only a quarrel between women,
which did not merit their expressing any
resentment about it ; and that she should
be very wretched if she were the occasion
of a new war : she, who had solely con-
sented to her marriage with Antony from
the hope that it would prove the pledge of
an union between him and Caesar. Her

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THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

remonstrances had a different effect from
her intentions, and the people, charmed
with her virtue, had still more compassion
for her misfortune, and detestation for
Antony, than before.

But nothing enraged them to such a
height as Antony's will, which he had de-
posited in the hands of the vestal virgins.
This mystery was revealed by two persons
of consular dignity, who, incapable of
suffering the pride of Cleopatra, and the
abandoned voluptuousness of Antony, had
withdrawn to Cassar. As they had been
witnesses of this will, and knew the secret,
they declared it to Caesar. The vestals
made great difficulty to give up an act con-
fided to their care ; alleging in their excuse
the faith of deposits, which they were
obliged to observe ; and determined to be
forced to it by the authority of the people.
The will accordingly being brought into
the forum, these three articles were read in
it : I. That Antony acknowledged Caesarion
as the lawful son of Julius Caesar. II. That
he appointed his sons by Cleopatra to be
his heirs, with the title of kings of kings.
III. That he decreed, in case he should
die at Rome, that his body, after having
been carried in pomp through the city,
should be laid the same evening on a bed
of state, in order to its being sent to
Cleopatra, to whom he left the care of his
funeral and interment.

There are some authors, however, who
believe this will a piece contrived by Caesar
to render Antony more odious to the
people. In effect, what appearance was
there, that Antony, who well knew to what
a degree the Roman people were jealous
of their rights and customs, should confide
to them the execution of a testament, which
violated them with so much contempt ?

When Caesar had an army and fleet
ready, which seemed strong enough to
make head against his enemy, he also de-
clared war on his side. But in the decree
granted by the people to that purpose, he
caused to be expressed that it was against
Cleopatra. It was from a refinement oi

policy he acted in that manner, and did
lot insert Antony's name in the declaration
of war, though actually intended against
liim. For, besides throwing the blame
upon Antony, by making him the aggressor
in a war against his country, he artfully
managed those who were still attached to
him, whose number and credit might have
proved formidable, and whom he would
have been under the necessity of declaring
enemies of the republic, if Antony had
been expressly named in the decree.

Antony returned from Athens to Samos,
where the whole fleet was assembled. It
consisted of five hundred ships of war of
extraordinary size and structure, having
several decks raised one above another,
with towers upon the head and stern of a
prodigious height; so that those superb
vessels upon the sea might have been
taken for floating islands. Such great crews
were necessary for completely manning
such heavy machines, that Antony, not
being able to find mariners enough, had
been obliged to take husbandmen, artifi-
cers, muleteers, and all sorts of people
void of experience, and fitter to give trouble
than do service.

On board this fleet were two hundred
thousand foot, and twelve hundred horse.
The kings of Libya, Cappadocia, Paphla-
gonia, Comagena, and Thrace, were there
in person; and those of Pontus, Judea,
Lycaonia, Galatia, and Media, had sent
their troops. A more splendid and pom-
pous sight could not be seen than this
fleet when it put to sea and had unfurled
its sails. But nothing equalled the mag-
nificence of Cleopatra's galley, all flaming
with gold; its sails of purple; the flags
and streamers floating in the wind, whilst
trumpets, and other instruments of war,
made the heavens resound with airs of joy
and triumph. Antony followed her close
in a galley almost as splendid. As the poet
says :

" Whilst drunk with fortune's heady wine

Filled with vast hope, though impotent in
arms,

THE BATTLE OF ACTIUM.

187

The haughty queen conceives the wild design,

So much her vain ambition charms ;
With her polluted band of supple slaves,
Her silken servants, and her Pharian knaves,
The capitol in dust to level low,
And give Rome's empire, and the world, a last
and fatal blow ! "

On the other side less pomp and splen-
dour was seen, but more utility. Csesar
had only two hundred and fifty ships, and
fourscore thousand foot, with as many horse
as Antony. But all his troops were chosen
men, and on board his fleet were none but
experienced seamen. His vessels were not
so large as Antony's, but they were much
lighter and fitter for service.

Caesar's rendezvous was at Brundusium,
and Antony advanced to Corcyra. But the
season of the year was over, and bad wea-
ther came on, so that they were both obliged
to retire and to put their troops into winter
quarters, and their fleets into good ports,
till spring came on.

Antony and Caesar as soon as the season
would admit, took the field both by sea and
land. The two fleets entered the Ambra-
cian Gulf in Epirus. Antony's bravest and
most experienced officers advised him not
to hazard a battle by sea, to send back
Cleopatra into Egypt, and to make all pos-
sible haste into Thrace or Macedonia, in
order to fight there by land, because his
army, composed of good troops and much
superior in numbers to Caesar's, seemed to
promise him the victory, whereas a fleet so
ill manned as his, how numerous soever it
might be, was by no means to be relied upon.
But it was long since Antony had been sus-
ceptible of good advice, and had not acted
only to please Cleopatra. That proud
princess, who judged things solely from
appearances, believed her fleet invincible,
and that Caesar's ships could not approach
it without being dashed to pieces. Besides,
she perceived aright that, in case of mis-
fortune, it would be easier for her to escape
in her ships than by land. Her opinion
therefore took place against the advice of
all the generals.

The battle was fought upon the 2nd of

September, at the mouth of the Gulf of
Ambracia, near the city of Actium, in sight
of both the land armies, the one of which
was drawn up in battle upon the north, and
the other upon the south of that strait, ex-
pecting the event. It was doubtful for
some time, and seemed as much in favour
of Antony as Caesar, till the retreat of Cleo-
patra. That queen, frightened with the
noise of the battle, in which everything was
terrible to a woman, took to flight when
she was in no danger, and drew after her
the whole Egyptian squadron, that con-
sisted of sixty ships of the line, with which
she sailed for the coast of Peloponnesus.
Antony, who saw her fly, forgetting every-
thing, forgetting most himself, followed her
precipitately, and yielded a victory to Caesar,
which till then he had exceedingly well
disputed. It, however, cost the victor ex-
tremely dear, for Antony's ships fought so
well after his departure, that though the
battle began before noon, it was not over
when night came on, so that Caesar's troops
were obliged to pass it on board their
ships.

The next day, Caesar seeing his victory
complete, detached a squadron in pursuit
of Antony and Cleopatra. But that squad-
ron despairing of ever coming up with
them, because so far before it, soon re-
turned to join the gross of the fleet. An-
tony, having entered the admiral-galley in
which Cleopatra was, went and sat down at
the head of it, where, leaning his elbows
on his knees, and supporting his head with
his two hands, he remained like a man
overwhelmed with shame and rage, reflect-
ing with profound melancholy upon his ill
conduct, and the misfortunes she had
brought upon him. He kept in that pos-
ture and in those thoughts during the three
days they were going to Taenarus,* without
seeing or speaking to Cleopatra. At the
end of that time they saw each other again
and lived together as usual.

The land army still remained entire, and

* Promontory of Laconia.

i88

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

consisted of eighteen legions, and two and
twenty thousand horse, under the command
of Canidius, Antony's lieutenant-general,
and might have made head, and given
Caesar abundance of difficulty, but seeing
themselves abandoned by their generals,
they surrendered to Csesar, who received
them with open arms.

From Tsenarus Cleopatra took the route
to Alexandria, and Antony that of Libya,
where he had left a considerable army to
guard the frontiers of that country. Upon
his landing he was informed that Scarpus,
who commanded this army, had declared
for Caesar. He was so struck with this
news, which he had no room to expect,
that he would have killed himself, and was
with difficulty prevented from it by his
friends. He therefore had no other choice
to make than to follow Cleopatra to Alex-
andria, where she had arrived.

Soon after she formed another very ex-
traordinary design. To avoid falling into
Caesar's hands, who she foresaw would
follow her into Egypt, she designed to have
her ships in the Mediterranean carried into
the Red Sea over the isthmus between
them, which is not of any very great
breadth, and afterwards to put all her trea-
sures on board those ships, and the others
which she had in that sea. But the Ara-
bians, who inhabited the coast, having
burnt all the ships she had there, she was
obliged to abandon her design.

Changing therefore her resolution, she
thought only of gaining Csesar, whom she
looked upon as her conqueror, and to make
him a sacrifice of Antony, whose misfor-
tunes had rendered him indifferent to
her. Such was this princess's disposition.
Though she loved even to madness, she
had still more ambition than love, and the
crown being dearer to her than her husband,
she entertained thoughts of preserving it at
the price of Antony's life. But concealing
her sentiments from him, she persuaded
him to send ambassadors to Caesar to nego-
tiate a treaty of peace with him. She joined
her ambassadors with his, but gave them

instructions to treat separately for herself.
Csesar would not so much as see Antony's
ambassadors. He dismissed Cleopatra's
with a favourable answer. He passionately
desired to make sure of her person and
treasures ; her person to adorn his triumph,
her treasures to enable him to discharge the
debts he had contracted upon account of
this war. He therefore gave her reason to
conceive great hopes in case she would
sacrifice Antony to him.

The latter, after his return from Libya,
had retired into a country house, which he
had caused to be built expressly on the
banks of the Nile, in order to enjoy the
conversation of two of his friends, who had
followed him thither. In this retirement it
might have been expected that he would
hear with pleasure the wise discourse of
those two philosophers. But as they could
not banish from his heart his love for Cleo-
patra, the sole cause of all his misfortunes,
that passion which they had only suspended
soon assumed its former empire. He re-
turned to Alexandria, abandoned himselt
again to the charms and caresses of Cleo-
patra, and with design to please her, sent
deputies again to Caesar to demand life of
him upon the shameful conditions of passing
it at Athens as a private person, provided
Caesar would assure Egypt to Cleopatra and
her children.

This second deputation not having met
with a more favourable reception than the
former, Antony endeavoured to extinguish
in himself the sense of his present mis-
fortunes, and the apprehension of those
that threatened him, by abandoning himself
immoderately to feasting and voluptuous-
ness. Cleopatra and he regaled one
another alternately, and strove with emu-
lation to exceed each other in the incredible
magnificence of their banquets.

The queen, however, who foresaw what
might happen, collected all sorts of poisons,
and to try which of them occasioned death
with the least pain, she made the experi-
ment of their virtues and strength upon
criminals in the prisons condemned to die.

CONSEQUENCES OF THE BATTLE OF ACTIUM.

189

Having observed that the strongest poisons
caused death the soonest, but with great
torment, and that those which were gentle
brought on an easy but slow death, she
tried the biting of venomous creatures, and
caused various kinds of serpents to be ap-
plied to different persons. She made these
experiments every day, and discovered at
length that the aspic was the only one that
caused neither torture nor convulsions ;
and which, throwing the person bit into an
immediate heaviness and stupefaction, at-
tended with a slight sweating upon the face,
and a numbness of all the organs of sense,
gently extinguished life ; so that those in
that condition were angry when any one
awakened them, or endeavoured to make
them rise, like people exceedingly sleepy.
This was the poison she fixed upon.

To dispel Antony's suspicions and sub-
jects of complaint, she applied herself with
more than ordinary solicitude in caressing
him. Though she celebrated her own
birthday with little solemnity, and suitably
to her present condition, she kept that of
Antony with a splendour and magnificence
above what she had ever instanced before ;
so that many of the guests who came poor
to that feast, went rich from it.

Caesar, knowing how important it was to
him not to leave his victory imperfect,
marched in the beginning of the spring into
Syria, and from thence sat down before
Pelusium. He sent to summon the gover-
nor to open the gates to him ; and Seleucus,
who commanded there for Cleopatra, having
received secret orders upon that head, sur-
rendered the place without waiting a siege.
The rumour of this treason spread in the
city. Cleopatra, to clear herself of the
accusation, put the wife and children of
Seleucus into Antony's hands, in order that
he might revenge his treachery by putting
them to death. What a monster was this
princess ! The most odious of vices were
united in her person : professed immodesty,
breach of faith, injustice, cruelty, and what
crowns all the rest, the false outside of a
deceitful amity, which covers a design

formed to deliver up to his enemy the per-
son she loads with the most tender caresses
and with marks of the warmest and most
sincere attachment. Such are the effects
of ambition, which was her predominant
vice.

Adjoining to the temple of Isis, she had
caused tombs and halls to be erected,
superb as well for their beauty and mag-
nificence, as their loftiness and extent.
Thither she ordered her most precious
movables to be carried gold, silver,
jewels, ebony, ivory, and a large quantity
of perfumes and aromatic wood, as if she
intended to raise a funeral pile, upon
which she would consume herself with her
treasures. Caesar, alarmed for the latter,
and apprehending lest her despair should
induce her to burn them, despatched every
day some person to her, to give her great
hopes of the most kind and generous treat-
ment, and nevertheless advanced towards
the city by great marches.

Upon arriving there, he encamped near
the Hippodrome. He was in hopes of
making himself master of the city soon, by
means of the intelligence he held with Cleo-
patra, upon which he relied no less than
upon his army.

Antony was ignorant of that princess's
intrigues, and being unwilling to believe
what was told him of them, he prepared for
a good defence. He made a vigorous
sally, and after having severely handled
the besiegers, and warmly pursued to the
very gates of their camp a detachment of
horse which had been sent against him, he
returned victorious into the city. This
was the last effort of his expiring valour ;
for after this exploit, his fortitude and sense
of glory abandoned him, or were never after
of any service to him. Instead of making
use of this advantage, and of applying him-
self seriously to his defence, by observing
the motions of Cleopatra, who betrayed
him, he came, completely armed as he was,
to throw himself at her feet, and to kiss her
hands. The whole palace of Alexandria
immediately resounded with acclamations,

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

as if the siege had been raised ; and Cleo-
patra, who had no thoughts but of amusing
Antony, ordered a magnificent feast to be
prepared, at which they passed the rest of
the day and part of the night together.

Early on the morrow Antony resolved to
attack Caesar by sea and land. He drew
up his land-army upon some eminences in
the city, and from thence kept his galleys
in view, which were going out of the port,
in order to charge those of Caesar. He
waited, without making any motion, to see
the success of that attack, but was much
astonished when he saw Cleopatra's admiral
strike his flag when he came in view of
Caesar's, and surrender his whole fleet to
him.

This treason opened Antony's eyes, and
made him give credit to what his friends
had told him of the queen's perfidy. In
this extremity he was for signalising himself
by an extraordinary act of valour, capable,
in his sense, of doing him abundance of
honour. He sent to challenge Caesar to a
single combat. Caesar made answer, that
if Antony was weary of life, there were
other ways to die besides that. Antony,
seeing himself ridiculed by Caesar, and
betrayed by Cleopatra, returned into the
city, and was a moment after abandoned
by all his cavalry. It was then, seized with
rage and despair, he flew to the palace,
with design to avenge himself upon Cleo-
patra, but did not find her there.

That artificial princess, who had foreseen
what happened, to escape the rage of An-
tony, had retired into the quarter where
stood the tombs of the kings of Egypt,
which was fortified with good walls, and
of which she had ordered the gates to be
closed. She caused Antony to be told,
that preferring an honourable death to a
shameful captivity, she had killed herself
in the midst of her ancestors' tombs, where
she had also chose her own sepulchre. An-
tony, too credulous, did not give himself
time to examine a piece of news which he
ought to have suspected, after all Cleopatra's
other infidelities ; and struck with the idea

of her death, he passed immediately from
excess of rage to the most violent trans-
ports of grief, and thought only of following
her into the grave.

Having taken this furious resolution, he
shut himself up in his apartment with a
slave, and having caused his armour to be
taken off, he commanded him to plunge his
dagger into his breast. But that slave, full
of affection, respect, and fidelity for his
master, stabbed himself with it, and fell
dead at his feet. Antony, looking upon
this action as an example for him to follow,
thrust his sword into his body, and fell upon
the floor in a torrent of his blood, which he
mingled with that of his slave. At that mo-
ment an officer of the queen's guards came to
let him know that she was alive. He no
sooner heard the name of Cleopatra pro-
nounced, than he opened his dying eyes,
and being informed that she was not dead,
he suffered his wound to be dressed, and
afterwards caused himself to be carried to
the fort, where she had shut herself up.
Cleopatra would not permit the gates to be
opened to give him entrance, for fear of
some surprise ; but she appeared at a high
window, from whence she threw down chains
and cords. Antony was made fast to these,
and Cleopatra, assisted by two women, who
were the only persons she had brought with
her into the tomb, drew him up. Never
was there a more moving sight. Antony,
all bathed in his blood, with death painted
in his face, was dragged up in the air, turn-
ing his dying eyes and extending his feeble
hands towards Cleopatra, as if to conjure
her to receive his last breath; whilst she,
with her features distorted and her arms
strained, pulled the cords with her whole
strength ; the people below, who could give
her no further aid, encouraging her with
their cries.

When she had drawn him up to her, and
had laid him on a bed, she tore her clothes
upon her, and beating her breast, and
wiping the blood from his wound, with her
face glued to his, she called him her
prince, her lord, her dearest spouse. Whilst

THE DEATH OF ANTONY.

191

she made these mournful exclamations, she
cut off Antony's hair, according to the
superstition of the Pagans, who believed
that a relief to those who died a violent
death.

Antony, recovering his senses, and see-
ing Cleopatra's affliction, said to her, to
comfort her, that he thought himself happy
as he died in her arms ; and that as to his
defeat, he was not ashamed of it, it being
no dishonour to a Roman to be overcome
by Romans. He afterwards advised her to
save her life and kingdom, provided she
could do so with honour, and to be upon
her guard against the traitors of her own
court, as well as the Romans in Caesar's
train, and to trust only Proculeius. He ex-
pired with these words.

The same moment Proculeius arrived
from Caesar, who could not refrain from
tears at the sad relation of what had passed,
and at the sight of the sword still reeking
with Antony's blood, which was presented
to him. He had particular orders to get
Cleopatra into his hands, and to take her
alive if possible. That princess refused to
surrender herself to him. She had, how-
ever, a conversation with him, without his
entering the tomb. He only came close to
the gates, which were well fastened, but gave
passage for the voice through clefts. They
talked a considerable time together, during
which she continually asked the kingdom
for her children ; whilst he exhorted her to
hope the best, and pressed her to confide
all her interest to Caesar.

After having considered the place well, he
went to make his report to Caesar, who
immediately sent Callus to talk again with
her. Callus went to the gates, as Procu-
leius had done, and spoke like him through
crevices, protracting the conversation on
purpose. In the meanwhile Proculeius
brought a ladder to the wall, entered the
tomb by the same window through which
she and her women had drawn up An-
tony, and followed by two officers, who
were with him, went down to the gate,
where she was speaking to Callus. One of

the two women, who were shut up with her,
seeing him come, cried out, quite out of
her senses with fear and surprise ; " Oh un-
fortunate Cleopatra, you are taken !" Cleo-
patra turned her head, saw Proculeius, and
would have stabbed herself with a dagger,
which she always carried at her waist. But
Proculeius ran nimbly to her, took her in
his arms, and said to her, " You wrong your-
self, and Caesar also, in depriving him of so
grateful an occasion of showing his goodness
and clemency." At the same time he forced
the dagger out of her hands, and shook
her robes, lest she should have concealed
poison in them.

Caesar sent one of his freedmen, named
Epaphroditus, with orders to guard her
carefully, to prevent her making any attempt
upon herself, and to behave to her, at the
same time, with all the regard and com-
placency she could desire; he instructed
Proculeius at the same time, to ask the
queen what request she had to make him.

Caesar afterwards prepared to enter
Alexandria, the conquest of which there
were no longer any to dispute with him.
He found the gates of it open, and all the
inhabitants in extreme consternation, not
knowing what they had to hope or fear.
He entered the city, conversing with the
philosopher Ariseus, upon whom he leant
with an air of familiarity, to signify publicly
the regard he had for him. Having arrived
at the palace, he ascended a tribunal, which
he ordered to be erected there ; and seeing
the whole people prostrate upon the ground,
he commanded them to rise. He then
told them, that he pardoned them for three
reasons : The first, upon account of Alex-
ander their founder ; the second, for the
beauty of their city ; and the third, for the
sake of Ariaeus one of their citizens, whose
merit and knowledge he esteemed.

Proculeius, in the meantime, acquitted
himself of his commission to the queen,
who at first asked nothing of Caesar, but his
permission to bury Antony, which was
granted her without difficulty. She spared
no cost to render his interment magnificent,

192

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

according to the custom of Egypt. She
caused his body to be embalmed with the
most exquisite perfumes of the East, and
placed it amongst the tombs of the kings
of Egypt.

Caesar did not think proper to see Cleo-
patra in the first days of her mourning ; but
when he believed he might do it with
decency, he was introduced into her cham-
ber, after having asked her permission,
being desirous to conceal his designs under
the regard he professed her. She was laid
upon a little bed, in a very simple and neg-
lected manner. When he entered her
chamber, though she had nothing on her
but a single tunic, she rose immediately
and went to throw herself at his feet,
horribly disfigured, her hair loose and dis-
ordered, her visage wild and haggard, her
voice faltering, her eyes almost dissolved
by excessive weeping, and her bosom
covered with wounds and bruises. That
native grace and lofty mien, which her
beauty gave her, were, however, not wholly
extinct; and notwithstanding the deplorable
condition to which she was reduced, even
through that depth of grief and dejection,
as from a dark cloud, shot forth pointed
graces, and a kind of radiance, which
brightened in her looks and in every mo-
tion of her countenance. Though she was
almost dying, she did not despair of inspir-
ing that young victor with love, as she had
formerly done Caesar and Antony.

The chamber where she received him
was full of the portraits of Julius Caesar.
"My lord," said she to him, pointing to
those pictures, "behold those images of
him who adopted you his successor in
the Roman Empire, and to whom I was
obliged for my crown." Then taking letters
out of her bosom, which she had concealed
in it ; " see also," said she, kissing them,
"the dear testimonies of his love." She
afterwards read some of the most tender of
them, commenting upon them, at proper
intervals, with moving exclamations and
passionate glances. But she employed those
arts with no success ; for whether her charms

had no longer the power they had in her
youth, or that ambition was Caesar's ruling
passion, he did not seem affected with either
her person or conversation ; contenting
himself with exhorting her to take courage,
and with assuring her of his good intentions.
She was far from being insensible of that
coldness, from which she conceived no good
augury ; but dissembling her concern, and
changing the discourse, she thanked him
for the compliments Proculeius had made
her in his name, and he had thought fit
to repeat in person. She added, that in
return she would deliver to him all the
treasures of the kings of Egypt And in
effect, she put an inventory into his hands
of all her movables, jewels, and revenues.
And as Seleucus, one of her treasurers, who
was present, reproached her with not de-
claring the whole, and with having con-
cealed and kept back part of her most
valuable effects ; incensed at so great an
insult, she rose up, ran to him, and gave
him several blows in the face. Then turn-
ing towards Caesar : " Is it not an horrible
thing," said she to him, "that when you have
not disdained to visit me, and have thought
fit to console me in the sad condition I
now am, my own domestics should accuse
me before you of retaining some woman's
jewel ; not to adorn a miserable person as
I am, but for a present to your sister
Octavia, and your wife Livia; that their
protection may induce you to afford a more
favourable treatment to an unfortunate
princess ? "

Caesar was exceedingly pleased to hear
her talk in that manner, not doubting but
the love of life inspired her with such lan-
guage. He told her, she might dispose as
she pleased of the jewels she had reserved ;
and after having assured her that he would
treat her with more generosity and magni-
ficence than she could imagine, he with-
drew, imagining that he had deceived her,
and was deceived himself.

Not doubting but Caesar intended to
make her serve as an ornament to his
triumph, she had no other thoughts than

THE DEVICES OF CLEOPATRA.

193

to avoid that shame by dying. She well
knew that she was observed by the guards
who had been assigned her, and under
colour of doing her honour, followed her
everywhere ; and besides that, her time was

short, Caesar's departure approaching. The
better therefore to amuse him, she sent to
desire that she might go to pay her last duty
at the tomb of Antony, and take her leave
of him. Caesar having granted her that

STREET IN CAIRO.

permission, she went thither accordingly
to bathe that tomb with her tears, and
to assure Antony, to whom she addressed
her discourse, as if he had been present
before her eyes, that she would soon give
him a more certain proof of her affection.
After that fatal protestation, which she

accompanied with sighs and laments, she
caused the tomb to be covered with flowers,
and returned to her chamber. She then
went into a bath, and from the bath to table,
having ordered it to be served magnificently.
When she rose from table, she wrote a
letter to Oesar ; and having made all quit

194

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT,

her chamber except her two women, she
shut the door, sat down upon a bed, and
asked for a basket of figs, which a peasant
had lately brought. She placed it by her,
and a moment after lay down as if she
had fallen asleep. But that was the effect
of the aspic, which was concealed amongst
the fruit. That serpent having stung her
in the arm, which she had held to it,
the poison immediately communicated
itself to the heart, and killed her without
pain, or being perceived by anybody. The
guards had orders to let nothing pass with-
out a strict search into it ; but the disguised
peasant, who was one of the queen's faithful
servants, played his part so well, and there
seemed so little appearance of design in a
basket of figs, that the guards suffered him
to enter. So that all Caesar's precautions
were ineffectual.

He did not doubt Cleopatra's resolution,
after having read the letter she had written
him, desiring that he would suffer her body
to be laid in the same tomb with that of
Antony, and instantly despatched two
officers to prevent it. But notwithstanding
all the haste they could make, they found
her dead. As Horace sings :

" Not the dark palace of the realms below

Can awe the furious purpose of her soul :
Calmly she looks from her superior woe,
That can both death and fear control ;

Provokes the serpent's sting, his rage disdains,
And sees his poisons glide through all her veins.
Invidious to the victor's fancied pride,

She will not from her own descend,
Disgraced, a vulgar captive, by his side

His pompous triumph to attend ;
But fiercely flies to death, and bids her sorrows end."

That princess was too haughty, and too
much above the vulgar, to suffer herself to
be led in triumph at the wheels of the
victor's chariot. Determined to die, and
thence become capable of the fiercest
resolutions, she saw with dry eyes and in-
difference the mortal venom of the aspic
glide into her veins.

She died at thirty-nine years of age, of
which she had [reigned twenty-two from
the death of her father. The statues of
Antony were thrown down, and those of
Cleopatra remained as they were : Archi-
bius, who had long been in her service,
having given Caesar a thousand talents,
that they might not be treated as Antony's
had been.

After Cleopatra's death, Egypt was re-
duced into a province of the Roman
Empire, and governed by a prefect sent
thither from Rome. The reign of the
Ptolemies in Egypt, to date its commence-
ment from Alexander the Great, had con-
tinued 293 years, from the year of the
world 3681 to 3974.

GORDON IN CHINA.

'95

CHAPTER XXXIV.

GORDON CHINA ONCE MORE THE CAPE.

-f

URIOUS to say, till almost
the very end of his life,
Gordon was better known
abroad than at home. Still
people were not wanting
there to appreciate his value. Among these
was the author of " Merv, the Queen of the
World," who urged in connection with the
Afghan war, then being carried on, that
"we should choose a good man for the
solution of the Anglo-Russian frontier ques-
tion ; we should allow him to choose his
own advisers ; we should give him abun-
dance of time to form his own opinions
on the subject. He should have unlimited
funds to conduct explorations, and to
appoint assistant explorers. He should
visit in succession Russia and Persia, to
realize correctly the genius of those coun-
tries. He should have absolute freedom
in the preparation of his plans, and the
plan, when complete, should be made the
basis of a definite and final settlement of
the Central Asian question.

I may be asked to point out the Atlas
who can bear this enormous responsibility
upon his shoulders. We have not to go
far to seek him. His name is well known.
He is not the offspring of a clique ; he is
not the creature of a faction. He has
fought well ; he has ruled well. His Chris-
tian piety is a proverb among those who
know him ; his scorn of pelf and preferment
is so remarkable, that he almost stands
alone he hardly belongs to a place-hunt-
ing, money-grubbing generation. He pos-
sesses the entire confidence of all parties ;
he enjoys the admiration and love of the
nation. Russia knows nothing to his detri-
ment, and he has recently earned her
respect by his disinterested exertions on her
behalf in the distant East. I have no need

to utter his name. It springs spontaneously
to the reader's lips Chinese Gordon ! "

Of these exertions more anon; but in
the meantime people were astonished to
learn that Gordon had been appointed
private secretary to Lord Ripon, the newly
appointed Governor-General of India. He
proceeded to India, but almost immediately
resigned.

He himself has told us the reasons for
this step : " Men, at times, owing to the
mysteries of Providence, form judgments
which they afterwards repent of. This was
my case in accepting the appointment Lord
Ripon honoured me in offering me. I
repented of my act as soon as I had accepted
the appointment, and I deeply regret that
I had not the moral courage to say so at
that time. Nothing could have exceeded
the kindness and consideration with which
Lord Ripon has treated me. I have never
met any one with whom I could have felt
greater sympathy in the arduous task he
has undertaken. In a moment of weakness
I took the appointment of private secretary
to Lord Ripon, the new Governor-General
of India. No sooner had I landed in Bom-
bay than I saw that, in my irresponsible
position, I could not hope to do anything
to the purpose, in the face of the vested
interests out there. Seeing this, and seeing,
moreover, that my views were so diametri-
cally opposed to tkose of the official classes,
I resigned. Lord Ripon's position was
certainly a great consideration with me.
It was assumed by some that my views of
the state of affairs were the Viceroy's ; and
thus I felt that I should do him harm by
staying with him. We parted perfect
friends. The brusqueness of my leaving
was inevitable, inasmuch as my stay would
have put me in possession of secrets of

196

THE ENGLISH IN EG YPT.

[Mandarins are of two
classes, civil and military ;
the first class is open to
any man in the empire
who is sufficiently per-
severing to pass the ex-
aminations in Confucian
literature. The examina-
tions of the military man-
darins are chiefly in martial
exercises and administra-
tion. Both classes are
divided into nine orders,
distinguished from one
another by buttons, or rather
balls, of the size of a
pigeon's egg, which are
worn above the official cap.
The name mandarin is not
a Chinese word, but is pro-
bably derived irom the
Portuguese wander, to com-
mand. In former times
they exercised a paternal
sway over the people
amongst whom they lived ;
but now their chief care
too often is to accumulate
money as fast as possible
as they pass from province
to province.]

GORDON IN MANDARIN'S DRESS.

GORDON CHINA REVISITED.

197

state, that considering my decision event-
ually to leave I ought not to know. Cer-
tainly I might have stayed for a month or
two, had a pain in the hand, and gone
quietly ; but the whole duties were so dis-
tasteful, that I felt, being pretty callous as
to what the world says, that it was better to
go at once."

Instead of returning home, he now went
to China, whither a pressing message sum-
moned him. There was danger of war
between China and Russia, in connection
with Kashgar. Of course in China the
name of Gordon was one to conjure with.
As he said himself, half humorously, he was
a "big man " there. Even in official rank
he was high. Our picture recalls to us the
fact that he was a mandarin of the highest
class, for in the dress of such we have him
in that picture represented. His moral
influence was still greater ; and here it was
successful, for he was able to avert the
threatened war, and gladly used all his in-
fluence on the side of peace.

" My fixed desire," he said, "is to per-
suade the Chinese not to go to war with
Russia, both in their own interests and
those of the world, and especially those of
England. To me it appears that the ques-
tions in dispute cannot be of such vital
importance that an arrangement could not
be come to by concessions on both sides.
Whether I succeed in being heard or not
is not in my hands. I protest, however,
against being regarded as one who wishes
for war in any country, far less in China.
In the event of war breaking out, I could
not answer how I should act for the present ;
but I shall ardently desire a speedy peace.
Inclined as I am, with only a small degree
of admiration for military exploits, I esteem
it a far greater honour to promote peace
than to gain any petty honours in a wretched
war."

The Times, in an article on Russia and
China, thus sums up his efforts here :
"The outbreak of hostilities seemed im-
minent, when one more attempt was made
to bring about a peaceful solution. The

Marquis Tseng, Chinese Ambassador at the
Court of St. James, was ordered to St.
Petersburg, to endeavour to amend the
action of his predecessor ; and Colonel
Gordon, in response, it is understood, to an
indirect invitation of the Imperial Govern-
ment, went personally to Pekin, and threw
the weight of his great personal influence
into the scale of peace. The efforts of
both were so far successful, that the danger
of immediate collision was staved off. ...

This, then, in the spring of 1880, seems
to have been the political position at Pekin.
Prince Chun and the Empress Regent were
eager for war, and Tso Tsung-tang, with the
tattered legions which had never dared to
meet the army of Yakoob Khan, vainly
believed himself able to cope with the
Russian forces ; while Li Hung-Chang and
other great satraps, who, with a juster appre-
ciation of the relative strength of China and
Russia, desired peace, were dominated by
the power of the Imperial name. There is
no need to dwell on the circumstances of
Colonel Gordon's visits, or on the intrigues
which attended his advent. It is enough to
say that he paid a visit of several days to
the great Viceroy, with whom he had acted
in the days of the great Taiping rebellion ;
and both to him, and subsequently to the
high authorities at the capital, urged every
argument in favour of peace. Exposing the
weakness of their forts and ships, and the
unwieldiness and imperfection of their whole
military organization, he is said to have
warned them that the outbreak of hostilities
at Kul j a would be followed by the invasion
of Manchuria, from the Amoor, and that
they might expect a hostile army within two
months before the gates of Pekin."

Thus he saved the ingenious and docile
population of the Celestial Empire from the
horrors of war with the mighty force of the
Russian Empire. This being done he
returned to England, and almost immedi-
ately was on the wing again. Into his
various wanderings we need not follow him.
The most important was his visit to South
Africa, which came about thus :

198

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

On the 23rd of February, 1882, Sir
Hercules Robinson despatched this tele-
gram to the Earl of Kimberley :

" Ministers request me to inquire whether
Her Majesty's Government would permit
them to obtain the services of Colonel
Gordon, R.E., C.B. Ministers desire to
invite Colonel Gordon to come to this
country for the purpose of consultation as
to the best measures to be adopted with
reference to Basutoland. In the event of
Parliament sanctioning their proposals as
to that territory, and to engage his services,
should we be prepared to renew the offer
made to his predecessor in April, 1881
to assist in terminating the war and admin-
istering Basutoland."

He went, but his mission, through the
bad conduct of the others, failed there.
Mr. Archibald Forbes tells us he wrote
"that he wished to resign, but as he had
taken service under certain conditions he
was prepared to fulfil them, and intimated
accordingly. The Premier was severe in a
Little Peddlington fashion, but after the
same fashion grandly magnanimous. This
was his reply : " In answer to your telegram
proposing to come to Cape Town and
expressing a wish that Government would
accept your resignation, and to subsequent
messages intimating that when you tele-
graphed it had escaped your memory that
you had stated your willingness to remain
until Parliament met, I have to state that I
have no wish to hold you to your promise,
and am now prepared to comply with the
desire expressed, that your resignation

should be accepted : after the intimation
that you would not fight the Basutos, and
considering the tenor of your communi-
cation with Masupha, I regret to record
my conviction that your continuance in
the position you occupy would not be con-
ducive to public interest."

It was a minor thing to have earned the
gratitude of an Emperor for the subju-
gation of a rebellion that was striking at
the vitals of his empire ; it was a trifle to
have been Viceroy of the Soudan, and to
have won the admiration of the world
because of the resolute skill with which he
had pacificated that vast and turbulent
region. What availed Gordon all these
things so long as he had been unsuccessful
in giving satisfaction to the Premier of
the Cape Colony? He lived through
much, through what would have proved
fatal to most men ; but the most surpris-
ing proof of tenacious vitality he gave is
that he should have survived that august
functionary's recorded conviction that his
continuance in office "would not be con-
ducive to public interest." He staggered
back to England, there to recover from the
prostration of despair. It is surprising,
indeed, that, after so authoritative an im-
primatur of his incapacity, wanton reck-
lessness could tempt greater powers than
the Cape Government to entrust him with
responsibility. Yet this has been done,
and well done, we may add. No doubt our
readers will cordially assent to these sar-
castic remarks, which are a proper com-
ment on official stupidity.

GORDON IN PALESTINE.

199

CHAPTER XXXV.

bORDON IN

FTER coming back from
South Africa Gordon went
to Palestine, and living near
Jerusalem, occupied him-
self with a careful study
of the localities of the Holy City. We
give illustrations of some of the more
important of these St. Stephen's Gate,
Jerusalem, and the Golden Gate, Jerusalem.
This last is now completely walled up,
but was in use when Jerusalem was in the
possession of the Christians. The interior
is a chamber of considerable size, with
much architectural ornamentation, and
supported by handsome columns. It is
evidently very ancient. There are four
principal gates that are constantly open
from morning till sunset. On the west
side Jaffa Gate ; on the south the Gate of
Zion ; on the east side Stephen's Gate ;
and on the north the Damascus Gate. The
entrances to walled cities in the East were,
and still are, secured by gates. Stalls or
booths intended for the sale of goods were
often near the city gates, and became
places of concourse. The gates were often
the place of judicial proceedings, as may
be learned from Ruth iv., and also of
general resort. In Arabia the gate of the
city is still the place of judgment. The
king or governor passes certain hours of
the day there, hears and decides contro-
versies, and transacts business with the
people who are passing in and out As
possession of the gates of a city implied
possession of the city itself, the word is
sometimes used to signify power : " Thy
seed shall possess the gate of his enemies "
(Gen. xxii. 17).

We also give a picture of Nazareth, as a
locality of great interest in connection with
Gordon's researches in the Holy Land, and

PALESTINE.

an illustration of a Caravanserai, or Eastern
Inn.

Gordon's doings in the Holy Land will
be best understood by some account of his
remarkable little work called " Reflections
in Palestine," of which an able reviewer
remarks : " It is a difficult, or at least a
delicate task to pass this little volume under
review, since it is chiefly concerned with
solemn topics which are seldom treated in
secular journals. Yet it is impossible to
pass it over in silence when the name of the
author is in all men's mouths ; and, more-
over, in more ways than one, it must com-
mand the most respectful attention. The
earnestness of General Gordon is stamped
on every line, while his strong and original
views are expressed with characteristic self-
confidence. Yet the tone is humble, for, if
we may say so, he seems to believe himself
to be actually inspired by the careful and
prayerful study of the Scriptures. These
1 Reflections in Palestine ' are indeed a
strange self-revelation of one of the most
remarkable men who has ever lived. The
combination of strong, religious enthusiasm,
or the profession of it, with the practical
gifts that make conquerors, soldiers, or
statesmen, has been no unusual phenome-
non. But, generally speaking, that enthu-
siasm has been too obviously tainted by
ambition or carnal self-seeking, by spiritual
pride or half-conscious hypocrisy. In these
' Reflections,' which were thrown into the
form of letters, written either to near
relatives or intimate friends, we can detect
no trace of anything of the kind. With
all their assurance of conviction, their spirit
is almost childlike ; the writer is no fanatic,
and only so far an enthusiast that he has
thought with passionate earnestness on
matters he believes to be all-important.

2OO

THE ENGLISH IN EG YPT.

Had the little work been published anony-
mously, even with all we have heard of
Gordon's double-sided character, no one
could possibly have dreamed of attributing
the authorship to him. Indeed, in know-
ledge of the fact, it is difficult to realize
that this docile student of the prophecies,
that this humble searcher-out of spiritual
mysteries, is the stern soldier who saved
the Chinese Empire, and who was forced
upon our vacillating Government as the only
man who could save 'society' and the
garrisons in the Soudan when the case was
already desperate. It is probable, however,

that all which seems most contradictory in
his character really goes far to explain the
almost inexplicable success with which he
has hitherto triumphed over difficulties with-
out any off chances in his favour. No one
has ever questioned his capacity, and the
resolutions dictated by his genius have
been confirmed in critical circumstances by
the conviction that he was but the instru-
ment of an omnipotent Power which would
assuredly help him to carry through his
work. Then his genius, with the irresistible
strength of those convictions, animated his
will, and imparted something of his own ex-

GORDON IN PALESTINE NAZARETH.

alted energy to the semi-civilized races whose
primitive beliefs had not yet come in contact
with the enfeebling influences of agnosticism
or scepticism.

And once the authorship of the ' Re-
flections ' is acknowledged, we have the
clue to their author's method of treatment.
All the reflections are so far controversial
that they dispose of the most hotly-contested
questions of topography or doctrine. But,
unlike most disputants with new theories to
broach or with old doctrines to defend,
Gordon makes no reference to authorities,
or to the voluminous literature of such
questions. He makes no show of erudition,

though now and again he shows his know-
ledge of Hebrew by the use of a Hebrew
word. He only knows one book, and that
is the Bible ; but of the Bible his knowledge
is exhaustive and profound ; in fact, the
soldier who had served in China, in the
Soudan, in South Africa, who had been
perpetually making forced marches in the
midst of watchful enemies, could carry no
library of divinity about with him. But it
is clear that he had made the Scriptures
his constant companion, and that he medi-
tated on what he read there in the watches
of the nights. When, after repeated dis-
appointments of a long-cherished plan

GORDON IN PALESTINE.

201

GORDON IN PALESTINE INTERIOR OF THE CHURCH OK THE HOLY SEPULCHRE.

202

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

for his services had been always in demand
he was at last enabled in 1883 to spend
a twelvemonth's holiday in Palestine, the
'Reflections' that are now reprinted were
all ready to his mind. With the Bible in
his hand, with the sacred historians and
the prophets for his only guides, he went
straight to the holy hill of Zion, to the
Mount Moriah, and the Mount of Olives,
swept the encumbered slopes clear of
debris in his mind's eye, and settled the
sacred sites on certain postulates he had
accepted.

Yet we should mislead our readers did
we lead them to suppose that these topo-
graphical conclusions of his are founded
altogether on blind faith or mystical fancies.
On the contrary, the experienced officer of
Engineers brings all his professional sagacity
to bear on the solution of the problems.
He works his diagrams out by contours ;
he carefully extracts square and cube roots ;
and he supplements his interpretation of the
Scriptures by exact calculations and measure-
ments. And so plausible is the combin-
ation of one or the other that did we not
feel persuaded, as matter of fact, that,
beyond three or four ineffaceable natural
landmarks, nothing can ever be confidently
determined as to the ancient sites in the
sacred city, we should be inclined to say
that Gordon had proved some of his points
beyond possibility of contradiction. Al-
though true to his character, he is too con-
cise; he goes to those cardinal points of his
toodirectly; and his reasoningwould be more
likely to recommend itself if he expanded
and developed it at greater length. We
believe that the scenes of the grand events
in the world's history have been effaced
beyond possibility of definite recognition.
Consequently we take General Gordon's
conclusions as suggestive rather than satis-
factory, and so we prefer to indicate his
method in place of following him into
details. For example, some of his strongest
arguments for certain localities are drawn
from the types of the Old Testament dis-
pensation ; and he marks certain central

spots precisely by the shadows they threw
of the events they typified. He describes
with the exactitude of the surveying engineer
the lie of the ground on which Jerusalem
was built, with its sites immediately beyond
the city walls, celebrated in the holy
histories :

' The " skull hill "Golgotha, or " the place of
a skull " follows a line which is aslant or askew to
the valley of the Kedron, until it reaches, at about
two-thirds of its entire length, another bare rock,
now covered by the Mosque of Omar. ... I
think that the cross stood on the top of the skull
hill, in the centre of it, and not where the slaughter-
house now stands. Leviticus i. n, says that the
victim was to be slain "on the side of the altar north-
ward before the Lord, " and literally they were to
slay the victim slantwise to the altar northwards.
The altar was on the second knoll within the Haram
enclosure, and if the cross were placed in the centre
of the skull hill, the whole city, and even the
Mount of Olives, would be embraced by those out-
stretched arms. " All the day long I have stretched
out My hands to a disobedient and gainsaying
people." '

So that Gordon finds a strong presumption,
to say the least, for the site of the cruci-
fixion from the geographical conditions
which would give the fullest mystical mean-
ing to the great sacrifice of the Atonement.
Then, again, he has drawn out the exact
diagram of the internal arrangement of the
Temple. He places the ark of the cove-
nant, the candlestick, the table of shew-
bread, etc. ; and he fixes their '.places from
measurements given in the book of Kings,
etc., by two natural sites which he believes
are to be absolutely identified. One of
these is the altar of burnt offering, the
other is the laver or brazen sea. As to the
altar, he asserts from analogies in calcu-
lations that it was partly formed out of a
living rock which may still be seen. While
the brazen sea of Solomon, broken up and
carried away, was replaced by the fountain
of El Kas, ' The Caliph who erected the
fountain of El Kas appears to have in-
tended it to occupy the same place as the
laver, and to hold about the same quantity.
El Kas means " The Chalice." '

We may note, also, the connection in

GORDON IN PALESTINE.

203

Gordon's mind between the archaeological
and the purely religious portions of his
book. One and the other are closely
linked together by the strict sequence of
his method of interpretation. We have
seen that, according to him, there are still
two existing relics of the old order of things
and the Jewish ceremonial. These are the
rock and the cup, the altar of sacrifice and
the sea in which the priests purified them-
selves as the ministers of the sinful people.
That rock is now represented by the
sacramental table of the Lord, and the
chalice of the Hebrew priests by the
baptismal fonts in our churches. Accord-
ingly, the chief part of these religious
* Reflections ' is devoted to the considera-
tion of the Sacraments as the means of
grace to man and of recovery from the
consequences of the Fall.

True to his governing principle ' that all
Scripture is given by inspiration of God,'
and consequently of finding pregnant
analogies and lessons in the Old Testament
narrative, he sets out from the Fall, showing
' a possible analogy between the three days
of creation and our own lives.' That
'possible analogy,' which he really takes
for granted, lies at the root and heart of
his subsequent matter. First came chaos,
where good was mingled with evil, and the
light was held captive to the darkness.
Second, a state of light. Third, light
separated from the darkness, and good
separated from evil. Fourth, ' A gathering
good gathered, evil destroyed ; light
gathered, darkness destroyed.' He adds
that, unless we understand that series of
events, the remarks that follow will be in-
comprehensible ; and he goes on to develop
something like the Persian myth of the
perpetual warfare between good and evil.
He maintains that the scattering of light
in the darkness that is, the temporary or
apparent triumph of evil in reality tends I
to the final victory of the light, since it is
winnowing the darkness of such light as j
may be in it. With good men, so far as \
we understand him, though they are neces- j

sarily committed to a struggle with evil,
each successive and inevitable discomfiture,
if retrieved, lands them on higher and ever
higher ground. And 'this is the history
of every man's life ; of every day's work of
man, of the world, of each nation, of the
Church, of every member of the Church,
the threshing-floor?

In the reflections on the Sacraments,
again, Gordon always goes back to material
types, by way of interpreting and explain-
ing spiritual operations. He may be a
mystic, he may be an enthusiast, yet the
practical side of his intellect must have
something tangible to argue from ; just as
in fixing the sites in the precincts of the
Temple he makes his start from the solid
rock and the perennial spring. Thus, man
fell by eating the apple j he received a
foreign and poisonous substance, in the
shape of the forbidden fruit, into a body
that had hitherto been pure and spiritual ;
so corruption came of incorruption, bring-
ing diseases and death in its train. Man
was dead ; baptism revives him from death ;
and in partaking of the Holy Communion,
the fruit of the tree of life becomes the
antidote to the deadly poison of the tree of
good and evil. ' Water must be the con-
nection of baptism with some event prior
to the Fall, and that event is the Creation.
'In the beginning God created heavens
and earth, and the earth was without form
and void, and the Spirit of God moved on
the face of the waters.' And in baptism,
the Spirit, always giving life, is moving as
of old on the face of the water. We said
that Gordon's very conciseness is some-
what confusing, and at first it struck us
from the tenor of his reasoning that he
was opposed to infant baptism. But, on
the contrary, he holds to it very strongly,
though, as is frequently the case, we follow
him to his conclusion through a rather fine-
drawn and far-fetched chain of thought.
'Baptism signifies the burial of a dead
thing which cannot move of itself. A babe
is dead as far as its will, etc., are concerned,
and when it is figuratively buried in baptism

2O4

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

by believers, there is reason to suppose
indeed, our faith in God obliges us to be-
lieve that it will rise in Christ.' It is
Gordon's idea, we may remark, that as the
earth once lay dead under a dark waste of
waters, so baptism is meant to cover man
with water as the figurative acknowledg-
ment of his death.

Perhaps we have said enough to show
the characteristics of Gordon's system of
theology, which is highly mystical, and
sometimes fanciful, but intensely devout
and sincere. We have indicated some of
his ideas as to the rite of baptism, but we
greatly doubt whether this is the place to
explain his views as to the holier sacrament
of the Lord's Supper for we could only do
him justice by going into them at length.
We shall only say that, holding as he does
that the elements are actually a spiritual
medicine to the body and spirit that were
tainted in the person of the first Adam, he
is urgent in his pressure upon all to partake,
and most catholic in the wide invitations he
issues. ' I say, then, what is needed of a
man to eat the Sacrament ? Simply a sense
that he is morally sick and wishes to be
better and few men do not feel both these
sentiments.'

It is impossible not to respect nay, to
reverence the spirit in which Gordon
approaches sacred subjects, whatever one
may think of his theories, or of the process
by which he reasons them out. He has
read much in a single Book ; he has medi-
tated upon it profoundly, and sometimes he
puts things very quaintly, sometimes very

tersely, and with pregnant force. He seems
to have modelled his thoughts and style on
Thomas a Kempis, who is known to have
been his favourite among uninspired writers.
Here is what he says of the tongue and the
ladies : ' The tongue is glib, serpent-like,
and it is odd that women have it in such
perfection, which none have ever doubted.
It is their defence. The woman ate first,
and the tongue is her particular forte. Yet
when women speak good, how well they
speak out ! They are in this point the salt
of the earth.' Again, and in a different
tone : ' If the Holy Ghost spoke through
us, as He would through many (if the pipe
of their bodies were in harmony that is,
if they were sanctified), would not the voice
be God's voice ? ' Again : ' I think our
life is one progressive series of finding out
Satan. As we grow in grace, we are con-
tinually finding out that he is a traitor ; he
is continually being unmasked.' And for
the mostjvivid and painful piece of writing
in the book, we may direct attention to
Gordon's conception of the sufferings of the
Passion and Crucifixion. But we have said
enough to show that the ' Reflections ' are a
clue to the heroic character of the man who
has set before him ideals impossible indeed
of attainment, but towards which he is al-
ways striving to elevate himself; who seeks
to mortify self like his model, Thomas
a Kempis, and carries with him the pro-
found conviction that, happen what will, his
prayers are being heard and his footsteps
directed." And who will dare to say that
he is mistaken ?

S7K SIDNEY SMITH HIS DEFENCE OF ACRE.

205

CHAPTER XXXVI.

jSlDNEY jSMITH filS pEFENCE OF

HE defence of Khartoum
by Gordon almost finds a
parallel in the defence of
Acre by Sir Sidney Smith.
That eminent sailor well de-
serves an honourable place in this record of
the great deeds of our countrymen, as, re-
pelling an unjust invasion, he may well be
designated a pioneer of freedom.

The great Admiral Howard, who lived in
the reign of King Henry VIII. , was wont
to say that a " certain portion of madness
was necessary to enter into the composition
of an English seaman." We know not
whether this assertion ought to be admitted
in its full extent ; yet the fact is, that some
of our most celebrated naval characters
have obtained renown for deeds which
appear to cold-blooded men to savour of
desperation as well as of valour. It is not
our intention to detract from any man's
merits who has been, or is now, engaged in
the service of his country, either by sea or
land; but we are forced to say that our
admiration is not so much excited by those
dazzling exploits which please the popu-
lace, as by the more steady and extensive
operations of such magnanimous but pru-
dent commanders who are rather bent upon
general good than romantic adventures.
Each, however, has his portion of merit;
and he who hazards his person with alacrity
in behalf of the country for which he fights,
must always claim our respect

Sir William Sidney Smith was born in the
Metropolis, 1764. His father was a captain
in the army, and his mother the daughter
of Mr. Wilkinson, a merchant of great emi-
nence in the city. This match was so
hostile to Mr. Wilkinson's sentiments, that
he not only discarded Mrs. Smith in his life-
time, but at his death left his whole fortune,

which was very considerable, to his other
daughter, Lady Camelford.

The subject of the present notice was
educated under Dr. Knox, at Tunbridge
School; and at an early age was put on
board a man-of-war, which profession he
had adopted for himself. He rose rapidly,
and at the age of sixteen was fifth lieutenant
of the Alcide, of seventy-four guns. He was
made post-captain in 1783, at which time
the restoration of peace prevented him from
exercising his active spirit in the service of
his country.

When the war broke out between Russia
and Sweden, in the year 1788, Captain
Smith obtained permission from the English
Government to enter into the navy of the
latter power, by which he was honoured
with a distinguished command. During
this contest he gave such satisfaction to the
court of Sweden by his important services,
that the honour of knighthood was con-
ferred upon him ; which, however, was not
confirmed by his own sovereign. On the
termination of that war, he returned to
his native country, and soon after set out
on his travels through various parts of
Europe.

When hostilities broke out between Eng-
land and France he was in Italy, and on
Lord Hood's getting possession of Toulon,
Captain Smith went thither and volunteered
on board the British fleet. In the subse-
quent evacuation of that place, he was en-
trusted with the dangerous but important
service of setting fire to the ships dock-
yards, and arsenals, which he performed
with such astonishing skill, boldness, and
success, as to call forth the warmest enco-
miums from Lord Hood in his account of
that transaction to the Admiralty.

On his return to England, he had the

206

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

command of the Diamond frigate bestowed
on him, with which he greatly annoyed the
enemy on their own coast, and made several
important and valuable captures. He had
afterwards some other frigates put under
his direction, as commodore ; with which
squadron he performed some essential ser-
vices, particularly in attacking a French
convoy at Herqui, where he landed and
demolished the fortifications. At one time
'Sir Sidney went with his single frigate into
Brest harbour, and having reconnoitred the
state of the enemy's ships, came out to sea
without suspicion. He was enabled to do
this by the very fluent manner with which
"he speaks the French language.

At length, however, his enterprising spirit
unfortunately brought him into a very dis-
agreeable situation. Being off Havre-de-
Grace, April 18, 1796, he captured an
armed vessel in the outer harbour ; but the
tide making strong up the Seine, she was
driven by the force of the current near the
forts. When night came on, Sir Sidney,
who was determined not to lose his prize,
manned and armed his small craft, and went
-with them to bring her off. He succeeded
in boarding her. and was towing her down
the river, when an alarm was given, and
seven gun-boats proceeded to cut the vessel
off. After an obstinate resistance, Sir Sid-
ney was at length taken, together with six-
teen of his crew and three of his officers.

The French were happy at having gained
possession of one who had been so great an
eyesore to them, and conveyed him to the
capital, where he was kept in close confine-
ment, without ever being suffered to be at
large upon his parole. The English Govern-
ment, desirous of his release, sent over
Captain Bergeret, commander of La Vir-
ginie, in July following, to be exchanged
for him ; but the directory refusing to
accede to the terms, the French captain
returned, saying "he preferred death to dis-
honour." It was actually one time in con-
templation to try Sir Sidney as a spy and
incendiary, to which the directory were led
in consequence of his conduct at Toulon !

After a long and most rigid confinement,
he at length effected his escape, April 24th,
1798, from Paris, and arrived in London
May 6th following. The manner in which
this occurred was represented in the papers
as most extraordinary, and little short of
miraculous. It was stated that as the
officers were conveying him from one prison
to another, a crowd in the street occasioned
the carriage to stop, on which some one
opened the door and drew Sir Sidney out,
who passed unmolested through the people
and got into the suburbs, whence, by a
circuitous course with an emigrant gentle-
man he arrived on the sea coast, where they
took to an open boat, and after being at
sea for some considerable time, were taken
up by a British frigate, which landed him
and his companion in Old England. It is
not unlikely that the French Government
took this curious method of releasing him,
for it is hardly within the line of probability
that such a man should have escaped from
his keepers in one of the public streets of
Paris, and that too in open day, without
the connivance of persons in power.

Sir Sidney was received by his country-
men with that acclamation which a meri-
torious officer never fails to obtain. His
escape was considered as a miracle, which
most who heard of it scarcely knew how to
credit. His sovereign treated him with the
warmest affection, and not only conferred
on him marked attention at his public pre-
sentation, but honoured him with an im-
mediate private interview at Buckingham
House. More substantial marks of favour
were not wanting ; the very next month Sir
Sidney was appointed to the Tigre of eighty
guns, and in November sailed for the Medi-
terranean, to assume a distinct command,
as an established commodore on the coast
of Egypt.

Sir Sidney now entered upon a career
by which his former conduct, brilliant as it
had been, was thrown into the shade. He
repaired to Constantinople to hasten the
measures which the Porte was concerting
for the expulsion of the French from Egypt.

THE ATTACK ON ACRE.

207

Their general, Bonaparte, being informed
that his arrival was to be the signal for
offensive operations, resolved to anticipate
them, and to march to Syria to destroy the
preparations which Jhezzar, who had been
nominated Pasha of Egypt by the Grand
Signior, was there making. He accordingly
marched with great rapidity towards the
province, reduced the fort of El Arisch,
and took Jaffa by storm, after which he
directed his course towards Acre, the resi-
dence of Jhezzar.

Meanwhile Sir Sidney, finding that the
Porte was not yet prepared to make any
efficient attempt for the recovery of Egypt,
proceeded to the coast, and being apprised
of the first movements of Bonaparte, en-
deavoured to check his career by attacking
Alexandria, which he bombarded, without
further injury to the French than the de-
struction of two transports. After this
fruitless enterprise, he sailed to the assist-
ance of the Pasha of Syria, who at first
entertained an idea of defending himself in
Acre, anxious only to secure his retreat, and
to convey away his women and treasure.
The commodore anchored in the road of
Caiffa, with the Tigre, Theseus, and Alliance
frigate, two days before the enemy made his
appearance. In this interval the utmost
exertions were made by Captain Miller of
the Theseus, and Sir Sidney's friend, Colonel
Philipeaux, who accompanied him in this
expedition, to put the place in a better
state of defence, so that it might withstand
the attack of an European army. The
presence of a British naval force appeared
to encourage the Pasha and his troops,
and to decide them to make a vigorous
resistance.

The enemy's advanced guard was dis-
covered at the foot of Mount Carmel, in
the night of March the ryth, by the Tigris
guard-boats ; these troops not expecting to
find a naval force of any description in
Syria, took up their ground close to the
water-side, and were consequently exposed
to the fire of grape-shot from the boats,
which put them to the rout the instant it

opened upon them, and obliged them to
retire precipitately up the mount. The
main body of the army finding the road
between the sea and Mount Carmel thus
exposed, came in by that of Nazareth, and
invested the town of Acre to the east.

As the enemy returned the fire of the
English by musketry only, it was evident
they had not brought cannon with them,
which was therefore to be expected by sea,
and measures were accordingly taken by Sir
Sidney for intercepting them. The Theseus
was already detached off Jaffa (Joppa).
The enemy's flotilla, which came in from
sea, fell in with and captured the Torride,
and was coming round Mount Carmel, when
it was discovered from the Tigre, consisting
of a corvette and nine sail of gun vessels ;
on seeing the English they instantly hauled
off. The ships immediately made sail after
them; their guns soon reached them, and
seven struck.

These gunboats were loaded, besides their
own complement, with battering cannon,
ammunition, and every kind of siege equip-
age for Bonaparte's army before Acre. The
corvette, containing that general's private
property, and two smaller vessels, escaped,
since it became an object to secure the
prizes without chasing further; their cargoes,
destined for the siege of Acre, being much
wanted for its defence. The prizes were
accordingly anchored off the town, manned
from the ships, and immediately employed
in harassing the enemy's posts, impeding his
approaches, and covering the ship's boats
sent further in shore to cut off his supplies
of provisions conveyed coastwise.

The check which the French army had
met with, and the loss of their heavy cannon
and stores, made Bonaparte draw back his
outposts and encamp his army on an insu-
lated height which borders the sea at about
a mile distance. After taking possession of
Saffet, Nazareth, and Scheffam, in order to
clear the passes on the road to Damascus,
Bonaparte reconnoitred Acre more accu-
rately with his officers of artillery and
engineers, and determined to attack the

208

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

front on the east of the town. On the 2oth
of March the trench was opened at nine
hundred feet from the place. The French
pushed their works at first with so much
activity that the ninth day after the open-
ing of the trench they had twelve pieces of
cannon and four mortars mounted, and
played with such effect as to pierce the
tower, while a branch of the mine had been
pushed on to blow up the counterscarp.
The mine was sprung, but it only made a
hole in the glacis ; the French thought the
counterscarp injured. The ditch, which had
been badly reconnoitred, had appeared but
of little depth ; the ardour of the Grenadiers,
and the contempt with which the taking of
Jaffa had inspired them for this kind of
fortification, did not surfer them to hesitate.
Instead, however, of finding every obstacle
smoothed and levelled, they were stopped
by a ditch of fifteen feet, of which scarcely
half was filled up by the rubbish of the
breach ; they plunged into it, placed lad-
ders, climbed the breach, but found them-
selves separated by the counterscarp from
the troops which were to support them.
The officers who headed the attack, under
a most dreadful fire, perished. The Turks,
who had abandoned the tower, re-entered it,
and the French retreated to their trenches.
During this time the ships under Sir
Sidney Smith had been forced to sea in a
heavy gale, except the Alliance and prize
gun-boats, which fortunately rode out the
storm. On his return he found that Cap-
tain Wilmot had been indefatigable in
mounting the prize guns under the direction
of Colonel Philipeaux, and that the fire had
slackened that of the enemy. As there was
much to be apprehended from the effect
of the mine which led under the counter-
scarp, a sortie was determined on ; the sea-
men and marines were to force their way
into it, while the Turkish troops attacked
the enemy's trenches on the right and left.
The sally took place just before daylight
on the morning of the 9th of April ; the
impetuosity and noise of the Turks ren-
dered the attempt to surprise the enemy

abortive, though in other respects they dis-
played great valour. Lieutenant Wright of
the Tigre, who commanded the seamen
pioneers, notwithstanding he received two-
shots in his right arm as he advanced,
entered the mine with the pikemen and
proceeded to the bottom of it, where he
verified its direction, and destroyed all he
could in its then state by pulling down the
supporters. Major Douglas of the Marines,
to whom Sir Sidney Smith had given the
necessary rank of colonel to enable him to-
command the Turkish officers of that rank,
supported the seamen in this desperate
service with great gallantry under the
increased fire of the enemy, bringing
off Lieutenant Wright, who had scarcely
strength left to get out of the enemy's
trench, from which they were not dislodged,
with the rest of the wounded. The only
officer killed on this occasion was Major
Oldfield, of the Marines, an officer of dis-
tinguished merit.

About the ist of May, Bonaparte was
strengthened by the arrival of some pieces-
of battering artillery, three 24-pounders,
brought by the frigates under Vice-Admiral'
Peree to Jaffa, and six i8-pounders sent
from Damietta; these pieces were imme-
diately planted against the town, and the
siege was carried on with redoubled vigour.
At this period the French met with a great
loss in General Caffarelli, one of their prin-
cipal engineers, who died of the wounds he
had received a few days before. They con-
tinued to batter in breach with progressive
success, and nine several times attempted
to storm, but were as often beaten back
with immense slaughter. Sir Sidney Smith
had been long anxiously looking for a rein-
forcement. The delay in its arrival being
occasioned by Hassan Bey's having origin-
ally received directions to join Sir Sidney
in Egypt, he was obliged to be very per-
emptory in the repetition of his orders to
join him at Acre ; it was not, however, till
the evening of the thirty-first day of the
siege that his fleet of corvettes and trans-
ports made its appearance. The approach

A CRITICAL POINT.

209

of this additional strength was the signal to
Bonaparte for a most vigorous and perse-
vering assault, in hopes to get possession of
the town before the reinforcement to the
garrison could disembark.

The constant fire of the besiegers was
suddenly increased tenfold; the flanking
fire of the English from a float was as usual
plied to the utmost, but with less effect
than heretofore, as the enemy had thrown
up epaulements and traverses of sufficient
thickness to' protect him from it. The guns
that could be worked to the greatest ad-
vantage were a French brass i8-pounder in
the lighthouse castle, manned from the
Theseus under the direction of Mr. Scroder,
master's mate; and the last mounted 24-
pounder in the north ravelin, manned from
the Tigre, under the direction of Mr. Jones,
midshipman. These guns being at grape
distance of the head of the attacking column,
added to the Turkish musketry, did great
execution. The Tigris two 68-pound car-
ronades, mounted in two germes lying in the
mole, and worked under the direction of
Mr. Bray, carpenter of the Tigre, threw
shells into the centre of this column with
evident effect, and checked it considerably.
Still, however, the enemy gained ground,
and made a lodgment in the second storey
of the north-east tower, the upper part being
entirely battered down, and the ruins in the
ditch forming the ascent by which they
mounted. Daylight showed the French
standard on the outer angle of the tower.
The fire of the besieged was much slack-
ened in comparison to that of the besiegers,
and the flanking fire become of less effect,
the enemy having covered themselves in
this lodgment, and the approach to it, by
two traverses across the ditch, which they
had constructed under the fire that had
been opposed to them during the whole
night, and which were now seen composed
of sand-bags, and the bodies of their dead
built in with them, their bayonets being
only visible above them. Hassan Bey's
troops were in the boats, though as yet but
half way in shore. This was a most critical

point of the contest ; an effort was neces-
sary to preserve the place for a short time
till their arrival. Sir Sidney Smith accord-
ingly landed the boats at the Mole, and
took the crews up to the beach, armed with
pikes.

The companions of Sir Sidney proved
themselves worthy of such a leader, and
even eclipsed all the achievements of their
forefathers on the plains of Palestine. The
effect produced by the arrival of a rein-
forcement of such men, at so critical a
moment, is not to be described. The
enthusiastic gratitude of the Turks, men,
women, and children, knew no bounds.
Many fugitives returned with them to the
breach, which they found defended by a
few brave Turks, whose most destructive
missile weapons were heavy stones, which,
striking the assailants on the head, over-
threw the foremost down the slope, and
impeded the progress of the rest. A suc-
cession, however, ascended to the assault,
the heap of ruins between the parties
serving as a breast-work for both; the
muzzles of the muskets touching, and the
spear-heads of the standards locked. Ghez-
zar Pasha, hearing that the English were
on the breach, quitted his station, where,
according to the ancient Turkish custom,
he was sitting to reward such as should
bring him the heads of the enemy, and
distributing musket-cartridges with his own
hands. The energetic old man coming
behind them, pulled them down with vio-
lence ; saying, if any harm happened to his
English friends, all was lost. This amicable
contest, as to who should defend the
breach, occasioned a rush of Turks to the
spot ; and time was gained for the arrival
of Hassan Bey's troops. Sir Sidney Smith
had now to combat the Pasha's repugnance
to admit any troops but his Albanians into
the garden of his seraglio, which had be-
come a very important post, as occupying
the terreplein of the rampart. There were
not above 200 of the 1000 Albanians left
alive. This was no time for debate, and
Sir Sidney over-ruled his objections by

210

THE ENGLISH IN EG YPT.

introducing the Chifflic regiment of 1000
men, armed with bayonets, disciplined after
the European method. The garrison, ani-
mated by the appearance of such a rein-
forcement, was now all on foot ; and there
being consequently enough to defend the
breach, Sir Sidney proposed to the Pasha,
to get rid of the object of his jealousy, by
opening the gates, to let them sally, and
take the assailants in flank ; he readily com-
plied, and Sir Sidney gave direction to the
colonel to get possession of the enemy's
third parallel, or nearest trench, and there
fortify himself by shifting the parapet out-
wards. This order being clearly under-
stood, the gates were opened, and the
Turks rushed out : but they were not equal
to such a movement, and were driven back
to the town with loss. Mr. Bray, however,
as usual, protected the town gates effica-
ciously with grape from the 68-pounders.
The sortie had this good effect, that it
obliged the enemy to expose themselves
above their parapets, so that the flanking
fire brought down numbers of them, and
drew their force from the breach, conse-
quently, the small number remaining on
the lodgment were killed, or dispersed by
hand-grenades. The enemy began a new
breach, by an incessant fire directed to the
southward of the lodgment, every shot
knocking down whole sheets of wall, much
less solid than that of the tower, on which
they had expended so much time and
ammunition.

The group of generals and aides-de-camp
which the shells from the 68-pounders had
frequently dispersed, was now assembled on
Richard Coeur de Lion's Mount. Bona-
parte was distinguishable in the centre of
a semi-circle : his gesticulations indicated
a renewal of attack, and his despatching an
officer to the camp, showed that he waited
only for a reinforcement. Sir Sidney
Smith gave directions for Hassan Bey's
ships to take their station in shoal-water to
the southward, and made the Tigris signal
to weigh and join the 27ieseus to the north-
ward. A little before sunset, a massive

column appeared advancing to the breach
with a solemn step. The Pasha's idea was
not to defend the brink at this time, but
rather to let a certain number of the enemy
in, and then close with them, according ta
the Turkish mode of war. The column
thus mounted the breach unmolested, and
descended from the rampart into the
Pasha's garden, where, in a few minutes,,
the bravest and most advanced among
them lay headless corpses ; the sabre, with
the addition of a dagger in the other hand,
proving more than a match for the bayonet ;
the rest retreated precipitately; and the
commanding officer, General Lasne, who
was seen manfully encouraging his men to
mount the breach, was carried off wounded
by a musket-shot. General Rombaud was
killed. Much confusion arose in the town
from the actual entry of the enemy, it
having been impossible, nay, impolitic, to
give previous information to every one of
the mode of defence adopted, lest the
enemy should come to a knowledge of it
by means of their numerous emissaries.

The English uniform, which had hitherto
served as a rallying point for the old
garrison, wherever it appeared, was now in
the dusk mistaken for French, the newly-
arrived Turks not distinguishing between
one hat and another in the crowd, and thus
many a severe blow of a sabre was parried
by the English officers, some of whom had
nearly lost their lives, as they were forcing
their way through a torrent of fugitives.
Calm was restored by the Pasha's exertions,
and thus the contest of twenty-five hours
ended, both parties being so fatigued as to
be unable to move.

After several ineffectual assaults, the
enemy had no alternative left but a pre-
cipitate retreat, which was put in execution
in the night between the 2oth and 2ist.
The battering'train of artillery (except the
carriages, which were burnt) fell into the
hands of the English, amounting to twenty-
three pieces. The howitzers, and medium
i2-pounders, originally conveyed by land
with much difficulty, and successful!}-

SIDNEY SMITH.

211

employed to make the first breach, were
embarked in the country vessels at Jaffa,
to be conveyed coastwise, together with the
worst among the two thousand wounded,
which embarrassed the march of the army.
This operation was to be expected ; Sir
Sidney took care, therefore, to be between
Jaffa and Damietta before the French army
could reach the former place. The vessels
being hurried to sea without seamen to
navigate them, and the wounded being in
want of every necessary, even water and
provisions, they steered straight to His
Majesty's ships, in full confidence of re-
ceiving the succours of humanity, in which
they were not disappointed.

Thus terminated this remarkable siege,
which continued without intermission for
sixty days, and in which the hitherto vic-
torious Corsican, at the head of 13,000
men, was baffled in his repeated and des-
perate attempts to make himself master of
an almost defenceless town, by a handful
of English seamen; and was at length
obliged to return in disgrace, with the loss
of one-fourth of his men, and all his

artillery. That of the British, in killed,
wounded, drowned, and prisoners, amounted
to 216.

According to the custom of the Turks,
the heads of thirteen French generals,
and three hundred officers, who fell into
their hands, were forwarded to the Grand
Signior, in front of whose palace they
were publicly exposed. Seven bags full of
the ears of French soldiers killed in Syria
were likewise sent him. On receiving in-
telligence of the meritorious services of
Sir Sidney, the emperor sent him an
aigrette, and sable fur, similar to that pre-
sented to Lord Nelson, worth twenty-five
thousand piastres. Nor did his country-
men withhold the applause due to his
gallantry. The King himself, on the
opening of the next session of Parliament,
noticed the heroism of this officer, and the
advantage which the nation had derived
from his success. The gratitude of both
branches of the legislature was expressed
in a vote of thanks to Sir Sidney, and to
the British officers, seamen, and troops
under his command.

CHAPTER XXXVII.

SIR SIDNEY SMITH THE EL ARISCH CONVENTION
AN HONOURABLE SOLDIER.

FTER leaving every neces-
sary assistance with the
Turkish army for its future
operations against the
French, Sir Sidney Smith
repaired to the different islands of the
Archipelago, and Constantinople, to refit
his little squadron, and to concert with the
Ottoman Porte on the most effectual mea-
sures to extirpate the French totally out of
Egypt. In the meantime Bonaparte had
advanced with the greater part of his army

and attacked that ot the Turks in their
entrenched camp before Aboukir, which,
after a most desperate and bloody conflict,
was stormed and carried, together with the
fort of Aboukir. The carnage was dread-
ful on both sides ; the greater part of -the
Turkish army perished, either by the sword,
or were drowned in attempting to get off to
the vessels in the bay. The French array
also suffered a considerable loss ; amongst
the slain were several of its principal
officers.

212

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

Sir Sidney Smith, who had just arrived
in the bay, was witness to this defeat, with-
out having it in his power to render the
Turks the least assistance. Towards the
end of October, a considerable reinforce-
ment of troops and ships had arrived from
Constantinople : this accession of strength
determined Sir Sidney to proceed to the
mouth of the Damietta branch of the Nile,
and to make an attack on it to draw the
attention of the enemy that way, which, as
had been agreed with the Grand Vizier,
would leave him more at liberty to advance
with the grand army on the side of the
desert. For this purpose the coast was
sounded, and the pass to Damietta marked
with buoys and gunboats. The attack
was begun by the Tigris gunboats with
great resolution, and the Turks took posses-
sion of a ruined castle, from which the
enemy in vain attempted to dislodge them.
On the ist of November, the troops were
disembarked ; at first a considerable advan-
tage was gained over the French, and they
were completely routed; but the impe-
tuosity of Osman Aga, and the troops he
commanded as a corps de reserve, who
rushed imprudently forward in pursuit of
the fugitives before they were commanded,
soon turned the fate of the day. The
French availing themselves of their superior
tactics, rushed on the Turks with such
fury, that they were thrown into the utmost
confusion and disorder, fled to the water-
side, and throwing themselves into the sea,
implored the assistance of the boats, which,
with some difficulty and danger, saved all
those who were not taken prisoners.

Bonaparte had now left Egypt, and
Kleber, who, after his departure, had as-
sumed the command of the French troops,
was induced, by the hopeless situation in
which he found himself, to agree to evac-
uate Egypt on condition of obtaining a
safe conduct to France. A convention to
this effect was signed between that general
and the Porte, and by Sir Sidney Smith on
the part of Great Britain, the ally of that
power.

By an accident greatly to be deplored,
a number of letters from French officers to
their government were about this time in-
tercepted. In these the state of their army
in Egypt was represented in such a light as
to induce a persuasion that the enemy must
be obliged to submit to the most unfavour-
able terms. In consequence of this un-
happy discovery, the British officers on
that station received directions not to treat
with the French unless they should acknow-
ledge themselves prisoners of war. The
ministers denied the authority of Sir Sidney
to conclude the convention of El Arisch,
which they refused to ratify, and Lord Keith
peremptorily informed Kleber that a passage
to France would not be allowed.

This intelligence roused the drooping
courage of the foe, who was now rendered
desperate by necessity, and prepared anew
to dispute the possession of the country he
had so lately been willing to evacuate.
Whether Sir Sidney was or was not fur-
nished with powers to treat, it soon became
evident how politic it would have been to
have ratified his convention, the violation
of which incurred an expenditure of many
millions of treasure, and the loss of many
thousands of lives, in the expedition which
it was afterwards found necessary to send
out for the re-conquest of Egypt.

No sooner was Sir Sidney informed of
the disapproval of the treaty by his govern-
ment, than he gave notice of the rupture to
the French general at Cairo. On the faith
of the convention the Turkish army had
advanced as far as Heliopolis, where the
French accordingly met, and totally de-
feated it. Sir Sidney's honourable frank-
ness towards the enemy so much displeased
the Turks, that, on the arrival of a British
army toco-operate in the reduction of Egypt,
the Captain Pasha insisted, says Sir Robert
Wilson, on the recall of Sir Sidney Smith,
the saviour of the Turkish Empire. The
Turks probably never forgave that generous
honesty which would not betray aa enemy,
and they attributed to him the defeat of
the Grand Vizier at Heliopolis.

GENEROSITY OF SIR SIDNEY SMITH.

213

Many other instances of the philanthropy
and benevolence of Sir Sidney Smith, even
to his enemies, during his command in the
Mediterranean, might be adduced, but the
following shall suffice. An account pub-
lished by the French themselves, stated,
that in September, 1800, a flag of truce
arrived at Barcelona from Port Mahon,
bringing thither more than one hundred
prisoners, Spaniards, Ligurians and French,
rescued by our countrymen from the cruel
hands of the Turks. Among these captives
was M. Thevenard, whose father resided at
Toulon. He had belonged to the French
army in Egypt; his brother had fallen in
the battle of Aboukir; and he himself had
languished in captivity for some time, till
Sir Sidney became apprised of his dis-
tressed situation. He immediately made
every exertion to procure his release, and
with success ; but his generosity did not stop
here, he supplied him with necessaries, with
money, with recommendations to various
persons at Constantinople, and afterwards
caused him to be conveyed to Rhodes in a
vessel purposely equipped for his use. The
conduct of Sir Sidney on this occasion was
acknowledged with the utmost gratitude by
the French, and the following letter, selected
from among many others equally benevo-
lent, was published in the French papers.

Copy of a letter from Commodore Sir
Sidney Smith, to Captain Gabriel TJieve-
nard,

" ON BOARD THE Tigre,Junc 15/4, 1800.

M. Thevenard is requested to come and
dine with Sir Sidney Smith on board the
Tigrc, this day, at three o'clock. Sir
Sidney takes the liberty to send some
clothes, which he supposes a person just
escaped from prison may require. The
great-coat is not of the best, but, excepting
English naval uniforms, it is the only one
on board the Tigre, and the same Sir
Sidney wore during his journey from the
Temple, till he reached the sea. It will
have done good service if it again serves a
similar purpose, by restoring another son to

the arms of his aged father, dying with
chagrin."

How different this from the treatment he
had himself experienced when under similar
circumstances !

In 1 80 1, when a powerful British military
force was sent to Egypt, Sir Sidney Smith
was one of the naval officers appointed to
co-operate with the army, at the head of a
detachment of seamen, and the Commander-
in-chief bore the most honourable testimony
to his merits, as having been "indefatigable
in his exertions to forward the service on
which he was employed." In this service
he received a wound, in the battle of the
zist of March, which proved fatal to the
lamented Abercromby, but it was not so
material as to deprive his brave colleagues
of his assistance.

Being soon afterwards prevented, by the
jealousy of the Turks, from any further parti-
cipation in this contest, Sir Sidney returned
to England. On his arrival, the Corporation
of London, whose public-spirited remunera-
tion of naval valour should not be passed
over unnoticed, resolved to bestow on him
the freedom of the city, and to accompany
it with the present of a valuable sword.
Accordingly, on the ;th of December,
i So i, the hero attended at Guildhall, to be
invested with the civic privileges of which
he had been deemed worthy, and to receive
the symbol of valour he had so justly
merited. On this occasion the chamber-
lain addressed him in the following terms :

" Sir Sidney Smith, I give you joy in the
name of the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and
Commons of the City of London, in Com-
mon-council assembled, and present you
the thanks of the court for your gallant and
successful defence of St. Jean d'Acre,
against the desperate attack of the French
army under the command of General Bona-
parte ; and, as a further testimony of the
sense the court entertains of your great
display of valour on that occasion, I have
the honour to present you with the free-
dom of the city, and this sword. [Sir Sidney
received the sword, and pressed it with

214

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

fervour to his lips.] I will not, sir, attempt
a panegyric upon an action to which the
oratorical powers in the most eloquent
assemblies have been confessed unequal ;
but I cannot help exulting on this happy
occasion at the vast national reputation
acquired by your conduct at the head of a
handful of Britons, in repulsing him who
has been justly styled the Alexander of the
day, surrounded by a host of conquerors till
then deemed invincible. By this splendid
achievement you frustrated the designs of
the foe on our eastern territories, prevented
the overthrow of the Ottoman power in
Asia, the downfall of its throne in Europe,
and prepared the way for that treaty of
peace, which, it is devoutly to be wished,
may long preserve the tranquillity of the
universe, and promote friendship and good-
will among all nations. It must be highly
gratifying to every lover of his country that
this event should have happened on the
very spot where a gallant English monarch
formerly displayed such prodigies of valour,
that a celebrated historian recording his
actions, struck with the stupendous in-
stances of prowess displayed by that heroic
prince, suddenly exclaimed, 'Am I writing
history or romance?' Had, sir, that his-
torian survived to have witnessed what has
recently happened at St. Jean d'Acre, he
would have exultingly resigned his doubts,
and generously have confessed, that actions
no less extraordinary than those performed
by the gallant Cceur de Lion have been
achieved by Sir Sidney Smith."

Peace now produced a temporary suspen-
sion of the active professional exertions of
our hero, who, at the general election in
1802, aspired for the first time to a seat in
the House of Commons. After canvassing
Rochester, which had chosen Sir Cloudes-
ley Shovel, and a great number of other
celebrated naval commanders, for its repre-
sentatives, he determined to become a
candidate. He attained the object of his
ambition, for, at the conclusion of the elec-
tion, his name stood at the head of the poll.
On the renewal of hostilities, in the

following year, Sir Sidney was appointed to
the Antelope, of 50 guns, with the com-
mand of a flying squadron. In April, 1804,
he received the appointment of Colonel of
Marines. On the i6th of the following
month he had a smart action with a French
flotilla which had left Flushing for the pur-
pose of forming a junction with that at
Ostend; but, notwithstanding the vigorous
measures adopted by the commodore and
the squadron under his command, the
greatest part of their vessels reached the
place of their destination; a circumstance
which could only be imputed to the dis-
advantages to which the English ships were
subjected in consequence of the shallow-
ness of the water, and the effect of the
enemy's battering and field-artillery on
shore. By these causes he was prevented
from taking possession of several of the
enemy's vessels which had struck their
colours. One, however, was captured, and
three schooners and a schuyt were sunk.
The loss sustained by the British squadron
amounted to 13 killed and 32 wounded.

It was probably the disappointment he
experienced in this instance that led him to
direct his thoughts toward the construction
of vessels capable of acting in shallow
water, and fit for transporting artillery and
troops ; for, in September following, we find
him at Dover, making experiments with two
vessels of his own contrivance, called the
Gemini and Cancer, which were said per-
fectly to answer all the purposes for which
they were designed.

On the 9th of November, 1805, Sir Sid-
ney attained to the rank of Rear-Admiral
of the Blue. Early the following year he
hoisted his flag on board the Pompee, of 80
guns, one of the ships he had himself been
instrumental in carrying away from Toulon
in 1793. In her he proceeded to the Medi-
terranean, where Lord Collingwood placed
a small squadron under his orders to annoy
the French in their newly-conquered king-
dom of Naples. On his arrival, he had the
satisfaction to find that the gallant Prince
of Hesse still held out in the fortress of

SIR SIDNEY SMITH HIS GENUINE HUMANITY.

215

-Gaeta ; but being without succour, Sir Sid-
ney's first care was to supply him with the
most essential articles for the defence of
that important place. Conceiving that he
could best co-operate with the governor by
drawing off some of the attacking force to
Naples, the Rear-Admiral proceeded thither
in the Pompee, accompanied by the Excel-
lent, Intrepid, and Athenian. The city was
just then illuminated, on account of Joseph
Bonaparte proclaiming himself king of the
Two Sicilies. " It would have been easy,"
says Sir Sidney, "to have internipted this
ceremony and show of festivity ; but I con-
sidered that the unfortunate inhabitants had
evil enough on them ; that the restoration
of the capital to its lawful sovereign, and its
fugitive inhabitants, would be no gratifica-
tion if it should be found a heap of ruins,
ashes, and bones; and that as I had no
force to land and keep order in case of the
French army retiring to the fortresses, I
should leave an opulent city a prey to the
licentious part of the community, who
would not fail to profit by the confusion the
flames would occasion." Swayed by these
motives of genuine humanity, the Rear-
Admiral would not suffer a single gun to be
fired ; but no such consideration prevented
his attempting to dislodge the French
garrison from Capri, the possession of
which was of considerable importance to
the enemy. He accordingly summoned the
commandant to surrender, and on his re-
fusal, a party of seamen and marines were
landed. In the conflict which ensued, the
French commandant fell, on which the
second in command thought fit to accept
the terms proposed by Sir Sidney. A
capitulation was signed, and the garrison
was allowed to march out and pass over to
Massa, on the Neapolitan coast, with every

honour of war, after the interment of their
former brave commander.

In the year 1808, when the French
threatened to overrun Portugal, Sir Sidney
Smith was sent with a strong squadron in
order to save the royal family, and to pro-
tect the lives and property of the British
subjects in that country. As the Portuguese
government did not possess the means of
opposing the invaders, they listened to the
advice of Lord Strangford, the British
ambassador at Lisbon, and prepared to
withdraw to the Brazils. Hesitating, how-
ever, to execute this bold and rational pro-
ject, they seemed for a time inclined to
throw themselves upon the mercy of the
French. As soon as Sir Sidney perceived
this change of sentiment, he placed the
Tagus in a state of rigorous blockade ; but
the court soon acknowledged the folly of
its conduct, and requested the aid of the
gallant Admiral. This was immediately
granted, and Sir Sidney was in a short time
at sea, having on board the royal house of
Braganza, with several thousands of the
most respectable people of Lisbon, and a
large quantity of money, goods, etc. Thus
he acquired the honour of essentially co-
operating in saving one of the ancient royal
families of Europe from destruction, and of
laying the foundation of a new empire in
America. Sir Sidney afterwards returned
from his station at the Brazils, where it
appears his health had suffered considerably
from the climate and the anxiety of mind
he experienced. He did not continue
long unemployed, having in 1812 sailed
with a squadron in order to annoy the
enemy's coast, a service for which he
seemed to be peculiarly well qualified, and
where he added another wreath to the
laurels he had already won.

2l6

THE ENGLISH JA EGYPT.

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

SIR JOHN J&OORE A. ^SOLDIER'S AREER.

T can never be too often or
too earnestlyinculcated, that
Great Britain is indebted to
her free constitution alone
for her boasted superiority.
The effects of this are evident in every
department and every profession, and the
churchman, the barrister, and the merchant,
afford not more numerous or more con-
spicuous instances of this truth, than the
men of the sword. During the old govern-
ment of France, in consequence of a special
decree enacted in the reign of Louis XIV.,
none but the nobility could enjoy the
honour of serving their country as officers
in the army or marine. Even at this day,
promotions, at least in the first instance,
are chiefly regulated in many of the con-
tinental states by the college of heralds,
and the number of quartering* not unfre-
quently declares the degree of advance-
ment.

The revolution of 1688 struck a deadly
blow at the feudal system, while the intro-
duction of a commercial interest into the
scale of our government gave birth to a
more generous policy in this country.
Merit of all kinds was admitted to a fair
competition, and birth, for the first time in
the history of modern Europe, began to be
considered as secondary to genius.

In consequence of this, our youth of
every description have aspired to eminence
and celebrity. If Howe was the son of a
peer, Shovel was an apprentice to a cobbler ;
and Churchill, although a man of family,
would have lived and died in obscurity,
without attaining to the ducal honours of
Marlborough, but for the victories of
Ramilies and Blenheim.

Bravery, talents, and good conduct, then,
are alone sufficient to attain advancement

in our navy and army ; and we have heard
of but few instances when modest and
unassuming worth have failed of success.
Even our Hotspurs succeed to a certain
degree, although ready to exclaim,

" By heaven, methinks it were an easy leap
To pluck bright honour from the pale-faced moon !
Or dive into the bottom of the deep,
Where fathom-line could never touch the ground,
And pluck up drowned honour by the locks."

KING HENRY IV., Acti. Scene 3.

" In thy faint slumbers, I have by thee watched,
And heard thee murmur tales of iron wars ;
Speak terms of manage to the bounding steed ;
Cry, Courage ! to the field ; and thou hast talked
Of sallies and retires ; of trenches, tents,
Of basilisks, of cannon, culverin ;
Of prisoners' ransom, and of soldiers slain,
And all the currents of a heady fight.

Thy spirit within thee hath been so at war,
And thus hath so bestirred thee in thy sleep,
That beads of sweat stood upon thy brow
Like bubbles in a late disturbed stream :
And in thy face strange motions have appeared,
Such as we see when men restrain their breath
On some great sudden haste."

KING HENRY IV., Scene 3.

But it is a character of a far different
description of which we are now prepared
to give an account : a character unassuming
of itself, and calculated alike to disarm envy
and concentrate applause. While the
"spirit-stirring drum " excites our generous
youth to arms, while we are prepared to
combat and to vanquish a foe flushed with
success and inured to victory, it is a task
neither unpleasant nor un useful, to designate
the men who have not only bled in the
defence of their country, but are formed by
nature and education to point out the road
to glory. This is calculated, on one hand,
to impress our commanders with the idea
that their exploits will not be forgotten by
the public ; and, on the other, to inspire

MOOJRES EARLY LIFE.

217

our troops with a just confidence in those
who have already merited the thanks and
gratitude of the nation.

General Moore was a native of Scotland.
His grand-
father, the Rev.
Charles Moore,
was a clergy-
man or "minis-
ter," as it is
usually called,
of the Estab-
lished Church,
which is the
Presbyterian,
and, like most
of that profes-
sion, afforded
an admirable
example of
manners that
betokened all
the simplicity
of the patri-
archal times,
and of integrity
that was equally
edifying and
irreproachable.
His father, Dr.
John Moore,
after being
bred at the
university of
Glasgow, first
acted as a sur-
geon in the
hospitals in
Flanders, dur-
ing the war
preceding the
American, and
after practising
some time in

the same capacity in his native country,
at length settled in London. He is, how-
ever, better known as a traveller than a
medical man, and a man of letters than
a physician. Early in life he became

united to the daughter of the Rev. Mr.
Simson, professor of divinity in the Univer-
sity of Glasgow, and had by this lady one
daughter and five sons, the eldest of whom

forms the sub-
ject of this me-
moir.

John was
born at Glas-
gow some time
before his fa-
ther bid a last
farewell to a
city celebrated
alike for its
literature and
its commerce,
and to which
the whole fam-
ily was attached
by the most
tender recollec-
tion. It was
here also that
he received the
first rudiments
of his educa-
tion, which was
afterwards ad-
vanced and
perfected under
the immediate
eyes of a pa-
rent.

As the doc-
tor had ob-
tained consid-
erable estima-
tion in the
country which
gave him birth,
both on ac-

EGYPTIAN BAZAAR. COUttt Of his

medical skill

and the suavity of his manners, two noble-
men of the illustrious house of Hamilton,
that had in former times mingled its blood
with that of the Caledonian sovereigns, were
entrusted to his care. Each of the last

218

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

dukes of that name appeared to be affected
with a predisposition towards a pulmonary
consumption, which, in the end, proved
fatal to both, the one dying of that com-
plaint in his fifteenth year, while the life of
the second, notwithstanding a variety of
excesses, was procrastinated to the period
when he had attained the age of forty-
four.

After strewing flowers on the tomb of
James-George, together with some well
written verses, Dr. Moore, at the earnest
request of his mother, the Duchess of
Argyle, accompanied Douglas Hamilton,
the next Duke of Hamilton, to the conti-
nent. The period which elapsed during
this long, amusing, and instructive tour,
was no less than five years ; and the view
of France, Italy, Switzerland, and Germany,
opened new scenes, and afforded subjects
for remark, that could not fail to furnish a
variety of interesting ideas.

On this occasion, John, the eldest son of
Dr. Moore, accompanied his father, and
thus, besides the advantages of paternal
instruction, had a most excellent oppor-
tunity of obtaining a facility in the
languages. It was then also, by seeing the
best company among the various nations
which he visited, that he acquired those
manners and that polish so necessary to the
intercourse cf society.

In all ages the most distinguished
warriors have also been the best bred men. |
Caesar, notwithstanding the vices which |
disgraced his private life, and the crimes |
which led to his advancement, is allowed to
have been one of the most accomplished
noblemen of his age ; even when he expired,
and that too by the hand of Brutus, he
contrived that his robe should be so
adjusted that he might fall decently, if not
gracefully. We possess another singular
instance of this in the great Duke of
Marlborough, a person so eminently desti- |
tute of education as to be incapable of j
penning a letter on the most ordinal y
occurrences of life. Yet such was the
fascination of his manners, that no petitioner

ever departed dissatisfied from his presence,
while he himself found means to reconcile
the differences and unite the discordant
interests of several nations, by means of a
league hurtful in the extreme to the common
enemy, and not a little advantageous to
his own country.

Having been destined for the army, Mr.
John Moore entered the service early in
life ; and as he possessed the patronage of
two of the first families in Scotland (those
of Argyle and Hamilton), his rise was pretty
rapid. After passing through all the inter-
mediate degrees, he became Lieutenant-
Colonel of the 52nd Regiment of Foot, in
1 80 1 obtained the Colonelcy of the same,
and rose to the rank of Major-General soon
after. At this period also, we find him
representing a district of Scottish boroughs
in the British Parliament.

The then war with France afforded the
most excellent opportunity for young men
of talents to distinguish themselves, and
these were not omitted by the subject of
this memoir. We accordingly find him
employed in the Mediterranean, where he
soon became known by his zeal and
intrepidity.

The sudden evacuation of Toulon
rendered a place of arms in that quarter
not only requisite for our troops, but also
for our navy ; in addition to this, some spot
was wanting for the accommodation of the
immense number of emigrants who, in con-
sequence of their espousing the cause of
England, had been under the necessity of
flying from their native homes. An oppor-
tunity having presented itself about this
time of annexing Corsica to the crown of
England, Lord Hood, an able and indefati-
gable commander, determined to make the
attack.

Pascal Paoli, who, after fighting the
battles of his country had taken refuge in
England, was once more determined to
contend for the sovereignty of his native
isle; but he had been taught by bitter
experience how difficult it was for a hand-
ful of half-civilized men to combat the

THE TOWER OF MO R TELL A.

219

armies of a nation acquainted with all the
resources of war. He therefore, after being
elected generalissimo by a public consulta,
entered into a secret correspondence with
England, to which he made an offer of the
sovereignty of his native island.

The British admiral having determined
to do nothing rashly or inconsiderately,
was resolved to select two intelligent
officers, on purpose to inquire into the
probability and means of success. Those
pitched upon by him were Lieutenant-
Colonel Moore and Major Koehler, who,
having landed secretly, had an interview
with the veteran chief, and made a true,
and, at the same time, a flattering report
of his power and authority. Impressed
with this intelligence, Lord Hood deter-
mined to anticipate the French, who had
embarked a body of troops at Nice for the
subjugation of the island, and accordingly
sailed from the Heires in January, 1795.

Having anchored in a bay to the west-
ward of Mortella Tower, a body of troops,
consisting of the second battalion of the
Royals, the i ith, 25th, 3oth, soth, 5151, and
69th Regiments, amounting in all to about
fourteen hundred men, was landed under
Lieutenant-General Dundas, and it was
determined that this important post should
be immediately seized, without which the
anchorage could not be deemed secure.
As the celebrated defence made by it not
only rendered this little fort memorable,
but induced an opinion that similar ones
ought to be erected along our own coast,
it may not be amiss to attempt a descrip-
tion of it in this place.

The tower of Mortella resembles a wooden
sand-box in point of form, being circular,
and increasing as it ascends, until it reaches
the parapet which overshadows the base.
The walls are of a prodigious thickness,
and two eighteen-pounders mounted on the
summit were protected by means of junk
cables, used in the tunny fishery, intermixed
with sand. A bomb-proof casemate, ca-
pacious enough to shelter a hundred men,
defended a well which at once supplied

water for drinking, and also for extinguish-
ing any fire occasioned by an attack on the
part of an enemy.

The rotundity of the fort rendered it a
mark extremely difficult to be hit by the
most skilful engineer; and even in that
case, as the balls generally struck in an
oblique direction, the damage was incon-
siderable, while the garrison, consisting of
only thirty-three men, were exposed to little
or no danger.

This was fully proved by the event ;
for notwithstanding the Fortitude andfutio
were so placed as to anchor with the most
effect, and a combined attack took place
by sea and land, the reduction was far from
being easy. These ships, unaccustomed to
contend with walls, behind which were
lodged an invisible enemy, found it con-
venient to withdraw, after a severe and
well-directed fire of two hours and a half,
during which one of them was in danger of
being burnt by red-hot shot, supplied from
a furnace constructed behind the parapet.

It now became necessary to attack the
place in form, which accordingly experi-
enced all the honours of a regular siege.
The land forces having seized on an emi-
nence that commanded it, a battery was
established within two hundred and fifty
yards ; but the feeble garrison within, which
had entered through a narrow aperture in
the wall, and by drawing up the ladder
rendered an assault impracticable, held out
during two whole days, and at length sur-
rendered, rather from the novelty of their
situation than any immediate necessity.

While the fate of this paltry but formid-
able fortress engaged the attention both
of the English and the enemy, Lieutenant-
Colonel Moore had been detached with two
regiments, a small howitzer, and a six-
pounder, for the purpose of seizing on
Fornelli by a sudden and unexpected
movement. Having dragged these for the
space of several miles, through a mountain-
ous country, on reconnoitring the place,
which on the preceding year had resisted
the attack of one of our flying squadrons,

220

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

it was found that it could not be taken by
a coup de main. The present expedition,
however, proved the means of its capture :
for this officer reported, that provided heavy
artillery was brought up, an attack on the
enemy's posts seemed likely to be attended
with success.

The officers and seamen of the navy
cheerfully undertook to accomplish the
most laborious part of this expedition, and
accordingly, after four days' incessant
fatigue, a sufficient quantity of ordnance
was hauled, notwithstanding the variety of
obstructions that occurred, to an eminence
elevated no less than seven hundred feet
above the level of the sea. From this com-
manding height, a single eighteen-pounder
so annoyed two French frigates in the ad-
jacent bay of St. Fiorengo, that they were
forced to retire, while one battery, consist-
ing of three pieces of artillery, enfiladed the
redoubt of the convention, and a second
took it in reverse.

In the meantime the Corsicans, to the
number of twelve hundred, advanced to the
support of their allies, while, to prevent the
waste of time, an immediate assault was
determined upon, as the French com-
mander refused to capitulate. Accordingly,
on the evening of February 17, Lieutenant-
Colonel Moore headed a column, with
which he advanced against the nearest part
of this formidable redoubt, while Lieu-
tenant-Colonel Wauchope and Captain
Stewart extended in the centre and on
the left, and having thus divided the atten-
tion of the enemy, drove them down a
steep in the rear. On this occasion Lieu-
tenant-Colonel Moore cut down a French
grenadier, who fought by the side of his
commander, with his own hand.

In consequence of these operations the
English now became masters of the town
as well as the gulf of St. Fiorengo, and
Lord Hood solicited Major-General Dundas
to pursue the good fortune that had hitherto
accompanied His Britannic Majesty's arms,
in order to complete their career of success
by the conquest of Bastia. The Com-

mander-in-chief of the land forces, however,
declined to engage in an undertaking for
the accomplishment of which the troops
under his command appeared inadequate.

On this the British Admiral determined
to undertake the siege with the Marines
alone. Accordingly Lieutenant-Colonel Vil-
lettes having landed with a body of men,
who had hitherto served on board, and
Captain Nelson (afterwards Admiral Lord
Nelson) joined him with a detachment of
seamen, batteries were opened and the place
summoned. But the chief reliance was on
the closeness of the blockade, and to effect
this, the ships were moored across the
entrance of the harbour, with gunboats and
armed launches occupying the intervals,
while row-boats were constantly employed
during the night to preclude the arrival ot
any supplies. One thousand three hundred
English, and almost eight hundred Corsi-
cans, were opposed on this occasion to a
garrison of near three thousand men, yet,
after a siege of three and thirty days,
General Gentili was under the necessity of
surrendering.

As Calvi was now the sole post in the
island appertaining to the French, the im-
mediate possession of it became of great
importance to the English. Accordingly,
while Howe was cruising to intercept a
division of the Toulon squadron destined
for its relief, the hero of Aboukir, who had
as usual distinguished himself by his zeal
and intrepidity, proceeded with the troops >
and effected a landing at Agra.

In the course of the same day (June
9, 1795), the troops having received con-
siderable reinforcement under lieutenant-
General Stuart, they encamped in a strong
position, called " Serra del Cappucine,"
three miles distant from the object of their
attack.

While the English Admiral, not content
with blockading up the port, and preventing
the possibility of the supplies, was landing
seven of the lower guns belonging to his
own ship the Victory, the approaches and
operations by land were found extremely

A SUCCESSFUL ATTACK.

221

difficult. To remedy this inconvenience,
the seamen and soldiers were employed in
constructing roads, bringing up artillery,
ordnance, stores, and provisions. It was
also determined to dispense upon this oc-
casion with the regular but slow methods
of approach hitherto practised in similar
cases.

But before the body of the place could
be attacked, it became necessary to carry
two detached forts. Two mortars and four
gun batteries were therefore immediately
erected for the purpose of cannonading
Mollinochesco, situated on an eminence
resembling a promontory, while it became
necessary for the capture of Mozello, built
in form of a star, to construct works within
seven hundred yards of its walls : and to
effect the latter object, it was indispensably
requisite to put the whole army in motion,
so as to take up the precise spot of ground
pitched upon, by a sudden and general
movement.

These operations having been happily
effected, the French found themselves under
the necessity of evacuating the Mollino-
chesco, and a breach appearing by this time
practicable in the strong stone fort alluded
to before, it was determined to take it by
assault. The same officer who had so
gallantly carried the convention redoubt
at Formelli being pitched upon to achieve
this important enterprise, Lieutenant-Col-
onel Moore accordingly undertook the
management of the whole. Daybreak was
judged the most proper time for making
the attempt, while, to arrive there at the
appointed moment, it became necessary to
post the troops among the myrtle bushes,
with which the neighbouring rocks were
covered, and at the same time as near
the breach as possible, so as not to alarm
the enemy, who, from a point of honour,
refused to yield until drawn out by force,
and were prepared with grenades, as well
as musketry and cannon, to defend a
position considered by them as still tenable.

In the meantime false attacks were made
in other quarters ; and General Stuart, who

was extremely anxious for the event, having
arrived before daylight, after a short con-
sultation, gave the signal for attack. On
this Lieutenant-Colonel Moore, supported
by Major Brereton, advanced with unloaded
arms and a rapid march, so as, if possi-
ble, to surprise the enemy. While in mid
career they were observed from the ram-
parts, and a volley of grape-shot was fired,
but in consequence of the indistinct view,
arising from the want of light, the shot did
but little execution. On this, redoubling
their pace, the storming party now scram-
bled up amidst the rubbish, regardless of
the fire of small arms, the roaring of cannon,
and the bursting of shells. While Lieu-
tenant-Colonel Wemys, with the Royal Irish
Regiment of Artillery, and two pieces of
cannon, the latter under the direction of
Lieutenant Lemoine, of the Royal Artillery,
carried the battery on the left, the assailants,
leaving their wounded and dying friends
behind, pursued their progress towards the
breach.

A variety of impediments occurred, both
from the nature of the ground and the
desperate resistance made by the enemy.
A captain of the Royals was severely
wounded by the side of the commanding
officer, while he himself received a severe
contusion in the head, by the bursting
of the same shell. Notwithstanding the
effusion of blood, he entered the place
along with the Grenadiers, and General
Stuart, who had witnessed the whole from
a neighbouring eminence, followed fast
behind, and threw himself in the arms of
Lieutenant-Colonel Moore, thus affording
the most ardent testimony of his approba-
tion, in presence of the victors, who shouted
with joy.

The troops having now secured them-
selves in the works thus bravely won, the
cannon in the Star fort were immediately
turned against Calvi, on which General
Casa Bianca, who commanded there, pro-
posed a truce of twenty-five days ; but
this being deemed inadmissible, additional
batteries were erected for heavy guns, while

222

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

the mortars and howitzers were so disposed
as to annoy the town, and nearly silence
the enemy's fire. At length, after the
lapse of nine days, and a cannonade and
bombardment of eighteen hours, the garri-
son capitulated; thus concluding a siege
which occupied exactly fifty-one days.

The French being now completely sub-
dued, a general consulta was convoked at
Corte, the most central town in the whole
island, at which the venerable Paoli
acted as president. The representatives
chosen from the pieves or districts then
voted, with one unanimous voice, that
Corsica should be united for ever to the
British crown. Sir Gilbert Elliot (afterwards
Lord Minto) who had been sent as com-
missioner to Toulon, and who acted as
viceroy, accepted this offer in the name of
His Majesty, and a constitution, perhaps
but little suitable to the genius of these rude
islanders, yet assuredly friendly in no com-
mon degree to their national and civil
liberties, was immediately tendered.

But it was the opinion of General Stuart
that another mode of conduct ought to
have been adopted ; and, if we are to judge
from events, he appears to have estimated
the character and situation of those new
subjects with the eye of a statesman as well
as that of a soldier. After viewing the whole
of the island, and examining the means
of defence, he represented to the English
cabinet, that the best mode of proceeding
would be to occupy the forts and harbours,
and leave the civil government in the hands
of the natives : in short, that they should
be allowed to retain that independence in
which they had always prided themselves ;
while we, on the other hand, would thus
avoid a supremacy equally burdensome and
expensive.

But a different mode was adopted. In-
comes were assigned, and pensions granted
to the chiefs, while it was naturally expected
that something should be contributed by
this newly emancipated people in return.
But they were unacquainted with fiscal
regulations ; they spurned at the idea of

taxation ; and content with their flocks,
their streams, and their chestnuts, they
almost set the arts of the exchequer at
defiance.

In the meantime the Commander-in-
chief left the island, to the great regret of
the inhabitants, whose friendship he had
obtained. Before his departure, he recom-
mended Lieutenant-Colonel Moore, now in-
vested with the rank of Adjutant-General,,
as a proper person to succeed him. This
officer also enjoyed the confidence of the
natives, and the esteem of the troops ; but
he was recalled, as has been said, at the
instigation of a person invested with high
authority. General Paoli also appears to
have given umbrage, as it was found neces-
sary for him to retire, first to Leghorn, and
afterwards to England, happy at escaping
from the scenes that ensued, and at being
exempt from the sorrow and danger of
beholding the place of his nativity once
more in possession of the French.

Soon after his return to great Great
Britain, the Duke of York, fully conscious
of the merits and the capacity of the sub-
ject of this memoir, selected him as a
proper person to serve in an important
expedition projected against the French
West India colonies. The mortality that
had prevailed among our troops in that
quarter, added to the intrigues and the
exploits of Victor Hughes, a man equally
celebrated for his bravery and inhumanity,
had in some measure rendered the exploits
of a Jervis and a Grey abortive. It must
be allowed, at least, that the fatal progress
of disease, added to the energetic conduct
of that singular man, alluded to above, pre-
vented the judicious measures adopted by
these active and intrepid chiefs from being
attended with all the brilliant effects which
had been expected from their first successes.
Of fifty-four thousand men detached to the
islands in the course of three years, not
only the greater part, but nearly all of them,
were doomed to perish by the climate and
the sword.

It was determined, therefore, in the

ADVENTURES IN HOLLAND.

22$

autumn of 1795, to sen d out a new army
under Lieutenant-General Sir Ralph Aber-
cromby, and the fleet and transports ac-
cordingly arrived, early in the succeeding
year, at Carlisle Bay, in the island of Barba-
does. After the capture of the Dutch
colonies of Demerara, Essequibo, and Ber-
bice, which was effected with the utmost
ease, part of the troops selected for the
reduction of St. Lucia, among whom Mr.
Moore served with the rank of Brigadier-
General, proceeded to Longueville's Bay,
and effected a landing without any consid-
erable opposition. Having advanced next
morning to Choe Bay, the centre division
of the army disembarked near the village
of the same name, on which the advanced
body of the enemy retired to Morne
Chabot, one of the strongest posts in the
island.

Before any further progress could be
made, it was deemed necessary to occupy
this high and commanding eminence.
Accordingly two officers were selected to
lead the troops, and were employed in two
separate attacks. General Moore, with
seven companies of the 53rd Regiment,
one hundred of Malcolm's, and fifty of
Lewinstein's Rangers, were ordered to ad-
vance by a circuitous path, while General
Hope, with three hundred and fifty of the
57th, was to march by a nearer and more
direct route. But in consequence of some
error on the part of the guides, arising
from the circumstance of its being a night
attack, the former fell in with an advanced
picket, considerably more than had been
expected, so that his intentions were com-
pletely discovered, and the meditated
assault anticipated. Notwithstanding this,
the Brigadier-General immediately deter-
mined to commence operations without
waiting for the approach of the other
column, and despite this disadvantage,
he found means to carry the post, by
means of a prompt and decisive movement.
In the course of the succeeding day he
advanced to and seized on Mornc Duch-
assaux, in the rear of Morne Fortune, in the

possession of which the principal strength
of the enemy consisted. In consequence
of some mischances, in which neither the
Commander-in-chief nor the subject of
this memoir are in the least degree impli-
cated, the French batteries were not carried
for some days after. But at length two
parallels, provided with heavy artillery,
having been completed, and the enemy
repulsed by General Moore, during a des-
perate sally for the protection of the Vigie,
a lodgment was effected within a few
hundred yards of the fort : and this island
surrendered to the British arms, May 25,
1796.

Brigadier-General Moore, after a success-
ful campaign, returned to Europe at the
same time with General Abercromby, and
no sooner was the latter employed in a
new expedition, than he selected this officer,
who had now acquired the rank of Major-
General, to accompany him. The British
Cabinet being fully sensible of the import-
ance of Holland, bereaved of its ancient
independence, in consequence of engaging
in this war, determined to make a bold
attempt, on purpose to rescue an ancient
ally from the dominion of France.

The Emperor Paul was accordingly sub-
sidized, and an Anglo - Russian army
invaded the Batavian dominions, August
2 7> J 799- No sooner had a landing been
effected than Sir Ralph Abercromby gave
orders for two brigades, under the Major-
Generals Moore and Burrard, to attack the
Helder; but this measure was rendered
unnecessary by the conduct of the Dutch
under General Daendels, who thought fit
to evacuate that important post.

Nor did the prospect of success end
here, for the enemy was foiled in an attack
on the British cantonments, in the course
of which Major-General Moore, who com-
manded on the right, while displaying his
wonted spirit, and experiencing his usual
I good fortune, received a slight wound.
Such hopes of a final and complete success
were now held out, that His Royal Highness
the Duke of York embarked with the-

224

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

second division of the army, and on
his arrival at head-quarters immediately
assumed the command of the whole, seven
thousand Russians, under General d'Her-
mann, having been landed at the same
time.

The allied army, after the necessary
preparations, now moved forward in four
columns ; but the country being intersected
with hedges, ditches, and canals, their pro-
gress was but slow. Bergen, however, was
taken possession of by the Russians; yet
being driven back soon after upon that
place, in consequence of encountering a

large body of the enemy advantageously
posted in a country with which they -were
but little acquainted, two of their generals
were taken prisoners, and all the advan-
tages of this day, in which the English were
everywhere successful, entirely lost. Such
a check, after carrying the villages of
Walmen, Ouds, Carpsel, and Hoorne, and
capturing upwards of three thousand men,
together with sixteen pieces of artillery,
proved the forerunner of great disasters.
At the battle of Alkmaar, indeed, the
Gallo-Batavian army was found to give
way, after a spirited contest of twelve

EGYPTIAN CATTLE MARKET.

hours, and even at that of Baccum the
Anglo-Russians remained masters of the
field; but it was by this time perceived that
the main object of the expedition could not
be attained. The campaign accordingly

proved abortive, and eight thousand
prisoners of war detained in England were
offered and accepted for the permission of
reimbarking the troops secure from molest-
ation and attack.

THE FRENCH IN EGYP1.

225

CHAPTER XXXIX.

JOHN ^A.OORE SERVICES IN EGYPT DEATH AT CORUNNA.

HE next public service in
which we find General
Moore engaged was the
expedition against Egypt.

and one solitary but splendid defeat by
the English, Ottomans, and Syrians, before
Acre, had retired to France, with a view,
no doubt, of acquiring the aim, although

Bonaparte, after a variety of | not the end, of all his toils, by a usurpa-
victories against the Turks and Mamelukes, | tion of the sovereign power, over a nation

THE RETURN FROM THE FIELD.

free indeed, but split into a variety of
factions. While he was preparing fresh
triumphs in Italy, which at length led to
the battle of Marengo, and the peace of
Luneville, Kleber, whom he had invested
with the temporary command, obtained a
decisive superiority over the Turks in the
battle of Heliopolis. On his death, by the
hands of an unknown assassin, the English
Cabinet, which had omitted a fortunate
opportunity of obtaining the evacuation of
Egypt, by the fulfilment of the treaty of
El Arisch, determined to attempt the re-
conquest of that country by force.

We shall now take a survey of the oper-
ations of the English army. After the
failure of an attempt on one of the Spanish
ports (Cadiz) it became necessary either
for the troops embarked on that expedition
to return to England, or endeavour by
some brilliant achievement to obliterate
the memory of this event. Sir Ralph
Abercromby, who had already distin-
guished himself both in Holland and the
West Indies, in consequence of the sur-
render of Malta, naturally turned his
attention towards Egypt. The British
Cabinet being at the same time impressed

226

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

with the necessity of wresting that country
from France, sent out orders for its invasion,
and the Turks were incited by the most
powerful motives to co-operate effectually
in an undertaking calculated to restore one
of the brightest gems in the turban of their
Sultan.

Lord Keith having rendezvoused with
the fleet and transports in the bay of
Marmorice, the troops were landed and
refreshed, and great hopes were entertained
that the Mussulmen, laying aside the
indolence which had marked their charac-
ter for the last century, would arouse
themselves into action, and prove them-
selves worthy of being the descendants of
the gallant Tartar tribe that had conquered
Constantinople, and rendered the crescent
triumphant, not only in the Hellespont,
but along the shores of the Mediterranean.
Nor did this seem altogether improbable,
for the two great officers of state (the
Grand Vizier and Captain Pasha) had
been ordered to assemble a powerful fleet
and army, while the English cavalry was to
be remounted by the Turkish horses of the
Arabian breed.

But expectations like these were not
destined to be fully realized. On the con-
trary, the delay produced by empty
promises was not likely to be compensated
by any corresponding advantage. To in-
vestigate the cause, it became necessary to
detach an officer of rank, and Major-General
Moore was accordingly chosen for that
purpose. On his arrival in the Vizier's
camp at Jaffa, he found all the doubts
that had been hitherto entertained but too
amply verified. He there beheld an army,
}f it may be so denominated, chiefly com-
posed of Asiatics, raised according to the
exploded principles of the feudal system,
equally destitute of discipline and subor-
dination. Afraid to muster his troops lest
a mutiny should ensue, equally exposed to
the ravages of the plague, the musketry of
his own followers, and the intrigues of the
seraglio during his absence, His Highness
could afford nothing but expectations, while

little reliance was to be placed on the
naval succours to be afforded by the Cap-
tain Pasha.

At length, on the 2oth of February,
1 80 1, the British fleet sailed with an army
on board of between fifteen and sixteen
thousand, but whose effective force is said
not to have exceeded twelve thousand men.
It also laboured under many disadvantages,
as may be learned from the account of an
officer (Sir Robert Wilson) embarked on
this expedition. According to him, the
troops wanted many comforts which that
part of Asia Minor could not produce;
although several vessels taken on their
way from France to Alexandria had
afforded a very seasonable supply, being
laden with all the epicurean luxuries she
could send out. The greatest misfortune
was the total want of information respecting
Egypt. Not a map to be depended upon
could be procured, and the best draft
from which information could be formed,
and which was distributed to the generals,
proved ridiculously incorrect. Sir Sidney
Smith was the only officer who knew at all
the locality of the coast, and he certainly,
as far as he had seen, afforded perfect
information. But he had never been in
the interior of the country.

Captain Boyle, at Minorca, had given an
idea of the disposition of the French,
which, considering the caution it was
necessary for him to use, and the vigilance
which guarded him, did his zeal and
address great honour.

Mr. Baldwin, the British consul at Alex-
andria, who had been sent for from Naples
by Sir Ralph Abercromby, on account of
his respectable character and influence in
Egypt, could not be supposed to give
much military information. It is, however,
a positive fact, extraordinary as it may
appear, that so little was Sir Ralph Aber-
cromby acquainted with the strength of the
enemy he was preparing to attack, that he
rated their force, at the greatest calculation,
at only ten thousand French, and five
thousand auxiliaries, then exceeding the

MOORE AT ABOUKIR.

227

number stated in the official information
sent from home, and on which the expedi-
tion was originally formed.

But the good fortune and bravery of the
English prevailed on this memorable oc-
casion, notwithstanding the multitude of
obstacles opposed to their success.

A squadron of men-of-war and trans-
ports, amounting to two hundred sail,
having arrived in Aboukir Bay March yth,
anchored near the spot rendered so cele-
brated by the glorious victory of the Nile.
The first division of the army, amounting
to near six thousand men, having em-
barked in the boats, a rocket was fired at
three o'clock in the morning as a signal to
proceed to the place of rendezvous, and
at nine they advanced towards the beach,
steering directly towards that part of the
shore where the enemy appeared the most
formidable The French occupied an
admirable military position, consisting of a
steep sand-hill receding towards the centre,
in form of an amphitheatre, which, together
with the castle of Aboukir, poured down a
most terrible and continued discharge of
shot, shell, and grape, so as to furrow up
the waves on all sides of the approaching
flotilla.

Notwithstanding this, Major -General
Moore having leaped on shore with the
reserve, the 23rd Regiment, and the four
flank companies of the 4oth, belonging to
his brigade, rushed up the eminence, and
charged with fixed bayonets. The effect
produced by this gallant movement was
such as might have been expected, for
another body of troops was also enabled
to get on shore, and the enemy, instead of
fighting with their usual obstinacy, retreated
to Alexandria, while the invaders encamped
with their right to the sea, and the left to
the Lake Maadie.

During the action of the i3th of March,
the reserve under Major-General Moore
was kept in column for a considerable time,
with a view to assail one of the flanks of
the enemy, and thus finish the campaign
by a signal victory j but after some hesita-

tion, it was deemed prudent to encamp
with the right to the sea, and the left to
the canal of Alexandria.

At the battle of Aboukir, which occurred
four days after, the French intended to
have decided the fate of Egypt, and accord-
ingly issued orders for " driving the English
into the lake of Maadie."

In this action, which proved equally fatal
to the cause of the French, and the much-
lamented Commander-in-chief of the Eng-
lish, Major-General Moore was wounded
while leading on the reserve with his usual
gallantry. Notwithstanding this unfortu-
nate accident, we find him employed at the
siege of Cairo, and nominated, after its
surrender, to escort the French troops to
the place of embarkation.

In the latter service, General Moore ex-
cited the admiration of the French officers
by his judicious arrangements. The Com-
mander in-chief, in his despatches, says,
" The last division of the French troops who
surrendered at Cairo, sailed from the bay
of Aboukir a few days ago. There have
been embarked in all near 13,500 persons,
etc." "Major-General Craddock having
been confined at Cairo by illness, I en-
trusted the command of the troops to
Major-General Moore, who, during a long
march of a very novel and critical nature,
displayed much judgment, and conducted
himself in a most able and judicious man-
ner. Notwithstanding the mixture of Turks,
British, and French, the utmost regularity
was preserved, and no one disagreeable
circumstance ever took place."

Nothing now remained but the capture
of Alexandria to complete the entire con-
quest of Egypt. This was at length at-
tempted by General Hutchinson ; and
while Major-General Coote invested the
strong castle of Marabout, two other attacks
were made by the Generals Moore and
Craddock.

Menou being briskly pressed on all sides,
and despairing of any assistance on the part
of Admiral Ganthcume, consented to a
negotiation, and Alexandria having sur-

228

TJJE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

rendered, August 3oth, 1801, possession
was taken of the entrenched camp, and the
heights above Pompey's Pillar, together
with Fort Triangular ; soon after which the
French were sent home, and the English
remained the undoubted masters of Egypt.

When the Duke of York, as Commander-
in-chief thanked the troops in His Ma-
jesty's name for their gallant exertions in
this quarter of the globe, he seized that
opportunity " of recapitulating the leading
features of a series of operations so honour-
able to the British arms."

It would take us too far away from the
main current of our subject to attempt to
describe the after-career of Sir John Moore.
As our readers are no doubt aware, he was
sent to command in Spain, and there, nothing
else being left to him, in presence of the
enormous forces of Napoleon, he conducted
a retreat in the most masterly manner. That
retreat ended with the battle of Corunna,
which resulted in the complete defeat of
the French.

Meanwhile, Sir John Moore, who had
exerted himself, with his usual animation,
fell, like Wolfe, in the moment of victory.
His death was occasioned by a cannon-ball,
which struck him in a mortal part, and he
was carried towards Corunna in a blanket,
supported by sashes. While his wound was
probed, he said to an officer, whom he
desired to attend him during the short
period he had to live, " You know I have
always wished to die this way ! " Although
suffering great pain, he appeared eager to
speak again, and the first question put by
him was, " Are the French beaten ? " On
being assured of this fact by several officers
who arrived in succession, he exclaimed :
" I hope the people of England will be
satisfied ! I hope my country will do me
justice ! " Then addressing himself to one
of his aides-de-camp, he continued : " You
will see my friends as soon as you possibly
can tell them everything say to my mo-
ther . . ." There his voice failed ; but
he resumed soon after in a still weaker
tone : " Hope Hope I I have much to

say, but cannot get it out Is Colonel

Graham, and are all my aides-de-camp well ?

1 have made my will, and remember

all my servants ! "

On the appearance of Major Colborne,
his principal aide-de-camp, he spoke most
kindly to him, and then turning about to
another, he continued : " Remember you
go to , and tell him that it is my re-
quest, and that I expect he will befriend
Major Colborne ; he has long been with
me, and I know he is most worthy of it."
He then asked the major if the French
were beaten? and, on hearing they were
repulsed on every point, he said, it was a
great satisfaction in his last moments to
know he had beaten the French !

After this, he inquired if General Paget
was present ? and on being answered in the
negative, begged "to be remembered to
him."

" I feel myself so strong," added he, " I
fear I shall be long in dying ; I am in
great pain ! " He then thanked the medical
men for their attention, and after speaking
kindly to Captains Stanhope and Percy, he
pressed to his heart the hand of the first
aide-de-camp, who came to his assistance,
and died in a few minutes, without so much
as a struggle.

Thus fell, at the age of 47 years, sur-
rounded by his suite, mourned by his com-
panions in arms, and at the conclusion of
a critical victory, which preserved the re-
mainder of his army from destruction,
Lieutenant-General Sir John Moore, a name
that will be long dear to his country. His.
brilliant exploits having already been de-
tailed, it only remains to observe, that in
the course of these, he received no fewer
than six wounds : one in the head from a
shell, at Corsica ; three in Holland, before
he could be prevailed upon to leave the
field ; a musket shot in the leg in Egypt
did not interrupt his exertions ; and a can-
non-ball in Spain bereaved his country of
his services !

On the 25111 of January, the Earl of
Liverpool, as Secretary of State for tht

"SLOWLY AND SADLY WE LAID HIM DOWN.'

229

Home Department, while moving the
thanks of the House to those officers who
had gained the battle of Corunna, paid a
high eulogium to the memory of the de-
parted general, " whose whole life," he said,
" had been devoted to the service of his
country, for there was scarcely any action
of importance during the two last wars, in
which he had not participated." In the
course of the same night, Lord Castlereagh,
in his official capacity as Minister at War,
expressed his sorrow at the " loss of one of
the ablest of our generals possessing, in
an eminent degree, every valuable quality
that can dignify the man, and enhance the
superiority of the soldier ; at once in the
prime of life, and the prime of professional
desert ; giving, in the evidence of his past
life, the best assurance of what might be
expected from his zeal, intrepidity, and
talents." He concluded with the follow-
ing motion : " That an humble address be
presented to His Majesty, requesting that a
monument be erected in the cathedral of
St. Paul, to the memory of the late Lieute-
nant-General Sir John Moore, Knight of
the Bath, who, after an honourable and
meritorious life, fell by a cannon-ball in the
action near Corunna, on the 1 6th of January,
1809, after having, by his judicious dispo-
sitions, skill, and gallantry, repulsed an
enemy of superior force, and secured to the
troops under his command a safe and un-
molested embarkation."

The Commander-in-chief, also, in general
orders, dated " Horse Guards, February i,
1809," paid the following tribute to his
memory :

" The benefits derived to an army from
the example of a distinguished commander,
do not terminate at his death ; his virtues
live in the recollection of his associates,
and his fame remains the strongest incen-
tive to great and glorious actions.

In this view, the Commander-in-chief,
amidst the universal regret which the death
of Sir John Moore has occasioned, recalls
to the troops the military career of that
illustrious officer for their instruction.

Sir John Moore, from his youth, em-
braced the profession with the feelings and
sentiments of a soldier ; he felt that a
perfect knowledge, and an exact perform-
ance, of the humble but important duties of
a subaltern officer, are the best foundations
for subsequent military fame; and his
ardent mind, while it looked forward to
those brilliant achievements for which it
was formed, applied itself with energy and
exemplary assiduity to the duties of that
station.

In the school of regimental duty, he
obtained that correct knowledge of his pro-
fession so essential to the proper direction
of the gallant spirit of the soldier ; and he
was enabled to establish a characteristic
order and regularity of conduct, because
the troops found in their leader a striking
example of the discipline which he enforced
on others.

Having risen to command, he signal-
ized his name in the West Indies, in
Holland, and in Egypt The unremitting
attention with which he devoted himself to
the duties of every branch in his profession,
obtained him the confidence of Sir Ralph
Abercomby, and he became the companion
in arms of that illustrious officer, who fell
at the head of his victorious troops, in an
action which maintained our national supe-
riority over the arms of France.

Thus Sir John Moore at an early period
obtained, with general approbation, that
conspicuous situation, in which he glo-
riously terminated his useful and honour-
able life.

In a military character, obtained amidst
the dangers of climate, the privations inci-
dent to service, and the sufferings of
repeated wounds, it is difficult to select
any one point as a preferable subject for
praise ; it exhibits, however, one feature so
particularly characteristic of the man, and
so important to the best interests of the
service, that the Commander-in-chief is
pleased to mark it with his peculiar appro-
bation.

The life of Sir John Moore was spent

230

among the troops. During the season of
repose, his time was devoted to the care
and instruction of the officer and soldier ;
in war, he courted service in every quarter
of the globe. Regardless of personal con-
siderations, he esteemed that to which his
country called him the post of honour,
and by his undaunted spirit, and uncon-

querable perseverance, he pointed the way
to victory.

His country, the object of his latest
solicitude, will rear a monument to his
lamented memory, and the Commander-in-
chief feels he is paying the best tribute to
his fame by thus holding him forth as an
example to the army."

CHAPTER XL.

J^ODER.N EGYPT ^NGLISH CRUSADERS PUR OWN DAY.

ROM the time of Cleopatra
we take, so to speak, a leap,
in order to bring our narra-
tive down to modern times.
We do not dwell on the
long Roman occupation of Egypt, nor do
we pause to narrate how great was the
learning of Alexandria for many centuries,
nor how the Christian faith spread in
Egypt, nor how it was corrupted with
many strange and diverse heresies. Nor
need we describe the career of Mahomet, or
tell how Egypt was conquered by the
adherents of the Mahometan faith.

Under the rule of Saladin, who in 569
A.D. took upon himself the title of Sultan
of Egypt, that country once more rose
into the first importance. Here again we
come across our subject of "the English in
Egypt," for it was during the time of that
great monarch that some of the most
important of the Crusades were carried on.
In them many Englishmen were engaged.
Hence the following accurate and inter-
esting account of the wars of the Crusaders
and of Saladin, which we excerpt from
the article "Egypt" in the last edition of
the Encyclopedia Britannica, will be read
with interest. We are there told that " In
the year 58 2 (1186 of our era) war broke
out between Saladin and the Crusaders.
The Sultan had respected a truce into

which he had entered with Baldwin the
Leper, and Renaud, before named, was the
first to break it. The capture by the latter
of a rich caravan enraged Saladin, who-
despatched orders to all his lieutenants and
vassals, summoning them to assist in the
'Holy War.' He marched (A.D. 1187)
from Damascus to Karak, and there laid
close siege to Renaud ; at the same time a
large body of cavalry under the command
of his son, El-Afdal, advanced on Nazareth ;
and here a body of 130 Knights Hos-
pitallers and Templars, seconded by a few
hundred foot soldiers, and encouraged by
the heroic Jacques de Maille, marshal of
the Temple, by their devotion immortalized
their memory. Only the Grand Master of
the Temple and two of his knights escaped
from the unequal struggle. Soon after,
Saladin approached in person at the head
of an army of 80,000 men ; and the
Christians with their whole force encoun-
tered him on the shore of the Lake of
Tiberias. The result of the battle which
ensued was the heaviest blow which had
yet fallen on the Crusaders. Weakened
by thirst, shaken by the flight of a part of
their troops on the second day of combat,
and overwhelmed by numbers, the knights
fought with desperate courage, but at length
were forced to the hills of Hitteem. A
multitude fell in this bloody fight, and

ENGLISH CRUSADERS.

23.1

among the prisoners were Guy de Lusignan
(the king of Jerusalem and successor of
Baldwin), with his brother and Renaud de
Chatillon. The number of prisoners is
almost incredible; and the massacre of
many of them is an indelible stain on the
glory of the generally merciful Saladin.
Tiberias, Ptolemais(Acre), Nablous, Jericho,
Ramleh, Csesarea, Arsoor, Joppa, Beyrout,
and many other places successively fell
into the hands of the conqueror. Tyre
resisted his attacks; but Ascalon surren-
dered on favourable terms, and the fall of
Jerusalem crowned these victories. The
great clemency of Saladin on this occasion
is chronicled by Christian historians, though
it is but slightly mentioned by the Mos-
lems, who took offence at the mercy shown
to the enemies of their faith.

After these events Tyre was again be-
sieged, and when about to capitulate was
relieved by the arrival of Conrad, son of
the Marquis of Montferrat. The valiant
defence of the town wearied Saladin, who
turned his arms against Tripoli ; but here
he met with no better success. Bohemond,
prince of Antioch, and at that time pos-
sessor of Tripoli also, was, however, glad
to obtain a truce of eight months ; and
some strongholds (among others Karak)
were taken. But now the fortune of war
turned against the Sultan. The ever-
memorable siege of Acre, maintained with
equal constancy by both Christians and
Moslems, lasted upwards of two years, and
attracted the attention of the whole western
world. At length the immense reinforce-
ments received by the besiegers, and the
presence of Richard Cceur de Lion of Eng-
land, and of Philip II. of France, enabled
them to overcome all resistance, and the
standards of the Cross floated on the ram-
parts of the city (A.D. 1191). A horrible
act of barbarity was here perpetrated :
2,700 Moslem captives were massacred in
cold blood, in consequence of Saladin's
having failed to fulfil the terms of the
capitulation ; and the palliative plea of the
heat of an assault cannot be urged in

extenuation of this enormity. Richard has
been accused of being its author; but
Michaud believes with reason that it was
decided on in a council of the chiefs of
the Crusade. On another occasion, how-
ever, that king was certainly guilty of
similar cruelty.

After a period of repose and debauchery,
the army of the Crusaders, commanded by
Richard, directed its march towards Jeru-
salem. Saladin harassed his advance on
every point, rendered the cities and strong-
holds defenceless, and ravaged the country.
Richard, nevertheless, was ever victorious ;
his personal bravery struck terror into the
Moslems, and he gained a signal victory
over the Sultan in the battle of Arsoor.
But dissensions among the chiefs of his
army and the uncertain temper of the
commander himself debarred the Crusaders
from the attainment of their great object,
the deliverance of the Holy City; and
when all the coast from Joppa to Tyre was
in the hands of the Christians, and the
army of. Saladin was threatened with dis-
organization, a treaty was concluded, and
Richard set sail on his return to England.
The glory acquired by Saladin, and the
famous campaigns of Creur de Lion, have
rendered the Third Crusade the most
memorable in history, and shed a lustre on
the arms of both Moslems and Christians
greater than they ever attained in those
wars, either before or afterwards.

Saladin died about a year after the con-
clusion of this peace (A.H. 589 or 1193 of
our era) at Damascus, at the age of fifty-
seven years. Ambition and religious zeal
appear to have been his ruling passions;
he was courageous, magnanimous, and
merciful, possessed of remarkable military
talents and great control over himself.
His generosity to the vanquished and his
faithful observance of his passed word are
lauded by the historians of the Crusades ;
the former brought on him much obloquy
among his own fierce soldiers, and is a trait
in his character which is worthy of note
in the annals of a time when this virtue

232

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

was extremely rare. While engaged in the
conduct of his continual wars, he was not
unmindful of the welfare of Egypt, and
during his reign many public works were
executed. Of these we may mention
especially the citadel of Cairo, with the
magnificent buildings which, until very
recently, it contained; the third wall of
the city ; and the repair of the great canal
called the Bahr Yoosuf, a very important
and useful work. From the year 578 until
the period of his death he had not entered
Egypt ; but his brother El-Melik El-'Adil

Seyf-ed-deen (Saphedin) and other princes
of his family successively governed that
country, and the eunuch Karalcoosh, who
also defended Acre, held a large share of
authority."

Passing by the mediaeval period, and
coming down to quite modern times, the
next epoch that most powerfully attracts
our attention in the history of Egypt is the
invasion of that country by Napoleon, and
the manner in which that invasion was de-
feated by our English forces. On igth
May, 1798, Napoleon's army set out for

EGYPTIAN BEGGARS.

Egypt ; on i2th July it reached Alexandria,
after having put in some time at Malta.
Napoleon did in a sort conquer the coun-
try, but this was only for a time. Finally
the French were defeated, and by the
Treaty of Alexandria, August, 1801, com-
pelled to evacuate that country. In the
various biographies with which we have
interspersed our narrative, we have already
given a very full account of the various
features of that expedition, so that we
need not further refer to it here. During
the present century many rulers have suc-

ceeded each other in Egypt, but it cannot
be said that their rule has been very in-
teresting to the English people. In quite
recent times this has all been changed.
In 1854 Said Pasha succeeded to power.
Ismail Pasha followed him. Writing whilst
he was still ruling, the author of the article
on Egypt before quoted remarked that "the
reign of Ismail promises to be the be-
ginning of a new era for Egypt. A man of
undoubted ability, possessed of unusual
energy in administration, fully appreciative
of the importance of western civilization,

THE REFORMS Of ISMAIL.

233

fired with the ambition proper to a grand-
son of Mehemet Ali, the Khedive is a ruler
such as Egypt has scarcely seen since
the Arab conquest His first step was to
remove, as far as possible, the irksome
control of the Porte. At great cost he
obtained an imperial firman in 1866, re-
moving almost all the old treaty restric-
tions, granting him the title of Khedive
(pron. khedeev), and settling the succession
on the eldest son; and in 1872 another
decree, or as we have here called it, firman,

made him virtually an independent sove-
reign.

Having thus obtained for himself and
his dynasty a settled regal rank, Ismail
turned his attention homewards, and began
a series of reforms such as no previous
governor of Egypt ever contemplated. He
re-established and improved the adminis-
trative system organized by Mehemet Ali,
and which had fallen into decay under
'AbbdYs indolent rule ; he caused a
thorough remodelling of the customs sys-

AN EGYPTIAN INTERIOR A FEAST DAY.

tern, which was in an anarchic state, to be
made by English officials; in 1865 he
bought the Egyptian post-office, and placed
it under the direction, with full powers,
of an official from St. Martin's-le-Grand,
who brought it into admirable working
order ; he reorganized the military schools
of his grandfather, and lent his willing
support to the cause of education in every
way. Public works have largely engaged
the attention of the Khedive. Railways,
telegraphs, lighthouses, the harbour works
at Suez, the breakwater at Alexandria, have

been carried out under his personal auspices
by some of the best contractors of Europe.
If there is a fault to be found in this
Europeanizing of Egypt, it is that the
practical zeal for modern civilization leaves
no room for the honourable respect due to
the unique antiquities of the country. It is
true that ancient Egypt is protected by the
care of Mariette Bey, but the art of the
Arabs is suffered to decay, nay, is even
purposely demolished, to make room for
modern French gewgaws. A recent writer
tells us that a new street cuts through about

234

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

a mile of the ' old Arab rookeries,' and
gravely advances the opinion that the opera
house, and the public gardens, and the other
meretricious abominations that have been
set up in Cairo are worthy of a second
class European city ! Still, terrible as is the
vandalism now going on in Egypt, there
can be little doubt that the present policy
of the Khedive will add greatly to the pros-
perity and health of the people. At the
same time, future generations will gain at
the fearful expense of the present. The
funds required for these public works, as
well as the actual labour, have been re-
morselessly extorted from a poverty-stricken
population ; and there is probably no pea-
sant now existing whose condition is worse
than that of the long-suffering Egyptian
fellah.

One of the greatest reforms that Egypt
owes to its present ruler is the abolition of
the old system of consular jurisdiction, and
the substitution of mixed courts, where
European and native judges sit together
to try all mixed cases without respect to
nationality. These courts were established
in 1876 on the suggestion of Nubar Pasha,

and on the recommendation of an inter-
national commission. A code based on
the Mahometan law and the Code Napo-
leon has been drawn up, which seems
thoroughly suitable to the needs of the
position; and the best results may be
looked for from this reform. It were
greatly to be desired that the jurisdiction
of these courts should be extended so as
eventually to supersede the old native sys-
tem. At present they only take the place
of the consular courts."

At this part of our narrative we present
our readers with a series of illustrations to
bring before them vividly some of the
varied features of modern Egyptian life.
We here see a bazaar, or general merchant's
store (for such is the exact equivalent of
that romantic word), a cattle market, and
a scene in the neighbourhood of a village.
The other two pictures are of a lighter cast
One represents the natives demanding
" baksheesh " from the omnipresent British
tourist, the other is a view of the interior
of an Egyptian house of the better kind
on a feast day, when the common routine
is broken for the time.

CHAPTER XLI.
^GYPT ^RABI'S REBELLION BOMBARDMENT OF

ALEXANDRIA.

HE bright prospects men-
tioned in our last chapter
were not destined to be
realized. The finances of
Egypt got into hopeless con-
fusion. " Without going further back than
1876," says Pimblett, "we may observe
that the Right Hon. Stephen Cave, who was
sent on a special mission from England, re-
ported on the great waste and extravagance
countenanced in Egypt, that important
national works had been undertaken with

insufficient means, that losses were occa-
sioned by adventures, that the [..military-
expenditure was misdirected, and that with
a view to restoring national credit, and to
restrain the expenditure, intervention of one
or more of the European Powers was essen-
tial. The world had in the previous year
been startled by the intelligence that Lord
Beaconsfield's Government had purchased
shares held by the Khedive in the Suez.
Canal to the extent of over four millions
sterling, so that naturally, apart from our

BOMBARDMENT OF ALEXANDRIA.

235

interest in Egypt as bearing on the high-
way to our vast possessions in India and
elsewhere, our connection with the country
had become far more important than here-
tofore. However, an International Court
was effected, and without entering into
details, it will be sufficient for our purpose
to say that at the beginning of the year
1882 the Dual Control had been estab-
lished, the position and united action of
England and France being fully recognised."
The weak Tewfik was at this period Khe-
dive. Arabi Bey, leader of the National
Party, as they came to be called, now made
himself prominent He objected to any
interference by any foreign Power in
Egyptian affairs. They maintained (for it
came to that) their right to ruin the coun-
try in their own way. This, England and
France could not agree to. They brought
pressure to bear on Tewfik, who by his
vacillating conduct seemed to show him-
self of that class whose characteristic is
described in the proverb as being this, that
the last fool has them. He agreed to what
the Powers urged till Arabi put a new
scheme before him, when he agreed to that
too ! Then there was rioting in the streets
of Alexandria, and they got so bad that
soon England (for notwithstanding the Dual
Control she was not supported by France)
threatened force.

In July, 1882, the British fleet twenty-
four strong, under Sir Beauchamp Seymour,
afterwards Lord Alcester, took up a position
off Alexandria, and ordered work on the
Alexandrian forts to be stopped, and finally
it came to hostilities.

At seven o'clock on the morning of the
i ith July, 1882, "Lord Alcester opened fire
upon the forts lining the inner shore of the
harbour, and defending the sea-front be-
tween the old and new ports of Alexandria.
Ample warning had been given of his inten-
tion. The twenty-four hours of grace
allotted to the Egyptian mutineers came
to an end with daybreak, but the cannonade
did not commence until three more hours
had elapsed. Arabi Pasha and his adher-

ents could not possibly mistake the stern
purpose of our men-of-war. One after the
other every vessel, except those shortly to
be engaged, had sailed or steamed forth
from the inner waters. Not only had the
many steamers and trading craft thus de-
parted, but the foreign war-ships were all
gone, leaving the harbour and the sea-front
to the eight great ironclads of Her Majesty,
which, with a squadron of five gunboats-
and one or attending smaller vessels, made
up our naval force. The military usurpers
of authority in Egypt must have perfectly
realized at last that they had exhausted the
patience of England, and to do them jus-
tice, they gave no sign of shrinking from
the consequences. They were as well pre-
pared, after their fashion, as Lord Alcester
himself; and when the Alexandra, the
Sultan, and the Superb opened a cannon-
ade upon the Ras-el-Tin and inner forts,
the mutineers took up the challenge from
all their batteries, answering with consider-
able spirit to those tremendous guns. In
a quarter of an hour the action had become
general, the Inflexible, the Temeraire, the
Monarch, and the Invincible the latter
flying the Admiral's flag carrying the fire
eastward, along the sea-face. Never before,
it must be remembered, in the history of
warfare, has such ponderous artillery been
engaged. It was the handselling of those
prodigious pieces which had been put on
board our first-class ironclads, and shells
weighing a ton and upwards were hurling
against the earthworks and bastions of
Arabi. He, too, commanded the use of
powerful guns, many of the twelve and
eighteen-ton Armstrongs being mounted
and very boldly served. A short spell,
however, of the terribly heavy fire of our
ironclads sufficed to silence two of the
works. Fort Marsa-el-Karat was blown up
by the explosion of a magazine ; many guns
were dismounted at Pharos, Aida, and Ras-
el-Tin ; and the fire of the Egyptian gunners
had become very slack and feeble by mid-
day. Arabi, however, was still able to keep
his men at their posts sufficiently to main-

236

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

tain a reply, which did not cease when four
forts had been destroyed, and all guns on
exposed spots silenced. Much courage
was shown, it must be allowed, in thus fac-
ing the terrific fire of the British heavy
artillery, to say nothing of the Catlings,
which from our tops and upper decks swept
the batteries of the Egyptians with their
deadly storm of balls. At 1.45 p.m. the
powder stores of Fort Aida blew up, and
three hours later the sea defences were
apparently overwhelmed. About five p.m.,
the British ships ceased firing for the day,
the casualties on board the fleet being
reported at five killed and twenty-seven
wounded. In these figures there is suffi-
cient proof of the ineffectiveness of the
Egyptian artillery as regards shell practice,
which is most destructive of life in naval
engagements. Nor had their guns wrought
much harm, it seems, to our men-of-war,
four or five of which, indeed, were practi-
cally invulnerable to Arabi's batteries. Still
it shows that no child's play was undertaken
in the Alexandrian waters when the fleet
commenced to carry out for itself the de-
mand to cease arming the many forts and
earthworks of Arabi. The audacious Pasha
was still in possession of guns and positions
when the British fire ceased, and the day
ended with an order from the Admiral to
recommence the attack on Gabaria and the
other still unsilenced batteries the next
morning.

Little was done by the fleet on Wednes-
day, the 1 2th. The Monarch and the
Penelope came round inside the harbour,
and the thunder of their guns was now and
then ominously rolling. A vast cloud of
smoke hung drifting over the city of Alexan-
dria, and flames were rising from one wing
of the Khedive's palace as well as from the
buildings under the Pharos. The forts on
shore were replying with only an occasional
gun, but evidently Gabaria and one or two
others were not yet silenced. Suddenly the
two ironclads ceased to send from their
sides those thick rings of whirling smoke
with the fiery centre, and a strange quiet

ensued, which was followed by the slow
departure of these two war-ships from the
vicinity of the shore.

Between twelve and one o'clock a flag ot
truce -was seen flying from the Egyptian
Arsenal, and they had seen and answered
a signal from the Admiral to cease firing.
Thus practically ended the work of those
terrible nine hours, during which, for the
first time, our mighty modern artillery had
spoken forth in anger. Darkness now
settled upon the scene of wrath and de-
struction. The great war-ships were one
by one withdrawn from their positions,
feeling their way with the utmost caution
through the shoals and narrow passes ot
the harbour and its approaches. Arabi
had of course extinguished all guiding
lights the object of the flag of truce being
to cover his retreat, and only the gleam of
a few lamps marked the city.

The gallant dead were committed to the
deep, for the sea is the natural cemetery of
sailors killed in action. When the funeral
ceremony had been completed, the iron-
clads and their plucky little consorts once
again ran their fighting flags up to the
peak, and rode to their anchors, or slowly
forged ahead, all stripped for action and in
fighting order.

Beyond the troubled and discoloured
water Alexandria lay, a low gray line,
broken here and there by windmills, shat-
tered lighthouses, and the shaft of Pomp-
pey's Pillar. Those nearest shore could
distinguish with their glasses dismounted
guns, parapets crumbled to a dust-heap,
timber and masonry and munitions of war
in confusion the result of Tuesday's terri-
ble work while not only the palace be-
hind, but nearly the whole city, especially
the English buildings, smoked and flared :
Alexandria was virtually in ruins. The
European quarter, including most of the
Consular houses, the banks, and the houses
of the principal merchants commonly
called the Grand Square was set on fire
during Wednesday night. It is estimated
that the flames extended over a mile of

A ROMANCE FROM THE BLUE-BOOKS.

237

ground. The destruction of property was
immense, and it is supposed that as many
as 2,000 perished by shots, shells, and ex-
plosions.

The Arabs killed all the Christians they
could find. From the time of the bom-
bardment a large number of Europeans,
chiefly Greeks and Levantines, had hidden
all day and night in cellars as best they
could. Some French ladies were among
them, whose sad condition was very piti-
able to behold.

A strong guard was placed round the
palace, where both His Highness the Khe-
dive and Dervish Pasha had taken refuge,
and the order to assassinate was given ; but
the cry arose that the English were coming,
and the Egyptian troops preferred their own
safety to the murder of Tewfik and Der-
vish. They fled, and the two prisoners
were able to escape to the harbour, where
they were promptly transferred to the
safe refuge of the Admiral's ship of war.

The place was a desert all around. The
Bedouins and released convicts seemed to
do exactly as they pleased. On Friday,
the 1 4th, however, a detachment of Marines
marched through the city, carrying a Gat-
\ ling gun with them, and during the night
j occasional shells were fired over the town
: to intimidate the marauders. Fort Na-
i poleon, which commands the town, and
j was not dismantled, was occupied by
| marine gunners. Some Arabs caught
plundering were shot down in the streets
as warnings to other evil-doers. At the
Khedive's palace a company of Marines
was drawn up, guarding the entrance.
Nearly every European dwelling and shop
was looted. Even the roads were cum-
bered with goods of all kinds. The
soldiers generally missed the runaways,
wishing rather to frighten than kill. Some
found pillaging were beaten, and then set
free," which was more lenient treatment
than they deserved.

CHAPTER XLII.
A ROMANCE FHOM. THE j3LUE-j3ooKS.

N 1884 an interesting col-
lection of papers was pre-
sented to Parliament. This
collection consisted of docu-
, ments relating to the charges
which Lord Randolph Churchill brought
against the Khedive of being concerned in
the massacre at Alexandria which took
place about a month before the bombard-
ment of the town by the fleet. The general
nature of the statements may be gathered
from the following letter of Earl Granville
to Sir E. Malet.

" FOREIGN OFFICE, August 6//t, 1883.
Sir, The accusation brought in Parlia-
ment by Lord Randolph Churchill against
His Highness Tewfik Pasha, of complicity

in the massacre at Alexandria, has obtained
such notoriety that it may be proper to
transmit to you a copy of the papers which
his lordship has furnished to Her Majesty's
Government, in accordance with his under-
taking to furnish the evidence on which he
relied in support of so grave a charge
against the ruler of a friendly country.

These papers consist of five memoranda,
the main purpose of which seems to be to
assail the Khedive and to vindicate the
rebel Arabi and his accomplices. The first
memorandum appears to be intended prin-
cipally to support the accusation brought
against the Khedive. It is said to be based
on 'independent evidence' and 'reliable
authority ; ' but it contains nothing which

238

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

can properly be described as evidence. It
consists of a series of extracts from the
Blue-books laid before Parliament, cur-
tailed and detached from their context in
such a manner as to make them appear to
fit in with accusations that partake of the
nature of gossip, and with sweeping denun-
ciations resting on hearsay or anonymous
testimony.

The last document attached to the
papers discloses the principal source of
information, and it appears that the accus-
ation against the Khedive emanates from
certain political prisoners whose names are
not divulged, and whose statements are
not only unsupported by any extrinsic
evidence, but seem to be deprived of all
weight by the particular circumstances
under which they were made.

The whole case rests on surmise, sus-
picion, and hearsay, on unsupported state-
ments made by unnamed persons, or by
those whose hatred of the Khedive has
been created or embittered by the measures
taken against them during the rebellion.

The inferences attempted to be drawn
from the passages quoted from the Blue-
books must be received with great caution,
for it is to be regretted that Lord Randolph
Churchill should not have taken more care
correctly to extract the quotations on which
he bases the serious charges he has pre-
ferred. For instance, it will be seen from
the accompanying Memoranda that his j
lordship charges Omar Lutfi with having
instigated the outrages committed on the
nth June, and argues that Arabi was inno-
cent of any participation in them. To sup-
port these views Lord Randolph Churchill
makes the following quotation (Inclosure 4
in No. 2, Mr. Hewart) : ' From information
gathered from many sources I am fully of
opinion that the riot of the nth was a pre-
concerted plan.' It seems difficult to find
any reason why these words ' concocted by
his Excellency Arabi Pasha and partizans'
which appear in the Blue-book, should
have been omitted from the quotation, and
yet so it is.

In like manner Lord Randolph Church-
hill, in support of the same argument,
quotes Mr. Edward Barber as follows :
'After closing the door I went upstairs
and saw several Europeans murdered in
the street, and the assassins were assisted
by the police.' The sentence given in the
Blue-book has the additional words, ' or
soldiery.' His lordship omits them.

A full examination of the papers and the
arguments adduced by Lord Randolph
Churchill leads to the conclusion that no
prima facie evidence (either legal or moral)
exists in support of the charges which have
been preferred against His Highness Tew-
fik Pasha.

I am, etc.,
(Signed) GRANVILLE."

We shall quote a few of the statements,
not so much because they are worthy of
belief in themselves (for this cannot be
affirmed of them) as because they are in-
teresting, and as accounts of the events of
some terrible days in the history of Alex-
andria possess a very considerable amount
of interest. Perhaps the most remarkable
is the affidavit of John Ninet, which is as
follows :

" I, John Ninet, late of Alexandria, but
now residing at London, Doctor of Medi-
cine, do hereby solemnly and sincerely
declare

That I was present at Alexandria when
Dervish* arrived, on Wednesday, the yth
June, 1882. I saw him on the quay on his
way to Ras-el-Tin with Zulficar Pasha (the
Khedive's Delegate, a Greek Moslem, and
a creature of Said Pasha's) and Yacoub
Pasha Sami (Arabi's Under-Secretary at
War), also Sheikh Assad Bey and Omar
Lutfi (Governor of Alexandria). In the
afternoon the Ulemas and some of the
Notables and the officials called on Dervish,
who received them without much cere-
mony. Also came the Consuls, Mr. Cook-
son and M. Kleskowski, together, in plain
clothes, also the French and English

* Dervish Pasha, an Egyptian of high rank.

THE SULTAN OF TURKEY,

THE MASSACRE AT ALEXANDRIA.

239

Admirals in uniform. I was present when
Mr. Cookson was received. He reminded
Dervish that Admiral Seymour was the
same who had commanded at Dulcigno,
on which Dervish smiled without answering.
The Notables, after the Consuls retired,
presented a Petition, in which they exposed
the grievances of the Egyptian nation, and
complained of the presence of the fleet, and
its desire for self-government, and he had
a long conversation with them on the sub-
ject, and promised to have the fleet away
before long. I was not present at this, but I
heard of it from my friends the Gariani, and
also from Abdullah Nadim, who were there.
Sheik-el-Hajjrasi was there also. Nadim
at this time was constantly to and fro be-
tween Alexandria and Cairo. Hassan-el-
Akhad was not to my knowledge in Alex-
andria till after the riots.

The next morning, the 8th, the Dervish
went to Cairo. On his way to the station
a great crowd followed him, shouting about
the Sultan and the fleet. On the platform
Zulficar and the rest of the Khedive's
officers expostulated about Yacoub Pasha
entering Dervish's carriage, but Dervish
took Yacoub by the shoulder and made
him enter, so that the following four were
in the carriage : Dervish, Assad Bey, Zulfi-
car, and Yacoub. Nadim managed to
get conveyed among the secretaries and
servants by the same train. At Damanhur,
Tantah, and Kafr-el-Zaiat deputations met
him protesting their loyalty to the Sultan.
It is probable that this was ordered.

The following particulars I heard from
Arabi, and those sent by him to observe,
and which I verily believe to be true.
Dervish was met at the Cairo station by
the troops and officials, but by none of the
National Ministry. There was no particu-
lar excitement in the crowd, and he drove
straight to Abdin. He received no one
that day, and saw only the Khedive and
his household at Abdin, and slept at Kafr-
en-Nonsa, which had been prepared for
him. That night, or the next morning, I
have heard the Khedive sent an eunuch,

who arranged with Dervish through his
secretary that he should have ^50,000 as
soon as the money could be raised, and
thus gained him to his side ; for Dervish's
instructions had been to depose Tewfik
and replace him by Halim. He conse-
quently saw no more of Yacoub Pasha.

Friday was spent by him in visiting the
mosques and praying. In one of them
certain of the Ulemas presented him with
a Petition. This annoyed Dervish, and in
the afternoon when the Ulemas came to pay
him their respects and to state their griev-
ances, as had been done at Alexandria, he
was very rude to them, and told them he
had come to speak, not to be spoken to.
This caused much excitement in the town,
and messengers were sent by the evening
trains to all parts of the country with the
news that Dervish was not to be trusted.
On the Saturday Dervish sent for Arabi
and Mahmoud Sami. He received them
with a great show of politeness, made them
sit by him, and explain the situation.

This Arabi described to me as follows :
'We are all here as brothers, the sons of
the Sultan, and I with my white beard can
be as a father to you, and we have the same
object in view, to oppose the Ghiaours, and
obtain the departure of the fleet, which was
a disgrace to the Sultan and a menace to
Egypt, that they were all bound to act
together to this end, and especially Arabi
and the Ministry, to show their zeal for
their master, and this could best be done by
their resigning their military power into his
hands, at least in appearance. Also to
please the Sultan he must go to Constanti-
nople for a while.'

To this Arabi replied that he was ready
to resign, but that as the situation was very
strained, and as he had assumed a great
responsibility of keeping order, he would
not consent to half measures. If he re-
quired he would resign in form as well as
in name, but he would do neither without a
written discharge, because he would not be
held responsible for things which he had
not done. He had been accused of mal-

240

THE ENGLISH

EGYPT.

versation, tyrannical government, and other
matters, and he would not leave his office
without a full discharge from such accusa-
tions. He would also go to Constantinople
when matters were settled, as a private
man, to pay his respects to the Sultan.

Dervish was not prepared for this answer,
and he did not like it. His countenance
changed, but he said, ' Let us consider the
matter settled ; you will telegraph at once
the Governor of Alexandria and the Com-
mander of the garrison, to say that you

TEWFIK, KHEDIVE OF EGYPT.

have resigned your charge to me, and that
you are acting as my wakil ; and on Mon-
day, when there will be a meeting of the
Consuls and the Khedive at Abdid, we will
give you your discharge.' Arabi, however,
refused absolutely, saying that until he
had his written discharge he should retain

his post and responsibility to do this, and
there the matter remained. No coffee or
cigarettes were offered at this meeting.
Mahmoud Sami confirmed the whole of
this account to me later in prison.

Nahim brought the news of this interview
at once to Alexandria, and returned to

THE ALEXANDRIA RIOTS.

241

Cairo by the early train on Sunday morn-
ing. The same day, Sunday, I was still at
Alexandria, and the town was quite quiet.

At two o'clock I sent my servant, a Sou-
dani, to fetch a carriage to call on the Com-
mander of the garrison, and he was away

THE GRAND SQUARE, ALEXANDRIA.

half an hour. The Governor was Kur-
shed Pasha, a Circassian, but a good man,
formerly attached to Ismail, and so opposed

to the Khedive. My servant on his return
begged me not to go where I had intended,
as there was fighting in the Kahwat-cl-

242

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

Garjay, in the Rue des Soeurs, a place
where all the European roughs and Arab
porters congregate on Sunday. They had
already killed two Mussulraen. So I went
to the place on foot, not through the
Square, but by a back street. I found the
Rue des Saurs full of people, Europeans
and Mussulmen, but there was no fighting
near me.

But about 200 yards off the mob was
waving like the sea, and I saw pistol-shots
fired from the windows. All at once the
fighting came in our direction, so we re-
tired until we got near the Lazarist school,
where I saw in front of a cafe some dozen
Greeks armed with Ordnance rifles, who
began firing into the crowd indiscriminately
just after we had gone by. Then I saw a
carriage with a Mustaphezin wounded or
dead in it. This seemed to have given the
alarm, for immediately afterwards a number
of Moslems, mostly Barbarins or Arabs
from the Said, came running towards us
from several quarters with sticks, with
which they laid about them. Then the
firing and the fighting became general, and
I went towards home.

On my way I met Mr. Cookson in
a carriage, and I was told by a bystander
that he had been in the house of a Mal-
tese where the pistol-shots were fired, and
that it was coming out of that house that
he was beaten, because the mob considered
him responsible for the firing. He was
known to have advised the Maltese some
time before to protect themselves in case of
disturbances. Later, at about three o'clock,
I happened to meet Omar Lutfi walking in
plain clothes with some policemen, and I
asked him why he did nothing to stop the
fighting. He said, ' I have been with the
English Consul, who has been beaten.' I
said, ' Why did you not go in uniform, and
take fifty mounted policemen to stop it ? '
He said that Kandil, the Chief of the Police,
could not be found. 'And the soldiers,
why do they do nothing ? ' He answered,
' They won't move ; they have no orders.'
' And the Consuls ? ' He replied, ' They

are making a meeting.' I asked him why
he had not telegraphed to the Viceroy and
to Arabi Pasha, the proper authority, and
he answered rudely, 'What is that to you?'

The French Consulate was full of refugee
Europeans. Then I went home, put on my
worst clothes, and took a stick with me and
went out again. Some boys were running
about with property they had taken from
the shops. The Mustaphezin did not in-
terfere to prevent the fighting, but I have it
from a Christian who was in the Zabetie
that it is untrue that any one was ill-treated
by them inside.

I met a janissary of the Russian Con-
sulate, who told me that the fight was
going on near the Marina, and that people
who had been on board the ships for the
day had been beaten and killed, and that
the Consuls were telegraphing to the
Viceroy. This was at half-past three or
four, and they expected the troops to inter-
fere.

At about five o'clock the troops ap-
peared, and the thing ended. I am of
opinion, from Omar Lutfi's manner, and
other circumstances, that he was responsible
for the continuation of the fighting. The
troops would certainly have interfered if he
had ordered them to do so. A strong cor-
roboration is the following circumstance :
four days after the riots Omar Lutfi went on
board the flag-ship and informed Admiral
Seymour that he could not be responsible
for order, that Arabi was not able to keep
order, and he begged him to land troops
this, although the town was absolutely quiet.

Omar Lutfi was an enemy of Arabi's and
a friend of the Khedive. He was removed
from his office, as I have heard, on the
demand of the Consuls, as a satisfaction to
public opinion, when the Ragheb Ministry
was formed, and replaced by Zulficar. The
Commission of Inquiry was stopped by the
Consuls when Arabi demanded that the
inquiry should be a full one, including
Europeans as well as Egyptians. I learned
the fact of the interview on board the flag-
ship through Mr. Marriott, employed as

THE ALEXANDRIA RIOTS,

243

Secretary by Admiral Seymour, and some
other of the circumstances from M. de Lex,
the Russian Consul.

With regard to the origin of the riots, it
was as follows : The arrival of the fleet at
Alexandria caused an immense amount of
ill-feeling between the Egyptian and the
European colony. The Europeans looked
upon it as a first act of war, and their
demeanour towards the natives became
threatening. ' Now,' they said, ' you will
see what we are going to do.' Among the
Egyptians it became the theme of everyday
conversation, and great apprehension was
excited. It was thought that troops were
going to be landed and Egypt taken pos-
session of by the English. I was constantly
asked at this time whether such was the
intention. This was increased when it
became known that a contract had been
made for the provisioning of the fleets by
Sir Beauchamp Seymour and M. Conrad
for three months. This was in the mouth
of every one, and caused great irritation.

Against the French there was not this
feeling, because the attitude assumed by
M. Conrad, the Admiral, was not offensive.
On the contrary, he did his best to con-
ciliate the natives. The irritation alarmed
in their turn the Europeans, and especially
the English and Maltese, who applied con-
stantly to their Consul for information in
what way they were to be protected in case
of disturbance. Mr. Cookson told them to
protect themselves. About the end of May
or the beginning of June, and just about the
same time, it became known that firearms
had been sent from Greece to arm the
Greeks of Alexandria.

The English subjects consequently
bought up all the weapons they could find
in the town, and I know from officials of
the Custom-house that Snider rifles and
revolvers were landed for their use from the
fleet. It became, therefore, almost certain
that a conflict would arise, and as Sunday
is the day on which the Europeans were
most in the habit of collecting together at
the cafe's and in the streets drinking, each

Sunday was looked upon with special ap-
prehension. So strong was the feeling of
impending danger that peaceable persons,
natives as well as Europeans, began to leave
the country. The Moslems began also to
arm themselves with sticks, especially the
Barbarins (Nubians), of whom there were
some 30,000 in Alexandria. The Barbarins
are quarrelsome people and fond of fighting.
Many of them were on the side of the
Circassian, or Khedive's, party in this
affair.

The story of the origin of the riot as I
heard it at the time was this : On the morn-
ing of the nth, Sunday, a Maltese, brother
of one of Mr. Cookson's servants, came
to pay his brother a visit and received a
present from the Consul of a sovereign, with
which he immediately went to amuse him-
self in the town. He took a carriage and
went the round of the drinking-shops in th e
French quarter, and came at last to the
Kawat-et-Gazaz. He was by that time
drunk, and wished to dismiss his carriage
by paying the man a piastre. This caused
a dispute, which ended by the Maltese
taking up a knife, one belonging to the
cafe", and used for cutting cheese, and which
was kept tied with a long string to the
table, and stabbed the coachman with it.
The man was mortally wounded in the
belly, and another who came to assist him
was killed on the spot by a Greek.

In the scuffle which followed a Greek
baker living next door was killed, and the
fight became general. The Moabin chief
of the police of the district of Laban was
an Italian, who could not speak Arabic,
and he could not stop it. One of the Mus-
taphezin in his suite was wounded, and the
rest joined in the fight, taking part with the
natives. These particulars I had next day
from a Christian policeman who was present
at the Zabetie.

With respect to Kandil, Chief of the
Police, I had seen him on the Thursday in
Somariva's shop, and knew that he was ill,
for I had felt his pulse, and found he was
suffering from a fever. Omar Lutfi could

244

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

certainly have stopped the thing if he had
chosen. What spread the rioting so rapidly
was the fact that the Moslem dead were
taken to the mosque. I saw sixty-seven
European dead, and I have it from the
Mussulman Secretary of the Commission of
Inquiry, and also from a Mussulman doctor,
Mustapha Bey, that 140 was the number of
the Moslems, of whom about twenty-five
were Barbarins. The Ouladali Bedouins
also took part in the riot. I saw twenty to
twenty-five of them near Gaban's house,
where they had broken open a shop known
as a depot of firearms. These Ouladali
were at that time on the side of the
Khedive, having been bribed for ^20,000
by Ibraham Tewfik, Mudir of Baharieh, at
Damanhur.

I heard afterwards from a certain official
of the local telegraph that Omar Lutfi sent
many cipher telegrams that day to the
Viceroy, but no telegrams to Arabi ; and it
was not until M. de Lex, the Russian Con-
sul-General, telegraphed to the Viceroy

about the dangers of the disturbances, that
the Viceroy thought proper to send news of
the massacres to Arabi asking him to order
the soldiers at Alexandria to stop the riot-
ing, which Arabi did immediately ; and on
the soldiers appearing, all disturbances
ceased at once. When the above facts of
the sending of telegrams to the Khedive,
and not to Arabi, in Cairo on the Sunday,
and of the interview of Arabi and Mahmoud
Sami with Dervish on the Saturday previous,
and the clandestine visit of Omar Lutfi to
Admiral Seymour shortly after the massa-
cres, became known, it was the universal
opinion of all the Egyptian notables that
the disturbances of the nth June had been
fermented and the massacres allowed to
continue by Omar Lutfi, Dervish, the
Khedive and his party, for the purpose of
bringing discredit upon Arabi and the
National party, without regard to the blood
that might be shed or the nationality of the
victims. (Signed)

JOHN NINET."

CHAPTER XLIII.

THE ALEXANDRIA RlOTS J^ARRATIVES OF EYE-WlTNESSES.

ONTINUING our series of
extracts from the papers
relative to the massacre at |
Alexandria, we now give a I
collection of statements |
from several of those who were present, j
Unless where names are specially mentioned
the statements are anonymous.

The first statement tells us : " When the
disagreement arose between the Khedive
and the Mahmoud Sami Ministry, it was
rumoured in Cairo that the Khedive would
endeavour through some of his followers to
cause a riot in Cairo itself, so much so that
special precautions were taken to prevent
disturbance, and as long as they were in

office the Ministry especially watched this
matter.

And the Khedive sent for Ibrahim Bey
Tewfik, Mudir of Boheyra, and required of
him that he should assemble the sheiks of
the Bedouin tribes and bring them to him.
And when he saw them he received the
sheiks with great cordiality, and made them
promises, and directed the Mudir to order
them to collect 3,000 Bedouin Arabs and
bring them into the capital from the side of
Ghizeh, hoping thus that there being no
discipline among them disturbance would
result in the town. But the sheiks found
it difficult to collect so many men, owing to
the fear the tribes had of the soldiers.

WHO WERE TO BLAME ?

245

And having failed in this, the Khedive
wrote to Omar Lutfi, then Governor of
Alexandria, a ciphered telegram, and told
him, 'Arabi has guaranteed public safety,
and published it in the newspapers, and has
made himself responsible to the Consuls,
and if he succeeds in his guarantee the
Powers will trust him, and our considera-
tions will be lost Also, the fleets of the
Powers are in Alexandrian waters, and
men's minds are excited, and quarrels are
not far off between Europeans and others.
Now, therefore, choose for yourself whether
you will serve Arabi in his guarantee, or
whether you will serve us.'

And on the day of the event went

to the office of the Court, and saw that the
Court officials were in great joy and merri-
ment on account of what had happened,
and were exaggerating the news of it, and
they scoffed at Arabi's pledge to keep the
peace. Now, it has always been the custom,
from the time of the late Khedive, that the
men of the Court say nothing but what is
agreeable to the Khedive. Every day,
indeed, as news reaches them they talk and
laugh if it is agreeable to him, and if
otherwise they feign all the sorrow they
can.

And on the day after the event it was
rumoured in Cairo that the Khedive had
telegraphed during the massacre to Omar
Lutfi, ordering him : ' Ask for soldiers from
the Admiral, and do not ask for Egyptian
soldiers,' and Omar Lutfi answered : ' The
Admiral cannot comply, because some-
thing further might happen which would be
difficult to stop from the soldiers in the
town.'

And twelve days after, when I was in
Alexandria, I heard all the people saying
with one voice that it was the Governor
(Omar Lutfi) who made it go so far, for he
was there, and did not give any order to
prevent it, or go to the place, except after
some time, or ask for the regular soldiers,
in spite of their being so near the scene of
action, and all the people said this was at
the instigation of the Khedive. And I

heard from them that near the end of the
massacre the Governor was pacing from
point to point, and there was a European
at a window holding in his hand a revolver,
and one of the Bedouins said, ' Shall I
shoot that one, O Pasha ? ' and he said to
him, 'Shoot him,' and the Arab fired a
bullet at him and killed him. And much
of the stolen goods entered his house, and
the houses of his relations on that black day.
I heard also from them that he incited some
of the people during the massacre with en-
couragement, and made signs to the police
not to take any notice, saying, ' Let them
die, the sons of dogs.'

Before the event Haidar Pasha went
twice to Alexandria, and returned to Cairo
both times, and on the day of the event he
was at Alexandria, and returned to Cairo
both times, and on this day also, and when
it was over, he came to Cairo. Then he
travelled with the Khedive on the day of
his going (to Alexandria).

When the Commission was formed to
inquire into the causes of the event, Omar
Lutfi was not questioned about anything at
all. On the contrary, the Khedive directed
him to resign under pretext of illness, etc.

Omar Lutfi was Governor of Alexandria
during the riot. He was the person legally
responsible for security, and he neglected
it completely, even if we do not say that he
helped to increase the disorder. Now, if
that was in obedience to Arabi as he
(Lutfi) pretended, although his office was
now in immediate dependence on the
Khedive, since the Khedive had issued a
special decree declaring that after Sami's
resignation all matters relating to the interior
devolved upon the Court how came he
(Lutfi) to be appointed Minister of War as
a recompense of his obedience to Arabi and
his disobedience to his lord the Khedive ?
But if it was negligence of his own, how is
it that with that negligence and incapacity
he was appointed Minister of War? How
is it that he was not asked a single ques-
tion, although he was the first person who
should have been questioned ? Truly the

246

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

march of events proclaims aloud the cause
of the riot to be the Khedive in concert with
Omar Lutfi.

These are things known to me, and if I
were out of danger I could have them con-
firmed by witnesses who could not be
controverted."

Another account says : " The Mahruasa
newspaper, which was an organ of Omar
Lutfi, announced at Alexandria, a few days
before the riots of the nth June, that the
Europeans were preparing to fight, stating
the number of Europeans prepared. This
disturbing announcement drew the attention
of some of the notables of Alexandria, who,
on inquiry, learnt that the announcement
had been ordered.

Unusual movements were observed
several days before the riots among some
of the Europeans in the neighbourhood of
the great Square, to which movements the
attention was called by Ahmed Effendi
Nabih, the district police superintendent,
who reported them to the Chief of the
Zaptiyeh and to the Governor. Taher
EfFendi-el-Kiridli, an officer of the Zaptiyeh,
also had his attention drawn to the matter,
and he also spoke to Omar Lutfi. But
Omar Lutfi took no precautions.

Omar Lutfi had himself been the first
person to give a banquet in Alexandria for
the success of the army. He was the first
to give entertainments and invite orators to
exhort the nation to be united with the
army.

The Governor pretends that Nadim's
speeches were the cause of the disturbances,
while the purport of those speeches which
Nadim made in the Kanfushi quarter was
to persuade the masses to keep quiet and
not to interfere with any stranger ; and he
even said : ' Be it known to you that what-
ever may be done to you by some of the low-
class foreigners, whether abuse, beating, or
the like, will be only done with the design
of raising a disturbance, so that the English
fleet may have a pretext for firing on the
city, as many of the notables of Alexandria

can testify.' Also, Nadim was not in
Alexandria on the day of the riot, but in
Cairo.

The riots began about an hour after mid-
night in the Ibrahim Street, near the Cara-
col of Labbaneh, between a native named
El Ajian and a Maltese. The Maltese
first hit the native and knocked him
down, wounded, and the news reached the
wounded man's brother. He came and
asked an Italian policeman to arrest the
aggressor, upon which the policeman made
use of abusive language towards the
wounded man's brother, even assaulting
him with blows, he receiving him in like
manner. A crowd gathered ; the wounded
man's brother in his turn wounded the
policeman, and the few policemen in the
neighbourhood were unable to disperse the
mob. Yet there was no fighting to speak
about until shots were fired from the win-
dows upon the crowd without distinction.
The shots were fired by those sinless
Europeans, who can do no wrong! On
them be peace. Now the flames of a
riot burst forth and the evil grew. The
Europeans with their arms attacked the
j roughs of Alexandria, who held in their
hands no weapons save what they snatched
up sticks, umbrellas, chairs, legs of
tables. And His Excellency the Governor
did not come till after the lapse of two
and a half hours, and then he sent to Mr.
Cookson, asking his presence in the midst
of the riot, we know not why. And when
Mr. Cookson came he pushed his way
through the fray, risking his life against all
prudence (perhaps in order to be wounded
or to be killed, and so to lay down his soul
as a ransom for the designs of his upright
God). And Omar Lutfi did not haste to
summon the division of Mustaphezin which
was under his orders and dependent on
him specially and on the Zaptiyeh, and
which had no connection of any sort with
the Ministry of War its pay and man ge-
ment being under the Governorship and
Zaptiyeh of Alexandria. And when at
length his zeal prompted him to call out

WHO WERE TO BLAME?

247

the Mustaphezin, he sent for them to come
to the scene of the riot unarmed and not
in marching order, which made them be-
lieve that the Governor only wanted to
enlarge the circle of disturbance, so making
it general. So they came in that strange
state and took part with the pillagers and
murderers, and sent much of the stolen
property to His Excellency's house.

Then, when he saw that by letting things
go further he might perhaps afterwards be
himself shown up, he sent for arms to be
brought in cabs when the Mustaphezin
had already dispersed and the distribution
(of their arms to them) had become im-
possible. It was not till after the lapse of
four hours that Omar Lutfi summoned the
regular soldiers, although the head-quarters
of the regiments were quite close to him ;
and when he did so, his summons not
being in regular form, the Colonel, Mustafa
Abd-er-Rahim, was afraid to act upon it
lest the responsibility should fall upon him,
and sent to request a summons according
to the military regulations. This being
sent the troops went and put down the
riot and dispersed the crowd.

The Colonel in command of Rab Char-
kieh, on becoming aware that Omar Lutfi
himself was the instigator of the riot, desired
to arrest him, but, owing to the country
not being under martial law, he was de-
terred from doing so, and waited to lay the
matter before the Under-Secretary of War,
Yacoub Sami. But on his arrival he
abandoned the idea of the arrest.

About the seventh hour of the night
boats were seen approaching the shore
carrying English soldiers, and news of
this reaching the Colonel, Mustafa Abd-er-
Rahim, he informed the Governor, who
positively and absolutely contradicted the
report. So, to ascertain the facts for them-
selves, they went to the shore, first inform-
ing the French Consul, who himself accom-
panied the officers, to verify the state of
the case. They had also with them some
soldiers. The truth of the report becom-
ing evident, the French Consul proceeded

at once to the British Consulate, and after
some parleying signals were hoisted and
the boats put off again.

Verily the greater number of those ac-
cused and arrested the day after the riots
were crying out, ' We are not to blame. It
was His Excellency the Governor himself
who ordered us to beat and rob.' Had
any real inquiry taken place in those days
the general testimony of most of the
accused would have fixed suspicion on the
Governor. But this Admiral Seymour did
not permit, lest his opportunity should be
lost.

The Seyyid Kandil had documents in his
possession clearly showing the manner of
organization concocted by the Governor
and the Khedive and those of his Court.
And from those documents the Khedive's
plan of action in concerting the requisite
measures to stir up these abominable riots
became known. The papers they forced
him to deliver up after his arrest and he
had to give them up."

A third statement tells us : " On Sunday,
the nth June, the Ottoman Commissioner,
Dervish Pasha, who had arrived three days
before in Egypt, was driving in the avenue
that leads from the Palace of Ghizerah to
the bridge Kasr-en-NiL He had just had,
at his own residence, a long interview
with Arabi Pasha and all the ex-Ministers,
and was going to the Palace of Ismailiah,
where the Khedive resided, with a view to
communicate to him a combination which
had been agreed upon, and which might, it
was said, reconcile the Khedive with his
Minister.

Near the bridge he was met by the
Khedive's secretary, Talaat Pasha, who
was sent by his master to announce to him
that a riot had broken out at Alexandria,
that it had been going on for three hours,
and that Europeans and Christians were
everywhere massacred. This communica-
tion was made with an air of triumph.
Talaat looked much pleased. He appeared
to say that Arabi, for whom so much was

248

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

being done, was the sole cause of the
occurrence. In truth, Arabi had engaged,
in presence of the Consuls, to maintain
public order, or to restore it if it should be
disturbed. Events now gave him contra-
diction. Massacres had now been going

on three hours without his having been
able to do anything towards order, etc.

Dervish Pasha delegated one the aides-
de-camp who were in the carriage with him
to return immediately to Arabi. Abud
being present offered a seat in his carriage

ARABI, THE REBEL PASHA.

to Dervish Pasha's messenger, and took
him to the house of Mahmoud Pasha Sami,
where Arabi was at the time.

The news of what had happened soon
spread through the town. Arabi and his
friends were in grief. In the Khedive's
palace only there was joy.

despatches sent by Arabi, the Gover-
nor of Alexandria replied that the army
under his command had mastered the dis-
turbance and restored order.

One thing is certain, the rising was not
unforeseen. It was contrived beforehand
with diabolical skill. It has been proved

WHO WERE TO BLAME 1

249

that naboots (thick sticks used by the
Egyptian night watchmen) had some days
before the nth June been distributed
among the mob by secret agents ; that these
naboots made their appearance almost at
the same time from various quarters of the
town, at the very time when a Maltese had
just killed a donkey-man for some futile
reason; that the donkey- men, a peaceable
class, but very accessible to money, under
the influence of which they are capable of
the most mischievous acts, played an im-
portant part on that unfortunate day ; that
during the riot, Greeks and Arabs, armed
with revolvers, placed in ambuscade in
certain houses, fired from the windows into
the crowd, their only object being to
spread the massacre by firing indiscrimin-
ately on Europeans and Arabs ; that fan-
atical sheiks excited the peaceable inhabi-
tants to murder the Christians; that the
Mustaphezin (municipal guards under civil
authority) sent by the Governor with the
apparent object of quelling the tumult,
bayoneted the unfortunate people whom it
was their duty to protect; that helpless
fugitives 'were murdered by those Musta-
phezin in front of the Prefecture of Police ;
and lastly that the Bedouins, coming in
from the neighbourhood of Alexandria, were
about to take a share in the plunder when
the regular army, which only made its
appearance four hours after the first knife
was drawn, obliged them to retire.

On the other side the Governor of Alex-

andria explained his delay in sending the
regular army to put down the disturbance
by his fear lest they might join the rioters :
but His Excellency never explained, and
never was asked, how that fear which he
felt at the beginning of the rising, van-
ished at the moment of its fullest in-
tensity.

It is certain and the telegraph clerks
attached to the Palace and the Khedive
were ready to declare it that a long
correspondence had been carried on be-
tween the Governor of Alexandria and the
Khedive as soon as the riot broke out, and
the question discussed was the sending of
troops from the English or the French
fleets.

Haidar Pasha, a cousin of the Khedive,
who had for several days together had long
secret interviews with him through the gates
of the harem, and always at nightfall, was
in Alexandria at the time of the massacre.

It was only after useless debates with the
Admirals on the question of landing, that
the Governor, in accord with the Khedive,
agreed to appeal to the army to put an
end to the massacre."

As these are strong statements, it may be
as well to repeat that they are to be taken
with such qualification as completely de-
stroys their force, and we again venture to
direct the reader's attention to Earl Gran-
ville's opinion, as contained in the letter
quoted at the beginning of the last chapter
as to the whole matter.

250

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

CHAPTER XLIV.

LORD ALCESTER p. J3RIBF JR.ECORD OF HIS CAREER.

HE bombardment of Alex-
andria must be said to have
made the reputation of
Lord Alcester for to that
title he was raised for his
skilful management of the affair.

From that useful publication, " Men of
the Time," and one or two other author-
ities, we extract the following account of
him. They tell us that" The Right Hon.
Frederick Beauchamp Paget Seymour,
Lord Alcester, was the only surviving son
of the late Sir Horace Beauchamp Sey-
mour, M.P., and a grandson of Vice-
Admiral Lord Hugh Seymour. He was
born in Bruton Street, London, on April
12, 1821; was educated at Eton; and
entered the royal navy in January, 1834,
receiving his lieutenant's commission in
March, 1842. He became a captain in
1854, rear-admiral in 1870, vice-admiral in
1876, and admiral in 1882. He served as
a volunteer in the Burmese war of 1852-3,
as aide-de-camp to General Godwin, and
led the storming party of Fusiliers at the
capture of the works and pagoda of Pegu.
He was also present in numerous other
engagements on land and water, was four
times gazetted, and awarded the Burmese
medal, with the clasp for Pegu, at the close
of the campaign. In 1854 he served
against the Russians in the operations in
the White Sea, and is in receipt of the
Baltic medal. A few years later, viz.
1860-1, as commodore in command of the
Australian station, he took part in the
operations of the Naval Brigade in New
Zealand, again distinguishing himself, and
receiving the New Zealand medal and the
Companionship of the Bath. In 1866 he
was appointed an aide-de-camp to the
Queen. From 1868 till 1870 he was

private secretary to the First Lord of the
Admiralty, and he commanded the Detached
Squadron from December, 1870, till May,
1872, from which date till March he was
one of the Lords of the Admiralty, and was
re-appointed in 1883. From October,
1874, till November, 1877, when he was
made a K.C.B., he commanded the Chan-
nel Squadron, and he was appointed
Commander-in-chief in the Mediterranean
in February, 1880. In September of the
same year he assumed the supreme com-
mand of the Allied Fleet of the European
Powers, which made a naval demonstration
off the Albanian coast in consequence of
the refusal of the Porte to agree to the
cession of Dulcigno to Montenegro.
Eventually the Turks consented to the
cession, and the object for which the
European fleet had been assembled in the
Adriatic having thus been achieved, it
dispersed on December 5. Sir Beauchamp
Seymour received the thanks of Her
Majesty's Government for the manner in
which he performed his duty on this occa-
sion, and he was created a Grand Cross of
the Bath in the following year (1881). In
the warlike operations in Egypt in 1882,
he took a conspicuous part, as Commander-
in-chief of the Mediterranean fleet. On
the 6th of July he demanded of Arabi
Pasha the instant cessation of the works on
the forts at Alexandria, under penalty of
bombardment; and on the loth he de-
spatched an ultimatum to the Egyptian
Ministry, demanding not only the cessation
of all defensive works, but also the sur-
render of the forts at the mouth of the
harbour. Early on the morning of the
nth eight British ironclads and five gun-
boats advanced to the attack, and although
the Egyptian gunners fought their guns

ADMIRAL SIR F. B. P. SEYMOUR, G.C.B

NOW LOf\D ALCESTER.
By pcrmnsion of J. Mat lardy, .? , Ofwtitry.

LORD ALCESTER IN THE CITY.

251

exceedingly well, the forts were, in a few
hours, laid in ruins or silenced, with slight
loss on the British side, and with trifling
damage to the ships. On the following
day flags of truce were hoisted on shore,
and in the afternoon one of the British
officers, being sent to treat with the enemy,
discovered that the city had been com-
pletely abandoned by Arabi and his troops,
and that the flags had been merely used as
devices to enable the army to withdraw
from the city without further molestation.
Sir Beauchamp Seymour remained in
supreme command at the occupation and
arrangement of affairs in Egypt until the
arrival of the army under the command of
General Sir Garnet Wolseley. For his
distinguished services he received the
thanks of Parliament, was elevated to the
peerage by the title of Baron Alcester, of
Alcester, in the county of Warwick. His
lordship also received from Parliament a
grant of ^25,000, a medal with two clasps,
Grand Cordon of the Osmanick, Crown
and Star of the Damanick, and the
Khedive's Bronze Star." Nor were these
all the honours which were bestowed upon
this successful sailor.

The Corporation of the City of London,
on the nth April, 1883, presented to him
an address of congratulation and thanks for
the able and gallant services rendered by
him in Egypt, together with the officers and
men of all arms and ranks under his com-
mand. The freedom of the City, with a
sword of honour, was also presented to Lord
Alcester.

In presenting the sword of honour to
Admiral Lord Alcester, the Chamberlain
said it was not to be regarded as an expres-
sion of unanimous feeling concerning the
objects of the campaign in Egypt, but of
admiration of the skill, bravery, endurance,
discipline, and devotion to duty manifested
by all ranks and arms in the naval service.

Lord Alcester, having taken the sword
and pressed the ivory hilt to his lips, said
that he was at a loss to find words to express
his gratitude. The freedom of the City was

an honour which the officers of both the
services hoped for, and duly appreciated
when received. In his conduct of the naval
operations during the Egyptian campaign
he had been fortunate in obtaining the
cordial support of his officers, seamen and
marines, and the willing co-operation of the
sister services. He had previously been
associated with Lord Wolseley, and he
therefore knew what to expect from so true
a comrade and so brave a man. In the
afternoon before the action at Tel-el-Kebir
he spent some time in Sir Garnet's tent,
and amidst all the dangers and difficulties
which menaced him, he found the General
as calm and cool as though he were in St.
James's Street. To a man who could so
command his temper and feelings at such a
moment, victory was pretty well secured.
In conclusion, his lordship acknowledged
the ready help which he had always re-
ceived from the Admiralty, and said that
amidst all the diversities of political feeling
he had found that so long as he was re-
solved to maintain the honour of his country,
and do his duty, the country would see him
through his task.

At the banquet in the evening, after the
toast of the Queen, which was responded
to by Vice-Admiral the Duke of Edinburgh,
that of the Army, Navy, and Reserve
Forces was given, and the Lord Mayor then
proposed " The health of Admiral Lord
Alcester and General Lord Wolseley," and,
in a speech of considerable eloquence, he
traced out the career and past services of
Lord Alcester. He referred particularly to
the successful way in which the delicate
negotiations were carried out by his lordship
when in command of the international squa-
dron in Austrian and Turkish waters before
Dulcigno in 1880, the difficult task of keep-
ing together a fleet of different nationalities
and representing so many conflicting
interests having been so successfully per-
formed by his lordship as to prominently
bring before the world his great tact and
talents, gaining for him the friendship and
regard of the numerous distinguished foreign

252

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

officers with whom he was at that time
associated, and for the successful termination
of which negotiations his lordship received
the G.C.B. Referring to his lordship's
services during the Egyptian campaign, he
remarked that few people appeared to
understand fully the responsibilities of his
lordship's position during the anxious time
immediately preceding the attack on the
forts of Alexandria, or to appreciate how
admirably the whole of the delicate negoti-
ations with the other Powers represented
in Alexandrian waters had been con-
ducted. When the right moment came, his
lordship had to decide as to the proper
course to pursue ; the right one was chosen,
and the plans of attack so well and carefully
prepared as to result in the signal success
which crowned the operations of the day.
He briefly alluded to the chief incidents of
the recent campaign in Egypt from the time
of the bombardment of the forts of Alexan-
dria on the nth July, to the charge of
Kassasin, the midnight march and charge
at Tel-el-Kebir, the onward progress to
Zagazig and Cairo, and the surrender of
Arabi.

Admiral Lord Alcester, who, on rising,
was greeted with prolonged cheering,
said :

"My Lord Mayor, your Royal Highnesses,
my Lords and Gentlemen, No words at
my command can express my feeling for
the great honour which you have conferred
upon me in drinking my health in the way
you have done. I wish to express to the
Lord Mayor my sense of the great honour
I received this morning at his hands. The
freedom of the City of London is one that
we, in both services, regard almost as the
culminating honour of our career, and I
thank you most sincerely for the honour
that has been conferred upon me. My
Lord Mayor has been kind enough to allude
in most complimentary terms far more
than we deserve to the services we have
been enabled to render to our country
during the past campaign. I will say one
or two words on the earlier part of that cam-

paign, which constituted the extreme diffi-
culty that attended the work I had to do. It
was impossible, after the massacre that took
place in Alexandria on the nth June, to
do anything in a way I should like to have
done it. Had it not been for the enormous
European and Levantine population all
subjects of Europe I think it is very possi-
ble that with the small force we had then
we should have been able to settle matters
on the following morning. There is a dis-
tinguished diplomatist here who will bear
me out in saying that had we attempted to
seek for redress, which we were entitled to
demand, the lives of the enormous popula-
tion at Cairo and all Egypt generally would
have suffered. I was told in distinct terms
that I must do nothing. I was requested to
do nothing until measures had been adopted
to remove that population from Egypt.
The massacre at Alexandria took place on
the nth June, and I ask attention to this,
that the last vessel containing the refugees
from Egypt generally was towed out of the
harbour of Alexandria at 4 p.m. on the roth
July. We attacked the batteries of Alexan-
dria at seven o'clock on the following
morning, and, therefore, I hope I may say
there was no want of promptitude. In
our endeavours to repress grievances we had
to press forward. The rest was a com-
paratively easy matter. To the gallant
officers, seamen and marines was left the
task of settling affairs after the bombard-
ment of the forts, and we had the very great
advantage of being reinforced by one of the
best officers in the British army, my friend
Sir Archibald Alison, and subsequently by
that most gallant and distinguished officer
with whom I had the honour of being asso-
ciated in the campaign General (as he was
then) Sir Garnet Wolseley. I should be
very wrong if I did not take this opportu-
nity of returning my thanks to those gallant
officers whom fortune placed under me
during the campaign. I will begin by
speaking of Admiral Dowell and Sir William
Ewart, and also of the gallant officer who
so nobly did his duty in the Suez Canal,

A DETERMINED INTERVIEWER.

253

and Sir Francis Sullivan, who left nothing
to be desired in the management of affairs
at Port Said at a most critical time. I
should also at the same time speak of two
officers of other countries : Admiral Conrad
of the French navy, who was not responsi-
ble for the change of policy which caused
the withdrawal of the French fleet, and
Admiral Wrexhall of the American navy,
who got his ship under weigh, and passed
the squadron in action, his men cheering
so rapidly that the crew of the Lancaster
said there was nothing left them but to
acknowledge how much they appreciated
this cheering. I may say that no officer
in my position ever received such support

as I have received from my superiors. I beg
to thank Lord Northbrook and the Duke of
Cambridge for what they did for me. They
anticipated almost every want of mine. I
was quite sure that, however I might have
failed at first starting, owing to the difficulty
of removing British subjects from the coast,
in endeavouring to do my duty in my own
way and maintain the honour of England I
should be backed up by my country. I
must express the very great pleasure I have
in seeing so many officers of the sister
services present, many of whom I have seen
under different conditions, and I have again
to thank you, my Lord Mayor, for the great
honour you have done me."

CHAPTER XLV.

pORDON J-flS OPINION AS TO THE SOUDAN.

ENERAL Gordon's life has
been full of strange sur-
prises and adventures ; but
the most strange and sur-
prising was that which sent
him on the ever fateful expedition to
Khartoum. The King of the Belgians had
determined to send him on an anti-slavery
expedition to the head-waters of the Congo.
He had accepted this, had returned rom
Jerusalem, had gone to Brussels, and from
thence had come to England. On tne 7th
of January he was with his sister at South-
ampton. On the very next day he received
a message from the Pall Mall Gazette ask-
ing him if he would consent to state his
views on the subject of the Soudan. He
declined. But the editor of the Pall Mall
Gazette was as remarkable and determined a
man, in his own way, as General Gordon.
After telling us of the declinature, the editor
calmly goes on : " Our representative left
town by the next train, and found General
Gordon at h's sisters house, in the out-

skirts of Southampton. He showed con-
siderable disinclination to express his
opinions upon the subject." This is not to
be wondered at ; but he did at last " listen
to the voice of the charmer," and expressed
himself fully as to the Soudan. What
follows is the substance of what he said to
the interviewer. Before quoting it let us
merely remind the reader that this is the
period after the destruction of the army of
Hicks Pasha, when our Government had
insisted that the Soudan must be evacuated
by the Egyptian Government ; though how
the garrison and loyal subjects of that
Government were to be withdrawn from the
rapidly-rising power of the Mahdi was a
difficult problem.

On the 8th of January an event occurred
which transformed the whole situation. On
the 7th of January, having been summoned
from Jerusalem by the King of the Belgians
to take charge of an anti-slavery expedition
on the head-waters of the Congo, General
Gordon arrived in London from Brussels.

254

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

On the following day a communication was
addressed to him at Southampton, whither
he had proceeded, asking him if he would
consent to hold a conversation on the
subject of the Soudan with a representative
of the Pall Mall Gazette. With character-
istic modesty, General Gordon begged to
be excused, as his views were of insufficient
importance to warrant a journey to South-
ampton. Our representative left town by
the next train, and found General Gordon
at his sister's house in the outskirts of
Southampton. He showed considerable
disinclination to express his opinions upon
the subject, but on its being represented to
him very strongly that he of all men now in
the country was best acquainted with the
Soudan, and therefore was best able to
speak with authority on the question of the
hour, he consented to enter upon the
subject. As soon as he had broken the ice
he went on with the greatest animation, and
even vehemence, expressing himself with
the utmost clearness and emphasis upon all
the phases of the question of the hour. No
transcript of the notes of that conversation,
which lasted over two hours, can convey
any idea of the manner in which the late
Governor- General of the Soudan discussed
in all its minuteness of detail the difficulties
to be faced, and indicated with the utmost
precision and confidence both the causes
of the disaster and the methods by which
the crisis should be faced. By eliminating
all that is extraneous to the vitals of the
subject, and rigidly confining attention to
the central point, it is possible to convey
some meagre impression of what Chinese
Gordon thinks of the Soudan in the follow-
ing rough transcript of the substance of his
remarks :

"So you would abandon the Soudan?
But the Eastern Soudan is indispensable to
Egypt. It will cost you far more to retain
your hold upon Egypt proper if you abandon
your hold of the Eastern Soudan to the
Mahdi or to the Turk than what it would to
retain your hold upon Eastern Soudan by
the aid of such material as exists in the

provinces. Darfour and Kordofan must be
abandoned. That I admit; but the pro-
vinces lying to the east of the White Nile
should be retained, and north of Sennaar.
The danger to be feared is not that the
Mahdi will march northward through Wady
Haifa; on the contrary, it is very impro-
bable that he will ever go so far north.
The danger is altogether of a different
nature. It arises from the influence which
the spectacle of a conquering Mahometan
Power, established close to your frontiers,
will exercise upon the population which you
govern. In all the cities in Egypt it will be
felt that what the Mahdi has done they
may do ; and, as he has driven out the in-
truder and the infidel, they may do the
same. Nor is it only England that has to
face this danger. The success of the Mahdi
has already excited dangerous fermentation
in Arabia and Syria. Placards have been
posted in Damascus calling upon the popu-
lation to rise and drive out the Turks. If
the whole of the Eastern Soudan is sur-
rendered to the Mahdi, the Arab tribes on
both sides the Red Sea will take fire. In
self-defence the Turks are bound to do
something to cope with so formidable a
danger, for it is quite possible that if
nothing is done the whole of the Eastern
Question may be reopened by the triumph
of the Mahdi. I see it is proposed to
fortify Wady Haifa, and prepare there to
resist the Mahdi's attack. You might as
well fortify against a fever. Contagion of
that kind cannot be kept out by fortifi-
cations and garrisons. But that it is real,
and that it does exist, will be denied by no
one cognisant with Egypt and the East.
In self-defence the policy of evacuation
cannot possibly be justified.

There is another aspect of the question.
You have 6,000 men in Khartoum. What
are you going to do with them ? You have
garrisons in Darfour, Bahr Gazelle, and
Gondokoro. Are they to be sacrificed?
Their only offence is their loyalty to their
sovereign. For their fidelity you are going
to abandon them to their fate You say

" PL A CE NUBAR IN PO WER ! '

255

they are to retire upon Wady Haifa. But
Gondokoro is 1,500 miles from Khartoum,
and Khartoum is 350 only from Wady
Haifa. How will you move your 6,000
men from Khartoum to say nothing of
other places and all the Europeans in that
city, through the desert to Wady Haifa?
Where are you going to get the camels to
take them away ? Will the Mahdi supply
them? If they are to escape with their
lives, the garrison will not be allowed to
leave with a coat on their backs. They
will be plundered to the skin, and even
then their lives may not be spared. What-
ever you may decide about evacuation, you
cannot evacuate, because your army can-
not be moved. You must either surrender
absolutely to the Mahdi, or defend Khar-
toum at all hazards. The latter is the only
course which ought to be entertained.
There is no serious difficulty about it. The
Mahdi's forces will fall to pieces of them-
selves ; but if in a moment of panic orders
are issued for the abandonment of the whole
of the Eastern Soudan, a blow will be struck
against the security of Egypt and the peace
of the East which may have fatal conse-
quences.

The great evil is not at Khartoum, but
at Cairo. It is the weakness of Cairo which
produces disaster in the Soudan. It is
because Hicks was not adequately sup-
ported at the first, but was thrust forward
upon an impossible enterprise by the men
who had refused him supplies when a
decisive blow might have been struck, that
the Western Soudan has been sacrificed.
The Eastern Soudan may, however, be
saved if there is a firm hand placed at the
helm in Egypt Everything depends on
that.

What then, you ask, should be done ? I
reply, Place Nubar in power! Nubar is
the one supremely able man among
Egyptian ministers. He is proof against
foreign intrigue, and he thoroughly under-
stands the situation. Place him in power ;
support him through thick and thin ; give
him a free hand ; and let it be distinctly

understood that no intrigues either on the
part of Tewfik or any of Nubar's rivals will
be allowed for a moment to interfere with
the execution of his plans. You are sure
to find that the energetic support of Nubar
will sooner or later bring you into collision
with the Khedive ; but if that sovereign
really desires, as he says, the welfare of his
country, it will be necessary for you to pro-
tect Nubar's administration from any direct
or indirect interference on his part. Nubar
can be depended upon ; that I can
guarantee. He will not take office without
knowing that he is to have his own way ;
but if he takes office it is the best security
that you can have for the restoration of
order to the country. Especially is this the
case with the Soudan. Nubar should be
left untrammelled by any stipulations con-
cerning the evacuation of Khartoum.
There is no hurry. The garrisons can hold
their own at present Let them continue
to hold on until disunion and tribal
jealousies have worked their natural results
in the camp of the Mahdi. Nubar should
be free to deal with the Soudan in his own
way. How he will deal with the Soudan,
of course I cannot profess to say; but I
should imagine that he would appoint
a Governor-General at Khartoum with full
powers, and furnish him with two millions
sterling a large sum, no doubt, but a sum
which had much better be spent now than
wasted in a vain attempt to avert the con-
sequences of an ill-timed surrender. Sir
Samuel Baker, who possesses the essential
energy and single tongue requisite for the
office, might be appointed Governor-
General of the Soudan ; and he might take
his brother as Commander-in-chief.

It should be proclaimed in the hearing
of all the Soudanese, and engraved on
tablets of brass, that a permanent Consti-
tution was granted to the Soudanese by
which no Turk or Circassian would ever be
allowed to enter the province to plunder its
inhabitants in order to fill his own pockets,
and that no immediate emancipation of
slaves would be attempted. Immediate

256

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

emancipation was denounced in 1833 as
confiscation in England, and it is no less
confiscation in the Soudan to-day. What-
ever is done in that direction should be
done gradually, and by a process of regis-
tration. Mixed tribunals might be estab-
lished, if Nubar thought fit, in which
European judges would co-operate with the
natives in the administration of justice.
Police inspectors also might be appointed,
and adequate measures taken to root out
the abuses which prevail in the prisons.

With regard to Darfour, I should think
that Nubar would probably send back the
family and the heir of the Sultan of Darfour.
If subsidized by the Government and sent
back with Sir Samuel Baker, he would not
have much difficulty in regaining posses-
sion of the kingdom of Darfour, which was
formerly one of the best governed of
African countries. As regards Abyssinia,
the old warning should not be lost sight of
' Put not your trust in princes ' ; and
place no reliance upon the King of Abys-
sinia, at least outside his own country.
Zoula and Bogos might be ceded to him
with advantage, and the free right of entry
by the port of Massowah might be added ;
but it would be a mistake to give him
possession of Massowah, which he would
ruin. A Commission might also be sent
down with advantage to examine the state
of thing of Harrar, opposite Aden, and see
what iniquities are going on there, as also
at Berbera and Zeila. By these means,
and by the adoption of a steady, consistent
policy at head-quarters, it would be possible
not to say easy to re-establish the
authority of the Khedive between the Red
Sea and Sennaar.

As to the cost of the Soudan, it is a
mistake to suppose that it will necessarily
be a charge on the Egyptian Exchequer.
It will cost two millions to relieve the
garrisons and to quell the revolt ; but that
expenditure must be incurred any way ;
and, in all probability, if the garrisons are
handed over to be massacred and the
country evacuated, the ultimate expenditure

would exceed that sum. At first, until the
country is pacified, the Soudan will need a
subsidy of ,200,000 a year from Egypt.
That, however, would be temporary.
During the last years of my administration
the Soudan involved no charge upon the
Egyptian Exchequer. The bad provinces
were balanced against the good, and an
equilibrium was established. The Soudan
will never be a source of revenue to Egypt,
but it need not be a source of expense.
That deficits have arisen, and that the
present disaster has occurred, is entirely
attributable to a single cause, and that is
the grossest misgovernment.

The cause of the rising in the Soudan is
the cause of all popular risings against
Turkish rule wherever they have occurred.
No one who has been in a Turkish province
and has witnessed the results of the Bashi-
Bazouk system, which excited so much
indignation some time ago in Bulgaria, will
need to be told why the people of the
Soudan have risen in revolt against the
Khedive. The Turks, the Circassians, and
the Bashi-Bazouks have plundered and
oppressed the people in the Soudan as
they plundered and oppressed them in the
Balkan peninsula. Oppression begat dis-
content; discontent necessitated an increase
of the armed force at the disposal of the
authorities ; this increase of the army force
involved an increase of expenditure, which
again was attempted to be met by increasing
taxation, and that still further increased the
discontent. And so things went on in a
dismal circle until they culminated, after
repeated deficits, in a disastrous rebellion.
That the people were justified in rebelling
nobody who knows the treatment to which
they were subjected will attempt to deny.
Their cries were absolutely unheeded at
Cairo. In despair they had recourse to
the only method by which they could make
their wrongs known; and, on the same prin-
ciple that Absalom fired the corn of Joab,
so they rallied round the Mahdi, who ex-
horted them to revolt against the Turkish
yoke. I am convinced that it is an entire

"AN OUTBREAK OF DESPAIX."

257

mistake to regard the Mahdi as in any sense
a religious leader; he personifies popular
discontent. All the Soudanese are poten-
tial Mahdis, just as all the Egyptians are
potential Arabis. The movement is not
religious, but an outbreak of despair.
Three times over I warned the late

Khedive that it would be impossible to
govern the Soudan on the old system after
my appointment to the Governor-General-
ship. During the three years that I wielded
full powers in the Soudan I taught the
natives that they had a right to exist. I
waged war against the Turks and Circas-

sians who had harried the population. I
had taught them something of the meaning
of liberty and justice, and accustomed them
to a higher ideal of government than that
with which they had previously been ac-
quainted. As soon as I had gone the
Turks and Circassians returned in full
force; the old Bashi-Bazouk system was

re-established ; my old employes were per-
secuted ; and a population which had
begun to appreciate something like decent
government was flung back to suffer the
worst excesses of Turkish rule. The in-
evitable result followed; and thus it may
be said that the egg of the present rebellion
was laid in the three years during which I

258

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

was allowed to govern the Soudan on other
than Turkish principles.

The Soudanese are a very nice people.
They deserve the sincere compassion and
sympathy of all civilized men. I got on
very well with them, and I am sincerely
sorry at the prospect of seeing them handed
over to be ground down once more by
their Turkish and Circassian oppressors.
Yet, unless an attempt is made to hold on
to the present garrisons, it is inevitable
that the Turks, for the sake of self-preser-
vation, must attempt to crush them. They
deserve a better fate. It ought not to be
impossible to come to terms with them, to
grant them a free amnesty for the past, to
offer them security for decent government
in the future. If this were done, and the
government entrusted to a man whose word
was truth, all might yet be re-established.
So far from believing it impossible to make
an arrangement with the Mahdi, I strongly
suspect that he is a mere puppet put for-
ward by Ilyas, Zebehr's father-in-law, and
the largest slave-owner in Obeid, and that
he has assumed a religious title to give
colour to his defence of the popular rights.

There is one subject about which I can-
not imagine any one can differ. That is
the impolicy of announcing our intention
to evacuate Khartoum. Even if we were
bound to do so we should have said
nothing about it. The moment it is
known that we have given up the game
every man will go over to the Mahdi. All
men worship the rising sun. The diffi-
culties of evacuation will be enormously
increased, if, indeed, the withdrawal of our
garrison is not rendered impossible.

The late Khedive, who is one of the
ablest and worst used men in Europe,
would not have made such a mistake, and
under him the condition of Egypt proper
was much better than it is to-day. Now
with regard to Egypt, the same principle
should be observed that must be acted
upon in the Soudan. Let your foundations
be broad and firm and based upon the
contentment and welfare of the people.

Hitherto, both in the Soudan and in
Egypt, instead of constructing the social
edifice like a pyramid, upon its base, we
have been rearing an obelisk which a single
push may overturn. Our safety in Egypt
is to do something for the people. That
is to say, you must reduce their rent, rescue
them from the usurers, and retrench ex-
penditure. Nine-tenths of the European
employe's might probably be weeded out
with advantage. The remaining tenth
thoroughly efficient should be retained ;
but whatever you do, do not break up Sir
Evelyn Wood's army, which is destined to
do good work. Stiffen it as much as you
please, but with Englishmen, not with Cir-
cassians. Circassians are as much foreigners
in Egypt as Englishmen are, and certainly
not more popular. As for the European
population, let them have charters for the
formation of municipal councils, for raising
volunteer corps, and for organizing in their
own defence. Anything more shameful
than the flight from Egypt in 1882 I never
read. Let them take an example from
Shanghai, where the European settlement
provides for its own defence and its own
government I should like to see a com-
petent Special Commissioner of the highest
standing such a man, for instance, as
Mr. W. E. Forster, who is free at once
from traditions of the elders and of the
Foreign Office, and of the bondholders,
sent out to put Nubar in the saddle, sift
out unnecessary employes, and warn evil-
doers in the highest places that they will
not be allowed to play any tricks. If that
were done it would give confidence every-
where, and I see no reason why the last
British soldier should not be withdrawn
from Egypt in six months' time.

I hope," said General Gordon, in con-
clusion, " that you will explain that I did
not wish to press my opinions upon the
public. I am very reluctant to say anything
calculated to embarrass the Government in a
very difficult crisis ; but when you appealed
to me, I did feel moved at the thought of
the poor Soudanese, whom I knew so well

"CUTTING THE DOG'S TAIL OFF:

259

and loved so much ; and I thought that for
once I might, for their sake, depart from
the resolution which I had formed in my
mind to leave these things to be governed
by the Higher Power which cannot err,
without comment on my part They are a
good people, the poor Soudanese, and if I

can do anything for them I shall be only
too glad. But, although I have spoken
to you quite frankly, I should be much
obliged if, when you publish these remarks,
you would let it be distinctly understood
that I do not wish to depart again from the
rule which I have mentioned."

CHAPTER XLVI.

rORDON EN ROUTE FOR

.HARTOUM.

T was undoubtedly the case
that the interview so copi-
ously reported in our last
chapter " transformed the
whole" situation. Gor-
don's name was at once in everybody's
mouth, and people began to say, here is
the very man for the Soudan. " So matters
stood up to the xyth of January. On that
day General Gordon arrived at Brussels in
order to see the King of the Belgians and
receive from him his final instructions for
the Congo, whither he intended to proceed
at once. The War Office, with great re-
luctance, had been prevailed upon to ac-
quiesce in his retention of his commission
during his absence on the Congo. On the
afternoon of that day he received a telegram
summoning him to London. He left im-
mediately, and arrived in London on Friday
morning. At three in the afternoon he met
Lord Granville, Minister for Foreign Affairs;
Lord Hartington, Secretary of State for
War ; Lord Northbrook, First Lord of the
Admiralty; and Sir Charles Dilke, Presi-
dent of the Local Government Board, at
the War Office. General Gordon was asked
if he would undertake to establish a native
government in Khartoum, and do what he
could to relieve the endangered garrisons.
To this he replied by asking whether he
would be under the orders of the Queen or
of those of Tewfik, the Khedive. As an

officer in the service of Her Majesty, he
was bound to execute her orders ; but on
no consideration whatever would he go to
the Soudan as a servant of the Khedive or
the Egyptian Government He was assured
that if he accepted the mission offered him
he would be the accredited representative
of the British Government in the Soudan,
and that he would be in no way responsible
to the Khedive. In order to make this
perfectly clear it was decided that he should
proceed to Khartoum vid the Suez Canal
and Souakin. Sir Evelyn Baring would
meet him on the canal, and he would act
with Sir Evelyn Baring in the pacification
and the evacuation of the Soudan. This
programme was afterwards varied, and
General Gordon ultimately went through
Cairo on his way to Khartoum. General
Gordon was not consulted as to the policy
to be pursued. He was entrusted with a
mission, which he described in his own
graphic way as that of 'cutting the dog's
tail off.' ' I've got my orders,' he said ;
' I'll do it, co&tc que co&tc! He made no
secret of the fact that he entertained but
little hope of the success of his mission ;
and he hinted pretty broadly that 'the
dog's tail ' would grow on again. The
chief point of agreement between him and
the Government was embodied in a pro-
clamation, which was submitted to Sir
Evelyn Baring, and approved of by the

260

THE ENGLISH IN EG YPT.

Egyptian Government, to the effect that he
came as the representative of England to
take away the whole of the Egyptian gar-
risons from the Soudan, and to establish
there such native government as he could.
Concerning the stability of the system which
he was to establish, he expressed himself
as very dubious. A semblance of order, he
thought, might be established at first ; but
the ultimate result would be chaos. The
tribes would fight against each other, and
the prospect of settled order in the country
was of the slightest. But, having received
his instructions, he set about executing them
with characteristic despatch. He met the
Ministers at three o'clock in the afternoon.
At eight o'clock in the evening he left
Charing Cross for the Soudan. The scene
at the station was very interesting. Lord
Wolseley carried the General's portmanteau,
Lord Granville took his ticket for him, and
the Duke of Cambridge held open the
carriage door. And thus, with universal
good wishes, General Gordon started on
his journey. Next morning his appoint-
ment was approved without a single dis-
sentient voice by the entire press of the
country, the only regret expressed being
that it had been delayed so long.

It can very easily be proved, by a com-
parison of dates, that for some time before
our Government had been thinking of
sending General Gordon on an Egyptian
mission ; and so the fact of his being sent
was by no means entirely due to newspaper
influence. Let us continue our narrative by
a few quotations from the Blue-books, and
that will bring us down to the time when
Gordon was actually on his way across the
desert to Khartoum. As the papers are
not very lengthy we give them almost
entire. Nearly all are telegrams.

No. i.
" Earl Granville to Sir E. Baring.

FOREIGN OFFICE, December \st, 1883.

If General Charles Gordon were willing
to go to Egypt would he be of any use to
you or to the Egyptian Government, and if
so, in what capacity ? "

No. 2.
" Sir E. Baring to Earl Granville.

CAIRO, December 2nd, 1883.
Reply to your telegram of the ist De-
cember.

The Egyptian Government is very much
averse to employing General Gordon,
mainly on the ground that, the movement
in the Soudan being religious, the appoint-
ment of a Christian in high command
would probably alienate the tribes who
remain faithful.

I think it wise to leave the whole respon-
sibility of Soudan affairs to them, and not
to press them on the subject."

No. 3.
" Sir E. Baring to Earl Granville.

CAIRO, January gt/i, 1884.
Colonel Coetlogon has telegraphed to
the Khedive strongly urging an immediate
withdrawal from Khartoum. He says that
one-third of garrison are unreliable, and
that even if it were twice as strong as it is
it would not hold Khartoum against the
whole country, which, without a doubt, is
all opposed to Egyptian Government. He
thinks that if a retreat is ordered at once
it can be safely effected. Preliminary in-
structions have been given to prepare
for a retreat. The new Minister for War
arrives to-morrow, when more definite
orders will be issued.

If any doubts remained as to necessity
of adopting policy of withdrawal, they
must be entirely removed by Colonel Coet-
logon's telegram, which is very strong.
Egyptian Governor, and Commander of
troops, who is, I believe, a good soldier,
entirely agree with him."
No. 4.

" Earl Granville to Sir E. Baring.
FOREIGN OFFICE, January roth, 1884.
Would General Charles Gordon or Sir
C. Wilson be of assistance under altered
circumstances in Egypt ? "

No. 5.

" Sir E. Baring to Earl Granville.
CAIRO, January \\th t 1884, $.$op.m.
I have consulted with Nubar Pasha, and

GORDON'S INSTRUCTIONS.

261

I do not think that the services of General
Gordon or Sir C. Wilson can be utilized at
present."

No. 6.

" Earl Granville to Sir E. Baring.
FOREIGN OFFICE, January i^ih, 1884.
Can you give further information as to
prospects of retreat for army and residents
at Khartoum, and measures taken ? "

No. 7.

" Earl Granville to Sir E. Baring.
FOREIGN OFFICE, January 15^, 1884.
I hear indirectly that Gordon is ready
to go straight to Souakin, without passing
through Cairo.

Tell me your opinion."
No. 8.
" Sir E. Baring to Earl Granville.

CAIRO, January i6th, 1884.
My Lord, With reference to your lord-
ship's telegram of the i4th instant, I hope
soon to be able to telegraph fully, as the
subject of the withdrawal from Khartoum
is now being discussed.

There can be no doubt, however, that
very great difficulties will be encountered.
It was intended to despatch Abd-el-Kader,
the new Minister of War, to Khartoum ; he
at first accepted, but now declines to go.
The Egyptian Government would feel
greatly obliged if Her Majesty's Govern-
ment would select a well-qualified British
officer to go to Khartoum instead of the
War Minister. He would be given full
powers, both civil and military, to conduct
the retreat.

I have, etc.,
(Signed) E. BARING."

No. 9.
" Sir E. Baring to Earl Granville.

CAIRO, January i6t/i, 1884.
With reference to my telegram of to-day
and your telegram of yesterday, General
Gordon would be best man."

No. 10.

" Earl Granville to General Gordon.
FOREIGN OFFICE, January i%th, 1884.
Sir, Her Majesty's Government arc
desirous that you should proceed at once

to Egypt, to report to them on the military
situation in the Soudan, and on the mea-
sures 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 effecting the
evacuation of the interior of the Soudan,
and upon the manner in which the safety
and the good administration by the Egyp-
tian Government of the ports on the sea-
coast can best be secured.

In connection with this subject, you
should pay especial consideration to the
question of the steps that may usefully be
taken to counteract the stimulus which it
is feared may possibly be given to the
slave-trade by the present insurrectionary
movement and by the withdrawal of the
Egyptian authority from the interior.

You will be under the instructions of
Her Majesty's Agent and Consul-General
at Cairo, through whom your Reports to
Her Majesty's Government should be sent,
under flying seal.

You will consider yourself authorized
and instructed to perform such other duties
as the Egyptian Government may desire to
intrust to you, and as may be communicated
to you by Sir E. Baring. You will be
accompanied by Colonel Stewart, who will
assist you in the duties thus confided to
you.

On your arrival in Egypt you will at
once communicate with Sir E. Baring, who
will arrange to meet you, and will settle
with you whether you should proceed direct
to Souakin, or should go yourself or des-
patch Colonel Stewart to Khartoum via the

Nile.

I am etc.,

(Signed) GRANVILLE."

No. ii.

" Earl Granville to Sir E. Baring.
FOREIGN OFFICE, January i8M, 1884.
Sir, I enclose copy of the instructions
which I have addressed to Major-General

262

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

Gordon, who proceeds to-night to Egypt,
accompanied by Lieutenant-Colonel Stewart,
to report to Her Majesty's Government on
the state of affairs in the Soudan.

General Gordon will be under your
instructions, and will perform such other
duties beyond those specified in my des-
patch as may be intrusted to him by the
Egyptian Government through you.

He will report to you his arrival in
Egypt ; but as he is anxious not to go to
Cairo, I have to request you, if possible, to
make arrangements for meeting him at
Ismailia, in order to concert with him
whether he should proceed direct to Soua-
kin, or go himself, or despatch Colonel
Stewart, to Khartoum, via the Nile.

I am, etc.,
(Signed) GRANVILLE."

No. 12.
" Sir E. Baring to Earl Granville.

CAIRO, January igth, 1884.

My Lord, I was very glad to learn,
from your lordship's telegram of the i8th
instant, that General Gordon and Lieu-
tenant-Colonel Stewart are coming to
Egypt to report on the military situation
in the Soudan. I am of opinion that it
would be useless for these officers to pro-
ceed to Souakin, as General Baker is doing
all that can be done in that quarter with
the means at his disposal.

They should first come to Cairo, and
after discussing matters with myself and
others, proceed to Khartoum.

It is impossible for me to leave Cairo at
present, even for a couple of days, but
General Sir Evelyn Wood and Colonel
Watson will proceed to Port Said to meet
General Gordon.

I have been holding daily conferences on
Soudan affairs, and was about to reply to
your lordship's telegram of the i4th inst,
but will now delay doing so until the
arrival of General Gordon.

Instructions have already been sent by
the Egyptian Government to Khartoum to
commence at once sending to Berber all

the civil officials and non-combatants who
are desirous of leaving, and for whom
transport can be provided. Endeavours
are also being made to secure the co-
operation of the heads of tribes.

Discretion has been left to the garrison
of Sennaar either to retire by the Kassala
route or cut its way through to Khartoum.

With regard to the European population,
I wish to explain that very few Europeans
now remain at Khartoum, and that the
real difficulty is in withdrawing the native
civil population who wish to leave, and the
garrison, with the wives and children of
the soldiers.

The position is undoubtedly one of great
difficulty, but I see no reason whatever to
change my opinion to the effect that the
difficulties of withdrawing, great though
they be, are less than those of endeavouring
to hold the Soudan.

I have, etc.,

(Signed) E. BARING."

No. 13..
" Sir E. Baring to Earl Granville.

CAIRO, January iqth, 1884.

My Lord, As I understand that several
telegrams have been sent to the newspapers
at home conveying alarmist news about the
state of affairs at Khartoum, I have felt it
my duty to telegraph the true state of the
case to your lordship.

The only ground for the statement that
Khartoum is surrounded, that the telegraph-
wire has been cut, etc., is that telegraphic
communication across the desert between
Merawi and Berber is interrupted.

This has occurred frequently during the
last few months, and may very likely be
due to some ordinary accident ; the line is
in a very bad state, and workmen have now
been sent to repair it.

At any rate, it is evident that, once the
telegraph is out of order, the news pur-
porting to come from Khartoum is mere
conjecture.

I have no wish to underrate the diffi-
culties of the present situation, but how-

GORDON AT CAIRO.

263

ever great they may be, there has hitherto
been no reason for panic.

I have, etc.,
(Signed) E. BARING."

No. 14.
" Earl Granville to Consul Burrell.

FOREIGN OFFICE,
January 2ist, 1884, 2.30 p.m.
Give following message from me to
General Gordon immediately on his arrival
at Port Said on board mail-steamer from
Brindisi :

' Sir E. Baring gives strong reasons why
you should go to Cairo, in which we hope
you will concur.' "

No. 15.
" Earl Granville to Sir E. Baring.

FOREIGN OFFICE, January 22nd, 1884.

Sir, I enclose herewith a paper con-
taining some suggestions made by General
Charles Gordon as to the steps which
should be taken with regard to the present
state of affairs in the Soudan.

Her Majesty's Government have not
sufficient local knowledge to enable them
to form an opinion as to the practicability
of these suggestions, and I therefore author-
ize you, as time is valuable, either imme-
diately to make the arrangements suggested,
or to await General Gordon's arrival and
consult with him as to the action to be
taken.

I am, etc.,

(Signed) GRANVILLE."

No. 1 6.
"Sir E. Baring to Earl Granville.

CAIRO, January 2$rd, 1884, 3. 10 p.m.

Your lordship's telegram of yesterday.

All Gordon's suggestions are excellent,
and quite in harmony with the lines on
which we have been working. A message
was sent by the Khedive some while ago
to the leading men at Khartoum, which
was in the sense and almost in the words
suggested by Gordon.

I think that he had better go by the
valley of the Nile, and not by Souakin."

No. 17.

" Sir E. Baring to Earl Granville.
CAIRO, January 2$th, 1884, 9 a.m.
Gordon arrived last night. I am about
to take him to see the Khedive."

No. 1 8.

" Sir E. Baring to Earl Granville.
CAIRO, January 2$th, 1884, 10.45 a - m -
The interview between the Khedive and
Gordon was very satisfactory."

No. 19.

" Sir E. Baring to Earl Granville.
CARIO, January z6f/i, 1884, 4.55 p.m.
Everything has gone most satisfactorily
with Gordon. He leaves in very good
spirits."

No. 20.
"Sir E. Baring to Earl Granville.

CAIRO, January 26th, 1884.
Gordon leaves for Khartoum this evening.
He will be accompanied by one of the
family of the Sultan of Darfour."

No. 21.

" Sir E. Baring to Earl Granville.
CAIRO, January 3o///, 1884, 1.50 /.///.
Power telegraphs rebels besieging Rufar,
two days from Khartoum. Gordon's ap-
pointment given greatest confidence and
satisfaction ; still numbers of people going
to Berber daily. A sheik, to whom letters
were sent, has replied by calling on town
to surrender, and by stating that Arabs are
only waiting for permission of Mahdi to
take it."

No. 22.
" Sir E. Baring to Earl Granville.

CAIRO, January ^ist, 1884.
I have received a telegram from Gordon,
dated Assouan. He has met the French
Consular Agent, who left Khartoum on
the 1 5th December, and who says there
were no Europeans at Khartoum except
some Greeks, who intend to remain there,
whatever may be the state of affairs."

No. 23.

" Sir E. Baring to Earl Granville.
CAIRO, February isf, 1884, 2. 35 /.;//.
Gordon's suggestions have been followed

264

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

in every particular. Although under my
instructions, he has, as a matter of fact,
been left the widest discretionary power.
His visit to Cairo was most useful, as it
will enable the authorities here to help him
much more than would otherwise have been
possible. There is no sort of difference
between his views and those entertained
by Nubar Pasha and myself."

A few more of these (in this case at any
rate) interesting Blue-book passages will
show what Gordon's instructions fully were,
and how he conceived them.

"Sir E. Baring to Earl Granville. (Re-
ceived February 7.)
CAIRO, January 2%t/i, 1884.

My Lord, After fully discussing Soudan
affairs with General Gordon, it appeared
desirable to both Nubar Pasha and myself
to give him some further instructions beyond
those which are contained in your lordship's
letter to him of the i8th January, 1884.*

I have the honour to inclose a copy of
these instructions, which will, I trust, meet
with your lordship's approval.

I read the draft of the letter over to
General Gordon. He expressed to me his
entire concurrence in the instructions. The
only suggestion he made was in connection
with the passage in which, speaking of the
policy of abandoning the Soudan, I had
said, ' I understand also that you entirely
concur in the desirability of adopting this
policy.'

General Gordon wished that I should
add the words, 'and that you think it
should on no account be changed.' These
words were accordingly added.

I have, etc.,
(Signed) E. BARING."

Inclosure.
"Sir E. Baring to Major-General Gordon.

CAIRO, January 2$th, 1884.
Sir, The instructions of Her Majesty's
Government were conveyed to you in a
letter of the i8th January, 1884, a copy of

* See "Egypt, No. 2 (1884)," No. 10.

which has been communicated to me by
Lord Granville.

In that letter, after drawing attention to
certain points which were to engage your
special attention, Lord Granville 'authorized
and instructed you to perform such duties
as the Egyptian Government may desire to
intrust to you, and as may be communicated
to you by Sir E. Baring.'

I have now to indicate to you the views
of the Egyptian Government on two of the
points to which your special attention was
directed by Lord Granville.

These are (i) the measures which it may
be advisable to take for the security of the
Egyptian garrisons still holding positions
in the Soudan, and for the safety of the
European population in Khartoum; (2)
the best mode of effecting the evacuation
of the interior of the Soudan.

These two points are intimately con-
nected, and may conveniently be considered
together.

It is believed that the number of Euro-
peans at Khartoum is very small, but it has
been estimated by the local authorities that
some 10,000 to 15,000 people will wish to
move northwards from Khartoum only
when the Egyptian garrison is withdrawn.

These people are native Christians,
Egyptian employe's, their wives and chil-
dren, etc.

The Government of His Highness the
Khedive is earnestly solicitous that no effort
should be spared to insure the retreat both
of these people and of the Egyptian garrison
without loss of life.

As regards the most opportune time and
the best method for effecting the retreat,
whether of the garrisons or of the civil
populations, it is neither necessary nor
desirable that you should receive detailed
instructions.

A short time ago the local authorities
pressed strongly on the Egyptian Govern-
ment the necessity for giving orders for an
immediate retreat.

Orders were given to commence the
withdrawal of the civil population.

GORDON'S FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS.

265

No sooner, however, had these orders
been issued than a telegram was received
from the Soudan, strongly urging that the
orders for commencing the retreat imme-
diately should be delayed.

Under these circumstances, and in view
of the fact that the position at Khartoum
is now represented as being less critical, for
the moment, than it was a short time ago,
it was thought desirable to modify the
orders for the immediate retreat of the civil
population, and to await your arrival.

You will bear in mind 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 Ministry.

I understand, also, that you entirely con-
cur in the desirability of adopting this
policy, and that you think it should on no
account be changed.

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 con-
federation 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 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 abandon- i
ment of the country may be accomplished j

with the least possible risk to life and pro-
perty.

A credit of ; 100,000 has been opened
for you at the Finance Department, and
further funds will be supplied to you on
your requisition when this sum is ex-
hausted.

In undertaking the difficult task which
now lies before you, you may feel assured
that no effort will be wanting on the part
of the Cairo authorities, whether English or
Egyptian, to afford you all the co-operation
and support in their power.

I am, etc.,
(Signed) E. BARING."

It will be very convenient to have at this
place two statements as to Gordon's mis-
sion by members of the Government. On
22nd January, Sir Charles Dilke, in ad-
dressing a meeting of the Chelsea electors,
said :

" General Gordon is not against, but in
favour of the policy of the evacuation of
Darfour, Kordofan, and the interior of the
Soudan. The greater part of what is called
the Soudan is not, and never has been, an
integral part of Egypt. The Egyptian is a
foreigner there. The Soudan has always
been a strain and a drain upon Egypt ; and
instead of being a help, these countries
always have been, in our opinion, a weak-
ness to it, and if they be a weakness to
Egypt it would be simple madness to this
country to insist upon their retention. We
have no interest that the Egyptians, rather
than the Sultans of Darfour, should rule in
Darfour ; our interest is that there should
be peace in the country. We have, I
think, an interest that the Egyptian rule
should be maintained on the coasts of the
Red Sea, but we have no interest whatever
in upholding Egyptian rule in the interior
of the continent of Africa. The Conser-
vatives have told us that we have shown
upon this subject a singularly vacillating
policy, and they seem to think we were
suddenly driven to the employment of
General Gordon at a day's notice by the

266

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

news we got in the Conservative press. We
first suggested the sending out of General
Gordon to the late Egyptian Government
very many months ago, but at that time the
suggestion was not received with favour,
either by the Egyptian Government or by
our own representatives in Cairo. They
thought that, under the circumstances then
existing, it would not be desirable that
General Gordon should go out. This re-
luctance lasted until quite recently, and it
was a mutual reluctance, for General Gor-
don did not wish to go. It was only about
ten days ago we were informed that General
Gordon, although he had no wish to go to
Egypt, would willingly obey the orders of
Her Majesty's Government if he were di-
rected to go, and that he would gladly act
under the instructions of Sir Evelyn Baring.
As soon as we had obtained by telegraph
the concurrence of Sir Evelyn Baring in our
view, the matter was arranged. A reply
was received, I think, on Wednesday last.
General Gordon's instructions were given
to him on the Friday, and with the remark-
able public spirit which characterizes him,
he started with Colonel Stewart, as you
know, on Friday night."

In the House of Commons the subject
of Gordon's mission was of course often re-
ferred to. Sir Stafford Northcote on one
occasion remarked :

" There is one point upon which all our
minds are fixed I mean the mission of
General Gordon. On that point I am
anxious to say little or nothing. General
Gordon is now engaged in an attempt of
the most gallant and dangerous kind. No
one can speak with too much admiration
of his courage and self-devotion. No one
can fail, in this country; to sympathise with
him, and earnestly to desire his safety and
success. It would be the greatest possible
misfortune if, by any word carelessly al-
lowed to drop here, anything were done
that would in the slightest degree imperil
or disturb the success of his mission. I
trust the Government are not proceeding in
the case of General Gordon as they have

done in too many instances that they are
not throwing all the responsibility upon
him, and keeping none for themselves
that they are not confusing his position,
and making it uncertain whose servant he
is, or to whom he is responsible."

Mr. Gladstone, in reply, thus spoke of
Gordon and his mission :

"General Gordon, in our estimation, is
a very great feature in the case. What is
General Gordon ? He is no common man.
I thank the right hon. gentleman for the
manner in which he referred to him. I
may almost say that General Gordon is not
alone. Other very able men are with him
one in particular, Colonel Stewart, his
second and coadjutor. And, in fact, we
have acted all along on the principle of
obtaining for this difficult Egypt problem
the very best services we could possibly get.
It is no exaggeration, in speaking of General
Gordon, to say that he is a hero. It is no
exaggeration to say that he is a Christian.
It is no exaggeration to say that in his
dealings with Oriental people he is also a
genius ; that he has a faculty, an influence,
a command brought about by moral means
for no man in this House hates the un-
necessary resort to blood more than General
Gordon he has that faculty which pro-
duces effects among those wild Eastern
races almost unintelligible to us Western
people. Perhaps it may be said, ' If General
Gordon has all these gifts, why did you not
employ him sooner ? ' Again you have
fallen into an error, for you have not taken
the least pains to ascertain whether it was
possible or not. The suggestion to employ
General Gordon in the Soudan was made
at a time so early that it really is not within
the limits of the direct responsibility of the
present Government.

" As early as in the month of November,
1882, Sir Charles Wilson suggested the
employment of General Gordon. But there
were difficulties on both sides. It is very
difficult to marry two people when one of
them is averse ; but it is still more difficult
to marry them when, unfortunately, there is

MR. GLADSTONE ON GENERAL GORDON.

267

an aversion on both sides; and that, I
believe, was found to be the case at that
period between the Khedive and General
Gordon. However, when it came to the
grave period, and the increased responsi-
bility upon us for the affairs in the Soudan
that followed Hicks's defeat, then it was
again our duty to have regard to the possi-
bility of what might be got through General
Gordon. The right hon. gentleman will
recollect that we have contended all along
he might have done it, but we could not
have done it that down to the time of
General Hicks's defeat, we should not have
been justified in interfering. It was already
known to us that the Egyptian Government
objected to General Gordon. On the ist
of December Lord Granville had reason to
believe that he was in a condition to offer
the services of General Gordon to the
Egyptian Government Unfortunately, they
were refused, but they were refused not
entirely without reason. The reason was
one with which we were not satisfied, but it
went far to silence us, and I think the right
hon. gentleman will find it to be the case
too. The objection made was this : ' The
Soudan is a country of strong Mahometan
fanaticism, and to send a Christian as our
agent would be a dangerous course, and
might cause a more dangerous outbreak.'
We were not satisfied, but at the same time
it was very difficult to brush that objection
rudely aside, and that led to some further
delay. That was on the ist of December.
But we became acquainted with the senti-
ments of General Gordon, and, as time
went on, the objection of the Egyptian
Government became mitigated and entirely
changed. However, it was not until the
loth of January that is to say, eight days
after Nubar Pasha came into office, that we
had forwarded to us a request to send
officers to conduct the evacuation of the
Soudan, and on the i6th of January General
Gordon was on his way.

At Cairo General Gordon formed his
plan, and this we received as a memo-
randum. We have had some doubts

whether it was our duty to produce his
plan. If it could have been produced to
this House or this country alone, it would
have been a different matter, but the pro-
mulgation of the plan in Egypt might cause
its failure. All I can say on this occasion
but I would rather not enter into par-
ticulars at all is that it was evidently a
well-reasoned and considered plan, that it
was entirely pacific in its basis, that it pro-
ceeds on the plea which would have been
fanatical or presumptuous in my case, or in
the case of most of those in this House, but
which, in the case of General Gordon, with
his experience and his gifts, was neither the
one nor the other not that he must, but
that he might, hope to exercise a strong
pacific influence by going to the right
persons in the Soudan, and it was his desire
as much as ours that this should be done
without any resort whatever to violent
means. Now, General Gordon went, not
for the purpose of reconquering the Soudan,
or of persuading the chiefs of the Soudan,
the Sultans who were at the head of the
tribes of the Soudan, to submit themselves
again to the Egyptian Government. He
went for no such purpose as that. He went
for the double purpose of evacuating the
country by the extrication of the Egyptian
garrisons, and of reconstituting it by giving
back to the Sultans their ancestral powers,
as I may so call them, which had been
withdrawn or suspended during the period
of Egyptian occupation. I have told the
House already that General Gordon had in
view the withdrawal from the country of
no less than twenty-nine thousand persons
paying military service in Egypt. The
House will see how vast was the trust which
was placed in the hands of this remarkable
person. We cannot exaggerate the im-
portance we attach to it. We are unwilling
to do anything which should interfere with
this great pacific scheme, which promised
a satisfactory solution of the Soudanese
difficulty, by at once extricating the garri-
sons, and reconstituting the country on its
own basis of local privileges."

268

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

CHAPTER XLVII.

JIGYPT THE VICTORY OF TEL-EL-KEBIR.

AKING up our narrative of
the history of Egypt again
at the point where the
British fleet had success-
fully accomplished the bom-
bardment of Alexandria, we now proceed
with this part of our narrative.

Thus the hopes of Arabi and his party
seemed crushed at the very commence-
ment. The Khedive came back to the town
on the 1 5th July, and Arabi, who was now
at Kafr-Dowar with a number of soldiers,
received a message ordering him instantly
to submit. This he declined to do, and
for some time the rebellion assumed for-
midable dimensions. "England," said Arabi,
"may rest assured we are determined to
fight, to die like martyrs for our country
as has been enjoined us by our Prophet
or else to conquer our enemies. Happiness,
in either case, is promised to us, and when
a people is imbued with this belief their
courage knows no bounds." England then
had no resource but to crush this pre-
sumptive rebel. Sir Garnet, afterwards
Lord Wolseley, was appointed Commander-
in-chief, and finally a brilliant and decisive
triumph crowned his sagacious combina-
tions in Egypt. On September 13, Sir
Garnet Wolseley attacked the stronghold
of the rebel forces at Tel-el-Kebir, and,
after a brief assault, delivered with irre-
sistible vigour, drove the enemy in
utter rout from his defences, capturing
his guns, trains, supplies, and stores, in-
flicting heavy loss upon him in killed
and wounded, and making a great number
of prisoners. Nothing could have been
more complete or satisfactory than the
success thus achieved; and the plan of
action appears as skilful as it was simple.
Arabi's force numbered 20,000 trained

troops, with 2,500 horse, and 70 guns,
besides 6,000 Bedouins and irregulars.
Against this numerically strong array the
British general could put in line 11,000
bayonets, 2,000 sabres, and 60 guns
sufficient in any case, no doubt, to have
gained a victory; but to have attacked
in daylight with them the formidable posi-
tions of the rebels must and would have
entailed a heavy loss. Sir Garnet, there-
fore, determined to find an ally in the dark-
ness and coolness of the Egyptian night,
and devised a scheme which obtained
perfect success. As the evening of Tues-
day closed in, and the rebel vedettes could
make no more observations, he ordered
the camp to be struck in silence, and
moved the entire fighting force to the
ridge beyond the Kassassin lines. Here
the British lay down on the sand, taking
what sleep they could till 1.30 a.m., when,
without the sound of bugle, drum, or pipe,
the regiments rose and marched under the
darkness for the rebel entrenchments, dis-
tant about five miles. The cavalry, with
two batteries on our right, were ordered to
ride wide round Arabi's north flank, not
showing themselves till daybreak. Next
them on the left paced quietly the Second
Brigade of the First Division, supported by
the Guards, under the Duke of Connaught ;
the seven batteries of artillery advanced as
quickly as possible in the centre ; to their
left strode along the Second Division, the
Highland Brigade going foremost ; and the
Indian contingent moved along the south
bank of the canal, the Naval Brigade with
their 4o-pounder using the rails. In this
order the long line of British moved through
the darkness, the sand muffling their foot-
fall and the roll of the gun-wheels, so that
the dawn was but just showing behind

TEL-EL-KEBIR.

269

them over the desert when they had come
within a thousand yards of Arabi's trenches.
In the grey of the morning the Arabs saw
our regiments closing upon them, and a
heavy fire was opened from cannon and
musketry; but the great peril had been
escaped The ground which in daylight
would have been swept with shell and
bullets, had been passed without exposure
or needless fatigue, and by the time the
rebels were really on the alert our men had
reached within distance for a rush. It was
made with cheers that rent the air, and
dissipated the courage of the Arabists.
Not staying to load and fire, the British
troops, splendidly pioneered by the Royal
Irish, dashed up the earthworks and into
the trenches of the enemy, clearing his
defences with the bayonet point, and
slaughtering all who stood. A second line
of resistance was discovered in a strong
redoubt and side-works upon some rising
ground ; but with another irresistible onset
Her Majesty's soldiers flung themselves on
the Arabs holding this, and at about the
same moment the British cavalry became
visible on the north, and the Indian regi-
ments to the south, threatening to cut off
all chance of retreat The rebel army fell
to pieces at this point, and, wildly flying
from the rear of their works, streamed off
in a confused crowd toward Zagazig, the
cavalry charging into their masses, and the
artillery coming up at the gallop and hurling
shot and shell among the panic-stricken
fugitives. Before the sun had well risen,
the stern business was concluded, and the
thirty thousand fighting men of Arabi were
scattered and chased out of sight, the arch-
rebel himself escaping on horseback amid
his defeated followers.

It is impossible to praise too warmly the
masterly dispositions by which this great
success was obtained, or the admirable
devotion and valour shown by our men in
carrying out their General's plans. By thus
availing himself of the cover of night, Sir
Garnet not only avoided the fatigue and
exposure of a fight under the fierce Egyp-

tian sun, but carried his troops, as we have
before remarked, in complete safety across
that zone of fire where Arabi had no doubt
calculated that he could decimate his assail-
ants. Having decided to deliver the frontal
attack, our General, by this simple strata-
gem, disarmed the rebel entrenchments of
their greatest strength, and was rewarded
by a comparatively insignificant loss in
killed and wounded. To carry into vic-
torious effect a scheme so bold, it was
necessary that a commander should have
troops upon whom he could thoroughly
rely, and the magnificent conduct of Her
Majesty's regiments is briefly, but proudly,
recorded in Sir Garnet's phrase, that it was
" everything which could be wished." All
appear to have behaved with a steadiness
and spirit worthy of the flag which they
bore. " All," says Sir Garnet, " went
straight at the enemy," evincing the greatest
emulation ; but the i8th (the Royal Irish)
won from their leader the honour of a very
particular mention, which their intrepidity
fully justified. It may be said, no doubt,
that with an enemy more vigilant and more
skilled in modern war, no such surprise
could have been counted upon, and that a
better strategist than Arabi, even if taken
off his guard at first, would have made
more of his inner defences. Without ques-
tion a continental general would have
known what was happening under the
darkness in his front, and found means to
check the approach of his foe. But a large
part of the very great credit due to the
British commander is precisely this, that he
had all along taken the just measure of the
strength and weakness of his opponents,
neither under-valuing nor over-estimating
their military qualities and resources. He
was bold in season and cautious in season,
consummating the wise preparations which
ignorant and impatient critics carped at,
with a triumph ten times more complete
and welcome than the partial success which
might, perhaps, have been snatched once
and again, or purchased at great cost by
precipitate action. From first to last, the

270

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

combinations of Sir Garnet Wolseley in this
difficult campaign have been such as reflect
new lustre upon his qualities as a capable
and scientific leader, profound in his study
of a military problem, and vigorous, reso-
lute, and watchful in working out its solu-
tion. The simplicity of his design upon
the present great occasion enhances its
merit under the circumstances of the posi-
tion ; for every soldier in the British ranks
must have understood the prudence of
his commander, and felt himself an intel-
ligent aider in the plan. Nor will the
nation be otherwise than grateful, that
by his judicious arrangements, many a
gallant and valuable life has been spared.
The same valour which has been so con-
spicuously exhibited by all ranks, would
have sufficed assuredly to have carried our
men into the works of Tel-el-Kebir under
the burning sun and the full tempest of
Arabi's guns and rifles. But we have the
overwhelming triumph now, at a tenth part
of the cost in killed and wounded, thanks
to that anxious exercise of forethought, and
that adroit measurement of his foe, which
distinguish all the campaigns of this brilliant
and most serviceable soldier.

The losses of the Egyptians are estimated
to amount to at least 1,000 killed, besides
a vast number wounded, and many hun-
dreds of prisoners. Our casualties number
about 150, including 30 killed, among whom
were eight officers. It was a cruelly pain-
ful sight to look upon the thousands of
fugitive Egyptians tearing away in mad
haste from the scene of carnage, and be
unable to distinguish between the men who
had brought all this trouble upon their
country and the innocent creatures who
formed the greater part of the huge mob
that had been coerced into the rebellion
and driven against their will to take up
arms. While many of the latter pitiable
victims were being cut down by our troops,
the real instigators of the rebellion were
quietly steaming away by rail. These
cowardly miscreants betook themselves to
the train directly they saw the day was

lost. The fugitives suffered severely from
our cavalry. The squadrons, under the
command of Major-General Drury Lowe,
Sir Baker Russell, and Brigadier-General
Wilkinson, cut down the flying rebels with
terrible effect ; but they stopped humanely
the instant that the slaughter became un-
necessary, and the fight had ended in
victory.

The orders given for instant pursuit
prove how thoroughly Lord Wolseley un-
derstands when, and in what manner, to
seize a golden opportunity, while the points
upon which he directed the chase of the
rebels Belbeis, Zagazig, and Benha-el-Asl,
and Cairo itself could not have been in-
dicated with truer judgment in a quiet
kriegspiel at Aldershot than they were
upon the Canal Bridge in rear of Tel-el-
Kebir. The instant and vigorous pursuit
completed the lesson of the rout. Zagazig
was occupied on the afternoon of the day
of victory by the Indian cavalry, and was
found submissive. Benha was reached on
the 1 4th a place of great importance. On
the southern road towards Cairo the Eng-
lish horse, in two divisions, pushed swiftly
along, marching straight into Kalioub, or
Cairo itself, whither the Guards' Brigade
followed. At Benha we dominated the
main line of railway and the river; from
Kalioub the minarets of Mehemet Ali's
mosque at Cairo are visible, and all these
localities lie in the green and fruitful coun-
try of the southern delta, where the roads
are safe from flood and the markets abun-
dant. Meantime the effects of the triumph
and the quick pursuit disclosed themselves
rapidly. Sufficient was known to the rebels
at Kafr-Dowar on Thursday, the i4th, to
induce them to send in a flag of truce
offering surrender. As an act of penitence
and submission, they had previously cleared
away the dam built across the Mahmoudieh
Canal, thus again admitting fresh water to
the people of Alexandria. In desiring to
" cease from all hostilities " the Arabists at
Kafr-Dowar kept haggling for permission to
surrender to the Khedive and not to the

OUR TASK IN EGYPT.

271

British; but this piece of diplomacy or
amour propre did not delay the matter
long. Soon after, the very strong position
across the Mareotis Isthmus was occupied
by our troops without the firing of a shot
another testimony to the good combinations
of the British commander. Cairo sent dele-
gates to the Khedive, " charged to declare
its loyalty " ; Arabi, with his principal
adherents, fled thither, and were made
prisoners. The surrender of the Aboukir
fortress promptly followed these signs of
universal collapse in the rebellion ; and
ere long truthful versions of the scene at
Tel-el-Kebir must have convinced the
most dogged Egyptian anarchist that Allah
was against him. The large armed array
will speedily melt away again into the
towns and villages of the upper and lower
country. Only the Sheik and the Mudir
will know how many a quiet-looking fellah,
delving hard to heighten the dyke round

the cotton fields, was lately one of that
crowd which fled from the works of Tel-el-
Kebir, with the lightning of the English
sabres and the thunder of the English field-
guns storming behind them. The fact is,
that the fellah is neither by occupation nor
character inclined to fanaticism and fighting
" for an idea." He wants to be let alone,
and to pay light taxes; and has probably
cursed Arabi in his heart, while obliged to
follow him. There exists, no doubt, a
fierce party of disaffection around the
nucleus of the El-Azhar University at
Cairo, and the Bedouins will lament
their lost chances of plunder and murder.
In effect, the admirable victory of Tel-el-
Kebir has put an end to the rebellion by
bringing in its train the prompt surrender
of the capital. We have thus secured that
highway to India which was so shrewdly
threatened, and renewed the hopes of peace
and prosperity in Egypt.

CHAPTER XLVIII.

EGYPT EXPEDITION OP fhcKS

FTER the collapse of the in-
surrection and the surrender
of Arabi, a court was insti-
tuted, chiefly for the trial of
that famous rebel. A party
in England believed that justice had not
been done him, and counsel were sent out
to defend him. Finally, by a sort of ar-
rangement he pleaded guilty, was sentenced
to death, and almost immediately respited.
Then he was sent to a charming residence
in Ceylon, there under British protection
to spend the remainder of his days.

But our troubles were by no means over.
Nay, they were only beginning. The very
same weakness on the part of the Egyptians
that enabled us to disperse their vast hordes

at Tel-el-Kebir, now caused them to hang
on us like a dead weight By a strange
course of events, we were saddled with the
administration of Egypt very much against
the will of Mr. Gladstone's Government.
Let us at this stage of our narrative recapi-
tulate the steps that led to the result.
There is no doubt that "when, in 1879,
the Governments of England and France,
acting through the Sultan and at the promp-
ting of Prince Bismarck, deposed Ismail and
set up Tewfik on the throne of Egypt, they
committed themselves to a pseudo-protec-
torate of the Pashalik of the Nile. From
the deposition of Ismail to the despatch of
General Gordon, England has been led on
step by step to assume what now amounts

272

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

to a virtual although unacknowledged
sovereignty over Egypt. It is much easier
even now to complain of this increase of
our responsibilities than it is to indicate,
with all the wisdom gained by experience,
the precise point at which any English
Government could have withdrawn from
intervention in Egyptian affairs. Non-in-
terference was possible, of course, but only
on condition that English non-interven-
tionists were willing to acquiesce in French
intervention. English public opinion being
unanimously hostile to the establishment of
a French Protectorate d la Tunis over the

country commanding the Suez Canal, non-
intervention was impossible for any English
Government. And if we were ready to go
to war to keep the French out, it followed
as a corollary that we must be equally ready
to interfere to remove causes which would
have justified and necessitated French in-
tervention. Thus it came to pass that as
we conquered India solely in order to fore-
stal the French in the East, so we have
occupied Egypt in order to render impossi-
ble the establishment of French ascendency
on the highway to India. The question of
Egyptian bonds is a mere detail. The key

j = : r ^ ~

ARABl's HOUSE, CEYLON.

of the situation lies in the necessity of pre-
venting the Power that controls the Canal
becoming the mere creature of France.

What the English have always desired
was to reduce their interference in Egypt
to the lowest minimum compatible with the
exclusion of French ascendency. They
were willing to keep step with the French
in many questionable operations rather
than risk the necessity for more energetic
intervention which might follow a breach
in the Anglo-French understanding estab-
lished when Tewfik was placed on the
throne. This anxiety precipitated the evil

I it was intended to avert. France led us
into the false step of the Joint Note, and
then when the moment came for giving
effect to our warnings she recoiled, and
left us to face single-handed a situation
which, if we had but had a free fight, would
never have been created. After rendering
it impossible for us to come to terms with
Arabi, France left us to suppress him with-
out her aid. The result was the termination
of the Anglo-French condominium, the de-
feat and dispersion of the Egyptian army,
and the establishment for a limited but
indefinite period of a partnership between

APPEARANCE OF THE MAHDI.

273

England and Egypt, which may be called
the Anglo-Egyptian Government (Limited).
This anomalous arrangement has led to all
our subsequent troubles, of which the latest,
but by no means the last, was the crisis in
the Soudan. It was rendered inevitable
owing to the curious cross-currents of high
policy and popular sympathy. The logic
of the ministerial theory demanded that as
soon as the rebellion was suppressed, and
the Khedive restored, our troops should be
recalled, and the restored Egyptian Govern-
ment left to govern Egypt in its own way.
Arabi would have been hanged, the mutinous
soldiers decimated, and a strong native
Government re-established in the Nile
Valley. If the Khedive had been allowed

to make himself feared, his Government
might have existed without our aid. This,
however, was rendered impossible by the men
who were afterwards zealous in denouncing
the presence of English garrisons in Egypt.
They would not let Arabi be hanged.
Whenever the Khedive's Government at-
tempted to exert its authority they pro-
tested ; and, in short, the humanitarians
having ham-strung the Khedive, the annex-
ationists were able to demonstrate the
necessity for the maintenance of the whole
authority that could keep the cripple upon
his legs," and so we had to rule. If we
are asked, Was then this chain of events
inevitable ? We reply, Probably it was.
Perhaps our Government might have left

VIEW NEAR ARABI'S RESIDENCE IN CEYLON.

things to take their course, and counted on
the innate difficulties of the task, finally
preventing France from undertaking the
management of affairs in Egypt. This is
the only thing that could have been done
in the matter. Even if possible it was not
done, and so the management of affairs re-
mained with us. The Egyptian army was
disbanded, and an army of occupation pro-
vided. Then Baker Pasha, who had en-
tered the Egyptian service, proceeded to
reconstitute the native army. Whilst en-
gaged in these details, the Government at
Cairo were alarmed by the sudden increase
of a cloud that had been looming on the
horizon for some time. There had been
rumours for some time that a Mahdi, a
false prophet, had appeared in the Soudan,

and that he was collecting round him a great
body of adherents and advancing north-
ward. Of this Mahdi we give in the proper
place a detailed biography. Suffice it to
say, that he was reported as advancing on
Khartoum. Wherever he encountered the
Egyptian soldiery he succeeded in defeat-
ing them. It was.thought that if an English
force were landed at Souakin, and taken
across the desert to Berber, that it might
have "nipped" the rising " i' the bud."
This is mere supposition, however. The
fact is, that the rising rapidly spread. El
Obeid was taken by the Mahdi, and then
Colonel afterwards Hicks Pasha, was ap-
pointed to command the Egyptian army
and try what a British officer even with
inferior troops could do. On March 8th,

274

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

1883, Hicks reached Khartoum. He soon
gained a great victory at Abu Juma, on the
White Nile. There were great rejoicings at
this in Cairo, but the British Government in
the most direct and solemn manner assured
the Khedive that they had nothing what-
ever to do with the expedition, and that
they were in no wise responsible for its
success or failure. As, however, it was
commanded by an English officer, people
at home could not help regarding it as in
some way connected with the English in

Egypt. Hicks' difficulties were enormous,
he was badly supported, and when he
marched on El Obeid, where the rebels
were collected in great force, it was with the
saddest foreboding of all experienced men.
Mr. O'Donovan and Mr. Vitzelly, two
able special correspondents, were with him.
The former of these gloomily predicted
that "a lancehead as big as a shovel"
would probably be his doom. The worst
fears were soon realized, and that in a most
terrible manner.

EGYPT

CHAPTER XLIX.

.DESTRUCTION OF HICKS PASHA'S

ARMY.

OR a long time nothing was
known of the fate of Hicks
and his army. It had simply
disappeared. The vast
force of about 1 1,000 had
vanished as if the earth had opened and
swallowed them. Finally it was known
that the whole army, save a handful of
prisoners, whose fate to this day remains
uncertain, had perished. Authentic details
of this terrible disaster were not known till
about eighteen months after, when at
Dongola Colonel Colborne, late of Hicks
Pasha's staff, received from a slave boy
present at the battle, but who had after-
wards made his escape, the following thrill-
ing narrative :

"I was slave of Mohamet Bey's, an
officer in General Hicks' army. The army
marched from Omdurman and Khartoum
along the banks of the Blue Nile. We ex-
perienced no opposition whatever on the
road to Duem, though we occasionally took
spies, and saw parties of the Bagaras
watching us at a distance. At night we
heard their tom-toms all around, and saw
their watch-fires, but we were never attacked.
We had an enormous number of camels

with us, and plenty of provisions. There
were the same regiments that marched
under you from Kawa Fort. I was with
them, too, when Hicks Pasha joined you
with the Nordenfeldt which he brought
from the steamer. I remember you and
the other English officers when we were
attacked in square near Abba Island, when
we beat the Bagaras away from us. You,
Hicks Pasha, and the other English officers
were on horseback outside the square when
the Arabs first showed. Then you came
in. You were all scattered about, looking
out for the Arabs. [This was in answer
to questions put to test the accuracy of the
boy's information. This was correct, as,
having no cavalry all Hicks Pasha's English
officers had to patrol outside the square,
in which formation Hicks' army always
marched.] Besides the old army you were
with, there were a great many more who
had come from Cairo, and two black bat-
talions which before had been left behind
at Khartoum and Rawa. We also had
500 cavalry on our march to Duem. It
was a grand army. All were confident ot
success, and felt certain of reaching El
Obeid and defeating Mohammed Ahmed.

JA THE DESERT.

275

We had plenty of music, too; the bands
played in the evening. [Here the narrator
paused, and seemed to be talking to him-
self as if recalling those far-distant scenes
camps on the banks of the White Nile
pitched picturesquely among the mimosa
and sycamores; when, after a hard and
wearying day's march, fires would be lit,
and the ruddy flames fitfully lit up the
foliage hanging in fantastic wreaths and
garlands overhead, while the bands playing
the wild but melodious Arab and Egyptian
airs would enliven the hour of sunset. He
seemed to be dreaming for a moment of
those times. Then he continued.] We
stayed at Duem for some time waiting for
stores ; then two English officers came up
in a steamer from Berber with them. This
had delayed us for a long time, and it was
unfortunate, most unfortunate, for the rainy
season had already finished, and wells and
pools soon dry up as in Kordofan. And
Hicks Pasha grew very impatient, and my
master and the officers used to say that all
this delay was caused by the Egyptian
Government, and might be fatal to the
expedition.

Captain Massey and Major Warner were
the two officers who brought up the re-
maining stores from Berber. At length we
marched out of Duem as far as Shat. We
halted one whole day here our first march
inland. The world was to be shut out
from us. A last opportunity was given to
officers to write to their friends, and from
here, my master said, Hicks Pasha wrote
for the last time till Obeid should be
reached, or perhaps till we returned to the
Nile. ' Who knows ? ' he said, with a shrug
of his shoulders. My master told the
officers around him that it had been decided
that no communication should be kept up
with the Nile.

It was early dawn when we marched
from Shat. We plunged into the desert,
having turned our backs on the Nile that
the greater part of our soldiers were to sec
no more. They had commenced their last
march the march from which there was to

be no returning. No more would they greet
the rising sun. With backs turned to the
East, every step they traced on the sand
led to the sunset the sunset of their lives.
We now occasionally saw the enemy in the
distance in scattered groups, in front, on
our flanks, and we perceived, too, they were
gathering in our rear ; but when the cavalry
were sent out against them they vanished
like mists in the morning sun ; but they were
dogging our footsteps like wild beasts do
their prey slowly, but surely. We used
to shell them and fire the Krupps at them.

From Shat we went to the wells of
Ragshah,from El Repshah to Helet Bonnee.
We always keep two squares a day's march
apart. When Hicks Pasha's square, con-
sisting of 5,000 men, left that place,
Alladeen Pasha's force, consisting of 6,500,
occupied the position. We now marched to
El Juama; from this to El Agana.

The enemy always prowled round us at
a distance. When > the cavalry pursued
them they retired. A ' door ' was always
left in the square for the horsemen to gallop
back into the square in case of the enemy
attacking in force. From El Agana the
next march was to Darael Gemmel (House
of the Camel), and then to Arahkieh.
After a halt here for a day we marched to
Helet el Mana (Lodge of the Mana) ;
thence to Naghier, and from Naghier to
Helet el Dobat. At every one of these
places we found water. Every day the
enemy increased in numbers, and we used
to wonder they did not attack us. We
had now got into a thick brushwood
country, though all along there were mimosa
bushes.

At length we reached Lake Rahad. This
is a large swamp with pools of water ; there
is always water here. It is on elevated
ground, and rocks and hills around. We
had hoped the Tagala tribes would join us
here that is the reason we had come this
way but they were afraid of the Arabs.

I don't think Lake Rahad is more than
two and a half days' journey from El Obeid.
Hicks Pasha built a fort here, and placed

276

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

in it four Krupp guns and nineteen smaller
ones. We got here 'plenty of beans and
melons, and as much water as we wanted.
We rested here three days. This was our
last rest. The enemy were gradually hem-
ming us in even here, and Hicks Pasha
determined to push on at once to El Obeid.
The order was given to advance, and all
tents were struck at daybreak. We had
not marched an hour when the enemy for
the first time commenced to fire at us, but
from a long distance. No one was hit, or
scarcely any one; but some camels were
wounded. We halted for the night and
entrenched ourselves with earthworks,
putting a zareba outside again. The fires

of the enemy at nightfall played all around.
We remained here two days. We found
some water, but had to search for it.

We left at sunrise, and marched to
Shekan, where we again halted for two days.
The reason we did this was because we
were now encircled by our enemies, and the
camels began to fall from the fire, and
soldiers to be wounded and killed. We
marched from Shekan till the sun was in
the middle of the sky. We halted, as
Arabs were all around firing from the bush.
On the third day, on our way to Birkee
[Birket, Turkish, pronounced Birkee, means
a pool], the cavalry went out of the square
and encountered the enemy's horsemen,

putting them to flight. Our cavalry then
returned, bringing with them several cap-
tured horses. This was when the sun was
young. Our square continued to move on.
Shortly afterwards, the sun being yet young,
we heard a sound, 'w-o-o-o-h' [here the
boy tried to give the idea of the galloping
of horses]. This was the sound he said
they heard, and then presently all around
they saw Arabs innumerable the whole
world surrounded us (verbatim) and bayarey
(flags) were waving, and spears gleaming in
the sunshine above the bush. Our square
was halted, and we opened fire, killing a
great many, but we too lost many. There
were too many bushes for the Krupps
to do execution, but the machine guns were

at work day and night. Next morning
when we inarched I saw Arabs lying in six
heaps slain by these guns. Before we got
to Shaheen we had nine Englishmen with
us besides Hicks Pasha. At first the
Egyptians lay down to hide, but General
Hicks ordered his English officers to go
round and make them stand up. Some of
the English were killed when doing this,
and Hicks took out his pocket-book and
wrote down their names and the time of
day that they were killed, and the manner
At noon Hicks Pasha called an assembly
of them to see who were alive. We waited
for Aladen, who now joined us.

The next morning we all marched oft
together. We came to many large trees.

A TERRIBLE SLAUGHTER.

277

An immense number of the enemy could
be seen by field-glasses. The men declared
they would rather march on their way
fighting, and reach the water, than stand
still in square. So Hicks, yielding to these
remonstrances, continued to march on in
square. It was not yet dhuka (noon), and
we were not far from Elquis. We could
see it. We should have been there by
noon, and there there was abundance of
water. The rear face of our square was
formed by the two black battalions, one
raised in Sennaar and the other from the
Mudireer of Sankeet. The guide led us
out of the way to a place called Kieb El
Khaber (I mean before this), instead of
taking us straight to Elquis. It was near
noon, just about this time zyessa a rush,
terrible and sudden, sweeping down like
the torrent from the mountain, was made.
The Arabs burst upon our front face in
overwhelming numbers. It was swept away
like chaff before the wind. Seeing this, the
other sides of the square turned inwards,
and commenced a death-dealing fusillade
both on the Arabs pressing into the square
and on each other crossways. A terrible
slaughter commenced. Hicks Pasha and
the very few English officers left with him,
seeing all hope of restoring order gone,
spurred their horses, and sprang out of the
confused mass of wounded, dead, and
dying. These officers fired away their
revolvers, clearing a space for themselves,
till all their ammunition was expended.
They killed many. They had got clear
outside. They then took to their swords,
and fought till they fell. Hicks Pasha now
alone remained. He was a terror to the
Arabs. They said he never struck a man
with his sword without killing him. They
named him Abou Deraa Dougal, the heavy
armed (or thick and brawny). He kept
them all at bay, but he was struck on the
wrist with a sword, and he dropped his
own. He then fell. I was covered with
blood, and I got under a dead body and
pretended to be dead while the struggling
and yelling, uproar, fighting, and slaughter-

2 7 8

THE ENGLISH JN EGYPT.

ing was going on, as it did for three hours.
The Arabs, triumphant, having hewn down
and speared most of the Egyptians, com-
menced to search the bodies. I say most,
because the cavalry galloped off to Lake
Raab, and some of the foot soldiers ran off
there too. Five hundred Egyptians were
taken prisoners. They tried particularly to
save the guns ; one hundred of these were
captured. All these fought against you the
other day at Abou Klea. They were made
to do so. They felt me and found I was
alive ; they pricked me with a spear. I
was made prisoner. Now what I tell you
further is from hearsay. The rear face
alone remained in good order when all else
was confusion, composed as it was of black
troops. These marched away, forming a
square of their own, and the Arabs could
not break it, so they went to plunder and
slaughter the rest. The Blacks marched
on till sunset, and there was a lull for them.
Mohammed Ahmed remained far distant
at the time of the battle. He had said to the
ameers and dervishes, ' Forward ! Attack
the enemy. Meanwhile I will remain here
and pray to Allah for your success.' He
came after all was over, and was shown
the body of Hicks Pasha. I heard that
Mohammed Ahmed put all the spoil into a
great hole. He ordered it all to be given
to him. At sunset they pursued the black
troops. On coming to them the dervishes
called out to them, ' Sellima, surrender ! '
They replied, ' We will not surrender. We
will not eat the Effendina's bread for waste
(i.e. for nothing). Namen Selem ma nokol

men. Effendia Khassara. We'll fight till
we die, but many of you will die too.'
But an unexpected rush was made on them
when this parleying was going on, and they
were all slain. I was taken to El Obeid.
I saw no Englishmen there prisoners. I
saw some Greeks. They had all been cir-
cumcised ; but they were not allowed to
keep their shops. These were given to
Arabs. I never heard of any Englishman
being alive there, or a German servant.
[I pressed him on this point] I was taken
to Ondeiman, from which place I ran away
and joined you near Metemmeh. The
Arabs against us were of the Dar Egeema,
El Messelea, El Howasmah, and some of the
Hummr tribe. Abd Es Samad and Nawa
were the sheiks at the head of the Howayzmi
[a branch of the Bederrya Arabs and the
Takaeleal from the west]. " In answer to
my question " How was Hicks Pasha
dressed ? " he replied, " He wore a red and
yellow koopeh round his bonetta (helmet)
and a blue coat ; belt across his shoulder."
[This was the dress the Pasha always wore
on line of march.] I showed him the
photograph in the book, with Hicks Pasha
in the Soudan, and he at once picked out
Hicks and Farquhar. He asserted that
the soldiers did not lie down (as has been
affirmed) on the last day, but fought to the
end, and that the battle took place so close
to Elbeis [which I suppose to be the same
as Melbeis, as I have said before], that you
could hear a rifle fired at one place if you
were at the other. To Obeid, he says it
took him but one day to march.

BOYHOOD OF THE MAHDL

279

CHAPTER L.

THE M.AHDI THE STORY OF HIS ORIGIN.

HE Mahdi," said an en-
thusiastic Irish orator, " is
in reality a Cork man,
and his real name is Tim
Sullivan." None of our
readers, we are sure, will agree to this
extraordinary statement ; but they will
ask, Who is he ? Can nothing be known
about this extraordinary individual who
has had such an influence on the destinies
of Egypt, and, through Egypt, on those
of England? Carefully collecting such
authentic information as is attainable, we
now present the results to our readers.
An authority observes that " Prophets,
whether true or false, are by no means
rare in Mohammedan countries, but it is
seldom that they create so much stir in
the world as the mysterious fanatic who
believes, and has inspired his followers
with the belief, that he possesses a mission
to regenerate Islam. Not long ago a per-
sonage with similar pretensions appeared
in Tripoli, but local circumstances did not
come to his aid, as in the case of the Mahdi
of the Soudan. Mr. Wilfrid Blunt was the
first to foresee and foretell the danger to
be incurred in the existing state of affairs
in Equatorial Africa from the advent of this
visionary. It happened that the native
mind had become, in a measure, prepared
for the appearance of a Messiah, or Prophet,
who, according to tradition, had been fore-
told by Mohammed himself as likely to
appear about the year 1 300 of the Hegira.
The turn of the century, according to this
calendar, happened about three years ago,
almost simultaneously with the appearance
of the new saviour of Islam. As Mr. Blunt
has pointed out, the condition of the
natives in the Soudan and the wide region
nominally under the sway Of the pashas had

become intolerable from oppression, and
they were ripe for revolt. Along with this,
extraordinary success had for some years
attended the spread of the Mohammedan
creed in Central Africa, and high authorities
estimate the number of converts at from
eight to twelve millions. One writer re-
marks : ' The idea of the regeneration of
Islam by force of arms has gained a strong
hold over the enthusiasm of these new con-
verts, and on the appearance of the False
Prophet in August, 1881, thousands flocked
to his standard.'

The Mahdi had thus an enormous ad-
vantage over all rival pretenders, and
quickly overshadowed all others, who have
long since sunk back into their original
obscurity. Like most of them, Mohammed
Ahmed for such is the Mahdi's real name
was of origin obscure, but traceable. It
is to the unfortunate Colonel Stewart,
another victim of Arab treachery, that we
are indebted for most of our knowledge of
the prophet's early days, for when the gal-
lant Colonel visited El Obeid nearly three
years ago the impostor was only beginning
to rally round him a ragged following, and
to make some noise in the country. From
what could then be gathered about him,
Colonel Stewart informs us that the Mahdi
was the son of a carpenter, and a native of
Dongola. In 1852 the father migrated to
Shendy, the town on the Nile on the bank
opposite Metemmeh, his family consisting
of three sons and one daughter, and here a
fourth son was born to him. While a boy
the future prophet was apprenticed to a
boatbuilder, but after receiving a beating
from his uncle one day, he fled to Khar-
toum, where he entered a free school kept
by a dervish of great sanctity, and an
alleged descendant of the founder of

280

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

Islamism. ' Here,' says Colonel Stewart,
'he remained for some time studying re-
ligion, the tenets of his sheik, etc., but did
not make much progress in the more
worldly accomplishments of reading and
writing.' His religious education was com-
pleted at another school to which he after-
wards went near Berber. Thence he settled
in a village south of Kana, and enrolled
himself as a disciple of a fakir or holy man,
delighting in the name of Nur-el-Daim.
Having received from this worthy the dis-
tinction of sheik, Mohammed Ahmed
took up his abode on the island of Abba,
near Kana, on the White Nile. ' Here,'
adds Colonel Stewart, ' he began by mak-
ing a subterranean excavation (khaliva ~
retreat) into which he made a practice of
retiring to repeat for hours one of the
names of the Deity, this being accompanied
by fasting, incense-burning, and prayers.
His fame and sanctity by degrees spread
far and wide, and Mohammed Ahmed be-
came wealthy, collected disciples, and
married several wives, all of whom he was
careful to select from among the daughters
of the most influential Baggara sheiks (Bag-
gara = tribes owning cattle and horses) and
other notables. To keep within the legal-
ised number (four) he was in the habit of
divorcing the surplus, and taking them on
again according to his fancy.' In these
marital responsibilities he was only sur-
passed by his secretary or factotum, who
espoused no fewer than twenty-four ladies
of the neighbourhood. But the Mahdi's
time was not wholly occupied with the at-
tractions of the harem. The increase of
his influence only incited him to fresh efforts.
Gradually he acquired a great reputation
for holiness, and by-and-by assembled a
number of other dervishes around him, and
by his powers and tact succeeded in uniting
the various tribes under his banner. The
principles of his teaching are described as
' Universal equality, universal law and re-
ligion, with a community of goods. All
who refuse to credit his mission are to be
destroyed, whether Christian, Mohamme-
dan, or pagan.'

It was not until the end of 1881 that
Raout Pasha, the then Governor of the
Soudan, had his attention directed to the
Mahdi's pretensions. The latter at this
time was living at Merabieh, near the island
of Abba. In August, as already stated, he
publicly proclaimed his 'mission' during
the Feast of Ramadan, and some small
parties of troops were sent against him, but
failed to catch him. It is more than prob-
able that their sympathies were with him.
Colonel Stewart certainly held doubts on
the subject. The Mahdi soon afterwards
showed himself at the head of his followers
near Sennaar, finally taking up a position
at Jebel Gadir, about 150 miles north-west
of Kaka, on the White Nile. Here he was
attacked by a body of regulars under Ras-
chid Bey, who was defeated with heavy
loss. This success inspired the prophet
and his adherents with fresh courage and
ambition. Their ranks rapidly increased,
and early in the following spring the whole
province of Kordofan was threatened.
Raouf Pasha having been recalled, Abd-el-
Kader was appointed to the command at
Khartoum, and a more strenuous attempt
was made to suppress the new fanatical
rising, whose spread began seriously to
alarm the Egyptians. In April about 3,000
men were collected in the neighbourhood
of Kaka at the cost of reducing the neigh-
bouring garrisons. Taking advantage of
this, " the rebels," as the Mahdi's followers
began to be called, attacked Sennaar, but
after some minor successes, they were dis-
persed by Giegler Pasha. They were not,
however, disheartened, and at length, when
they again met the Egyptians face to face,
on the yth of June, 1882, they obtained a
signal victory. The Egyptians came upon
the rebels in a densely wooded country ;
a zareba or stockade was commenced, and
the troops were formed up in hollow square,
but they were unable to withstand the
furious onslaught of the Arab host, inspired
by religious zeal. Once the square was
broken all discipline was lost, and the whole
force was simply annihilated. Naturally

CAPTURE OF EL OBEID.

28!

an extraordinary impetus was thus given to
the insurrection, and many minor engage-
ments took place, resulting generally in
favour of the Mahdi. At Shakka, for in-
stance, on June 20th, another Egyptian
detachment of 1,000 men was cut to pieces,
only a few escaping with their lives. On

August 23rd Duem was attacked, but here
the rebels were defeated with the loss of
4,500 men. Shortly afterwards the Mahdi
took the field in person, and advanced on
El Obeid. ' On three successive days,' it
is recorded, 'he made desperate assaults
on the garrison, but on each occasion he

MOHAMMED AHMED, THE MAHDI.

was repulsed with great slaughter. The
rebels are said to have had 10,000 men
killed, while the Egyptian loss is put down
at 288.' These disasters caused a dimi-
nution in the Mahdi's prestige, who had
never hitherto been defeated while per-
sonally leading his troops, so that he was
said to be invincible. But, nothing daunted,

the prophet laid siege to the town, and
after much bloodshed both El Obeid, Bara,
and other fortified posts fell into his hands.
Compelled by these reverses to make a
more gigantic effort to regain possession of
the Soudan, the Egyptian Government de-
spatched Hick Pasha's expedition, number-
ing upwards of 6,000 men. This army, the

282

THE ENGLISH IN EG YPT.

most completely organized and equipped
ever assembled in the Soudan, was deemed
sufficient for its object, but its overthrow,
after a desperate three days' engagement
in the desert between the Nile and El
Obeid, proved that the strength of the
Mahdi had been vastly underrated. After
that crowning victory, the Soudan, save
such garrison towns as Khartoum, Sennaar,
and Kassala, was at his mercy, and the
fame of his conquering career has spread
not only through all northern Africa, but
over the whole Mohammedan world. Per-
sonally, the Mahdi is described by Colonel

Stewart as tall, slim, with a black beard,
and light brown complexion. Like most
Dongolawis, he reads and writes with diffi-
culty. He is local head of the Gheelan or
Kadrige" order of dervishes, a school origin-
ated by Abdul Kader-el-Ghulami, whose
tomb is at Bagdad. Judging from his con-
duct of affairs and policy, I should say he
had considerable natural ability. The
manner in which he has managed to merge
the usually discordant tribes together de-
notes great tact. He had probably been
preparing the movement for some time
back." So far Colonel Stewart.

CHAPTER LI.

JHE M.AHDI Mow ]^E ATTAINED POWER.

ONTINUING our account
of the Mahdi, we now give
a few anecdotes, gathered
from various sources, as to
this individual. A certain
Arab, called " Mahmoud," according to his
own account (poured into the eager ear of
a newspaper correspondent), has had oc-
casion very bitterly to regret his connection
with the False Prophet, for "he is now
destitute. Mahmoud attributes all his mis.
fortunes to the Mahdi, and apparently justly
so. The merchant at first believed in the
Divine mission of the Black Prophet. He
was blessed with a young and lovely
wife, whom Mohammed Ahmed admired
and took. This conduct Mahmoud might
have forgiven, because he was very rich
and could have purchased another spouse
from some of the Arab sheiks, but the
prophet also cast eyes on his wealth, and
required him to turn it all into the rebel
treasury. Meligy expressed a willingness
to contribute a portion, and tendered a sum,
at the same time secreting the bulk of his
money. Then it was the Mahdi's myrmi-

dons seized him and beat him with sticks,
and threatened him with death if he refused
longer to disclose the hiding-place where
his treasure lay. Meligy remained firm, so
they fastened a rope to one of his ankles
and lowered him down head first into a
very deep stone-built well. As he was let
down the rope went spinning round, and
his head and body were terribly bruised
against the sides. The scars still remain.
He then gave way and begged for mercy.
On being hauled to the top he told
them where he had put all his money,
and when they had got it he was allowed
to go. As soon as he was able he left
Obeid, and journeying towards Khartoum,
eventually reached a safe place. Mahmoud
says many of the Arabs are beginning to
disbelieve that Mohammed Ahmed is the
' Mahdi,' and that if it were not for a
powerful band he has attracted to his
person, who themselves know better than
to regard him as a true prophet, he would
be driven out of the country. The 'Mahdi,'
he continued, is a very able, cunning man
in all he does. He has had a building

DEVICES OF THE MAHDI.

283

erected into which he retires to pray, and
where he sometimes receives and speaks to
his followers. It is regarded as a sort of
sanctuary, and is a large square hall-shaped
apartment, roofed over. Here he tells his
devotees he converses with the ' El Hadra,'
or ' Holy Presence,' from whom he receives
instruction, direction, and advice on all
matters. The credulous Arabs squat around
outside this building in hundreds all day
long, and when the Mahdi appears beg to
be shown the ' Presence,' that they may die
happy. ' O prophet,' they cry, ' shows us
the El Hadra.' With grave face Mo-
hammed Ahmed turns to some one and
answers, c Wallah ! ' ' that is a very serious
and difficult task you seek to impose on
me.' He is invariably polite, and always
calls every one ' Ya ! Sidi ' (sir). If in a
complaisant mood, the Mahdi pretends to
yield to their request, and invites them into
his sanctuary, which is bare of furniture
save a few carpets, skins, and mats, a brass
bowl, and brass tray. He then bids them
search the apartment to see if there is any
one or anything beyond what meets their
eyes concealed therein. Their answer
usually is, 'What need to search, O
prophet ? There is nothing here.' ' Then
leave me for a little whilst I pray,' replies
the Mahdi, 'and perhaps the Spirit may
grant your request.' Meligy said, when the
'prophet' was left alone, he (the Mahdi)
waited a little, then, lifting the brass tray,
which had coffee cups standing on it, he
poured a vessel of water into the bowl, re-
placing the tray on the top, but not so as
to be resting on the bowl, for the tray was
held an inch or two above the bowl either
by big pieces of loaf sugar or calcined lime.
The water at once began to act upon
whichever of these substances he employed,
but, before it had time to disintegrate them,
the people were readmitted into the apart-
ment, where all appeared as they had seen
it a minute before. They were soon alarmed
and terrified by seeing the tray move, and
hearing the cups and dishes rattle. Some-
times a little smoke or steam accompanied

these demonstrations, but, on every oc-
casion on which the ignorant Arabs and
negroes witnessed them, they shouted, ' It
is the " Presence," ' and, falling down with
their foreheads pressed to the ground, re-
mained in pious prayer until the Mahdi
bade them leave him. Absurd as it may
seem, such is the leading 'miracle' with
which the prophet works upon the crass
credulity of the ignorant natives. Another
plan he has for enlisting adherents is to
covertly prepare a pit or hole in the ground,
in which he sets matches and gunpowder.
Haranguing the wholly savage tribes who
flock to hear and see him, he tells them
they have nothing to fear from Turk or
infidel. If necessary, fire even could be
sent to consume all their enemies, so that
they would not need to lift their hands
against them. Then, to show his power,
the Mahdi drives his spear into the ground,
selecting the spot prepared, and fire and
smoke follow the blow. He tells them the
fire will be confined, so as not to then and
there burn them. Afterwards his confeder-
ates come to his aid and remove the traces
of the prepared stage effect. The Mahdi
is equally if not more adroit in his manner
of getting contributions. From time to
time he appears before his people and says
he has been commanded to part with all
his goods ; everything he possesses, in short,
must go to the public treasury, or to the
'Bait el Mai' charity-box. Proffers are
made on all sides to save him from strip-
ping his household, but all these he reso-
lutely declines, saying, 'The command is
for me, not you.' By-and-by their turn
comes, when the Mahdi says he has had
a communication from ' El Hadra' that such
a one is to give all he has to the ' Bait el
Mai.' They have seen the prophet himself
complying with these directions of the
' Presence,' and how dare any one else dis-
obey? Accordingly, making a virtue of
necessity, goods and slaves all find their
way to the ' charity-box ' otherwise the
prophet's chest It was because he scrupled
to comply readily with a mandate of the

284

THE ENGLISH JN EGYPT.

same kind that poor Mahmoud el Meligy
was maltreated. All disputes about goods
or betrothals the Mahdi quickly settles
by appropriating the goods to the public
treasury and the women to his harem. He
courts the poor and gives them free licence
to plunder, and snubs the sheiks," and thus
acquires popularity.

We next give a proclamation of two ad-
herents of the Mahdi, and we follow this
up with a letter from Faga Isaak to the
False Prophet. The reader will observe
that said letter is couched in anything but
complimentary terms. Both documents
will serve to show our readers the style of
communication that prevails in these bar-
barous lands :

" To the Shajieh People, dwellers of the
countries on the Nile about Aboudom,
Meroe, Korti, Debbah, Abougos, etc., etc.
In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful,
the Most Compassionate, etc. Thanks be
to the Most High and Bountiful, unto
whom be prayer and praise. Peace to
believers. We write to you to inform you
that our Lord, the Apostle of Allah, the
long expected One, etc., has had cause to
be displeased with you. Ye dwellers on
the Nile bank, in all the districts of the
Dar Shaikiyeh we address ourselves espe-
cially to the dwellers round about Tungasi
and Meroe, Aboudom, Handak, Abougos,
etc. Our Lord God's Apostle is much
displeased with all of you, O ye peoples,
in that ye have shown much slackness and
want of zeal in his service. Nay, ye have
even aided his enemies, the accursed Turks
and the infidel Inglesi. Now, the sheiks
who have permitted this will surely be
punished, and that swiftly. All chastise-
ment will be visited on their heads. Then,
O people, we pity them and you too when
these things shall come to pass. Have you
not seen and heard how we have driven
back the Inglesi from one shore of the
great river to the other ? Now know that
we in our tens of thousands and hundreds
of thousands are coming to visit you shortly.
For that day prepare yourselves. If you

are obedient to our Lord, you will be for-
given for past offences, for he is merciful,
provided you are ready, every one of you,
to gather together under our Sanjaks. In
that day, if you are faithful and obedient,
shall be given you of the spoils taken from
the disobedient, and of their substance, of
their oxen and camels and sheep. For
their lands shall be utterly laid waste and
given to the faithful. Now the time we
speak of is not far distant ; but where are
the arms which we sent into your villages
to every village twenty fire rifles ? We
have heard that you have pleaded that you
have been unable to obey owing to the
great host of the Inglesi who dropped on
your shores like locusts, and owing to the
black troops of the Turks. It must be held
ever in remembrance by you the ancient
alliance and friendship between your tribes
and ours. Your safety is assured to you,
and arms shall be distributed among you.

WADY MAJUMA.

ABOU GERARD."

Faga Isaak, chief relative of Shee Sinoon,
who belongs to Algeria, writes to the
Mahdi :

" You are a false Mahdi (forerunner). It
is manifest to all men of learning that you
are a wicked impostor you are found out.
Have you not been exposed ? What say
you? Let me, who have wisdom and
learning, and am the possessor, praise be
unto Allah ! of great discernment and in-
telligence, explain to you how I know all
this. You do not come from Mecca ; but
even so, had you been the true Mahdi,
long ago would you have subdued unto
yourself all territory, and kingdoms, and
dominions, and powers from the far south
in the Tagal Mountains, and the Shilloohs,
and the Niam Niams to the north, where
is Algeria and Morocco, and the land of
Egypt would have bowed to you, and the
English and the Turks and all infidels
would have been cast out. But now, what
are you? A man without power even
among his own Ameers. They refuse to

THE < BLESSED ISLES' OF ISLAM.

285

fight for you any more, as you allow their
warriors to be slain, and you do not lead
yourself. Moreover, you have been de-
feated by the English. Take heed ! Have
a care. Do not continue to disturb the

land. If you do, I will kill you as I did
your uncle, who was the treasurer, and yet
stole from the treasury. Do you know why
he was killed ? Now I tell you that is the
reason."

CHAPTER LII.

THE M.AHDI THE SECRET OF His SUCCESS.

T may be asked, How then
is it that the Mahdi, a false
prophet, really has such
enormous power ? The an-
swer to that will be found
in considering the peculiar attraction which
his faith holds out to its votaries. To
quote a sentence of the Koran, "O
Allah, be it so. Among the glorious
associates in Paradise ! Now there is no
passage of the Koran so vehemently in-
culcated, so passionately accepted, as that
which assures the true believer of the de-
lights of a future world. It has always
formed the most stirring appeal of Moslem
generals to their soldiers, of the priests of
the Ghazi seminaries to their pupils in
assassination. The Mahdi, therefore, does
not fail to make use of the pleasures of
Paradise as an incentive to his men to re-
newed efforts on the Nile. A correspondent,
quoting from an Arabic paper, gives us
the text of this famous pretender's pro-
clamation ' to the faithful who are fight-
ing for God, the Prophet, and his servant,
Mohammed Ahmed.' It runs thus : ' How
are you faithful when you are again mur-
muring because you are prevented from
making pilgrimages to Mecca by the con-
tinuance of the war? Do you not know
that killing an infidel is more agreeable to
God than offering prayers for a thousand
months ? Do you not know that not only
from Mecca, the mother of cities, but also
that from every field of battle a path leads

to Paradise? O ye faithful, I assure you
that if you die in the morning fighting
against the infidels, you will, even ere it is
noon, be with the Prophet in Paradise.
Silken robes of green will clothe you, and
golden bracelets adorn you. You will re-
pose by the banks of cool rivers, sipping
refreshing drinks, while sixty ever-youthful
houris, bright as the moon, will smile upon
you.' He does not enumerate the other
details of the ' Blessed Isles ' of Islam,
with its all-shadowing tree, which bears the
most delicious meats that the saints can
think to ask for ; the stream of Salsabil
close by, which runs between banks of
jasper and gold ; the fragrance of a
thousand perfumes scent was one of the
chief pleasures of Mahomet the singing of
birds, the luxury of couches of flowers, and
so forth. For he knew that every man in
his following has them all off by heart, and
can tell to a fraction the proportion of each
which will be his lot according to the man-
ner of his death, the number of his wounds,
or the tally of the infidel slain by him be-
fore he fell himself. It was enough to re-
mind his warriors of the delights in store,
to suggest to the half-fed, weary men about
him the contrast between the Soudan in
June and Paradise. ' Have you, then, lost,
weak murmurers as you are, all faith in
him who was your Light, your Star?' They
might be tempted to do so. The Mahdi,
however, knows well that, whether or not
they are beginning to lose hope of the

286

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

conquest of Egypt, and the triumphal
progress towards the Holy City which was
predicted, their faith will never falter in
those promises of 'the Book' of cold
springs and delicious fruit,

' And that pure wine the dark -eyed maids above
Keep sealed with precious musk for those they
love.'

Nor, perhaps, could the Mahdi better
encourage the sinking spirits of men en-
camped with but scanty shelter, and still
more scanty commissariat, out upon the
burning, eye-scorching deserts of the Sou-
dan, overswept with dust-storms driven
along by the fierce Khamsin, the stifling
Harmattan, dry grain their food, alkaline
water their drink, and dreary marching and
wounds and death their only service.

' That prophet ill sustains his holy call
Who finds not heavens to suit the tastes of all."

And Mahomet and ' Mohammed Ahmed,
his servant,' it must be confessed, found
one very suitable indeed to the tastes
of Arab folk. Their songs and their
speech are filled with phases significant
of the yearning of these wild sons of a
sterile land for the pleasures of green trees,
sweet-smelling flowers, and bubbling water.
Religion offers them, these men of hard
lives and stern work as the one supreme
delight of the after-world the luxury of
idleness. They are not even to take the
trouble to turn upon their beds of roses to
eat and drink ; for exquisite beings, blessed
with perpetual girlhood, will always be at
their side to offer them all they want before
they can even ask for it. The fruit will
bend down to their lips, the fountains of
exquisite sherbets rise to them. They are
never to grow older than the prime of man-
hood, and, if they choose, need never, no
never, all through the cycles of immortality,
stir an inch from the spot where angelic
arms, carrying each from the battlefield,
have laid them down on the perfumed
sward under the Tooba tree. No more
camels to drive. No more infidels to shoot
them. Peace and plenty, perpetual youth,

and sacred laziness. The birds even, in
the boughs, are only to sing in murmurous
fashion. No ear-splitting, clamorous song
will be heard there. The arboreal choir
will all be beautified nightingales, singing
through veils, as it were, the softest whis-
perings of melody, that shall never be the
same long enough for the listener to re-
cognise a tune twice. The perfumes, in
the same way, will glide imperceptibly from
one fragrance to another, and each in turn
will be new and exquisite. The sherbets
will be nectareous blendings of all the
hydromels, somas, and meads that poets
have devised for happy heroes in the
' Cities of Rest ' and ' Elysian Fields,' and
are to pass by subtle transmutations from
rose to pomegranate, and from citron to
date, from orange to grape, and so on
through all the pippins and berries of Para-
disaic orchards, flavoured with such fruits
as saints have worked miracles with, such
as tempted Eve, such as the champions of
Christendom knew of, as the pilgrims found
in the Master's garden, as heroes and god-
desses have striven for the apples of bliss
and immortality. The houris, too 'the
dark-eyed maids above' even they are
not to weary the eye by monotony. Sixty
is the smallest allowance, the 'half rations,'
as it were, of a common, ordinary sort of
true believer. In exceptional cases they
are to be in number beyond counting, and
at the wish of their possessor they will
change their age, their features, and their
voice. It is not enough that they shall
each be perfect in her own way ; all are to
be perfect in every way. Then, to think
of it, superadded to all this, the perpetual
coolness of thick foliage overhead and
gentle breezes, and, above all, utter and
inviolable laziness ! It is no wonder then
that the Mahdi's soldiers, released from the
drudgery of beasts of burden only to march
and fight in the desperate Soudan, escaped
from the tyranny of petty masters to fall
under the unrelaxing despotism of a fanati-
cal leader, should go to their deaths lightly.
They believe, with a stern faith every iota

A GLITTERING VISION.

287

of the promises of future pleasures held out
to them, and on that belief gladly stake
the wretchedness of their life and risk the
brief agony of death on the battle-field :
' Faith, frenzied faith, once wedded firm and fast
To some dear falsehood, hugs it to the last. '

And those who were in the Soudan bore
ample testimony to the amazing, bewilder-
ing recklessness and disregard of pain with
which these soldiers of the Mahdi came
charging on to their fate.

The truth is, they looked beyond the
British squares at the green groves of Para-
dise. The glitter of the grim bayonets
before them was as nothing to the radiance
of the great gates they could see opening
for them. In front the flash of rifles, and
the low rolling smoke of the cannon, dull
masses of men in grey, and camels in
tumultuous motion. But farther off, and
visible only to the eyes of those on-rushing
fanatics, were the fluttering of robes of
green silk, the shimmer of golden orna-
ments. Here, close at hand, were the
furious roar of the artillery, the pitiless
fusillade, the fierce clamour of men giving
and receiving death ; but, above it all, the
ears of the true believer, quickened by his
mortal wound, caught the sweet liltings of
Heaven's singing birds, the murmur of the
breeze in the leaves, the babblings of the
fountains of Zem-zem, the whispered car-
esses of those hidden pearls ' the maids.'
So they came on in a rush altogether, or
in small parties, or even singly, to meet the
death 'which leads to Paradise.' Out from
the bush, and from behind rocks, they came
on, one against a hundred, dancing and
shouting. What if they fell? It was an
infidel's hand that laid them low. Their
end was achieved. Or, if they reached the
unbelievers' line, and drove their spears
home before they went down before the

bullets, all the greater was the gain, all the
larger was the fulness of eternal bliss. The
leaders of Islam have always known how to
avail themselves of this intense confidence
in the immediate possession of Paradise.
Mahomet himself never failed to employ it
to the utmost, and his successors, on many
a field of victory, have proved its potency.
The Moslem sees his reward actually within
his arm's length. He has only to strike
and it is his. If he kills, or is killed, he
is assured of the Prophet's favour, and if
he dies killing he is doubly secure. The
lives of such men are, after all, but dull
processes. Their language, their philo-
sophy, prove that they feel this themselves.
They do not cling to life as a precious pro-
vision, but are ready to throw it away.
' Allah's will be done ! ' and there is an
end of it. Of the more practical aspect of
the Mahdi's proclamation, the fact that
his followers clamoured to be allowed to
go to Mecca is very significant, for in
the Moslem creed the performance of
'the greater pilgrimage' is in itself a
passport to Paradise. For the present,
however, it is enough to have noticed
the strange phenomenon of such an ap-
peal in these latter days of history, and
to have hinted at the pathos which under-
lies it. Here fighting in the Soudan under
a sun that is now torrid, in the midst
of a country brought to the miseries ot
famine by three years of war, we find a
military leader calling upon his troops to
stand by him, and to rally for further effort,
with the promise of shady trees and cool
water. They are not to strike for country,
or for sovereign, or for God; but for re-
freshing draughts and the smiles of the
houris of heaven. And this suffices."
Such are the prospects held out by the
Mahdi to his followers.

288

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

CHAPTER LIII.

jpflS MISSION IN THE SOUDAN.

HILST Gordon was speed-
ing on to Cairo as fast as
all the appliances of our
modern civilization could
carry him, his name was
in every one's mouth. It was then that the
able editor, to whom reference has already
been made, took occasion to review the
whole situation, and to describe the man
with whom he had lately discussed the
Soudan question. He goes on to tell us
that " It is exactly a fortnight since the
present writer, seated on a couch covered
with a leopard's skin, in the drawing-room
of a quiet Southampton residence, received
a friendly greeting from General Gordon,
who had not been twenty-four hours in the
country after his return from Jerusalem.
Up to that moment he had not been con-
sulted by any one as to the crisis in the
Soudan. Months before, when he was last
in England, although the War Office was
full of anxiety about the defence of Khar-
toum, no official had ever taken the trouble
to ascertain the views of the English officer
of Engineers who had reigned for years
autocrat in the capital of the Soudan.
When the crisis which began with the
slaughter of Colonel Hicks was deepening,
until a terrible catastrophe impended over
the garrison of Khartoum, it was not owing
to any prompting of the English Govern-
ment that General Gordon happened to be
within two hours' journey of London. The
Cabinet had decided the previous week to
support Sir Evelyn Baring in demanding
the abandonment of the Soudan, and it
was only the happy accident that the King
of the Belgians had summoned General
Gordon from his retirement in Palestine
to carve out an anti-slavery empire on the
headwaters of the Congo which brought

him this month within call. To men like
General Gordon there is no such thing as
accident. All things were pre-ordained
before time began, and kings and peasants
are mere instruments in the hands of the
Higher Power which cannot err. Even to
those who take less lofty views of human
destiny, strange indeed was the combina-
tion of unexpected coincidences by which
it has come to pass that the officer who a
week since was all but deprived of his com-
mission in the English army for taking
service with the International Associates
of the Congo should to-day be speeding
southward as fast as the mail packet can
carry him to act as the supreme represen-
tative of British power in the Equatorial
Empire of Egypt. Since Mordecai the
Jew was led in triumph through the streets
of Shushan there has surely but seldom
been so sudden an alternation in human
fortunes. But yesterday not a Minister
would even do him the honour of asking
his counsel. To-day he is the master of
the situation, the virtual Sovereign of the
Soudan, the man upon whose success or
upon whose failure the fortunes of the
Ministry may depend. Great as the change
is, it leaves him absolutely unchanged.
' For what is this or that to thee,' says
Thomas-a-Kempis in the ' Imitation,' a
copy of which, with the page doubled
down at this passage, was handed to his
visitor on leaving. ' Follow thou Me. For
what is it to thee whether this man be such
or such, or that others do or say thus and
thus ? ' And again at another marked pas-
sage it is written, c Let not thy peace be in
the tongues of men ; for whether they put
a good or bad construction on what thou
doest, thou art not therefore another man.
Where is true peace and true glory? Is

GORDON'S PERSONAL APPEARANCE.

289

it not in Me ? And he who covets not to
please men and fears not their displeasure
shall enjoy much peace.' That peace
which General Gordon enjoys is unruffled

by the contumely, undisturbed by the
eulogy of man.

Slightly built, somewhat below the aver-
age height, General Gordon's most remark-

THE MIRAGE AN INCIDENT OF DESERT TRAVFI..

able characteristic at first sight is a child-
like simplicity of speech and manners.
Notwithstanding his fifty years, his face is
almost boyish in its youthfulness, his step
is as light and his movements as lithe as

the leopard. Although he is still excitable
and vehement, those who know him best
say that he has under much firmer control
those volcanic fires which blazed out with
fiercest fury in his younger days; as, for

290

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

instance, when he hunted Li Hung Chang
revolver in hand from house to house day
after day in order to slay the man who had
dishonoured and massacred the prisoners
whom he had pledged his word to save.
But there is that in his face at times even
now that contrasts strangely with the sweet-
ness of his smile or the radiance which
lights up his face when discoursing on his
favourite author and the choice texts of the
1 Imitation,' which, for the present, seems
to have superseded his old favourite,
'Watson on Contentment.' In Gordon
the tenderness of a woman, the gentleness
of a child, the ready sympathy with all the
sorrows and sufferings of others, are com-
bined with an iron will and a certain
' hardness ' which is indispensable to a
ruler of men. In the Soudan he was to
slave-dealers, pashas, and other evildoers
an incarnate terror. On his fleet camel,
accompanied only by a single guide, he
sped from province to province, like an
angel of wrath descending like a thunder-
bolt upon all who withstood his will. Yet
even while the rage of the Berserker flashed
in his eye, infinite compassion for the weak,
the helpless, and the oppressed trembled
in his voice. Again and again he refers
in his letters in tones of pity and affection
to the poor people of the Soudan. ' I
would give my life for. them,' he said.
' How can I help feeling for them ? All
the time I was there every night I used to
pray that God would lay upon me the
burden of their sins, and crush me with it
instead of these poor sheep. A strange
prayer you may well think for one who has
sins enough of his own to answer for, but
nevertheless a real one. I really wished it,
and longed for it; and now, having had
the burden of their sufferings upon me for
so many years, can you wonder that I wish
to save them from being handed over to be
" slated up " by the Turks ? ' In General
Gordon's eyes, as every one is aware who
has read Mr. Berkeley Hill's edition of his
letters from Central Africa, the blacks of
the Soudan are immeasurably superior in

every way to the Egyptian Government.
All the misery in those parts, he used to
declare, is due to these Arab and Circassian
pashas and authorities. ' I would not stay
a day for these wretched creatures, but I
would give my life for these poor blacks.'
The people who annexed the Soudan, he
maintained, stood in quite as much need
of civilization as those they attempt to
civilize. There is no more touching pas-
sage in modern writings than that in which
he describes his remorse at the share he
had in carrying the ' blessings ' of Egyptian
civilization to the Moogie tribes, hundreds
of miles south of Gondokoro. ' We do not
want beads,' they cried. ' We do not want
to see the pasha ; we want our own lands
and you to go away.' A magician stood
and cursed the expedition, and a disaster
soon after befalling, General Gordon was
inclined to believe that the prayer for
protection against the invader had been
heard. ' " We do not want your beads,
we do not want your cloth," of the poor
Moogies rings in my ears. "We want
you to go away." They knew well enough
the little benefits that would ever accrue
from occupation. I do believe that God
may listen to the cries for help from the
heathen who know Him not. These
prayers were earnest prayers for celestial
aid, in which the pray-er knew he would
need help from some unknown Power to
avert a danger. That the native knows not
the true God is true, but God knows him,
and moved him to prayer, and answered
his prayer.' He was convinced that the
Egyptians were absolutely unfit to acquire
the country. The policy of the abandon-
ment of the further Soudan which the
Government has despatched him to carry
out is but a development of his own policy,
and needs no further justification than the
letters written by him as Governor-General
of the Soudan in 1879.

In the conversation at Southampton
General Gordon made no direct reference
to the possibility of his own return to the
country. A friend, however, who had

GORDON'S INFLEXIBLE JUSTICE.

291

urged very strongly upon him the import-
ance of his revisiting the scene of his
former authority, did not think that he
was irrevocably opposed to the idea. The
garrison at Khartoum must be relieved,
but how could we relieve it ? Baker could
not get there with an army. General
Gordon remarked that if he were sent he
would go there alone. He believed that
he would have no difficulty in making his
way without a single attendant through the
Bishareen Arabs, to whom he was well
known, and when he was once in Khar-
toum he did not believe he would have
much difficulty in organizing an 'ever-
victorious army' out of the tribes which
would enable him to hold Khartoum until
the forces of the Mahdi split to pieces.
He entirely scouted the idea that the
Mahdi was the leader of a great religious
movement The Mahdi, he believed, was
a mere creature of Ilias, the great slave
proprietor at Obeid, and Zebehr Pasha,
the king of the slave-traders at Cairo. If
the latter had been sent against the Mahdi,
he would, in General Gordon's opinion,
have been taken prisoner immediately, and
then converted, of course by force majeure,
into the Commander-in-chief of the Mahdi's
forces. But beyond the widespread dis-
content occasioned by bad government,
the support of these discontented leaders,
and the prestige of success, he did not
think the Mahdi had any other influence
in the Soudan. As for his religious claims,
it is natural for them to claim a religious
sanction. ' It is convenient also, especially
when the cloak of religion allows you to
steal your neighbour's cows.' He had per-
sonal friends in the Mahdi's camp. One
of the revolted chiefs owes to General
Gordon the lives of two of his sons, others
have seen him strike terror into the hearts
of the pashas against whom they are in
revolt All the natives know his inflexible
justice. 'Your brother,' he wrote to his
sister from Khartoum seven years ago, ' is
much feared and, I think, respected, but
not overmuch liked. The people in the

Soudan tremble before your brother.' Per-
sonal popularity, it will be seen, he does
not pretend to claim. But he was just,
upright, inflexible, and an especial terror
to evildoers of the kind against whom the
Mahdi has risen in revolt. If he were left
absolutely free now, he would begin by
proclaiming an amnesty to all those who
have taken part in a rebellion which he
regards as not only morally justifiable but
politically necessary. The responsibility
for the revolt rests not with those who
rebelled but with those whose oppressions
left the suffering populations no resource
but rebellion to remedy their wrongs. By
well-directed diplomacy, a judicious ex-
penditure of money, and an offer to recog-
nise the legitimate claims of the revolted
tribes to independence, he believes that
the operation of the natural forces of dis-
union might be greatly assisted, and the
Mahdi's following would be reduced to
manageable proportions. The Mahdi might
disappear; but if, on the other hand, he
showed sufficient capacity for rule to hold
his followers together, and establish a
government at Kordofan, then, said General
Gordon, with a characteristic phrase, 'he
will have earned a right to the crown of
martyrdom, and may be left to reign in
Obeid.'

The policy which General Gordon would
pursue in the Soudan, if he were left
absolutely free, may best be described as
a great scheme for the restitution of native
autonomy. As Mr. Gladstone demanded
Home Rule for Bulgaria, so General Gor-
don advocates Home Rule for the various
races inhabiting the Soudan. In the far
south in the equatorial regions and it
should not be forgotten that when he first
entered Egyptian service his title was ' His
Excellency General Colonel Gordon, the
Governor-General of the Equator' he
would pursue the same course that he
followed when last in office in the Soudan.
He would withdraw the authority of Egypt
from the tribes, which curiously realize in
the heart of Africa the political ideal of the

292

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

Parisian Communists. The sheiks, he
declares, are absolutely devoid of ambition.
Annexation is an unknown vice. Each
tribe of from one to three hundred families
lives its own independent life.

It is the conviction that he may be able
to do some good in that way to the ' poor
people of the Soudan ' that induced him to
postpone his magnificent project of cutting
up the slave-trade by the roots at the
headwaters of the Congo until he had re-
established decent government on the head-
waters of the Nile. General Gordon is the
natural tribune ot the oppressed. If we
could imagine a Socialist revolution in this
country, General Gordon is an ideal sword
ready fashioned to the hand of a democratic
revolt of despair. In him the Soudanese
will find a champion far abler and stronger
than the Egyptian fellaheen found in Arabi.
Of Arabi, General Gordon, it may be noted
in passing, had but a poor opinion. He
had Arabi under his command in Abys-
sinia, and either arrested him or sent him
home for insubordination. He was but a
poor creature, and would never have dared
to have headed the revolt if he had not
been prompted from behind by those
against whom he appeared to be moving;
for in princes, especially in princes of the
Ameer class, General Gordon puts no trust.
It is remarkable that when General Gordon
first put his foot in Egypt he was weighed
down by the spectacle it presented of the
poor people being ground down to get
money for dukes and pashas and plunderers
of all descriptions. But he exclaimed in
his own striking way, ' Who art thou, to be
afraid of a man ? If He wills, I will shake
all this in some way not clear to me.' It is
clearer to-day. He was then on his way
to lay the egg of a revolt which when
hatched has shattered the rule of the pasha
in the Soudan, and bids fair to result in
the regeneration under happier auspices
of the whole government of the Nile valley.

'I believe I can do a great deal to
ameliorate the lot of the people.' That
is why he has gone to the Soudan.

He expects no gratitude and wishes for
none. The people, he said in one of his
letters, would probably prefer an Arab
Governor-General. But 'the more one
lives the more one acts towards people as
if they were inanimate objects namely, to
do what you can for them and to utterly
disregard whether they are grateful to us
or not.' He was called, and he has gone.
The post was none of his seeking. But
when it was thrust upon him he could not
refuse. The difficulties are great. He
carries his life in his hand. Success is
almost impossible, and failure would impair
a reputation hitherto unequalled. That,
however, is nothing to him. The confident
assurance of supernatural guidance and
support is stronger with General Gordon
to-day than it was when first he went under
fire in the trenches of Sebastopol. 'You
are only called on,' he once wrote home,
' at intervals to rely on your God ; with me
I am obliged continually to do so. I mean
by this that you have only great trials, such
as the illness of a child when you feel your-
self utterly weak now and then. I am
constantly in anxiety. The body rebels
against this constant leaning on God.'
General Gordon has never had much
mercy upon his body, but of his physical
'health,' as he calls it, he has had little
reason to complain. ' I have in me some-
thing/ he wrote in 1874, ' that if God willed
might benefit these lands, for He has given
me great energy and health, and some little
common sense.' Yet although his energy
and health are almost unequalled, he has
suffered much from angina pectoris. De-
scribing its symptoms he says, ' A rush of
blood takes place to the head, and you
think all is over. I may say I have died
suddenly a hundred times.' But in sick-
ness and in health he has followed his
standing order, 'Keep your eyes on the
cloud by day and the pillar by night and
never mind your steps. . . . Trust in
the Lord with all thy heart, and lean not
unto thine own understanding. In all thy
ways acknowledge Him."

ON TO KHARTOUM!

293

'Beautiful great soul,' said Carlyle of
one to whom the accredited representative
of the English Government in the Soudan
bears no small resemblance in character
and in faith. 'Beautiful great soul, to
whom the Temporal is all irradiated with
the Eternal, and God is everywhere divinely
visible in the affairs of man, and man him-
self has, as it were, become divine,' and
as he spoke of the Lord Protector of the
Commonwealth, so may we speak of the
new Governor of the Soudan. ' Were it
not for the knowledge that I have that God
is Governor-General,' said General Gordon,

' I could not get on at all.' Even those
who are most mournfully convinced that
there is no God and that Humanity
wanders orphaned through a fatherless
world, must wish that this unfaltering con-
fidence in the Divine guidance may once
more be justified by success, and that ' the
shrouded Power that cannot err ' may find
in General Gordon the instrument for
achieving successfully the great work he
has on hand in the Soudan," and we shall
now go on to state how he proceeded with
the terrible and difficult work which he had
undertaken to do.

GORDON-

CHAPTER LIV.

- ARRIVAL IN KHARTOUM JHE ^SLAVERY ^RECLAMATION.

N the same calm, cheerful
frame of mind with which
he had always acted, Gordon
now proceeded swiftly south-
ward on his journey to
Khartoum. Soon he was lost in darkness,
and then there was occasion for speculation
and anxieties. Now was the time for the
evening papers and specials and extra
specials in interminable succession. By
some private means of knowledge the editors
of several papers at once learned, whenever
he disappeared from view, that he had been
captured by the Arabs, and this they un-
hesitatinglyannounced night after night, only
to be contradicted morning after morning.
Meanwhile, on, on went Gordon on his
almost solitary adventure, day after day over
these interminable desert sands. Who can
say what plans for the future revolved in
the eager brain, not disturbed by the
monotonous jolting of the camel, to which
the rider was so well accustomed ! Thoughts
about himself did not trouble him much we
may be sure. Marianne Faringham thus
expressed what must have been his view of

the personal situation, in some lines entitled
" Is Gordon safe ? "

" A message from one who had gone in haste

Came flashing across the sea ;
It told not of weakness but trust in God,

When it asked us, ' Pray for me ; '
And since, from churches and English homes,

In the day or the twilight dim,
A chorus of prayers has risen to God

' Bless and take care of him.'

A lonely man to these strange far lands,

He has gone with his word of peace,
And a million hearts are questioning,

With a pain that does not cease,
' Is Gordon safe ? Is there news of him ?

What will the tidings be ? '
There is little to do but trust and wait,

Yet, utterly safe is he !

Was he not safe when the Taiping shots

Were flying about his heat! ?
When troubles thickened with every day,

And he was hard bestead ?
Was he not safe in his weary rides

Over the desert sands ?
Safe with the Abyssinian king?

Safe with the robber bands ?

We know not the dangers around him now,
But this we truly know :

294

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

He has with him still in his time of need

His Protector of long ago ;
An unseen shield is above his head,

And a strong arm comes between
The strong brave heart that rests in God,

And the death that might have been.

He is not alone, since a Friend is by,

Who answers to every need :
God is his refuge and strength at hand,

Gordon is safe indeed !
He trusts in the mercy of God for all,

And finds it a rock to last ;
And back to us now come the ringing words

He spoke in years gone past :

' I am a chisel that does the work

The Master directs above,
Ever the gospel must be good news,

Kind is the God I love.
His salvation is full and free,

He will never cast us out ;
I may say I have died a hundred times,

But I never yet had a doubt.'

It is true he may pass from the far Soudan

To rest, and reward, and heaven ;
But he is not less safe because from thence

His freedom may be given.
Safe in living, in dying safe,

Where is the need of pain ?
God give the hero long life but death

Will be infinite joy and gain."

But Gordon's fate was as yet distant.
He did reach Khartoum, which he entered
on 1 8th February. He had left Charing
Cross Station a month before, on the
evening of i8th January. We have already
given an account of that entry,* and
of the scene that took place. Of course
this and the famous slavery proclamation
excited great interest in England. Our
chief newspaper remarked that " Seldom
in the history of Oriental peoples has
such a scene been enacted as that which
our correspondent has described on the
occasion of General Gordon's entry into
Khartoum. After a rapid and perilous
journey, the General reached Khartoum
on Monday. In an instant the whole
aspect of affairs was changed. He received
the whole people at the Mudirieh, and was
greeted with the most unequivocal signs of

See Chapter II.

welcome and rejoicing. Their petitions
were received, their grievances were lis-
tened to, and before the day was out a
great pile was made in front of the Palace,
whereon the books recording the debts of
the people, the symbols of their oppression
by rulers who sought only to enrich them-
selves and exacted tribute by torture, were
publicly committed to the flames. Kour-
bashes, whips, and other instruments of
oppression long used by the ruthless agents
of a distant and insouciant foreign Govern-
ment, were heaped upon the pile, and, as
our correspondent said yesterday in his
graphic account, the evidence of debts and
the emblems of oppression perished to-
gether. Nor was the General content with
this merely symbolic deliverance. He
forthwith visited the prison, where he found
two hundred wretches of all ages and both
sexes lying in the utmost misery and loaded
with chains. Some of these were innocent,
some had never been tried, many were
merely prisoners of war, and one poor
woman had been fifteen years in the prison
for a crime committed when she was a
child. The prisoners were all removed,
many were liberated at once, while the
cases of others were sent for immediate
inquiry, and before nightfall the demolition
of the loathsome Bastille was begun. We
need not wonder that the signs of popular
rejoicing were continued far into the night.
In that distant city on the Nile, where a
few days before all was misery, despon-
dency, and confusion, the coming of one
noble-hearted Englishman, resolute, right-
eous, and fearless, had changed despair
into hope, and turned mourning into joy.
The people of Khartoum recognised at
once that their protector and deliverer had
once more come among them, and that his
word was to be trusted when he told them
that they were no longer to be oppressed
by the Circassians, Kurds, and Anatolians,
who represented all that they ever knew
of their distant rulers in Cairo. General
Gordon has clearly explained to the English
Government and the English people what

THE SLAVERY PROCLAMATION.

2 95

his own view is of the policy to be pursued
in the Soudan. ' I must say it would be
an iniquity to reconquer these peoples and
then hand them back to the Egyptians with-
out guarantees of future good government.
It is evident that this we cannot secure
them without an inordinate expenditure of
men and money. The Soudan is a useless
possession, ever was so, and ever will be
so. ... No one who has ever lived
in the Soudan can escape the reflection,
"What a useless possession is this land."
Few men can stand its fearful monotony
and deadly climate.' This is the deliberate
opinion of the man who knows the Soudan
better, and sees it with clearer eyes, than
any living being, whether European or
Oriental. The people of Khartoum can-
not, of course, have known that General
Gordon had used these words. But they
know the man and his character, they see
in his coming their deliverance from op-
pression and cruel wrong, and they show
their rejoicing in a manner which the strik-
ing description of our correspondent has
made known to all the world.

Let us now consider the text of
General Gordon's proclamation to the
people of the Soudan concerning slavery.
' Henceforward,' he says, ' nobody will
interfere with you in the matter, but every
one for himself may take a man into his
service. Henceforth no one will interfere
with him, and he can do as he pleases in
the matter, without interference on the
part of anybody.' The matter as well as
the form of this proclamation speaks for
itself. It is addressed to the people of the
Soudan in the terms they are best able to
understand. It is a step, and no doubt, in
Gordon's judgment, an entirely necessary
step, towards that pacification of the Sou-
dan, which he has undertaken to accomplish.
Domestic slavery is the burning question
of the Soudan. The people of that
country are as sensitive as Irish landlords
on any question touching their proprietary
rights. Lord Dufferin's despatch on the
Reorganization of Egypt mentions that a

Convention was signed in 1877 between
this country and Egypt, whereby the
internal slave-trade and the export of
slaves from Egyptian territory were pro-
hibited, while at the same time a Khedivial
decree was issued ordering that the sale of
slaves from family to family should cease
in Egypt proper in 1884 and in the Soudan
in 1889. The Convention itself has
hitherto been very imperfectly executed,
for reasons fully explained by Lord Duf-
ferin, and the period fixed for the operation
of the decree in the Soudan is still five
years distant. In these circumstances to
engage in a crusade against the existence
of slavery in the Soudan at the very mo-
ment when General Gordon has undertaken
to restore the country to independent native
rulers and to withdraw the Egyptian gar-
risons would plainly be suicidal. The two
things are absolutely incompatible. Either
the garrisons must be sacrificed, or slavery
must, for the present at any rate, be per
mitted. It is only fifty years ago that
the property of English owners in West
Indian slaves was redeemed at a cost of
^20,000,000. Can it be supposed that
the inhabitants of a country 'larger than
Germany, France, and Spain together,'
will relinquish their property in slaves
property of which they do not themselves
recognise the iniquity without compen-
sation at the mere bidding of a ruler who
has no power to enforce his will ? There
is no man living who hates slavery more
than General Gordon. But no man knows
better what he can do, and what he cannot
do, and what he must do in order to ac-
complish the task he has undertaken. He
enjoys the full confidence of the Govern-
ment, he is invested with wide powers of
discretion, and he is in a special manner
the emissary of the whole English people.
If such a man is not to be trusted to do
what is right, just, and expedient, it would
almost have been better that he had never
been sent. The people of this country
are naturally very sensitive on the whole
subject of slavery. They do well to be so,

296

THE ENGLISH IN EG YPT.

they have every right to be so, and in spite
of foreign sneers, they have given very
substantial pledges of their earnestness and
sincerity in the matter. But there is a
time for indignation and a time for for-
bearance. Untimely indignation at this
moment might wreck General's Gordon's
whole mission and produce irretrievable
disaster. Unless we are prepared to con-
quer and hold the Soudan an undertaking
which no one is mad enough to propose
we cannot put an end to domestic slavery
in the Soudan, and in no case would it be

just to do so, without either fixing such a
period of redemption as Lord Dufferin
proposes for Egypt in accordance with
Turkish law and custom, or else compen-
sating the owners of slaves for their loss.
This question cannot be resolved by a mere
philanthropic impulse. We do not aban-
don our efforts for the suppression of the
slave-trade because we are determined to
leave the Soudan to itself. That trade
must be suppressed, not in the Soudan
itself, but in the districts where its roots
are fixed, or else on the Nile, in Egypt

GORDON THE RETURN TO THE SOUDAN.

proper, and on the coasts of the Red Sea.
That, however, is a question and a most
important question for the future. In it
are involved the future destiny of Khartoum,
which, as Mr. Goschen pointed out, is by
no means settled at present, and many
other questions of policy which must wait
upon events. For the moment, our first
object must be the success of General
Gordon's mission, and in order to secure
that we must leave him to act as he thinks
best.

These considerations are so plain and so

paramount that we should have thought
they hardly needed enforcing. But, un-
happily, a most discreditable attempt has
been made in the last two days, both in
Parliament and outside, to misrepresent
General Gordon's actions and motives, to
turn the philanthropic sentiments of the
country to polemical uses, and to forge a
weapon of attack upon the Government
out of the General's proclamation con-
cerning slavery in the Soudan. We are, at
any rate, glad to note that this conduct is
repudiated and condemned by so staunch

SLAVERY IN 2 HE SOUDAN.

297

a Conservative and so unimpeachable a
philanthropist as Lord Norton, who has
written ably on the subject, defending
General Gordon's action in this most im-
portant matter. The same has also been
done by Mr. Brett in a very manly and
forcible manner. We cannot suppose
that the leaders of the Opposition in
both Houses who have asked embarrassing
questions themselves, and have counte-
nanced those 'philanthropic questionings,'
which, as Mr. Goschen truly said, so
often defeat their own ends and serve

only a party purpose, can really be in
any doubt as to the uprightness of
General Gordon's motives, the sincerity
of his purpose, or the wisdom of his
action. But if such is the case, it is
difficult to condemn too strongly their
attempt to make party capital out of the
national antipathy to slavery, which is
always ardent and generous, though not,
perhaps, always wise. Nor can we pretend
to think that the Government has been
particularly prompt in dealing with this
attempt as it deserved. A mere reference

MARKET PLACE, KHARTOUM.

to Lord Dufferin's despatch would have
shown, without waiting for any explanation
from General Gordon, or even for the text
of his proclamation, that he has only acted
as might have been expected. Domestic
slavery still exists in Egypt, and we have
not found it necessary to decree its sup-
pression, nor has either party spirit or
philanthropic sentiment called upon the
Government to do so. If we tolerate it in
Cairo, where our authority is absolute, why
are we to call for its sudden suppression
in the Soudan, where our influence is //// ?

' In the Soudan,' said Lord Dufierin more
than a year ago, ' where slavery is univer-
sally prevalent, abolition would cause much
dissatisfaction, and perhaps disturbance.'
This was written when the Soudan was
still under Egyptian rule, and, of course,
it applies with greater force now that that
rule is at an end. Lord Dufferin's own
proposal was that a new Convention should
be entered into, whereby slavery would
entirely cease in Egypt and its dependencies
seven years after the date of signature.
By this means the troublesome question

298

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

of compensation would be got rid of, in
virtue of the Turkish custom whereby
slaves are spontaneously freed, or have a
half acknowledged right to claim their free-
dom, after seven years. The dependencies
are now for the most part gone, but as
regards Egypt proper there is much to be
said for the proposal. In the meanwhile it
might be worth while to consider whether,
as our Cairo correspondent suggested yes-
terday, the labouring finance of Egypt
might not be relieved by the imposition of
a tax on domestic slaves. As for the sup-
pression of the slave-trade, the question is
not materially affected by General Gordon's
proclamation. His well-known desire is to
cut the trade up by the roots in the region
of the Congo, and this, as all must hope,
he will be spared to accomplish before
long. For the rest, if any permanent good

is to be done, the traffic must be rigidly
suppressed at the Red Sea ports and on
the Nile. Whether for this purpose it will
be necessary to hold Khartoum permanently
so as to secure its communications with the
sea and with Lower Egypt, is a question
which General Gordon himself will be
most competent to answer when the time
comes. In the meanwhile we would
recommend all those who really have at
heart the suppression of the slave-trade,
and do not care either to embarrass the
Government at a critical moment or to
hamper General Gordon in his arduous
task, to exercise a little patience, for-
bearance, and common sense, and not to
believe too hastily that a man like General
Gordon can be false to the faith and pur-
pose of his noble and stainless life." So
men in England talked of our hero.

CHAPTER LV.

Two BRITISH WAR CORRESPONDENTS M.R.. CAMERON AND
M.R. ST. LEGER HERBERT.

HE war in the Soudan is
remarkable for the number
of war correspondents who
have perished in the field.
We have already seen that
at the destruction of the army of Hicks
Pasha, Mr. O'Donovan and Mr. F. Vitzelly
were killed, and we in this chapter give a
brief account of Mr. Cameron and Mr. St.
Leger Herbert, who were slain in January,
1885, in the British victory at Metemmeh.
It becomes us indeed to give some special
attention to the arduous toil of the war
correspondent, for we have enriched our
pages with many extracts from the vivid ac-
counts of battles forwarded to the different
London newspapers by the various men.
Mr. Cameron was, as is well known, the war

correspondent of The Standard, whilst Mr.
St. Leger Herbert was connected with the
Morning Post.

The first of these papers refers to his loss
by telling us : " The deep feeling of sorrow
with which we announce the death of our
special correspondent, Mr. Cameron, who
was killed in the fighting near Metemmeh,
on the i pth inst, will, we are sure, be
shared by the readers of The Standard, who
are familiar with his brilliant work during
the six years which have been spent by him
in different parts of the world in the service
of this journal. From the very first his
indefatigable energy, daring, and enterprise
placed him in the front rank of special
correspondents, and the position which he
gained in the Afghan war was more than

MR. CAMERON, THE WAR CORRESPONDENT.

299

maintained in each succeeding campaign in
which he took part. Mr. Cameron loved
his profession, his heart and soul were in it,
and perhaps his leading characteristic was
his sense of duty. Naturally one of the
most modest and retiring of men, the reputa-
tion which he gained by his work in no way
altered his disposition in this respect. Any
allusion to the _ daring rides he had accom-
plished, the tremendous fatigue he had
undergone, the dangers to which he had
exposed himself, was extremely disagreeable
to him. ' I did my best,' he would say
simply, and however complete his success,
he always on his return home seemed
oppressed with a doubt whether his work
had been altogether satisfactory. Even in
his business relations, he was to the last as
diffident and unassuming as when, a tyro in
literature, he first joined the staff of The
Standard. To his personal friends his loss
will be great, and most sincerely felt, for he
was one of the most kindhearted of men,
one of the most genial of companions. As
we have already said, he shrank from any
approach to publicity, and during his short
stays in England spent the greater part of
his time out of London. Like most other
special correspondents who have made a
high mark, Mr. Cameron had no training
for journalism; he took to it with instinctive
aptitude; his genius was natural, and showed
itself at the first opportunity. Intended
originally for commerce, he went out to
India, and was there engaged in mercantile
pursuits when, at the outbreak of the Afghan
war, in 1875, tne chance presented itself,
and, relinquishing his business, he applied
for and obtained the post of special cor-
respondent for the Bombay Gazette. The
brilliancy and thoroughness of his work
attracted attention, and when, towards the
end of the following year, the advance of
Ayoub Khan, and the British defeat at
Maiwand caused the war to break out afresh,
he offered his services to The Standard, he
was immediately instructed to join the
column which, under General Phayrer, was
preparing to march to the relief of Candahar.

Journeying night and day, he reached
Quettah in seven days after leaving Bom-
bay, having ridden up the Bolan Pass from
Sibi in thirty-six hours. He was the first
to ride with the news of the victory of
General Roberts to the nearest telegraph
post, beating his competitors and the
Government couriers by a day and a half.
Then, returning with equal rapidity to
Candahar, he accompanied the first party
who went out to the battle-field of Maiwand,
and sent home a description of the scene
and of the fighting which established his
reputation as one of the ablest as well as
most enterprising of journalists.

Soon after his return to Bombay the Boer
insurrection broke out. Mr. Cameron at
once crossed to Natal, arriving there long
before the correspondents despatched from
England could reach the spot. He was
present at the battles of Laing's Nek and
Ingogo, and at the fatal fight on Majuba
Hill, where he was knocked down and taken
prisoner by the Boers, but contrived, never-
theless, on the following day to get through
his famous message, descriptive of the battle.
After peace was concluded he returned to
England, but upon the news of the first
riots in Alexandria, left for Egypt, and was
present on board the Admiral's flagship,
the Invincible, at the bombardment of
Alexandria. He continued with the British
forces until their arrival at Cairo, having
witnessed and described every engagement
which took place. He had now earned a
long rest, but was eager to be at work
again, and, after a short interval, started for
Madagascar. His visit to the capital, and
the letters which he despatched during his
stay attracted great attention, as being the
first trustworthy accounts of the state of
affairs in the island. As the French delayed
their attack, and it was altogether uncertain
when hostilities would commence, he crossed
the Pacific to Melbourne, and thence made
his way to Tonquin, where the fighting
between the P"rench and the natives had
just begun. He was present at the engage-
ment in which the French, acting in three

300

THE ENGLISH JN EGYPT.

columns, failed to carry the defences which
the Black Flags had erected. English cor-
respondents not being allowed to remain
with the French forces, Mr. Cameron was
on his way home when Osman Digna's forces
began to threaten Souakin, and no sooner
did he reach Suez than he took ship for
that port. He was present when Baker
Pasha's force was crushed by the Arabs,
and there he very narrowly escaped with
his life. He remained at Souakin until the
British expeditionary force arrived, accom-
panied them in their advance upon Tokar,
and was a witness of the battles of El Teb
and Tamanieb. His stay in England after
his return from this long absence was brief,
for in a few weeks he again started for
Egypt, and pushed up the Nile with the ad-
vanced boats of Lord Wolseley's expedition.
His recent telegrams and letters are fresh
in the memory of the public. The Arab
bullet which ended his brilliant, yet still
promising, career has carried away the fore-
most of the little band of correspondents
who daily risk their lives for the public
good ; it has also deprived this journal of
one of the most earnest, indefatigable, and
unselfish of workers, and his friends of a
most genial, lovable, and kindly comrade."
An old friend of Mr. Cameron thus sup-
plements the above account : " As one who
was his companion both in Afghanistan and
Egypt, I deplore his early death, not only
as that of a good friend lost all too soon,
but as of a man destined, in my opinion, to
place the position of the war correspondent
upon a footing which it has never yet had-
For in camp he was independent in de-
meanour without any bluster, mindful of the
interests of his paper without meanly trying
to overreach others, sagacious without cun-
ning. His stern face, deep voice, and
vigorous bearing made him distinguished
among his fellow-correspondents ; while his
fearless honesty, his frank confession of
others' successes, his hatred of swagger and
of underhandedness, gained him the respect
of all competitors. In times of war the
' special,' let him be never so well recom-

mended individually to the chiefs in com-
mand, never so popular personally, finds
that he has to assert himself, and often with
unmistakable emphasis, if he wishes to see
the interests of his paper properly respected
and served ; and Cameron was never back-
ward in putting his foot down if occasion
required. But the judgment which charac-
terized him made him respected everywhere;
and if at any special juncture a selection of
Press men had to be made, he was certain
to be among the chosen few ; while the fact
that, as a rule, he stood upon his rights on
points affecting the general welfare rather
than his own individual advantage, con-
stituted him after a fashion a champion ot
the rest. I have myself, at Cameron's
request, gone with him to General or to
' Censor ' to ask a favour for the Press in
common ; and once, I remember, he rode
out from Ismailia after a reconnaissance
party which Methuen was with, to get an
order about hastening the telegraphic ser-
vice, for want of which all the correspon-
dents were at a standstill. Such was
Cameron in camp industrious in duty,
cheery at mess, and always ready for a bit
of extra work with a good comrade.

On the march I have seen a good deal
of him. We went together from Quetta to
Candahar, with Biddulph's column. It was,
if I remember right, his first essay in war
correspondence, and bade fair to be his last,
for he was overtaken by fever, and travelled
more like an invalid than a soldier. Sar-
torius, 'of the Beluchis,' proved then a
friend indeed ; and as, in addition to every
other talent, that able officer is an excellent
cook, I have often sat on the shingles on
Afghan hill-sides and among the boulders
in some dry stream-bed as a rule, the
' roads ' of the country and, in the humble
capacity of scullery-maid to Sartorius's cook,
helped to prepare a warm mess of milk and
oatmeal, or corn-flour, for our sick com-
panion. There was one day a rather special
' alarm ' sounded. The enemy had really
been seen this time. Somebody even said
that firing was reported. ' Now, don't you

REMINISCENCES OF MR. CAMERON.

301

get off your doolie (or stretcher) till I send
to you,' said Sartorius to Cameron, as he
hurried off himself to see his company were
falling in properly. But no sooner was the
invalid quite certain that his nurse was out
of sight than out he crept from under the
curtains of the doolie, and, dragging him-
self on all fours up to an eminence, sat
himself down there, revolver in hand, and
there, an hour later, I found him sitting,
looking so ill and spectral that I remember
thinking he would never get better. When
Sartorius came back he 'wigged' him, to
which all that Cameron said was, ' Do you
think I came here to sit inside a doolie
when there's shooting and all kinds of larks
going on ! '

That he soon after recovered and came
on on horseback to Candahar with us, and
did right good work for you there, you
know better perhaps than I do. When I
went to Zululand, Cameron stayed in
Candahar, and when he came out to the
Transvaal I was on my way home. But
we met again in Egypt. I had gone out
to the Ramleh fortifications, and was trying
to pass without attracting our sentry's at-
tention up to a point whence I thought a
short stalk might give me a glimpse of the
enemy's outposts. Under a giant fig-tree,
heavily laden with black fruit, I suddenly
encountered Cameron. We exchanged the
usual ' Hullo ' of friends meeting unex-
pectedly, and then he said, ' Where are
you going ? ' ' To those palm-trees along
that bank, if I could,' I replied. ' Can't,'
said Cameron. ' I have been waiting here
an hour to see if that blessed sentry of ours
will go away, but he won't ; and he says
that if I try to go over the ditch he'll shoot
at me. Those are his orders. But I don't
mind having a try all the same,' he added.
The sentry, however, was a veritable lynx,
and eventually we had to content ourselves
with figs and conversation on the spot where
we had met. And the memory is still fresh
in my mind of the friendliness with which
Cameron, who had been in Alexandria
from the first, put me as a new comer

through the whole business and posted me
up to date. Journalists who understand
the jealousies which, perhaps of necessity,
must exist amongst us will understand my
appreciation of such conduct. At Ismailia,
where we saw each other daily, he was
always the same genial open-hearted com-
rade, ever anxious to be the first in every-
thing (as his duty was), but never failing to
do a service to any friend whom he trusted.
Mr. Melton Prior, the artist, and he were
inseparables, and no two figures were better
known, or more welcome, whether in camp
or on the march. In action he kept his
head admirably cool, saw more than most
of his competitors, and in his arrangements
for getting his despatches back to the tele-
graph box always showed a remarkable
sagacity. I remember his cheery 'good
morning ' as he rode past me, where I stood
writing a telegram on my saddle, to the
field at Tel-el-Kebir, and after the fight we
sat and rested together in one of Arabi's
tents. Together we went to Lord Wolseley,
where he stood on the bridge eating grapes
out of his helmet, and asked him about the
chance of our specials getting through,
Herbert Stewart, and, I think, Major
Gough (killed the other day) coming up to
join in the conversation about the fight
that ensued. We travelled together to
Cairo, and then parted, I coming straight
home, he remaining.

Once again we two met in the Savage
Club, two days before he went to the
Soudan. ' Are you coming ? ' he asked.
I said I was not sure. 'If you do,' he
replied, 'you must join Melton Prior and
me in a boat. We'll get some other fellow
to join, and have a stunning little mess of
our own.' We sat a long while discussing
the various sojournings in distant places,
and I found him just the same good-
hearted, sterling fellow that I had always
known him. He talked, I recollect, of
taking a pleasure trip after the campaign
was over 'if they'll give me any leave,
you know ' and China and Japan were
among the objective points of the expedi-

302

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

tion he had hoped to make. But he has
taken his last journey, poor fellow and
this may well be said of him, that no bullet
or spear in all that desperate fighting from
the Wells to the Nile hushed a braver or
more tender heart than his."

The Pall Mall Gazette says : " It is with
sincere regret that we have to announce
that Mr. Cameron, of The Standard, the
first of war correspondents on the active
list, was killed in the fighting that took
place between Abu Klea and Metemmeh,
on the i pth, two days after the first battle.
Mr. Cameron had a very narrow escape
when the square broke at Tamasi ; it was
almost by a miracle that he survived Ma-
juba Hill ; but his time has come at last.
No man could have been more brave, more
energetic, and more daring than the corre-
spondent whose brief and brilliant career
has come to so sudden a close. Mr.
Cameron was in business in India when the
Afghan war broke out, writing occasionally
for the Press as an amateur. His familiarity
with military subjects led to his appoint-
ment as special war correspondent, first of
an Anglo-Indian paper, and subsequently
of The Standard. Since his Afghan cam-
paigning he has acted as special for The
Standard in most of our recent wars. He
played a prominent part in the melancholy
disaster of Majuba Hill, displaying great
bravery and rendering excellent service to
our wounded men. He afterwards visited
Madagascar and Tonquin, describing with
great picturesqueness and vigour the scenes
of the French operations. He distin-
guished himself by his account of the
battle of Tel-el-Kebir, and he sent home a
brilliant account of the battle of Tamasi.
After General Graham returned, he came
back to England with Mr. Melton Prior.
When the Nile Expedition was ordered Mr.
Cameron went as a matter of course for
The Standard. It was much remarked upon
last week that Cameron for once had failed
to get through his telegram describing the
battle of Abu Klea. His despatches were
always among the first to hand, and it

seemed ominous that for once they had
failed to get through. Nothing is known
as to why they missed, but we are informed
by a telegram from the editor of The
Standard that his brave and distinguished
correspondent fell the second day after
that fight. Every one who knew him will
lament his early death, but most of all will
the sad news cast a gloomy shadow over
the home where a widowed mother mourns
the death of her only son."

We regret to state that in the same en-
gagement in which Mr. Cameron was killed,
Mr. St. Leger Herbert, the special corre-
spondent of the Morning Post, also lost his
life. That paper says that : " We have to
deplore the death of our able special
correspondent, Mr. St. Leger Algernon
Herbert, who accompanied the Expedition
of Major-General Sir Herbert Stewart. His
telegrams, followed by admirable descrip-
tive letters, have kept our readers fully and
accurately informed of the course of events
from the departure of our troops from
Wady Haifa up to the brilliant but dearly-
won victory at Abu Klea. The graphic des-
patch in which he narrated the incidents
and result of that battle will be fresh in the
memory of our readers, and it is only
yesterday that we published a letter from
him describing the march into the desert
from Korti to Gakdul. Mr. Herbert pro-
ceeded onward with General Stewart's
gallant little army in their advance on
Metemmeh, and was shot dead during a
furious attack on our troops while a zareba
or rude entrenchment was being con-
structed. At the same time, Mr. Cameron,
of The Standard, who had earned for him-
self a distinguished reputation as a war
correspondent, met with a similar fate.
The sad news of the death of Mr. Herbert
will evoke deep sorrow among a large and
distinguished circle of friends and acquain-
tances, by whom the lamented gentleman
was regarded with warm feelings of affec-
tion and esteem. Mr. Herbert was a
member of that branch of the Herbert

GEN. LORD WOLSELEY, G.C.B., G.C.M.G.

LORD WOLSELEY.

family of which the Earl of Carnarvon is
the distinguished head. His grandfather,
William Herbert, Dean of Manchester, was
the third son of the first Earl of Carnarvon,
and the Dean's second son, Captain Fred-
erick Charles Herbert, was the father of St.
Leger Algernon by his marriage with the
youngest daughter of the late Captain
Henry Stuart, of the 39th Regiment. Our
correspondent was in his 35th year, having
been born on the i6th of August, 1850.
Although so young he had seen great and
varied service, and distinguished himself
on many occasions. His university career
was brilliant. He was a scholar of Wad-
ham College, and obtained first class at the
Oxford Moderations. His first public
appointment was with Lord Dufferin when
that nobleman was Governor- General of the
Dominion of Canada. He afterwards acted
as private secretary to Lord Wolseley (then
Sir Garnet) on the occasion of the annnexa-
tion of Cyprus, and was also civil secretary
to Sir Garnet Wolseley when he proceeded
to South Africa as High Commissioner.

For his services on these occasions Mr.
Herbert was made a Commander of St.
Michael and St. George. He was present
at the taking of Sekukuni's mountain, for
which he obtained the South African medal.
Mr. Herbert was also civil secretary to Sir
Frederick Roberts in South Africa, and
when that General returned to England he
was made secretary to the Transvaal Com-
mission. Mr. Herbert served with the
Mounted Infantry at Tel-el-Kebir as a
volunteer, for which he obtained the
Egyptian medal. He was present two years
later at the engagements of El Teb and
Tamasi, where he acted as galloper to Sir
H. Stewart, and obtained the clasp. At
Tamasi, Mr. Herbert received a severe
wound, but his youth and good constitu-
tion enabled him quickly to recover from
it. We had the advantage of his services
as correspondent during a portion of the
Souakin Expedition." Certainly the names
of these brave war correspondents will go
down to history as surely as the names of
Stuart and Wolseley.

CHAPTER LVI.

WOLSELEY PARLY YEARS OF ^SERVICE.

E have so much to do in this
work with the exploits of
"our only general," as
Lord Wolseley has been
called, that no doubt our
looked ere this for some
This we now

readers have

detailed account of him.

proceed to give.

Lord Wolseley is the eldest son of the
late Major G. J. Wolseley, of the 25th
King's Own Borderers, and was born at
Golden Bridge House, County Dublin, on
the 4th of June, 1833.

The family of Wolseley is one of the
most ancient in the county of Stafford, the

manor of Wolseley having been in their
possession before the Conquest. Among
their progenitors was Sewardus, Lord Wisele,
fifth in descent from whom was Robert,
Lord of Wolseley, in 1281; and Ralph,
another descendant, was a Baron of the
Exchequer in the reign of Edward IV.
There are two baronetcies in the Wolseley
family. The senior title was among the
first creations of James I., and dates from
the year 1628. Sir Charles Wolseley, the
second baronet, represented the county of
Stafford in the parliaments of Charles I.
and Charles II. ; he was also high in favour
with the Protector, and was held in general

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

esteem. Richard Wolseley, a younger son
of the second English baronet, had pro-
perty in Ireland, which he devised to his
youngest son, Richard, who, in 1744, was
created baronet of "Mount Wolseley,
Carlow," in Ireland. His eldest son, Sir
Richard, suc-
ceeded to the |
title and estates,
and the younger,
William, Lord
Wolseley 's grand-
fat her, was a
captain in the
8th Hussars.
Having served
on the continent,
he subsequently
retired from the
service, took
holy orders, and
became Rector
of Tullycorbet,
County Mona-
ghan.

Lord Wolseley
is not the first
of his family who
has won military
renown, his an-
cestor, Colonel
William Wolse-
ley, having
greatly distin-
guished himself
during the Irish
war in the time
of William III.
He also com-
manded the En-
niskilleners at
the ever-memor-
able battle of
the Boyne, on the istof July, 1690.

Lord Wolseley was educated partly at
a day-school near Dublin, and partly by
private tutors. Even from boyhood he was
studious, and had read the principal works
on military history. So eager was he to

A SLAVE MERCHANT.

enter the military profession, that, with his
parents' consent, his name was put down
for a commission when only fourteen years
of age so true is it that " the boy is father
of the man." He had a marked aptitude
for mathematical studies, and several times

weekly went
regularly out to
survey and ac-
quire a know-
ledge of the art
of military en-
gineering. His
aptitude for mili-
tary engineering
and fortification,
and the practical
knowledge he ac-
quired of these
sciences, was
very serviceable
to him during
his career in the
Crimea, where
he performed the
duties of assist-
ant engineer dur-
ing the siege of
Sebastopol, and
afterwards was
employed sur-
veying in the
Quartermaster-
General's depart-
ment. Beyond
all question, the
success achieved
by Lord Wolse-
ley in the Red
River and Ash-
antee campaigns
may be greatly
attributed to his
practical knowledge of the science of
military engineering.

Lord Wolseley's military career began
in March, 1852, when he was appointed
Ensign in the 8oth Regiment, at that time
engaged in the second Burmese war.

WOLSELEY'S COURAGE AND DARING.

305

Here he first displayed those soldierly
qualities which have made his name famous
in our military annals ; here he received his
" baptism of fire." If he was fortunate in
the circumstances of his military career, it
is equally certain that he never missed an
opportunity. Whenever a chance offered
for earning distinction, he eagerly grasped
at it. Self-controlled, vigilant, active, he
always exerted himself to the utmost, and
proved the truth of the adage, "Where

there's a will, there's a way." In the second
attempt to storm the enemy's position he
was so severely wounded that there was
great danger of his bleeding to death, and
he had a soldier in constant attendance
upon him for six months. Even after his
arrival in England he had to use crutches
for some time ; but being blessed with a
sound constitution and an equable temper-
ament, he gradually gained strength. As
finely illustrating his courage, coolness, and

THE SLAVE MARKET.

enthusiasm, we cite with pleasure from Mr.
Low's interesting life of the General this
incident : " As Wolseley lay helpless on his
back, he with unabated resolution waved
his sword and cheered on his men ; and
though some of them offered to carry him
to the rear, he refused, and lay there until
the positipn was gained by the gallant fel-
lows, who emulated the example of their
youthful leader." He received a medal for
his eminent services.

When his health was re-established, he
did not rejoin his old regiment, but was
posted to a lieutenancy, without purchase,
in the Qoth Light Infantry, with which his
name and fame are identified. After the
battle of Inkerman, the regiment sailed
from Dublin, and landing at Balaklava on
the 4th of December, 1854, immediately
proceeded to the front, and on the follow-
ing day went down to the trenches. For
some time Lieutenant Wolseley had been

306

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

employed with his regiment in trench duty,
but was soon selected for the post of
Acting-engineer. Throughout the siege the
duties of the engineers were carried on
under the greatest difficulties, for they did
not receive that support which was indis-
pensable to the success of their operations.
The term of duty for engineer officers was
never less than twelve, and sometimes even
twenty-four hours ; and after returning from
the trenches, they had to write the report of
the day's proceedings. At times the snow-
storms and heavy drifts made it necessary
to suspend the works entirely ; and in the
middle of January, when Lieutenant Wol-
seley was promoted to a captaincy, the frost
was so severe that even with a pickaxe it
was difficult to make any impression on the
ground. A distinguished officer of Engi-
neers, who served in the trenches with
Captain Wolseley, and had ample oppor-
tunities of observing his bearing under try-
ing circumstances, declared him to be " the
bravest man he ever knew." He was noted
for always turning his face toward an ap-
proaching Russian shell ; and while aiding
to repair an embrasure, he received a slight
wound from the debris scattered by a round
shot from the enemy. He did not, how-
ever, report himself as wounded, it being a
point of honour among the Engineers not
to leave their post until disabled. At the
Quarries an officer of his regiment thought
he was dead, as he lay on a heap of slain
covered with blood. Though he had not
reported himself wounded, Wolseley had
been hit on the thigh by a bullet from a
canister shot, which caused considerable
loss of blood. A few weeks before the
memorable fall of Sebastopol he was so
severely wounded that his features were not
distinguishable as those of a human being.
Both his eyes were completely closed, and
the injury to one of them was so serious
that the sight has been permanently lost.
He was carried on a stretcher to St.
George's Monastery, not far from Balaklava,
and placed in a gloomy cavern, as his eyes
were unable to bear the light. On learn-

ing that the Russian stronghold had been
captured, Captain Wolseley resigned his
post of assistant-engineer, and his name
was removed from the list. His name was
in the list of officers recommended for pro-
motion to the Secretary of State for War.
He had been already specially mentioned
in the despatch of the Field-marshal com-
manding-in-chief, Lord Raglan, as one of
the officers "who distinguished them-
selves." As one of the Engineer officers of
the right attack, he was in the post of the
greatest danger, as evidenced by the fact
that of the fourteen officers killed at the
siege, twelve belonged to the right attack, or
were killed when doing duty there. At the
termination of the siege of Sebastopol
in many respects without example in the
annals of war of three messes of four
members each, to which he had belonged,
he was the only officer remaining in the
Crimea, all the others being either killed or
forced to leave through wounds.

Captain Wolseley was on the eve of re-
turning to England for the recovery of his
health, when he was offered an appointment
in the Quartermaster-General's department.
As there was much improvement in the
sight of one of his eyes, he accepted the
offer and remained in the Crimea. He re-
mained there until, on the conclusion of
peace with Russia, the allied army was
directed to return home. As Deputy As-
sistant Quartermaster-General, he assisted
Colonel Hallowell at Balaklava in despatch-
ing homewards the troops of his division.
After the departure of all the regiments,
Captain Wolseley embarked for England,
being one of the last men to quit the land
where he had done and suffered so much
in his country's service. For his meritori-
ous services the French Emperor nominated
him a Knight of the Legion of Honour,
and the Sultan conferred on him the Fifth
Class of the Medjidie.

After a few weeks' relaxation at Ports-
mouth, the goth received orders to proceed
forthwith to China. Seven hundred men,
with head-quarters, embarked in the Hima-

WOLSELE Y IN INDIA.

laya ; while the three remaining companies,
under Captains Wolseley, Guise, and Irby,
sailed in the Transit. On their arrival at
the Cape on May the 28th, 1857, it was dis-
covered that the latter had sprung a leak
near her stern-post; and on the loth of July,
as it was passing through the Straits of
Banca, it suddenly crashed on a coral reef,
on which it remained immovable. Captain
Wolseley lost everything he possessed ex-
cept the clothes he wore. The Island of
Banca is under the protection of the Dutch,
and the Governor immediately despatched
a gunboat to Singapore to advise the au-
thorities. When they had passed eight days
here, a not unpleasant Robinson Crusoe
sort of life, Her Majesty's gunboat Dore
arrived from Singapore and brought the
startling news of the Indian Mutiny ; that
altered the destination of the regiment, and
opened a new chapter in Wolseley's career.
Already the head-quarters of the poth had
been despatched to Calcutta, and the re-
maining three companies sailed from Singa-
pore in Her Majesty's ship Pearl for the
same city.

On the day after their arrival the detach-
ment left Calcutta, and proceeded up-
country, reaching Cawnpore about the
27th of September. Formerly one of the
largest and finest military stations in India,
Cawnpore now presented a desolate appear-
ance. In October Captain Wolseley had
his first brush with the Pandies. A report
reached Cawnpore that the insurgents were
mustering in force at Sheo Raj pore, some
miles from Bithoor, the residence of Nana
Sahib.

They set out at midnight on the i7th
of October, and during the action, which
lasted about an hour, our casualties were
two killed and six severely wounded, be-
longing, with one exception, to the Qoth ;
while the enemy's loss was computed at
nearly a hundred. Bithoor and Sheo Raj-
pore were destroyed, the troops bivouack-
ing in Nana Sahib's compound during the
night of the igth October, and on the fol-
lowing day returned to Cawnpore.

At this time, though Delhi had fallen, and
Generals Havelock and Outram had effected
the relief of the Residency at Lucknow, the
position of affairs there was still most criti-
cal. Havelock had left at Alumbagh
(" Garden of the World"), on the day be-
fore his entry into Lucknow, all his baggage
and many sick and wounded under a guard
of four hundred men, commanded by
Colonel Mclntyre, of the 78th Highlanders.
Orders were received that five hundred men,
including the detachment of the goth, were
to march to Alumbagh with supplies. Alum-
bagh was formerly a palace standing in a
beautiful garden a favourite residence of
one of the Queens of Oude. The main-
tenance of this post now a walled en-
closure, five hundred yards square proved
highly beneficial to the beleaguered garri-
son, as it secured their communications
with Cawnpore. On the i2th of November
Sir Colin Campbell, afterwards Lord Clyde,
arrived at Alumbagh with some additional
troops, and next day the detachment of the
9oth received the welcome order to inarch
out of a town, where they had been re-
luctantly prevented from undertaking any
offensive operations. The Commander-in-
chief had under his command, for the
proposed operations for the relief of the
Residency, only some four thousand five
hundred and fifty men and thirty-two guns.
On the 1 4th, about 9 a.m., the British army
started on its momentous mission of effect-
ing the final relief of our countrymen.
Many of the rebels were slaughtered like
rats in a barn, and in the evening, when the
bayonet had completed its fatal work, the
men buried the dead in two large pits.
Captain Wolseley mentions as a singular
coincidence, that when counting the corpses,
as they were flung into the pits, it was found
that they numbered one thousand eight
hundred and fifty-seven, the date of the
year. On the i7th, operations were re-
sumed, and the services of Captain Wolseley
during the day were so prominent that he
had the coveted honour of seeing his name
specially mentioned in the Commander-in-

3 o8

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

chiefs despatch. He was the first who
effected a junction with the heroic garrison
of the Lucknow Residency.

Lord Clyde, having resolved to withdraw
from Lucknow, the goth and other regi-
ments were engaged in making a direct
road from that portion of the Residency
where the ladies and children had been
confined, to the ground occupied by the
relieving force. The goth was attached to
Outram's division, which it was decided
should remain at Alumbagh. The object
of this occupation was threefold : viz. to
avoid the appearance of having abandoned
Oude ; to keep the insurgents around Luck-
now in check; and to secure a point on
which our advance for the re-conquest of
Oude might be made. Sir James Outram
took up a position near Alumbagh on a
vast plain, having the Alumbagh enclosure
as one of his outposts, as were also the
adjacent villages, which were all fortified ;
and at these posts desultory fighting took
place almost daily. Here and at the fort
of Jellalabad Wolseley did outpost duty,
and from time to time proceeded to Cawn-
pore, with his company, to escort supplies.

Since Lord Clyde had evacuated Luck-
now, taking with him the women and chil-
dren of the Residency, the rebels had
fortified the city with care and skill. In
the meantime, having organized his "grand
army " for the reconquest of Lucknow and
Oude, he pushed his troops across the
Ganges, and arrived near Alumbagh on the
ist of March. On the afternoon of the 6th
the goth left their old camping-ground at
Alumbagh, and started to join the Com-
mander-in-chief at Dilkhooha. Lord Napier
of Magdala, when unveiling the Outram
statue at Calcutta, said in reference to this
defence of Alumbagh : " No achievement
in the events of 1857 surpassed in skill and
resolution the maintenance of the position
of Alumbagh with a mere handful of troops
against overwhelming numbers, well sup-
plied with artillery. There were no walls
or ramparts, merely an open camp, pro-
tected by a few well selected intrenched

outposts, and a scanty line of bayonets,
ever ready, day and night, to repel attack."
After the capture of Lucknow, Sir Hope
Grant was placed in command of a division
called the "Lucknow Field Force;" and
on the ist of April the goth, which was to
form part of the force, struck their tents
at Dilkhooha, and marched into the city.
Wolseley was appointed to the charge of
the Quartermaster-General's department of
the Oude division, and had not been many
days in his new post, when on the nth he
accompanied Sir Hope Grant in an expedi-
tion to Baru, twenty-five miles from Luck-
now. On Wolseley devolved the task of
learning the roads, marking out the camp-
ing-ground, and securing the services of
guides. The column, numbering three
thousand men of all arms, visited various
places, encountering the enemy, and on the
23rd April Sir Hope Grant returned to
Lucknow. On his arrival there Wolseley
was gratified to learn that he had been
gazetted Brevet-Major.

Sir Hope having received orders from
Lord Clyde to disperse a large rebel force,
the column left Lucknow on the 27th of
April, and visited various towns and vil-
lages. Sir Hope hearing at Poorwah that
the enemy were gathering in force at Na-
wabgunge, a village on the Fyzabad road,
eighteen miles from Lucknow, on the night
of the 1 2th of June proceeded across coun-
try with great rapidity, that his movements
might be shrouded by darkness, and his
men might escape the fearful effects of a
forced march in the sun. The enemy, who
numbered sixteen thousand men, had se-
cured a strong position on a large plateau,
surrounded on three sides by a stream.
The action lasted three hours, and the
troops were thoroughly exhausted, having
been under arms from ten p.m. on the pre-
vious night to nine a.m. on the morning of
the 1 3th, when the enemy finally quitted
the field of battle, on which they left six
hundred dead and nine guns. The British
loss in killed and wounded was sixty-seven.
In his despatch, the General, who had be-

INDIA.

fore specially mentioned the services of
Major Wolseley during the action at Baru,
speaks of him as having again afforded him
great assistance. After the battle, Major
Wolseley surveyed the ground, and drew a
plan which was sent to the Commander-in-
chief. Indeed, at Baru, and after every
action throughout the campaign in Oude,
of which province there were no maps in
existence, Wolseley executed plans, which
were forwarded to head-quarters, and were
of essential use to Lord Clyde when he
went over the same ground.

After gaining this victory, which had a
marked moral effect upon the rebels, greatly
dispiriting them and their leaders, the
column encamped on the large plain in rear
of the village. Leaving Nawabgunge on
the 2ist of July, the column visited various
places ; and at Sultanpore, between the 25th
and 2 ;th of August, the General crossed the
greater part of his force over the Goomti
in the face of a strong rebel army, with a
powerful artillery and with only three rafts.
This feat was particularly creditable to
Major Wolseley, "who," says Sir Hope
Grant, " as Deputy Assistant Quartermaster-
General, had the superintendence of the
arrangements for crossing the river, and
who performed them to my entire satisfac-
tion."

The Lucknow Field Force was not al-
lowed a lengthy period of repose, and hav-
ing thrown a bridge across the Goomti
four hundred feet wide at Sultanpore on I
the 3rd of November Sir Hope set out de- ;
termined to give the rebels, thoroughly dis-
heartened by the continuous defeats they
had sustained, " no rest for the sole of their
feet." As his great object was to prevent
the enemy escaping to the Goruckpore
district, he marched to Dalhurree, close to
the Nepaul frontier, where he awaited a
column, commanded by Brigadier Bow-
croft. As, notwithstanding Jung Bahadoor's
proclamation to them to lay down their arms
and submit themselves to the British, the
rebels continued to occupy a menacing po-

sition, the General continued to chase and
hurry them. At midnight of the 2oth of May
he marched from Burgudwa, and arrived after
sunrise at the jungle covering the entrance
to the Jerwah Pass. Here he received in-
formation that the Nana and two noted
rebels, with about three thousand followers,
occupied the spurs of the mountain stretch-
ing into the jungle on both sides of the Pass.
One company of the Punjaubees climbed
the hill to the left and drove the enemy
before them, and the remainder of the
regiment cleared the ridge on the right and
captured the guns ; but owing to the troops
having marched twenty miles, they were not
able to overtake the retreating enemy. Sir
Hope writes in his journal : " I sent a
company up the hill to turn the enemy's
right ; but finding they were not clever in
their ascent, I directed Biddulph, together
with Wolseley and Wilmot, both on my
staff, to lead them up. These three officers
did their work well."

Thus ended almost the last conflict of
this great and memorable struggle, which
had lasted two years, as it was on Sunday,
the loth of May, 1857, that the 3rd Bengal
Cavalry mutinied at Meerut. As the last
band of the rebels, deprived of their only
remaining guns, was now driven into the
Nepaul frontier, the General proceeded to
Lucknow on the 4th of June, and with his
staff took up his residence in the Dilk-
hoosha.

In the distribution of honours on the
conclusion of the mutiny, Wolseley received
the brevet of Lieutenant-Colonel. He was
young to have attained so high a rank, for
it was on the twenty-sixth anniversary of
his birth that in company with his chief he
entered Lucknow. The cantonments hav-
ing been utterly destroyed by the rebels,
Wolseley had for a few months been em-
ployed in laying out new ones, when he
was once more offered a position on the
staff of an army about to take the field,
and joyfully accepted the proposal, which
allowed him to see more of warfare.

3io

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

CHAPTER LVII.

LORD WOLSELEY RECORDS OF AN ACTIVE CAREER.

IR HOPE GRANT had been
nominated to the command
of the troops, about to pro-
ceed in conjunction with a
French army to the north
of China to bring to terms the Imperial
Government, and Wolseley went as Deputy
Assistant Quartermaster-General, in charge
of the topographical department. Colonel
Wolseley accompanied Sir Hope Grant to
Calcutta, and with the other members of
his staff sailed in the Fiery Cross, which
cast anchor at Hong-Kong on the i3th of
March, 1860. The first step was the joint
occupation by the British and French forces
of the island of Chusan. The expedition
dropped anchor in the noble harbour of
Ting-hai, the capital of Chusan, which im-
mediately capitulated. The British Army
numbered about fourteen thousand men,
and that of the French, under General
Montauban, about seven thousand. On
the 1 6th June, the Grenada, in which
Colonel Wolseley had embarked with the
Commander-in-chief, proceeded to sea and
put in at Shanghai.

When Lord Elgin arrived at Talien-wan,
on the Qth of July, after many conferences, it
was decided by Sir Hope Grant and General
Montauban, that both armies should sail
for Peh-tang on the 26th. Accordingly, on
Saturday, the 28th, the entire expedition
was assembled at the appointed rendezvous,
and on Monday weighed and stood in for
the mouth of the Peiho River. Soon after
two o'clock, on the ist August, the gun-
boats anchored about two thousand yards
from the famous Taku forts, all the em-
brasures of which were masked, and no
troops visible. These forts are about three
miles from the mouth of the river, the
passage of which they command. It was

decided that a reconnaissance should be
made in the direction of a causeway running
towards Taku, and four hundred men were
landed on a soft, sticky, mud flat, through
which, for nearly a mile, the men floundered
and struggled before reaching a hard patch
of ground. " Nearly every man," says The
Times correspondent, " was disembarrassed
of his lower integuments, and one gallant
brigadier led on his men with no other
garment than his shirt." Suffice it to say,
that the first phase of the war was com-
pleted by the capture of the forts, which,
though taken by our sailors in 1858, had
in the following year successfully resisted
a naval force, under Admiral Sir James
Hope.

Leaving a garrison at Taku and Sinho,
the allied army began its march toward
Pekin, and after several hostile encounters
with the Tartar cavalry, arrived at the
Summer Palace, about six miles from Pekin,
on the 6th of October. It was a curious
sight that met Wolseley's eyes as he entered
the palace, which for two centuries had been
the cherished abode of the dynasty of the
Emperor Hien-fung, who, among other
titles, arrogated to himself those of "the
Sacred Son of Heaven, "and "the Governor
and Tranquilliser of the Universe." When
he entered, everything was in statu quo as
when the Emperor fled. The private
apartments of the Emperor were sur-
rounded by those of his wives, retainers,
eunuchs and servants. One was full of furs,
another of silks, another of drawings, a
series of four thousand, illustrating the whole
history of China. When the booty was
sold, it realized about ^"24,000, which en-
abled each soldier to receive $ ioj., and
the officers, who received one- third of the
whole, were paid in like proportion. Lord

WOLSELEY IN 7 HE EAST.

Elgin demanded as compensation the pay-
ment of 300,000 taels, about ;i 00,000,
which was paid on the 22nd, and his lord-
ship directed the destruction of the palace,
which was accordingly carried into effect.
Colonel Wolseley was present during the
1 8th and ipth of October, while the work
of destruction was in progress, and was
among the last to quit the heap of smoul-
dering ashes, that alone remained to mark
the site of the palace. Colonel Wolseley
and his assistant had managed to make
surveys of the country around Pekin, " so
that in the event of any future operations
being required in those regions, our work
will be much simplified." The good work
he had done did not escape the notice of
those most competent to judge. The com-
manding General bestowed high praise upon
him, and frequently mentioned him in des-
patches. On the 7th of November, the
2nd division quitted Pekin, Sir Hope
Grant and the ist division marching on
the following day.

Wolseley accompanied Sir Hope Grant
to Shanghai, where they and twelve other
officers hired a Peninsular and Oriental
steamer, and made a pleasure trip to Japan,
every important port of which interesting
country they visited. On their arrival at
Yokohama, the party rode to Yeddo, a dis-
tance of nine miles, and stayed at the
British Embassy.

As the campaign in China was one of
the shortest, so it was one of the most ably-
conducted this country had hitherto waged.
The storm of the Taku forts was a gallant
feat, and the advance upon, and occupation
of, the populous Chinese capital was a
daring act for so small a force to execute.
After the restoration of peace, Admiral
Hope proceeded up the Yang-tsze-Kiang
with a squadron of gunboats ; and in the
month of January, 1861, Colonel Wolseley
was directed to proceed, accompanied by
an interpreter, to Nankin, on a semi-diplo-
matic, semi-military mission. He was ac-
commodated in a palace belonging to the
Chung-wan, or " Faithful King," one of

the eleven Taiping chiefs, who had now
been eleven years in arms. In quitting
Shanghai for his mission to Nankin,
Wolseley had been furnished with merely
verbal instructions to gain all the informa-
tion practicable of the position and pros-
pects of the Taipings, considered from a
military point of view. The conclusion he
arrived at from a close survey of their re-
sources, was most unfavourable to their
eventual success. From Shanghai, Colonel
Wolseley proceeded to Hong- Kong, whence
he embarked, the last of the head-quarter
staff to leave the country, and landed in
England in May, 1861, after an absence of
fully four years.

On his arrival he was promoted for his
services to a substantive majority, and re-
ceived a medal and two clasps. He also
got his long leave of eighteen months, and
after visiting his family, proceeded in the
autumn of 1861 to Paris, where he em-
ployed his leisure in painting in oils and
water colours ; for like some other officers
of the British army, he added to his pro-
fessional acquirements the skill of an ac-
complished artist.

In the winter of 1861, nothing looked
more certain on the political horizon than
the embroilment of this country in a life
and death struggle with the greatest Re-
public of modern times. The incident
which nearly precipitated this country into
war, was that known as the " Trent Affair,"
when on the 8th of November, Commodore
Wilkes boarded the British Mail Company's
steamship Trent, on the high seas, and
seized Messrs. Mason and Slidell, the Con-
federate Agents accredited to the Courts
of London and Paris. On the lyth of
November, the day the news of the Trent
outrage reached London, the War Office
ordered the despatch to Canada of a battery
of Armstrong guns, a large supply of arms
and accoutrements for the Colonial Militia,
and a vast quantity of shot, shell, powder,
ammunition, and other warlike stores.

At this time Wolseley, who was on leave,
was hunting in the County Cork. He had

312

THE ENGLISH IN EGYP7.

just bought two horses, and had enjoyed
one day's sport on each animal, when a
telegram came from Colonel McKenzie
offering him employment on active service
as Assistant Quartermaster-General. Not
many hours elapsed before the hunters
were given away, and Wolseley was in
London. The Milbourne, in which he and
the other selected officers embarked, bore
up, under stress of weather and want of
coal, for Sydney, Cape Breton Island.
While here a telegram arrived from Hali-

fax announcing the surrender of Messrs.
Mason and SHdell, and that all chance of
war was at an end. The Milbourne then
proceeded to Halifax, where she found
three transports which had disembarked
their troops, the War Office having deter-
mined to send to Canada ten thousand
men and four batteries of Artillery. .From
Halifax Colonel Wolseley and other officers
proceeded, by a Cunard mail steamer, to
Boston, on their voyage to Montreal. They
arrived at Montreal on a Sunday, and on

GOLDEN BRIDGE HOUSE, COUNTY DUBLIN,
Where Lord Wolseley was born, June 4, 1833.

the following morning Colonel Wolseley
started off on a journey of three hundred
miles down the river to Riviere du Loup,
situated on the terminus of the Grand
Trunk Railway, where the troops coming
from St. John's, New Brunswick, were
transhipped from sleighs, in which they had
travelled via Fredericton, to the railway by
which they proceeded to their destinations
at Quebec, Montreal, Hamilton, Kingston,
or Toronto. Colonel Wolseley was the
only staff officer at Riviere du Loup, and

had to make all the arrangements for the
accommodation and passage of the troops,
who passed through the village at the rate
of nearly two hundred men a day, without a
hitch or a single accident only one man de-
serting out of the large force that passed
through his hands. In the middle of March
Wolseley returned to Montreal, the head-
quarters of the army in the Dominion, and
acted for some months as Deputy Quarter-
master-General, Colonel McKenzie having
returned home.

WOLSELEY IN AMERICA.

In the latter part of August, 1862,
Colonel Wolseley obtained six weeks'
leave, and on the following month quitted
New York for a trip " down south." The
short time at his disposal was the great
drawback to the enjoyment of this visit to
the head-quarters of the Confederate Army,
but he made the most of it, and altogether
he never passed a pleasanter time than
when " running the blockade ; " while he
considered himself amply repaid for any

discomfort by his conversations with Robert
Lee and Stonewall Jackson, whose deeds
will live long in song and story, as long as
high character, spotless patriotism, and
brilliant military genius command the ad-
miration of the human race.

After his return to Canada, Colonel
Wolseley suffered greatly from the wound
in the right leg he had received in the
Crimea seven years before. During this
holiday his exertions on foot caused the

HOU.VMOUNT, RATHMINES, DUBLIN.
The School where Lord Wolseley was educated.

wound to open afresh, and under medical
advice he was constrained to proceed to
England. Here he placed himself under
the eminent surgeon, Sir William Fer-
gusson, and, after a brief stay, returned
to Canada in the spring of 1863. Here he
resumed his duties as Assistant Quarter-
master-General under Colonel Lysons.

In the autumn of 1865 the Fenians in
the United States, by their threatening
attitude, gave cause for anxiety to the

Dominion Government, and Sir Patrick
McDougall, who came out to the Dominion
to organize and superintend the local forces,
established a camp of instruction for cadets.
At his request the services of Colonel Wol-
seley were placed at his disposal, and he
appointed him to command the first camp
of instruction ever established in Canada.
Wolseley performed his arduous duties
during the three weeks the camp was es-
tablished to the entire satisfaction of his

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

superiors, and Colonel McDougall reported
in the following terms : " I desire to re-
cord as strongly as possible my sense of
the ability and energy with which the im-
mediate command of the camp was exer-
cised by Colonel Wolseley, and to which is
attributable a large share in the success of
the experiment. It was a charge requiring
unusually delicate management ; but in
Colonel Wolseley's qualifications tact is
combined with firmness, and both with an
intimate knowledge of his profession in an
unusual degree."

At length on the night of the 3ist of
May, the Fenian leader, "General" O'Neil,
crossed the Niagara River with about twelve
hundred men, and having captured Fort
Erie, near Buffalo, advanced towards Ridge-
way, where he threw up breastworks and
awaited reinforcements. On the same day
fourteen thousand volunteers were called
out for actual service, and within twenty-
four hours the companies were all ready,
and many had moved to the stations as-
signed them. On the 3rd of June the
Province had more than twenty thousand
men under arms. " Experience has shown,"

wrote the Adjutant-General, "that, in the
event of a regular invasion, a hundred thou-
sand men, in addition to the volunteer
force, would eagerly come forward in forty-
eight hours to aid in defending the country."
When the column, which Wolseley accom-
panied, reached Fort Erie they learnt that
a fight had already taken place, with inde-
cisive results, at Ridgeway. But there was
no further attempt at invasion by the
Fenians, and when Wolseley's brigade was
broken up he returned to Montreal. He
had scarcely resumed his duties when, in
the autumn of this year, 1866, he was
placed in command of a camp of obser-
vation at Thorold, near St. Catharine's, on
the Welland Canal, which the Fenians had
expressed their intention to destroy. The
large and wealthy city of Buffalo, on the
American side, was at this time the centre
of the Fenian military organization, and
Wolseley had very responsible duties in
watching the frontier between Fort Cock-
burn and the Niagara Falls. He remained
at Thorold about a month, exercising his
troops, and during this time all the militia
of Upper Canada passed through his hands.

CHAPTER LVIII.

LORD ^OLSELEY SERVICES IN AMERICA AND AFRICA.

OLSELEY'S services in Can-
ada had been so meritorious
that he was almost immedi-
ately nominated to succeed
Colonel Lysons as Read of
the department in which he had acquired
such vast experience; and in September,
1867, he returned to the Dominion as
Deputy Quartermaster-General, being the
youngest officer who was ever nominated
to fill that responsible post. He came
home to England, on two months' private
leave, in 1868, and during his stay occurred

an important event in his life his marriage
with Miss Erskine, who accompanied him
on his return to Canada.

Early in 1870 the troubles on the Red
River became of so pressing a nature that
the Dominion Government, with the con-
sent of the Home Colonial Office, deter-
mined on sending an expedition to restore
the Queen's authority in that settlement.
The consensus of public opinion pointed
to Colonel Wolseley as the fittest officer
to lead a combined force of regulars and
volunteers, and Major-General the Honour-

THE RED RIVER EXPEDITION.

able James Lindsay accordingly nominated
him to the command of the Red River
Expedition. After eighteen years' service,
Colonel Wolseley found himself entrusted
with supreme command, thus at length
being afforded the opportunity of achieving
distinction for which, as an ambitious sol-
dier, he had long been sighing.

The Red River Territory receives its name
from the Red River which, from the lake
of the woods westwards to the Rocky
Mountains, forms the artificially defined
frontier between the United States and the
British possessions. The inhabited portion,
or Settlement, is "merely the strip lying along
the banks of the Red River, and of its
affluent, the Assiniboine. Its population,
at the beginning of 1870, exclusive of In-
dians, numbered about 15,000 souls.

The Red River Territory had long been
under the rule of the Hudson Bay Com-
pany, which, in 1670, had received a charter
from Charles II. After many years of
fruitless negotiations between Canada and
this great trading community, an arrange-
ment was made, by which the territories,
officially known as Rupert's Land, together
with all territorial rights, were first trans-
ferred, on paper, to this country, and then
made over, by royal proclamation, to the
Confederation of the North American Pro-
vinces, which paid to the Hudson Bay
Company the sum of .300,000, the transfer
to take effect from the ist of December,
1869. In these negotiations the people
of the Red River Settlement were never
consulted. They naturally resented such
cavalier treatment; and when, in 1869, the
Canadian Government sent thither a sur-
veying party, a few French half-breed^
under Louis Riel, compelled them to quit
the country. On the 24th of November
Riel took possession of Fort Garry, which is
situated close to Winnipeg, the capital ; and
becoming more violent, on the 4th of
March caused to be executed a man named
Thomas Scott, who had attempted to effect
the release of some sixty British subjects
illegally confined in the Fort Scott's exe-

cution aroused a feeling of intense indigna-
tion throughout Canada, and resolutions
were passed at public meetings held in
Toronto and other towns, calling upon the
Government to despatch an expedition to
the Red River to restore the Queen's
authority and punish the murderers. Con-
sidering all the enormous obstacles to the
transport of stores and warlike material so
great a distance through rivers, lakes, and
" portages," Colonel Wolseley exhibited
throughout the expedition a patience,
energy, and forethought that stamp him as
a true leader of men. Often during the
long and weary march the spirits of his
officers and men were seriously affected by
the difficulties of the route; more than
once it was anticipated by all that the
expedition would have to be abandoned ;
he alone never once lost heart, but was
always cheerful and confident, and bent on
pushing on. The force, as organized, con-
sisted of 1,214, with about 400 voyageurs,
and 100 teamsters. On the 2ist of May
Colonel Wolseley, accompanied by his staff,
with a company of the 6oth Rifles, quitted
Toronto amid the hearty good wishes of all
classes of the community; the head-quarters
and four more companies followed the same
day, and the expedition was now fairly
started. After steaming across the broad
bosom of Lake Superior, the Chicora
anchored, on the 2$th of May, in Thunder
Bay, off the end of the road leading to
Lake Shebandowan. Wolseley immediately
landed, and gave to the spot the name of
" Prince Arthur's Landing," in honour of
His Royal Highness, who was then serving
in Canada with his regiment, the Rifle
Brigade. The weather was often wretched
in the extreme, the rain pouring all day in
cataracts, and officers and men worked daily
in their wet clothes. Notwithstanding this,
and the hardships they endured, the health
of the men was most satisfactory, a result
due, doubtless, to Colonel Wolseley having
strictly prohibited the use of spirits, which
was an unknown luxury in the camp, save
in the form of " medical comforts."

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

While at Thunder Bay Wolseley had an
opportunity of being introduced, for the
first time, to the Red Indian of Fenimore
Cooper's novels, and very different he
found him from the ideal limned by that
picturesque, but untrustworthy, writer.
The party consisted of " Black Stone," an
Ojibbeway chief, two of his tribe, and a
squaw ugly, dirty, half-naked savages, who
came ostensibly to express their loyalty to
the "great mother," but in reality to get
what they could, and report what was going
on to their tribe. Colonel Wolseley re-
ceived the Indians with great politeness,
and reassured them as to his intentions
regarding their lands ; and they took their
departure on the 6th of June, thoroughly
satisfied with their reception and the pre-
sents they had received.

On Wednesday, the 24th of August, the
British flag once more waved over Fort
Garry, within twenty-four hours of the time
specified by Colonel Wolseley, when he
undertook the conduct of the expedition.
Amid a continued downpour, the troops
entered by the southern gate, when the
Fort was found to be empty of its late
defenders Riel, Lepine, and O'Donoghue
having ridden off only a quarter of an hour
before. Thus was won a bloodless victory,
but one which, nevertheless, having regard
to their almost superhuman exertions, must
ever be regarded as shedding an additional
lustre on the name of the British soldier.
Since the 2 ist of May, when Colonel
Wolseley and the advanced guard of the
expedition quitted Toronto, they had sailed,
and marched, and tugged at the oars, and
laboured over forty-seven portages, for a
distance of one thousand two hundred
miles. Wolseley was only too glad that
Riel had fled, as his capture would have
complicated matters in the state of parlia-
mentary parties ; no attempt was, therefore,
made to pursue and arrest the fugitives,
though they might easily have been cap-
tured. On the 28th, Colonel Wolseley
issued a complimentary order to the force,
in which he said : " You have endured

excessive fatigue in the performance of a
service that, for its arduous nature, can
bear comparison with any previous military
expedition." General Lindsay was enabled
to report to the War Office that, " With the
exception of one man left at Fort Garry
with inflammation of the lungs, the regular
force returned to Canada with no sick, and
with no casualty by drowning, or of any
other description."

On Wolseley's arrival at the north-west
angle of the Lake of the Woods, he found
a note from General Lindsay, saying that
he intended to embark for England on the
ist of October, and would be glad of his
company. Wolseley immediately pushed
on for Prince Arthur's Landing in his
canoe, and on his arrival took ship to
Collingwood. Hurrying through Toronto,
he proceeded to Montreal, where the
citizens entertained him at a banquet, and
presented him with an address of welcome
and congratulation. Colonel and Mrs.
Wolseley, in company with General Lind-
say, proceeded to England in the Scandi-
navian ; and on their arrival in London, in
October, 1870, Wolseley's appointment of
Deputy Quartermaster-General in Canada
having been abolished with the withdrawal
of all British troops from the Dominion,
he was placed upon the half-pay list of his
rank.

Wolseley, while at Fort Garry, had
learned in a letter from his old chief and
friend, the late Sir Hope Grant, that his
name would be included among the Com-
panions of the Bath, in the next Gazette,
a tardy acknowledgment for his many and
eminent services in four great wars ; and
now, at the bidding of his Sovereign, he
" rose up " Sir Garnet Joseph Wolseley,
K.C.M.G.

On the ist of May, 1871, after having
been six months on the half-pay list, Sir
Garnet Wolseley was appointed Assistant
Adjutant-General, Discipline Branch, at
the Horse Guards.

In the following August there appeared
an advertisement in the Times, inviting

THE ASHANTEE EXPEDITION.

officers to compete for a prize of ^100,
offered by the Duke of Wellington, for the
best essay on " The System of Field
Manoeuvres, best adapted for enabling our
troops to meet a Continental Army." The
competitors were required to send in their
essays before the ist of March in the follow-
ing year. Under the signature of " Ubique,"
Sir Garnet Wolseley competed for this prize,
but he was not sanguine of success, as,
owing to his onerous office work at the
Horse Guards, he was only able to give
to the composition of his essay such odd
portions of his time as were snatched from
his official duties. But though this hastily
written production of his pen did not carry
off the prize, it was regarded with so much
favour by the judge, that, together with four
others, also " highly recommended," it was
published by the desire of the Duke of
Wellington.

During the Autumn Manoeuvres of 1871,
in the neighbourhood of Aldershot and
Woolmer Forest, Sir Garnet Wolseley held
the post of chief of the staff to Sir Charles
Staveley ; and in the following year he
served as Assistant Adjutant-General on the
staff of the southern army, commanded by
that fine old soldier, Sir John Michel, who,
remembering the capacity Wolseley dis-
played in the China war of 1860, requested
him to conduct the duties of that depart-
ment. Sir Garnet was a member of the
committee for the Reorganization of the
Army, presided over by General McDougall,
and also frequently wrote minutes on vari-
ous military questions at the request of the
Duke of Cambridge and Mr. Cardwell, the
Secretary of State for War.

But the name and fame of Sir Garnet
Wolseley, notwithstanding all his services,
might have remained unhonoured and un-
known had not one of those crises arisen
which this country, with her vast colonies
and dependencies, has so frequently been
called upon to meet, and once again, " the
hour brought forth the man." When we
survey the situation of affairs on the Gold
Coast in the autumn of 1873, and the diffi-

culties that appeared to militate against a
successful invasion of Ashantee, difficulties
as to climate, transport, and the limited
time disposable for military operations, we
may recall the anxiety with which every
patriotic heart regarded the success of the
expedition at the time it was despatched
from these shores. When it was known
that the Government had resolved upon an
expedition toCoomassie,the Press was filled,
as at the time of the Abyssinian war, with
dismal prognostications, and one " experi-
enced" gentleman, in answer to a letter
from Sir Garnet Wolseley as to necessary
articles of outfit, replied that he would
"strongly recommend that every officer
should take out his coffin." The intelligence,
however, of the appointment of Sir Garnet
Wolseley to the command of the projected
expedition, was received by the country
with universal approval, and he speedily
gave tokens of the wisdom of the selection
in the infinite care and patience he took in
organizing the details of the undertaking,
and in gaining information on all points
from any one who had it to impart.

The time having arrived for his depar-
ture, Sir Garnet Wolseley was invested with
the local rank of Major-General, and was
appointed administrator of the Government
of the Gold Coast, with instructions to re-
port direct to the Home Government. The
steamship Amboiz, in which Sir Garnet
sailed from Liverpool, after a voyage of
three weeks, cast anchor off Cape Coast on
the 2nd of October, and on the following
day he landed under the usual salutes.

In order to inspire confidence, and in-
duce the Fantees to exert themselves, Sir
Garnet, on the day succeeding his landing,
held a durbar (called here a " palaver ") of
the kings and chiefs of the Protectorate,
which took place in a large marquee pitched
in front of the Government House. The
" kings " began to arrive soon after three
o'clock, and with the gravity becoming the
solemnity of the occasion, seated themselves
on stools, carried by their attendants, some
of whom also bore huge umbrellas, which

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

denote the regal state among these African
communities, while others carried swords
and canes, and beat tomtoms to herald the
approach of their potent masters. Sir
Garnet stood, while the kings in succession
were introduced to him, and received the
conventional shake of the hand from the
Queen's Representative. Almost daily in-
terviews took place between him and some
of the kings, whom he strove to influence
by considerations of profit, as honour and
patriotism were unknown words in their
vocabulary, to collect their men and fight
the Ashantees.

The following " Special General Order "
of thanks, issued to the troops by Sir
Garnet, sums up the chief events of the
Ashantee war :

"CoOMASSiE, February $f/i, 1874.

Soldiers, Seamen, and Marines of this
Expeditionary Force,

After five days' very hard fighting, under
trying conditions, your courage and devo-
tion have been rewarded with complete
success. I thank you in Her Majesty's
name for your gallantry and good conduct
throughout these operations.

In the first phase of this war the
Ashantee Army was driven back from the
Fantee country into its own territory. Since
then you have penetrated far through a
dense forest, defended at many points with
the greatest obstinacy. You have repeat-
edly defeated a very numerous and most
courageous enemy, fighting on his own
ground, in well-selected positions. British
pluck and the discipline common to Her
Majesty's land and sea forces have enabled
you thus to overcome all difficulties and to
seize upon the enemy's capital, which now
lies at our mercy.

All the people, ,both European and
native, unjustly held captive by the King
of Ashantee, are now at liberty ; and you
have proved to this cruel and barbarous
people that England is able to punish her
enemies, no matter what their strength in
numbers or position.

Maintain on your return march to the

coast the same admirable conduct you have
hitherto evinced, and England may be as
justly proud of having such soldiers, sailors,
and marines as I am of having had the
honour of commanding you throughout this
campaign."

The loot sold at Cape Coast, which
realized nearly ^6,000, consisted chiefly of
the gold ornaments of the king's wives, and
included two of His Majesty's solid gold
pipes, a curious silver coffee-pot of George
the First's time, which Sir Garnet purchased,
and an ivory-hilted sword, bearing on one
side of the blade the following inscription :
" From Her Majesty Queen Victoria to
the King of Ashantee." This weapon,
which was left by the king in his bed-
chamber when he made his hurried exit
from Coomassie, was purchased by the offi-
cers of the staff, and presented by them to
their gallant commander. On the reverse
of the blade is a second legend as follows :
" Major-General Sir Garnet Joseph Wol-
seley, G.C.M.G., K.C.B., from the officers
of his staff. Coomassie, 4th February,
1874." Doubtless the victor of Amoaful
and Ordahsu possesses no more valued
souvenir of his distinguished military career
than this sword of honour, to which a pecu-
liar interest must attach from the names of
the original donor and recipient, and the
circumstances under which it changed
hands.

On the 4th of March Sir Garnet, with
his staff, embarked in the Manitobah, and,
after an uneventful passage, arrived at
Portsmouth on the 2oth.

The Ashantee campaign has been fre-
quently likened to the Abyssinian war,
and the comparison obviously presents
itself to the mind, though the conditions
under which such striking successes have
been achieved by two British commanders
are as dissimilar as can well be. Though
Lord Napier had to march four hundred
miles before he could strike at his savage
enemy, and Sir Garnet Wolseley considerably
less than two hundred miles, and though
the engineering difficulties that beset every

HONOURS AND REWARDS.

mile of the advance were, in both cases,
well-nigh insuperable, yet the climatic con-
ditions were so much in favour of the
Indian General, that the palm, as regards
the magnitude of the difficulties overcome,
must unhesitatingly be awarded to his
younger brother-in-arms.

Monday, March 3oth, was a day to be
remembered with pride by the General and
his little army, as they received a double
honour the public approval of Her Ma-
jesty, as expressed by her reviewing the
troops at Windsor, in the presence of the
Legislature, and a vote of thanks from both
Houses of Parliament. The Queen drove
down the ranks, the special service officers
being placed on the right of the line. After
the inspection was completed, Her Majesty-
returned to the saluting point, and the
troops were formed into a hollow square,
when Sir Garnet, having dismounted, was
invested by the Queen with the insignia of
the Grand Cross of the Order of St.
Michael and St. George, and of a Knight
Commander of the Bath. Sir Archibald
Alison was then presented to Her Majesty,
and also Lord Gifford, who was decorated
with the Victoria Cross. Sir Garnet, who
held the local rank of Major-General while
employed on the Gold Coast, was now
promoted, by Special General Order, to
the rank of Major-General " for dis-
tinguished service in the field." On the
20th of April a motion was made in the
House of Commons for the bestowal of a

grant of ^25,000. Mr. Disraeli also offered
him a baronetcy, which was declined. Sir
Garnet had no other ambition than to attain
eminence in his profession. Hence he was
able to refuse, without a pang, a baronetcy
and the highest honours of the Bath the
Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath,
accepting only the second grade and by
adopting this course he showed his wisdom
in avoiding the acceptance of too many
honours, which would only tend to excite
feelings of jealousy among the less success-
ful of his brothers-in-arms.

Sir Garnet Wolseley was a guest at the
annual banquet of the Royal Academy,
when he was honoured by having his
health proposed in the most flattering
terms by the heir to the throne. He was
also feted by his countrymen at Dublin, and
received honorary degrees from the Uni-
versities on two successive days, the i6th
and i yth of June, the occasions being those
known as " Commemoration " at Oxford
and " Commencement " at Cambridge.

The Corporation of the City of London
having shortly after his return from Ashan-
tee voted Sir Garnet Wolseley the freedom,
accompanied by a sword of honour, the
presentation took place on the 2 2nd of
October, at the Guildhall, and was con-
ducted with all the ceremony usual on the
rare occasions when potent sovereigns and
successful generals have been similarly
honoured by the ancient and noble city of
London.

320

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

ORD

OON after Sir Garnet's return
from Ashantee, he was ap-
pointed Inspector-General
of the Auxiliary Forces, in
succession to Lieutenant-
General the Hon. Sir James Lindsay.
This office Wolseley held with advantage
to the Auxiliary Forces, as acknowledged by
the service papers, until February, 1875,
when he was called upon by the Govern-
ment to proceed to Natal, and assume
temporarily the supreme direction of mili-
tary and civil affairs in the Colony. It was
considered desirable that the Colony should
be placed in a state of defence, so that
there might be no excuse for a repetition
of the panic into which the white colonists
who only numbered 17,000 as against
350,000 natives had been thrown by the
recent rebellion.

The Windsor Castle, which set sail in
the latter part of February, made the pas-
sage to Cape Town in twenty-four and a half
days. On the ist of April, Sir Garnet with
his staff proceeded from Durban to the
capital, Pietermaritzburg, and on the day
of his arrival and on the following day held
an executive council. The points upon
which new legislation was required were
briefly : a sounder and fairer native policy
than that in operation ; the security of life
and property; the promotion of public
works and immigration; and, lastly, the
amendment of a constitution, which the
elected members of the Legislative Council
themselves declared to be unworkable.
This was the crux of Sir Garnet Wolseley's
mission, and it was one that perhaps few
men would have cared to undertake. It is
always a matter of difficulty to obtain a
surrender of power from those who possess
it, and this was the task Sir Garnet under-

CHAPTER LI X.

J^URTHER TOILS AND SUCCESSES.

took to accomplish. On the sth of May
he opened the session of the Legislative
Council in a speech, wherein he stated that
a modification of the Council was neces-
sary, in the sense of "increasing and
assuring the power of the Executive,"
which was " essential to the present safety
and future progress of the Colony." A
writer in the chief Maritzburg paper spoke
of Lord Carnarvon, Sir Garnet Wolseley,
and Mr. Broome, as three " howling
humanitarian fanatics " ; and at a large
public meeting it was resolved unani-
mously that it was the duty of the Govern-
ment to turn every Kaffir out of Natal.
Such were the amenities of the conflict
upon which Wolseley had entered, and
such the views of the Opposition in this
Council and Colony. At one time failure
appeared so assured that Sir Garnet pre-
pared his despatch to the Secretary of
State announcing his want of success. A
few days later the third reading of the
Constitution Amendment Bill was carried,
and then the measure was sent home for
the Queen's signature before becoming law.
The Bill settled, Sir Garnet proceeded
to the location of Langalibalele, the famous
chief and rain-doctor, whose tribe had been
broken up in accordance with Lord Car-
narvon's instructions, and personally in-
quired into their condition and that of the
neighbouring Putili tribe, who had also
been deprived of their cattle for alleged
complicity in the rebellion. He resolved
to restore to them the value of their pro-
perty in ploughs and seed, as well as cattle
and sheep ; and also decided to place in
each location an European magistrate to
whom the Kaffirs could look for guidance,
advice, and protection, thus superseding
the influence of their chiefs, under whom

RETURN FROM AFRICA.

321

progress was impossible. What with com-
mittees and commissions, added to the
conduct of the ordinary business of the
Colony, Sir Garnet and his " brilliant
staff," as the papers always called his
officers, were hard at work from seven in
the morning till late in the evening, and
even the opponents of the recent reforms
recognised the devotion and energy of this

talented band of soldiers. At length, just
five months from the date of his arrival, the
task was completed; and on the ist of
September, Sir Garnet, who had handed
over the conduct of affairs to Sir Henry
Bulwer, made his farewell speech, con-
cluding with an eloquent peroration on the
future of Natal, at a banquet given by the
Mayor of Durban, at which also were

ZULULANU, SEPTEMKER I, 1879.
THE ZULU CHIEFS SIGNING THE PEACE STIPULATIONS AT ULUNDI.

present his successor, and Mr. Froude, the
eminent historian, who had been sent by
Lord Carnarvon to advocate the confedera-
tion of the South African States, and made
a statesmanlike speech on the occasion.

Two days later, amid the regrets of the
colonists, Sir Garnet sailed for England,
accompanied by his staff; and at Cape
Town a grand public ball was given in his
honour, Admiral Lambert and the officers

of the Flying Squadron, which had arrived
the day before, being present.

On the 4th of October, the Windsor
Castle, decked from stem to stern with
flags, arrived at Plymouth, where Sir Garnet
was received with hearty cheers on landing.
He now resumed his duties at the War
Office, but in November, 1876, was offered
by Lord Salisbury, and accepted, a seat at
the Council of India, where his varied

322

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

military experience was of eminent ser-
vice.

When war between this country and
Russia appeared imminent, Sir Garnet
Wolseley was nominated Chief of the Staff
to Lord Napier of Magdala, the Commander
of the Expeditionary Army; and, on the 28th
of February, the Press, in announcing the
appointment, was unanimous in expressions
of approval. But the war-cloud, which at
one time looked so threatening, was finally
dispelled by the labours of the Congress at
Berlin ; and when, on the 8th of July, the
British public and the world were amazed
by Lord Beaconsfield's great coup the
Protectorate of the Turkish Asiatic Empire,
and the annexation of Cyprus the an-
nouncement in both Houses of Parliament
was cdupled with the intimation of Sir
Garnet Wolseley's appointment as " Her
Majesty's High Commissioner and Com-
mander-in-chief" of this, the newest ap-
panage to the British Crown.

On the following Saturday, the i5th,
Sir Garnet left England for Cyprus, via
Brindisi and Malta. We might fairly an-
ticipate, therefore, looking to his ante-
cedents, that he would transform this fair
island of the Levant which in turn has
been possessed by Phoenicians, Greeks,
Romans, Saracens, Venetians, and Turks
into what the mightiest warrior of anti-
quity anticipated it would become in his
hands. In a remarkable passage, Alexander
the Great says ("Arrian," Vol. i. p. 99):
"And Cyprus being in our hands, we
shall reign absolute sovereigns at sea, and
an easy way will be laid open for making
a descent on Egypt." Any one, who has
pursued the letters in The Times and other
papers from their correspondents in that
island, can form some estimate of the
numerous reforms he has introduced into
the administration if such , a term can be
applied to the condition of public affairs
at the time of our assuming rule over' the
island : for it was rather the absence of any
government than a tyrannical abuse of
power. With regard to the Levant fever,

which attacked the troops soon after their
first landing in the summer of 1878, too
much was made. On this point, Sir Garnet
wrote to a friend in the following winter :
" We are now enjoying delightful weather
so much so that any one arriving here
now for the first time would indeed be
astonished to learn that the island had ever
at any season proved unhealthy."

In the same year, 1879, tne Govern-
ment determined to send out Sir Garnet
as administrator in that part of South-
Eastern Africa in the neighbourhood of the
seat of war, with plenary powers, both
civil and military. He landed at Durban
on the 28th June, and proceeded direct to
Pietermaritzburg, where he was the same
day sworn in as Governor of Natal. Cer-
tainly Sir Garnet did not let the grass grow
under his feet, and rapidly completed a
chain of forts across Zululand. He visited
various parts, interviewing the Zulu chiefs
who had surrendered themselves. Some
of the most important, however, of those
who came in, and were supposed to have
submitted and deserted their king, had, in
point of fact, no such intention, appearing
merely to make their often and vainly
repeated attempt at procuring " terms " for
Cetewayo and themselves. After the vic-
tory of Ulundi it was argued that the
people would be glad to procure peace by
giving up their king, whose unconditional
submission, or capture, was announced by
us to be the only possible conclusion to
the war. The English tried in vain to
persuade his people to betray him, but this
" hated tyrant," although beaten and power-
less, flying through the land now in the
possession of his conquerors, had still such
a hold over the loyalty and affection of his
people, that they were true to him in his
adversity, and refused to give him up or
to set his enemies on his track. Severe
measures were taken to procure by force
the information which could not otherwise
be obtained ; but these proved useless.
An interpreter, who accompanied Major
Barrow's party, writes : " I had been a long

CETEWAYO.

323

time in Zululand. I knew the people and
their habits, and although I believed they
would be true to their king, I never ex-
pected such devotion. Nothing would
move them. Neither the loss of their
cattle, the fear of death, nor the offering
of large bribes, would make them false to
their king. For many days this work of
trying to persuade or force the people to
betray their king was continued, and at
last a woman was frightened into giving a
clue, which resulted in taking prisoners
three brothers, at whose kraal the king had
slept the night before."

Among other patrols sent out to look
for Cetewayo was one under Major Mar-
ter, King's Dragoon Guards. This force
found the natives friendly, but they said
frankly that if they knew the king to be
close by they would not tell him. At
length, after many fruitless efforts, Major
Marter espied a kraal in an open space
about 2,000 feet below, in a basin, three
sides of which were precipitous and covered
with dense forest. He considered it would
be useless to approach the kraal from the
open side, as one minute's warning would
enable the king to escape to the nearest
point of the forest ; and therefore decided
to venture down the side of the mountain
under cover of the forest, feeling that the
importance of the capture would warrant
the risk. They left the upper part of the
mountain at 1.45 p.m., and, after a scramble
over rocks and watercourses, floundering
in bogs, and hampered everywhere by trees
and gigantic creepers, reached the foot
about three o'clock, having lost two horses
killed in the descent, and one man having
his arm badly hurt. Seeing that the men
in the kraal were armed with guns as well
as assegais, Major Marter desired his in-
terpreter to call out that if any resistance
were offered, he would shoot down every
one and burn the kraal. A threat of setting
fire to the king's hut was then made,
when he asked the rank of the officer, and,
after some further parley, came out and
stood erect and quite the king, looking at

Major Marter, saying: "You would not
have taken me, but I never thought troops
could come down the mountain through
the forest."

Taking the most open line of country,
the party set out for Ulundi, Major Marter
taking personal charge of the king. On
the 3 ist of August the Major safely reached
the camp at Ulundi with Cetewayo ; who
is described by his captor as " a noble
specimen of a man, without any bad ex-
pression, and the king all over in appear-
ance and manner." The party reached
Port Durnford on the 4th September, and
was immediately embarked for Cape Town.
There the king met with a fitting reception,
and was conveyed to the Castle, where he
remained under strict surveillance in the
custody of Colonel Hassard, C.B., R.E.,
Commandant at Cape Town.

The fall of Ulundi was looked upon by
some as the finishing touch to the Zulu
power and the end of the war, while others
considered peace ensured only and com-
pletely by the capture of the king. Much,
however, remained to be done before Natal
could be thought of as at peace with her
neighbours and herself, and what has been
commonly called the "Settlement of Zulu-
land," was a task which required the gravest
consideration and the most careful hand-
ling.

Sir Garnet Wolseley's first act in this
direction was to call together as many of
the principal Zulu chiefs and officials as
could be found, and to address them upon
the situation. This meeting, which took
place at Ulundi on the ist of September,
was attended by about 200 Zulus, includ-
ing two of Cetewayo's brothers and his
prime minister. When Sir Garnet, with
his staff, at last appeared, he addressed the
assembled chiefs through Mr. John Shep-
stone, his interpreter. At the conclusion
of the General's discourse he produced a
document, the purport of which, he said,
he had now told them, and which was to
be signed by all the chiefs whom he had
chosen as rulers of the land, to each of

324

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

whom a duplicate copy would be given,
while he retained a similar one himself.
The first to sign his name was Mr. John
Dunn, whose chieftainship was by far the
largest; and after him the Zulu chiefs
touched the pen while Mr. Shepstone
made their crosses for them, in place
of the signature which they could not
form.

Thus was completed the subjugation of
the Zulus, and the Zulu war brought to a

termination. Sir Garnet afterwards over-
powered Sekukuni's hostile nation, de-
j stroyed their stronghold, and finally sub-
dued the disaffected Boers, and completed
the annexation of the Transvaal

Returning in May, 1880, he was ap-
| pointed Quartermaster-General at the head-
I quarters of the army; and in April, 1882,
succeeded Sir Charles Ellice as Adjutant-
General of the Army an important as well
as honourable post

CHAPTER LX.

J^ORD ^OLSELEY jiGYPTIAN ^XPEDITION CHARACTERISTICS

WRITER.

AS A

N the same year Sir Garnet
was appointed Commander-
in-chief of the British Ex-
peditionary Army during
the Egyptian war. The
remarkable nature of the expedition con-
sists in this that it is probably the first
instance in English military history, where
the means were exactly calculated for the
end to be obtained, where the Government
thoroughly supported the commander of
its choice, and the campaign was brought
to a conclusion in the very manner and at
the very time which had been calculated
in London before a single soldier was sent
forth from this country.

The events of the campaign have shown
that the main, and we might almost say the
only immediate, cause of the war, was the
revolt of the senior officers against military
reduction and reorganization. The colonels
of regiments have been almost entirely
Turks, and from their ranks have been
taken not only the generals, but even the
principal ministers and other functionaries.
The struggle has always been one for place
and power among the colonels, and the
common soldiers were but accessories to
that end. The combined result of the

reforms undertaken by the Ministry of
Tewfik and the fight against them, was
that at the time of the revolt the Egyptian
army was weakened by economy, while its
heart was turned against all European in-
terference with the organization of the
country. The falsehoods which Arabi and
his lieutenants have found themselves

i obliged to disseminate, are sufficient proof
that the movement was artificial, and not

. caused by any natural uprising of spirit

From the nth of June, when the mas-
sacres of Alexandria took place, it became
certain that Arabi Pasha must be suppressed
or European influence in Egypt abandoned.
Great patience was shown, and it was not
till several new works had been built, while
preparations were made to block the mouth
of the harbour, that Admiral Seymour on
July 6th sent in an ultimatum, the purport
of which was that unless certain forts were
dismantled within twenty-four hours, he
would open fire upon them. At seven
o'clock in the morning of the nth of July
the first gun was fired by the Alexandra.
The reply came in the shape of a mighty
burst of artillery fire. Suffice it to say
that the results of this action inspired more
respect for the enemy than the future pro-

TEL-EL-KEBIR.

325

gress of the war has shown that he deserved.
But it would appear that throughout the
campaign the fire of the Egyptian artillery
has always been better than that of the
infantry.

Sir Garnet Wolseley arrived at Alexandria
on August 1 5th, and the Khedive at once
issued decrees giving full power to the
British to undertake operations and occupy
the country. On the 2ist the disembark-
ation at Ismailia was in full process. The
enemy had been defeated several times,
and the situation was clearing itself rapidly.
A portion of public opinion, both at home
and on the continent, believed that the
English force was checked, but its com-
mander was developing his plans for the
attack of Tel-el- Kebir, the very spot on
which before leaving England he had laid
his finger as the scene of the critical battle
of the war.

The experience of an Egyptian sun on
the desert sands had shown that though
English troops could fight and conquer in
the heat of the day, the hard task before
them had better be performed in the cool
hours of the morning. Accordingly, at
nightfall, on the izth September, the force
moved silently forward in the order chosen
for attack. The total strength present was
1 1,000 bayonets, 2,000 sabres, and 60 guns,
about half that of the enemy. Knowing
the effect produced by the sudden ap-
parition of a brave enemy determined to
charge, Sir Garnet decided to have no
preliminary fire, but to trust only to the
shadows of the night to veil his advance.
It is said that the men were ordered not
even to load if it could possibly be avoided,
and, in any case, to close with the foe and,
breast to breast, decide the struggle with
the bayonet.

In former actions the artillery and cavalry
had been chiefly conspicuous. The battle
of Tel-el-Kebir was won by the infantry.
Nor was any chance of rallying allowed to
the beaten enemy. The guns in the re-
doubts were turned against their former
masters, and with astonishing swiftness

portions of the British artillery bounded
over intervening ditches and parapets into
the heart of the position and crushed the
terrified masses by shrapnel fire, causing
the accumulations of men to burst asunder
and fly in all directions. Not a moment
was lost Straight over the battle-field the
Indian contingent pressed the flying foe.
It was joined by a battalion of Highlanders
near Abou Essen, and together they oc-
cupied Zagazig that afternoon. The bulk
of the cavalry division, and the mounted
infantry, having cut through the flying
masses, moved south-west by the desert
road upon Belbais, which it occupied, after
a slight skirmish, that evening. This force
occupied Cairo, the capital of Egypt, next
evening, the i4th, after a splendid march
of thirty-nine miles under the blazing
Egyptian sun, saving the town from destruc-
tion, which had been threatened, and cap-
turing Arabi himself. On the same day,
also, Sir Garnet, the head-quarters staff, and
a company of Scots Guards, with the Duke
of Connaught, moved on to Zagazig by
train; thence next day, the iSth, to Benha
and Cairo, entering the capital amid the
acclamations of the people, accompanied
by detachments of Guards, Highlanders,
and Marines.

Sir Garnet left England on the 2nd of
August, made the whole voyage round
Gibraltar, arrived at Alexandria on the 1510,
and entered Cairo a conqueror on the
1 5th of September. Such are the facilities
afforded by steam and the telegraph for a
force which undertakes the invasion of an
enemy's country. Surely the lesson of this
is, that it is more than ever necessary to be
prepared on shore against the descent of an
enemy by sea.

For his services in Egypt Sir Garnet
received the thanks of both Houses of
Parliament, was raised to the peerage,
promoted to the rank of General, and re-
ceived from the Khedive, Tewfik Pasha,
the grand cordon of the Osmanieh.

The leading features of Lord Wolseley's
character are so well hit off by Sir \V. G.

325

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

Armstrong, President of the Institution of
Civil Engineers, that we quote his very
words : " They had among them one who
had won a world-wide reputation as an
English general. It was not necessary to
enumerate the great services he had ren-
dered prior to the Egyptian campaign. It
was sufficient to say that throughout his
career he had displayed three qualities very
rare, but making when combined a great
military genius dash, discretion, and fore-
sight. There was a remarkable similitude
between the names of Wolseley and Wel-
lesley, both Irish, but of English extraction.
These were remarkable coincidences, and
he ventured to predict that if in this genera-
tion we should be unfortunately involved
in a great European war, the parallelism
would not be confined either to the name
or the country. Lord Wolseley had been
called a most fortunate general : but there
was an old saying, and a true one, that
good fortune was only another name for
good management That was certainly the
case in the Egyptian campaign, and the
result had been brilliant success achieved
with singular brevity in the military opera-
tions."

In June, 1883, the University of Dublin
conferred upon Lord Wolseley the honorary
degree of LL.D. This honour was well
merited. He is the author of " Narra-
tive of the War with China in 1860,
to which is added the Account of a Short
Residence with the Taiping Rebels at
Nankin, and a Voyage from thence to
Hankow "(1862); "The Soldier's Pocket
Book for Field Service" (1869; 2nd edition,
1871; new edition, 1882); "The System
of Field Manoeuvres best adapted for
enabling our Troops to meet a Continental
Army," printed in " Essays written for the
Wellington Prize"(i872); "Marley Castle,"
a novel, 2 vols. (1877); "Field Pocket
Book for the Auxiliary Forces (1873) ;
"France as a Military Power in 1870 and
1878 " (in the Nineteenth Century, January,
1878); "England as a Military Power in
1854 and in 1878 " (March, 1878).

We append one or two specimens of his
style as an author. In answer to an in-
vitation to attend a Temperance Demon-
stration in Hackney during October, 1881,
he says : " There is no one in England
whose heart is more sincerely in the good
cause you advocate than mine. About
90 per cent, of the crime in our army is
owing to drunkenness, and when our men
are removed from the temptation of in-
toxicating liquor, crime is practically un-
known among them. During the operations
I conducted in South Africa in 1879 my
own personal escort was composed almost
exclusively of teetotalers. They had very
hard work to do, but grumbling was never
heard from them; and a better behaved
set of men I was never assisted by, a fact
which I attribute to their being almost all
total abstainers."

The" following extract concludes his able
Paper on " England as a Military Power,"
contained in the Nineteenth Century, March,
1878.

" At no previous period of our history
have we ever been so strong in a military
sense as at present. In 1854 we were
very weak in field artillery; the military
force in these islands was under 70,000
men, and there was no reserve whatever
beyond some pensioners, who were too old
for field service. Were war declared to-
morrow, about 400,000 drilled men would
fall into line if required, supported by 372
field guns, manned and horsed by the
Royal Artillery. That number would
roughly be made up as follows :

Standing Army at Home 99,000 men.

Army and Militia Reserve ... ... 40,000 ,,

Militia 85,000 ,,

Volunteers 180,000 ,,

Second Class Army Reserve 10,000 ,,

Total 414,000 ,,

In this calculation I have put the figures
very low, and have left out altogether the
10,000 yeomanry who would be available
for home service. I have likewise not taken
into consideration the number of regular
troops that would be available for war, when

OUR WOLSELEY PICTURES.

327

the Mediterranean garrisons were furnished
by the militia. It will thus be seen that we
could at once take the field with two fully
equipped army corps of more than 30,000
soldiers each, leaving a similar force of
regular troops at home as a reserve. When
I compare the military strength of England
now with what it was in 1854, I am
as amazed at the condition of military
weakness and helplessness, in which we
were when we began the Russian war
of that year, as I am at the ignorance
of those who are now to be heard
croaking over our supposed want of
strength and our alleged consequent ina-
bility to fight. Unlike most other nations,
if we declare war, we need have no appre-
hension of invasion ; this confers upon us
the great advantage of being able to choose
our own time for beginning active hostili-
ties ; and as our army would necessarily
have to be conveyed by sea to the theatre
of war, we are always able to select the
line of operations considered best and most
suitable to the force we act with. In fact
the initiative would rest with us, and I need
not tell the student of history how invalu-
able it is to the commander who knows

how to take advantage of it. But if we are
to secure this national advantage of the
initiative, we must act with unity of purpose.
In seasons of great peril it is good that one
bear sway, and all should support the mode
of action selected, even although some may
think the plans they have themselves con-
ceived would lead to better results. It is
far more important in warlike matters that
all should act as one man, than that the
ideally best course of action should be
adopted.

England can never engage in any great
war unless it be thoroughly popular with
the nation ; but if the warlike spirit of the
people be aroused in earnest, we all know
that Her Majesty will never want soldiers
to fight for the honour and welfare of her
kingdom. A great empire has been built
up for us by the military achievements of
our forefathers. I for my part trust we
may be able now and always to address
them after the manner of Prince Hal :

' You won it, ruled it, kept it, gave it us,
Then plain and right must our possession be ;
Which we with more than with a common pain
'Gainst all the world will rightfully maintain.' "

CHAPTER LXI.

LORD Y/OLSELEY ILLUSTRATIONS FROM JSCENES IN HIS
fiis CHARACTER AS DRAWN BY MR. ARCHIBALD

OLLOWING our usual plan

of instructing the mind

through the eye, we have

illustrated our life of Lord

Wolseley with pictures that
bring the chief details of his life before our
readers' attention. First, we have the
house where he was born, modest and un-
pretending, but evidently substantial and
comfortable ; then we have the school where
he was educated ; then a picture from Zulu-

land ; and finally a view of his reception at
Dover when he returned to his native land
after his triumphant suppression of Arabi's
rebellion. We need not dwell on these
events again, for they are fully described in
the chapters of our work devoted to the
biography of our General. Let us then
conclude this part of our subject with a few
remarks on Lord Wolseley's character and
exploits from the able pen of Mr. Archibald
Forbes : " When he was gazetted to the

328

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

8oth, it was on service in Burmah, where
Sir John Cheape was conducting what is
known as 'The Second Burmese War.'
Sir John was operating against a certain
Burmese chieftain, who owned the euphoni-
ous name of Myat-Loon, and also the re-
putedly impregnable stronghold of Kyoult
Azein, situated in the heart of a dense
jungle. The outworks of this stronghold
had to be taken by storm, and Wolseley,
only just joined, volunteered to lead the
storming detachment. His handful of the
8oth was conjoined in the operation with a
little band of Madras Infantry under the
command of Lieutenant Taylor. Taylor
and Wolseley raced for the honour of being
first inside the enemy's works. Neither
won, owing to circumstances over which
neither had any control. Both were simul-
taneously wounded, and strangely enough
in the same place. A gingal ball struck
Wolseley on the left thigh, tearing away a
mass of muscle and flesh. Taylor suffered
similarly, but with the more lethal addition
that his femoral artery was severed. He
bled to death on the spot. Wolseley slowly
recovered, but he will bear to his grave the
furrow of the gingal ball. When at home
convalescent, he was promoted to a lieu-
tenancy in the goth, then in the Crimea.
After a short spell of trench service with
his regiment, Wolseley was selected for
duty as acting-engineer of our right attack,
and filled this post through the long cruel
winter. He was gazetted a captain in
the end of 1854, but the promotion was
cancelled. And for what reason it would
not be easy to guess. Because of Wol-
seley's youth ! He had not been too
young to earn the promotion, but the
authorities thought a lad of twenty-one
and a half too young for a captaincy !
Wolseley, justly incensed, threatened to
resign if deprived of the promotion he had
won, and the authorities cancelled the
cancellation. He was thanked in des-
patches for his services in the capture of
the Quarries, and took part in the first un-
successful assault of the Redan. When

engaged in his engineer work in the
trenches in August, 1855, Wolseley was
all but shattered by a shell that killed the
two sappers who were assisting him. The
shell burst in a gabion that had been
packed with gravel, and the explosion
simply 'stuck Wolseley full of stones.'
Jagged bits of pebbles were imbedded in
him all over from head to foot. There was
not a square inch of his face that had not
its stone ; his left cheek was all but torn
away, his eyes were closed (to this day he
is blind of one eye, and part of the bone
of his left shin was carried away bodily.
Fortunately he has been able to keep the
eye left to him pretty wide open. He was
picked up for dead, but astonished the
surgeons who were speaking of him as
quite gone by cheerily mumbling that he
was ' worth a dozen dead men yet.' This
wound, or rather this broadcast area of
wounds, temporarily invalided him, and
so he missed being present at the cap-
ture of the great fortress of the Euxine.
He had mended, however, by 1857, and
started with his regiment for service in
China. The goth was one of the regi-
ments with this destination which Lord
Canning's swift steamers contrived to catch
en route, and divert to India to aid in the
quelling of the great Mutiny that had
broken out with so fell an unexpectedness.
The gallant ' Perthshire Greybreeks ' were
included in the column which Sir Colin
Campbell led from Cawnpore to the second
relief of Lucknow. From the Dilkoosha
Sir Colin had sent the 'Black Watch'
down the slope on the Martiniere. The
93rd and the Sikhs had made a ghastly
shambles of the once beautiful Secundera-
bagh garden. Peel's men, of the Shannon,
were slogging with their ship's guns into
the massive structure of the Shah Nujeef,
preparatory to carrying it by escalade out of
the branches of a tree which grew against
the walls of the shrine. Wolseley, with his
two companies of the goth, was sent to the
left to carry the ' Mess House.' The way
to its compound wall was across the open.

FORBES ON WOLSELEY.

329

Wolseley's fellows took with them a couple
of light guns. So fierce was the Sepoy fire
that, to use Wolseley's own quaint collo-
quialism, ' the bullets dropped off the tires
of the wheels like peas off a drum.' The
Mess House was carried with a rush,
Wolseley with his own hand, in the midst of
a hailstorm of bullets, pulling down the flag
of the mutineers from the staff in its roof,
and planting in its place the British banner
which he carried. Beyond the Mess House
lay the Palace known as the Motee Mahal,
the last rebel post separating the relieving
force from their environed fellow country-

folk. Wolseley led his detachment forward
to the assault of the Motee Mahal, which
in its turn was taken and cleared after hard
fighting and severe loss. This operation
consummated the relief. Between the
Motee Mahal and the steam-engine post,
lay only Mr. Martin's house, which the
rebels had evacuated. Young Moorsom
ran the gauntlet, and the connection was
established. It was Wolseley who greeted
the avant courier of the besieged.

It has never been my good fortune to
accompany a force on campaign under the
command of Lord Wolseley, and I write,

THE RETURN KROM EGYPT THE WELCOME AT DOVER, OCTOBER 28, 1882.

therefore, under some disadvantage. But
the expedition which he conducted from
Malta to Cyprus when he went to organize
the British administration of that island,
was at least of a semi-military character,
and the opportunity offered of watching his
methods as well as a commander as a civil
organizer and administrator. His leading
characteristic struck me as equanimity.
There were many temptations to irritation,
in the defective commissariat arrangement,
in the characteristic obstructiveness of the
Turkish authority whom we were dis-
possessing, in the hazy indefiniteness of the

situation generally. But Wolseley, decisive,
nay, incisive when occasion demanded,
never betrayed a sign of temper. That he
was energetic, one could discern, not less
than that his powers of hard work and of
fruitful hard work were exceptional; but
there was no gustiness in the energy, and he
slid through his hard work with apt, bright
dexterity. He never fussed ; and he never
entangled himself in the labyrinth of trifles.
The absence of all friction in his adminis-
trative methods stood accounted for partly
by his own idiosyncrasy, partly a phrase,
indeed, of the other reason because of the

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

perfect organization and thorough inter-
working of his staff. I travelled out from
home with Wolseley and his staff. The
latter had been gathered together hurriedly,
but its members met, blended, and set to
work in the saloon carriage between Dover
and Calais, as if they had stepped into it
out of a department in which they had been
co-operating for years. While they settled
minor points of detail, their chief meanwhile
slept serenely, easy in the perfect assurance,
based on experience, that his subordinates
would deal with these as he would desire
they should be dealt with. It was clear to
me thus early, and the impression but grew
in distinctness, that Wolseley was the man
who decided, who decreed, the centurion
who said ' Do this ; ' and that he had re-
cruited for the fulfilment of his behests a set
of men on whom he could rely as intelligent
and devoted executants, and to whom there-
fore he could and did confide the functions
assigned to each, reserving himself as the
chief, unhampered by a multiplicity of
details, for the big work of resolving and
directing. In all this he was making no
experiment. He was sure of his 'machine; 3
it was of his construction ; he had selected
every cog and pinion of it ; and had tested
its efficiency, both in parts and as a whole.
That machine was the congeries of staff
officers which outsiders, as they gnash their
teeth, designate as the ' Wolseley Gang/
The outsiders do not deny the efficiency of
the gang as a working instrument; their
grievance is that it should always consist
of the same men. There are as good men,
they angrily contend, outside the gang as
those who are inside the favoured pale ;
why should Wolseley always lead the
same officers on to appointments, oppor-
tunities of distinction and rewards, instead
of giving other men the ' outsiders ' them-
selves, inferential!? an opportunity to win
tricks in the game? Wolseley makes no
specific reply, but his tacit answer is unim-
peachable. 'I know these men of mine,'
he says in effect, 'and they know me.
selected them originally because of my

discernment of character, not at the behest
of interest or from the dictates of nepotism.
We have worked long together ; their fami-
liarity with my methods and my just reliance
on them, relieves me of half the burden of
command. And again, it is obvious that I
must ever, as more important commands
are assigned me, be widening the pale of
the ' gang.' I never see a man doing good
work in the quiet efficient manner that I
like, that I do not recruit him into my
following. I am always on the alert for
capable men, since they are not so plenti-
ful ; and, oh ! outsider, if you should fulfil
my requirements, your turn may come to-
morrow.' Further, contends the outsider,
somewhat inconsistently, the credit of
Wolseley's success is due, not so much
to his own merits, as to the attributes
of his followers. They forget the legal
axiom quid farit per alios, facit per se.
That intuitive discernment of character by
which Wolseley recognises the capacity of a
man for his own purposes, is an attribute
second to no gift that a commander can
possess. Nor can any one who has had
opportunities for watching the professional
intercourse between Wolseley and his long
accustomed supporters, fail to note that his
is ever the unquestioned and unquestion-
able master-mind.

The key-note to the constitution of that
group of devoted adherents who have come
to be designated as the 'Wolseley Gang,'
I take to be its completeness for the func-
tions which it has to perform as a composite
whole. In each of its constituent elements,
its compounder, if I may use the expression,
has discerned some specific attribute, of
which, when the occasion calls it into re-
quisition, he shall take astute and purposeful
avail. As a whole, then, it is totus, teres,
atque rotundus, an engine effectively adapted
to a wide range of potential uses. The in-
dividual units of that whole do not strike
one as by any means, one and all, men
of exceptional general military ability.
Some of them, indeed, may be called dull
men. But never a one of them but has his

FORBES ON WOLSELEY.

33'

speciality. One has a genius for prompt
organization ; another a rare faculty for
administration. A third has a winning
manner and a good address, a fourth is the
scout of scouts. You may wonder what
Wolseley can see in So and so, that he
has them always with him. Watch events
long enough, and time will furnish you with
the answer. This man, perhaps of no great
account for ordinary purposes, has a strange
gift, when there is doubt in regard to some
line of action, of defining the right course
in a single rugged, trenchant, pithy sentence
that carries conviction ; him, one may see,
Wolseley keeps just to help him to make up
his mind. This other man has seemingly
no attribute at all, save inertness, a love for
gazing on the wine when it is red, and the
cultivation of strong language. But he too
has his gift. Arrange for him a plan of
attack, set everything in order, tell him that
all is ready, and that he may go to work.
Then you can discern for what Wolseley
has enrolled him in the gang. He draws
his sword, he lets a roar out of him fit to
wake the dead ; lie becomes a veritable god
of battle a lambent thunderbolt of war ;
he radiates from him the mysterious irre-
sistible magnetism that inspires men to
follow him, ay, to use the rough soldier-
phrase, ' through hell and out at the farther
side.' The deed done, the conqueror
wipes and sheathes his sword, mops his
forehead, sighs for a big drink, and is con-
spicuous no more till he shall be wanted
again.

There is to be said that no one of
Wolseley's special men have belied the
discrimination which selected him, at all
events while remaining under the inspira-
tion of the chief who recruited him. One
or two there may have been who have
shown un-wisdom when placed in indepen-
dent positions j yet others, although rarely,
have failed to earn approbation under other
leaders. But this is but a tribute to the
force at once of Wolseley's influence, and
the acumen of his discernment of character.
He can inspire his subordinates, he can

allocate them to duties in the fulfilment
of which they earn credit, and contribute
to the success of him their master. The
'gang' as an aggregate, is a weapon of
extraordinary and diverse force ; break it
tip and its parts are but the withes of the
fagot, with here and there a stick of ex-
ceptional stoutness.

On occasion he has had to contend
against exceptional natural obstacles, and
those he has conquered with skilful and
gallant constancy. It must be added that
he has lacked no appliances which the
resources of a wealthy nation in the van of
civilization could contribute. His every
requisition and he has requisitioned with
a free hand has been met. He orders a
railway a railway is sent him. The world
is harried for mules to constitute his trans-
port, and the wharves groan with the multi-
farious supplies he has indented for. That
he is wise and right to avail himself of the
lavish appliances the nation is fain to supply
at his bidding, goes without saying ; but it
is not to be denied that they smooth his
path to success. Wellington was stinted of
everything by a grudging Government, from
men and money to supplies and munitions ;
tinned provisions were unknown to him,
and jams and marmalade undreamt of; he
had to feed himself, improvise his own
transport, raise his own money ; but he
cleared the Peninsula and marched to the
Garonne. One need not multiply instances
within Lord Wolseley's earlier personal ex-
perience of successful operations carried out
with hardly a tittle of the resources which
have ever been so freely at his command.
Putting out of reckoning his present enter-
prise, in regard to which no judgment is
perhaps fair or possible, it remains that,
thus equipped, Wolseley has been set to do
nothing that he has not done promptly,
neatly, cleanly, adroitly. He has fully
answered every call that has been made
upon him, and that without apparent strain.
It would be absurd to assert that he has
been tried very highly ; but I remember
using this expression before the present

332

THE ENGLISH IN EG YPI.

campaign was begun : 'It seems a fair
augury from that past to which Wolseley
has ever been equal, that he is likely to
prove equal to any future that may come to
him.'

The races are mixed in Wolseley, and
the cross accounts for the curiously varied
traits which his character discloses. His
family is a cadet branch of the old Stafford-
shire Wolseleys, who still hold their property
in the Midlands, and who are Anglo-Saxon.
The branch from which he springs has been
domiciled in Ireland from the time of Wil-
liam III., and intermarriages with Hibernian
families have brought it about that quite
half the blood in Lord Wolseley's veins is
Celtic blood. It is from that he gets his
audacity, his elan, his buoyancy, his d'ebon-
naire aplomb, his strain of mostly well-timed
recklessness, his alert dexterity, his finesse,
the adroit suppleness which occasionally
astonishes his friends, his warmth of heart.
The Saxon blood in him gives him his
steadfast constancy under conditions how-
ever depressing, his solid strength to hold his
own against hostile intrigues, his calm man-
liness, his almost unparalleled equanimity,
his cool, steady rancour against those who

have done him despite, his unfaltering
fidelity in friendships. Wolseley is a man
who must have risen, no matter what avoca-
tion he had chosen to pursue. That from
boyhood he had a special predilection for
the military profession is true ; it does not
conclusively follow from this that he has a
special genius for war. So far as his career
has revealed itself, he makes war well, just as
he would have done well any other duty that
might have fallen to his lot ; simply as he
would have gained a reputation for success
in delicate missions if he had been a
diplomat, or attained to the position of a
director of the Bank of England had he
been a merchant. If he had been a boot-
black, he would have started a ' Boot-
polishing Company, Limited,' with himself
as managing director ; if he had gone into
patent medicines, he would have out-
advertised Professor Holloway, and secured
the testimony not of an Arab sheik, but of
an emperor, in favour of the efficacy of his
pills. No adverse conditions could have
held Wolseley down ; no native obscurity
could have kept him mute, inglorious. And
it may be added, that he could have touched
nothing which he would not have adorned."

CHAPTER LXII.

PRAHAM'S EXPEDITION DEFEAT OF JBAKER PASHA
NEW PREPARATIONS.

FTER the annihilation of
the army of Hicks Pasha,
things in the Soudan seemed
to go from bad to worse.
The Egyptian officials were
as bad as they possibly could be, and their
exactions drove the population into a state of
rebellion. Hitherto a great deal had been
suffered in sullen silence. It was thought
there was no help for it. Now, however,
it was seen that the Egyptians soldiers were
as cowardly as the Egyptian officials were

base. Hence there were risings everywhere,
and the Egyptian Government was in great
difficulties to meet the demand made on its
resources. Finally, it was determined to
send Baker Pasha to combat the enemy on
the east of the Soudan, and to leave the
Mahdi to do very much as he liked with
the west.

An exact translation of the instructions
to Baker Pasha, along with a letter which
followed them, are here appended. These
documents show his wide powers :

BAKER PASHA'S INSTRUCTIONS.

333

"General, Having confidence in the
high military capacity which distinguish
you, I have nominated you to take com-
mand of the operations which have for
their object the pacification of the region
lying between Berber and Souakin, and the
maintenance of communications between
these two points.

In entrusting you with this mission, I
have to acquaint you with my general views
upon the conduct of these operations.

In carrying out this mission you should
use every means of conciliation and dip-
lomacy, with a view to secure the obedience
and submission of the sheiks of the differ-
ent tribes before having recourse to force.

I.1EUT.-GENERAI. SIR GERALD GRAHAM, V.C., K.C.ll.

To the gendarmes actually at Souakin will
be added the black battalions under the
command of Zebehr Pasha, who will be
placed directly under your orders, and
whose well-known influence among the
tribes of the Soudan you will not fail to
utilize.

The command with civil and military

powers of all parts of the Soudan which
you may reach is conferred upon you ; and
this command implies the right to inflict
the penalty of death after the sentence of a
court-martial, or of any ordinary tribunal,
according as the culprits are military or
civil.

The power ot declaring any city or dis-

334

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

trict in a state of siege, and of acting in
accordance therewith, is also conferred upon
you.

Such, General, are my principal views
upon the operations which you will have to
conduct.

I have full and entire confidence in your
proved capacity, and in the devotion which
you have never ceased to show to me, and
I hope for the best results from the mission
which I entrust to you.

(L.S.) MEHEMET TEWFIK."

"17 Sefer, 1301 (December 17 , 1883).

Although I have, in a previous order,
traced in a general manner the line of con-
duct which you should follow in the mission
entrusted to you, I have thought it advis-
able to indicate to you again privately what
you have to do.

The mission entrusted to you, having as
its object the pacification of the regions
designated in my above-mentioned order, and
the maintenance, as far as possible, of com-
munication between Berber and Souakin,
I wish you to act with the greatest prudence
on account of the insufficiency of the forces
placed under your command.

I think it would be hazardous to com-
mence any military operation before re-
ceiving the reinforcements which shall be
sent to you with Zebehr Pasha. Whilst
awaiting these reinforcements you should
devote yourself to raising the tone and
courage of the soldiers, and assuring the
safety and defence of the town of Souakin.

If, in the event of the situation improving,
you should consider an action necessary, I
rely on your prudence and ability not to
engage the enemy except under the most
favourable conditions. Such are, General,
the views with which I have wished to
make you privately acquainted. My con-
fidence in your prudence enables me to
count upon your conforming to them.

(Signed) MEHEMET TEWFIK."

Baker Pasha accordingly proceeded with
his mission, and on ist February, 1884, left
Trinkitat with an army to relieve Tokar.

On the way they were attacked by a com-
paratively small body of Arabs, and not-
withstanding the splendid courage of Baker
Pasha, and a few Europeans who accom-
panied him, the cowardly Egyptians fled at
once, without even making a proper effort
to defend themselves. The battle, if it
could be called such, only lasted eight
minutes. When the news of this shameful
conflict, and of the increase of the insurrec-
tion that at once followed, reached England,
it was determined that our interests were
involved, and that if we did not interfere
the rebels would soon possess themselves
of the ports on the Red Sea, and probably
advance on Egypt proper. It was there-
fore determined to drive them back, and
relieve Tokar if possible. The Times,
describing the expedition under General
Graham, says that " General Graham, with
the head-quarters staff, left Suez on Mon-
day, and it may be well to recapitulate the
force which he is to command. The 1 9th
Hussars, consisting of 372 men and 311
horses, left Alexandria on the i4th, and
Suez on the i8th, in the Ne<zra and Osiris.
The 6th Battery ist Brigade Scottish
Division Royal Artillery, equipped with
mountain guns, went in the Rinaldo. The
Royal Highlanders (Black Watch), 750
strong; the 26th Company Royal Engineers,
46 strong; and 100 mounted infantry left
Suez on the i6th in the Orontes. The 3rd
Battalion King's Royal Rifle Corps sailed
the same day in the Bokhara. The Thibet
left Suez on the i8th with the Gordon
Highlanders, 723 strong. Of these, the
Bokhara has arrived at Souakin and landed
her freight. The Orontes is said to have
gone on to Trinkitat. Of the troops stopped
on their way, the Jumna has arrived at
Souakin and landed the loth Hussars, 17
officers, and 289 men ; with the M Battery
ist Brigade Royal Artillery, 3 officers, and
84 men ; the 2nd Battalion Princess
Victoria's (Royal Irish Fusiliers), 20 officers,
344 men ; and 106 time-expired men.
Besides all these, there are the military
police, 1 7 men and 9 horses. The Marines,

GRAHAM'S EXPEDITION.

335

if they all arrive in time, will count for a
strong battalion. At any rate, there will
be at least 500 of them. The Ranger has
gone on to Trinkitat, and it is expected that
the whole force will be concentrated there
by Saturday. This is rather later than at
first proposed, but is not a bad result con-
sidering how sudden the step was of sending
a force at all. The three line regiments are
at about the regular colonial strength, and
make up 2,100 infantry. The total force
despatched from Suez numbers about 97
officers and 2,900 men in all 3,000.
Adding the Marines at least 500 the
Irish Fusiliers, the Artillery, and the York
and Lancaster Regiment, if it arrives,
together with the loth Hussars, the avail-
able force will be about 5,000, and it will
have provisions for about a month. A
strong opinion is expressed that a force
of field artillery should have been sent, as
it might have been, from Cairo. This
mattered little so long as the Arabs had no
guns or could not use them, but they seem
to be learning the use of the Krupp guns
taken from General Baker's force. The
small brass Egyptian guns will be worse
than useless, not only because they are
miserable weapons, but because the enemy
will have better. It may turn out, after all,
that the trouble of embarking a battery of
good English field artillery would have well
repaid itself. Better for the purpose than
the brass popguns will be six machine
guns, manned by blue-jackets from the
fleet.

To supply partially the place of the
troops gone southwards, No. i Battery ist
Brigade Scottish Division Royal Artillery
and the ist Battalion South Staffordshire
Regiment embarked at Malta on the igth
for Alexandria, where also a force of blue-
jackets had been landed. The 2nd
Battalion Essex Regiment is ordered to
embark at Gibraltar for Malta to-day, and
will probably go on to Alexandria.

The despatch of a force of this strength
in a week from the time when the first
orders were received is not, on the whole, a

bad performance, considering the nature of
the expedition, which involves co-operation
between land and sea forces. But there is
probably little to boast of in the amount of
transport which goes with the troops. In
Egypt, as elsewhere, all English forces are
apparently content to have little or no per-
manent organization to supply this most
important of all the auxiliaries to an army.
The habit of having the greater part of the
transport in peace performed by contract or
by the ordinary civil means, and the un-
military objection to anything which bears
the faintest resemblance to conscription,
have created among us an inveterate habit
of leaving all arrangements for the provision
of transport to take care of themselves at
the last moment. Great difficulties arose
from this habit in the late campaign against
Arabi, and it is evident that the army of
occupation in Egypt is as badly prepared
in land transport as English forces always
are. For the particular object of the
present eepedition little transport is re-
quired. The troops are not likely to be on
any occasion twenty miles from the ships.
But it is to be observed that the regiments
were unprepared for even so short a journey
as this, seeing that they have had to draw
their transport from the Egyptian army,
which accordingly becomes immovable.
The excuse will be urged that transport
costs money, and there is none to spare in
Egypt. But this is not at all certain. In
a country like Egypt, where the soldiers are
brought to the ranks by force, it could not
be difficult to establish a system of legal
registration by which sufficient animals and
vehicles should always be at the disposal of
the army of occupation in case of need. If
it were only to give practice in organization,
the habit of providing transport for war
purposes should be cultivated. The English
army is the most unquiet on the face of the
earth. We are always moving troops about
from one part of the globe to another.
Thus we have great experience in one kind
of transport, and can send a small force a
few thousand miles by sea while other

33 6

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

nations would be thinking about it ; but we
are never ready for even a small march
inland. It ought not to be forgotten that
in the Egyptian campaign of 1882 the mules
which had been bought in divers places
were only beginning to arrive as the
campaign came to an end after the battle of
Tel-el-Kebir. When Arthur Wellesley first
took charge of the army in Portugal which
he immortalized, and which immortalized
him, it was so deficient in transport that it
could not move to take advantage of the
success at Vimeira. He positively could
not carry on a campaign with it as it was.
And we may see the same story always
repeated. The Crimean army nearly
perished, chiefly from want of transport and
of officers who knew that transport was re-
quired. At the Cape, months were wasted
in procuring transport. In Afghanistan,
again, transport was the one great difficulty
in the early stages of the campaign, and now
at last the army of occupation cannot relieve
a post fifteen miles from the sea without
disorganizing Sir Evelyn Wood's force to
provide transport. However, that amount
of transport was available, and it left Suez
on the i Qth in three ships, the Tedditigton,
the Mehallah, and the Chibin.

Our Cairo correspondent points out the
necessity of sending two battalions to
Assouan as soon as possible, to make it felt
there that England is in earnest From
another source comes the report that orders
have been issued for two English battalions
and two battalions of Sir Evelyn Wood's
first brigade, officered by Englishmen, to go
together. This would show a determin-
ation on the part of the English Govern-
ment to make their hand felt as it has not
been hitherto.

It is announced that General Baker is to
be placed in charge of the Intelligence
Department of the force. The satisfaction
of English officers generally at this step has
been foreshadowed by the warm welcome

given to General Baker by his old comrades
of the loth Hussars. Not only will he be
welcomed for 'auld lang syne,' but also
because of his peculiar abilities. There are
many men in the army now who have
acquired a large amount of military know-
ledge by study, and many others who have
seen a considerable amount of active
service, with or without much benefit from
it. But there are few men in any army who
have the acquired knowledge, the exper-
ience in the field, and, above all, the military
eye of General Baker. This last possession
is extremely rare, and the qualities which
go to make a cavalry officer of General
Baker's stamp are hardly found once in a
generation.

The Orontes and Jumna went yesterday
to the rendezvous at Ras Mahdi, conveying
the Marines, Rifles, and Fusiliers ; also
Her Majesty's ship Carysfort, with marines
and sailors.

It appears to be taken for granted that
the relief of Tokar is to be carried out on
the same lines as those of General Baker's
attempt. But this, like all speculations on
military affairs, must depend upon circum-
stances. When a force is embarked it
becomes movable in a very different sense
from the limited mobility of a column on
land. In one night, or even in two or
three hours, it can land in an unexpected
place and thus out-manoeuvre the enemy.
The final decision is likely to be governed
rather by the movements of Osman Digna
than by the exact limits of a cut-and-dried
plan ; but the landing at Trinkitat seems
probable, because it would place the troops
in a position to make the shortest possible
march on land, require least transport, and
finish the affair in the shortest time. It
would appear that Souakin is now garrisoned
only by 150 marines, 180 blue-jackets, and
2,000 blacks, who are well known to be the
best fighters of all the inhabitants of the
Soudan."

BATTLE OF EL TEB.

337

CHAPTER LXIII.

JJRAHAM'S EXPEDITION EL JEB AND TAMANIEB.

EFORE the British force,
described in our last, was
able to collect itself at
Souakin, the news came that
Tokar had fallen, and the

fall, as was afterwards known, was, in all
probability, due to treachery. This made
the rebels under Osman Digna still more
presumptuous. They collected in great
force at El Teb, a few miles from Trin-

SOUAKIN, FROM THE ENTRANCE TO THE HARBOUR.

kitat, but here, however, they were defeated
with great slaughter. About a fortnight
afterwards, at Tamanieb, near Souakin,
another battle was fought, which resulted,
for the time, in the utter dispersal of
Osman Digna's force. Of this battle a
special correspondent gives us a short
account. He begins by remarking that
" a straight line drawn to a distance of six-
teen miles south-west from Souakin would
strike the centre of the chord of the huge
arc on which the mountains there group

themselves. Up to this chord the plain is
tolerably level, rising, however, hillwards,
with a gentle slope, from which at the
already named distance the town of
Souakin is faintly visible, and the remoter
sea-line illusively rises beyond the actual
horizon. But beyond the chord the plain
dips and breaks into an intricate corru-
gation of the craggy, barren, sun-baked
ravines, separated from each other by
sandy level spaces, in some of which only
a handful of men can find foothold, while

338

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

in more than one of the others an army of a
hundred thousand men might perform its
evolutions, and that too without the view of
an inquisitive enemy on the plateau. In one
of these flat-bottomed ravines flow the wells
of Tamanieb, clear, cool, softly murmurous,
round the base of a bare, hot, knotty
mount of granite. Not for all the wealth
of Golconda would the Arabs exchange
these scanty springlets which the savage
crags seem to hold watch over jealously.
In another ravine, beyond the springs, lies
Osman Digna's camp or more properly
speaking, it did lie until last Friday morn-
ing, when the last of it, with salvoes of
Remington cartridges and shrapnel shells,
which exploded in his well-stocked maga-
zines, disappeared in flame and smoke.
On the plateau itself, near where the dip
begins, and opposite to these two spots,
was fought last Thursday morning one of
the most obstinate battles in which any
British force has for many years been
engaged. English victories have in the
East generally been combinations of luck
and pluck. On this occasion the luck has
been singularly conspicuous so startlingly
providential that the victors, had they been
pagans of old, would have leapt to the
grateful conclusion that their tribal deities
had personally shared in the fray. Con-
sidering the reckless bravery of the enemy,
and the multiplicity of opportunities which
he neglected and which we offered him, the
battle of Tamanieb is perhaps the most
remarkable of the kind on record.

The Arabs I do not call them rebels ;
almost every Englishman who fought them
calls them admiringly patriots missed one
or two good opportunities when we bivou-
acked in our zareba. But before describing
the facts, I must briefly explain what the
zareba was, and how we got there. I
showed in a telegram how we marched out
in two hollow squares from the breastwork
of prickly bush which General Baker had
raised two months ago. After marching
six miles south-westwards, and reaching the
imaginary chord of which I have spoken

above, the line of march was diverted
sharply south-eastwards. A position was
selected about half-way between our next
morning's battle-field and the hill (also
mentioned in a telegram) upon which
General Graham and his staff stood on
Wednesday afternoon to survey the coun-
try. The position sloped gently upwards
towards the dip of the plateau. On this
slope then, and along the level part into
which it merged on the Souakin side, the
troops bivouacked. They did not entrench
themselves. They merely cut down the
prickly bushes, inside which they fenced
themselves, men, horses, ambulances, com-
missariat trains, mules, and camels. But
the zareba, or prickly breastwork, was
nowhere half as strong as General Baker's.
The fact that these tribes are hardly ever
known to attack at night doubtless accounts
for the General's abstention from further
endeavour to strengthen the post. How-
ever, the Arabs did their best to worry us,
and by depriving us of sleep, to spoil our
nerves for the morning's work. Stretched
on the sand after our late dinner of biscuit,
' bully ' beef, whisky, and when most of us
were on the verge of sleep, we were aroused
by a brisk rattle of musketry. Bullets
came whistling and hissing overhead, crash-
ing into the bushes, or falling with a hard
thud into the sand. The fitful fusillade
lasted until after daybreak. The safest
portion of the camp during all this firing
was, of course, that nearest the enemy
namely, on the ascent pointing to the
enemy's position. The bullets flew harm-
lessly over the slope and fell into the centre
and rear of the camp. To avoid the fire
we lay, whether sleepy or wakeful, down
flat on the sand. After midnight came a
long pause, and we thought the Arabs had
made up their minds to leave us alone ;
and the men were again falling asleep.
But the camp was aroused out of its un-
easy drowsiness by a sudden roaring and
confused hubbub of voices. Every one
sprang to his feet and seized his arms. In
their half-sleep the men fancied the Arabs

BATTLE OF TAMANIEB.

339

were upon them. What caused the panic I
forget. It might have been a mule break-
ing loose and galloping with a tin kettle
knocking about his heels. Anything, the
most absurdly trifling cause, may lead to a
night panic even among the best disciplined
troops. On Friday night, for instance, at
Baker's zareba, where some of the returning
troops rested until the morning, there took
place a brief scare, which those on the spot
attributed to somebody crying out in his
sleep. 'The Johnnies' are upon us, was
the instant conclusion ; those in the zareba
jumped out of it, while those outside
jumped in, and for a moment the scene
was one of wild confusion. On the Wed-
nesday night the din lasted only for a
moment, and though, as already said, the
firing lasted for hours after, the men
troubled themselves no more about it
They consigned the 'Johnnies' to a warmer
locality than the Soudan, and did their best
to fall asleep. A good many grumbled
that the camp had been pitched on a spot
unnecessarily close and exposed to the
enemy. But what if the Arabs had chosen
to harass our camp with a dropping fire
from the nearest hill that from which, as
already said, the General had viewed the
situation? There was nothing to prevent
the Arabs from doing so nothing but
their own ignorance or want of thought.

We marched out of this zareba a few
minutes after eight o'clock, still following
the south-westerly course, when we halted.
Each brigade the Second, under General
Davis, composed of the Black Watch, 65111,
and Marines ; and the First, under General
Buller, containing the 75th, 8t)ih, and 6oth
was drawn up in square, with guns in
front line. The march out was rather
hurried, and the Second, or attacking, bri-
gade was, as the event showed, led too near
the edge of the slope. If I were to state
the general opinion on this subject, it would
be that the precaution should have been
adopted of searching the line of the plateau,
in order to ascertain how the enemy were
concealed below, and whether they could

not be subjected to an enfilading fire. I
have already telegraphed that on the day
before the battle Admiral Hewitt de-
spatched a special messenger to head-
quarters with a letter in which the enemy's
plan of an ambuscade, as brought in by a
spy, was detailed. The value of the infor-
mation might, it seems, have been tested at
one or two points to the right of our line of
advance. In one spot, in particular, where
the corner of a ravine opened into the
plateau, one or two active scouts would
have discovered what the enemy were
about The plain truth is, that we hurried
along as if we feared we should not catch
our enemy. The enemy, much too soon
for our convenience, found us. Our front
line, composed of the 42nd and 65111 (the
same regiments also forming the left and
right flanks, respectively, of the imperfectly
formed square) was ordered to charge. On
this point, however, a dispute has arisen
which is still unsettled whether, namely,
the two half-battalions in the front line
charged simultaneously. The fact is, that
the 42nd charged instantly, and the 65th
at a short interval, and more quickly than
the flank half-battalion. The inequality of
movement in the latter case left the right
corner and part of the right flank of the
square open. Worse still, the charge was
made, to quote the common expression in
camp, 'at nothing.' The line stopped
short, and in a few moments the Arab rush
took place, and the Highlanders and 651)1
were so closely packed together that they
had hardly elbow room to use their
weapons. The machine guns, which had
been hurried up, were in action for a few
brief moments only, when the Arabs were
surrounding them, crawling under them,
and spear-thrusting at the officers and blue-
jackets who worked them. The Arabs
poured in from every part of the slope, but
more particularly along the shoulder of one
of the ravines. A great cloud of them
scudded swiftly along, each man with his
body inclined forward and downwards, with
his lance in rest. On reaching the square,

340

THE ENGLISH IN" EGYPT.

the Arabs jumped up, so to speak, to their
full height, extended their shields, poised
their spears aloft, and threw themselves on
the front and right flank of our square.
No words can describe the demoniac rush
of those tall, handsome, brown-skinned
savages, with nothing but a spear, a stick,
and not always a shield, upon some of the
best disciplined and most renowned troops
in the British army. Through the smoke
and dust, with their bright spears gleaming,
I saw them fall as they crowded onwards,
swarm after swarm, with the disorder but
with the single purpose of a horde of wild
beasts. An officer who was placed in a
different part of the square from that in
which I stood, compared the appearance
presented by Arabs and English troops in
that quarter to that of players in a close
struggle at football. In one spot the Arabs
were pressing hard against the too solid
mass of their opponents, preventing our
men from loading, and stabbing and prod-
ding at the m with their spears at short
grasp. In another they were elbowing and
wedging their way, man by man, in the
desperate attempt to penetrate to the inside
of the square. Only three or four, how-
ever, really broke the square. They forced
their path in by the gap already mentioned
as having been created in the right front
and right flank by the unequal advance of
the battalions. They were killed as soon
as they entered. The square was crushed
inwards, not invaded or, as it would be
called, broken. And the Arabs crushed
it in because they fell with such swift
suddenness upon the Highlanders and 65th
that the two latter, falling back in order
to load and fire, became clubbed to-
gether. I could not help comparing the
terrible scene to that of General Baker's
ill-fated square at El Teb. We turned
one of their own guns upon them as
soon as we entered their entrenchments.
If the Arabs had had any among them
who understood the use of Catling guns
and Gardiners they could have served us
in the same way, and with the six which

they captured in this rush they might have
played havoc in our ranks. Onwards and
onwards the tide of wild savagery beat
against our lines. So close was the contest
that more than one officer, such as Captain
Stevenson, of the Black Watch, was forced
to strike with his left fist and the hilt, or
" basket," of his claymore. The front half-
battalion of the 42nd fell back, with a
movement similar to a door closing upon
its hinges. In other words, it was pressing
upon the left flank half-battalion and the
Marines, the latter of whom formed the
rear of our so-called square. The Marines
stood quietly, never flinching for an instant.
As the 65th also fell back, the Arab rush
was deflected outwards again, towards what
a moment or two before was our front, and
then round by the left half-battalion of the
Black Watch. The Brigade was thus being
attacked on three sides. Our men retired
step by step, thrusting with their bayonets,
or turning round, with loaded rifles, to fire.
The finest and bravest troops who ever
existed could not, under such circumstances,
have made a better stand than those of
General Davis's brigade offered. It was
during this retirement, to a distance of from
two to three hundred yards, that the 42nd
lost so heavily one officer, Captain Aitken,
and sixty-one men, including eight or ten
sergeants (at this moment I forget the exact
figures). The whole line of the two or three
hundred yards retreat was covered with the
bodies of the Arabs, thus showing how
desperate the combat had been. In the
course of the retirement, two bodies one a
portion of the 42nd, the other the Marines
succeeded in throwing themselves into square
formation. This had the effect of partially
arresting the Arabs. Then the rest of the
retreating battalion formed up. General
Buller's brigade opened fire upon the rush-
ing swarm of the enemy. The cavalry
came round by the left flank of General
Davis's square, now a square no longer,
and dismounting, fired. Then the Arabs
retreated to the edge of the plateau, and after
a halt, the Second Brigade advanced upon

BATTLE OF TAMANIEB.

34i

them in line. Again, too, the Arabs rushed
upon their foe, but the gallant attempt was
short-lived, and they soon disappeared down
the slope and into the ravines. Their
bravest warriors had been slain, and the
heart, to use an Oriental expression, had
been taken out of the survivors. No enemy
ever fought with such fierce desperation,
with such indifference to their own lives, as
our opponents at Tamanieb. Numbers
of them who had hurled their spears threw
stones for want of better weapons. Colonel
Green, of the 42nd, was hit on the head by
an Arab three or four yards in front of him.
The brave savage was shot stone dead,
I believe, by the Colonel himself, who owed
his life on more than one occasion during
the fight to his dexterous use of his revolver.
The battle of Tamanieb was virtually over
and won when the guns were retaken.
Enough to add, that by mid-day the First
Brigade, under General Buller, had reached
Osman Digna's camp, pushing on to it
across the ravines. In the advance over
such frightful ground, it was, of course,
found impossible to maintain the formation.
But as the enemy were demoralized and in
total rout this did not matter. It suggested,
however, what the fortunes of the day
might have been had the Arabs, by placing
their ambuscade well within the labyrinth
of ravines and rocks, induced us to enter
them. From the manner in which part of
the square had been ordered to charge,
many, or rather most, of the regimental
officers were and still are persuaded that
it was intended to order a series of inde-
pendent charges. I am told, but have not
been able to corroborate the story, that
before the fight the mounted infantry, who
had been sent out to scout in front of our
line of march, reported that the enemy
were retiring. It was common, though by
no means the universal, impression that
after their great defeat at El Teb the Arabs
would offer no serious resistance. The
report, if it really was made, of the mounted
infantry must naturally have influenced the
General in command, and led him to

advance at a faster pace and in less compact
order than the sequel proved to be right.
It has already appeared how the Arabs let
slip one or two opportunities of which a
civilized enemy would have taken advantage.
Another remains to be noticed. When the
two squares moved on to the attack, two or
three detachments were left behind in the
zareba to guard the ammunition and other
stores. Between the zareba and the First
Brigade the distance at the commencement
of the action could not, I think, have
exceeded five hundred yards. The Arabs,
when attempting to make their way between
it and the Second Brigade, might easily
have attacked the zareba and made very
short work of the small force holding it.
But for the heavy fire maintained by General
Buller's brigade, the Arabs would very
probably have rushed at the breastwork.
But, at the same time, it was open to them
to attack it on the right flank they seem
to have been sufficiently numerous even for
so extensive a movement and, if they had
done this, the First Brigade could not fire
into them without at the same time firing
into the zareba itself. The main effort of
the Arabs was directed against the Second
Brigade General Davis's the condition of
which, at the supreme crisis, must have
inspired them with the triumphant convic-
tion that they were just about to repeat at
Tamanieb the horror and carnage of the
Egyptian overthrow at El Teb.

General Baker himself had said that if
he had to fight another battle of El Teb he
would march in the same formation which
he adopted at the first time that, namely,
of a single large square. This declaration
has been discussed largely since last Thurs-
day, as regards its bearing on that day's
tactics and manoeuvring. Most judges ap-
pear favourable to the adoption of the single
formation. The question may now be of
comparatively little interest; but for the
consideration of those who may be engaged
in future wars of the Soudan type, it may
be pointed out that neither of our two
squares had any supports, by which a gap

342

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

in the sides might at any moment be filled.
The precaution was adopted at the second
battle of El Teb. Not even the gunners
of the Naval Brigade had any support last
Thursday. To this deficiency must be
largely attributed the heavy loss sustained
in officers and men by that splendid body.

We know, approximately, what the num-
bers were which attacked us at Tamai, or,
to use the name which is more generally
known, and is applicable to the whole dis-
trict, Tamanieb. But the numbers present
in the immediate vicinity of the actual scene
of conflict may never be ascertained. It is
believed there were large bodies which
never engaged us at all, which would have
swept upon us if the first rush had been
successful, and which drew off through the
ravines as soon as they saw how completely
the onslaught of their fellow-tribesmen had
been repulsed. Every Arab tribe, from
Kassala to Souakin, was represented there
on the day of the battle, and probably every
tribe has lost more or fewer of its bravest
warriors. The Arab tactics have been to
make their first rush with their very best
men, leaving it to the others to follow and
complete the confusion and hoped-for mas-
sacre. They were perhaps the most savagely
ferocious foes with whom British troops
have ever come in contact. I have spoken
of their courage, but it is the courage of
tigers, and the mood in which they have
engaged in these battles is the mood of
wild beasts mad with fury and thirsting for
blood. Their battles are battles in which
quarter is neither asked for nor given on
either side. Both at El Teb and at Tama-
nieb boys of twelve and fourteen years old
rushed on, armed with spear and club, like
their elders. The cubs instinctively showed
fight as soon as their teeth and claws grew.
On the morning after the battle a wounded
Arab was found near the zareba by Col.
Slade, who brought him in. I saw him
when the doctors were attending to him.
He received with brutish half-indifference,
half-satisfaction, the kind treatment to which
he was without delay subjected. He glared

in a curiously absent manner at the group
of persons who, standing around him, ad-
mired his lithe form, tall stature, and fine
eyes and features. A piece of bread was
given him. He gnawed half of it, and care-
lessly handed the other half of it away.
Had our captive suddenly recovered his
freedom and the use of his limbs, the very
first thing he would have done would be to
bound at the bundle of spears which a
soldier had collected from the field, seize
one, and thrust and stab right and left
among his benefactors until he himself
should be shot or cut down like a rabid
dog. At least ten men were killed on Thurs-
day in different parts of the field by woun-
ded Arabs or Arabs who pretended to be
dead. The last sight I had of the zareba
where we were kept awake all night by the
Arabs was that of our captive being con-
veyed to Souakin. He lay comfortably
on a stretcher which was borne by four of
the crew of H.M.S. Euryalus. A strange
partnership between ruthlessness and hu-
manity, savagery and civilization and civil-
ization was in the right. It was in the
right; though we deemed it necessary to
obliterate all traces of the four great graves
in which we reverently laid the remains of
the one hundred and twenty heroes who
too vainly shed their blood on that ever
memorable field. The graves have been
left level with the desert. The chaplain
and officers who attended at the sad cere-
mony can, by marks which they have care-
fully taken, identify the spot, and we hope
and believe that our comrades will rest un-
desecrated and undisturbed in their desert
graves."

The following beautiful lines of poetry
may here fitly find a place, as describing
the reflections of a soldier before a terrible
fight like this :

" Dear land of my birth, of my friends, of my love,

Shall I never again climb thy mountains,
Nor wander at eve through some lone leafy grove,

To list to the dash of thy fountains ?
Shall no hand that I love close my faint beaming

eye,
That darkens 'mid warfare and danger ?

OSMAN DIGNA.

343

Ah ! no, for I feel that my last heaving sigh
Must fleet on the gale of the stranger.

Then, farewell ye valleys, ye fresh blooming
bowers,

Of childhood the once happy dwelling :
No more in your haunts shall I chase the gay hours,

For death at my bosom is knelling.
But proudly the lotus shall bloom o'er my grave,

And mark where a freeman is sleeping ;
And my dirge shall be heard in the Nile's dashing
waves,

While the Arab his night watch is keeping.

Twas a soldier who spoke but his voice now is

gone,
And lowly the hero is lying ;

No sound meets the ear, save the crocodile's
moan,

Or the breeze through the palm-tree sighing.
But lone though he rests where the camel is seen

By the wilderness heavily pacing ;
His grave in our bosoms shall ever be green,

And his monument ne'er know defacing."

It was now thought that the object of
the expedition had been accomplished, as
orders were sent to General Graham to
evacuate the Eastern Soudan. This he
accordingly did, and thus one most unim-
portant chapter in the Soudan war came to
an end.

CHAPTER LXIV.

PSMAN PIGNA J-hs J^IFE AT SOUAKIN J3ECOM.ES THE

LIEUTENANT.

E have already given our
readers a detailed account
of the Mahdi ; we now fol-
low it up by an account
of his Emir, or lieutenant,
" Osman Ali, or, as he is sometimes
called, Abubekr, Digna, the grandson of a
Turkish merchant and slave-dealer, who
settled at Souakin some time in the begin-
ning of the century. This was long before
the seaport passed from Turkish to Egypt-
ian rule, and in the heyday of its prosperity
as a place of export of slaves to the Arabian
coast of the Red Sea. Ahmed Aga el
Digna, as the Turk was named, married a
woman of the Hadendowa tribe, a semi-
nomad people whose head-quarters are at
Fillik, not far from Kassala, and whose
territories extend from Fillik some two
hundred miles to the hills in the immediate
neighbourhood of Souakin. In accordance
with the tribal custom the children born
of this marriage assumed their mother's
nationality, and Ahmed Aga's eldest son,
Abubekr, the present Emir's father, was
regarded as a Hadendowa pure and simple.
Abubekr bequeathed to his two sons, Os-

man and Ahmed, a thriving trade in Euro-
pean cottons and cutlery, as also in ' hubba
soda ' ' black ivory grain ' the slang
term which the djellabs, or slave-dealers,
apply to their human chattels. When
Osman and his brother Ahmed succeeded
to their father's business, the house of Digna
reached the height of its prosperity. The
head-quarters of the firm were at Souakin,
on the outskirts of which was Osman's
garden, where nowadays the British soldier,
off duty, and with his hands in his pockets,
may occasionally be seen smoking the pipe
of contemplation. The Souakin branch of
the business was managed by Ahmed. His
brother Osman, of a more restless and
adventurous disposition, was travelling
partner, and he travelled far and wide, for
the Dignas had agencies at Jcddah, Kassala,
Berber, Khartoum, Sennaar, El Obeid, and
even at remote Darfour. In exchange for
European goods, the Souakin house re-
ceived from these localities ostrich feathers,
gums, ivory, pepper, skins, and other Cen-
tral African produce, besides black slaves,
some of whom were sold at the various
places at which the Dignawah caravans

344

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

called on their slow march to the coast,
while others were shipped on board the
firm's dhows for the trip to Jeddah, where
there was always a market for them. His
long journeys over the Soudan were useful
to Osman Digna in a sense which he did
not realize when he began them. They
enabled him to become acquainted with
the leaders of the anti-Egyptian movement
which, though not culminating in rebellion
until the year 1881-2, was distinctly recog-
nisable at least as early as 1869-70. A
man apparently of a reflective as well as
active character, Osman detected the spirit
of revolt, which was spreading throughout
the inner Soudan, its south-western regions
especially the regions which Zebehr Pasha,
Zebehr's son Suliman, and other chiefs, had
studded with their c zarebas,' or fortified
camps, from which either they, or others
with whom they were in alliance used to
sally forth on their man-hunting expedi-
tions.

In those years Osman made the ac-
quaintance of Zebehr Pasha. When on
the eve of Baker's expedition to Souakin,
Zebehr wrote, in his own name and that of
the Egyptian Government, a letter and
proclamation to Osman Digna, he reminded
him of their former meeting in Kordofan.
Zebehr's letter was eloquently and grace-
fully expressed, and most loyal in tone
but whether Zebehr believed that it would
have the slightest effect in bringing Osman
to reason is quite another question. It
may be remarked, in passing, that at this
very time, too, a young man named Moham-
med Ahmed the future Mahdi was on his
travels. Having run away from his carpen-
ter's apprenticeship, he was moving about
from one so-called theological " school " to
another ; by his austerities acquiring, among
some of the most abjectly superstitious
races of the earth, a great reputation for
magical powers; and gradually forming
among the Baggara and other Soudanese
chiefs the friendships and the marriage
alliances which he found so useful after he
disowned the Egyptian Government, and

all but exterminated the first body of the
Khedive's troops which was sent to capture
him. It would be interesting to know
whether the two ever met in the course of
their wanderings say during the seven or
eight years subsequent to 1870, a period
which covers the first popular recognition
of Mohammed Ahmed as a great Dervish,
and Osman Digna's first projects of revolt
against the Egyptian Government.

About the year 1870, the prosperity of
the Digna family began to decline, and in
seven years it fell. One of the causes of
its earlier luck suggests some not very
flattering reflections on the character of
Turkish or, what amounts to the same
thing, Egyptian rule everywhere. Osman's
brother filled for many years the office of
sheik or chief of the community or, as
we might call it, ' guild ' of merchants in
Souakin. As sheik, he was the interme-
diary between the Government and the class
of the population which he represented.
As sheik, too, Ahmed Digna had abundant
opportunities of assisting the family concern,
even in such a nefarious traffic as the sale
of slaves. As sheik of the merchants, his
first business was to make hay whilst the
sun shone to help himself. In this respect
he was neither better nor worse than the
rest of his fellow countrymen and co-religion-
ists. Ahmed was, however, superseded in
his office by the present incumbent, Chinawi
Bey, a wealthy merchant, originally from
Jeddah, who is said to have built and to
own most of the houses on the island of
Souakin, and who (but perhaps this may be
the account of those who dislike him for
personal reasons) is sometimes described
by his fellow-townsmen as the most grasp-
ing and ruthless of usurers. Osman Digna
and Company sustained serious losses in
the capture, by a British cruiser, of one or
two cargoes of slaves on their way to Jeddah
from a creek near Souakin. The vigilance
of the English officials necessitated great
precaution in the conveyance of slaves to
the coast, and in embarking them for
Arabia. Souakin being too closely watched,

THE "MAGNOON"

345

the caravan leaders used to avoid the sea-
port, and by unfrequented paths to deposit
their captives by twos and threes at some
deserted spot on the shore, whence they
might be run across the Red Sea when
opportunity offered. Then came the Anglo-
Egyptian Slave Convention, which com-
pleted the alarm and disgust of the djellabs,
and of all who were more or less directly
interested in the maintenance of a traffic
which they held to be permitted by Divine
law. It was then
that Osman Dig-
na, reduced to
despair by the
commercial ruin
of his house,
formed his first
schemes of re-
bellion.

The spot where
this occurred is
the prettiest in
the neighbour-
hood of Souakin.
It is close to a
splendid syca-
more tree, which
overspreads the
principal well
from which Sou-
akin is supplied,
and over which,
in the rainy sea-
son, it seems to
float like a Brob-
dingnagian green
bouquet To this

spot, about a mile from the town, Osman
Digna, one day about 1878, invited some of
his intimate friends to a secret conference.
They met, and Osman harangued them in
a pretty violent speech. The story is that
he denounced the alliance of a Moham-
medan Power, such as Egypt was, with the
Prankish nations; that he predicted the
commercial ruin of the Soudan as a conse-
quence of the prohibition of the slave-traffic ;
and that he proposed the disarmament that

very night of the weak Egyptian garrison,
and the proclamation of Arab indepen-
dence ; and that he then produced a Koran
upon which he urged his hearers to swear
fellowship with him in his revolutionary
enterprise. ' The Hadendowas, the Ama-
rars, the Beni Amers, and the tribes ' of the
Eastern Soudan, said Osman Digna, 'will
support us.' As the local garrison con-
sisted chiefly of a few harmless policemen
and decrepit warriors with rusty arms and
ragged clothes,
it might perhaps
have been over-
thrown without
much exertion ;
and in a few
years afterwards
the Soudani
tribes did join
Osman. But on
this occasion
Osman's friends
stared and smiled
at him. They
clearly showed
that they thought
him a 'magnoon'
ape, fool, ass,
as the word may
be freely and
variously trans-
lated. According
to one account
of this singular
interview, one of
the audience re-
marked that it

would be wiser to petition Ismail Pasha.
' Ismail,' screamed Osman, ' Ismail is a
Frank, he is a traitor to his religion, he
has agreed with the Christians to destroy
the customs of Islam, and the Christians
themselves wish to liberate our slaves in
order that they themselves may possess
them.' Osman could make nothing of
them ; in a fit of anger he told them they
deserved whatever hard fate the Christians
might bring upon them, and cursing them

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

roundly for their want of spirit and of
fidelity to their country and their religion,
he turned away and set out for the Erkovvit
hills, the high ridges of which, thirty miles
off, are seen from Souakin. This is, in its
main features, the story which the present
writer gathered at Souakin thirteen or four-
teen months ago.

During the next six years Osman appears
to have been engaged in travelling about
the Soudan, extending his visits to Khartoum
and beyond it. It would appear that he
was somewhere in the Central Soudan
when, in the summer of 1881, Mohammed
Ahmed, from his retreat in the little island
of Abba in the White Nile, proclaimed
himself to be the true Mahdi. However
that may have been, he lost no time, when
once the Mahdi's insurrection was fairly
started, in throwing in his lot with the new
Prophet. By his capture of El Obeid, in
1883, the Mahdi gained an influence and
a holy reputation which were increased
only by two subsequent feats, the destruc-
tion of Hicks Pasha's force, and the capture
of Khartoum. In the spring of 1883 Osman
Digna, with his head full of grand schemes,
reached El Obeid, where he paid his tribute
of reverence to God's Prophet, and offered
to serve the new cause in the Red Sea
territories. Osman's offer was accepted.
He left Obeid with the title of ' Emir' of the
Dervish of God, and with letters which he
was to distribute to the tribal sheiks, and
in which they were ordered to acknowledge
Osman's authority. He was joined by his
brother Ahmed from Souakin, who, before
starting for the interior, sold all the Digna
property in the place. Ahmed held high
rank under his brother Osman. But a much
more influential ally than Ahmed was the
Sheik Mahomed Tahir, originally of
Darner, a small town and district near
Berber. The accession of Sheik Tahir
indicates another of the very numerous and
complex motives of the Soudan insurrec-
tion. The slave chiefs were principally
impelled by resentment at interference with
their inhuman calling, and the slave-traders

have been the prime movers of the insur-
rection ; they were the first to support the
Mahdi, and they are still the backbone of
his following. Others joined in the insur-
rection, partly from genuine religious
motives, partly from dynastic reasons
both which were combined in Sheik
Tahir. An ancestor of Sheik Tahir was
chief of Darner when the Egyptians con-
quered the country sixty-five years ago ;
and he was implicated in the massacre of
the Egyptian leader, Ismail Pasha, and his
companions by the king of Shendy. Ismail
and his followers were burnt alive ; and
Sheik Abutaleb (Sheik Tahir's ancestor),
together with the ' Tiger ' of Shendy, fled
to Abyssinia. Shendy and Darner have
been hotbeds of disaffection ever since.
In the eyes of the people the dispossessed
Sheik Tahir embodied their country's
ancient cause, and his influence was
strengthened still more by his reputation
for sanctity. Whenever he went abroad
Sheik Tahir was surrounded by crowds
struggling for the honour of kissing his
hands, feet or raiment. His admirers
poured gifts upon him, among which were
many slaves. Pious as Sheik Tahir was,
he had taste and aptitude for worldly avoca-
tions ; and he had even slave-dealing trans-
actions with the far-travelled Osman Digna.
The Souakin gossips say that the holy man
sometimes lost pretty heavily in his partner-
ships with Osman. Here, then, was a man
who, in addition to his great popularity and
far-spread reputation for piety, inherited an
obligation of revenge. He and Osman
were friends. They had a common griev-
ance. Their opportunity had come, and
they seized it. Or rather, Osman had
seized it already ; for he had been invested
with his Emirship at El Obeid, by the
Dervish of God. So all that Osman had to
do on his return journey from Obeid was to
to take the holy Sheik Tahir with him into
the Hadendowa country. The indolent
security of the Egyptian officials at this
time in Khartoum and in Berber, where the
secret of Osman's mission had leaked out,

SIEGE OF KHARTOUM.

347

was thoroughly characteristic of them.
Suliman Pasha, the Governor-General of
Khartoum, laughed at the warnings he
received. He jokingly called Osman a
'magnoon,' and even declared that the
Hadendowas, in spite of their spears, were
a flock of sheep ! Past experience of the
Hadendowas perhaps justified his Excel-
lency's unflattering estimate of them. Up
to that time they had patiently borne
the oppressions of the real sheep the
Egyptians. Up to that time a crowd of
Hadendowas would have cowered at the
sight of an Egyptian with a gun on his
shoulder. But the time was near when a
multitude of Egyptian warriors would bolt
for dear life at the sight of a solitary
Hadendowa. This sudden change in the
conduct and spirit of the Hadendowas is
perhaps the most extraordinary fact in the
new history of the Soudan. The change

can be explained, but the explanation is
too long for our present space. In the
month of August, 1883, Osman Digna,
with his friend Sheik Tahir, appeared in
the Erkowit hills, and in the Mahdi's name
issued his proclamations and warnings to
the tribal sheiks and the officials of the
Egyptian Government. Just at the time
November 4 or 5, 1883 when General
Hicks' army was perishing of thirst, and
under the spears and fire of the Arabs at
Kashgil, Osman Digna's band was slaughter-
ing the Egyptian troops near the black
glistening rock not far from Tamai, which
Mr. F. Scudamore, one of the special
correspondents, appropriately named after
the Egyptian leader, Mount Kassim." And
so Osman Digna may be said to have from
this time fairly established himself in the
position of a prosperous and very highly
successful rebel chief.

CHAPTER LXV.

THE SIEGE OF KHARTOUM SUMMARY.

HUS, as we have seen, on
February iSth, 1884, Gor-
don arrived in Khartoum.
He was not able to carry
out his plans as he had in-
tended. In fact, the state of affairs did not
allow him to remove the imperilled garri-
sons and population to evacuate the Sou-
dan as he had proposed. About a month
after his arrival, Khartoum was strictly
invested, and right on from then till the
end of January, when the town fell through
treachery, there was almost continual fight-
ing. As, of course, the telegraph wire was
cut at a very early period, a great deal
of what passed during the siege was not,
and since the three Englishmen Gordon,
Stewart, and Power were all killed, as in-
deed were all the Europeans, will, as far as we

can see, never be known exactly. Still, a
good deal of information, not all of it exactly
trustworthy, has bit by bit come to light.
The newspaper correspondents on the field
were able to collect several narrations
from natives who were present at the end.
Also the diaries of Mr. Frank Power, the
Times correspondent at Khartoum, have
been received, and what is still more
precious, a part of the diary of General Gor-
don. From all these, then, we are able to get
a very fair general idea of what actually
took place. What we propose to do is, in
this chapter, to give in brief the story of
the siege, which we take from the same able
authority which did so much to bring
Gordon before the Government We are,
in the first place, to observe then that
" Khartoum, which fell by treachery on the

348

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

z6th January, 1885, was attacked in force
for the first time on March i2th, 1884.
General Gordon, charged with his mission
' to cut off the dog's tail,' leaving behind
him his watchword 'No Panic,' had arrived
at Khartoum on February i8th, and spent
his time between that date and the invest-
ment in sending down women and children,
2,000 of whom were sent safely through to
Egypt, in addition to 600 soldiers. It was
stated by Sir Evelyn Baring that there were
15,000 persons in Khartoum who ought to
be brought back to Egypt Europeans,
civil servants, widows and orphans, and a

garrison of one thousand men, one-third
of whom were disaffected. To get these
people out of Khartoum was General
Gordon's first duty, and the first condition
of evacuation was the establishment of a
stable government in the Soudan. The
only man who could establish that Govern-
ment was Zebehr. Gordon demanded
Zebehr with ever-increasing emphasis, and
his request was decisively refused. He
had then two alternatives either to sur-
render absolutely to the Mahdi or to hold
on to Khartoum at all hazards. While he
was strengthening his position the Mahdi

OUTSKIRTS OF GAREFF.

settled the question by suddenly assuming
the offensive. The first step in this
memorable siege was the daring march of
4,000 rebels to the Nile, by which on the
1 2th of March they cut off the 800 men at
Halfaya, a village to the north of Khartoum,
from the city. A steamer was sent down
to reconnoitre, and the moment she reached
the front of the rebel position a volley was
fired into her, wounding an officer and a
soldier. The steamer returned the fire,
killing five rebels. Thus hostilities began.
Our only justification for assuming the
offensive, wrote General Gordon on March
1 3th, 'is the extrication of the Halfaya

garrison.' The rebels, however, did not
give him the chance. They cut off three
companies of his troops who had gone out
to cut wood, capturing eight of their boats,
and killing or dispersing 100 to 150 men.
They entrenched themselves along the
Nile and kept up a heavy rifle fire. Re-
treat for the garrison was obviously im-
possible when the rebel force covered the
river, the only line of retreat, with their
fire. Twelve hundred men were put on
board two grain barges, towed by three
steamers defended with boiler plates, and
carrying mountain guns protected by
wooden mantlets ; and, with the loss of

SIEGE OF KHARTOUM.

349

only two killed, they succeeded in extrica-
ting the 500 men left of the garrison of
Halfaya, and capturing 70 camels and 18
horses, with which they returned to Khar-
toum. The rebels, however, held Halfaya,

and on March i6th, Gordon tried to drive
them away. Advancing from a stockaded
position covering the north front of the
town, 2,000 troops advanced across the open
in square supported by the fire of the guns

MAP OF THE SOUDAN.

of two steamers. The rebels were retreat-
ing when Hassan and Seid Pashas, Gordon's
black generals, rode into the wood and
called back the enemy. The Egyptians
broke and fled, and were pursued to within
a mile of the stockade. After this affair he

was convinced that he could not take the
offensive, but must remain quiet at Khar-
toum, and wait till the Nile rose.

Six days later the black pashas were
tried by court martial, found guilty, and
shot. A very determined attack upon one

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

of the steamers coming up from Berber, at
the Salboka pass, was beaten off with great
slaughter, Gordon's men firing no fewer
than 1 5,000 rounds of Remington ammuni-
tion. Meanwhile his efforts to negotiate
failed. ' I will make you Sultan of Kor-
dofan,' he said on arrival to the Mahdi.
'I am the Mahdi,' replied Mohammed Ah-
med, by emissaries who were ' exceedingly
cheeky,' keeping their hands upon their
swords and laying a filthy patched dervish's
coat before him ' Will you become a
Mussulman ? ' Gordon flung the bundle
across the room, cancelled the Mahdi's
Sultanship, and the war was renewed.
From that day to the day of the betrayal
no day passed without bullets dropping
into Khartoum.

Gordon now set to work in earnest to
place Khartoum in a defensible position.
Ten thousand of the Mahdi's sympathisers
left Khartoum and joined the enemy. The
steamers kept up a skirmishing fight on
both Niles. All the houses on the north
side of Khartoum were loopholed. A 16-
pounder Krupp was mounted on a barge,
and wire was stretched across the front of
the stockade. The houses on the northern
bank of the Blue Nile were fortified and
garrisoned by Bashi-Bazouks. Omdurman
was held and fortified on the west and Buri
on the east On the 25th of March Gordon
had to disarm and disband 250 Bashi-Ba-
zouks who refused to occupy stockaded
houses in a village on the south bank of the
Blue Nile (Buri ?). The rebels advanced on
Hadji Ali, a village to the north of the
Nile, and fired into the palace. They were
shelled out of their position, but constantly
returned to harass the garrison. They
seemed to Gordon mere tag-rag and bob-
tail, but he dare not go out to meet them
for fear of the town. Five hundred brave
men could have cleared out the lot, but he
had not a hundred. The fighting was con-
fined to artillery fire on one side and desul-
tory rifle shooting on the other. This went
on till the end of March. The rebels
clustered more closely round the town. On

April 19 Gordon telegraphed that he had
provisions for five months, and if he only
had 2,000 to 3,000 Turkish troops he could
soon settle the rebels. Unfortunately he
received not one fighting man. Shendy fell
into the hands of the rebels. Berber followed,
and then for months no word whatever
reached this country from Khartoum.

On the 2gth September Mr. Power's tele-
gram, dated July 31, was received by the
Times. From that we gather a tolerably
clear notion of the way in which the war
went on. Anything more utterly absurd
than the accusation that Gordon forced
fighting on the Mahdi cannot be conceived.
He acted uniformly on the defensive,
merely trying to clear his road of an attack-
ing force, and failing because he had no
fighting men to take the offensive. He
found himself in a trap, out of which he
could not cut his way. If he had possessed
a single regiment, the front of Khartoum
might have been cleared with ease, but his
impotence encouraged the rebels, and they
clustered round in ever-increasing numbers
until at last they crushed his resistance.
After the middle of April the rebels began
to attack the palace in force, having ap-
parently established themselves on the
north bank. The loss of life was chiefly
occasioned by the explosion of mines de-
vised by General Gordon, and so placed as
to explode when trodden on by the enemy.
Of all his expedients these mines were the
most successful and the least open to any
accusation of offensive operations. The
rebels closed in all round towards the end
of April, and General Gordon surrounded
himself with a formidable triple barrier of
land torpedoes, over which were strewn
broken glass and crows'-feet. A wire en-
tanglement and a formidable chevaux de
frise enabled the garrison to feel somewhat
secure. On the 27th of April Valeh Bey sur-
rendered at Mesalimeh, a disaster by which
General Gordon lost one steamer, seventy
shiploads of provisions, and 2,000 rifles.

General Gordon was now entirely cut off
from the outside world, and compelled to

SIEGE OP KHARTOUM.

rely entirely upon his own resources. He
sent out negroes to entice the slaves of
the rebels to come over, promising
them freedom and rations. This he
thought would frighten the rebels more
than bullets. It would be the beginning of
the end of slavery up here, and the rebels
would desert a locality so dangerous to
their hold on their live chattels. On April
26th he made his first issue of paper-money,
to the extent of .2,500, redeemable in six
months. By July 3oth it had risen to
"26,000, besides the ^50,000 borrowed
from merchants. On the same day he
struck decorations for the defence of Khar-
toum, for officers in silver, silver-gilt and
pewter for the private soldiers. These
medals bear a crescent and a star, with
words from the Koran, and the date with
an inscription Siege of Khartoum and a
hand-grenade in the centre. ' School chil-
dren and women,' he wrote, ' also received
medals ; consequently, I am very popular
with the black ladies of Khartoum.'

The attacks of the rebels were kept up
with vigour at the beginning of May. On
May 6th a heavy attack on Buri was re-
pulsed with great loss of life, chiefly caused
by the explosion of mines. On May yth
the Arabs attacked in force from the north
front, seizing the houses and holding them
for three days, notwithstanding the ex-
plosion of nine mines, which cost them
1 15 lives. On the gth, however, they were
driven out, and after that, although the
firing never ceased, there was a comparative
cessation of attacks in force. On May 25111,
Colonel Stewart was slightly wounded in
the arm, when working a mitrailleuse near
the Palace. A gun was mounted on both
the Palace and the Government House, and
at a subsequent period of the siege General
Gordon built himself a tower from which
he watched over the whole of the fortifica-
tions. All through May and June his
steamers made foraging expeditions up and
down the Nile, shelling the rebels when they
showed in force, and bringing back much
cattle to the city. On Midsummer Day,

Mr. Cuzza, formerly Gordon's agent at
Berber, but now a prisoner of the Mahdi's,
was sent to the wells to announce the cap-
ture of Berber. It was sad news for the
three Englishmen alone in the midst of a
hostile Soudan. Undaunted they continued
to stand at bay, rejoicing greatly that in
one, Saati Bey, they had at least a brave
and capable officer. Saati had charge of
the steamers, and for two months he had
uninterrupted success, in spite of the twisted
telegraph wires which the rebels stretched
across the river. Unfortunately, on July
loth, Saati, with Colonel Stewart and 200
men, after burning Kalaka and three villages,
attacked Gatarnulb. Eight Arab horsemen
rode at the 200 Egyptians. The 200 fled at
once, not caring to fire their Remingtons,
and poor Saati was killed. Colonel Stewart
narrowly escaped a similar fate.

' Be assured,' wrote General Gordon on
July 3oth, 'that these hostilities are far
from being sought for, but we have no
option. Retreat is impossible, unless we
abandon the employe's and their families,
which the general feeling of the troops is
against' Two days before writing that
despatch, Mehemet AH Pasha with the
Soudan regiments made an attack from
Buri upon the rebels, who had been firing
day and night into our lines. It was bril-
liantly successful at a loss of only four
killed. The next day Mr. Power went up
to Gareff, on the Blue Nile, with five
armoured steamers and four of the armoured
barges, on which General Gordon had raised
castles twenty feet high, giving a double
line of fire. Between Gareff and Khartoum
the rebels had lined the river bank with no
fewer than thirteen small forts, all of which
they cleared out. At Gareff they found
two strong earthwork forts, bound together
by trunks of palm-trees. One of them was
defended by two cannons. The Krupp
gun disabled the cannon after a bombard-
ment of eight hours. ' You may rely on
this," said General Gordon, ' that if there
was any possible way of avoiding these
wretched fights, I should adopt it, for the

352

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

whole war is hateful to me.' Fortunately,
however, although two of his steamers had
received 970 and 800 hits on their hulls
respectively, and his men had fired half a
million cartridges in four months, he cal-
culated that he had lost only thirty killed
and sixty wounded since the action for
which the black pashas were shot.

All the ammunition was stored in the
large mission premises on the river. At
the beginning of August food was thirty
times its usual price. The poor were
rationed. The conduct of the people and
troops was excellent, and they lived in con-
stant expectation of the arrival of relief
from England. Gordon repeatedly declared,
' I will not leave these people after all they
have gone through. I shall not leave
Khartoum until I can put some one in.'
Again he said, ' I stay at Khartoum because
Arabs have shut us up and will not let us
out. I also add that even if the road was
opened the people would not let me go
unless I gave them some government or
took them with me, which I could not do.'

After July 3151 there is a sudden cessa-
tion of regular communications. Power's
journal breaks off then, and we are left to
more or less meagre references in Gordon's
despatches. On the 23rd of August he sent
a characteristic message, in which he an-
nounces that the Nile having risen, he has
sent Colonel Stewart, Mr. Power, and the
French Consul to take Berber, occupy it
for fifteen days, burn it, and then return to
Khartoum. Colonel Stewart was to pro-
ceed to Dongola. When the steamers
returned to Khartoum General Gordon
would send to the Equatorial provinces
and rescue their garrisons. He wrote : ' I
will look after the troops in the Equator,
Bahr-el-Ghazel, and in Darfour, although it
cost me my life.' Again he said : ' The
prosperity of Egypt can only follow the
restoration of peace in the Soudan.' In
Gordon's opinion it was the dread of the
appearance of English or Turkish troops
which alone led the Mahdi to refrain so
long from effectually attacking Khartoum.

As month after month rolled by and no
relieving force made its appearance, 'we
appeared even as liars to the people of
Khartoum,' said General Gordon. He had
promised them Zebehr : Zebehr had never
come. He promised them relief : no relief
arrived. He had borrowed their money
to feed the starving, and now his paper
money seemed as if it would never be re-
deemed. The outlook was black : but the
Nile was rising, and if once Colonel Stewart
got through to Dongola much might be
done. At the beginning of August, with
three steamers and part of the garrison, he
seized 5,000 quarters of grain, and re-
plenished his almost exhausted granary.
He joined hands with the garrison of
Sennaar, and thus severed the rebels in two
by the Blue Nile. On August i2th a
determined attack was made by 5,000
rebels upon Khartoum.

The exact locality of all these fights is
somewhat obscure; but this prolonged
struggle in which ultimately the attacking
force of 5,000 was beaten back with a loss
of i, 800 and two sheiks was fought for
the possession of the loopholed houses to
the north of the town. From that time
onward communications with Gordon were
very fitful No news was ever allowed to
pass the rebel lines. Messenger after
messenger was seized. All the late mes-
sages from Gordon, except a long despatch
of November 4th, which has never been
published, were written on tissue paper no
bigger than a postage stamp, and either
concealed in a quill thrust into the hair, or
sewn on the waistband of the natives em-
ployed. Gordon seems to have been most
active in August and September, when the
Nile was high. He had 8,000 men at
Khartoum and Sennaar. He reoccupied
Halfaya, driving out the rebels, who lost
two sheiks. He sent Colonel Stewart
and the troops with the steamers to re-
capture Berber. A steamer which bore a
rough effigy of Gordon at the prow was
said to be particularly dreaded by the
rebels. On August 26th he reported that

SIEGE OF KHARTOUM.

353

he had provisions for five months, but in
the forays made by his steamer on the
southern Niles he enormously replenished
his stores. On one of these southern raids
he took with him 6,000 men in thirty-four
boats, towed by nine steamers.

Roused by this activity, the Mahdi him-
self left Obeid and advanced in person to
the siege. Arriving before Omdurman
about the beginning of November he sum-
moned Gordon to surrender. To the
previous summons, Gordon had replied :
' If you are the true Mahdi, dry up the
Nile and come and take me.' To another
summons Gordon replied, 'Surrender
Khartoum? Not for twelve years.' The
Mahdi, who had 25,000 and four Krupps,
according to one account, and 30,000 foot
and 2,000 horse according to another, there-
upon began the attack on Omdurman.
Gordon, with twelve steamers, replied with
such effect that after eight hours' hard fight-
ing the Mahdi was driven southward to El
MargatL This appears to have been the
most decisive victory gained by General
Gordon during the siege.

After his defeat before Omdurman the
Mahdi is said to have made a very remark-
able prophecy. He retired into a cave for
three days, and on his return he told his
followers that Allah had revealed that for
sixty days there would be a rest, and after
that blood would flow like water. The
Mahdi was right. Almost exactly sixty
days after that prophecy there was fought
the battle of Abu Klea.

Stewart had by this time been killed on
his way down from Berber to Dongola, to
which place Gordon had sent him. Gordon
was all alone. The old men and women
who had friends in the neighbouring vil-
lages left the town. The uninhabited part
was destroyed, the remainder was inclosed
by a wall. In the centre of Khartoum he
had built himself a tower, from the roof of
which he kept a sharp look-out with his
field-glass in the day time. At night he
went the rounds of the fortifications, cheer-
ing his men and keeping them on the alert

against attacks. Treachery was always his
greatest dread. Many of the townsfolk
sympathised with the Mahdi ; he could not
depend on all his troops, and he could only
rely on one of his pashas, Mehemet Ali.
He rejoiced exceedingly in the news of the
approach of the British relieving force. He
illuminated Khartoum and fired salutes in
honour of the news, and he doubled his
exertions to fill his granaries with grain.
On the 2ist of November his steamers
brought in thirty boatloads of grain from
the Blue Nile, the price falling at once to
30^. per ardeb.

The last detailed message arrived from
Gordon November i3th. It was dated
November 4th, and was addressed to Lord
Wolseley, and contained 800 words. It
gave many directions as to what should be
done, and repudiated most emphatically
the idea that the expedition was coming to
rescue him. ' You are coming,' he wrote,
' not to relieve me, but to rescue the garri-
sons which I was unable to withdraw.' He
had previously received a message from
Wolseley of October i4th, so that at this
time Khartoum and Dongola were within
ten or fifteen days of each other. A sub-
sequent message received on December
8th gave further news of his operations.
Gordon was then making powder, repairing
disabled steamers, and actually building
two new ones. His Admiral Kasham Amors
with five steamers and 500 men had driven
the rebels from the banks of the Nile as far
as Shendy, and had brought in large supplies
of grain. The Nile from Sennaar to Shendy
was patrolled by his steamers, and, although
the Mahdi had 15,000 troops on the west
bank of the Nile, all was going well inside,
with one exception.

On the 1 4th of December a letter was
received by one of his friends in Cairo from
General Gordon, saying, ' Farewell ! You
will never hear from me again. I fear that
there will be treachery in the garrison, and
all will be over by Christmas.' It was this
melancholy warning that led Lord Wolseley
to order the dash across the desert. Of

A A

354

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

the origin of his foreboding nothing is
known. Sir Henry Gordon appears to
believe that the 500 men who joined the
garrison of Khartoum from the forces of
the Mahdi in September may have been
the traitors. Of this there is no evidence.
One Farag Pasha was the man who opened
the gates, and he probably was with Gordon
from the first.

On the 1 6th of December came news
that the Mahdi had again failed in his
attack on Omdurman. Gordon had blown
up the fort which he had built over against
the town, and inflicted great loss on his
assailants, who, however, invested the city
closely on all sides. The Mahdi had re-
turned to Omdurman where he had con-
centrated his troops. From thence he sent
14,000 men to Berber to recruit the forces
of Osman Digna, and it was these men
probably that fought us at Abu Klea.

After this nothing was heard beyond the
rumour that Omdurman was captured and
two brief messages from Gordon. The first,
which arrived January ist, was as follows :
' Khartoum all right C. E. Gordon.
December i4th, 1884.' The second was
brought by the steamers which met General
Stewart at Metemmeh on January 2ist:
' Khartoum all right ; could hold out for
years. C. E. Gordon. December 29th.'

On the 26th January Farag Pasha opened
the gates of the city to the enemy, and one
of the most famous sieges in the world's
history came to a close. It had lasted from
March i2th to January 26th exactly 320
days," or very nearly one year from his
departure for Khartoum.

We append from the same authority a
chronological summary :

" General Gordon left London for Khar-
toum on the i8th January, 1884. On the
9th of January Colonel Coetlegon tele-
graphed from Khartoum to the Khedive
strongly urging an immediate withdrawal
from Khartoum. He said that one-third
of the garrison was unreliable, and ' even if
it were twice as strong as it is it would not
hold Khartoum against the whole country.'

On the 5th January, 1884, General Gordon
had accepted a commission from the King
of the Belgians to proceed to the Congo.
On the 8th of January, our representative
had an interview with Gordon at South-
ampton. On the following day the account
of that interview appeared in the Pall
Mall Gazette. It was strongly urged that
Gordon should be sent out with carte
blanche to do the best that he could. This
view was strongly supported by the press,
irrespective of party, and the Government
finally determined to accept the suggestion.
On the 1 5th he arrived in town from South-
ampton and had an interview with Lord
Wolseley at the War Office, and expressed
his confidence that the Soudanese diffi-
culties could] be settled. The following is
a diary of the mission :

1884.

Jan. 18. Gordon left Charing Cross, at 8 p.m.

Jan. 24. Arrived at Port Said.

Jan. 25. Arrived at Cairo.

Jan. 27. Gordon and Stewart left for Khartoum.

Feb. 2. Gordon arrived at Korosko and entered
Desert.

Feb. 4. Massacre of Baker Pasha's force at El
Teb, near Tokar.

Feb. 9. Gordon arrived at Berber.

Feb. 13. Gordon left Berber.

Feb. 1 8. Arrived at Khartoum. Issued pro-
clamation to inhabitants remitting taxation and
sanctioning slave-trade.

Feb. 29. Battle of El Teb.

Mar. 7. Gordon proposed that Zebehr should be
sent to Khartoum to succeed him.

Mar. 13. Defeat of Osman Digna at Tamai.

Mar. 1 6. Defeat of Gordon at Halfaya.

Mar. 21. Fighting reported at Khartoum ;
relief of the garrison of Halfaya by Gordon.

Mar. 24. Whole country south of Berber in a
state of revolution ; Khartoum invested.

April 9. News received from Gordon dated
March 30. From 24th to end of month Gordon
had frequent successful engagements with the
enemy.

April 1 6. Zebehr at Cairo received Gordon's
appointment as Assistant-Governor of the Soudan,
which Zebehr declines.

April 24. Berber invested.

May 9. News received that Gordon had defeated
rebels on White Nile.

May IO. British military authorities in Cairo
ordered to prepare for the despatch in October of
an expeditionary force for the relief of Khartoum.

SIEGE OF KHARTOUM.

355

Twelve thousand camels to be purchased. Active
war preparation in England.

May 27. News from Mudir of Dongola that he
has defeated rebels.

June 10. News received of fall of Berber and
massacre of garrison ; 3,50x3 persons killed.

July 20. General Gordon had written to Mudir
of Dongola dated June 22. Gordon said he had
8,000 men with him at Khartoum, and asked if re-
inforcements were coming.

July 23. Mudir of Dongola defeats 5,000 rebels
near Debbah.

Aug. 5. Credit vote for expedition for .300,000
passed in Commons.

Aug. 7. News received that Gordon, Stewart,
and Mr. Power are all well, and on 29th that he
had provisions for four months.

Aug. 10. Gordon gains victory, in which 1, 800
rebels were killed.

Aug. 14. Nile route adopted.

Aug. 28. Lord Wolseley appointed.

Sept. 8. News of Mudir of Dongola's victory
over rebels.

Sept. 10. Lord Wolseley arrives at Cairo.

Sept. 12. News that Gordon had attacked Ber-
ber ; also report that he had been actively engaged
on the river south of Khartoum, and that he had
captured two islands from the rebels.

Sept. 19. Telegrams arrive from Gordon com-
plaining of slackness of expedition, rebels increas-
ing.

Oct. 4. Lord Wolseley arrives at Wady Haifa.

Oct. 6. Wreck and massacre of Colonel Stewart
and party near Berber.

Oct. 17. Bombardment of Metemmeh by Gor-
don with three steamers and eighteen nuggars.

Nov. 2. At Dongola. 1st battalion South
Staffordshire embark on 5th. Practically com-
mencement of advance,

Nov. 8. Letter received from General Gordon,
confirming report of Colonel Stewart's death, and

saying he has sufficient provisions to hold out till
expedition arrives.

Nov. 15. General Earle arrives at Dongola.

Nov. 25. Guards Camel Corps arrive at Handak.

Nov. 28. Naval brigade formed under Lord
Charles Beresford.

Dec. 2. Colonel Bumaby arrives at Wady Haifa
and appointed inspecting staff officer.

Dec. 12. Head -quarters transferred to Ambukol.
Sir Herbert Stewart proceeds to Korti with mounted
infantry and Guards Camel Corps.

Dec. 15. Sir Herbert Stewart arrives at Korti.

Dec. 1 6. Lord Wolseley arrives at Korti.

Dec. 29. General Stewart ordered to take the
desert route to Metemmeh. General Earle to go
up the Nile.

Dec. 30. Departure of General Stewart for
Metemmeh.

1885.

Jan. I. Message from Gordon ' Khartoum all
right, December 14. C. G. Gordon.'

Jan. 2. First portion of Stewart's force arrived
at Gakdul.

Jan. 14. Advance from Gakdul for Metemmeh.

Jan. 17. Attacks the Mahdi's forces at Abu
Klea Wells, gaining a victory.

Jan. 1 8. Reported capture of Omdurman by the
Mahdi.

Jan. 19. General Stewart again attacked by the
Mahdi's forces at Gubat, when enemy were once
more defeated. General Stewart wounded.

Jan. 20. Established on the banks of the Nile
at Gubat.

Jan. 21. Reconnaissance in force of Metemmeh,
assisted by four steamers sent down by General
Gordon, with message dated December 29.
' Khartoum all right, could hold out for years.'

Jan. 22. Reconnaissance on Shendy.

Jan. 24. Sir C. Wilson left for Khartoum with
two steamers and a detachment of Sussex Regiment.

Jan. 26. Fall of Khartoum."

356

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

CHAPTER LXVI.

GORDON DESPATCHES RELATING TO THE KHARJOUM

EXPEDITION.

E shall now proceed to give
various despatches of Gene-
ral Gordon which before
communication was broken
he sent to the authorities at
home. To make these plainer we give
some not from him to elucidate the others.
"Sir E. Baring to Earl Granville. (Re-
ceived by telegraph, February 6.)

CAIRO, February 6, 1884.
My Lord, I have the honour to inform
your lordship that General Gordon left the
following message to be given to Mr. Clif-
ford Lloyd, through Lieutenant Rhodes,
who came out in the same ship with him :
'Tell Lloyd, no panics. It is possible
that I may go to the Mahdi, and not be
heard of for two months, for he might keep
me as a hostage for Zebehr. You can tell
Lloyd this when you get to Cairo, so that
he can publish it at the right time, if
necessary.' Owing to Mr. Lloyd's recent
illness, this message was not given to me
until after General Gordon had started from
Korosko by the caravan route across the
desert to Berber : and no telegrams can
reach him till his arrival there. I have
telegraphed to him to Berber, repeating the
message Mr. Lloyd received, and adding :
' I hope you will give me a positive assu-
rance that you will on no account put your-
self voluntarily in the power of the Mahdi.
The question is not a personal one. There
would, in my opinion, be the strongest
political objections to your risking a visit
to the Mahdi/ I had intended to wait
before communicating on the subject with
your lordship until I had received General
Gordon's answer from Berber, where he will
probably arrive on the 8th. But the tele-
graph line between Berber and Khartoum
has now been cut by the tribes of that

district, so that I may be unable to com-
municate with him by telegraph when once
he leaves the former place. I venture,
therefore, to request that your lordship will
inform me as soon as possible whether I
may give General Gordon a positive order
from her Majesty's Government that he is
on no account to visit the Mahdi. I have,
etc.,

(Signed) E. BARING."
" Earl Granville to Sir E. Baring.

FOREIGN OFFICE,
February 6, 1884, 11.15 P- m -

Your message to General Gordon, re-
ferred to in your telegram of to-day, is
approved, and you are authorized, if you
think it necessary and desirable to do so,
to convey to General Gordon our approval
of it."

" Sir E. Baring to Earl Granville. (Re-
ceived by telegraph, February 9.)

CAIRO, February 9, 1884.

My Lord, I have the honour to inclose
copy of a letter from General Gordon, in-
closing a letter to be forwarded to the King
of the Belgians, in which he urges his
Majesty to occupy the Bahr-Gazelle and
the Equatorial provinces, and to appoint
him Governor-General of all that country.
He seems to intend to go straight on in
that direction from Khartoum. I do not
think that General Gordon should be
allowed, at all events for the present, to go
anywhere south of Khartoum. I have,
etc.,

(Signed) E. BARING."

Inclosure.
"Major-General Gordon to Sir E. Baring.

KOROSKO, February i, 1884.
My dear Sir Evelyn Baring, Here is a
letter I have written to the King of the
Belgians. His Majesty told me he would

OFFICIAL DESPATCHES.

357

take these two provinces if he could get
them when I was at Brussels ; also that he
would take over the troops in them. You
might mention this to the Foreign Office,
and send them copy of the letter. It would
settle the slave trade. Yours, etc.,

(Signed) C. G. GORDON."

" Earl Granville to Sir E. Baring.
FOREIGN OFFICE, February n, 1884.
Sir, I have received your telegram of
the Qth inst, informing me that you have
received a letter from General Gordon,
from which it appears that that officer con-
templates proceeding to Bahr-Gazelle and
the Equatorial provinces. I have to state
that her Majesty's Government are of
opinion that General Gordon should not at
present go beyond Khartoum. I am, etc.,
(Signed) GRANVILLE."

" Sir E. Baring to Earl Granville. (Re-
ceived by telegraph, Feb. n.)

CAIRO, February u, 1884.
My Lord, With reference to my des-
patch of the 6th instant, I have the honour*
to inform your lordship that I have received
a telegram from General Gordon stating as
regards the message conveyed to me by
Lieutenant Rhodes, that he has no inten-
tion of visiting the Mahdi. I have, etc.,
(Signed) E. BARING."

" Sir E. Baring to Earl Granville. (Re-
ceived by telegraph, Feb. 1 2.)

CAIRO, February 12, 1884.
My Lord, With reference to your lord-
ship's telegram of yesterday, I have the
honour to inform your lordship that I have
to-day received a telegram from General
Gordon from Berber, stating that he will
not go further south than Khartoum with-
out my permission. I have, etc.,

(Signed) E. BARING."
"Sir E. Baring to Earl Granville. (Re-
ceived by telegraph, April 16.)

CAIRO, April 16, 1884.
My Lord, I have just received a tele-
gram from General Gordon, of which I
inclose a copy, in which he states that he
considers himself free to act according to

circumstances, that he shall hold on to
Khartoum as long as he can, and will
endeavour to suppress the rebellion, and
that if he cannot do so he will retire to the
Equator. General Gordon has informed
Colonel Stewart and Mr. Power that they
should go to Berber as soon as it is possible
to send steamers down. I have, however,
received the inclosed telegrams from
Colonel Stewart and Mr. Power, from
which it appears that they both elect to
follow General Gordon to the Equator. I
have, etc.,

(Signed) E. BARING."

Inclosure.
" Major-General Gordon to Sir E. Baring.

KHARTOUM, April 16, 1884, 5.15 p.m.

As far as I can understand, the situation
is this : You state your intention of not
sending any relief up here or to Berber,
and you refuse me Zebehr. I consider
myself free to act according to circum-
stances. I shall hold on here as long as I
can, and if I can suppress the rebellion I
shall do so. If I cannot I shall retire to the
Equator, and leave you indelible disgrace
of abandoning the garrisons of Sennaar,
Kassala, Berber, and Dongola, with the
certainty that you will eventually be forced
to smash up the Mahdi under great diffi-
culties if you would retain peace in
Egypt."

Inclosure 2.

" Lieutenant-Colonel Stewart to Sir E.

Baring.
KHARTOUM, April , 1884.

General Gordon has acquainted me with
your intention of not relieving Khartoum,
and proposes I should go to Berber and
trust to success of your negotiations for
opening road from Souakin to Berber.
General Gordon has given you his decision
as to what he himself intends doing, and,
weighing all circumstances, and doubting
the success of your opening the road to
Berber, unless by advancing troops, I am
inclined to think my retreat will be perhaps
safer by the Equator. I shall, therefore,
follow the fortunes of General Gordon."

358

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

Inclosure 3.
" Mr. Power to Sir E. Baring.

KHARTOUM, April, 1884.
General Gordon, in view of the present
critical situation here, has made the follow-
ing intimation to me : ' As soon as it is
possible I propose you should go to Berber.
If you do not so elect, then justify me
to British Minister.' General Gordon of
course does not like responsibility of taking
English Consul to Equator, but at present
I do not see how it is possible for any but
an Arab to get to Berber. I would elect
to take the less risky route, and go via
Equator. We are quite blocked on the
north, east, and west."
"Sir E. Baring to Earl Granville. Re-
ceived by telegraph, April 18.)

CAIRO, April 18, 1884.
My Lord, I have just received a tele-
gram from General Gordon, dated the loth
instant, from which it appears that he has
not received my important telegram of the
1 7th ultimo, which is referred to in my
despatch of the following day. He says :
' The only telegram I have received from
you since the xoth March was received
yesterday, the gth April, informing me that
I should not expect British troops to
advance from Souakin to Berber. If you
sent others I have not received them.' I

have, etc.,

(Signed) E. BARING."

In a despatch of the same date, already
published, Sir E. Baring says :

" It is most unfortunate that, of all the
telegrams which I have sent to him since
the loth March, only one very short one
of the 23rd appears to have reached him.
General Gordon appears to think he is to
be abandoned, and is very indignant, as
you will have observed from my despatch
of the i6th."

Inclosure.

" Major-General Gordon to Sir E. Baring.
KHARTOUM, April 8, 1884.

The man who brought letters from Ber-
ber states Zebehr is at Korosko ; if so, you
did not tell me this important fact.

Scarcely a day passes without our inflicting
losses on rebels, which losses are quite
unnecessary if we are eventually to suc-
cumb. Cuzzi sent me copy of his telegram
to you, and I quite concur in what he says
of the futility of negotiations respecting
road to Berber. I have telegraphed to
Baker to make an appeal to British and
American millionaires to give me .300,000
to engage 3,000 Turkish troops from Sultan,
and send them here. This would settle
the Soudan and Mahdi for ever; for my
part, I think you would agree with me. I
do not see the fun of being caught here
to walk about the streets for years as a
Dervish, with sandalled feet; not that
(D.V.) I will ever be taken alive. It
would be the climax of meanness after I
had borrowed money from the people here,
had called on them to sell their grain at a
low price, etc., to go and abandon them
without using every effort to relieve them,
whether those efforts are diplomatically
correct or not ; and I feel sure, whatever
you may feel diplomatically, I have your
support and that of every man professing
himself a gentleman in private."

And so in very plain terms Gordon ex-
pressed himself.

Mixed with much that is tragic, especially
when we consider the end, there is still
something that is a little ludicrous in these
telegrams. Really the Government did not
know quite what to do with this strange
individual. But then, if he had been ordinary
and common-place, what good would he
have done at Khartoum? Then he de-
manded that Zebehr should be sent to
take command in the Soudan. Of course,
Zebehr had been mixed up with all sorts of
iniquitous proceedings in connection with
slavery in the Soudan, and was besides a
bitter enemy of Gordon's; but Gordon,
notwithstanding, justifies his appointment as
follows :

" KHARTOUM, March 8, 1884.

The sending of Zebehr means the
extrication of the Cairo employe's from
Khartoum, and the garrisons from Sennaar

ZEBEHR PASHA.

359

and Kassala. I can see no possible way to
do so except through him, who, being a
native of the country, can rally the well-
affected round him, as they know he will
make his home here. I do not think that
the giving a subsidy to Zebehr for some two
years would be in contradiction to the
policy of entire evacuation. It would be
nothing more than giving him a lump sum
in two instalments under the conditions I
have already written.

As for slave-holding, even had we held
the Soudan, we could never have interfered
with it. I have already said that the treaty
of 1877 was an impossible one ; therefore,
on that head Zebehr's appointment would
make no difference whatever. As for slave-
hunting, the evacuation of the Bahr-Gazelle
and Equatorial provinces would entirely
prevent it. Should Zebehr attempt, after
his two years' subsidy was paid him, to take
those districts, we could put pressure on
him at Souakin, which will remain in our
hands. I feel sure that Zebehr will be so
occupied with the Soudan proper, and with
consolidating his position, that he will not
have time to devote to those provinces.

As for the security of Egypt, Zebehr's
stay in Cairo has taught him our power, and
he would never dream of doing anything
against Egypt. He would rather seek its
closest alliance, for he is a great trader. As
to progress made in extrication of garrisons,
all I have done is to send down from
Khartoum all the sick men, women, and
children of those killed in Kordofan.
Sennaar, I heard to-day, is quite safe and
quiet. Kassala will hold out without difficulty
after Graham's victory, but the road there
is blocked, as also is the road to Sennaar.
It is quite impossible to get the roads open
to Kassala and Sennaar, or to send down
the white troops, unless Zebehr comes up.
He will change the whole state of affairs.
As for the Equatorial and Bahr-Gazelle
provinces they are all right ; but I cannot
evacuate them till the Nile rises, in about
two months. Dongola and Berber are
quiet; but I fear for the road between

Berber and Khartoum, where the friends of
the Mahdi are very active. A body of
rebels on the Blue Nile are blockading a
force of 1,000 men, who have, however,
plenty of food ; till the Nile rises, I cannot
relieve them. Darfour, so far as I can under-
stand, is all right, and the restored Sultan
should be now working up the tribes to
acknowledge him.

It is impossible to find any other man
but Zebehr for governing Khartoum. No
one has his power. Hussein Pasha Khaleefa
has only power at Dongola and Berber. If
you do not send Zebehr you have no chance
of getting the garrisons away; this is a
heavy argument in favour of sending him.
There is no possibility of dividing the
country between Zebehr and other chiefs ;
none of the latter could stand for a day
against the Mahdi's agents, and Hussein
Pasha Khaleefa would also fall. The chiefs
will not collect here, for the loyal are
defending their lands against the disloyal
There is not the least chance of Zebehr
making common cause with the Mahdi.
Zebehr here would be far more powerful
than the Mahdi, and he would make short
work of the Mahdi. The Mahdi's power is
that of a Pope, Zebehr's will be that of a
Sultan. They could never combine. Zebehr
is fifty times the Mahdi's match. He is
also of good family, well known, and fitted
to be Sultan ; the Mahdi, in all these re-
spects, is the exact opposite, besides being
a fanatic. I daresay Zebehr, who hates the
tribes, did stir up the fires of revolt, in
hopes that he would be sent to quell it. It
is the irony of fate that he will get his wish
if he is sent up."

Sir Evelyn Baring replied at the same
time, saying that sending Zebehr and giving
him a subsidy was in harmony with the
principle of evacuation, and that he had
always contemplated making some arrange-
ments for the future government of the
Soudan. As to slaver)', he pointed out that
we must virtually annex the country or
accept the inevitable consequences of the
policy of abandonment : " I believe that

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

Zebehr may be made a bulwark against the
approach of the Mahdi." But the Govern-
ment refused to modify their decision, which
was that owing to their own opinions and
the state of public feeling, "they would
not if they could, and they could not if they
would."
These telegrams show the very great

difficulties of Gordon's position. He was
on the spot, and knew best what could be
done ; and yet he was not allowed to do it
No proposal that he made was agreed to.
But then we must remember the difficulties
of the position of the Government. What
were they to do? They had hoped, and
Gordon had hoped, that the garrisons would

have been allowed to retire quietly; but
there was no chance of this at all. The
state of the country would not permit it.
So the tide of rebellion rose, or, to use
another metaphor, the curtain dropped over
the doomed city. Sometimes it was raised,

and then there was a view of the one stately
heroic figure finally the only countryman
of ours left there to uphold the honour of
his native land. Gordon was always the
main figure. Then our brief glimpse was
lost, and all again for a period was dark.

THE LAMPS LIGHTED IN KHARTOUM.

CHAPTER LXVII.

GORDON LIFE IN KHARTOUM. THE DOOMED CITY.

HAT sort of life did the
people in Khartoum lead
during the siege? Here is
the extremely vivid account
of a resident, as reported
for us by a newspaper correspondent, who,
writing from Korti, tells us that one morn-

ing " on stepping out of my tent in camp I
observed approaching me a man with a
bronzed, hatchet-shaped visage. He was
clothed in Egyptian uniform, and his coun-
tenance wore a peculiarly weary and care-
worn expression as, looking me full in the
face, he said, ' You do not know me ? We

SHALLOWS OF THE BLUE NILE NEAR KHARTOUM.

were at Kowa Fort together, and marched
together in the army of Hicks Pasha.' I
remembered him at once, and exchanged
notes. 'And where have you been since I
left you ? ' I asked ' I returned,' he an-
swered, ' at the same time that you did to
Khartoum. Do you remember how the
townspeople rejoiced as we steamed up the
Blue Nile with the band playing and the
red flag flying? I remained among the
Khartoum garrison when Hicks Pasha
started on his unlucky expedition. You
would like to hear something of our life
during the long siege? Well, I will tell
you.' After I had invited him into my tent
and sat me down to makes notes of his
story, he continued :

' We had a grand illumination the night
Gordon arrived. If all Christians were like
him all men would become Nazarah ; but
you do not follow the teachings of your own
Prophet as we Mussulmen do. Gordon
told us he had come to save us. The
officials and Greeks illuminated their houses
as you saw Khartoum illuminated on the
anniversary of the restoration of the
Effendina (Khedive), and every native
Soudanese, however poor, lit his lamp ; but
soon bad tidings came day by day of the
approach of the cursed Arabs. Soon we
saw them, first in small bodies at a dis-
tance, and then in large ones. They nad
been hovering around us a long time before
the Pasha arrived. Now Gordon set every

A A *

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

man to work ; he threw up a long parapet
with a deep trench from the Bahr-el-Abiad
to the Bahr-el-Azrek, and he built round
towers on it and made one iron gate. He
did not turn out Arabs from dwelling in
Khartoum ; there were none there, though
we had many traitors. They were known
to the Pasha, but he said, " Let them alone ;
at the end they shall be punished." Among
these was the principal baker. At first
natives used to bring in provisions every
day through the gate Genent, in the Mogr
quarter, near Genent-le-Noor (the Garden
of ,Light). The boats crossed over there
by the dockyard, and brought from the
country all sorts of provisions. You re-
member when you lay sick at Gordon's old
house over the post-office, how refreshing
was the sight at early morning of boatloads
of huge, sweet water-melons. The boats
continued to bring across their cargoes for
the two months when melons are in season
(May and June). What splendid piles they
made on the shore ! No wonder you were
tempted to eat of them, in spite of the
order of Georgio Demetrio, the doctor. I
tell you, he remained at Khartoum to the
last. Many houses belonged to him, and
he had families by three wives. Gordon
used to say to all who wanted to leave,
" Stay, my friends. The English are coming."
That handsome girl of sixteen, his daughter,
remained ; so did the German tailor, Herr
Klein, and his wife and pretty daughter.
He had resided twenty-five years there. I
cannot say who the European women were
that left in the steamer with Colonel Stewart,
or whether any did.

Soon after Gordon's arrival Sheik Wad-
abou-Gurgy made three forts opposite
Khartoum on the Bahr-el-Azrek; for the
time was now at hand when we were to be
beleaguered. In these he placed three can-
non, for his designs were evil he was re-
bellious. These forts were near the gardens
of Boussi, and now he piled up outside
great pyramids of dhurra, three times higher
than the forts themselves. When these
things were related to Gordon in the early

morn (for these piles were made at night)
he despatched three steamers, the Boudain,
the Mansoua, and the Talahowtn ; these
fired first ball, then shell, to knock down
walls, and they succeeded. Mahomet AH
Pasha, commanding ships, ran ashore, and
landed troops, while their advance was
covered by shrapnel. The black soldiers
then stormed the fort, while the Bashi-
Bazouks took the outer circle. Many
Arabs were killed, and all the dhurra cap-
tured and ammunition. After Moulid
(anniv. birth Mahomet) Wad Sheik El
Obeid came opposite Khartoum to the
other side of Bahr-el-Azrek, and encamped
on this isle. Gordon Pasha sent for the
troops under Hassein Abraham and Ma-
homet Abru Said, who had been made
pashas by Gordon Pasha. You remember
large domes seen from your window over
the post-office taib ; those were sepulchres
of mighty sheiks of former days. One Eng-
lishman was buried there too. Why not ?
Directly we landed we formed a four-deep
square, such a formation as you know we
always kept when marching with Hicks
Pasha. Was it ever broken when we
marched from Rawa to Gebelain ? You
know it was not taib. Even so we marched
boldly from shore. One gun is at an angle
of the square. They charged us furiously :
but, ha ! how they scampered ! Shattered
was that great band of rebels ! It was near
that spot we did battle with the rebels ; the
place was called Malaah. It was higher up
than the island of Tuti. We had 500 men.
Now I must tell you of a wicked act of
treachery. Landing from the steamers we
at once attack the enemy. They run,
routed, on account of our furious fire ; but
now what I have to relate fills my heart
with grief. The traitor Abraham takes off
his tarbash, puts it in his breast, from which
he takes a dervish's cap, putting it on his
head. Next to this what does he do ? He
gallops up to the bugler, and tells him to
sound the "kus-rah" ["retreat": this in
military Turkish signifies defeat]. The
brave boy refused, and said, " Pasha, we

EXECUTION OF THE TRAITOR PASHAS.

3<>3

are not defeated ; and I will not sound as
you order." Then he cleaves the brave
boy's head with his scimitar, and smites
others who would not turn. Now, when
our enemies see these things come to pass,
they, who had been in fear and trembling,
gain heart, return, and attack us again. We
become disorganized why not? We fly
back to the outworks and huts we had left,
close to the cemetery. But we did not let
the traitorous Pasha escape. We circle
round his horse and compel him to retire
with us ; much does he struggle, beg, and
protest ; he had endeavoured to escape ;
but escape for him was not. I cannot tell
you what the other Pasha did ; I did not
observe; but this man maledictions on
his soul ! ma ycshuf el ntzm may he never
see luxury ! (Paradise) slew several of our
soldiers. But we were too quick for him ;
we brought him back, bound hand and foot.
Now all these things (continued my in-
formant), and how the traitorous Pasha
had been the cause of our disgrace, Gor-
don Pasha had spied from the top of his
house. He was much grieved ; and when
the wicked Pashas, who were both guilty,
were brought bound, as I said, hand and
foot before him, he spake never a word
except " Away with them ! " He was reading
Holy Writ at the time. They were tried
by court-martial, and sentenced to death.
Seven days afterwards they were executed
in the inner yard, near the large square of
the prison. They were hewn in pieces by
a halbert. I saw the execution, so it is of
no use your saying " they were shot." I tell
you, according to Turkish military law, a
military traitor is always sentenced to be
cut to pieces. The two were bound up
against the wall by chains and rings. Two
soldiers armed with sharp hatchets ap-
proached them from out of the sides of a
square we had formed. The prisoners'
crime was read out, and their sentence. A
hundred soldiers were present, some senior
officers, but not Gordon Pasha. The senior
Bey cried out, " Executioners, perform sen-
tence on the traitors ! " Immediately these

advanced close, and lopped off first their
arms above the elbows, then the legs above
the knees, then cut their bodies in twain,
then decapitated them. They died not till
they were cut asunder; then their heads
fell on their breasts, and they expired with
a hideous yell. Surely their fate was de-
served ! I cannot say whether Gordon
Pasha knew of this manner of execution.
I tell you this is the Turkish mode of
punishing military traitors, and it is a just
punishment.

You would like to know the story ot
our lives from day to day, but every day
' was like yesterday, and yesterday and to-
day like to-morrow ; therefore perhaps I do
not tell you correctly in order as things oc-
curred. Who could? There were days
and nights of watching ; we were like dogs
guarding sheepfolds from the wolf or
hyaena ; but we were not down-hearted.
Gordon kept saying to us, " Patience, the
English are coming are coming. God
watches over you." He was a good man.
"My faith in God never fails," he said;
" neither let yours." In the morning the
band would play to him early as he used to
sit in the kiosque you will remember across
the road at the wall, over the Nile. He
took his coffee there ; he then walked up
and down on the top of his house. After
this he commenced the business of the day
in the rooms of the first storey of the
palace. Many officials now visited him ;
among others the big European doctor,
Macolopo Bey, the Austrian and French
consuls, Georgio Demetrio (the doctor),
the Mudir of the Mudireah, Ali Jeleb, and
the Vakeel Mahomet Abdullah. The
former stayed to the last; the other was
killed with Gordon. Then came the chief
butchers and bakers. Often a woman
visited him called Zenoba. She was very
wealthy ; she used to pay into the Mudireah
some sixty or seventy thousand dollars at
a time ; lent to Government on Gordon's
security or note of hand. She owned many
shops, mills, and nuggars. She was an
Egyptian, wife of Hadj Mahomet, wood-

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

turner. Suleiman Esyah, too, a chief
merchant in Khartoum, used to lend money.
He occupied two houses in the upper
market After this, at mid-day, Gordon
Pasha took his lunch. Business was re-
newed in the afternoon. At evening time
he would ride along the entrenchments from
Blue to White Nile. The enemy were
always firing in a desultory way. By
accident people used to be seriously hit
day after day.

Soldiers lined the trenches all day and
night. There were four guns there, two
pointing towards Bahr Ahead, one facing
from the iron gate near the cemetery, one
facing the village of Burdi. Of the crowds
of blacks you speak of living in the poor
quarters of Khartoum Gordon made
soldiers. All men were compelled to carry
arms, regular soldiers got rations of dhurra,
the others got Government biscuit. We
were always expecting, from dawn to sunset,
from sunset to dawn, the arrival of the
English. Whenever we heard news of
them our hearts rejoiced. The Arabs have
a fear of the English, dating back from the
time of Arabi's defeat. They believe they
carry with them a piece of wood which they
can extend to any height, that up this they
climb, and spy their enemies at any
distance.* Now this I tell you, their terror
of you is so great that they will never face
you again. The sheiks have informed
Mohammed Ahmed that unless he leads them
forth to do battle they will not fight ; this is
since the battle of Abou Tlea not Klea
as you called it. All were at first loyal in
Khartoum, except a few of the head men
such as the chief baker and butcher, but
Gordon, who well knew these men to be
traitors, said, <[ Suffer them to remain on at
their work ; we will show them what justice
is when the English come." As time wore
on and provisions were become short by
reason of the strictness of the siege for the
Arabs were closing around Gordon sent

* This idea they get probably from the Helio-
graph.

away all the old men and women who were
unable to work out of Khartoum ; they were
afraid to go at first, but Gordon gave them
an introduction to Mohammed Ahmed, writ-
ing as follows : " Be kind to these, treat
them well, I charge you. Behold, I have
kept and fed all these for four months ; try
how you will like doing so for one month."*
Mohammed Ahmed accepted them, and they
are with him to this day.

As it was at the time of the Tou el
Kebeah (great flood) ; as it will be at El
Achrah (last day); as it has often been
when in cities of the earth enemies have
been knocking at the gate without, they
bought and sold; they married and were
given in marriage ; yes, there were the usual
nuptial rejoicings the brides soon, alas, to
be sold into slavery ! Mashallah ! It was
their kismet. There were the same gather-
ings round fires you remember witnessing
when the Ihrunnahgah (dancing girls)
danced in the middle their ghan-ah-ghat to
the tune of the terbukat. The festivities
and feastings took place nightly. The
Soudanese are a light-hearted people even
when a cloud hangs over them. You would
have thought nothing was going amiss. It
is true they believed the English were
coming. Spirits were sold at high prices ;
date spirit two reals a pint bottle; ver-
mouth, two and a half. Meanwhile nothing
was bought from outside ; nothing brought
in. The town was surrounded before the
big feast, Eade-el-Kebar.

I cannot say when, for one day was the
same as the other, but one day Gordon saw
coming from afar two foot messengers
across the desert from the Bahr Abiad from

* This was told me on two different occasions by
more than three Bishareen Arabs who had come
from Omdurman the same who told me of Gordon's
fights ; but it was thought most improbable by the
military authorities and it was not thought desir-
able to telegraph this. I therefore withdrew the
news from my telegram. I have since had confirm-
ation of this from good authorities who were in
Khartoum, and who told me of this unasked. I am
aware there is no mention of this in Gordon's
diary.

FIGHTS WITH THE REBELS.

565

opposite El Kalakli. He ordered the
sentinels to let them pass in peace. They
waved a white flag, and cried, " Salamu ah
la cum." They said they were ambassadors
from Wad-el-Jumma, Ameer of Mohammed
Ahmed. We replied in words signifying
" Peace and mercy of God." Gordon had
them escorted to the Palace, and made them
partake of coffee, and sit down on a carpet
prepared for them, as is the custom. They
produced two dervishes' coats and one cap,
a rosary, and sandals. " These," said they,
" are sent by Wad-el-Jumma, Ameer of our
Lord the long-expected one." They had a
letter beginning " Hod dale wah dolan."
This was the sense of it : " Take these and
Islam, and go home to your country you
and the sons of Errect (Egypt), and leave
Soudan (Country of the Blacks) to its
relations (literal) ; and on you be the safety
of God and the Prophet ; and we will
lower you (let you down) with safety (/.*.,
in good faith)." Gordon took these things
and gave them a koflan (robe), pair of
boots, tarbush (red fez with blue tassel), and
waist-vest, typical of Egyptian costume,
saying, " Give these to Wad-el-Jumma. Tell
him, Islam enter the Government, as you
are a coward (literally man frightened)."
He added, "The other man is a clever man
and brave." These men were dressed as
dervishes. Gordon gave them twenty-five
dollars baksheesh. As they left they said,
" Remember we have plenty of soldiers and
Arabs." At this time Mohammed Ahmed
was at El Obeid. The " other man " he
alluded to, Wad Abou Gergee, had brought
1,000 men to Gordon. Before this Gordon
went out to fight him, and beat him near
the outer gardens of Buri; he took all
their dhurra and arms. Wad Abou Gergee
kept on writing to Gordon, negotiating a
surrender. These 1,000 soldiers got into
Khartoum. Why did he not come in him-
self? Because he stayed out to entice
others in mixed Egyptians, Soudanese, and
Turkish soldiers drilled by Turks. But

Wad Abou Gergee was played a shabby
trick by two men, Soudanese, named Wade
Jerkook, a merchant, and Mad-ma-quoi,
chief butcher. These wrote to Wade-el-
Jumma, saying, "O Sheik, Wad Abou
Gergee has given the Turks 1,000 men,
arms (all Egyptians are called Turks)."
When Wad-el-Jumma read this he was
wroth, and, catching Wad Abou Gergee, en-
chained him. The messengers were dis-
missed at the gate Bawabit-el-Mussel
Lamieh ; Gordon made it near Boussi.

I would now tell you of the battle of
El-effoon, two days' march towards Sennaar.
Sheik El Obeid (?), Mahomed Ali Pasha,
commanded. I went up with the soldiers
to battle with 500 Bashi-Bazouks. On the
first day we found Arabs in a building, and
drove them out On the second day we
were marching up to a village called
Omdoban (Mother of Flies). We attacked
the rebels under a dervish, and firing
killed many. But we were charged by
cavalry and foot. Many of us were then
slain. Abou Gergee and Wed Nejum (Son
of the Stars) encamped on the sand south
of Khartoum. Three months after Gordon
arrived these men sat down before the
place. Two sorties were made, and many
of them killed. During this time we got
forage for our horses from Tuti. Our guns
could play on the island. From there, too,
melons and cucumbers were brought And
now I would tell you about the steamers.
One plied between the rocks En Mogrin
and Khartoum with one gua The Arabs
intended putting wires across the river at
Gebel Ain ; but the force of the water broke
these. Gordon did not cut them. Behind
the trenches were tents, one for twenty-four
men ; one man kept guard at the trench for
the twenty-four ; thus we lived, eat, drank,
slept, prayed, day and night' "

But we must reserve for a new chapter
the end of the faithful Mussulman's story
of the last days of the doomed city of
Khartoum.

366

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

CHAPTER LXVIII.

GORDON-

JNCIDENTS OF THE SIEGE OF KHARTOUM.

HE speaker paused for a
little, and then went on
with his narrative.

"'We were besieged
thrice, and thrice we de-
feated the enemy. We killed many when
we attacked Omdurman, but more came on
like swarms of flies. Having killed some,
their numbers were forthwith trebled.

I forgot to say how Omdurman was
taken from us. It was thus : Hicks Pasha
built a big trench round it well, perhaps
it was there when you came. Gordon built
an inner one ; or perhaps it was the reverse.
At any rate there were two rings. The
rebels crept in between the two and were
thus protected. Then they cut off the little
garrison's water. Thus was Omdurman
taken.

Gordon lived alone with his servant in
his palace. Power Bey lived in the Genesi
(church of the Roman Catholic mission), to
guard the ammunition which was kept in
the cloisters. He superintended the mak-
ing of powder. Colonel Stewart used to
superintend the taking out of the powder
and its distribution ; and was also engaged
in looking out. Such was our daily occu-
pation in that city, whose kismet was
already written.

Yes ; they used to fish, as in your time,
with hooks and nets, and catch those great
fish with heads like cats and long whiskers
the kabaross. [This is a common fish in
the Upper Nile; they call it "cat fish,"
from its head, I believe. It is, I think, a
kind of barbel, and when dressed well is of
a very fair taste.] You could put one on
a homar (ass). You could rest its head
on the donkey's head, and its tail on the
animal's tail There was also the el edgil
(calf fish).

We had still tobacco and shoes, for
there were shoemakers in the city. We
strolled when off duty through the bazaar
as usual. Some would gamble with domi-
noes ; some drink merissa, and the young
men would dress to please the young girls
with cane under arm and cigarette in
mouth. Bargains would be struck, and
houses sold, as if the end was not. I am
told it has been so with great cities in time
of siege. It was so, a Jew told me, with
his city in Syria. Do not blame me when
I dwell on this : I am a different man.
Have I not lost a wife I had only one
and children ? With the young girls, too,
there was platting of hair and anointing
with butter, and ornamenting necks, ankles,
and arms with gold chains and shells.
They would sit in the bazaar selling onions
and eggs and melons, and butter and sweet-
meats, up to the day I left, and would laugh
and joke with their admirers, and courtship
would go on, like butterflies, heedless.

We went to mosque, too, crowds of us,
and the "zikkah" was said (in remem-
brance). We pray for departed spirits
that they may be in luxury. Why not ?

Gordon's paper notes went round like
cash. They were looked upon as money.
They were mostly one-piastre notes ; others
for five and ten piastres (a real, or guinea)
up to 500 piastres. All mine are gone. I
spent them in the desert, where I would
buy water, a cup for ten piastres.

The schools went on as usual, Moham-
medan ; also at the Genesi, till the priests
(Italian) left. The little German tailor,
Klein, remained till the last; twenty-five
years had he resided in Khartoum. His
wife and four daughters remained too.
They did not go with Stewart I am sure.

There were several white women there

"TRAITORS IN THE MIDST."

when I left daughters of Europeans by
Abyssinian wives, whom they had bought.
There were two or three ladies at the Aus-
trian Consul's. I think all these had so
many family ties they would not leave ;
besides, Gordon always said, " The English
are coming."

I do not know that your coming would
have altered matters ; for this I tell you
advisedly the will of God says it

There were traitors in our midst; they
met and took counsel together against Gor-
don Pasha. He was warned, but said,
" Suffer it to be so."

The plan was to deliver over the city

whenever the English drew near. The
number of traitors increased daily as they
got hopeless. Another thing, and this de-
cided many : after the battle of Abou Klea,
the rebels went down and collected all the
helmets they could find. They showed
these to us, waving them outside the
trenches and saying, " Thus and thus have
we eaten up the Feringhees." Thus even
faithful men were sorely tempted, and be-
came sick at heart

At night the enemy used to be often at
the south end, at speaking distance ; and
we used to revile each other. We were
called the cursed rebels who speak evil of

ONE OF GORDON'S NOTES IN CIRCULATION AT KHARTOUM.

the fathers and mothers to the third and
fourth generation. We would call them
" sons of dogs " (wadho kelps) [I should
think our word whelp comes from this], and
shout " Allah bou rou Gehenna ye rebel-
lious ones ; malediction on your fathers ;
depart to Gehenna." And they would make
answer, " Ye are slaves of the infidels ; ye
too are infidels, as you do not believe in
our book. We will eat you up, and wipe
you from the face of the earth of Allah."

Thus and thus did we call out to each
other during the long night.

The English stayed too long at Metem-
meh; perhaps had they gone on at once

the gates would not have been opened, but
still I tell you treachery was planned long
before. The rebels came over at night ; or
at any rate before dawn, when Tenza and
another opened the gate.

The last river trip was made by Tujerat
Mahaba. He had on board two gun Krupp.
He started at 7 a.m. ; at 10 he met a nug-
gar full of rebels. They had a gun. They
fired at each other for an hour. At last
the rebel boat sunk. Ho was still under a
heavy fire till he reached Shembat At
Bou the rebels had one Krupp, four guns
higher up, and one mitrailleuse or Norden-
feldt. He ran aground. Here he is.

363

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

A tall, stout black here entered my tent
and kissed my hand. He wore naval uni-
form three stripes on arm and Gordon's
medal.

' Ha ! ' I said, referring to these, ' you
at least have kept yours.' The others had
been selling their lead medals given by
Gordon in camp. I deprecated this much ;
but the reply I invariably met with was
' If I don't buy it, some one else will.'

' I,' said the captain (he was the chief
of all the boats), ' would not part with
mine for ^1,000.' He continued: 'The
last words Gordon said were, " Bring the
English when you come back, if only three
or four ;" but I was never to see him more.
I have left my wife and children at Khar-
toum ! He has told you I sank the rebel
vessel. Well, I was fired at from all
directions. I rammed her. I had one
hundred and fifty soldiers on board; she
had plenty. Down they all went it was a
glorious sight ! None escaped. On pass-
ing Rezare I was fired at by one hundred
and fifty riflemen, but continued my voyage
till I got to Gebel-el-Sheik-el-Taeb (the
good Sheik). The shots fell short. On
the river, near Mashed-el-Hamak (donkey's
pasture) six hours from Khartoum I went
upon a rock ; then three mountain guns
opened fire on me. Three hours after-
wards three steamers came, the Boudain,

Telehoweah Tepagny, and Sophia. Troops
were landed, and we killed many Arabs.
I used to be captain of Hicks Pasha's
ship, and flew the Pasha's flags. Many
times I've taken you down to Omdurman,
and I saw you up at Ilowa, but you were
on shore. General Hicks was very kind,
but I was a small Reiss then. If Gordon
had lived I should have become as high as
this tree pooh ! I have left a thousand
of Gordon's notes at Khartoum with my
family, and all my clothes.

Latterly the chief men of the town were
traitors; all were concerned in opening
the gates. They were afraid of starving.
This I tell you, and I do not lie. All the
white and all the black women are now
made slaves. My poor wife, I shall never
see her again. When I say white, I mean
also those whose mothers were Abyssinian
and fathers European, and there were some
Turkish ladies who wore the achmet, wives
of officers ; all will now be slaves. I have
finished. I must leave you.'

My interview for the time was now over,
and the two gallant men took their depar-
ture, seeming depressed and sorrowful.
These men had a genuine love for Gordon ;
you could feel this in every word when they
referred to him. 'Ah ! ' they would ejac-
ulate, 'no one like him on this earth,' so
high was their admiration for him."

CHAPTER LXIX.

GORDON f-fis KHARTOUM DIARIES.

E have already spoken of the
diaries which Gordon left.
These were brought to this
country and published. Their
appearance was looked for
with the greatest possible interest. We pro-
ceed to give an account of these taken from
one of the ablest of the notices, which

remarked, at the time of their appearance
(June, 1885), that "this much-expected work
is to-day in the hands of General Gordon's
countrymen, and its secrets, which have
been so well kept, are no longer hidden. A
perusal of the original manuscript, written
on telegraph forms, has shown us that, with
one or two unimportant exceptions, and with

GORDON'S DIARIES.

369

the substitution of asterisks for names, the
diary which General Gordon kept after the
departure of Colonel Stewart and his unfor-
tunate companions on the loth of September
appears in its present form almost intact,
and very nearly as it left the hands of its
author. The diary begins on the loth of

September, and ends on the i4th of De-
cember, or about six weeks before the fall
of Khartoum. It is divided into six books,
of which the last is the most interesting.
There is no reason to doubt that General
Gordon continued to make these daily jot-
tings down to the close of the siege of

MR. FRANK POWER, "TIMES" CORRESPONDENT AT KHARTOUM.

Khartoum ; and, should a seventh volume
ever be discovered, there need be no hesita-
tion in saying that it will prove of still
higher interest, in proportion as the closing
weeks of the long defence of the city inten-
sified the terrible situation for the garrison
and its gallant commander. But, although
the absence of that final volume must be

deplored, these six books constitute a work
of unsurpassed interest in our own or any
other language. The defence of Khartoum
will remain to all time a splendid example
of British tenacity and fortitude. It is not
probable that the details will ever be com-
pletely known for the whole period, but in
this volume they are described by the chief

B B

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

actor for three of the most important and
critical months during the siege; and the
reader will have little difficulty in forming
an opinion for himself as to what they must
have been during the earlier six months of
the blockade, as well as for the fatal six
weeks which followed General Gordon's
last 'Good-bye' to his countrymen. It is
almost unnecessary to say that just as
General Gordon showed by his military and
administrative skill and foresight that there
was no falling off in his capacity as a leader
of men, so does this diary prove that he re-
tained to the last the incisiveness of style
and the power to unmask the true facts
which were always among his most striking
characteristics. No one will read these
pages without feeling his admiration increase
for the brave man who, when he could easily
have escaped, stood firm at the post of duty
and it is inevitable that those who were less
single-minded in their devotion to the
national interests will suffer in reputation?
both among their contemporaries and at
the hands of posterity, by comparison with
the soldier who held Khartoum for eleven
months against the Mahdi, and whose first
thought to the very end was how he could
best preserve the honour of England.

Where every line is of almost thrilling
interest it is difficult to adjust with any nice
degree of proportion the parts of the volume
which are of the greatest intrinsic value and
interest.

Among the most interesting passages are
those in which he refers to the loss of
Colonel Stewart and Mr. Frank Power, the
Times correspondent at Khartoum, who, as
already mentioned, were killed on the way
to Khartoum. We give an authentic por-
trait of Mr. Power.

Of the black troops he always speaks
with pride and affection, but with regard
to the fellaheen soldiers on board the
steamers he expressed himself in no very
complimentary terms.

General Gordon seems to have felt the

announcement that the object of Lord
Wolseley's expedition was to relieve him
not less acutely than the long neglect and
indifference with which he had been treated
by the Government. More than once he
recurs to the subject, and the receipt of
some newspapers mentioning the depar-
ture of the Gordon Relief Expedition drew
from him some strong remonstrances.

There are some who insinuate that Gen-
eral Gordon was inconsistent in his political
remedies for the state of things created in
the Soudan by the defeat of General Hicks
and the progress of the Mahdi ; but if his
remarks are read with their context and
necessary conditions it will be found that
the insinuation is baseless.

General Gordon's two principal proposi-
tions were either to send up Zebehr or to
hand the Soudan over to the Sultan, giving
the Porte a sum of money for the purpose
of pacifying the country.

The bitter feeling which he felt on the
subject of his past treatment and of the
neglect which had allowed the Soudan pro-
blem to become more complicated did not
prejudice him in his views as to what had
to be done in the future. To the end he
continued to aim at two things, the main-
tenance of the honour of England and the
welfare of the Soudanese. These thoughts
found expression in various entries.

There is less in the diary than might
have been expected of personal attack on
the Government which sent General Gor-
don to Khartoum ; and this is certainly a
very gratifying fact, for it shows the noble
character of the man.

There are, of course, many passages
referring to his relations with Sir Evelyn
Baring, who, although General Gordon was
not aware of it, supported his demand for
Zebehr. He also mentions, in a somewhat
satirical fashion, Mr. Egerton, upon whom
the task devolved of writing and tele-
graphing to General Gordon for informa-
tion.

GORDON'S DIARIES.

CHAPTER LXX.

GORDON His KHARTOUM DIARIES.

N this chapter we con-
tinue some brief notes re-
garding the diary.

He mentions the roguish
deeds of the people by
whom he was surrounded, in a manner
which shows that he understood how base
they were, though he can scarcely help
being amused at some of the more comical
aspects of their baseness.

His affection for his steamers appears
over and over again, and is no doubt to be
attributed to his remembrances of his old
struggle with the Taipings, when he derived
so much assistance from them on the canals
and estuaries of Kiangsi.

The blockade of Khartoum suggested to
him, as it did to others, a comparison with
the siege of Sebastopol, in which he had
also taken no insignificant part. It comes
out in various passages, in which he com-
pares the two.

" ' I have done my best for the honour of
our country ' are the last words of General
Gordon's diary, and in his last letter to his
sister he wrote, ' Like Lawrence, I have
tried to do my duty.' It is impossible to
add by any additional words of ours force
to those simple farewell sentences of the
man who so long held the attention of the
world riveted upon him, and who supported,
unaided and alone, the highest traditions
of English courage and fortitude. The
story of the siege and defence of Khartoum
will live for ever in the graphic words of its
heroic defender, while regret at the loss of
Colonel Stewart's earlier record will be
qualified by the possession of Mr. Power's
concise and picturesque description of the
long months of silence which he was the
first to break. Many conclusions will be
forced upon the sympathetic reader, or the

sceptical, if any such there be from interested
motives of party politics ; but in some
points they will find it difficult to arrive at
any save identical decisions. Of these we
will mention the three principal. The first
is that General Gordon considered that
while he had accepted the dangerous task
of going to Khartoum, the Government had
incurred the less hazardous, but still oner-
ous, duty of keeping open communications
with him. Hence his repeated expressions
of dissatisfaction at the inquiries as to when
he would be hard pressed, and there can
be no doubt that he thought the obligation
of the Government towards him assumed
direct meaning the instant the wire was cut
south of Berber. The second point is that
whatever General Gordon may have sug-
gested for the purpose of carrying out other
persons' opinions, his own view was that
there could be no divorce between the
Soudan and Egypt, and that the best
remedy lay between the appointment of an
Egyptian Governor-General and the reasser-
tion of the Sultan's prerogative. The third
point is that even when Colonel Stewart
left, three months before this journal closes,
the garrison was already in difficulties, and
every day's delay added to the risk of
Khartoum being taken under the nose of
the relieving expedition. General Gordon
says nothing about his own expectations of
being succoured, but when, after many re-
ports of the approach of a relieving force,
he learnt in November that it had only
reached Ambukol, while the Mahdi's forces
had arrived in front of Khartoum, he gave
vent to the expressive exclamation, ' This
is lively!' The proper persons upon
whom the responsibility should devolve for
the aid needed in September, 1884, only
arriving in January, 1885, when too late,

372

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

may never be decided ; but Sir Henry
Gordon, in one of the introductions to the
diary, absolves Sir Charles Wilson from
all blame in the matter. Admittedly when
that officer had to deal with the situation it
was a question of a few hours, and we fail
to see, even if the charge were made out

much more clearly against him than it can
be, how he could be censured, when those
who sinned much more deeply, and who
wasted weeks and months in telegraphing
for exact information, are deemed free from
blame. So far as the general opinion of
Gordon's character goes, this journal will

GORDON'S STEAMERS.

confirm the popular impression of his
heroism. It is impossible to read these
daily entries in his diary without feeling
the liveliest emotion for his sufferings
and for the neglect of which he was
the chief victim. Had his vigour been
imitated by the Government, Khartoum
would never have fallen. Perhaps the

most touching incident among these later
events was the despatch of the five
steamers, each of which he considered the
equivalent of 2,000 men, to assist the pro-
gress of the expedition, while he deprived
himself of their valuable assistance. Had
he selfishly retained those steamers for his
own safety, there is little doubt that he could

A TALE OF HOXROR.

373

always have ensured for himself a safe re-
treat The explanation is no doubt to be
found in his belief that Lord Wolseley's
force was much nearer than it was. The
siege of Khartoum may remain to the end
of time a half-told tale, but we may predict
that the diary will be read by the whole

of the English-speaking races of the world,
and that their verdict will be unanimous
admiration mixed with pity for the man
who defended Khartoum," a verdict in
which we are sure our readers will concur
with the utmost unanimity.

CHAPTER LXXI.

GORDON SCENES OF BUFFERING AT THE FALL OF KHARTOUM
THE |ND OF THE TRAITOR^

ERE now is the account
of two merchants' who were
present on the fateful night
when Khartoum, like some
ill-fated vessel, went to ruin
almost within reach of help :

"That night Khartoum was delivered
into the hands of the rebels. It fell
through the treachery of the accursed
Farag Pasha, the Circassian, who opened
the gate. May he never reach Paradise!
May Shaytan take possession of his soul !
But it was Kismet. The gate was called
1 Bouri.' It was on the Blue Nile. We
were on guard near, but did not see what
was going on. We were attacked and
fought desperately at the gate. Twelve of
us were killed, and twenty-two retreated
to a high room, where we were taken
prisoners.

And now came the ending. The red
flag with the crescent was destined no more
to wave over the Palace ; nor would the
strains of the hymn of his Highness the
Effendina be heard any more at evening
within Khartoum. Blood was to flow in
her streets, in her dwellings, in her very
mosque, and on the Kenniseh of the
Narsira.

A cry arose, 'To the Palace! to the
Palace ! ' A wild and furious band rushed

towards it, but they were resisted by the
black troops, who fought desperately. They
knew there was no mercy for them, and
that even were their lives spared they
would be enslaved, and the state of the
slave, the perpetual bondage with hard task
masters, is worse than death. Slaves are
not treated well, as you think ; heavy chains
are round their ankles and middle, and
they are lashed for the least offence til
blood flows. We had fought for the
Christian Pasha and for the Turks, and we
knew that we should receive no mercy. We,
the party I was with, could not help being
taken prisoners. The house was set on fire.
The fight raged, and the slaughter continued
till the streets were slippery with blood.
The rebels rushed onward to the Palace. We
saw a mass rolling to and fro, but did not
see Gordon Pasha killed. He met his fate
as he was leaving the Palace near the large
tree which stands on the esplanade. The
Palace is not a stone's throw, or at any rate
a gunshot distance, from the Austrian
Consul's house. He was going in that
direction, to the magazine on the Kenniseh,
a long way off. We did not hear what be-
came of his body, nor did we hear that his
head was cut off; but we saw the head of
the traitor Farag, who met with his deserts.
We have heard that it was the blacks that

374

THE ENGLISH IN EG YPT.

ran away, and that the Egyptian soldiers
fought well ; that is not true. They were
craven. Had it not been for them, in spite
of the treachery of many within the town,
the Arabs would not have got in, for we
watched the traitors. And now fearful
scenes took place in every house and
building, in the large market-place, in the
small bazaars. There were the same terrible
scenes in the dwellings where the window-
sills and coor-lintels were painted azrek,*
where ther; had been many feasts and
fantasias, where merissa had flowed in
plenty, and where the walls were built of
wahal and the roof built of dhurra stalk.
Men were slain shrieking for mercy, when
mercy was not in the hearts of our savage
enemies. Women and children were
robbed of their jewels of gold and jewels
of silver, of their bracelets, necklaces of
precious stones, and carried off to be sold
to the Bishareen merchants as slaves. Yes,
and white women too Egyptians and
Circassians who wore the burkof over
their faces, the rabtah and the turbah, and
the kurs J on their heads ladies clad in
silk and satin gibbehs and saltahs.
Mother and daughter alike were dragged
off from their homes of comfort. These
were widows, wives, and daughters of
Egyptian officers, some of whom had been
killed with Hicks Pasha ; wives and chil-
dren of Egyptian merchants formerly rich,
owning ships and mills, gardens and shops.
These were sold afterwards, some for 340
thaleries or more, some for 250, according
to age and good looks. And the poor
black women already slaves, and their
children, were taken off too. These were
sold too, for a hundred, eighty, or seventy
thaleries. Their husbands and masters
were slain before their eyes ; and yet I hear

* Blue.

t Face veil.

I Rabtah Egyptian head-dress of women, show-
ing them to be of the upper classes. Turbah
Embroidered muslin. Kur Gold or silver orna-
ment.

Gibbehs and Saltahs Cloaks and jackets.

it said there was no massacre at the taking
of Khartoum ! They lie who say so, and
are in league with Mohammed Ahmed.
You must not believe all that men coming
from Omdurman tell you. Mohammed
Ahmed and the dervishes send you false
reports of everything, and you believe
them ; then they laugh. This fighting and
spilling of blood continued till dohr,* till
the sun rode high in the sky red, yet
darkened by smoke and dust. There was
riot and clamour, hubbub and wrangling
over spoil ; cursing was heard till the hour
of evening prayer. But' the Muezzin was
not called ; neither were any prayers offered
up at the mosque on that dark day in the
annals of Khartoum. But the history of
those scenes will not be written on its
records; for all scrolls and papers and
books in the archives were destroyed and
scattered abroad. Yet the howling herd,
possessed by afaseet and ginf the screech-
ing devils bespattered with gore, swarming
about in droves and bands, found not the
plunder that they had been promised or
had expected. Then they were exasperated.
Their fury knew no bounds, and they
sought out Farag Pasha ; but he was with
the dervishes. He had presented himself
to them as one deserving well of honour
and rewards. 'Where is the hidden treasure
of the Greek merchants and Bachalees ; of
Leontides and Georgio Themetrio? Yes,
and of the Franchesi Marquet ; of the
Italian Michaelo ? We know that you are
acquainted with the secret hiding-place.
Where are all the thaleries of Marcopolo,
and of the German tailor, Klein? We
know that those that left Khartoum were
unable to carry away their silver, and you
know where it is hid.'

The dervishes, seeing the tumult, ques-
tioned him sharply -and addressed him
thus : ' The long-expected One, our Lord,
desires to know where the English Pasha

* Noon.

+ Afaseet and gin; //. of afeet and ginnee
Evil spirits, goblins.

A TRAITOR'S DEATH.

375

hid his wealth. We know he was very
rich, and every day paid large sums of
money ; this has not been concealed from
our Lord. Now therefore let us know,
that we may bear him word where all the
"felluce"* he gave the troops is hidden, so
that we may put it into the treasury. Let
him be bound and examined in the inner
chamber.'

Then were the doors of the house where
the dervishes were, and the gates of the
gardens outside they were in the Genesi
closed against the Arab soldiery, and
they were driven out, though angry words
and threats were loudly heard. Farag was
now questioned, but he swore by Allah and
by the souls of his fathers back to three
generations that Gordon had no money,
and that he knew of no hidden money or
treasure.

'You lie,' cried the dervishes. 'You
wish after a while to come here, dig, and
get it all for yourself. If the Inglezze had
no money or silver, how did he make all
those silver medals we have seen ? '

' Most of them are lead,' Farag replied,
' and he paid every one with paper.'

' It is false,' they replied, ' and now have a
care ; listen to what we are going to say to
you. We are sure you know where the
money lies concealed. We are not careful
of your life, for you have betrayed the man
whose salt you had eaten ; you have been
the servant of the infidel, and you have be-
trayed even him. Unless you unfold this
secret of the buried treasure, you shall
surely die.'

But Farag, it is said for we were not
there seeing that his end was approaching,
that his words were not believed, assumed
a proud and haughty bearing, and an attitude
of defiance.

' I care not,' he said, ' for your threats.
I have told the truth, Allah knows. There
is no money, neither is there treasure. You

* Felluce Pay.

are magnoons* to suppose there is money ;
but if there were you would not divide it
fairly among your followers to every one
his portion. You would keep it among
yourselves. I have done a great deed. I
have delivered to your lord and master the
city, which you could never have taken
without my help. You would have been
beaten back from the trenches by the
Inglezze, who, even now, await their time
to punish you ; and I have secrets regard-
ing these, which, if I die, will die with me.
I tell you again there is no treasure, but you
will rue the day if you kill me.'

One among the dervishes then stepped
forward and struck him, bound as he was,
in the mouth, telling him to cease his
fool's prophecies ; while another, incensed,
rushed at him and struck him on the back
of his neck with his two-edged sword, so
that with one blow his head fell from his
shoulders.

So perished the arch-traitor may his
soul be afflicted ! But as for Gordon
Pasha the magnanimous, may his soul be
'enjoying fuller knowledge."

I say nearly all the Egyptian men were
slain in spite of their casting themselves
down and praying for mercy. Farag
Pasha's head was then carried off to
Mohammed Ahmed. We heard this
when the Kordofan soldiers, who guarded
us at the Dormas Gate, talked among them-
selves. We were there for some days ; we
saw nothing; but only heard what these
soldiers told us. They said two steamers
with English had come up and gone back.

We have nothing more to tell you."

Farag Pasha was probably a Circassian.
It was the name of the son of Berkook,
founder of the Memlook dynasty. There
seems no reasonable doubt that he was
actually the traitor who admitted the enemy,
and nearly all accounts represent him as
being killed somewhat as above stated.

Mognoon Fools.

376

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

CHAPTER LXXII.

GORDON Mis DEATH jSuccess OF THE M.AHDI.

E need make no apology for
giving another of these
deeply, if painfully, interest-
ing accounts of the fall of
Khartoum. It is, like all the
others, due to the diligence of the news-
paper correspondent, who in this case tells
us that "Another 'voice' from Khartoum
is heard a Greek, who was made to wear
the Mahdi's uniform, and in this costume
walked down to Berber no man forbidding
him. He then resolved to escape altogether,
and then his troubles commenced. He had
no money, but begged his way from village
to village. Sometimes he was hunted, and
had to hide away ; at others he was made
to work as a captured slave by men who
knew him to be a Greek. At length, after
a period of twenty-eight days from Berber,
he reached Aboudom, where, suspected at
first as a spy, he was made prisoner. He
was then sent down by Colonel Butler to
General Buller, and arrived at Dongola last
Saturday. His very disjointed story I will
give you in his own words, translated for
me by the Greek interpreter of the Transport
Department It will be observed that he
emphatically declares that Gordon was killed
in, and not outside, the Palace.

'My name is Rosti Penago. I kept stores
for some years in Khartoum. I have lost
all. I had a great many of Gordon's cheques.
They were taken from me. Shall I get
repaid in Cairo ? I was a merchant rich
in my way ; and look at me now ! Yes, I
remember you when you used to ride through
the streets with General Hicks' staff. Prices
went up when you all came. It is true we
all combined, we Greeks, with Hicks, Butler,
the Syrian Greenburg, a Jew I think he was,
to raise the prices of everything. You look
upon us all as rogues and rascals. I know

we are born so ; but we are enterprising.
A Greek goes where no other European
would venture. Yes, the Greeks here in
Dongola, who came to rob, as you say, a
good many of them will be ruined ; they
are obliged to sell off at cost price. But
you ought to thank not revile us. English
traders rob too. We don't cheat each
other ; we are bound to be honest to any
compatriot; you cheat each other. What
have I to tell you ? You say you know
everything. What needs my telling you
anything ?

But this you do not know : the only
reason the Mahdi's power is on the wane is
because the people see that he, or rather
his dervishes, spoil and plunder and carry
off the women of the tribes. He will have
difficulty in getting the tribes to follow him
again; but, if he can, he will, in spite of
what you say, enter Egypt. The dervishes
are perpetually preaching that he (the Mahdi)
must ultimately reach Morocco, Mecca, and
Stamboul but that the time has not arrived.
The tenets of the Mahdi's religion are very
strict. If a married man is guilty of sexual
immorality, he is put up to his waist in the
sand and stoned to death. If he steals, his
hand is cut off. Singing or lascivious danc-
ing, such as used to be in Khartoum, is put
a stop to. Every man must pray five times
a day. Gordon only went about the town
on Friday. Stewart used to live in the old
house in the square that General Hicks
lived in when he first arrived. No one
lived in it when I left, nor did any one live
in the Palace. The stench is too great.
There are dead bodies in it; none were
cleared away. Gordon's Coptic clerks were
killed and left there. A fearful stench of
putrid corpses pervades the whole at-
mosphere of Khartoum. The house you

FALL OF KHARTOUM.

377

dwelt in with other officers, over the post-
office, where are the drawings on the walls
your dining saloon, that now presents a
horrible sight. It is strewed with corpses
For, you remember, there was a guard there
over stores. The guard ran from the gate
after closing it up to your dining-room.
They were all massacred there. That poor
old man, the Italian postmaster, was slain
below. Had we
the Europeans,
supposed that this
treachery was
going to take
place, we should
have formed our-
selves into a corps
for self-defence.
As it was, we had
all agreed, and
Gordon consent-
ed, to hold out five
days more, and
then to jump into
the steamer Mont-
niah, and run the
gauntlet down the
river. It was kept
ready for this pur-
pose.

Do you know
that Gordon used
to send off hun-
dreds of letters,
but these were
always taken to the
Mahdi ? People
used to come to
him volunteering

to take letters, and Gordon, believing in
them, would give them good baksheesh.
Stewart used generally to be at a battery
he erected close by the kiosk, where the
band played. The rebels, knowing Gordon
lived in the Palace, used to fire at it all
day long, and Stewart would reply to
them. Gordon had sand-bags piled up
on the roof, and from this he was watch-
ing day^and night for the arrival of the

WOMAN OF KHARTOUM.

English. I think he never slept. By night
he used to send up rockets. You ask me
about the shops and magazines on the
promenade over the Blue Nile. Gordon
had all these cleared out for the English,
who never arrived. We were starving.
Gordon had some biscuit and flour, I
believe, in the palace. Some Europeans
ate grass, and cut down palms to extract
the pith from
them. The Egyp-
tians and blacks
ate anything they
could get hold ot
camels, donkeys
(I have known a
donkey's tail sell
for eight dollars),
dogs, cats, rats.
We were entirely
surrounded for
three months.

The English
could have come
up with great ease.
If one English-
man had shown,
the whole popu-
lation would have
cheered up out of
its despondency.
Natives outside,
who were starving,
too, would have
joined us, and I be-
lieve the Mahdi's
forces would have
melted away. Per-
haps you would

have had one fight more. As for Berber,
that was weak ; you could have taken it
easily. I don't think there were more
than 2,000 men there when Khartoum was
taken.

The steamers arrived at Halfaya. I saw
them about one mile and a half from Khar-
toum. They turned back directly; but I
say this if they had come on then every
man would have been destroyed. The

378

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

soldiers pointed them out to me jeeringly.
" There are your English ! " they cried.
But I must go back. Stewart used to place
fougasses all round the town. He took
the tops of cartridges and filled them with
matches so fitted on to the mine that any
one walking on them would explode them.
Gordon often wanted to go on board the
steamers himself, but the inhabitants would
not let him ; his life was considered far too
precious to risk.

When the steamers approached, a great
cry arose through the town, "The English
are coming ! the English are coming ! ''
The rebels took their rifles and commenced
to fire at them. " Ha ! " said a man to me,
" look at them ; they cannot save you."

It may have been arranged to deliver up
the city just before the English came. I
don't know; but this I know, if you had
come three days, or two days, sooner, you
would have taken Khartoum easily. Farag
moved away the troops guarding the gate
that was entered the night before, and took
them to the other side of the town on some
pretence or other. Gordon did not know
of this nor did any one, I think, except
the troops themselves. We Europeans
knew there were traitors, but we did not
think they could do anything, or, as I said
before, we should have formed ourselves
into a band.

Boom ! boom ! boom ! was the sound
that greeted us from dawn to sunset. We
were sad, sorrowful, and depressed. Power
was in the magazine in the church, guarding
and looking after the ammunition. You
say you know all I am telling you. Do
you know that a woman once got in and
nearly succeeded in blowing up all the
ammunition ? She was seized, but after a
while Gordon released her. I used to sit
in my shop all day near the barracks selling
coffee. All spirituous liquor was gone. We
used to sit all day gambling and playing
cards : we had tobacco. There were forty-
two of us and ten Jews ; some of us had our
women with us Greek women that we
had brought with us, but not all. Cuzzi used

to go and come with messages from and
to Gordon. Gordon said if he came again
he would hang him ; after that he came no
more. And now the day arrived that was
to separate husband from wife, brother from
sister, and parent from child. The streets
were soon to run with blood. I was not at
my house. I was with some Greeks eight
in all near the mosque, when we heard a
hideous uproar as of men shouting and
yelling, and of women wailing around about
on all sides. Nearer and nearer did this
long-continued roar approach, swelling as it
were and now bursting close on our ears.
Men with frightful gashes on their faces
and limbs came flying by, and towards us
women with torn garments and dishevelled
hair shrieking, screaming " Jesu Christo ! "
I shall not forget that horrible din to the
day of my death. " We are lost ! We are
lost ! " we cried. " The place is taken ! "
But no one would tell us exactly what was
the matter. We ran up to the top of the
mosque, and saw that the town was given
up to massacre and bloodshed. We ran to
a house, barricaded the doors and windows,
went upstairs, shut ourselves into a room,
and determined never to surrender, but die
like Greeks : for we, mindful of our ances-
tors, fight to the last. Thus it was when
our fathers were surrounded by Turks ; we
are a brave nation ! How we escaped I
will tell you.

But listen, I pray you. Have you not
asked me where Gordon Pasha was slain ?
You say everybody has said he was either
killed on the courtyard steps of the Palace,
or outside, going to the Austrian Consul's
house. They all lie ! If you choose to
believe them you may, it matters not to
me. I am a respectable Greek merchant,
not an Arab. You want the truth ; I tell
it to you. True, I did not see Gordon
slain; but everybody in Khartoum knows
where the event happened. An Arab
rushed upstairs and shot him with a gun as
he was reading the Bible. Another Arab
cut off his head and put it on a spear ; and
so went forth into the city, carrying it and

FALL OF KHARTOUM.

379

brandishing it on high. The Copts in the
Palace in the rooms below were slaughtered
at the same time.

The Arabs came pouring in; they slew
every man they could find ; no mercy was
shown to any one. There was no resist-
ance. I don't think a hundred shots were
fired by Egyptians or blacks. Men ran in
and shut themselves up in houses ; but
doors were burst open, and spearing, cut-
ting, and slashing went on bravely in the
streets, in the market square, in the bazaars.
It was a horrible scene this bazaar after-
wards. I went through it. Gay curtains,
crimson-coloured and oranged-striped, gol-
den-edged satins, silks, and muslins, lay
smeared and splashed with blood ; every-
thing was upset and strewed about and
trampled on. Everywhere was the wildest
disorder. You know how narrow it was
and how it winds. One corner was so full
of corpses and dying that we could not get
by. I had my hands tied, and I fell several
times in the road, slippery with blood. The
havoc went on till eight o'clock. Then
Mohammed Ahmed sent over word from
Omdurman that Allah had revealed to him
that the slaughter must cease. We were
told this. It was shouted about the streets,
and those that were still hidden were bidden
to come forth. Of forty-two Greeks only
eight escaped. There were ten Jews ; these
were killed, I think. Gordon's head I saw
on a spear. It was taken over to Omdur-
man, and shown to Mohammed Ahmed. It
was laid before him. A grim savage smile
passed over his face. He gazed long at
the countenance of his late enemy. " God
be praised ! " he cried, " can this be his ? "
He did not express anger at Gordon's
death, as you say has been reported ; he
made merry at his death when it was told
him. The head was then borne away, and
men plucked the hairs out of his head and
beard, and spat in his face. His body was
cut up into little pieces. This was his end !
I omitted to say that Gordon wrote to the
Mahdi saying he might be Viceroy of Kor-
dofan. The Mahdi replied : " I am sent

by God to be king of all," and invited him
to surrender. Gordon replied in insulting
terms, saying he was a false Mahdi, and
that he (Gordon) would never surrender to
him.

The Copt women were taken to a place
called Bousi. They were allowed to go in
and out of their house as they pleased, and
one by one they got claimed as brides.
They went out to look for husbands, and
when they found one suitable they were
allowed to leave as they liked. But the
Greek and all the women in fact were put
in a room, and the dervishes and chief
leaders picked from among them whom
they would. This was at Omdurman. The
Greeks, including myself, were dressed in
the Mahdi's uniform, and told that from
henceforth we were Mussulmen, but we
were not circumcised. We were liberated,
and were given two dollars each, a monthly
allowance. Now, when we heard that our
women were taken over to Omdurman and
divided among the dervishes, we proceeded
there and craved an interview with the
Mahdi. It was allowed. We had to take
off our shoes, and when within the inner
circle about a quarter of a square mile
we were made to crawl towards him on our
knees. Every one has to approach him
thus. We addressed him thus : " Kill us,
we beseech thee it is as well. Your
dervishes and great men have carried off
our wives, sisters and daughters, and life is
of no more value to us. Slay us ! '' There-
upon the Mahdi took pity on our forlorn
condition, and ordered our women to be
returned to us. To each one was his wife,
sister, or relation returned. Those who had
lost their husbands were also returned to
us, to take care of us ; and also Dr. Georgio
Demetrio's daughter, whom you asked after,
and whose sister is married in Cairo. She
was very pretty. Poor girl, she was lovely.
Yes ; she was led off at first as a slave ; but
we got her back, and the nuns too. Two
priests were killed. The nuns lived with
us Greeks. Mdlle. Demetrio is now married
to a Greek. The daughter of poor Klein,

3 8o

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

the tailor, was carried off as a slave when
her father was killed. Among the white
women only the Greeks and the nuns were
recovered. There were Egyptian-Turkish
women carried off; but the Mahdi ordered
that those whose husbands were still alive
should be returned to them. Why should
there be any doubt thrown on this sad
story ? Is it not probable ? Have you not
seen many white women in Khartoum, and
is it not probable that these Mussulmen
would carry them off? I could give you

the names of many of European origin.
Had you not delayed three days, these
would have been saved. Alas ! it is a sad
story. The picture you showed me (from
an illustrated journal) has not the slightest
resemblance to Mohammed Ahmed. It must
have been drawn from fancy. I will give
you a better to-morrow. I am weary of
recounting a story over which tears of blood
might be shed, so sad and terrible is it
even in memory,' " and we may add, in
recital also.

CHAPTER LXXIII.

EFFECT OF NEWS OF HIS DEATH IN ENGLAND
THE EXAMPLE OF HIS LIFE.

N February 7th, 1885, Punch,
which often so faithfully re-
presents the feelings of the
English people, had a car-
toon which showed Gordon
and Wolseley standing hand in hand on
the ramparts of Khartoum. Underneath
were these words : " At Last !" In another
week all was changed ; the news of the un-
expected fall of Khartoum had been re-
ceived in the interval, and now the cartoon
represented Britannia weeping, while under-
neath was the legend, " Too Late ! " The
feelings of our race were well represented
in the poetry that accompanied the draw-
ing, and of which we quote a few verses :

" Too late ! Too late ! Loud through the desert

sounds

That piteous cry, and to the farthest bounds
Of England's Empire echoes. There she stands,
Britannia, stricken 'midst the Libyan sands
With bitter disappointment's venomed dart,
Wrath in her soul and anguish at her heart.
Too late ! And after hopes so high they took
The shape of certainty, and fired her look,
Anxious through crawling months of slow delay,
With joy's exultant light. That blunt, half gay
' All's well ! ' from her beleaguered hero, cast
Care from her burdened breast. ' At last ! At
last!

She cried, and we all with her, joy so danced
In all our veins. So, gladly, she advanced
Swift though undoubting, eager now to clasp
That valiant hand in an impassioned grasp
In whose close pressure England's heart should

speak.
And now ! Can it be truth ? Can one poor

week
Only have sped since that ' At last ! ' forth

brake
From those set lips? No puling plaints shall

wake

The mocking desert echoes, no appeal
To aught but English hearts and English steel.
But yet, but yet the sight of those sheer walls
Manned by the foe, like noonday darkness falls
On eyes hope-bright. He held them, he, so long
Faithful 'midst falterers, 'midst much weakness

strong.

He, one against ten thousand, left alone
Long months, each hour of which must wring a

groan
From dogged dawdlers now ; he fought, he

planned ;

That citadel, by one true man well manned,
Of all life's phrases dreariest, shamefullest this,
Scourge of weak will, delay's stern Nemesis !
Not this the hour to echo faction's cry
Of half-exultant chiding, or to ply
The Party-phraser's venomed word-lash. No !
But laggard wills, counsels confused and slow,
Should need no sharper spur, no keener goad,
Than this to urge them on plain Honour's road.
A splendid legend this indeed to scrawl

TOO LATE I

In letters red as blood, with pen of gall
Across a page of Policy ! ' Too late 1 '
Belshazzar's scroll was scarce more big with fate
Than such a shameful script. Erase, erase
The branding blot, ere on our History's face
It burn indelible as sin and shame,
Smirching the record of an honoured name,
Leaving the witness of a great soul lost
Through loitering littleness ! Who '11 now count

cost,

Or nicely balance chances ? Who cries ' Wait,
Ponder, split hairs ! ' whilst gallant Gordon's fate
Hangs on the hours perchance? Who once

again,
Clutching with tremulous hand the old Lion's

mane,

Inviolate held, though cowardice, like a blade
Untempered, shivered, and his hand betrayed,
Though treachery's craven craft enmeshed him

round,

He, vigilant as valiant, held his ground.
Our Abdiel, till the echoes of our shouts
Might almost reach his ears, till chilling doubts
Seemed all dispelled, till o'er the rushing Nile
His greeting came like a half mocking smile
Of cheery, cheering confidence ; and then !
The fingers falter, the recording pen
Drops in impatient indignation. Where
Is our lost lion ? See his desert lair
Bristles with hostile spears. At Khartoum's gate
Brave Gordon greets us not ! Too late ! too

kte ! "

English opinion seems to us to be well
expressed in the following eloquent words,
written when it was known beyond the
possibility of a doubt that Gordon was
no more, and that "cruel suspense has
given place to sad certainty. All con-
jectures as to the survival of General
Gordon must now be put on one side.
The news published this morning ap-
pears to place beyond any doubt the fact
that he fell stabbed by traitors in the
midst of his faithful troops when Khar-
toum was betrayed. The end came as he
expected it. Treachery achieved what over-
whelming force had failed to effect, and the
forces of the Mahdi, admitted within the
fortification by one of Gordon's pashas,
made short work of all who would not es-
pouse their cause. The Notables were cut
down to a man, the faithful remnant of
Gordon's garrison seem to have been killed
fighting hard to the last. Their children

were spitted on the Arab spears ; their
women but there is no need to detail the
ghastly incidents of the sack of a city by
the savage hordes of the African desert.
The streets of the city, we are told, ran with
blood. 'The flame of the sword and the
lightning of the spear ' shone in the doomed
city for a space, and when our relieving
steamer arrived there was a ' multitude of
slain and there was no end of their corpses.'
The terrible formula which summed up our
policy in the Soudan has been as terribly
fulfilled. The garrisons have been speared,
and over the whole of the Soudan the
Mahdi has now passed his bloody sponge.
Nothing has happened that was not foreseen.
Far be it from us to profane such a moment
as this with any vain recriminations. In
the sanctuary of our sorrow such revilings
jar like the hootings of some ill-omened bird
as we weep over the grave of our dead.
But it is precisely because he realized so
vividly the approach of that savage orgie of
carnage and of lust that General Gordon
twelve months ago pleaded so earnestly
against the evacuation of the Soudan, and
it was in order to stave off this great tragedy
that he consented to go to Khartoum to do
what he could. He has done what he
could, and the catastrophe which, with such
heroic courage and such marvellous resource,
he has averted for a whole year, has at last
overwhelmed him and those whom he sought
to save. ' Red ruin ' has fallen upon
Khartoum her children have been dashed
to pieces in the midst of her, the women
have become a prey to the spoiler, and the
few brave men who through all the long
siege have endured faithful to the end in
spite of sore privation, constant attacks,
and a haunting sense of desertion and
depair, have paid the penalty of their loyalty
with their lives. The telegrams from Korti
this morning read like the scrolls of the
Hebrew prophets on which were written the
judgment of God upon the cities of old
time. All is over, and the curtain falls
upon a scene of bloodshed and desolation,
only to be realized by those who remember

3 82

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

the carnage of Cawnpore or the more recent
horrors of Batak.

Khartoum has been evacuated by mas-
sacre, and with Khartoum General Gordon
has perished. Of that there can be no longer
any doubt. A career of unsullied splendour
has now culminated in a death worthy of
the life which it closed. 'The angels of
Martyrdom and Victory,' said Mazzini, ' are
twin sisters, for Martyrdom is also the
benediction of Heaven.' It is difficult for
those of us who knew Gordon as a man and
as a friend to speak without tear-dimmed
eyes and choking utterance of him whom
we shall now see no more. None of those
who knew that noble heart, so tender and
true, who have felt the warm grasp of that
generous hand now cold in death, who have
been gladdened by the radiance of his
ready smile, or inspired to striving after
nobler things by the glowing ardour of his
simple faith, can dissociate their keen sense
of personal bereavement from those more
general considerations which must neces-
sarily be before the nation to-day. There
was no one who knew him but loved him.
So brave he was and so gentle, so great and
yet so humble, inspired at once by the sub-
limest ideals, and yet ever alive to the
humorous underside of the world's affairs.
No woman could have been more tenderly
sympathetic, no paladin more utterly fear-
less. He realized more than almost any
man the ideal of the little child of whom it

said, ' Of such is the kingdom of heaven.'
The transparent sincerity and genuineness
of soul, the direct frankness of speech, the
utter absence of make-believe, even his
tempestuous gusts of wrath at injustice and
deceit, and the unreserved penitence with
which he would confess his faults, were all
childlike to the last degree. But of all
these things the outer world knows little,
and it is perhaps almost a sacrilege upon
the privacy of sorrow to advert even in pass-
ing to these touching memories. But even
in the midst of our grief, as ' with uncovered
head we salute the sacred dead who went
and who return not,' we are thrilled with a

proud joy as we reflect upon the splendour
of that stainless life now crowned with the
aureole of martyrdom. Even with that
terrible telegram of massacre and treachery
before their eyes, there is not one of his
friends who for a moment regrets that
General Gordon was sent to the Soudan to
suffer and to die in the defence of Khar-
toum. Looking back over the whole of
the dark, confused welter of bloodshed and
blunder that filled last year, the mission of
General Gordon stands out distinct and
clear as the one great achievement of Eng-
land for which every one has indeed good
cause to thank God and take courage. Of
all the gifts of Heaven to earth, the hero
is infinitely the greatest. In him the race
sees incarnate its highest ideals, and his
existence is in itself an inspiration. For
some time past it had seemed as if England
were indeed in that decadence which Prince
Bismarck believes has already overtaken her.
Her old ideals have been obscured. The
call of duty no longer rang in our ears as
the clarion of God wrapped in ease and
luxury and in unbelief, we were losing faith
both in England and in all that had made
England great. The individual seemed so
helpless. Belief in the transcendent im-
portance of a single brave man's intense
conviction had burned low. Patriotism
seemed in danger of being sacrificed to
party. And even in the midst of that day
of darkness and gloom, when Ministers and
Opposition alike seemed indifferent to the
fate of thousands doomed by our policy to
massacre and outrage, a man was raised up
who for twelve long months displayed in
the sight of the whole world the heroic
virtues which our gainsayers believed were
all but extinct. On the ramparts of the
beleaguered capital of the Libyan Desert,
as on some vast world-pedestal, General
Gordon has demonstrated before all men
the might that lies in the arm of a single
Englishman who has faith in his country
and his God. In him were incarnate
the characteristics of the heroes of our
national story. The chivalry of Arthur of

GORDON'S CHARACTER.

383

the Table Round, the indomitable valour
and saintly life of the Great Alfred, and the
religious convictions of Oliver the Protector
all were united in that slight form, now
alas ! laid low in death, upon which, with
ever increasing fascination, the eyes of the
world have so long been fixed. The in-
spiration of his great example, now conse-
crated by his death, will not be lost upon
the nation which, alas ! too late, poured
forth its millions into the desert sands in
order to fulfil the duty to whose supreme
claims he has sacrificed his life.

It is a great world-sorrow that has over-
taken us to-day. Far away in the distant
East the Chinese will suspend for a moment
their preparations against their foreign foes
in order to fire a funeral salute to the
memory of our heroic dead. But in the
midst of our sorrow let no thought of anger
obtrude towards those whose blind fury
slew the man whose supreme desire was to
save them from the oppressor. If in the
defence of England's honour it is necessary
to go to Khartoum, it is not to avenge
Gordon's death. Over and over again he said
before he went out on his last great mission :
' I would give my life for these poor people
of the Soudan. How can I help feeling for
them? All the time I was there, every
night I used to pray that God would lay
upon me the burden of their sins, and crush
me with it instead of these poor sheep. I
really wished it and longed for it.' And
now that his prayer and longing have been
realized, it is not for us to justify any opera-
tions, which we may have to undertake
against the Mahdi to atone for our slack-
ness, by pleas of vengeance. If Lord
Wolseley goes to Khartoum, he will not go
on a mission of vengeance on General
Gordon's account ; nor ought he to go to
Khartoum at all unless we are to establish
some decent government there for 'the poor
Soudanese.' Not from the Soudanese, but
from us and from our children, will be ex-
acted the penalty for the sacrifice of General
Gordon. He has fallen a victim to the
selfishness which has characterized our

recent policy in the Soudan. If we now
begin a new policy, with Gordon's watch-
words of Duty and Responsibility, and
carry it out in Gordon's spirit, even in
this hour of wrath and trouble, we may
discern the dawn of a new day, in which,
though Gordon be no more, Gordon's high
faith and noble courage will mould the
future destinies of our land."

Time would fail us to quote the opinions
of the foreign papers. All were unanimous
in their testimony to the greatness of the
man. But that, indeed, required neither
proof nor assertion. Let us conclude this
chapter with the able poem of Mr. F. L.
Gardiner on our hero.

:< I see before me a desert of sand,
And a palm-tree alone in a lonely land,
And a burning sky of dusky red,
And a river all parched in its arid bed,
And a horseman who rides with a patient face,
Which gleams with the light of a godly grace,
With some by his side who are staunch and

true

For no stranger is he to a faithful few
And an eye with a mild, but sorrowing gaze,
Still straining ahead through the mist and haze ;
With a will like steel, and a mind as strong,
To help the weak, or redeem a wrong ;
With a hopeful heart, and an arm as brave
As any that ever was sent to save
I see before me a desert plain,
And a face that will never be seen again.

II.

I see rushing on through blood and smoke,

Against spear, and spike, and sabre stroke,

A gallant band who know no fear,

And heed not sabre, spike, or spear ;

I see again that form of grace,

With the patient air, and godly face ;

I see within a far-ofT town,

Whose walls the hordes are hurling down

A brave man, with a fearless eye,

As he murmurs a vow to win or die,

Though lie knows that one who had sworn by

his sword

Would open the gates to the savage horde
I sec him hopeful and firm and true,
And still by his side a dauntless few,
And seem to hear though his lips are dumb
His anguished cry' Will they never come? '

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

III.

I see before me, bereft of breath,
With the glazing eye which tells of death,
All cold and grim with a bloody stain,
A corpse stretched out on the desert plain.
Is this the man with the godly grace,
With the patient air and heroic face ?

Is this the man who prayed for peace,
Who to strive for his country would never cease ?
Is this the man with steel-like mind,
Who love and home would leave behind ?
Who hardships and perils would undertake
Alone for his country's honour's sake ?
Yes, this is the man thus left to his fate,
While his countrymen moan, ' Alas, too late !'"

CHAPTER LXXIV.

PORDON p. RATION'S PRIEF AN ELOQUENT JRIBUTE.

S was fit and proper in the
case of one who eminently
deserved the title of a Chris-
tian warrior, memorial ser-
vices were held in our
principal churches, and some remarkable
discourses were preached with his life for
their text. From two of these discourses
we give extracts. The first is by the Rev.
Dr. Butler, of Harrow. It was delivered
in the Chapel Royal, St. James's, before
Mr. Gladstone, on isth February, 1885.
It is " affectionately dedicated to the boys
of Harrow School, in the hope that they
may ever be drawn to 'things above' by
the examples of heroic Christian souls, and
follow them as they follow Christ." Dr.
Butler took as his text the verse, " Right
dear in the sight of the Lord is the death
of His saints" (Ps. cxvi. 15), and the fol-
lowing are extracts from his discourse :
" There ought to be a lesson from God in
the death which the nation is to-day mourn-
ing. We are so made that when rare good-
ness and greatness are cut short on earth
by a tragic death, all the nobler parts of
our nature are moved. As we gaze on
some great figure that puts to shame the
average feebleness of man, we pass far be-
yond mere vulgar hero-worship. We lift
our hearts to the God of the spirits of all
flesh, and glorify Him 'who hath given
such power unto men.' I suppose we may

say with perfect truth that a mourning so
world-wide, so peculiarly poignant, and so
intensely personal as the present has not
been known in our generation. Indeed,
there have been but few periods in history
when so many elements of love and pity
and reverence combined to turn the mourn-
ing of a people into a solemn religious act.
We are to-day full of the memory of one
who was both a hero and a saint the most
soldier-like of saints, the most saintly of
soldiers. So special a combination can
never be common. Such occasions are, so
to speak, the All Saints' Days of history,
the time when goodness is doing its ap-
pointed work, drawing men to God by its
very beauty, and shaming evil out of sight.
We are thinking of men who, by the rare
nobleness of their character, have for a
time, short or long, attracted in a high de-
gree the love of mankind, and have then,
as in a moment, fallen in fight."

After referring to Bayard, the "good knight,
without fear and without reproach, the very
type of chivalry at its best, the lamentations
over whom read almost as a prophecy of
that other character, cast in the same
knightly mould, which is to-day receiving
the homage of all true Christian hearts," to
the brave and devout King of Sweden,
Gustavus Adolphus, and to Nelson, " the
darling hero of England," the great and
most lovable but still erring Nelson, and

"LET HIS GREAT EXAMPLE STAND.'

385

the grief occasioned by their deaths, Dr.
Butler proceeded to speak of General Gor-
don as follows :

"It is no exaggeration to say that the
great and good man who has just been i
snatched away speaks like a prophet i
of Christ to the men of this generation.
The last week has been a week of mission
in this vast diocese. And then, just as !
these special services began, and the prayers ;
of thousands were rising to God that He j
would lift them out of their worldliness, and
teach them the lessons of the manger and
the cross, suddenly there flashed across
deserts and seas the tidings of the lonely
martyrdom of one who stood out before
the world as the very symbol of unworld-
liness and self-sacrifice ; a man who cared
absolutely nothing for wealth, or honour,
or comforts of any kind ; who lived for
others, prayed for others, and was at any
moment ready to die for them ;

' Who, doomed to go in company with pain,
And fear and bloodshed, miserable train,
Turned his necessity to glorious gain ; '

a man who was never so much in his ele-
ment as when ministering, at home or
abroad, to misery and want ; whose con-
ception of life was drawn straight from the
Bible, and that faithful mirror of one as-
pect of the Bible, the famous ' Imitation of
Christ ' ; a man who had for years trodden
with unfaltering feet what that high-toned
book describes as ' the King's highway of
the Holy Cross,' and had accepted and, as
it were, drunk in with every fibre of his
being that most sublime of Christian truisms
'Go where thou wilt, seek whatsoever
thou wilt, thou shall not find a higher way
above, nor a safer way below, than the way \
of the Holy Cross.' During the solemn i
week that has just closed, while every j
preacher and missioner in London was seek-
ing to impress once more this ideal first
on himself and then on those to whom he
ministered, was it nothing to know that the
most conspicuously Christlike man of his
day had just crowned a Christlike life with

a Christlike death ? Was there any appeal
at such a time to compare with his ex-
ample ? Was there any voice so eloquent
as the hushed voice of the dead ?

Therefore in an age of boundless self-
indulgence, when comfort in every form,
and avoidance of effort, physical and in-
tellectual, spread their snares so wide and
so fatally, let us give thanks for this illus-
trious spectacle of heroic and saintly self-
sacrifice.

1 Let his great example stand,
Colossal, seen of every land,
And keep the soldier firm, the statesman pure.'

Ay, his great example ! What an example
to the young, who have life before them
and have not yet shaped the lines of their
career ! What an elevating guide to parents
in their aspirations for their children !

1 For where is he

Who dares foreshadow for an only son
A lovelier life, a more unstained, than his ? *

What an example for the soldier ! Surely
among the many brave men over whom the
flag of England waves somewhere to-day,
in some portion of her world-wide empire,
there must be not a few who are even now
turning over the pages of a Bible, perhaps
too long unopened, and saying to them-
selves in their hearts : ' This is the book
which, under God, gave Gordon his heroism.
This is the companion which never failed
him. This is the friend which stood beside
him " in perils by the heathen, in perils in
the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils
among false brethren." This is the book
by whose rule he lived, and in whose spirit
and power we doubt not he died.'

Once more, what an example to us all !
How clear a summons to set the house of
our social life in order, and see if it bears
any prints of the Holy Cross ! The ' world
is with us ' everywhere, even in our religion.
Even our modes of worship are a luxury.
What a call from Khartoum to greater sim-
plicity of life, greater dread of softness,
greater thought for the poor and the suffer-
ing, greater longing for the mind of Christ !

c c

3 86

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

We have heard once again to-day those
immortal words that give each year to Quin-
quagesima Sunday a sanctity of its own :
' Though I have all faith, so that I could
remove mountains, and have not charity, I
am nothing.'

And here we have a man, our own
countryman, who possessed in the highest
degree both these Divine gifts, not only
that boundless faith in God which made no
task seem to him impossible, but even that
rarer and purer treasure, the unfeigned love
of his brother-men.

' Thanks be unto God for His unspeak-
able gift ' to His people and to His Church ! "

The other is the concluding portion of a
discourse by Dr. Jowett, the eminent Mas-
ter of Balliol, delivered in the chapel of his
college.

" There never has been a public calamity
(not the death of Nelson at the battle of
Trafalgar, of which our fathers have told us)
affecting so deeply the hearts and minds of
England. He upon whom all eyes had
been turned during the last year, who had
saved an empire, and then retired into pri-
vate life as if he were nobody : who again
went forth and girded himself to the task
of putting down slavery and the slave-trade
in the interior of Africa: who alone and
almost single-handed undertook the still
harder task of saving beleaguered garrisons,
and of restoring peace and order in the
Soudan : just when his friends were with-
in sight and expecting the joyful meeting,
has fallen by the treachery of some of his
followers ; and the work so nearly crowned
with success is undone and has to be begun
over again. There is nothing more tragic
in history than the death of this great man,
whether we consider the loneliness of his
position, the nearness of the object, the
simplicity and disinterestedness of his aims :
no loss certainly could be sadder to us.
And not only we, but foreign nations also,
seem to feel that by his death the world is
poorer his virtues still the voice of party
and of envy and we are thankful to them
for their appreciation of our countryman.

The best tribute which we ourselves can
pay to him is to do nothing out of revenge
or ambition, but from necessity and be-
cause we must: because we cannot leave
those who have trusted us and him, to be
massacred, or allow a country with which,
by a series of accidents, we have been
brought into connection, to be the prey of
anarchy. We follow the path in which he
has shown us the way; not desiring to
acquire military prestige or national glory,
but that we may restore peace and freedom
and order to one of the most oppressed
regions of earth.

During the past year we have been living
at home in ease and comfort, engaged in
study or business, enjoying the pleasant
country and the return of the seasons from
time to time at Oxford and elsewhere.
What a contrast to the life of the great
Captain, shut up with a single friend, in the
city of the desert far away, surrounded by
strange people and a strange faith, and yet
possessing such a superhuman force of will
and mind that he was able to command
them, and to use all the resources of war in
protecting them against the fanatical hordes
of besiegers ! What were the thoughts
which filled his mind at that time? He
was still dwelling in idea on that Divine
life which taught him that there was some-
thing better and higher than success :
' The Lord had not promised that he
should succeed,' and he was willing to die.
In such a frame of mind, while taking all
the means which military genius could
devise for the safety of the town, he passed
those lonely hours ; once recently to be
saddened by the death of his beloved com-
rade, the only sharer of his enterprise,
perhaps strengthening the presentiment of
his own death : ' I shall go to him, but
he shall not return to me.'

Men will think and feel about him more
or less deeply according to the depth of
their own nature ; and in some the memory
of him will be always and for ever fixed,
and will affect their lives. Others will re-
mind us that he maintained singular fancies

THE CHRISTIAN HERO.

337

about the interpretation of Scripture ; that
he found a mystical meaning in the rocks
which surround Jerusalem ; that, like Dante
or Swedenborg, he lived, not in a figure
only, in the daily sight of heaven and hell.
Such fancies or meditations were entertained
by almost every saint of mediaeval times,
Catholic or Protestant. The mention of
them leads me to make a remark which has
often been made before, respecting this
great man, that ' there was something
about him which might seem more truly
to belong to other times.' He might be
regarded as one of the great ones of old,
who has visited us for a season, whom the
world deemed mad, because he was out of
place amid the conventions of society. Is
any one so ignorant of human nature as not
to know that a self-taught man, conversing
with his own soul, and not with established
teachers, will have many 'private interpre-
tations of Scripture ' (such as there are in
Scripture itself), and many personal ex-
periences which have no value or meaning
to other persons or to another age or
country ? But the true greatness, the cen-
tral idea of such a man is not to be
gathered from these weaknesses or fancies,
through which as through a many-coloured
glass he beheld the vision of the Eternal
and Unchangeable. It consists in this
that he devoted himself heart and soul to
his country and to his God. ' He endured
as seeing Him who is invisible.' Such an
intensity of self-devotion, such an abne-
gation of all things which men hold dear,
not for a moment only, or on the field of
battle, but always and everywhere ; such a
' counting all things but dross,' if he might
serve God and his fellow-men, has not been
seen in any one else of our time. The fear
of treachery and assassination had no power
over him, for at any moment he was pre-
pared to die, and he left the accidents of
the hour with God. Yet though already
seeming to be an inhabitant of another

world, he was still the great strategist who
knew all the arts of attack and defence;
the most mystical of men, he was also the
most practical, and breathed into his waver-
ing and half-hearted adherents a spirit and
constancy which was not their own.

And so farewell to the Christian hero,
' the happy warrior,' upon whom has come
nothing which ' he did not foresee.' We,
who are his countrymen, will cherish an
affectionate remembrance of him while we
live. We know that we cannot imitate the
actions and characters of great men ; we
can only appreciate them. No effort of
ours will place us on a level with them.
Yet we pray also that some good influence
may flow from them to us which may raise
us above the conventionalities of the world,
above the fashion of political opinions, to
dwell in the light of justice, in the constancy
of truth. And we pray for this nation also,
that the lesson of a great man's death may
not be lost upon us ; but that in our public
acts, as well as in our private lives, we may
gather from him courage and firmness and
wisdom and self-sacrifice and strength in
all the trials which the English people may
have to undergo in generations to come.
And whether nations, like individuals,
tend naturally to decay or not, whether
our own country is about to lose something
of her ancient power and glory, or, like an
eagle, to mount upward and to renew her
youth, we may acquiesce in either result,
even though we are overmatched by the
military or material development of other
European States, if only the best qualities
of Englishmen flourish and abound in us.
For the true life of a nation, as of an in-
dividual, consists not in the multitude of
her possessions, but in righteousness and
peace, in intelligence and education, in the
love of truth and justice, in the fulfilment
of the destiny which God has assigned to
her in the world." So the English nation
mourned for Gordon.

388

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

CHAPTER LXXV.

Goi\poN THE NATIONAL MEMORIAL.

HERE was a general feeling
among all classes in England
that there ought to be a
national monument to the
heroic Gordon. This feel-
ing found expression at a great meeting at
the Mansion House, on Saturday, March
1 4th, 1885, at which (according to press
accounts) the Lord Mayor presided, and
among those present were the Prince of
Wales, the Duke of Edinburgh, the Duke
of Cambridge, Cardinal Manning, the
Chinese Minister, the Lord Chancellor,
Earl Granville, Earl Fitzwilliam, Lord
Strathnairn, Lord Napier of Magdala, Sir
William Harcourt, Sir Arthur Otway, M.P.,
Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, General Sir
John Cowell, General Sir Dighton Probyn,
Admiral Sir E. Inglefield, Sir H. W. Acland,
Alderman Sir R. Garden, M.P., Alderman
Sir W. McArthur, M.P., the Dean of West-
minster, the Dean of Llandaff, General
Henry Eyre, the Governor of the Bank of
England, Mr. S. Morley, M.P., Mr. Alder-
man and Sheriff Whitehead, the Rev. Dr.
Butler, of Harrow (Dean Designate of
Gloucester), the Rev. Dr. Henry Allon, and
Captain the Hon. D. Monson.

The Lord Mayor said he had acted on
the suggestion of the Prince of Wales, and
called the meeting on as early a date as
possible, so that the scheme might be sub-
mitted to the public.

Admiral Sir E. Inglefield then, at the
instance of the Prince of Wales, read a
statement regarding his proposal for the
erection of a hospital at Port Said
as a national memorial to General
Gordon, quoting a report by the local
English chaplain as to the deplorable con-
dition of the existing Egyptian hospital.
This gentleman said : " In the large ward,

which ought to contain only five or six
beds, there are ten. The walls are dis-
gracefully dirty and stained, and the floor
has never been washed since I have been
here. The bed-linen is brown with dirt,
and is seldom changed. In one case, to
my certain knowledge, it was in use for
eight consecutive weeks, without ever being
taken off the bed even to air. The patients
are mainly their own nurses, those who are
able to walk helping those who are not.
The medicines are distributed in black beer
bottles, without corks. There are no direc-
tions for measurement, time of taking, or
proper dose. No one comes round to
administer it, and the patients have to help
themselves at the time and in the quantity
they think fit." Sir E. Inglefield added
that with those facts before them a com-
mittee had set to work to obtain funds for
erecting a British hospital there. They had
got from the Canal Company a grant of
land valued at ,4,560, and 1,200 had
been subscribed towards the building fund.
Plans for a building of two storeys, and
capable of accommodating 100 patients,
had been prepared under the direction ot
Lady Strangford. It was proposed to have
an interior court or garden, such as was so
frequently seen in the East, that could be
shaded at all times of the day while ex-
posed to the open air. Interior balconies
around that court would afford shade and
free ventilation to the whole of the apart-
ments. The rough estimate for the build-
ing had been calculated at 11,000. It
was estimated that ,1,550 annually from
various sources would be available for
maintenance. He and his committee now
suggested that the national memorial to
General Gordon should take the form of a
British hospital at Port Said, which he

THE GORDON MEMORIAL.

389

would humbly propose might be named
" The Gordon Memorial Hospital" (cheers).
The Prince of Wales said : " My Lord
Mayor, your Royal Highnesses, my Lords
and Gentlemen The object of our meet-
ing here to-day is to do honour to the name
of a great Englishman and of a distin-
guished soldier. It would almost be out of
place and superfluous on my part if I were
to say anything in praise of the distin-
guished man who, we have every reason to
believe, is no more living. His name and
his deeds are as well known to all of you as
I am inclined to think they are known by
the whole nation. His career as a soldier,
as a philanthropist, and as a Christian is a
matter of history. Our object to-day is to
determine on some great national memorial
to his name and memory. The public take
a deep interest in securing that the memo-
rial shall be worthy of his name. The diffi-
culty no doubt arises in the minds of all of
us, what would be a suitable memorial ?
Many would wish some fine statue, some
fine monument; but we who know what Gor-
don was feel convinced that were he living
nothing would be more distasteful to him
personally than that any memorial should
be erected in the shape of a statue or of
any great monument His tastes were most
simple, and we all know he was anxious
that his name should not be brought pro-
minently before the public, though in every
act of his life that name was brought, I am
inclined to think, as prominently before the
nation as that of any soldier or any great
Englishman whom we know of at the pre-
sent time. Sir Edward Inglefield has been
kind enough to read to you a memorandum
and a proposal that a much-needed hospital
at Port Said should be erected and devoted
to the memory of General Gordon, to be
called the Gordon Memorial Hospital. I
am inclined to think that if this meeting ap-
proves of it the scheme is a very good one.
I think also there is no institution which
would have been more acceptable to
General Gordon than a hospital with which
his name would have been associated. He

was, perhaps, one of the most unselfish men
ever known, and his thoughts were always
of others. If this hospital were built and
it is well known by all accustomed to the
East that the building could be erected
in a comparatively short space of time it
would be of immense value and use if the
war in the Soudan is likely to be prolonged;
but even when that is over it will remain
for ever one of the most useful institutions
an international one that could possibly
have been built. The many ships of all
nations that go up and down the Canal will
see this building, and they will, if necessary,
be reminded of the name of Gordon, which
will be associated with it. As time is short
I will not say more. There is much more
that I could say and would wish to have
said with regard to the great soldier who in
all probability has been taken from us. I
feel that it would be almost out of place for
me to say any more. I will now only move
the first resolution, which is, ' That this
committee, having heard the letter and ex-
amined the plans submitted by Sir E. Ingle-
field, are of opinion that the erection of the
proposed hospital at Port Said would form
a suitable national memorial to General
Gordon, and that the same be forthwith
carried into effect' Before sitting down I
wish only to say one more word this will
also be alluded to by the Commander-in-
chief, who will second this resolution. I
feel sure that any memorial which is to be
erected in memory of General Gordon
would be incomplete unless in some way or
other the name of his distinguished lieu-
tenant, Colonel Stewart, were associated
with it Possibly it might be desirable to
call one of the great wards Stewart Ward.
Colonel Stewart shared all the dangers, all
the difficulties of General Gordon, and his
life was equally sacrificed in the cause of
duty. I feel sure, gentlemen, you would
not wish me to omit the name of Colonel
Stewart " (cheers).

The Duke of Cambridge, in seconding
the resolution, said : " My Lord Mayor,
your Royal Highnesses, my Lords and

390

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

Gentlemen I have great satisfaction in
being permitted to second this proposition
of His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales.
His Royal Highness has spoken so feelingly
and so fully of the merits of our lamented
friend no longer amongst us, General
Gordon, that really there is very little
more for me to add. Perhaps I personally
knew more even than His Royal Highness
of General Gordon, for I remember him
when I was at Corfu, forty-three years ago,
as a little boy living next door to me in the
citadel, where his father was then com-
manding the Royal Engineers. I watched
his career from that period to his end
with the greatest interest and satisfaction.
Nothing could have been greater than his
general ability. As a soldier he was mar-
vellous in his intrepidity, his courage, and
coolness. As a cosmopolitan we know that
he has done great service, not only to his
country, but to the world in general. I see
here the representative of a distant land
China which reminds me of how great his
services were in that part of the world.
Afterwards, in the Soudan, before he went
on his last mission, he also showed what he
could perform, not only as a soldier, but as
an administrator. His Royal Highness has
most justly remarked that if there was one
thing my excellent friend, General Gordon,
was more conspicuous for than anything
else, it was simplicity. He was absolutely
the simplest-minded man within himself I
ever met with; and though grand in his
views and conceptions, and able in his ad-
ministration, he had that peculiarity about
him which I am now referring to, which I
never saw in a man who had so constantly
been placed in high and independent
positions. When I took leave of him at
the railway when going away, if you had
seen the simplicity with which he started
you could not have believed that a great
genius and a great man was leaving these
shores on a distant mission. I think it
right to point out that fact, because I
cannot imagine that anything would have
been more gratifying to him, if he could

have evinced it, than that some useful
memorial should be established instead
of a statue or any other conspicuous
object. There was nothing he disliked
so much as being brought before the
public in his individuality as General
Gordon. There was nothing he was so
proud of as being a great Englishman and
a good and gallant soldier. I think the
idea of having this most useful hospital at
Port Said is most excellent. I am glad
that His Royal Highness has alluded to a
subject which I had a good deal at heart
that the name of Colonel Stewart should
not be altogether omitted. There is no
doubt that General Gordon is the object of
our meeting here to-day; I am sure, how-
ever, that General Gordon, had he been in a
position to express his feelings, would have
said, ' Do not forget those who served me
faithfully and well, and who have supported
me in every way;' and nobody has done
so more faithfully to the death, I may say
than Colonel Stewart. I arn sure it will
be the feeling, not only of this meeting, but
of the public generally, to approve of the
suggestion of His Royal Highness that a
ward should be called the Stewart Ward,
thus proving that we associate these two
men thoroughly and entirely in their late
mission. I am sure that is the right thing
to do, and I trust that this meeting will
agree to the suggestion of His Royal High-
ness, not only as regards the name of
Colonel Stewart being associated, but gen-
erally with the great object in view the
building of this hospital at Port Said. I
have great pleasure in being permitted to
second the resolution."

The Duke of Edinburgh, who was cheered
on rising, said : " My Lord Mayor, your
Royal Highnesses, my Lords, and Gentle-
men I consider it a great pleasure that I
should be able to be present here on this
occasion in order to express my own ad-
miration for the great man whose memorial
we are to-day assembled here to consider.
I should also wish on this occasion to say,
on behalf of the service to which I have the

THE GORDON MEMORIAL.

39 1

honour to belong, that among no class of
Her Majesty's subjects will his memory be
more revered than among the members of
the naval profession. I think the proposi-
tion which we have heard read by Sir Edward
Inglefield must commend itself to all those
present to-day at this meeting, and will
commend itself also most thoroughly to the
general public outside; for no institution
could be more useful from its position and
application, and no institution could be
more in accordance with the character of
that great man to whom it is to be erected
as a memorial. There is one great advan-
tage with regard to this proposal which may
be remarked upon, viz., the very short space
of time in which the work can be executed.
I am informed that it could be completed
within the space of four months ; therefore
the application of the fund raised would
come into almost immediate operation. I
will now, without any further remarks, read
the second resolution which has been placed
in my hands, viz. : " That a sub-committee,
composed of the following members of the
committee, be appointed to carry out the
same, namely, the Lord Mayor, the Marquis
of Ripon, Lord Napier of Magdala, Sir
Edward Inglefield, Sir Henry Ackland, Mr.
Walter, M.P., the Governor of the Bank
of England, Mr. Edward Baring, Mr. S.
Morley, M.P., Mr. Sutherland, M.P., Sir
Joseph Fayrer, Sir Dighton Probyn, Sir
John Cowell, and Sir J. W. Reid, with
power to add to their number.' I have
great pleasure in proposing that resolution."

Earl Granville, in seconding the motion,
remarked that General Gordon was one of
the strongest and, at the same time, the
gentlest of mea He was absolutely free
from vulgar ambition. He certainly un-
intentionally and unconsciously built for
himself the greatest memorial that could
possibly be created, and would fill one of
the most romantic pages of the history of
England he might say of the history of the
world (cheers).

The Lord Chancellor next moved " That
in the event of a balance of the fund re-

maining after defraying the cost of the erec-
tion and completion of the hospital at Port
Said, it is resolved that it shall be applied
to some benevolent and useful institution or
purpose, as the committee may hereafter
determine, having special regard to General
Gordon's philanthropic character." His
lordship remarked that a national memorial
should be in harmony with General Gor-
don's character. He despised all earthly
things. He despised all earthly wealth and
riches. He seemed to have had no object
in life before him except to serve his fellow-
man, his country, and the public, and to
exhibit a noble and consistent example of
the power and energy of a real Christian
faith. That being so, it was a just homage
to such a character that we should deter-
mine to devote the funds of this national
memorial to purposes of which he would
have approved, in which all selfish ideas
disappeared in the face of the object of a
general and a permanent good to his fellow-
man. His lordship expressed his entire
agreement with the proposal not to make
this memorial a personal memorial in the
shape of a monument or a statue ; but he
could not help thinking that the time
must and would come, and ought to come,
when General Gordon should be remem-
bered even in that form of memorial also
(cheers).

Cardinal Manning seconded the resolu-
tion, remarking that he heartily concurred
in the idea of planting a hospital at the head
of the great Eastern waterway, and he sug-
gested that any balance from the fund
should be applied to the object which
Gordon had so much at heart the aboli-
tion of the slave-trade, and the liberation
of, he believed, the most oppressed and
suffering of all the races at this moment on
the earth he meant the Soudanese, who,
at this time, were being crushed, tormented,
and carried away with unknown cruelty into
slavery by the Arabs.

All the resolutions were adopted unani-
mously.

The Lord Mayor stated that since the

392

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

last publication of the list of subscriptions
they had received some very satisfactory
donations. He also mentioned a very in-
teresting circumstance. Although it was
not very large in amount, it showed the
feeling among the poorer classes of the
metropolis. He ordered a box to be placed
outside the door of the Mansion House,
and the result of that is, that in the small

coin of the poor they had received a sum
of ^29 45. 6d. (loud cheers).

Earl Fitzwilliam moved, and the Dean of
Westminster seconded, a cordial vote of
thanks to the Lord Mayor, which was put
to the meeting by the Prince of Wales, and
carried unanimously.

The Lord Mayor having replied, the
meeting separated.

CHAPTER LXXVI.

GORDON JHE BOYS' AMP JVA.MILY WISHES AND THOUGHTS.

HE proposal to establish a
hospital at Port Said as
a national memorial to
General Gordon, did not
on the whole find favour
with the English people. It was thought
that the movement should be more exclu-
sively national. This feeling finally became
so strong, that it was determined to change
the plan, and accordingly another meeting
of the Mansion House Committee of the
fund for providing a national memorial of
General Gordon, was held in the Venetian
Parlour, under the presidency of the Lord
Mayor, M.P. His Royal Highness the
Prince of Wales was present, as were also
Field-Marshal Lord Strathnairn, Field-
Marshal Lord Napier of Magdala, Lord
Brabazon, the Dean of Llandaff, Mr. Walter,
M.P., the Dean of Westminster, Dr. Ma-
cartney, C.M.G. (representing the Chinese
Minister), Sir J. Watt Reid, Sir W. P.
Andrew, the Rev. Canon Scarth, Lieut.-
General Sir Dighton Probyn, V.C., Admiral
Sir Edward Inglefield, General Sir John
Cowell, Sir Henry W. Gordon, General
Eyre, Sir W. Guyer Hunter, Sir Robert
Garden, M.P., Mr. Sutherland, M.P.,
General Sir F. J. Goldsmid, Sir T. Fowell
Buxton, Sir E. Lechmere, M.P., Colonel
Donnelly, Sir Henry Acland, the Rev. Pre-

bendary Barnes, General Sir Andrew Clarke,
Mr. Sheriff Faudel Phillips, Captain Douglas
Gafton, C.B., and Mr. Soulsby, the secre-
tary. The fund was reported to amount,
after payment of expenses, to ; 18,031.
After a conference, at which many members
of the committee spoke,

His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales
moved : " That this meeting adopts the
proposal of creating a Gordon Boys' Home
as a national memorial to General Gordon,
and that a sub-committee be appointed to
draw up a scheme to amalgamate the camp
idea, which has approved itself to the minds
of so many members of the committee of
the National Memorial (Mansion House
Fund), with that of training for civil life."

The resolution was seconded by Sir
Robert Garden, M.P., and carried unani-
mously.

On the motion of His Royal Highness,
it was further resolved that the following
gentlemen should be nominated as a sub-
committee to draw up the scheme : Lord
Napier of Magdala, Mr. Walter, M.P., Mr.
Sutherland, M.P., General Sir Dighton
Probyn, General Sir John Cowell, Admiral
Sir E. Inglefield, and Sir H. W. Gordon.

A meeting of the sub-committee was sub-
sequently held, under the presidency of
Lord Napier of Magdala, when they arrived

THE BOYS CAMP.

393

unanimously at the following resolutions, in
which Lieutenant-General Higginson, C.B.,
on the part of the Gordon Boys' Camp
Committee, concurred:

" That the Memorial Institution shall be
called ' The Gordon Boys' Home,' that it
shall train boys of the age of fourteen, and
between fourteen and eighteen, for military
or civil life, according to their capabilities
and inclinations ; that the training shall
comprise elementary education and instruc-
tion in trades and industrial pursuits, and
that discipline on military principles be
maintained."

"The committee recommend the com-
mencement of the Gordon Boys' Home,
on a small scale for the accommodation of
about fifty boys, and that preliminary in-
quiries be made for acquiring a piece of
land suitable for the purpose."

A further meeting of the committee was
held in July, 1885, at the Mansion House,
under the presidency of Field-Marshal Lord
Napier of Magdala, G.C.B. Lieutenant-
General Higginson, C.B., handed in a
memorandum, stating that the committee
of the Gordon Boys' Camp accepted the
proposed amalgamation, by which the
Mansion House Committee and the Gor-
don Boys' Camp Committee were to be
united, and their funds merged for the
objects of "The Gordon Boys' Home,"
under the general designation of "The
National Memorial to General Gordon."
It was unanimously resolved, on the motion
of Mr. Walter, M.P., that, consequent upon
this agreement to amalgamate, the two
committees should be merged in one, under
the name of a council, with the Prince of
Wales as president, and the Duke of Edin-
burgh, the Duke of Connaught, and the
Duke of Cambridge as vice-presidents, and
that an appeal should be made to the
public for the additional funds required to
carry out the objects of the Gordon Boys'
Home.

This change was universally approved of
by the press and the public. It must have
been peculiarly gratifying to the members

of Gordon's own family. One of Gordon's
sisters had at the time when the proposal
was first mooted, written in the following
terms to a lady called Mrs. Warne, who is
a resident at Gravesend :

" My dear Mrs. Warne I knew you
would be thinking of me in this most ter-
rible trial, and thank you for your kind
letter of sympathy. I do not know how
I shall live without him. You know what
he was, and what a loss he must be to me.
I like to think of him at Gravesend, where
I spent so many happy months with him.
I owe more to him than any one that ever
lived. He was such a help and comfort.
He liked his time at Gravesend, as you
well know. Was he not fond of his ' scut-
tiers,' and the boys equally fond of him ?
You were a great help to him I know, and
anything you can tell me of him will be
acceptable. I want the national memorial
to take the form of a home for poor neg-
lected boys, to train them and make them
respectable members of society. He would
wish this, would he not ? How distasteful
would monuments, statues, etc., be to him.
I have written and told the Lord Mayor of
my wish. My brother, Sir Henry Gordon,
fully concurs in my desire." Miss Gordon
concludes her epistle by hoping that the
" Gravesend memorial will take a useful
form, to help poor people."

Another letter, from another sister of
Gordon's, as showing what his family
thought of him, and how thoroughly he
was at one with them, may here be given.
It was written to the Secretary of the Rom-
sey Working Men's Conservative Associa-
tion, which association had passed a vote
of sympathy with the family of the departed
hero. We may observe here that this was
a proper thing of the association to do as
working men, but not as Conservatives.
Nothing could be imagined worse than the
attempt to make political capital out of
Gordon's death, and we are glad to say it
was 0/ attempted on any great scale. Here,
however, is the simple and touching letter :

" Dear Sir, On the part of my sisters

394

TJJE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

and myself I have to thank the Romsey
Working Men's Conservative Association
for their very kind resolution conveying
their condolence and sympathy on the
death of our brother. The tribute of ad-
miration expressed of his character is par-
ticularly gratifying in this time of sorrow,
which is greatly increased by the thought
of the sufferings he must have endured for
so many months in mind and body ; yet he
was not alone, for he realized the presence
of His God and of His rule, as is shown in
some of his last words : ' Remember our
Lord did not promise success or peace in
this life ; He promised tribulation. So if

things do not go well after the flesh He
still is faithful ; He will do all in love and
mercy to me. My part is to submit to His
will, however dark it may be,' " and the
Divine decree was that he should perish in
the far Soudan, and not be permitted to
carry out the noble work of helping to
found a great state on the Congo a part of
Africa already consecrated by the labours ot
Gordon's countryman, the simple-minded
Mungo Park (whose portrait we have given
along with that of Bruce), and since then
the field where many Britons have laboured,
but which was not now to be toiled in by
one perhaps the noblest of them all.

CHAPTER LXXVII.

GORDON CONCLUDING REFLECTIONS AND REMINISCENCES.
i I j j

N illustration with which we
here present our readers re-
calls an incident in Gordon's
career. It is the time when
the name of Chinese Gor-
don had not been effaced by the wider view
of General Gordon of Khartoum. Our
picture is of Gordon directing a battle,
whilst carrying in his hand the little stick
which came to be known as the magic
wand of victory. Of that wand of victory
we have already spoken. We mention it
here again, to bid the reader ask himself
if it be not the case that, looking back upon
the whole life of the hero, we find that this
wand had a deeply symbolical meaning.
It shows us that Gordon's strength is, in
reality, spiritual. He was strong in weak-
ness and great in defect. The manner of
his death will probably be for ever un-
known. No funeral rites were said over
" that sacred head." Rather it was exposed
to cruel insult. But it is perhaps the

death he would have chosen. In death as
in life, he resembled the Master whom he
served.

After he was gone his friends found a
melancholy pleasure in collecting records
of him. We are sure it will be interesting
to our readers, if we quote some additional
reminiscences of his work at Gravesend, by
Mr. Arnold White, who tells us that " the
five great forts that form the first and
second line of the Thames defences are
mainly the result of Gordon's work at
Gravesend from 1865 to 1871. Except in
the Crimean trenches, as a lad of twenty-
two, at no other period of his life was he
exclusively concerned in work for his own
country. But this period, unless I am mis-
taken, will be that on which the thoughts
of future generations will most love to
linger, not because his industry and military
genius assisted in providing effectual safe-
guards for London, but because he taught
us in his leisure moments the right way to

GORDON'S QUARTERS.

395

approach the poor man and the poor boy,
and to arouse in them feelings of devotion
and love which enabled them to resist the

temptations common to their class, and
thus effectually to help themselves. The
modest quarters in which Gordon lived

THE MAGIC WAND OF VICTORY.

during those six years stand in the centre
of one of the forts. Clinker-built and russet
tiled, the outside of the cottage appears
more humble than it really is. Entering

through a little passage and leaving the
sitting-room on the right, the drawing or
dining-room gives an outlook to a spacious
lawn, with one spreading chestnut tree

39 6

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

now gaunt and grey in the March wind
backed by the earthworks and bastions of
the fort. A fireplace faces the bow window,
and over the chimney-piece Gordon placed
his map of the world, with the little flags to
mark the progress of his 'kings' in their
wanderings by land and sea. This room
was used by Gordon in his leisure moments ;
and in it many and many a poor fellow
from the gutter and the shrimp boat first
found help and hope. Upstairs is Gordon's
bedroom, with a fine view of the Sheerness
bend in the Thames, of the four forts, and
of the busy steamers trafficking up and
down the stream. Adjacent is the boys'
room, where Gordon's ' kings ' were accom-
modated wholesale, so near to the 'Ker-
nel's ' own chamber that any uproar could
quickly be checked.

Outside, the garden beds, box-edged and
old-fashioned, are quite unchanged. On
summer days this garden was in Gordon's
time the resort of the old and the halt.
Fourteen years have passed away since
Gordon left Gravesend. He has, however,
contrived to leave behind him, especially
among the poor, so passionate a clinging to
his memory that his loss is to them a reality
and a sorrow that cannot be observed with-
out sharing in their pain. He never taught
them that the language of religion was a
panacea for hunger and despair. Hothouse
grapes of the best, carried nightly to the
bedside of a fevered and improvident water-
man, and placed one by one in the parched
mouth of the sick man, formed the sort
of religious message Gordon favoured. A
man whose intelligence made him fretful
on a sick bed, where he was condemned
to irksome idleness of mind, found, by
Gordon's thoughts, a Daily News delivered
every morning at the door. Some irregu-
larity occurring in the delivery of the
paper, Gordon, delegating the office to no
one, himself saw to the establishment of
a punctual supply, and did not quit his
object until the sick man received his wel-
come newspaper with regularity. In so
deep a mine of memories every lode cannot

be worked, but there were some instances
of the singular attachment aroused by
Gordon's life that must not be omitted.
An old woman whose sons had long since
been helped by Gordon, and who had of
late fallen on evil days, heard that Gordon
was dead, and conceived the idea for it is
not easy to see how she could have gained
it from outside that Gordon's body was
coming to London for interment Although
in sore straits, and with no capital but
some dilapidated nets, this woman was
actually negotiating for the sale of those
nets to provide the funds to go to London
and throw herself for the last time upon
the remains of the man she loved so well.
' For,' she said, ' I do not care if I starve
the day after.'

Another old man, in horn barnacles,
half blind, with a keen memory, and
obvious sincerity for he could not read
the newspapers, and he had no one now
to read them for him spoke of Gordon's
goodness to the wife now dead. Doctors
ordered, as doctors will, delicacies beyond
the old man's means. Wine and soup were
as much out of his reach as a trip to Ma-
deira. Gordon heard of this, and the
delicacies and wine were brought twice
a day by his own hand; and when the
cares of Coal-house Fort or other of the
iron-shielded Thames defences detained
him, he would always send the soup or the
wine. When the old woman grew better
Gordon would sit by her bedside and read
the Scriptures, and the old husband says
she listened gladly. The Fort-house garden
and its box-edged walks were made free to
the woman and her husband, and for a few
years she hobbled in on sunny days, and
took her ease on the lawn and among the
old-fashioned flowers. She and her bene-
factor are both gone to their long homes
now ; and the only spectator of the fact I
relate is an old man, who cannot be long
in following after them. Sometimes Gordon
would be deceived. His good heart laid
him open to unscrupulous practices. Chil-
dren would be sent shoeless into the streets

GORDON'S PRINCIPLES OF LIFE.

397

to waylay the Colonel Clothes would be
torn to simulate the rags of misery. The
curious part of these devices is in the
sequel. The perpetrators, though they suc-
ceeded in ' doing ' the Colonel in the first
instance, were broken down in their efforts
by the sheer power of affection the man
inspired. My informant said : ' Them as
swindled him was the most sorry, 'specially
when the news came of his death.'

I encountered one old man who had
been a sergeant in the Crimea, and who
had had one transaction with Gordon at
that early date. The sergeant had saved
and wished to remit ^7 to his wife, and
applied to Gordon to send it home. Gor-
don sent it home, and without saying any-
thing about it added ^3, making 10
in all. A year passed, when the sergeant
returned home, and found that Gordon,
surmising that the wife was not too well off,
had silently supplemented from his own
scanty pay the sergeant's remittance. Gor-
don believed in outdoor relief. His pen-
sioners were not a few. Sometimes he
would pay a poor and deserving woman to
look after a superannuated man, and if the
woman acquitted herself well of her task
and he was strict in requiring good work
he would take her under his own care.
There is at least one such case in Graves-
end now the case of an elderly woman,
whose care of one of Gordon's pensioners
had drawn from the Colonel a promise of
help 'when he came back from Khartoum.'
This promise must now be redeemed by
others, and it is an honour to share in it

Perhaps the spot most directly connected
with the story of Gordon's Gravesend life
is the dingy corner of the ragged school,
with the tall window looking on to the
unlovely red tiles and the grey bricks and
mortar of the soup kitchen. Here in this
corner every Sunday he was regularly to be
found with his class of sixteen boys, upon
whom he shed the light of his singular
nature. Those boys were 'rough 'uns'
when they were first caught, but they soon
sobered down, and in every known case

became personally indebted to Gordon for
a changed life. The Colonel would never
take the chair except on one occasion,
when 300 of the parents of the boys were
entertained at a tea-meeting. He carried
self-effacement into the smallest details of
life. Some of the poorer of those lads
he would have to the Fort-house, where
he would feed and lodge them. Three or
four of them had scarlet fever at his house,
and the Colonel would sit with them far
into the night, talking to them and soothing
them until they fell asleep. ' He entered,'
says Mr. Penman, ' into all their concerns,
caring nothing for himself. He cared only
to make them happy and industrious, while
his chief aim was to lead them to the
Saviour.'

Gordon's four principles of life were (he
said to himself) (i) entire self-forgetful-
ness; (2) the absence of pretension; (3)
the refusal to accept as a motive the world's
praise or disapproval ; and (4) to follow in
all things the will of God. The Rev. W.
Guest, who has very kindly interested him-
self in my efforts to find traces of Gordon's
example to the English people, says that
the Colonel would enter homes infected
with contagion and fever when others hesi-
tated to go. He would often go to the
workhouse, and walk with the old men in
the yard without a shadow of assumption.
He was wont not only to give tobacco to
the old fellows, and tea to the crones, but
kept up his gifts after he left Gravesend.
With him, out of sight was not out of mind.
He would write to a washer-woman and
send her his photograph with a great deal
more suavity of manner than that he has
displayed to the Prime Minister of Eng-
land.

It is impossible to close these brief notes
without a reference to the 'national' me-
morial to General Gordon. It is mere
affectation to dub a Port Said Hospital a
fitting monument of the reverence and
affection of the English people to one of
the simplest and bravest men whose life-
long neglect of himself and love for others

393

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

are even now but partially understood.
From the riverside poor, whose lot he did
so much to lighten, to the ' great ladies ' in
society, to whom he has offered so valuable
an example, every one is saying the same
thing. A national memorial must consist
of the contributions of the people, and
those contributions need not necessarily
take a pecuniary form. Every man and
woman in the United Kingdom who ap-
proves of Gordon's methods can contribute
to a national memorial to his fame, without
the fetters of iron rules, and without the

taint of the almost inevitable gold. Were
every man and woman who enjoys the
advantages of refinement and culture to
win, as equals, with infinite pity the friend-
ship of those less happily placed, they
would find beneath the corduroy jacket
and the cotton frock hearts as staunch as
any that are covered with more modish
material. But such contributions involve
the laying down of personal ease, and that
we may conclude, all must do who will
follow Gordon's example," and be at all like
unto that hero.

CHAPTER LXXVIII.

ADDITIONAL ^ACTS ABOUT OUR WAR CORRESPONDENTS.

S a supplement to our ac-
counts of the two eminent
war correspondents killed
at the battles of Gubat and
Metemmeh we now give
a few remarks on that class of brave and
able men to whom we in this volume are
so deeply indebted :

" 'Travelling gentlemen, newspaper cor-
respondents, and all that race of drones are
an encumbrance to an army ; they eat the
rations of fighting men, and do no work at
all. Their numbers should be restricted as
much as possible.' It is to be hoped that
when the next or fifth edition of the ' Sol-
dier's Pocket Book ' is published by General
Lord Wolseley experience will have shown
him the necessity of modifying, if not of re-
calling altogether, the words which we have
just quoted. In one of the desperate hand-
to-hand encounters fought on Monday, the
1 9th July, 1885, two newspaper correspond-
ents, Mr. Cameron, of the Standard, and
Mr. St. Leger Herbert, of the Morning Post,
lost their lives, while a third, Mr. Burleigh
the representative of The Daily Telegraph
was slightly wounded. Although still

young in years, Mr. Cameron had already
rendered such signal services, not only to
the journal which he represented so faithfully
and fearlessly, but also to the public at large,
that his death, ' upon the field of honour'
will cause sorrow to thousands who may
not even have known him by sight. Calm
and intrepid amidst the turmoil of battle,
and with the rare power of thinking coolly
and retaining full presence of mind under
a deadly hail of bullets, the war correspon-
dents of English journals well deserve a
tribute of gratitude and admiration, which
the events of last Monday will but serve to
intensify and accentuate. Forty years and
more have elapsed since that bravest of
men, George Borrow, was moved, in his
best-known book, ' The Bible in Spain,' to
break into a rhapsody on the subject of
' those extraordinary men, the foreign cor-
respondents of English journals.' He adds
that, 'The activity, energy, and courage
which they display in the pursuit of infor-
mation are truly remarkable. I saw them
during the three days at Paris mingling
with canaille and gamins behind the bar-
riers, while the mitraille was flying in all

ENGLISH WAR CORRESPONDENTS.

399

directions, and the desperate cuirassiers
were dashing their fierce horses against
those seemingly feeble bulwarks. There
they stood, dotting down their observations
as unconcernedly as though reporting the
proceedings of a Reform meeting in Fins-
bury Square ; whilst in Spain several of
them accompanied the Carlist and Christino
guerillas in some of their most desperate
raids and expeditions, exposing themselves
to the danger of hostile bullets, the in-
clemency of winter, and the fierce heat of a
vertical sun in summer.'

The English war correspondent, as we
now know him, is a new creation since
George Borrow wrote the above words.
The difficulty and slowness of communica-
tion banished correspondents from the Eng-
lish army which fought under the Duke of
Wellington in the Peninsular War, and it
was little likely that Napoleon the Great
would have tolerated their presence in his
camps when he put forth every effort of
which he was capable to suppress printed
comments upon his proceedings and policy
either in war or peace. So far as England
is concerned, Dr. William Howard Russell
is credited with having been the first to lay
down the road along which a host of others
have since travelled ; and of the many
English war correspondents who have
served in different parts of the world,
several such as Mr. Bowlby, Colonel Pem-
berton, Mr. M'Gahan, Mr. O'Donovan, Mr.
Leader, Mr. Cameron, and Mr. Herbert
have already sacrificed their lives in their
fearless and zealous discharge of duty. The
list of victories will, we doubt not, be in-
definitely extended in the future, if it be
destined, as is but too probable, that ' wars
shall never cease upon earth.' For when-
ever and wherever armed bodies of men
meet in hostile collision, there will English
newspaper correspondents be found in the
midst of them. Illustrious soldiers of all
nations have preceded or followed Lord
Wolseley in denouncing them as ' spies,' or
' drones,' or ' curses of armies ' ; and writing
from the Crimea, on the 4th of January,

1855, Field-Marshal Sir John F. Burgoyne,
in a letter which has since been published
by his son-in-law, Mr. George Wrottesley,
observes : ' Some of the newspaper corre-
spondents are likely to do us an immensity
of mischief, publicly by the information
afforded to the enemy, and privately by
damaging all our reputations. In Mr.
Russell's letter, published on the i8th ot
December, there are, for instance, details
calculated to afford valuable information to
the enemy as to the weakness of our force,
the fatigues to which we are subjected, the
sickness, the imperfect supply of rations,
the impossibility of getting up arms and
ammunition, the want of roads, and the
general disorganization.' Despite the dia-
tribes levelled by Sir John Burgoyne against
Mr. Russell, we know that Sebastopol fell,
and that but for the spirit infused into the
British nation by war correspondents at the
front, this result might have been longer
delayed, if not frustrated altogether. One
incident which occurred during the American
Civil War deserves to be commemorated,
because it is worth a host of theories,
whether indulged in by officers in command
or by civilians at home. As General Sher-
man was advancing upon Atlanta in 1864,
a copy of the New York Herald was put
one morning into his hand. The General
read the letter sent home from his army by
the correspondent of the journal in ques-
tion, and was beyond measure enraged to
find that the latter had correctly antici-
pated some movement which was in
contemplation. Sending at once for the
offender, the General gave forcible vent to
his indignation, and impetuously ordered
the correspondent and all his brethren of
the pen to quit the camp before nightfall.
One of General Sherman's staff was pos-
sessed, however, of a calmer and more
judicial temperament than his chief, and
ventured to ask him, when his fit of anger
had passed away, to reconsider his decision,
and to admit the peccant correspondent to
his presence once more. The latter came
and explained that he had already made

400

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

arrangements with ten soldiers, some of
them officers and some privates, to send
regular letters to New York, adding that
out of every hundred men then serving
under General Sherman's command, at
least a dozen would gladly accept the post
which he himself was about to vacate. It
occurred to the General that professional
journalists trained to the business would be
less mischievous than hundreds of volun-
teers whose identity it was impossible for
him to trace, and accordingly the order

banishing correspondents from the camp
was at once cancelled.

It is certain that henceforward no free
nation will ever engage in wars without de-
manding that the well- qualified correspon-
dents of its public journals should be
tolerated, if not encouraged, at the front.
For it rests with the General in command
to exercise such control over these touches
inutiles ' that no communications of a mis-
chievous or inconvenient kind will ever be
sent home. We greatly doubt whether any

THE PEACEFUL DAYS OF EGYPTIAN TRAVEL.

General who has ever commanded an Eng-
lish army can mention a single instance in
which a correspondent has violated the
confidence reposed in him, or failed to
sympathise heartily with the soldiers whose
hardships and dangers he is sharing, and
whose glorious deeds he is only too eager
to commemorate. Instead of ' eating the
rations of fighting men, and doing nothing
at all,' the war correspondent has a harder
task imposed upon him than any officer or
private in the force. ' Ride all day and
write all night ' was the curt definition of a

correspondent's duties given by a great
master of that difficult craft ; and when, in
addition to writing, he has to despatch his
letter or telegram to its destination through
a hostile country thickly beset with savage
foes, the task is one which his censors and
critics, sitting perhaps in their comfortable
armchairs by the fireside, would be little
likely to envy or, we must add, to dis-
charge. His body and nerve must be of
iron ; his knowledge of the art of war by no
means inconsiderable; his gifts of graphic
and vivid delineation must be utilised at a

ENGLISH WAR CORRESPONDENTS.

401

moment's notice and often under the most
trying circumstances ; his indifference to
heat or cold, to food or sleep, must be equal
to that possessed, according to Livy, by
Hannibal himself. If he falls, many nar-
row-minded soldiers of the old school may
sneer and say, 'What business had he
there ? ' If sickness befal him, no pension
from a grateful country will be provided for
his old age. Such is the life cheerfully en-
dured by these 'pens of the war'; and

among the Englishmen who, in the Soudan,
have sealed their devotion to duty with
their blood, it is meet and right that the
names of Cameron and Herbert should be
mentioned with special honour. The tragic
fate of Mr. Bowlby in 1860 will be long re-
membered ; yet for the tortures endured by
him and by others before death put an end
to their sufferings, ample compensation was
exacted from the Chinese Government by
the iron will of Lord Palmerston. For Mr.

EGYPTIAN SUGAR CANE MARKET.

Cameron and Mr. Herbert, who met their
deaths nobly in the Soudan, the sympathy
and regret of their countrymen are of little
avail. Those war correspondents, however,
who survived the dire onslaughts of the
furious spearmen of the desert were assured
that their telegraphic messages, their letters,
and their sketches from the front were
scrutinized and surveyed at home by no un-
sympathetic eyes. To them it is principally
due that the gallantry and steadiness of
English officers and soldiers are known and

fully appreciated in England ; and when,
in due course, the Muse of History records
the wars and battles at which they were
present, it is from the columns of English
journals, to which as fearless and zealous
servants of the public they have contribu-
ted, that her information will be mainly
derived. Nor should it be forgotten that
English generals have often availed them-
selves of a newspaper representative's zeal
and intelligence for purposes of value to the
army in the field and to the Government in

D D

402

THE ENGLISH IN EG YPT.

Downing Street. Thus General Graham
entrusted his despatch after the battle of
Tamai to the hands of Mr. Burleigh, and it
was conveyed home with a rapidity which
could not otherwise have been attained.
We live in an age which, be its faults what
they may, is little likely to fail in gratitude
to the dauntless, unselfish, and highly-gifted
men by whom it has been so faithfully
served," and whose memory it will long
hold in reverence.

Here we again take the opportunity to
present our readers with some further
illustrations exhibiting various features of
Egyptian life. One shows us a party of

unmistakable British tourists in the peace-
ful days of Egyptian travel, when the desert
was as safe as Hyde Park. Another exhibits
to us a market for sugar cane, which is an
Egyptian product of increasing importance.
Two other pictures are of herd-boys : one is
peacefully doing his duty, whilst the other
well, the other shows us that boys are the
same all the world over ! An additional
confirmation, if confirmation indeed were
needed, is given us by our illustration of
the donkey boys, racing their unfortunate
animals under the shadow of a temple of
unknown antiquity, which was assuredly not
built to be thus treated.

EGYPTIAN HERD-BOY.

CHAPTER LXXIX.

HASSAN, THE ^GYPTIAN SOLDIER PRINCE A SUMMARY OF

His CAREER.

ONSIDERABLE interest
was created in England in
February, 1885, by the an-
nouncement that Prince
Hassan, brother of the Khe-
dive, had joined Lord Wolseley's head-
quarters with the titular office of High
Commissioner for the Egyptian Govern-
ment in the Soudan, and that he was in

actual command of a regiment of Egyptian
cavalry.

The Pall Mall Gazette remarked : " The
news that Prince Hassan, the Khedive's
brother, has been summoned to the Soudan
by Lord Wolseley has given rise to grave
misgivings. Is the Government, it is asked,
about to reverse the last solitary vestige of
its original policy by re-establishing Egyptian

EGYPTIAN RULE.

authority in the Soudan ? The suggestion
is received with a chorus of groans in
London and much applause at Cairo. If
another Governor-General is to be sent to
the Soudan from Cairo and no doubt the
Egyptian Government is well within its rights
in nominating a new representative there,
if only to complete the evacuation it could
hardly have made a better choice than
Prince Hassan, whose nomination to such
a post, oddly enough, was first made in this
paper as long ago as September, 1881."

Was it possible that the innate faults of
Turkish or Egyptian rule could be cured
if the one in high place busied himself with

the government ? What these faults were
all England knew by this time.

Lieutenant-Colonel Stewart, writing from
Khartoum, said : " I am firmly convinced
that the Egyptians are quite unfit in every
way to undertake such a trust as the
government of so vast a country with a
view to its welfare, and that, both for their
sake and for that of the people they try to
rule, it would be advisable to abandon large
portions of it. The fact of their incom-
petence to rule is so generally acknowledged
that it is unnecessary to discuss the ques-
tion. ... I am not altogether sure if
it would not in the end be better for all

RETURN AT EVENING.

parties if the Mahdi or some other leader
were successful, and the Egyptians com-
pelled to restrict their territory to the east
bank of the White Nile." The Duke of
Argyll proclaimed some years ago " on the
housetop of the world," as he phrased it
that a rebellion against Turkish rule was
everywhere and always justifiable ; and the
sufferings of. the populations in the Soudan
seem to have been no less grievous than
those which provoked risings in other parts
of the dominions of the Sultan. The
administration of justice was frightfully cor-
rupt The taxes were gathered by Bashi-
Bazouks, most of whom are described by
Lieutenant-Colonel Stewart as " swaggering

bullies, robbing, plundering, and ill-treating
the people with impunity." He goes on to
say : " Probably for every pound that
reaches the treasury these men rob the
people of an equal amount. As soldiers
they are valueless. They are a constant
menace to public tranquillity ; and before
any amelioration can be expected they
must be got rid of. Taxes were levied at
so heavy a rate that whole districts were
reduced to destitution, and thousands of
farms went out of cultivation."

Gordon is a proof to all time of what a
ruler determined to do his duty can do,
even in the Soudan, and even when con-
fronted by the stupidity and scoundrelism of

404

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

Egyptian officials. But then every man is
not Gordon, or the world we live in would
be a very different place from what it is.
There can be no doubt, however, that the
past record of Hassan was favourable.
Baron de Malortie, in 1881, speaking of
him tells us that " the third son of Ismail
Pasha, Prince Hassan, might be called the
Soldier Prince, and it is to him that the
Khedive would have done well to have long
ago confided the task of bribing the rebel-
lious colonels, and of reorganizing an army
with whom Prince Hassan is justly popular-
He was born a soldier, indefatigable in all
manly exercises, and the sound of bugle
and drum had for him irresistible attrac-
tions. Yet when the Khedive determined
on sending the younger princes to complete
their studies on the continent, he selected
England for Prince Hassan, thinking per-
haps that his son's martial disposition would
be sobered down by a few years spent
among us the only non-military nation
amid the Great Powers of our time ; and
after staying for about a year in London the
Prince went to Oxford, where he remained
three years, under the care of Mr. Murray,
a fellow of Christ Church. He learned to
love and respect England, English ways and
institutions, to breathe the air of a free
country, and to understand that a nation
can be great with a small army when law
is king, and the welfare of all the guiding
policy of a Government. At the end of
1872 Prince Hassan went to Egypt to get
married, and after a short honeymoon he
returned to the Continent, entering as a
cornet the Prussian ist Regiment of Dra-
goon Guards. The Prince, who is a per-
fect master of French, English, and German,
remained two years and a half at Berlin ;
and, with the exception of a three months'
leave to join the Abyssinian expedition as
a volunteer, Prince Hassan devoted all his
time to the study of every branch of his
profession. And here it may be mentioned
that officers and men who did not like
going to Abyssinia started full of enthusiasm
the day a son of " Effendina " showed them

the way, ready to share the hardships and
dangers of that deadly climate.

After completing his military studies in
Prussia, Prince Hassan was appointed
Commander-in-chief of the Egyptian army,
and shortly after Minister of War : but he
was hardly a month in office when the
despatch of 25,000 Egyptians to Turkey
offered him a chance to see service in the
field. As general commanding the expe-
ditionary force, he remained for about
fourteen months at Varna, taking an active
part in the engagements of Mehemet Ali's
army, of which he commanded the left
wing. He was present at the battles of
Kara Hassankeui and Loftcha. During
the campaign the Prince found ample
opportunities for endearing himself to his
troops; he was indefatigable in studying
the comfort and welfare of the men. His
humane and kind treatment of the inhabit-
ants of the Turkish districts under his com-
mand received a well-deserved acknow-
ledgment when, after his departure, the
inhabitants forwarded to the Sultan and the
Khedive an address of thanks for the last-
ing advantages they owed to the initiative
of Prince Hassan, of whose just and bene-
ficent rule they spoke in the most eulogistic
terms.

On his return to Egypt the Prince took
once more the portfolio of the War Office,
which he retained until the formation of the
Nubar-Wilson Ministry, when he retired
into private life until the appointment of
Cherif Pasha as Nubar Pasha's successor.
Solicited to undertake once more the un-
grateful task of Commander-in-chief, Prince
Hassan discharged its duties until the fall
of his father, whom he had to follow into
exile. His worst enemies are unable to
associate his name with political intrigues, or
anything unworthy of a soldier devoted to
his country, and whose return is sure to be
welcomed by both officers and men, who
have not forgotten the zeal and activity
with which the Prince had infused order
and discipline into all branches of his pro-
fession."

"MUCH CRY, LITTLE WOOL."

" Beaucoup dc bruit, pen de fruit" says a
French proverb " much cry, little wool,"
says our English one ; and indeed, from the

wisdom of all nations we could prove (did
not the experience of every one furnish an
infinite number of examples) that the most

YESTERDAY AND T.i-DAY IN EGYPT.

high-sounding announcements sometimes
do not mean very much. So it was in this
case. Hassan might be able or not able,
it did not greatly matter, for he never

got the chance of showing it. The appoint-
ment was a merely nominal one. It was
only an idle compliment, and exercised no
influence in the Soudan.

406

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

One thing let us say in conclusion.
According to Lord Bacon, " to have good
forms is a sort of perpetual letters com-
mendatory," and certainly all who study
our portrait of Prince Hassan will be at-

tracted to him, for he seems to be, as far
as we can judge from his appearance, a
very fair example of the Egyptian young
man of the period. May fate still have
good in store for him !

CHAPTER LXXX.

THE AUSTRALIAN CONTINGENT IN THE SOUDAN "Fir TO (

ANYWHERE AND Do ANYTHING."

HERE were many things in
the Soudan war upon which
it is impossible to look back
with satisfaction. Much of
it was even disastrous, but
" there is a soul of goodness in things
evil," and our troubles revealed to us one
satisfactory thing it showed us that in
times of difficulty our colonies would stand
by the mother country. What a bright
prospect for the future ! Happy indeed
will be the old age of the mother country,
when strong and rising colonies announce
that they will protect that old age.

When the news of the fall of Khartoum
was announced, it was perhaps thought to
be a more dangerous blow to the Empire
than it actually was. At any rate our
Australian and Canadian colonies at once
offered to send a force to help us in pro-
secuting the war. This offer, so far as
regards the Australian colony, was accepted,
and on the 3rd of March, 1885, the force
embarked at Sydney. A Reuter's telegram
of that date briefly summarized the pro-
ceedings :

"SYDNEY, March ^rd.
To-day was observed as a public holiday
in celebration of the departure of the New
South Wales contingent for the Soudan.
The event is regarded as not only one of
the greatest in the annals of the colony, but
as possessing a deep historic interest as the

first occasion in which Australian troops
have shared in the defence of the Empire.

From the date on which the colony's
offer was accepted to the hour of the
departure of the contingent, public enthu-
siasm has been maintained at its utmost
tension. The number of volunteers has
reached six times the required strength of
the force, and there has been a continuous
flow of contributions in money and in kind
from all quarters, and the Patriotic Fund
now amounts to ^45,000.

The troops were reviewed on Saturday
by Lord Augustus Loftus, Governor of New
South Wales, in the presence of 50,000
spectators. On Sunday special services
were held for the volunteers in the Anglican
and Roman Catholic Cathedrals, sermons
being preached by the Primate and the
Roman Catholic Archbishop.

To-day the streets forming the line of
route from the Barracks to the Circular
Quay, a distance of two miles, were lined
by immense numbers of spectators, assem-
bled from all parts and forming a dense
mass. The troops were escorted by 600
sailors and marines from the men-of-war
stationed here, and by all the available
local forces, and were accompanied by the
Governor, the Ministers, and the principal
officials of the colony. The procession
formed an imposing spectacle, and the
popular enthusiasm was unbounded, the

THE COLONIAL CONTINGENT.

407

progress of the contingent being greeted
with loud cheers, and the frequent expres-
sion of good wishes from the assembled
multitude.

On reaching the quay the men formed
square, and were addressed by the Governor
as follows : ' Soldiers of New South Wales,
I have considered it my duty, as the
representative of Her Majesty, to say a few
words to you at this solemn moment, before
your embarkation. For the first time in
the great history of the British Empire a
distant colony is sending, at its own cost,
and completely equipped, a contingent of
troops, who have volunteered with an enthu-
siasm of which only we who witnessed it
can judge, to assist the Imperial forces in a
bitter struggle for the suppression of un-
speakable cruelty, and for the establish-
ment of order and justice in a misgoverned
country. Countless as have been the occa-
sions when the blood and treasure of
England have been poured out freely to
protect the feeble, to shield the defenceless,
or to maintain right, there has never been
one in which humanity has been more
deeply interested in the triumph of the
arms of England than the cause which you
have heroically resolved to uphold by your
valour. You will be greeted in Egypt by
the hearty welcome of thousands of chival-
rous soldiers who have never yet looked
upon such an action as yours. The eyes of
your gracious Queen will be bent upon your
exertions, and in every part of the world
where our flag floats, men, women, and
children will eagerly read of your exploits
and pray for your success. Soldiers ! you
< arry in your keeping the honour of this
great colony, which has made such splendid
sacrifices in order to send you to the front
with an equipment of which the nations
most practised in war might have been
proud. You will have the glorious privilege
of helping to maintain the honour of the
Empire. In your ranks are numbers who
are voluntarily leaving the paths of fortune,
worldly advantages, the comforts of home,
and the sweetness of domestic life, for

heroic service in a bloody war, in which
already many brave men have been stricken
down. You are doing this to show to the
world the unity of the mighty and invincible
Empire of which you are members. Your
country charges itself with the care of the
dear ones you leave behind, and all that
generosity, tenderness, and gratitude can
do to care for them and to succour and
console them will be looked upon as a
labour of love by the nation.'

His Excellency, in bidding farewell to
the men, said : ' Our earnest hope is that
it may be your glorious privilege to share
in the triumph as in the service, and that
you will come back to us crowned with
England's gratitude as you are now encom-
passed with her sympathies.'

The contingent then marched on board
the transports, the Infantry and most of the
Artillery embarking on board the Iberia,
which takes 600 of the men, the remaining
200, together with the horses and stores,
being conveyed on board the Australasian.

Enthusiastic cheers arose from the quay,
as the vessels steamed away to the ' Heads,'
accompanied by a perfect fleet of steamers."

From causes which will be gathered from
an attentive perusal of that part of our
volume which deals with the Soudan war,
the contingent returned earlier than could
have been expected ; but there was no dim-
inution in the enthusiasm, as the following
simple record will show :

" SYDNEY, June 2yd.

The return of the Australian contingent
from the Soudan has been made the oc-
casion of a demonstration and welcome,
quite Australian in its character, inasmuch
as the whole of the colonies voluntarily
sent special representatives to congratulate
the troops, and also expressed their deep
sense of the services which they had ren-
dered.

The Government ordered the day to be
observed as a public holiday, and massed
in the metropolis the whole of the available
forces, numbering about 5,000 men, while
Admiral Tryon furnished an Imperial escort

408

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

from the British war-vessels now here. The
result was a spectacular display which more
than equalled that at the departure of the
contingent, but the effect was marred by
unfavourable weather.

The Arab, with the contingent on board,
arrived on Friday night, and was placed in
quarantine till this morning, when the
official landing took place. The streets
were crowded with people, and great enthu-
siasm prevailed. Among those present
were Lord Augustus Loftus, the Governor,
Admiral Tryon, Commander-in-chief on the
Australian station, the Ministers, and a
number of other official personages. The
troops having been reviewed by the Gover-
nor, His Excellency addressed them as
follows :

' Soldiers, On behalf of Her Majesty and
the people of this country, I offer you her
thanks and their welcome on your return
to the colony. We rejoiced at the privilege
accorded us of sending you on the service
for which you were despatched, and our joy
is the greater at receiving you back again,
after having performed that service to the
credit of your country, to the entire satis-
faction of the Imperial officers under whom
you were placed, and to the advantage of
the Empire, the story of whose exploits is
inextricably interwoven with some of the

most glorious passages of military history.
They received you with respect, they
laboured by your side in your short cam-
paign, and would have gladly and confi-
dently shared with you the glory of the
conflict. It is twenty-six years ago on
Jan. 28, 1859 that a great English states-
man, a great orator, and one of the greatest
men of letters of this age, said at a public
banquet in London, speaking of the Aus-
tralian colonies, these simple but memor-
able words : " It may happen that the time
will arrive when the other Great Powers of
the whole world will rise up against the
venerable parent of so many noble children.
If that period should ever arrive, I believe
the colonies will not be unmindful of the
tie which binds them to the mother country.
I believe their vessels will come thick and
fast across the ocean to her assistance, and
that voices will be heard universally among
them saying in effect that while Australia
lasts England shall not perish." ' Your
action,' continued Lord A. Loftus, ' has, as
far as the sympathy of the colonies is con-
cerned, made the late Lord Lytton's hope-
ful words a prophecy for purposes of
defence, and has practically established an
Imperial Federation.'

The men were then dismissed after giving
cheers for Queen Victoria."

CHAPTER LXXXI.

THE AUSTRALIAN CONTINGENT '
IN THE SOUDAN.

EXPLOITS

UCH was the out-going and
home-coming of the Aus-
tralians. How had they
been occupied between ?
Well, circumstances did
not permit the British General to avail
himself of their services to any great ex-
tent ; but certainly what was seen of them
was highly satisfactory. For indeed it

cannot be " forgotten how the 'Australians,'
as they were called, though most of them
came from New South Wales, were received
in the Soudan. It was an ovation. As the
Iberia and the Australasia steamed into
the Souakin harbour, the fleet in the port
manned their yards, the crews cheered
them to the echo, and ' Well done, Aus-
tralia ! ' was the watchword of the hour.

THE WAYS OF CAMPS.

409

As they disembarked, the pipers of the
Guards met them, and after receiving the

I congratulations of a brilliant staff deputed
by Sir Gerald Graham to meet them, their
commandant, Colonel Richardson, marched
off his contingent fine bearded fellows,
just such sons as England looks to have,
let them live east, west, south, or north
to their sandy quarters on the wind-swept
desert All the way as they went cheer
after cheer met and followed them, and
the crack regiments of the Imperial army
turned out with hearty hurrahs to welcome
these youngsters in war into their tents.
In the distance, over towards Hasheen,
there was a sand-cloud moving, where the
Bengal Cavalry scouting on the plain had
started an Arab outpost, and the Austra-
lians, therefore, as they marched, could
actually feel that every step they took was
bringing them nearer to the foe they had
come to fight, and were eager to meet.
Then, arrived in camp, the General halted
them, and, in a speech of admirable sym-
pathy, told them these men who had left
hearth and home, left comfort and native
land, to come and help ' the old country '
to fight her battles what England thought
of them. He told them that we were proud
of our colonies, and that the Queen thanked
them. The occasion was one which, even
amidst the hard realities of war, appealed
to the sentiment and sympathy of every
one present ; and there was not a man in
all the camp who did not recognise the
heart-stirring significance of this visible
and natural rallying of her colonies round
England of the presence, armed and uni-
formed, of these gallant men from the
Antipodes.

Of course they were new to the ways of
camps. Were they not volunteers from
farmstead and sheep-run and city pro-
fessions, picked by doctors simply accord-
ing to their physical qualifications ; hard-
seasoned men, such as climates despair of
breaking down, who could march over the
Arabs' hills under a blazing sun without
turning a hair ? They were most of them

' Volunteers ' in their own country, but
very few indeed had served in the British
army ; so that virtually they marched into
the encampment at Souakin, into the very
midst of the pick of the Imperial troops, as
amateurs. It was wonderful, however, to
see how quickly they shook down. The
red tape of departments was a perpetual
stumbling-block, as, indeed, it well might
be, and it took them a long time to under-
stand the apparent selfishness of that rigid
routine without which administration would
be impossible. They suffered, in common
with the rest of the army, from the per-
plexities caused by the unnecessary number
of staff officers with no obvious duties
beyond mutual obstruction. In the fre-
quent shiftings of camp which were mys-
teriously ordained they had a habit of
spilling supplies and property upon the
desert; but they soon pulled themselves
together, mastered the intricacies of a camp
which was perpetually being reorganized,
and learned to sympathise with departments
which were themselves bewildered by con-
stant changes of orders. Thus the Austra-
lians' camp was before long as soldierly and
smart as any other. A trifle rougher in the
appointments of the messes it was no doubt,
a thought less comfortable in the arrange-
ment of kit in the soldiers' tents ; but they
had not come out for comfort. What they
wanted was fighting, and they were as keen
for a scrimmage as soldiers could be. Not
that they got any chances. Now and again
they marched out in reconnaissance, dis-
persed small parties, and marched back
again. In the advance upon Tamai,
elaborately arranged so that there should
be no enemy to fight, the Australians did
all that there was to do. It was not much,
but Lord Wolseley and General Graham
said nothing more than was the due of
these stalwart volunteers when they told
them they were fit to go anywhere and do
anything. The way they marched was a
sight to see, and they came home every
man in his place not one fallen out, not
one sick. ' Those are the men to make

410

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

soldiers out of,' said the Chief of the Staff,
and he was right exactly the men fitted
physically for endurance and deeds of
courage, and mentally imbued with senti-
ments of liveliest patriotism and enthusiasm
in their duty. The soldiers of other regi-
ments and what splendid battalions we
had there ! thought well of them as com-
rades ; as Lord Augustus Loftus says, had
1 confidence ' in them ; but over and above
this feeling there was a strange sympathy,
often very handsomely expressed, with the
contingent, that, standing round a canteen,
would say, ' The Queen, God bless her ! '
before they drank their glass, and who
closed Divine service on Sundays with the
National Anthem, a chorus of deep manly
voices such as was heard from one end of
the Handoob Camp to the other. It is
not that we, living in the British Isles, have
forgotten what loyalty is, or the meaning of
devotion to the Throne ; only we have
given over speaking much about it. These
sentiments are so much taken for granted,
and our services so thoroughly understood
to be at the command of the Queen and
the country, that it does not occur to us
as necessary to assure ourselves or each
other by verbal repetitions of such honoured
and cherished facts. In Australia, however,
the opportunity of proving cheerfulness of
personal service, of visibly and materially
expressing enthusiastic allegiance, had never
occurred before. It was a new experience
for our handsome, fine-grown kinsmen in
the Southern Ocean, this sailing away from
home, from wife and child, in defence of
England's honour, this falling into line with
Imperial troops to repulse the onset of a
common enemy, this actually standing
bayonet in hand to hold back the Arabs
from our zarebas, in doughty guardianship
of English treasure, English life, and English
fame. Even the very word ' Imperial ' fell

strangely from their lips. They threw a
dignity into it that seemed to give a noble
adjective a new significance. Imperial !
How it filled the mouth when an Australian
uttered it ! The hearer half-wondered at
the majesty of it, and discovered afresh the
reverence that attached to the word.

Australia also may be said to have now
awakened to the new significance in that
word Imperial. Intercolonial jealousies,
long nourished in a spirit of rivalry that
was neither dishonourable nor even un-
becoming, have now been laid aside, and
the colonies find themselves on the thresh-
old of an ' Imperial Federation.' The
sailing of those two ships across the sea
with their freights of gallant men touched
the chord which diplomacy failed to reach
and statesmanship had almost despaired of
striking. Nothing that could have been
said or written could have had such force
as this marching of a New South Wales
contingent shoulder to shoulder with the
British army. It carried all before it.
Every man who went back became an
Imperialist, through and through, and the
colony that sent them forth was with them
heart and soul. The others who offered to
help, and some day, if a sorer strain is put
upon the national resources, will have
another opportunity for making the same
brave, loyal proposal, also, under the im-
pulse of a most admirable jealousy, gave
their voices for federation. Thus, in a day,
as it were, there sprung up beyond the seas
another Empire of which England may well
be proud, and which her enemies justly
take into account when they reckon up the
military power of Britain."

And it is most assuredly right that they
should do so. What now will be the vast
hordes of the Russian or Germanic empires
compared with England supported by her
ever-increasing colonial empire ?

PRINCE HASSAN.

EGYPTIAN HIGH COMMISSIONER JN THE SOUDAN.

THE KHARTOUM RELIEF EXPEDITION.

411

CHAPTER LXXXII.

THE KHARTOUM. BELIEF EXPEDITION THE TART-
JHE PAMEL J^ORPS.

TELEGRAM from Mr.
Power, the British Consul
at Khartoum, to Sir E. Bar-
ing, may here be inserted
to show the state of affairs
in a part of the Soudan that was now to be-
come of intense interest to people at home.

"KHARTOUM, December y>th, 1883.
It would be perhaps well to let you
know the precise situation here. The
European and loyal population are begin-
ning to think that they have been either
forgotten or abandoned by the Government
at Cairo. The state of affairs here is very
desperate ; we know that twenty-three days
ago the Mahdi was assembling a great army
to attack us, and to an Arab, Obeid is only
an eleven days' march from here. Some
do the distance in nine days. What
numbers he will bring I cannot say, but we
have here, including gunners and sentries,
in all but 3,000 to hold four miles of earth-
works, on which are a few old bronze guns
and one Krupp field-piece ; this number of
men would not properly man the walls, and
it leaves us without any reserve or relief
to move to a threatened place in case of
attack. It also forbids us having any guard
in the city, which, in case of attack, will be
at the mercy of an undisguisedly rebel popu-
lation. At present we are not strong
enough to seize the well-known ringleaders
or agents of the Mahdi. This is well known
to the Government, yet over forty days have
elapsed since it heard the news of our situa-
tion here, and there are as yet no signs of
a relieving column arriving. We have not
yet even heard if they have arrived at
Assiout, eight hours from Cairo. On the
zyth of last month (November) the Khedive
telegraphed most distinctly that Zebehr

Pasha and his Bedouins had left Cairo two
days before. He said that Baker was leaving
Suez, yet we find that the papers of the 4th
instant state that neither one nor the other
have left Cairo, and that Zebehr was, before
leaving, to raise, arm, and, I suppose, train
1,000 negroes. In three days this town
may be in the hands of the rebels, yet there
has been an attempt made to prevent the
Kawah and Duem garrisons from joining
us. If Khartoum falls, all Lower Egypt
goes, as the Mahdi avows his intention of
sweeping across the Suez Canal into Arabia.
If Khartoum falls, every man from here to
Assiout will be in arms to join him as he
passes. In Khartoum many most respect-
able men who would wish to be loyal to
the Khedive believe him to be a true
prophet.

Ibrahim Pasha and Colonel de Coet-
logon will, of course, attempt to hold the
town while they can get a man to stand,
but I fail to see how the earthworks can be
held with the present force, even if the
population remain quiet. On Christmas
Day Ibrahim Pasha told me that ever)'
house in Khartoum had arms in it, and we
are not strong enough to have domiciliary
visits carried out. Colonel Coetlogon is
indefatigable in his efforts to provide that
nothing should be left undone for the safety
of the town. All the works have been
carried out under his personal supervision,
and he is continually inspecting the working
gangs while at work ; he has driven a deep
ditch and parapet 1,400 metres long across
the level space or plain left dry by the sub-
sidence of the river ; but for him this broad
avenue into the town would have been left
open and unprotected, so now the fortifica-
tion runs from river to river. There is here

4 I2

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

a small portion of the population, European
or otherwise, whose loyalty is undoubted.
These men would undoubtedly be ready to
defend their property and families here,
and act as police to keep the mob in check,
in case of attack, but there are no arms to
serve out to them, there being but a few
hundred rifles in the arsenal, not enough
to provide for accidents amongst the
soldiers."

Such was Khartoum in the last hours of
1883. The man who was to save it for a
year from its impending doom was at that
moment in conference with the King of the
Belgians as to the Congo State, whither he
was about to proceed. In its proper place
we told fully how Major-General Charles
George Gordon was appointed to the com-
mand in the Soudan, and how he defended
Khartoum. This part of our work tells
how the expedition that was finally sent to
his relief fared. That an expedition was
to be sent was definitely announced on the
6th of August, 1883, and it was afterwards
agreed that it should be sent by the Nile
route. Lord Wolseley was placed in com-
mand, and he left Cairo with his staff on
2 Qth September. Of course everything that
skill and science could do to assure the
success of the expedition was done. Boats
and skilled boatmen were provided, and
a Camel Corps was equipped. A corre-
spondent, writing towards the end of Sep-
tember, describes the departure of this
last. He tells us that " the detachments of
Household Cavalry and Foot Guards which
are to form the Camel Corps in the expedi-
tion to Khartoum yesterday embarked for
Egypt. The drafts from the 2nd battalion
of the Grenadiers, from the Tower, went by
train from the Mansion House to Victoria.
The detachment of the 2nd Coldstreams,
the ist Scots, and the ist Grenadiers
marched from Chelsea to Victoria, headec
by the band of the Scots Guards. The ist
Coldstreams and the 2nd Scots Guards
marched from Wellington barracks to Vic
toria, headed by the Coldstreams bands
A great crowd lined the railings outside th

jarracks, and accompanied the troops on
heir march to the station, where a large
assemblage had congregated. The bulk of
he crowd was not allowed inside the
station until a few minutes before the train
started, at 8.32. Many ladies and officers
came down to bid their friends adieu ; and
as the train moved out of the station, all
the bands massed and played ' God save
he Queen,' amid great cheering and waving
of handkerchiefs.

At Aldershot the two divisions of the
Camel Corps, under the command of Lieut-
Colonel R. A. J. Talbot, ist Life Guards,
and Lieut-Colonel Stanley Clarke, paraded
at the West Cavalry Barracks, between seven
and eight o'clock in the morning, and
marched to the town station of the South-
western Railway, to proceed by special
train to Portsmouth. The troops in the
Cavalry and Infantry barracks turned out
in large numbers and cheered their com-
rades of the Camel Corps. The bands ot
the 2nd Dragoon Guards, yth and 2oth
Hussars, played both divisions of the corps
to the railway-station, which they left by
special trains at 8.55 and 9.10. A detach-
ment of the Army Hospital Corps, consist-
ing of Surgeon J. A. Smith, Army Medical
Department, and fifty-six non-commissioned
officers and men, and a party of the Royal
Engineers, including two sergeants, two
corporals, and nine sappers, proceeded to
Portsmouth with the Camel Corps, to em-
bark for Egypt. Lieut-General Sir Archi-
bald Alison, commanding the division ;
Major-General Eraser, commanding the
Cavalry Brigade; Colonel Robinson, As-
sistant Quartermaster-General ; Captain
Thompson, Brigade Major of Cavalry ;
Major Chalmer, Deputy Assistant Adjutant-
General ; and several other staff and regi-
mental officers accompanied the Camel
Corps to the station and witnessed their
departure.

The detachments forming the Guards
contingent, and the cavalry division of the
Camel Corps, on their arrival at Portsmouth
embarked in the steamers Deccan and

EARLY DIPPICULTJES.

Australia, which lay alongside the south
railway jetty of the dockyard. An inspec-
tion of both ships had been previously
made by Captain Brownlow, Surveyor of
Shipping, who was accompanied by several
naval and military officers ; and they had
also been visited by the Commander-in-
chief (Admiral Hornby), and Admiral
Superintendent F. A. Herbert, all of whom
expressed their entire satisfaction with the
arrangements made by the P. and O.
Company for the accommodation of the
troops. The embarkation took place under
the direction of Lieutenant-General Sir
George Willis, and was carried out by
Colonel Sir Owen Lanyon. The Heavy
Cavalry were the first to reach the jetty, and
were followed shortly afterwards by the
Light Division. The former take passage
to Alexandria in the Deccan, and the latter
in the Australia, which also took on board
a detachment of the Army Hospital Corps
for duty during the passage, as well as fifty
others for Egypt, while a draft of Royal
Engineers joined the Dtccan. As the
troops landed from successive trains, they

were drawn up and briefly inspected before
marching on board. The embarkation was
conducted quietly and expeditiously ; and
later the men, having divested themselves
of their accoutrements, partook of a sub-
stantial meal. Besides a great deal of
personal baggage, the Australia and the
Deccan both shipped large quantities of
ammunition and special stores. On the
departure of the ships there was a good
deal of cheering from the spectators on the
jetty.

Two life-belts, or cork jackets, per boat
are ordered to be added to the equipment
of the Nile expedition, and two thousand
of these articles are now being delivered
at Woolwich dockyard for conveyance to
Egypt About a score of the troop boats
at present remain at Woolwich, and will
be shipped on board the Horn/lead. A
collapsing boat of canvas, eighteen feet in
length, and exceedingly light, was sent to
Colonel Webber, Director of Telegraphs
at Cairo, to whom also were consigned
some thousands of insulators and other
stores for his special service."

CHAPTER LXXXIII.

JHE KHARTOUM BELIEF EXPEDITION LORD ^OLSELEY'S J D LANS.

OR a time all seemed to go
well with the expedition;
it safely if somewhat slowly
proceeded up the Nile. Of
course it had many diffi-
culties to encounter. Of these our illustra-
tions give us a vivid idea. One is of a dan-
gerous bit of the river; another shows us
voyageurs repairing one of their boats which
had come to grief. Naturally it was in the
latter part of the expedition that the greatest
difficulties had to be encountered. Things
went very smoothly just at first, as we see

from the picture of Lord Wolseley's yacht
at the head of the first cataract.

At length all dangers seemed in a fair way
of being overcome. News came also from
Gordon, and that news was good. The
enemy had been defeated. Then came the
news that Stewart and his companions had
been murdered, and it was soon known that
Gordon was the only Englishman alive in
Khartoum ; but this only seemed to make
the soldiers still more desire his rescue.
On 2nd November, the army advanced
from Dongola. On i2th December the

414

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

head-quarters were fixed at Ambukol, and
thence moved on to Korti, which by the
Nile route is 1,250 miles from Cairo, and
285 from Khartoum. Here Lord Wolse-
ley's plans underwent some modification,
as detailed in the following newspaper
account :

"The news from our special corre-
spondent at Korti shows that Lord Wolseley
has abandoned the plan which he had laid
down for the conduct of the expedition,

and that he is going to advance by two
routes. The Camel Corps, and perhaps a
portion of the infantry, will cross the desert
to Metemmeh ; the rest of the infantry will
go by water. The original scheme was
that no movement whatever should be at-
tempted until the whole of the expedi
tionary force was gathered at Ambukol.
Korti, which is only a few miles from Am-
bukol, has been substituted for that place,
and the forward movement is to begin at

A DANGEROUS BIX OF THE RIVER.

once, although but a small portion of the
force has reached Korti. There are at
present there the three divisions of the
Camel Corps, the Mounted Infantry, and
igth Hussars. Of infantry there are the
South Staffordshire (38th) and the Royal
Sussex (35th). The 2nd Battalion of the
Essex Regiment (5 6th) are close at hand,
if they have not already arrived, and the
Black Watch (42nd) are not far off. Ano-
ther month at least must elapse before the
whole force has reached Korti. The change

of plans has probably been brought about
by the absence of any news from General
Gordon, the certainty that he is closely
blockaded in Khartoum, and the possibility
that he is hard pressed. Under these cir-
cumstances, Lord Wolseley has determined
to send on a portion of his infantry at once
to chastise the tribe who murdered Colonel
Stewart and his companions ; they are then
to advance to Abu Hamed, where they are
to open communication with Korosko, and
are afterwards to move up against the

LORD WOLSELEY'S PLANS.

rebels at Berber. Abu Hamed lies at the
northerly bend of the great S which the Nile
makes between Dongola and Metemmeh.
It is probable that the infantry who go up
with General Earle will, after chastising the
tribesmen, halt at this point until the whole
force is assembled there. The General is
ordered to open communications with Ko-
rosko, which lies on a bend of the river
below Wady Haifa. There is a caravan
route between these two places, but the

journey is at the quickest eight or ten
days, and General Stewart would not be
ordered to open this route unless his stay
at Abu Hamed was likely to be a long
one.

In the meantime, the Camel Corps are

about to make a dash across the desert to

Metemmeh, a place which lies on the oppo-

I site bank to Shendy. The word desert

i has an appalling sound to those unaware of

i the nature of the country to be traversed ;

KKI'AIKING A WOAT ON THE BANKS OK THE NILE.

but the line of march between Korti and
Metemmeh bears little resemblance to the
flat, trackless waste which the desert of
Lower Egypt presents. The country is
broken and rocky, and crossed in the wet
season by many streams flowing down from
the Jebel (lilif range of hills to the east of
the line of march. There are wells at
various distances along the line, and if the
force be provided with the handy little
pumps used in the Abyssinian campaign,
and since known by that name, it is pro-

bable that water could be obtained by sink-
ing them in any of the hollows. In the wet
season, indeed, the plain to the west of the
line is covered with water, and the land is
but very little above the level of the Nile,
which ran at one time, ages ago, perhaps,
to the west of this caravan road, instead of
making the great curve round by Berber.
As this is the great trading route between
Khartoum and Dongola, there can be little
doubt that the wells are capable of supply-
ing a considerable amount of water, and

416

THE ENGLISH IN EGYP1.

although the desert may have to be crossed
in parties, these parties will be of a size
capable of resisting any attack by the
tribesmen. Some of the wells used by the
native travellers are too far apart for the
distance to be traversed in one day by
infantry. Possibly the first pioneer party
that cross may find spots where wells can
be sunk and water reached without great
difficulty ; but, in the worst case, the Camel
Corps could carry a water supply sufficient

for a large number of men. At present,
being meant for fighting and scouting, the
camels are in light marching order, but
they could undoubtedly, at a pinch, each
carry skins with fifteen or twenty gallons
of water, in addition to their present bur-
den, especially as their extra weight would
only have to be borne for a single day, since
none of the wells are more than forty miles,
or two days' march, apart. As three pints
of water is an ample allowance for each

LORD WOLSELEY'S YACHT AT THE HEAD OF THE FIRST CATARACT.

soldier, it is clear that the camels of the
Light, Heavy, and Guards division of the
corps could carry an abundant supply of
water for three or four infantry regiments
should it be decided to send a portion of
the infantry by that route. Our corre-
spondent mentioned a few days since that
preparations were being made for a desert
march, but did not state their nature.
Among them is doubtless the collection of
skins for the carriage of water. The ques-

tion of provisions has also to be dealt with.
In such a climate troops could not carry
much weight in addition to a light kit, their
arms and ammunition, but we know that
the Mudir of Dongola has collected a large
number of camels, and these should be
able to carry the spare ammunition and the
food for the march. In such a climate
tents will, of course, be dispensed with, and
the baggage would be reduced to a mini-
mum. Even the head-quarters staff would

HOPES FOR THE RESULT.

have to do without luxuries. For the pas-
sage, then, of the mounted force and four
regiments of infantry, marching in four
divisions, following each other day by day,
the difficulties of the desert march appear
by no means insuperable. It is probable
that the first division may have fighting
to do, perhaps serious fighting, as the
gorges up into the hills, many of them
being well watered and suitable for camps,
will afford an opportunity for the hostile
tribesmen to sally out and attack us.

Once arrived at Metemmeh or Shendy,
Lord Wolseley will be in a position to act
as circumstances may dictate. Assuming
that he will be joined there by two or three
battalions of infantry, he will be strong
enough to resist any attack that the fol-
lowers of the Mahdi may make upon him.
General Gordon's steamers have, until
lately, been in the habit of descending the
Nile to this point, and, unless the enemy
have managed, by the erection of batteries,
to put a stop to this practice, Lord Wolse-
ley will be in direct communication with
General Gordon, and can send up provi-
sions, ammunition, or troops. Even should
the river be closed, the presence of an
English force at Shendy will greatly en-
courage the defenders of Khartoum, and
will proportionately discourage the be-
siegers of the town. Should Lord Wolseley
hear that General Gordon can maintain
himself for some time, he will doubtless
remain at Shendy until the main body of
the infantry under General Earle have de-

feated the enemy at Berber, cleared away
all obstacles, and arrive in their boats,
when a general advance could take place.
But if, on the other hand, news should
arrive that Khartoum is in sore straits, he
would be able to make a dash forward to
its relief with the Camel Corps, Mounted
Infantry, Hussars, Artillery, and what
infantry force he might have with him a
force which, well handled, should be able
to cope easily with the followers of the
Mahdi. We know that General Gordon,
with his improvised array, has several times
defeated large numbers of the Mahdi's fol-
lowers, and we may, therefore, assume that
these are far less formidable than the Arabs
who met us at El Teb and Tamanieb. A
thousand mounted British troops, with an
equal number of infantry, should then be
able to give a good account of them. Lord
Wolseley will not be likely to take such a
step as to advance with the Camel Corps
and a small body of infantry, unless the
need of General Gordon be urgent, as
success would in itself be a proof that the
expedition was altogether unnecessarily
large and costly. It will, however, be a
satisfaction to the public to know that a
British force is within a comparatively short
distance of Khartoum, and that should
General Gordon's position become des-
perate, an attempt to relieve him can be
made within a few days of the receipt of
the news." So, at the time, it was sup-
posed, but unfortunately this was found not
to be the case.

E E

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

CHAPTER LXXXIV.

THE KHARTOUM RELIEF EXPEDITION-

BATTLE.

KLEA

BEFORE THE

UR readers will remember
that, in a recent chapter,
we quoted a despatch of
Power's relating to Khar-
toum at the end of 1883.
There was on 3ist December, 1884, a
brief message dated from Khartoum on
December 14, brought into the camp at
Korti : " Khartoum all right. Signed, C.
G. Gordon." Verbal answers given by the
messenger seemed to prove that Khartoum
was not quite so well to do as was here
represented, and that the cheerful tone of
the message was, perhaps, meant to deceive
the Mahdi should it fall into his hands.
At any rate the execution of the plans for
relieving Khartoum was pushed forward as
speedily as possible. An expeditionary force
under two divisions was moved on to Gak-
dul wells, in preparation to the move on
Metemmeh. The next move was to the wells
at Abu Klea, but before they could reach
them a great battle had to be fought, for
the enemy had collected in great force.
Mr. Burleigh, who was present at the battle,
tells us that : " Just before dark on Friday,
January i6th, 1885, as we turned in within
our zareba, we fired two shells at a group of
two hundred or so of the enemy gathered
upon the top of the black hills on our left
face. The missiles fell among the Arabs,
who quickly dropped out of sight, leaving,
however, two white banners standing out
boldly on the sky line. Their sharp-
shooters meanwhile having crept to within
1,200 yards of our right flank, and their
fire proving annoying, a half company of
the Mounted Infantry went out to drive
them back. The Arabs at the same time
were also potting at us from their front at
long range, which subjected the square to

a transverse fire. The long range and the
high trajectory of their Remingtons left
scarcely any place safe from their bullets,
many of which dropped down almost per-
pendicularly. We soon, consequently, had
our first wounded to attend to, and many
of the camels were also struck. After
nightfall our pickets and sentries, who were
posted outside the square or zareba, were
all drawn in to seventy-five yards from our
lines. As the moonless hours wore on the
enemy increased their fire, and bands of
them marched about from point to point,
banging their battle-drums and making a
most execrable din. The Hadendowas at
Tamai were good enough not to treat us to
so much ' tom-toming,' which is beyond all
discordant noises successful in irritating
and worrying a sensitive ear. If anything
deserve future punishment, and can insure
it, then it surely is the constant perform-
ance before battle of a full orchestra of
'one-ended drums,' such as the Mahdi's
force possessed. The savage sounds rose
and swelled all through the night, forming
a fitting accompaniment to the wail of their
bullets. Our crack shots were permitted
to reply occasionally to the Arab fire when-
ever it became too inquisitively searching.
Evidently we were in for an uncomfortable
time, and the officers were enjoined to see
that their men were at their posts with
bayonets fixed, ready to spring to their feet
on the first alarm. With their overcoats
on and their blankets wrapped round them
the men lay down close behind the low
walls and line of bushes, with their heads
to the front. All lights were put out after
dark, and talking and smoking even were
forbidden. A stillness broken only by the
whizz, ping, or thud of the enemy's lead

A FALSE ALARM.

419

hung over the square, even the tired camels
grunting far less than customary. During :
the earlier part of the night I had a long
chat with Colonel Fred. Burnaby, who
expressed his delight at having arrived in
time for the coming battle. He had been
appointed, he said, by General Stewart to
the command of the left face and rear of
the square, and on the morrow would be
virtually discharging the duties of a briga-
dier-general. He had got to that stage of
life, he continued, when the two things that
interested him most were war and politics ;
and, whether it was ' slating ' an unworthy
politician or fighting against his country's
foes, he expressed himself equally exhil-
arated and happy. Much more he con-
fided to me, but neither time nor the
occasion now avail for the repetition of
that chat, destined to be the ' last words '
of a noble and fearless gentleman. About
ten p.m. on Friday, January 16, our sentries
came running into the lines, and there
instantly arose that indescribable murmur
half-shout, half-inarticulate roar that
heralds 'a night scare' and an attack
upon a camp of armed men. The officers
called out, 'Stand to your arms, men.'
There was little need for the order, for all
except a very few sluggards were promptly
ready at the first sound to repel the expected
attack and rush of the Arabs. It turned
out, however, a false 'alarm,' or, at any
rate, if any numbers of the enemy had been
threatening a nocturnal assault nothing
came of the movement. Ere day broke
we had three more of these 'alerts,' each
terminating as the first had done; that is to
say, the men were kept on the qui rive for
a quarter to half an hour, and then were
allowed to go to sleep again, which not all
the whizzing of the enemy's bullets could
keep the tired soldiers from doing Before
the first rosy tints of day tinged the eastern
sky, or, as General Stewart's orders defined
it, ' when the planet Venus rose, the troops
were all to get up and stand to their arms
till daylight' Towards morning the air
became sharp and cold, and it was with

little reluctance the troops left their chill
bivouac. When it became light enough
Captain Norton, of the Royal Artillery,
fired three rounds of shrapnel at a party of
the enemy's sharpshooters, who had been
worrying the square all night by shooting
from a hill 1,500 yards on our right flank.
After this there was a brief lull, only a few
dropping shots falling in the zareba. Our
total loss during the night was comparatively
light not more than five or six wounded,
of whom three were natives and one a
Hussar but many camels were wounded
and several killed. An early breakfast was
now prepared, and with hot tea and coffee,
beef and biscuit, the soldiers regaled them-
selves. Before they had finished their
meal the Arabs, to the number of two
hundred, had again come down from the
knife-edge of the range of hills on our right
flank, and were delivering a well-aimed fire
from a distance of 1,100 yards at our
position. A troop of the Hussars and
some of the Mounted Infantry were at
once sent out as skirmishers. They suc-
ceeded in driving the enemy towards the
east, in fhe direction of their main force.
A little later five hundred spearmen, with
a few Baggara (cavalry), came sweeping
down as if to attack our right ; but a round
of shrapnel, which was burst over their
heads, knocked over three or four Arabs,
and scattered the others. Still, their rifle-
fire was being well maintained ; the number
of our wounded was steadily increasing,
and many camels and horses were being
hit.

As the Arabs still showed a disposition
to attack us, bands of them continually
appearing and disappearing on our front
and right, it was determined to try a ruse
to draw them on. At about 1,800 to
1,900 yards on our left front could be seen
masses and lines of rebels, their bright
broad spear-heads and two-edged swords
glittering in the sun's rays. With tom-toms
fiercely thumming, and scores of heathenish
banners fluttering in the fresh northerly
breeze, they swarmed everywhere along the

420

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

crests of the rolling foothills, and threatened
to rush us. Close to the wady on our left
there were probably 3,000 or 4,000 of them,
deployed in two not very irregular lines of
men four to five deep. Their leaders,
sheiks or dervishes clad in conspicuously
embroidered Mahdi shirts, were stationed
at intervals of about twenty-five yards apart,
and mounted on fleet little horses. The
lines were at least half a mile long, whereas
our front barely extended, when in square,
to 1 50 yards. A strong force of skirmishers,
Guards and Mounted Infantry, were now
sent out by General Stewart, and they

engaged the enemy at 1,200 yards range,
gradually reducing the distance to 1,000
yards. At a preconcerted signal our skir-
mishers rose together and ran back upon
the zareba. It was all to no purpose,
however, as the enemy did not pursue for
more than 200 yards. The stratagem was
repeated without better success ; so, despair-
ing of inducing them to assault our position,
the screw guns were turned upon the Arabs
on our front, and they were treated to a
few rounds of shrapnel, which quickly sent
them to cover." Such were the preliminaries
to the battle.

CHAPTER LXXXV.

THE KHARTOUM RELIEF EXPEDITION BATTLE OF y\eu KLEA.

T seven o'clock General
Stewart began his prepar-
ations for sending forth an
attacking column, which
was to march in square
and on foot as if ours had been an infantry
force. The object was naturally to drive
the enemy from Abu Klea wells, which
were four or five miles on our front. The
enemy, it will be observed, had taken up
ground three miles to the west of the wells.
Their position was strong, but they could
have chosen a much better one had they
defended the crest of the hills two miles or
so behind our zareba, where begins the de-
scent into the wady which leads to the wells.
There they would have had complete shelter
for their men until our troops got within
thirty or forty yards of them, and at the
same time could have witnessed all our
operations and movements, which must
have taken place on the open plain below.
As the camels were to be left behind,
their packs were unloaded, and saddles
and stores were taken to strengthen the
detached works surrounding the zareba.

The animals themselves were herded closer
together in the centre of the enclosure, and
securely tied down. Shortly after seven
a.m. the troops were marched to a position
close behind the ridge on our front, sur-
mounted by the low stone wall. Each
detachment as it came up was ordered to
lie down to await the moment for the
advance. About one hundred beasts only
were included in the 'fighting square,'
fifty-two for carrying cacolets and litters for
the wounded, the rest for medical stores,
water, and ammunition. I was glad there
were so few camels going, and sorry there
were not fewer, for although by his size he
is a good breastwork against bullets, the
camel obstructs vision, impedes mobility,
destroys symmetry, and is an unsettling
element in a square of men. Precisely at
7.35 a.m. the troops marched forward in
the following order : Front face (left to
right), Mounted Infantry, Royal Artillery
with three guns, Guards. Right face (front
to rear), Guards, Royal Sussex. Left face
(front to rear), Mounted Infantry, Heavy
Cavalry Regiment. Rear (left to right),

SKIJtJflSHMG.

421

Heavy Cavalry Regiment, Naval Brigade under Colonel Barrow, numbering ninety
(with Gardner), Heavy Cavalry Regiment, sabres, were sent to our left flank to
part of Sussex Regiment. The igth Hussars, | advance along the spur of land on the

BATTLE OF ABU KLEA DEATH OK BURNAIIY.

north of the wady, and in front ol the stone
outwork held by the company of the Royal
Sussex. Their duty was to move forward
on a line parallel with the square and

prevent the enemy attacking our left from
the high ground across the little wady. A
squadron of the igth, counting thirty
sabres, followed the square, marching by

422

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

the front right to assist the skirmishers,
Mounted Infantry and Guards, who were
sent out seventy-five yards from the square
to keep the enemy's sharp-shooters from
coming too near. The Heavies were com-
manded by Colonel Talbot, the Guards by
Colonel Boscawen, the Mounted Infantry
by Major Barrow, the Naval Brigade by
Lord Charles Beresford, the Royal Sussex
by Major Sunderland, the Royal Artillery
by Captain Norton, and the Royal En-
gineers by Major Dorward. The com-
mand of the Mounted Infantry devolved
upon Major Barrow a brother of Colonel
Barrow. At the last moment Major
Gough, the commanding officer of the
Mounted Infantry, had been lying down
behind the ridge on the crest of which was
the stone wall protecting our front, awaiting
the order to march, when a spent ball
struck him on the back of the head. The
' crack ' was audible for yards around, and
we who were near thought he was killed.
In a few minutes, nevertheless, he re-
covered consciousness, and it was seen he
had only received a severe contusion.
Several others were struck at the same
time, and one of the gunners lost his
finger, and owed his life to carrying an iron
key in his hand at the moment a bullet
struck him. Altogether the situation was
exciting and serious, and narrow escapes
were becoming much too frequent. As the
men rose from the ground, and the square
advanced at slow march, our front showed
above the slope, and the enemy promptly
saluted us with a brisk rifle fire. In lines
two deep not of four men, as squares
ordinarily are formed our 1,400 or there-
by of fighting men advanced. Major Gern,
of the Sussex, with a company of men and
details, was left in command of the zareba,
in which were over fifty sick and nearly
a score of wounded. With frequent halts
to pick up our wounded the dead were
left where they fell the square trudged
on, the men as steady as if on parade.
Our line of route was parallel to the
little wady on which the left of our

zareba rested. Onward we marched,
keeping the wady eight hundred yards
to our left. One moment we tramped
along the stony upland crests or slopes,
and then we would make an abrupt descent
into some little gully or watercourse, climb-
ing again up the opposite bank. Our
progress was like that of some huge
machine, slow, regular, compact, despite
the hail of bullets pouring in from front,
right, and left, and ultimately from the
rear. A mile from the zareba the square
halted to pour in a few volleys at a force of
1,500 Arabs demonstrating on our right.
We anticipated their main attack would fall
upon our front or left, and it was thought
best to clear the flank threatened before
going further on. Altogether there were
perhaps 10,000 to 12,000 Arabs gathered
to oppose us. They swarmed upon our
front, and for two or three miles on either
flank groups of their horsemen and spear-
men could be seen watching us from the
rocky peaks. There was no avenue of
retreat ; it was now ' do or die.'

Colonel Barrow, with his small force of
Hussars, became engaged about the same
time as the square. He took ground in
advance of the outwork upon the circular hill
held by the Sussex, dismounted the greater
portion of his men, and opened fire at a
body of 200 horsemen and 200 or 300
footmen trying to creep around our left.
They gave him all he could do with his
small force, for the ground offered ready
shelter from the fire of the troopers' car-
bines, and his advance lagged behind the
march of the square. When our flanks
became comparatively clear, with our ranks
well drawn together, the square once more
advanced, but slower and more cautiously
than before. We were rapidly passing to
the flank of the enemy's outlying position.
The Arabs appeared more numerous every
moment, sometimes showing in lines of
battle array as if they meant to charge the
square, and anon disappearing behind a
ridge, or sinking out of sight in the water-
scored lumpy ground, covered with scrub

THE DARK ARAB WAVE.

423

and bunch grass just as Roderick Dhu's
clansmen vanished at a wave of their chief-
tain's hand. There was no questioning
now among old campaigners whether the
Arabs would fight, and General Stewart
and his personal staff, consisting of Major
Wardrop, Lord Airlie, and Captain Rhodes,
galloped to right and left to keep the force
in readiness to repel any attack. With all
deference to the gallant Heavies, it was felt
to be a trial for them, a much mixed
cavalry force, fighting on foot as infantry
and with the long rifle, to which they were
unused. Onward our fighting square
moved, the enemy forming up as if to
charge, and after a volley or two, given by
companies, getting again out of sight By
half-past nine our left face was well abreast
of their right, or the position it had held,
and we could see before us that the stony
upland along which we marched sloped
down a mile ahead into the vast flat plain
that reached away right clear to the Nile.
The hilly, rocky ground was being left
behind, and, with the exception of a low
ridge or two a mile east of the wells, the
sabas-covered land stretched forward, un-
broken, by a single hillock, far to the east
and south-east

At 9.50 a.m., just as the front of the
square had crossed a narrow depression
and gained the top of the little crest on the
opposite side, we saw a force of 4,000 to
5,000 of the enemy echeloned in two lines
on our left, or opposite the side of the
square maintained by part of the Mounted
Infantry and the Heavy Cavalry regiments.
They were four hundred, or perhaps five
hundred, yards distant, and looked like
coming on. Dervishes on horseback and
on foot marshalled them, standing a few
paces in front of the fanatic host. With
fluttering of banners, clamour of 'tom-
toms,' and shoutings of ' Allah,' they
began to move towards our square. At
first they came slowly, not quicker than a
fast walk. Our skirmishers'* fire appeared
to have little or no effect upon them, and
the whole left face of the square, which

now halted upon the high ground, turned
their rifles upon the Arabs, with, however,
not much better results. Very few of the
Mahdi's force fell, their lines were scarcely
marred, and the miscarriage of our bullets
must have inspired them with the hope that
Mohammed Ahmed had at last conferred
upon them charmed lives. They were
soon within three hundred and fifty yards
of the square, and now they commenced to
run towards us, coming over the rolling
ground like a vast wave of black surf. At
first their direction was towards the left
face front corner of the square, but as they
came nearer the great mass of them swung
round, so as to strike the rear corner of
our left face. The skirmishers along our
left came running home at full speed
towards the square, closely pressed by a
fringe of bloodthirsty Soudanese. At this
moment the Gardner gun, under Lord
Charles Beresford's superintendence, was
moved to the left face rear corner, to be
brought into action. During the advance
it had been fired occasionally at groups ot
the enemy, and performed good service in
clearing them off some strong positions
upon dominating ridges. When it was
now most wanted, before three rounds had
been fired the cartridges stuck, and the
weapon was rendered temporarily useless,
an accident to which, as Lord Charles
afterwards declared, all machine guns with
a rotary feed motion are perpetually liable.
Still down upon us the dark Arab wave
rolled. It had arrived within three hun-
dred yards almost undiminished in volume,
unbroken in strength. It was a rush of
spearmen and swordsmen, scarcely any
carrying guns. Their rifle fire had practi-
cally ceased ; and the other Arab forces
surrounding us Mahdi's troops, plunder-
ing Bedouins, and pillaging villagers from
the river-side all stood eager on the hill-
sides watching the charge upon the British
square. In wild excitement, their white
teeth glistening, and the sheen of their
brandished weapons flashing like thousands
of mirrors, onward they came against us.

424

THE ENGLISH IN EG YPT.

By twos and threes our skirmishers had
now reached our lines, and, the left face
being nearly clear, a volley was sent into
the enemy at one hundred and fifty yards :
as they rose over the last crest between our \
opposing lines. A hundred or more Arabs
dropped, and for a moment I saw their j
force waver and halt, as a man stops to
gasp for breath or at any sudden surprise.
Had that volley been promptly repeated
there would have been little more of the
battle of Abu Klea to tell except the rout
and slaughter of the Mahdi's troops, for
Mahdi's troops they were, and not mere
villagers or swarming tribesmen arrayed
against us. But, somehow, the firing that
followed from our ranks was dropping,
irregular, scattering, wild, without visible
effect; and the Arabs, who had barely
checked their run, leaped over their falling
brethren and came charging straight into
our ranks.

I was at that instant inside the square,
not far from the Gardner gun, when I saw
our men beginning to shuffle a little back-
ward. Some say Colonel Burnaby issued
an order for the men to ' fall back ; ' but
I can speak confidently on this point
though near him, I never heard it. That,
however, is a small matter, and it may have
been issued all the same. At any rate,
the left face moved somewhat backwards,
and slightly towards the zareba. Colonel
Burnaby himself, whose every action at the
time I saw from a distance of about thirty
yards, rode out in front of the rear of the
left face, apparently to assist two or three
of our skirmishers, who were running in
hard pressed. I think all but one man of
them succeeded in reaching our lines.
Burnaby went forward to the men's assist-
ance sword in hand. He told me he had
given to his servant to carry that double-
barrelled shot-gun which he had used so
well against the Hadendowas at El Teb,
in deference to the noise made in England
by so-called humanitarians against its use.
Had it been in his hands Burnaby would
easily have saved other lives as well as his

own, but they would have been English
lives at the expense of Arabs'. As the
dauntless Colonel rode forward on a bor-
rowed nag for his own had been shot that
morning he put himself in the way of a
sheik charging down on horseback. Ere
the Arab closed with him a bullet from
some one in our ranks, and not Burnaby's
sword-thrust, brought the sheik headlong
to the ground. The enemy's spearmen
were close behind, and one of them
suddenly dashed at Colonel Burnaby,
pointing the long blade of his spear at his
throat. Checking his horse and slowly
pulli ng it backward, Burnaby leant forward
in his saddle and parried the Moslem's
rapid and ferocious thrusts ; but the length
of the man's weapon, eight feet, put it out
of his power to return with interest the
Arab's murderous intent. Once or twice J
think the Colonel just touched his man,
only to make him more wary and eager.
The affray was the work of three or four
seconds only, for the savage horde of
swarthy negroes from Kordofan, and the
straight-haired, tawny-complexioned Arabs
of the Bayuda steepe, were fast closing in
; upon our square. Burnaby fenced smartly,
just as if he were playing in an assault at
I arms, an d there was a smile on his features
as he drove off the man's awkward points.
The scene was taken in at a glance with
that lightning instinct which I have seen the
desert warriors before now display in battle
whilst coming to one another's aid by an
! Arab who, pursuing a soldier, had passed
i five paces to Burnaby's right and rear.
Turning with a sudden spring, this second
i Arab ran his spear-point into the Colonel's
right shoulder. It was but a slight wound
enough, though, to cause Burnaby to
twist around in his saddle to defend himself
from this unexpected attack. Before the
savage could repeat his unlooked-for blow
so near the ranks of the square was the
\ scene now being enacted a soldier ran
out and drove his sword-bayonet through
the second assailant. As the Englishman
withdrew the steel, the ferocious Arab

THE SQUARE BROKEN.

425

wriggled round and sought to reach him.
The effort was too much, however, even
for his delirium of hatred against the Chris-
tian, and the rebel reeled and fell. Brief
as was Burnaby's glance backward at this
fatal episode, it was long enough to enable
the first Arab to deliver his spear-point full
in the brave officer's throat. The blow
drove Burnaby out of the saddle, but it
required a second one before he let go his
grip of the reins and tumbled upon the
ground. Half a dozen Arabs were now

about him. With the blood gushing in
streams from his gashed throat the daunt-
less Guardsman leapt to his feet, sword in
hand, and slashed at the ferocious group.
They were the wild strokes of a proud,
brave man dying hard, and he was quickly
overborne, and left helpless and dying.
The heroic soldier who sprang to his
rescue was, I fear, also slain in the melee,
for though I watched for him I never
saw him get back to his place in the
ranks."

CHAPTER LXXXVI.

THE KHARTOUM RELIEF EXPEDITION ^BU

THE BATTLE.

KLEA CLOSE OF

UT what of the square ? We
had fallen back one hun-
dred yards, and the fore-
most Arabs were driving
their spears at our men's
breasts. They were yet too few, however,
to make any serious break in our ranks,
and, desperately as they charged and fought,
rifle and revolver bullet, and more rarely
bayonet point, stopped their career. Then
the great onrush came, and with spear
poised and sword uplifted straight into our
left face, rear corner, the Arab horde struck
us like a tempest. The Heavies were
thrown into confusion, for the enemy were
right among them, killing and wounding
with demoniacal fury. Backward from the
left face the square fell, staggering and
irregular. Officers exerted themselves to
keep their men together, and General
Stewart himself rode to the broken corner
to assist. His horse was here killed, and
he himself was with difficulty extricated
and saved from Arab spears. Lord Airlie
received two slight spear wounds, and so
did Ix>rd Charles Beresford. The enemy's
rush swept clean over where the Gardner

gun had been placed, and the small naval
contingent lost two officers and six men
killed, defending their gun as at Tamai.
It was actually one of the same weapons
that was used in that equally terrible fight.
Confusion for the instant reigned supreme
as the men fell back towards a low circular
mound. The charge of the Arabs carried
many of them into the centre of our square
and among the camels. There death and
havoc rioted for two or three minutes,
whilst our men moved off from the in-
extricable mass of wounded, dying, and
dead camels. It was an awful scene, for
many, alas ! of the wounded left behind
on the cacolets and litters perished by the
hands of the merciless Arabs, infuriated by
their sheiks, whose wild hoarse cries rent
the air, whilst the black spearmen, entangled
among the animals, ran hither and thither
thirsting for blood. Amid the general
calamity there were many providential
escapes. Lord St Vincent, who, with
another wounded man, was being borne
upon a pair of camel-litters, was overturned
with his camel, and fell underneath; the
wounded man, who was on the opposite

426

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

side, was killed, and St. Vincent owed his
life to the accident. Trifling as was the
obstacle offered by the heap of helpless
animals, it was enough to break and dis-
organize the rush of the Arabs. So great
at this moment was the peril of the situa-
tion that officers in the Guards and Mounted
Infantry placed their men back to back to
make a desperate battle for life. The
Martini-Henrys had never ceased, for hun-
dreds of men kept firing steadily and with
good aim at the enemy. There were others,
I regret, who were neither discreet nor care-
ful as to the direction of their fire. Pos-
sibly much of the wildness of aim was
occasioned by the excitement of finding
that hundreds of the cartridges jammed
fast after the second or third shot. I have
since been told by officers that this year
our mongrel cartridge sticks worse than
ever. Positively, at Abu Klea, and later]at
Metemmeh, I saw scores of weapons ren-
dered temporarily useless. At this stage,
seeing the Arabs were no respecters of
persons, I myself took up a Martini-Henry,
but the third cartridge stuck, and I had to
resort to my revolver.

Our men were now nearly all clustered
around the circular mound, with a swarm
of Arabs fighting upon what was originally
the left and rear faces of the square ; the
others were still hanging back undecided
among the wreck of camels. The column
kept backing with their faces outward to-
wards the top of the low mound, until they
were wedged in a compact mass. To me,
who was outside on the right face, they
appeared to spin and turn slowly around
the mound, a whirlpool of human beings.
The position luckily enabled them to deliver
a heavy and withering fire into the dense
mass of Arabs. Soon the enemy showed
signs of wavering, and with cheers and
shouts our men redoubled their fire. A
young officer, whose name I did not learn,
rallied a number of men on the right
rear, and these being soon joined by others
were able to deliver an excellent and most
telling transverse fire into the enemy's

ranks. The strained tension of the situa-
tion had lasted nearly ten minutes, when
at last the Arabs, two or three at first, then
in twenties and fifties, began to trot off the
field. In five minutes more there was not
an enemy to be seen standing within three
hundred yards of us. With cheer upon
cheer, shouting ourselves hoarse, we hailed
our victory, dearly won as all knew it to
be. Parting volley after parting volley was
sent into the now flying foemen, and we
had the satisfaction of noting that all around
they were taking ground to the rear.

Colonel Barrow, who had been holding
the enemy about three-quarters of a mile
on our left rear, was now able to push on,
and soon three long streams of Arabs,
afoot and on horse, camel, and donkey
back, were making off, one in the direction
of Berber, another towards Metemmeh,
and a third for Khartoum. Our skir-
mishers were again pushed forward, and
the screw guns brought into action to
quicken their flight. Details of men were
sent out to search for our wounded among
the heap of slain lying to our left face.
As at Teb and Tamai, the wounded Arabs
refused to be made prisoners, and great
caution had to be exercised in moving
about the field, not only to avoid the
covert stabs dealt by the bleeding Arabs,
but the rushes and cuts of the fanatics who
shammed death in order that they might
the more surely get a chance of burying
their weapons in one of us. Our men were
drawn forward one hundred and fifty yards
from the battle-field, and then, after great
delay in getting the soldiers into their
proper places, the square was re-formed.
We found our losses during the day were,
roughly, including native camel - drivers,
over one hundred killed and about two
hundred wounded. Of the enemy, five or
six hundred lay heaped in front of and
around our dead camels, and I think nearly
as many more fell on the hill-sides and in
the wady. I should have sent you by
telegraph as accurate a list as possible, but
that, I knew, was forbidden, and at any rate

VICTORS!

427

my statement would not have gone on until
the official returns were sent. The latter
will, therefore, have told you enough, but
still with many inaccuracies, no doubt, on
account of the hurry and confusion. The
greatest sufferers were the Heavy Cavalry j
regiment, which had six officers and over |
fifty men killed, whereas the Guards and ;
the Mounted Infantry had each but five '
men killed. It took till ten minutes past '
noon to get the force again in order. Our
Aden camel-drivers, many of whom were
killed and wounded, and who displayed a
loyalty, courage, and pluck conspicuous
alongside the few cowardly Egyptians,
scoured the battle-field, and brought in
such of the camels as were able to travel.
Cacolets and litters were put upon the
animals, and the lost baggage was left to
be recovered later on. The reserve am-
munition, which could not then be trans-
ported, as over fifty camels were killed, was
set fire to and destroyed. While this was
taking place the Hussars came up and
opened communications, and were sent
ahead to take possession of the wells and
hasten the enemy's evacuation of their
camp.

Meanwhile small knots of dervishes hung
about, longing to charge the square. I was
unfortunate enough to precipitate one of
these rushes on the part of six concealed
fanatics. Riding one hundred yards to
our left, in a little hollow I saw some men '
stretched on the ground in attitudes not
assumed by the dead. A soldier fired at
one of the half-dozen who moved his head
to peep, missed him, and brought five
Arabs to their feet, who rushed for the
square. There was a rattle of many rifles.
None of them ran more than eighty yards !
About one p.m. the force received orders
to again advance. As we descended into
the wady on our left we saw hundreds of
Arabs dead and dying. In the dry water-
course they left behind them many water-
skins, water-bottles, earthenware pots and
bags of dhurra. There were even a score
of tom-toms, the heads of which were

instantly burst in. On the northern side
of the shallow khor they had dug numerous
rifle-pits and trenches. There were one or
two castaway Mahdi uniforms and lots of
flags, but no shields, for the False Prophet
had bade his adherents neither wear their
ancient chain armour nor seek the protec-
tion of thick rhinoceros hide bucklers.
Exploring along this wady a party of our
men came upon six dead and four wounded
Arabs lying under a bushy dwarf mimosa
tree. The soldiers had an interpreter with
them, and the Arabs were called upon to
surrender and come out. That they said
they could not do ; would the soldiers,
therefore, come and take them ? The four
wounded men still held their spears in
their hands. ' Very good,' said our soldiers,
'put down your spears, and we will see
you are well treated, and do all we can to
cure your wounds.' The answer of the
four Arabs came fierce and concise, ' Put
down our spears, infidel dogs ! By God
and the Prophet, never!' There was a
crack of Martini-Henrys. You can guess
the rest. It was again, at Teb and Tamai,
almost impossible to take prisoners, and
we secured but two of their wounded alive.
The third prisoner I assisted to bring in,
but he was hardly a capture, for the man
gave himself up. He had a Remington
and over one hundred rounds of ammuni-
tion. His story was that he had been one
of the Berber-Egyptian garrison, and since
the fall of that place had been forced into
the Mahdi's army. He was glad to escape
from them, he declared, and I must say
the fellow looked cheerful at being taken.
A trooper of the iQth conducted him to
General Stewart ! He was our one un-
wounded prisoner !

Choked and parched with thirst after the
day's turmoil, we got to the wells at four
p.m., delighted to find an inexhaustible
supply of cold pure water. Men and
horses gathered around some one or other
of the fifty wells sunk in the level plain,
quenching their thirst by deep draughts.

428

THE ENGLISH JN EGYPT.

An hour later fires were being lit to prepare
our evening meal. Hands were sent to cut
bushes and construct a small zareba, and
a detachment of troopers was ordered to
occupy the hill on our left front. Rifle
firing had ceased, and the doctors, who had
shared, with a courage and zeal beyond all
praise, in all the dangers of the day, had
got a temporary hospital in order, and were
each doing their utmost to alleviate the
sufferings of our wounded. Surgeon-Major
Ferguson, the principal medical officer,
Surgeons Briggs, Parke, Dick, Maconochie,
and others, with the regimental surgeons,
worked untiringly through the night, helping
the wounded. At eight p.m. a force of two
hundred and fifty of the Mounted Infantry,
under Major Phipps, with fifteen pairs of
cacolets, was sent back to the zareba to
order its evacuation, and to bring on to the
wells the wounded and all the men and
stores. I set out with the Major's detach-
ment, and on our way back we heard the
groans of wounded Arabs who had hidden
themselves in the bushes to die. Riding
ahead, I got into the zareba half an hour in
front of the Mounted Infantry. When the
square advanced, those left in the zareba
had fired for over an hour at small bands
of Arabs who came down from the hills on
the right to join in the attack upon our
men. In a high wind, and by a guttering
candle-light, I wrote my telegram describ-
ing the battle of Abu Klea, and sent it you
by special messenger, hours ahead of any-
body else. I trust it reached you in good
time, for I had contrived relays at Gakdul.
By daylight next morning all the stores
were packed on the camels, and the
wounded men placed in the litters and
cacolets. As soon as it was light the
zareba was abandoned, the force marching
to Abu Klea wells, which were reached
about eight a.m. without accident or attack
from the enemy, small bodies of whom
were still, however, visible on the hills to
the north and south."

We give some lines of poetry which were
written shortly after the news of the battle

reached England. These will fitly conclude
our narrative of the battle.

' ' They were gathered on the desert,
Like pebbles on the shore,
And they rushed upon the Christians
With a shout like ocean's roar ;
Like the dashing of the torrent,
Like the sweeping of the storm,
Like the raging of the tempest,
Came down the dusky swarm.
From the scant and straggling brushwood,
From the waste of burning sand,
Sped the warriors of the desert,
Like the locusts of the land ;
They would crush the bold invader,
Who had dared to cross their path ;
They were fighting for the Prophet,
In the might of Islam's wrath.
They were savage in their fury,
They were lordly in their pride ;
There was glory for the victor,
And heaven for him who died.

They were mustered close together,

That small, devoted band ;

They knew the strife that day would rage

In combat hand to hand.

And wild and weird the battle-cry

Was sounding through the air,

As the foe sprang from his ambush,

Like the tiger from his lair.

They knew the distant flashing

Of the bright Arabian spear,

As, spurring madly onward,

They saw the host appear

In numbers overwhelming,

In numbers ten to one ;

They knew the conflict must be waged

Beneath a scorching sun ;

They knew a British soldier'j grave

Might lie beneath their feet ;

But they never knew dishonour,

And they would not know defeat.

And swifter, ever swifter

Swept on the savage horde,

And from the serried British ranks

A murderous fire was poured ;

And like the leaves in autumn

Fell Arab warriors slain,

And like the leaves in springtime

They seemed to live again.

'Midst the rattle of the bullets,

'Midst the flashing of the steel,

They pressed to the encounter

With fierce, fanatic zeal.

One moment swayed the phalanx,

One moment, and no more ;

HfORE FIGHTING!

429

Then British valour stemmed the tide,

As oft in days of yore.

Again and yet again they came,

And hotter raged the strife,

And, hand to hand, each single soul

Was fighting for his life ;

And on the silent desert air

Rose wild the battle's din.

O War ! thou child of blood and death,

Foul progeny of sin !

This gracious earth thy cruel hand

Hath sown with crimson seeds ;

But, watered by the dew of heaven,

They bloom in gallant deeds !

For the longest day hath ending,

The longest course must run,

And at length the foe was vanquished.

And at length the field was won.

Ye smiling plains of Albion !

Ye mountains of the North !

Now up and greet your heroes with

The honour they are worth.

Then pause, and let a nation's tears

Fall gently on the sod

Where thy valiant sons are sleeping,

Whose souls are with their God."

CHAPTER LXXXVII.

THE KHARTOUM BELIEF EXPEDITION ON TOWARDS THE NILE!

T was at first thought that
after the great victory of
Abu Klea the Arabs would
give no further trouble. This
was not the case, however.
A still more terrible battle had to be fought
before the Nile could be reached. Mr.
Burleigh was again present. He tells us
that " History records no military events
of a more stirring character, or situations
more thrilling and dramatic, than those
through which Sir Herbert Stewart's flying
column has passed during the past week.
Had the British soldier not once more
proved a splendid fighter, the story of Stew-
art's march would have had to be gathered
from other sources than the pens or lips of
those who accompanied it.

On the 1 6th inst., when the column
crossed the ridge of foothills that sloped
into a wady, wherein Abu Klea wells lay
six miles to the eastward, few among the
troops expected any fighting. The pre-
vailing fear was that the Arabs would bolt,
and that there would be neither rewards
nor honours to be won.

On Friday I saw the first shot fired by
an Arab scout, and was glad that I per-
suaded the outpost of the iQth Hussars to

let the enemy open the battle. The skir-
mish that ensued was more disastrous to
the rebels than to ourselves, and revealed
to us the strength of their force in horse
and foot, as well as the position they had
taken up.

By nightfall our column was drawn up
inside a rather weak, irregular, and incom-
plete zareba. The front face, instead of
being formed of cut brushwood, was pro-
tected by low walls of rough stones. An
undulation in the ground left an opening
in the wall twenty-five yards wide. The
wall itself was twenty inches high, aqd the
zareba was nearly two hundred yards square.

Each man had his pint of water served
out half his day's supply and on that
quantity he had to work, march, and fight
in a thirst- provoking country. Lights were
all ordered out at dusk, and the troops lay
down in square formation, with their arms
beside them ready for instant use.

During their much-needed respite, I may
recall the fact that after we had undergone
a night of alarms, following the memorable
events of Abu Klea, and had had several
men injured by the enemy's fire, the column
moved out of the /areba in square, lightly
equipped for fighting. A small garrison

430

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

was left behind to guard the stores and
animals. Nearly one hundred camels were
taken with the column to carry water, am-
munition, and cacolets. These were all
inside the square. Just before the force
set out, Major Gough received a contusion
on the skull from a bullet, and the com-
mand of the Mounted Infantry devolved
on Major Barrow. A fierce battle and
hard-won victory had secured to us Klea
wells, giving the troops an abundant sup-
ply of water, with something for the horses
and camels. A bath or even a wash in the
desert was too great a luxury, only to be
indulged in alongside the well or at a reser-
voir like Gakdul. By dint of hard work
and going without sleep the column was
ready to resume its forward march on
Sunday at four p.m. The old zareba was
emptied, all the supplies having been trans-
ported to the wells by working overnight,
and a new small zareba and fort were built
at Abu Klea, which a detachment of the
Sussex Regiment and a few men of the
Royal Engineers were left to hold. It was
given out by General Stewart that the force
should only go five miles out and encamp
till morning.

The column got off punctually, tired
though the men and animals were. It was
with pleasure that we set our faces for
another forced march so that we might get
to the river. Instead of making a pro-
tracted halt at sunset, the column rested
for a few minutes only in order to allow the
darkness to settle down. And then, alter-
ing our course so as to avoid Shebacat
wells and the Arabs posted there to inter-
cept or hinder us, we struck due south into
the desert, attempting to reach the Nile
before daylight, and before the Arabs could
stop us. The General sought to avoid
another battle until the force should have
entrenched itself, or, at any rate, packed its
baggage by the water's edge.

Night marches are always difficult, if
not dangerous, and with our overworked
animals the energies of men and officers
were taxed to the utmost to keep the column

together. In spite of everything the column
often extended for two or three miles, that
distance separating the van from the rear.
This necessitated frequent halts. Com-
pletely done up, the men dropped asleep
in their saddles, and came tumbling to the
ground. Those who undertook to rest on
the desert while the column closed up had
to be roughly aroused to get them to re-
mount.

Part of the way the force moved in
columns of regiments, the Mounted In-
fantry leading, with the Hussars in advance
and on the flanks. Although this increased
the width of our front, it did not diminish
the length of the column. Apparently AH
Gobah, the outlaw robber chief, directed
our course, which was at times rather cir-
cuitous now south, then south by west,
and again south by east. Sir Charles Wilson
and Captain Verner, of the Rifles, looked
after Ali, in whose experience as a path-
finder they both trusted. I was inclined to
regard Gobah as a failure ; he lengthened
our way and wasted hours.

Silence was enjoined upon all on the
march. The camels, as usual, disregarded
this order, and made night awful with their
groans and cries. Smoking likewise was
forbidden.

Daylight broke, finding the column six
miles from the river, and about the same
distance south of Metemmeh. The ob-
jective point was to occupy a position on
the Nile four miles south of Metemmeh.
An hour before sunrise we had altered our
course, turning more to the east.

Before the sun was up we saw that the
enemy were on the alert all along our front.
Streams of men on horseback and on foot
came from Metemmeh, interposing them-
selves between the column and the water
we so longed to gain. For a short interval
of time Sir Herbert Stewart deliberated
whether to push on two miles nearer the
Nile. As the Arabs mustered in force
sufficient to seriously threaten our ad-
vance, he decided to halt upon a ridge of
desert covered with sparkling pebbles, four

BATTLE SCENES,

431

miles from the river. To our right and
rear lay a few low black hills, one mile to
two miles distant ; on our front the desert
rolled downward towards the green flats
bordering the Nile; for here, as at Don-
gola, the belt of cultivation is rich and wide.

Turning with a light smile to his staff,
General Stewart said, ' Tell the officers and
men we will have breakfast first, and then
go out and fight.'

The column was closed up with the
baggage animals to the centre as usual ; the
boxes and pack saddles being taken off to
make an inclosure to protect the square
from rifle fire. In less than ten minutes
the Arabs were not only all over our front
and flanks, but had drawn a" line around
our rear. Groups bearing the fantastic
Koran-inscribed banners of the False Pro-
phet, similar to those of which we had taken
two or three score at Klea, could be seen
occupying vantage-points all around.

The enemy's fire grew hotter and more
deadly every minute. Evidently their Re-
mingtons were in the hands of Kordofan
hunters. Mimosa bushes were ordered to
be cut at once, and breakfast preparations
were peremptorily suspended for an hour,
whilst most of the troops lay flat Fatigue
parties strengthened our position.

In going towards a low mound, a hun-
dred yards on our right front, where we had
a few skirmishers, General Stewart was shot
in the stomach. The command thereupon
devolved upon Lord Charles Beresford by
seniority, but he, being a naval officer, de-
clined it, and Sir Charles Wilson took it
over.

The mound on our front was quickly
turned into a detached work, forty volun-
teers, carrying boxes and pack-saddles,
rushing out, and, in a short space of time,
converting it into a strongly defensible post.

The situation appeared to me so threat
ening that I took part in this enterprise.

Gradually the enemy's riflemen crept
nearer, and our skirmishers were sent out
to engage them. They were too numerous
to drive away, and the nature of the ground

and the high trajectory of their Remingtons
enabled the Arabs to drop their bullets into
the square at all points. Soldiers lying
behind camels and saddle-packs were shot
in the head by dropping bullets. Mr.
Cameron, the Standard correspondent, was
hit in the back and killed whilst sitting
behind a camel, just as he was going to
have lunch. letter on I received a graze
on the neck and a blow on the foot from
bullets. The enemy were firing at ranges
of from 700 to 2,000 yards, and their prac-
tice was excellent.

The zip, ping, and thud of the leaden
hail was continuous, and, whilst the camels
were being killed by fifties, our soldiers did
not escape, over forty having to be carried
to the hospital, sheltered as well as possible
in the centre of the square behind a wall of
saddles, bags, and boxes. As a precaution
against stampede the poor camels were tied
down, both their knees and necks being
securely bound by ropes in order to prevent
their getting upon their legs. At Klea, I
remember, the camels' pack-saddles caught
fire from the guns.

The 10,000 dervishes whom the Mahdi
has sent from Omdurman to annihilate us
were blocking our road to the Nile ; and
over a hundred Baggara, the horsemen of
the Soudan, and crowds of villagers, who
had joined Mohammed Ahmed's crusade,
hung like famished wolves on our rear and
flanks, awaiting an opportunity to slay. Ap-
parently they were emboldened by our
defensive preparations, for their numbers
swelled and their fire increased in intensity ;
and, as stretcher after stretcher with its gory
load was taken to the hospital, the space
was found too little, and the wounded had
to be laid outside. Surgeon-Major Fer-
guson, Dr. Briggs, and their colleagues had
their skill and time taxed to the utmost.
Want of water hampered their operations ;
doctors and patients were alike exposed to
the enemy's fire. More harrowing battle
scenes in the course of a long experience I
never saw.

One of the most touching incidents in

43 2

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

the zareba on the igth was the wounded
General being tended by his friends, two j
or three of whom wept like men, silently.
Poor St. Leger Herbert, the Morning Post
correspondent, one of these latter, was him-
self shot dead shortly afterwards.

Our situation had become unbearable.
We were being fired at without a chance of
returning blows with or without interest.

There were three courses open to us j
to sally forth and fight our way to the Nile ; !
to fight for the river, advancing stage by
stage, with the help of zarebas and tem-
porary works ; or to strengthen our position
and try to withstand the Arabs and lack of
water till Wolseley should send a force to
our assistance, we meanwhile sending a
messenger or two back to Korti with the
news.

It was bravely decided to go out and
engage the enemy at close quarters. At two

p.m. the force was to march out in square,
carrying nothing except ammunition and
stretchers. Each man was to take a hun-
dred rounds and to have his water-bottle
full. Everything was put in most thorough
readiness for the enterprise. Lord Charles
Beresford, who had been ' seedy ' since we
left Abu Klea, with Colonel Barrow, re-
mained in command of the enclosure, or
zareba, containing the animals and stores.
They had under them the naval contingent,
the i Qth Hussars, a party of Royal En-
gineers, and Captain Norton's detachment
of Royal Artillery, with three screw guns,
and details from regiments and men of the
Commissariat and Transport Corps.

All day lorig Lord Charles and Captain
Norton had been pounding the enemy
whenever the Arabs gave them a chance,
the former at the Gardner gun, and the
latter with two of his light guns."

CHAPTER LXXXVIII.

THE KHARTOUM RELIEF EXPEDITION BATTLE OF

THE NILE REACHED.

T was nearly three before the
square started, Sir Charles
Wilson in command, and
Colonel Boscawen acting
as executive officer. Lord
Airlie, who had been slightly wounded at
Abu Klea, and again on the igth, together
with Major Wardrop, served upon Sir
Charles's staff, as they had done upon
General Stewart's. The square was joined
to the east of our inclosed defence, the
troops lying down as they were assigned
their stations. The Guards formed the
front, with the Marines on the right front
corner, the Heavies on the right and right
rear, the Sussex in the rear, and the
Mounted Infantry on the left rear and left
flank. Colonel Talbot led the Heavies,

Major Barrow the Hussars, Colonel Row-
ley the Guards, Major Poe the Marines,
and Major Sunderland the Sussex Regi-
ment. Captain Verner, of the Rifle Brigade,
was told off to direct the square in its march
towards the river. When the order was

, given for the square to rise and advance, it

i moved off to the west to clear the outlying

i work.

The instant the Arabs detected the for-
ward movement on our part they opened a
terrific rifle fire upon the square from the

' scrub on all sides.

For the first few minutes many of our
men were hit and fell. The wounded were

| with difficulty picked up and carried.

When the square slowly marched, as if
upon parade, down into the grass and scrub-

BATTLE OF GUBAT.

433

covered hollow, intervening between the
works we had constructed, and the line of
bare rising desert that bounded our view
towards the south and east shutting out

of sight the river and the fertile border
slopes all felt the critical moment had
come.

Steadily the square descended into the

BATTLK OK GUBAT "THE THICK OK THE FIGHT."

valley. Gaps were made in our force by
the enemy's fire. As man after man stag-
gered and fell, these gaps were doggedly
closed; and without quickening the pace

by one beat, onward our soldiers went. All
were resolved to sell their lives dearly.
Ever)' now and again the square would halt,
and the men would lie down, firing at their

F F

434

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

foes hidden in the valley. Those sheltered
behind the desert crest were too safely
screened to waste ammunition upon at that
stage. Wheeling to the right and swinging
to the left our men fought like gladiators,
without unnecessarily wasting strength or
dealing a blow too many.

A more glorious spectacle was never
seen than this little band in broad daylight,
on an open plain, seeking hand-to-hand
conflict with the courageous, savage, and
fanatical foe, who outnumbered us by twelve

to one.

As the square moved over the rolling
ground, keeping its best fighting side or
rather, I should say, its firing side towards
the great onrushes of the Arabs, the soldiers
swung around, as though the square pivoted
on its centre. Once it entered ground too
thickly covered by grass and scrub, halted,
and coolly swung round and marched out
upon the more open ground, with the Arabs
to the right front, their ' tom-toms ' beating,
and their sacred battle-flags of red, white,
and green, flying in the air.

Bearing banners lettered with verses from
the Koran, a host of fanatic Arabs was the
first to hurl its swordsmen and spearmen
upon the square. The column wheeled to
receive them, and the men, by their officers'
direction, fired volleys by companies,
scarcely any independent firing being per-
mitted.

The wild dervishes and fanatics who led
the charge went down in scores before our
fire, which was opened on them at 700
yards, and none of the enemy got within
two yards of the square. This checked
their ardour, which had been excited by
seeing the gaps in our ranks.

Three more charges were attempted by
the enemy at other points along the line of
the square's advance.

At half-past four, after nearly two hours'
incessant fighting, as the column neared the
south-easterly edge of the valley to pass out
of it, the Arabs made their final grand on-
rush. Nearly 10,000 of them swept down
from three sides towards the square, their

than

main body numbering not fewer
5,000 coming upon our left face.

It was a critical time. Their fire had
made fresh gaps in our ranks, and fierce
human waves were rolling in upon every
side to overwhelm our force.

Down the Arabs came from behind the
ridge at a trot, and not at the top of their
speed, as the Hadendowas charged. Gallant
horsemen and wild dervishes led them, and
shouted to their followers to rush on in
Allah's name and destroy us.

Firm as a rock, the square stood steadily,
aimed deliberately, and fired.

Again and again had volleys to be sent
into the yelling hordes as down they poured.
The feeling was Could they be stopped
before closing with us ?

Their fleetest and luckiest dervishes, how-
ever, did not get within twenty-five yards
before death overtook them; whilst the
bulk of the enemy were still a hundred
yards away.

At last God be thanked ! they hesitate,
stop, turn, and run back. Victory is ours,
and the British column is safe !

The broken lines of Arabs sullenly re-
treated towards Metemmeh, but our square
had to gain the ridge before escaping from
their sharp-shooters' fire, and getting a
chance of punishing the daring foe.

Without further opposition, the British
advanced to the river, and encamped in a
sheltered ravine for the night, the men lying
down with their arms, and strong outposts
being on the alert against any surprises.

Every man drank freely of the refreshing
water, and, exhausted by the hardships en-
dured, slept soundly, grateful that the
enemy left them undisturbed for that night.

Whilst the square was marching to gain
the Nile, the garrisons left in charge of the
hastily-constructed works sought to render
our men all the help possible.

Skirmishers were thrown out about two
hundred yards all round, and the enemy on
the right, left, and rear, were kept behind
the sheltering ridges as much as possible by
good shooting.

ARRIVAL OF GORDON'S STEAMERS.

435

The Baggara horsemen and the Arabs on
our left and rear were looked after by Lord
Charles Beresford with his sailors and their
Gardner, and were kept from joining their
force with that on the left, when the grand
onrush was made upon the square. The
i gth Hussars watched our rear; and threat-
ened attacks upon the works were provided
against on our front and right.

Captain Norton and Lieut. Duboulay,
R.A., with two screw guns, pitched shell
and caseshot, at ranges varying from 1,500
to 2,300 yards, into the dense groups of
Arabs gathered around the Mahdi's stand-
ards. The practice made was excellent,
and not only did it prevent the Arabs from
forming their attacking columns in dense
lines, but the exploding shells indicated to
the square the points where the enemy was
mustering in force to attack.

Our approximate loss in the day's fighting
was, in and about the works, sixteen killed
and sixty wounded ; with the square, twelve
killed and forty wounded.

The enemy lost a thousand killed.

Official returns now going home will give
you the names of the officers.

On Tuesday morning, Jan. 20, the square
returned to the works, after having left a
small garrison guarding the wounded in a
deserted village near the river.

On their way back they drove the enemy
out of the villages of Abu Kru and Gubat,
and partly burned these r; laces.

During the night the garrison at the
works had two alarms ; but, altogether,
there was little firing, and the dark hours
passed quietly.

The return of the square was signalled
by great cheering from all the troops. The
soldiers grasped one another warmly by the
hand, and heartily congratulated each other.
It was a scene of sincere enjoyment and
earnest triumph.

In a few hours the camels left alive were
repacked, our dead were buried, and, bear
ing our wounded on stretchers, the column,
with its baggage as before, in the centre,
marched towards the Nile at Abu Km--

the Arabs passively watching us from the
distant ridges.

We, the correspondents, carried poor
Cameron to his grave, and there we laid
him with St. Leger Herbert, Lima, and
Quartermaster Jewell. It was but a soldier's
funeral. Lord Charles Beresford read the
burial service; and then we turned away
sorrowfully, each of us to help in the task
of bearing wounded men to a safe shelter
on the banks of the Nile, which we gained
about four p.m.

On Wednesday, Jan. 2ist, a column,
composed much like that of the iQth, ad-
vanced to attack Metemmeh, and we found
the enemy had loopholed most of the mud
walls, and were holding the place in force.

After we had manoeuvred on the plain to
the south-east of the town, firing at the
fugitives running towards the north, the
enemy unmasked a battery of Krupp guns
and played upon us.

We could see the flags of the dervishes
as they waited for us behind the walls, and
it was deemed prudent not to attempt an
assault

About eleven in the forenoon, four of
Gordon's steamers, under Nousha Pasha,
steamed down abreast of the place where
we were.

I rode forward and got aboard one of
these steamers, and afterwards carried back
a message to Sir Charles Wilson that the
Pasha would land 500 men and five guns
to assist us.

This they did, and for several hours we
poured shot and shell into Metemmeh.
But mud walls take much of this sort oi
thing with but little hurt, and at three
o'clock the entire force withdrew.

Our loss was one killed and nine wounded.

Our Egyptian friends appeared overjoyed
to see us. They told us that Khartoum
and Gordon were safe and well, and pro-
duced the following letter : ' Khartoum all
right. Can hold out for years. C. G.
Gordon. 29 12 '84.'

We further learned that all was safe six
days ago, and that the Mahdi had sent 2,000

43 6

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

men on the i7th instant to reinforce Me-
temmeh, within which were 1,000 riflemen
and 10,000 spearmen.

Olivier Pain, the French renegade, we
were informed, was in command there.

The Mahdi himself was said to be at
Omdurman with 12,000 troops.

The steamers had not been in Khartoum
for one month, but had been awaiting us at
an island above Metemmeh. The vessels,
or three of them, at any rate, are rather
larger than Greenwich steamers. They are
covered with heavy boards of hard wood,
and, inside, with thin iron plates. The

WATER AT LAST ! FIRST SIGHT OF THE NILE AFTER THE BATTLE OF GUBAT.

hulls are of iron, and the general appear-
ance of the craft is very battered, resembling
nothing so much as an old hoarding in a
shabby London street. Bullet marks have
pitted them from the funnel top to the
water line, just as a virulent attack of small-
pox disfigures a man's face.

On board there are several hundreds of
plucky blacks, led by a few Turks. As
usual they have their wives and families
with them. The vessels are more like
floating houses than war-ships.

Yesterday evening the steamers threw
fifty shells into Shendy, and have promised

ANXIETY IN ENGLAND.

437

to return again unless the people submit.
This they do not seem inclined to do.

We have been improving our defences,
as we learn that an Arab force from Berber
is on the way to attack us.

To-night a convoy, under Colonel Talbot,
proceeds back to Gakdul with unloaded
camels to bring up supplies and reinforce-
ments. My messages go by it.

This is my first opportunity. As we all

have been so busy, there has been but little
leisure, even for writing.

To-day the troops were put on half-ration
scale. To-morrow (Saturday, Jan. 24), Sir
Charles Wilson, with Stewart Wortley,
Captain Gascoigne, Captain Trafford, and
twenty men of the Sussex Regiment, sail in
two of Gordon's steamers for Khartoum.
The other two stay here." Such were the
plans of our leaders.

CHAPTER LXXXIX.

THE KHARTOUM BELIEF EXPEDITION HOPES AND PLANS.

EAN WHILE all eyes in
England were bent upon
the Soudan. After the
battle of Abu Klea it was
known that the force under
Stewart had pressed forward, but what had
become of it ? There was for some time no
news, and people now understood what mus
have been the anxiety of their forefathers
in those terrible Napoleonic wars, when
there were no telegrams. Then came the
good news of the victor)', and the cheering
message from Gordon. It already seemed
as if Khartoum was relieved. Here is
what people at home now said : " The
news from the desert stirs the blood like
the sound of a trumpet. Seldom has there
been any operation more brilliantly con-
ceived or more bravely executed than that
by which our troops struck across two
hundred miles of desert in the presence of
an enemy ten times their number, and suc-
ceeded in opening communications with the
beleaguered garrison at Khartoum. Every-
thing was against them. Not a single
' friendly ' of all the tribes of the Bayuda
Desert could be induced by bribes or
threats to bring them intelligence of the
movements of the enemy. Above them
blazed an African sun, behind them

stretched nearly two hundred miles of hostile
country, before them were arrayed some
10,000 of the picked forces of a brave and
fanatical foe. Yet without apparently so
much as a haunting doubt of success,
although their General was down with a
bad wound, their water supply was failing,
and every man among them weary with
forced marching and sleepless nights, the
brave little band struck out from the
zareba for the Nile on Monday afternoon,
knowing well that if their thin line gave
way beneath the Arab rush not a single
man would have lived to tell the tale of a
terrible catastrophe. Calm and resolute
they stood on a shelving upland, awaiting
the onslaught of the foe, who, led on by
dauntless chieftains, swept down upon them
in apparently overwhelming force Three
times the flood of Arab war surged down
upon the tiny square, thrice to recoil like
a rock-shattered wave. Then the enemy
fled fast and far across the desert, the flame
ceased to fringe the edges of the British
square ; the victory was won. It was a
gallant deed, of which England may well
be proud. It is a day ot small things, no
doubt, to those who are accustomed to
measure battles solely by the number ot
men engaged ; but heroism and valour are

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

not qualities to be appraised by arithmetic,
and in presence of this latest demonstration
of the sterling stuff of which even the
humblest of our countrymen are made, of
their unwavering allegiance to duty, and
their simple faith in England and her cause,
we shall do well indeed to thank God and
take courage.

Nor is that the only consolation that
enables even the bereaved, who in the
gloom of the valley of the shadow of death
mourn their unreturning brave, to feel that
there is light in the darkness. Not only
were the operations remarkable for the
excellent qualities alike of soldierhood and
manhood that they displayed, but they j
were signally successful. Communications
are now re-established with General Gordon.
Sir Charles Wilson started last Friday by
steamer for Khartoum. The road has been
opened from Korti to Metemmeh, and
although the latter place is still held by
two thousand determined men, the back-
bone of the Mahdi's resistance is broken.
Although for the moment it is open for the
pessimist to pretend that the net result of
General Stewart's victory is that we have
two garrisons on the Nile to relieve instead
of one, that is only for the moment. It is
no slight thing that there are two faithful
garrisons on the Nile, and that these
garrisons are in touch of each other.
General Gordon has already relieved
General Stewart, even before General
Stewart has relieved General Gordon. For
Khartoum itself we need be under no
apprehension. Gordon's last message,
dated December 29, the very day on which
General Stewart was setting out from Korti,
declared that ' he could hold on for years.'
But the fortnight before, as Gordon's friends
had painful reason to know, even the
indomitable defender of Khartoum had
almost lost heart. It was not that he
feared the Mahdi. Gordon has never
feared an open foe. An uneasy dread
haunted him of treachery in his own camp,
a suspicion which, if well founded, would
have rendered abortive all his labours and

all the effort of the present expedition. To
avert that catastrophe General Stewart was
thrust across the desert at what no doubt
appeared to many armchair critics un-
necessary haste in the face of enormous
dangers. The news of his imminent advance
probably averted the peril which General
Gordon had foreseen, and the shifty, re-
sourceful genius who has kept at bay the
raging hordes of savage Islam behind the
ramparts of Khartoum was able at the end
of the year not merely to hold his own, but
actually to despatch steamers, troops, and
provisions to assist the relieving force.
Seldom have we had a more splendid
illustration of the incalculable force which
lies latent in a single individual who com-
bines supreme genius with unflinching
faith. May this object lesson from the
desert not be thrown away upon Englishmen
at home.

There is now no need for any more
headlong plunges through the Soudan,
although not a moment will be lost in
following up the present advantage. The
capital is safe. A fortified line of posts
extends from Korti to Khartoum. The
waterway from Metemmeh to Khartoum
is patrolled by the armed steamers of the
Nile flotilla. General Stewart, we are
delighted to hear, is progressing favourably,
but from the nature of his wound we must
| not be too confident concerning his ulti-
1 mate recovery. The advance of General
; Earle along the Nile is being pressed
steadily and successfully. He also has had
a brush with the enemy, but it does not
seem to have been serious, although it was
completely successful. Khartoum, however,
| will probably be relieved and the Mahdi dis-
posed of long before General Earle and his
men get round to Berber. They will clear
out the rebels from the bend of the Nile
and have Berber ready for Lord Wolseley
when he returns from Khartoum. Mean-
while, before deciding anything about what
is to be done with the Soudan, it will be
well to wait for General Gordon's opinion.
His diary is said to be now in the hands of

WILSON'S VOYAGE.

439

General Stewart; his advice as to the
future may be expected as soon as Sir
Charles Wilson gets back from Khartoum.
Till then we shall act wisely to suspend

our judgment, and then we shall probably
be unable to do better than to act upon
his." Alas ! it was soon found that these
bright anticipations were not to be realized.

CHAPTER XC.

THE JtHARTOUM BELIEF ^XPEDITION NARRATIVE OF WlLSON's

VOYAGE AND BERESFORD'S RESCUE.

VENTS move quickly in
our present era. People
had come to the conclusion
that Khartoum had been
relieved. No more anxiety
was felt on that account, and speculation
was now busy as to the next step. Sud-
denly there was a change. At one moment
Khartoum was visible with its bulwarks in-
tact, dominated by the one grand imposing
figure of Gordon. Then all at once it
vanished in fire and smoke, and with it,
and more regretted than it, the solitary
Englishman whose name will make it for
ever memorable.

On the 4th of February, the news first
came to London. At first it was kept
absolutely quiet. The Ministry could not
believe it The next day's morning papers
said nothing, for the all-sufficient reason
that they knew nothing ; but that forenoon
the news somehow or other got known, and
the evening papers were full of it. It burst
upon the City, upon England, upon the
civilized world we may say, like a thunder-
clap. Eagerly details were looked for,
and soon these began to pour in from the
war correspondents. Let us follow their
narrative.

" Ixjrd Charles Beresford, who left Abu
Kru on the afternoon of the ist inst,
flying the British ensign aboard General
Gordon's steamer Sofia t and taking two
Gardner guns and detachments of Blue-
jackets and Mounted Infantry under Lieu-

tenant Bowe, and some natives, returned
here at sunset yesterday (the 4th), bringing
back Sir Charles Wilson and the remainder
of the crews of the two steamers wrecked
during his bold dash up the Nile.

The following is a brief narrative of these
daring voyages :

Saturday, Jan. 24. Sir Charles Wilson,
Captains Wortley, Gascoigne, and Trafford
left Abu Kru on Gordon's steamers Bordein
and Tellhoweiya for Khartoum.

Colonel Wilson, Captain Gascoigne, and
Royal Sussex men were on board the Bor-
dein, together with 200 native officers and
crews; Captains Wortley and Trafford,
with more Sussex men, aboard the Te/l-
hvwciya.

Having stopped for wood at five o'clock
on Sunday afternoon, the Bordein ran
upon a rock in the first part of the Sixth
Cataract, which now extends for a distance
of twenty miles.

It may be incidentally mentioned that
the names on the map are nearly all wrong.
The cataract begins below Mernant and
ends above AussL The Arabs call the
cataract ' the place of ninety-nine islands.'

In the morning, about nine o'clock, the
Bordein got afloat, but at a distance of two
miles higher up it got into the wrong
channel There being but little water on
the cataract, the soldiers landed to lighten
the steamers.

Tuesday, Jan. 27. Started at daylight ;
stopped opposite Jebel Rojan, taking in

440

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

wood for three hours. By two p.m. the
enemy's riflemen began firing from the
banks, many of their shots striking the
steamers.

This fusillade continued till dark from
both banks, particularly from the western.

Sir Charles Wilson stopped the steamers

near the eastern bank at a deserted village
about eighteen miles from Khartoum, and
while there a man shouted that Khartoum
had fallen on Wednesday, the 28th. The
vessels started at daylight At this point
the river has sandy banks. Rifle firing
was resumed from both sides. Opposite

COLONEL SIR CHARLES WILSON.

Jebel Surgham our men expected fire from a
battery, but none occurred.

They next passed Fighiarah, where they
sustained a hot rifle fire. Here, too, they
got the first sight of Khartoum over Tuti
Island, which lies low. (See page 105.)

Half an hour more brought the steamers
abreast Halfaya, and the natives ashore

received them with a heavy rifle fire from
their entrenchments. The Arabs had also
three Krupp guns, with which they opened
upon the vessels.

The steamers replied vigorously witli
rifle and gun fire, the Soudanese crew dis-
playing considerable bravery. We had
three men wounded. Near Tuti more rifle

KHARTOUZf IN SIGHT.

44t

fire was directed against the steamers from
all points along the banks.

We arrived nearly opposite Omdurman
at noon, when a heavy rifle fire opened by
about one thousand rebels on the banks of
the river and outside Khartoum. Their
Krupps also opened a fierce fire four of

them from Omdurman, two from Khar-
toum, two from Tuti and from the east
bank.

The attacking force was wearing the
Mahdi's uniform, and had hundreds of
flags. The enemy was in great force,
swarming all over the low ground between,

LORI> CHARLES EERESFORD.

the river and the city to the south-west,
and coming openly out to engage Sir
Charles Wilson's force.

The steamers were now within a mile of
Khartoum, and those on board could sec
the fort at Omdurman, which was held by
the enemy, and opposite to it Gordon's
troop-boats, nuggars, and other craft.

Gordon's three steamers, however, they
could not see.

On the Government House there was a
flag-staff, but no flag flying. In the streets
there were scores of the Mahdi's banners.

A man came down to the river during
the firing waving a white flag, but the
steamers declined receiving overtures, as

F F

442

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

the rebels maintained a heavy rifle and gun
fire.

There was a battery and there were
trenches upon the low ground north of
Khartoum, which fired at the steamers
from the front, flanks, and left rear.

Without entering the Blue Nile, the
steamers turned back, and a shell passed
through the Tdlhowdycts cabin, bursting
underneath. The Bordein had her dingy
blown to pieces.

By 4.10 p.m. the steamers had run back
out of a heavy fire.

Naturally our men were greatly disheart-
ened by the uncertainty which shrouded
the fate of the man they expected to relieve,
but this did not prevent them making a
vigorous reply to the enemy's fire. The
natives on board, however, became broken-
spirited, and, lying down, sought to get
cover from the hail of bullets by covering
their heads.

The steamers ran down to within twelve
miles of the Sixth Cataract, anchoring in
mid-stream for the night.

The men of the Sussex Regiment did
much execution with their rifles.

The Bordein went within three hundred
yards of the shore at Khartoum. During
the night a native dressed in the Mahdi's
uniform was sent ashore. He returned
confirming the fall of the city and the death
of General Gordon.

According to his account, the city was
betrayed on the night of January 26th by
Farag or Farash Pasha, a Soudanese, and
Ahmed Gelab, a native of Assouan. One
opened the gates and the other sent a
steamer and boats to the Mahdi whilst the
Egyptians troops were massed on one side
of the town.

One report was that there was no fight-
ing ; another that Gordon and his Sou-
danese resisted and were all killed, Gordon
himself being murdered as he came out of
his room in the Government House ; and
yet another, that Gordon had succeeded in
reaching the Roman Catholic Mission build-
ings, which are constructed to withstand a

siege, with fifty men and a full supply of
ammunition and stores.

The steamers were lightened by throw-
ing dhurra and ammunition overboard to
pass the cataract.

On Thursday morning the start was
delayed, the Bordein 's paddle having been
damaged. Later she ran aground, and
stuck fast for two hours, the four Arab
pilots refusing to proceed unless they were
all brought upon one steamer, determining
one vessel should attempt the passage, and
that the other should wait the result. This
was permitted.

The steamers dropped down stream stern
foremost. Below Jebel Royan the Tell-
howeiya sank between two rocks, the water
rising above her deck. Guns and baggage,
crew and soldiers, were all put upon a large
unmasted nuggar which she [had hitherto
towed, and were sent down the river.

The Bordein followed, and anchored
near an island for the night. There was
no firing.

The same evening a Soudanese dervish,
who had come to the river's edge at Khar-
toum with a white flag, and had followed
the steamer down stream, came aboard
with a letter from the Mahdi, the contents
of which have already been wired to you.
There was a postscript saying that it was
the Mahdi's first and last letter to the
English, unless we submitted, and calling
upon the Shaggieh to join his standard,
and if the English refused to do so, to kill
all the Kaffir dogs.

The dervish, an intelligent-looking fellow,
pressed Khasm El Mous and the Arab
officer Abdul Hasnid to go over to the
Mahdi, in whom he unhesitatingly believed
as a true prophet. The messenger told our
officers that the Mahdi had been sent by
God to convert the world, and intended to
march straight upon Stamboul. Gordon
was at Omdurman, and had adopted the
Mahdi's uniform.

When the dervish left he took with him
a letter from Khasm El Mous to the Mahdi,
stating that the former would surrender on

BERESFORD' S ADVENTURES.

443

his way down stream to Fakir Mustapha,
an Emir who had 4,000 men at Wady el
Habasha at the foot of the cataract. Mous's
letter was a ruse.

This letter and a reported traitorous
communication were handed in secretly by
native skippers, and, it is believed, saved
the steamers from attack in the cataract,
where men and guns had been posted by
Mustapha, as he expected that the steamer
would be run aground there.

A native also boarded the steamer and
related a story of Gordon having shut
himself up in the Catholic Mission build-
ings. The Mahdi's Emirs, this man further
said, had refused to proceed against the
English unless the Mahdi would go to battle
with them.

Friday. Started early. Stuck for four
hours near Shabbaca. Anchored for the
night by an island in the middle of the
rapid.

Four Shaggieh tribesmen boarded us,
and said they must throw in their lot with
the Mahdi. They urged Khassm to go
with them, but he refused to leave the
English.

All the families of Gordon's men came
on board.

Saturday. The cataract was very diffi-
cult. After passing into open water the
Borddn was run upon a rock, knocking a
large hole in her bottom. The steamer
was run alongside an island or sandbank,
three miles from the enemy's position lower
down, and was abandoned. The men,
guns, and stores were all landed during the
night.

Lieutenant Stuart-Wortley, who was
ordered to take back .the news, ran past
the enemy's works in a small boat, with
eight natives and four English, getting
beyond them before he was observed, when
they fired at, but missed him. The boat
got here safely.

Meantime Sir Charles Wilson and the
crews waited for assistance.

Sunday. Mustaphi, the Mahdi's Emir,
came upon the island and urged the neces-

sity of surrender. The same evening
Hamid Bey, two skippers, and seventeen
men deserted.

Lord Charles Beresford started on Feb.
i on board the Sofia to bring down the
shipwrecked crews.

Tuesday. About eight a.m. he saw the
wreck of the Bordein three miles ahead.
The Arabs upon the western bank opened
fire upon the Sofia from 1,000 yards.
Steamer advancing, the rebels from a small
fort furnished with protecting trenches sent
in a heavy discharge of musketry, and com-
menced fire with two or three brass
howitzers, similar to two aboard the
steamer.

The channel was 200 yards from the fort.
Lord Charles Beresford told off every man
to his post. The two howitzers, two Gard-
ners, and all the Martini-Henrys were
brought to bear upon the enemy, soon
driving them to seek cover.

The Sofia steams very slowly, not more
than four miles an hour up stream. Whilst
she was passing the last embrasure of the
fort a shell was hurled at her, entering her
boiler. An explosion took place, followed
by a rush and roar of steam and water,
scalding seven men.

The anchor was let go within 500 yards
of the enemy's works. Careful examination
disclosed that the steamer was not sinking,
and that the damage could be repaired in
ten hours.

Every effort was made on board the
Sofia to keep the enemy's fire under, whilst
the chief Engineer officer, Bendow, and
his men put a patch plate upon the boiler.
So well directed was our men's fire that the
Arabs were unable to lift their heads above
the earthworks. Their uninjured gun was
fired in the wildest way.

In the afternoon all Sir Charies Wilson's
people came marching down the right bank
to the steamer to lend their assistance, their
baggage coming down in a nuggar.

Lord Charles Beresford got the Soudanese
to open fire from two guns and with their
rifles upon the rebel work till dark.

444

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

After sunset the nuggar was taken by
Captain Gascoigne past the enemy's works,
which he succeeded in doing safely, despite
a heavy fire. Unluckily, however, the craft
grounded 600 yards below the fort, and the
night was spent in trying to get her afloat.

The Arabs, after firing a few shots at the
steamer, on board of which perfect silence
was kept, evidently thought that she had
been abandoned, stopped firing, and began
tom-toming.

By four a.m. the boiler was repaired, and
steam was got up.

Just before daybreak the enemy saw
sparks emerging from the funnel. Forth-
with they began yelling and firing in the
fiercest manner. The steamer replied.

A quarter of an hour later the vessel
went ahead for 200 yards, then turned, and
came down stream rapidly, effectively
returning the Arab fire. One shell burst
as she was passing an embrasure of the
fort, and then the steamer ran quickly out
of range.

Lieutenant Kepple, who had been serving
the guns in the pluckiest style, was sent
back in a boat to assist in floating the
nuggar. This was speedily done, under a
heavy fire, by throwing the baggage over-
board, and the boat was taken alongside
the steamer. Gordon's people were got on
board with the guns and ammunition. The
nuggar and another boat were taken in tow
and brought on here by the Sofia. The
seaman Curnow was killed, and Lieutenant
Van Koughnet was wounded.

The steamers are now being put into an
effective state. The army is exasperated
at Gordon's fate, and the men trust that
the people, not the Government, will decide
upon the course that it is now necessary to
pursue.

Here we believe that returning will not
only be temporarily disastrous, but must
mean the spending of many millions in
order to check Moslem risings nearer
Cairo, as well as elsewhere.

The men are content to take the grave
risk of holding on here for Gordon's sake

and their country's honour. Energy and
dash could get an Indian force to Berber,
with guns, within a month from the receipt
of this despatch. Meantime, we look for
General Buller, or a successor to General
Stewart.

A Court of Inquiry was held to-day, and
to-morrow a court-martial will be held on
the reises, or native skippers.

The camp is healthy."
"NEAR METEMMEH, Feb. 5 (via KORTI,
Feb. 9, 7.40 p.m.).

Lord Charles Beresford returned here
last evening, bringing Sir Charles Wilson
and the shipwrecked crews of the two
steamers wrecked on the Nile.

Lord Charles Beresford's rescuing
steamer had a terrible time of it. He
gallantly engaged the enemy's riflemen,
who were estimated to be 4,000 strong,
and a battery of three Krupp guns, at a
point about forty miles above here.

His small steamer was temporarily dis-
abled by a shot passing into her boiler.
This mishap compelled Lord Charles to
anchor within 500 yards of the native fort.

He succeeded, however, in keeping the
enemy at bay by means of the Gardners
and rifles.

The afternoon and night were spent in
the difficult work of effecting repairs, and
the party at length got away on the morn-
ing of the 4th.

Our loss amounted to one seaman killed,
seven men wounded, and Lieutenant Van
Koughnet, R.N., wounded. Several men
were scalded by the outburst of steam.

Sir Charles Wilson's loss was two men
killed and twenty wounded all Egyptians
and four men of the Sussex Regiment
slightly injured.

Our Soudanese auxiliaries fought well
until they heard about the fall of Khar-
toum, which demoralized them.

The latest news is that General Gordon
was killed while leaving his room in
Government House.

The Mahdi has massacred the families
of all Gordon's men.

"SMASH" THE MAUD I AT KHARTOUM!

44S

The rebels were admitted by the treach-
ery of Farag Pasha into Khartoum on the
night of Jan. 26.

Here all is well. There are daily out-
post affairs with the enemy.

Sir Charles Wilson runs the gauntlet of
the enemy to-night, 100 men assisting him
thrdflgh. He goes to see Lord Wolseley,
and I take the opportunity of his departure
to send this telegram.

The Nile is steadily falling about an inch
daily."

"Telegram from General Wolseley to the
Secretary of State for War.
KORTI, Feb. 9, 1885 (7.30 p.m.).

Sir Charles Wilson just reached my
camp, having left Gubat early on morning
of 6th inst

General Stewart's wound doing well.

Sir Charles Wilson's party all safe.

Lord Charles Beresford, in a steamer,
brought him back, having engaged enemy's
battery within three miles of island on
which Wilson's party were landed.

In action with battery, enemy's round
shot went through steamer's boiler. Beres-

ford had to anchor under fire until he
repaired boiler.

Wilson, with his four guns, ammunition
and party, landed from island on right
bank, and marched down stream opposite
battery, and came into action, helping with
Beresford's fire on battery in keeping
enemy's fire down.

Towards sunset Wilson marched down
river about three miles, and halted for
night. Beresford joined them in the
morning, having again engaged enemy's
battery in passing it, and brought them
safely to Gubat

Edwin Curnow, second-class petty officer,
killed ; Lieutenant E. Van Koughnet, Royal
Navy, wounded (flesh wound in thigh) ; and
two English and four natives wounded or
scalded in engine-room when shot went
through boiler.

I cannot speak too highly of the plucky
manner in which Lord C. Beresford acted
on this occasion. Indeed, all his party,
and that under Sir C. Wilson, behaved
admirably, and with the usual determina-
tion of Englishmen."

CHAPTER XCI.

THE KHARTOUM BELIEF EXPEDITION RETREAT FROM
fi.BV KRU TO y\BU KLEA.

F course the first impulse in
England was to conquer
the Soudan. The Mahdi
was to be smashed at
Khartoum. But this was not
an easy process. The force sent out under
Wolseley had been intended to relieve
Gordon, and that only, so that a pre-
liminary retreat was at least necessary.
The force sent on towards Metemmeh had
to be recalled to Korti. Availing ourselves
again of the narrative of the Daily Tele-
graph's correspondent, we proceed to give

an account of the chief incidents of that
retreat :

"Immediately upon learning of the
death of Gordon and the fall of Khar-
toum, the Government not only gave the
Commander-in-chief carte blanche, but
evinced an anxiety that the stain of a
wasted campaign might be erased by some
brilliant military achievement. Even in
the remote wilds of Africa news does get
about, and we all heard a good deal, not-
withstanding the free use of official cipher,
of the nervous energy which had seized

446

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

upon the Ministry and the War Office.
Metemmeh was to be taken at once, and
Berber was to be occupied. The former
order was despatched by Lord Wolseley to
General Buller, and had it, or could it,
have been carried out, that would, I am
sure, have secured ample leisure for the
flying column to slowly retire from Abu
Kru to Korti. Time, with which the
Government had so long dallied, had how-
ever raised the fates against them. For
economic reasons the purchase of camels
was stopped before a reserve to replace
broken-down animals had been secured.
The marches of Stewart, and the going to
and fro of convoys, during which many of
the camels were occasionally four and six
days without water and food, except the
dry, reed-like sabas grass growing upon the
desert, told fatally upon hundreds of the
poor brutes. The stamina was gone out
of the survivors, and protracted rest was
necessary with good feeding for all of them.
The situation admitted of neither, and with
huge gaping wounds and terrible sores from
packs and girths the wretched animals con-
tinued to be driven about. An awful
effluvia, noxious as a pest-house, exhaled
from the wounds of the miserable animals,
and has latterly filled the air whenever a
camel convoy marches. I say nothing of
the stench from the countless dead victims
which line the route from Abu Kru to
Korti Even as I write, the odour from
hundreds of these lying outside the en-
trance to Gakdul makes the approach to
this place a sort of running the gauntlet of
smells insufferable. It was therefore with
the generals not so much the minor ques-
tion about the transport of stores, as whether
camels enough could be mustered to carry
the wounded and the barest sufficiency of
water, food, and ammunition to enable the
flying column to get back to Gakdul and
Korti. Going forward was past hoping
for, as we knew, without camels, Lord
Wolseley could not move men and stores
to the front in reasonable time. We at
.Abu Kru were quite prepared to await a

siege from the Mahdi's forces, and although
our commissariat was very scant, and we
had all been living on half rations, were
well content to placidly abide the arrival of
a relief column coming from India to the
Nile via Souakin and Berber. With diligent
foraging and strictest thrift the force per-
haps could have tided over an interval of
two months.

It was not to be, and on Feb. i3th it
was secretly whispered about our camp at
Abu Kru that Sir Redvers Buller had de-
cided to evacuate this place and retire
upon Abu Klea wells. If we remained
upon the Nile, it was said, we should surely
be invested by the Mahdi's army, an ad-
vance corps of which, some 8,000 or
10,000 strong, was then within ten miles of
us, while the main body, 30,000 to 60,000
men, were thirty miles away. Our spies
told us this large army was steadily and
surely marching down the Nile, upon the
west bank, and that there was a smaller
number of the enemy, probably 6,000,
coming on down the east bank of the
river. Each force had guns, and the fall
of Khartoum had given the rebels posses-
sion of an arsenal, a practically unlimited
quantity of ammunition. Stirring news for
a little army of 1,200 to 1,300 effective
men ! Still more so when our strength
was reduced by the despatch of convoys
with escorts of 300 men to Gakdul. We
were mostly ensconced within the mud fort
we had built close to the banks of the Nile.
The position from a military point of view
was not a good one, as the work was more
or less commanded on all sides. Against
any amount of musketry fire we should
have been safe enough, but shells dropping
near would have made life a burden ; and
what with dirt and dust it was quite un-
comfortable enough at Abu Kru. Alas,
how had the mighty fallen ! The officers
had set out with light hearts, expecting a
walk over to Khartoum, and deploring
their luck that there would be no fighting
and no honours nor rewards. It had even
been absolutely telegraphed home that we

GRAY HAIRS ON YOUNG HEADS.

447

should be in Shendy on January 7th, and
in Khartoum by the 2ist day of January,
1885, and here were we all but shut up
behind a heap of mud !

Very properly the fact that we intended
evacuating Abu Kru not El Gubat, for
that was a mile up stream was kept as
profound a secret as possible, to prevent
any of the natives about the camp carrying
information to the enemy. With the de-
parture of the wounded and of Gordon's
Soudanese on the i3th February, there was
less need for making a mystery of the con-
templated movement, and orders were
issued which indicated the nature of the
step about to be taken. Packs were made
up, water-skins filled, and camels got ready
for the road. The Commissariat, too, sud-
denly began to issue stores to all comers in
the most lavish manner. Tea, coffee,
sugar, bacon; yea, even the Nile boat
dainties and hospital comforts, jams, con-
densed milk, and liquors were given away,
and the first and last rum ration at Abu
Kru was measured out. A stream of men
were going and coming from the Com-
missariat all day long on that eventful
Friday, Feb. i3th. We had seen 300
of the enemy leave Metemmeh several
hours after the sick convoy, which started
at six a.m. This force was thought to be
too insignificant to hamper it At one p.m.,
one of the igth Hussars rode in with the
news that Colonel Talbot, who was in
command of the convoy, had been attacked
by the Arabs in the bush six or seven miles
out The attack was begun just as the
convoy was resuming the line of march
after having rested for breakfast, by several
hundred riflemen. The enemy were re-
ported to be part from Metemmeh and part
an ammunition convoy from Khartoum.
Colonel Talbot dismounted his men, and
formed them in square behind their camels,
whilst a double row of baggage camels was
placed in the centre to surround the
wounded. His force consisted of 135
men taken from the Guards, 135 men from
Mounted Infantry, and 135 men from

Heavy Camel Corps. Captain Pearson, of
the Marines, who form part of the Guards
Camel Regiment, went out with a company
of his men ID skirmish with the enemy.
Firing opened at ten a.m., and was main-
tained till shortly after mid-day, the enemy's
horsemen circling around the convoy, but
neither they nor the riflemen appearing to
have the least desire to rush the square.
At noon the Light Camel Regiment, under
Colonel Stanley Clarke, arrived quite un-
expectedly upon the scene. They were
marching to Abu Kru, to reinforce the
troops there. Hearing firing they pushed
ahead, only to be saluted, at 1,000 yards
range, with two or three volleys from part
of the Mounted Infantry. The latter had
seen the enemy's horsemen in the bush in
the same direction but a minute previously,
and that was their excuse. The bullets hit
a camel or two, but, happily, none of the
soldiers were struck. The men dismounted,
bugles were sounded, and two or three
officers rode forward to explain matters.
The arrival of the Lights put the enemy to
flight, and they disappeared as suddenly as
they had come on. Our loss was three
killed and eight wounded, the Marines
proportionately suffering most. Unimpor-
tant as the affair turned out to be, it was
feared the consequences would be fatal to
the more seriously wounded men who were
being carried back. Happily such was not
the case, as, with one exception, Major-
General Stewart, whom the removal had
greatly upset, none appeared a whit the
worse. Perhaps there has never been a
campaign where, in so brief a period, so
many serious dangers have been run by
those with the flying column, or so many
' close calls ' made by the grim enemy,
'Death.' Heads luxuriant but three months
ago with hyacinthine locks, I have noted
now showing silver streaks. Never have I
seen so many young heads grow gray hairs
so fast.

On hearing the convoy had been
attacked, General Buller ordered out part
of the Royal Irish and the Guards to their

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

assistance, and undertook to make a de-
monstration against Metemmeh. At three
p.m., Major Grenfell, of the Egyptian army,
rode in with a small escort, and told the
General that the Arabs had run off, and
that the Lights were going to return as
additional escort with the wounded as far
as Abu Klea wells. The Royal Irish and
the Guards were called in, and once more
everybody devoted themselves to making
preparations for departure. Only what was
indispensable was carried, and candles and
articles of preserved food, which before
brought fabulous prices jam 5^. to IQS. a
pot could be had for the asking.

I think I told you in my last how glad we
all were to see General Buller ride in and
assume the command. An army without
a chief is a wasted force, and no committee
of captains can fill the position usefully or
effectively. His presence was soon felt in
many valuable ways. Himself 'a de-
cidedly self-reliant man,' he expects that
quality from others. At nightfall men were
detailed to break up the Commissariat
stores, which, with the surplus ammunition
and rifles, were pitched into the river.
Tons of stores that had cost so much
trouble to transport were thus destroyed.
The Nile boat stores, from ten to thirty
per cent, of which had been damaged by
the knocking about, and the getting in of
water in transit to Korti, were consigned to
the river that had already consumed and
ruined so much. It was painful to see the
waste. Until midnight the work of de-
struction went on. Even then it was far
from complete, for many of the tins of
meat were merely thrown upon the shallow
bank, and could easily be recovered by the
Arabs. The hospital equipments, tents,
stretchers, bedding, clothing, and medi-
cines were left lying upon the ground,
together with a pile of boxes and some
ammunition near where the Royal En-
gineers were quartered. As little noise
and stir as possible were made, and to
outward appearance the camp must have
looked much as usual. Hopes that had

been held out of the force going down the
river on steamers and in nuggars to Ber-
ber, in order to join Earle's column, now
proved delusive. The last of poor Gordon's
steamers, upon which he must have ex-
pended so much thought, were also to be
destroyed, and by his countrymen, to pre-
vent their falling into the enemy's hands.
The military mind was for scuttling them
and sinking the craft mid-stream. Lord
Charles Beresford, with the true tar's tra-
ditional dislike to sinking a ship, begged
leave to try another plan, supporting that
proposition with the plea that if we re-
turned to Metemmeh the two steamers
might be recaptured and used by us, but
to the enemy would be valueless. General
Buller gave his consent, and in the dark-
ness of a moonless night the steamers
Sofia and Tewfekia were temporarily
moored in deep water. While there all
their guns, stores, and ammunition were
thrown overboard.

In emptying the magazines the sailors
came across packages of friction primers for
guns. Without thought the wrappings were
torn off, and most of the primers pitched
into the Nile. Before all had gone some-
body picked up one of the paper wrappings,
and read from writing upon it, ' Safe ; made
by my own hands. Khartoum. C. E. G.'
This writing was Gordon's, sure enough,
for many of us knew it. There was a
scramble for the few packages left, and
these were speedily pocketed, to be
carried away as souvenirs of the bravest
of soldiers. After the munitions of war
had been destroyed, the naval engineers
took away parts of the machinery the
crank pins and eccentric straps and thus
stripped, the steamers were left to the
Mahdi. His allusion in his letters to the
'English officers' not to put trust in the
steamers was at any rate well timed. Since
then we have all learned there is a com-
plete Government machine-shop in Khar-
toum, where they can not only replace the
missing parts, but, if necessary, build a
steamer. These were the steamers with

ARRIVAL AT ABU KLEA.

44 9

which we threatened to bombard Shendy
every day unless the people submitted !

At three a.m. on Feb. i5th (Saturday)
the men began loading the camels for the
journey as silently as possible. At five
a.m. everybody had quitted the large earth-
work by the riverside, and moved forward
to the slightly rising ground just behind
the Guards' fort, where the column was to
fall in. The two companies of the Royal
Sussex placed upon the island had been
ferried back the previous night. By 5.30
a. ro. the forts were totally evacuated. No
attempt of any sort was made to impair or
destroy our handiwork. The igth Hussars
sent out a bigger patrol than customary
towards Metemmeh, and scouts from the
same regiment closely watched every hill
around the position occupied by the
column. By six a.m. our column began
its march in the following order for Abu
Klea wells : Advance guard : Half-troop
i gth Hussars, forty dismounted men
Guards Camel Regiment, main body Foot
Guards walking, camels of dismounted
men, R.A., R.E., few Soudanese, C and
T Corps Reserve Ammunition, Blue-jackets
with their Gardners, Medical Staff Corps.
Rear : Dismounted men, Heavy Camel
Regiment, four guns R.A. and four Com-
panies Royal Irish. Rear Guard : Two
guns R.A., two Companies Royal Irish,
and remainder of the Hussars. On right
flank of column, fifty yards distant, walked
the Mounted Infantry; on opposite flank
(left) walked the Royal Sussex. The caco-
lets and stretchers of the Hospital equip-
ment, of which Surgeon-Major Manley was
P.M.O., was divided among the different
regiments. The advance guard was com-
manded by Major Davison and the main
body by Lieutenant-Colonel Wilson. The
rear-guard was commanded by Colonel
Shaw, V.C. As we left the forts we could
see a large fire breaking out I suspected
at the moment it was caused ' without
orders ' and by some ' evil disposed ' per-
son who disliked letting the enemy enjoy a
few of the many medical and other stores

left intact. I heard it was caused by th
simple expedient of lighted candles hidden
under a pile of boxes, so that when they
burned low they ignited a quantity of mus-
lin. The result was this fire burned most
of what had been left in the camp behind
the riverside fort. The marching out
strength of the column was 1,675 officers
and men and 1,179 camels. Without
being followed by any force of the enemy,
or having a shot fired, the column moved
on till one p.m., when it halted for the day
in rather open bush. Thus we bivouacked
for the night without zareba of any kind,
with strong pickets posted outside our
lines, which were drawn well together, so
that the force practically formed a square.
The enemy made no attempt to disturb us,
and we therefore enjoyed a quiet night's
rest, free for the first time for weeks from
the bang of the tom-toms.

Sunday, Feb. isth, reveille* sounded at
four a.m., and one hour later we had
swallowed an early breakfast and were once
more on the march. I rode ahead with a
few of the Royal Engineers, who were
hastening in front of the column to try and
arrange for a better distribution of water
at the wells. We got in about ten a.m.,
seeing three or four of the enemy's horse-
men watching the column's movements
from distant ridges. I found Abu Klea
wells and fort little altered or improved,
and when the column got in at noon I
think there was official disappointment
manifested at this state of things. No
measures appeared to have been taken to
collect and store water. General I killer
instantly set his men to work to put the
place in a better defensible state. Rumour
had it we were going to wait to give the
Arabs a chance for battle if they wished,
and if they did not turn up within ten days
to march straight to Berber. The latter
was part of Lord Wolseley's and General
Buller's programme, but events were march-
ing faster than official despatches, for it
yet takes eight to nine days for commu-
nications to be exchanged between Abu

G G

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

Klea and the head-quarters at Korti. As
our camels were exhausted, and there was
a great want of water and forage, the sup-
plies at the wells being totally inadequate,
a convoy of Guards and Heavies were put
under orders to return to Gakdul in the
morning. They were to be accompanied
by the Hussars, whose horses were in a
sorry plight from the same causes from
which the camels were suffering. During
the morning of Monday, the i6th Feb.,
the convoy started, lessening our force by
400 men or so, but making it much easier
Jo maintain those remaining. The whole
day the labour of erecting little detached
forts in the wady, or close to it, went on.
The Royal Irish were put on the crest of
the upland, 200 yards west of the original
work, near the centre of the group of well
holes. The Artillery and part of the
Sussex were put into a zareba and fort on
the right rear of Fort No. i, the first built.
Two companies of the Sussex were sent to
build and occupy a fort twenty yards
square, 150 yards down the wady, in
direction leading to Metemmeh I de-
signate that side facing Metemmeh as
our front. Two hundred yards on the
left rear of Fort No. i the Mounted In-
fantry and Light Cavalry Camel Regiment
were marshalled in square behind their
camels, with orders to surround their posi-
tion by an earthwork.

About three o'clock in the afternoon we
eould see fifty of the enemy's cavalry ex-
tended as scouts, in a line two miles long,
from Metemmeh. Behind the horsemen,
walked and ran twice their number of rifle-
men. Ascending the hill upon our left
front, three-quarters of a mile from camp,
I could perceive two or three lines of
horsemen and several lines of footmen
marching in column on the Arab left, from
half to a mile in rear of their cavalry. Our
camp was soon active, and the earthworks
were strengthened as speedily as possible,
to prepare for the contingency of an assault.
Meanwhile, General Buller sent two com-
panies of the Royal Irish forward upon our

right, and afterwards a third company, to
check the enemy's advance in that direc-
tion. The Royal Irish, who were keen to
have their first brush with the enemy,
pushed forward nearly 800 yards, and sent
on a line of skirmishers 200 yards further.
As the enemy's horse and foot came on,
our fellows began to fire, engaging them at
800 yards. There was a little desultory
firing, then our men poured in three
volleys, the effect of which was to drive
the enemy's left away from our right and
cause them to huddle back upon their right
alongside of their main body, which was
still coming on. The fire of the Royal
Irish stopped the attempt to turn our right,
and take possession of the ridges and hills
to the west from which they had peppered
us a month previously, prior to the battle
of Abu Klea. At five p.m., in spite of an
occasional turn by Lord Charles Beresford
with his two machine guns, for he and his
sailors were put in charge of Fort No. i,
the Arabs continued to advance rapidly,
making for the dominating crests and hills
extending along our left. Every tent was
struck, and all our men were at their posts.
The rolling ground gave the Arabs good
cover, of which they took every advantage.
In half an hour more, 400 to 500 riflemen
and spearmen could be seen running down
for the ranges two miles away on our left
to gain the foot-hills 1,000 to 1,400 yards
north-east of the wady. As many more of
them halted one mile away behind a low
isolated ridge running at right angles to
our front. They had six or seven banners
or flags, and all of the footmen wore the
white uniforms of the Mahdi's army.
Carrying their arms at the trail, and
jumping and running, the rebel riflemen
came down nearer and nearer. Each man
moved as if he were a trained skirmisher.
Creeping behind ledges, and piling stones
together to make low walls, they soon got
plenty of shelter. We watched them,
scarcely caring to waste ammunition at
long ranges. At 5.30 p.m., with one
accord, they opened a furious fire upon

AT ABU KLEA.

our lines. They had the range so per-
fectly that bullets whizzed, dropped, and
struck everywhere. Our men were bade
lie down, and till the enemy's rifles got too
hot to hold, those of us caught outside
without cover had a very bad quarter of an
"hour. Afterwards all who could got into
one or other of the works for the night.
The camel lines were in the low ground
between the Royal Irish and the Mounted
Infantry. The wretched brutes were, as
usual, left to take their chance.

After dark, when our fire had ceased,
-and the Arabs' had slackened, I went in-
side Fort No. i, General Buller having
taken up his quarters there. It was but
fifteen yards square, and, as there was
a large pile of ammunition inside and over
100 men, our sleeping accommodation was
rather limited. The eight Hussar horses
left at the wells and those belonging to
the staff were placed for safety in the trench
on the west side of No. i Fort. All lights
were ordered out at dark, and no firing was
to take place by our men unless the enemy
actually attempted an assault. With scant
covering, and supperless, we all lay down
upon the ground to wait for daylight. The
enemy kept up a well-sustained fire, although
it was a cloudy, starless night the blackest
I have seen in the Soudan. A fresh north

wind blew, and a slight spatter of rain was
felt about midnight. How the Arabs con-
trived to fire half as well as they did in the
intense darkness I cannot imagine. As the
night wore on they crept to within 600
yards of our position, with the result of
conferring greater safety upon our troops,
as the bullets then did not drop so freely
into the forts but buzzed overhead. To-
wards morning it became extremely cold,
and the fire was irregular and weak. We
could hear their leaders going about waking
their followers and shouting to them to
keep on firing. General Buller had double
sentries posted, and he and Lord Charles
Beresford and the other officers were more
or less on the alert all night The rest of
us took what sleep we could. There was
but one alarm, and that occurred at eight
p.m., through some of the Royal Irish firing
at a native sentinel walking about outside
their fort The crack of rifles, and the
uproar which naturally followed, caused
every man in Fort No. i, as well as the
other forts, to clutch his rifle and rush to
his post Some outsiders lining the ditch
of No. i Fort rushed into the work pell-
mell, but they were instantly ordered back
to their stations, and a guard was placed at
the opening with fixed bayonets to prevent
any repetition of the rush."

CHAPTER XCII.

THE KHAI\TOUM BELIEF EXPEDITION ^ETI\EAT FROM
^BU KLEA TO GAKDUL.

V this chapter we continue
our account of the back-
ward movement, again avail-
ing ourselves of the vivid
narratives of the eye-witness
already mentioned.

"The experiences of the night (February
1 6th) were very similar to what the flying

column had undergone a month previously,
to the very day, on its first entrance among
the Abu Klea hills. The great deficiency
of our transj)ort was well known. If the
enemy fortified their position with guns, it
was plain Buller would have to abandon
the wells or attack the Arabs at consider-
able disadvantage. His instructions, as I

452

THE ENGLISH IN EG YPT.

have already intimated, were clear to
take Metemmeh and march upon Berber.
Events, however, moved fast, and possibili-
ties and plans less than a week old were
now beyond hope of execution. There was
a general longing for a full cavalry regiment.
Had there been one with the column, with
the horses in condition not a small force,
a squadron broken down by overwork and
hardship (chiefly want of forage and water)
the Mahdists at the battles of Abu Klea
and Abu Kru, and in many skirmishes,
would have fared badly in attempting to
occupy the positions they did. That cavalry
are of great use in the Soudan nay, almost
indispensable to enable our slow-moving
infantry to fairly cope with the lithe and
thoroughly mobile forces of the natives
the dismembered ipth Hussar Regiment,
small as the numbers of that command with
the column are, has amply proved. Had
the ipth mustered even 500 strong, instead
of 130 carbines or thereby, I am sanguine
enough to suppose our casualties in at least
two instances would not have been so great
This regiment (ipth Hussars} has part of
its men with the flying column, part with
Earle, part at Souakin, and part elsewhere.
The dawn of February i;th was bitterly
cold at Abu Klea. With the incoming day-
light the Arabs increased and improved
their fire. When it was quite light two of
the screw-guns were brought into action, and
half a dozen rounds of shell and shrapnel
were burst over the enemy's heads, seen
peeping above the little stone walls they
had built on the hill-sides. Like ourselves,
they had not altogether rested. The Royal
Irish, too, had raised the left face of their
earthwork several feet, and the Sussex had
heaped earth upon their parapet. As the
morning wore on the Gardners were turned
upon the enemy, causing them to duck out
of sight like rabbits into holes to escape the
storm of lead. Neither shells nor bullets
totally stopped the Arab fire. Suppressed
at one point, it started, swelled, and grew
from another. The moment we became
silent its vigour and concentration were

instantly renewed. We had lost, princi-
pally in the brief interval of daylight left
on the 1 6th and up till daylight on the i7th,
two or three killed and fourteen wounded.
All cases reported at the hospital. As the
day advanced the fresh northerly wind in-
creased in strength, filling the air with
whirling clouds of sand and dust, and
darkening the atmosphere like a fog. Wash-
ing was too great a luxury to be attempted
at Abu Klea. Our only scrap of comfort
was to get a cup of warm tea and make a
meal in which dust and grit figured plenti-
fully. We had ventured to start fires
after sunrise, for man must cook and eat
despite flying bullets. For downright dirt
and wretchedness, without one redeeming
feature, nothing can match Abu Klea on a
windy day.

Seeing there was no chance of a general
engagement until supplies and camels
came back from Gakdul, and that General
Buller intended sitting still for these
and sending a hundred and four of the
Light Cavalry Camel Regiment out to re-
turn with the necessary convoy, I deter-
mined to accompany them. My unfortunate
camels and my horse were in a sad way, for
I had been unable to give them water or
forage for two days. Colonel Brabazon was.
put in command of this party of ' Lights,'
and he was told to bring back 600 camels
laden with water and grain, for the liquid
at Abu Klea was not only scarce, but at
times of soapy consistency. The men were
mounted upon camels, and in addition
fifty led camels were taken to be used as
remounts in case of probable break-downs.
We expected to have to fight our way out,
the enemy having worked far back on
Buller's left rear. Despatches to Lord
Wolseley, official and private, were given to
Colonel Brabazon. The ' Lights ' moved
out of camp in a westerly direction, amid
the salute of a shower of bullets. Keeping
down in a small gully that passed to the
rear of the position held by the Royal
Irish, they proceeded a distance of 400
yards, when they drew up under shelter

A LONELY "GOD'S ACRE."

453

of a crest to form up for the march. In
getting out of camp three camels were
struck and one man was slightly wounded.
It was decided to attempt to run the
blockade by going along the low ground to
the south-west, and then west, crossing the
dividing ridge two miles west of the pass
ordinarily used. The clouds of dust and
the dull leaden sky, which lasted till two
p.m., helped to hide our movement from
the watchful eyes of the Arabs posted on
every hill to the north-east. General Buller
also was at the moment helping us by keep-
ing the Arabs employed replying to his fire.
Captain Piggott's company of the Mounted
Infantry was advanced several hundred
yards in front of the Sussex fort down the
wady to protect the watering parties and
the remote wells. This position enabled
him to take the Arabs partly in reverse.
His men fired excellently, driving the Arabs
helter-skelter from the low stone breast-
works.

As the camels given to the Lights were
a sorry lot, we were late in starting and our
progress was slow. The animals were not
to be driven out of a funeral pace, and every
few minutes we had to halt to enable some
soldier to remove his kit and saddle to one
of the remounts, his own beast having
fallen exhausted. Watching our ground
like hawks we stole along the hollows,
going by an old Arab track which we luckily
struck, up and across the dividing ridge
and down into the plain. By three p.m.
we were safely out upon the open desert,
without having had so much as a shot fired
at us. We now considered ourselves safe.
Still going onward the Lights got upon the
main caravan route. Marching till nine
p.m. they reached and passed Gebel Sergain,
where they bivouacked for the night Next
morning they were off by sunrise, and at
nine p.m. they got into Gakdul, a distance
of fifty-two miles in a straight line. Just
beyond Gebel Noos Major Goold and forty
of the Lights were met, on their way to Abu
Klea, with a small convoy of water and
grain. These, by General Bailor's orders,

were as a precautionary measure turned
back. Leaving the troops near the hill last
named I rode ahead with Major Goold on
camel-back, getting into Gakdul with the
despatches at four p.m. These and my
own were afterwards sent on by special
messenger to Korti. I found Sir Evelyn
Wood had arrived from Korti to look after
his lines of communication. A portion of
the West Kent Regiment also came in the
same afternoon. As I had been so long
shut out from news, I learned for the first
time of the fight Earle's column had, and
the death of that general. I also heard
that naturally there had been great excite-
ment in England on receipt of the news
of Gordon's death. General Sir Herbert
Stewart, I regretted to hear, had died just
outside Gakdul, and his body had been
borne into the place. The corpse was laid
in the cemetery here. This lonely ' God's
acre ' is in a gorge to the left of the reser-
voirs as you enter. Already there is a
score of graves filled, and every day adds
to their number, for our men, I regret to
tell, are dying fast. To-day, Feb. 28th,
three died. Two of these men, who were
slightly wounded, had walked in from Abu
Kru with the convoy, arriving on the 1 8th
inst Once in they simply and silently lay
down and died. The camel is the only
creature I have known that goes on and on
till he topples over and expires almost as
soon as he touches the ground. Enteric
fever, or typhoid, is the consuming disease
among the troops, and it is becoming too
common and too fatal The medical men
attribute it to exhaustion, bad quarters, and
poor feeding. The dead men's comrade*
have in nearly every case raised a mound
of stones over the graves. With the black
ironstone rocks of the hills they have
rudely fashioned on crosses placed over the
graves the letters R. I. P.,' and the name
and regiment of the deceased. The i9th
Hussars have raised a substantial dry stone
wall around Major-Gcncral Stewart's resting-
place, and a headstone bears, carved upon
it, his name and the date of his death.

454

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

Stewart was much beloved by all who
enjoyed his acquaintance, and any hour in
the day you may see one or more of his
friends sorrowfully regarding his grave.
Two returns will show the extent to which
the men are suffering from sun, exhaustion,
and low fever. The Guards Camel Regi-
ment left Korti 305 strong, and now they
cannot muster more than 150 serviceable
men who would pass medical examination
to go to the front. The Royal Marines,
who had an opportunity of being partly
acclimatised atSouakin,came out 104 strong.
To-day they parade but 52 men. Yet the
weather is neither unbearably hot nor cold.
Indeed, as far as that goes, the season is
still an excellent one for campaigning, and
will probably remain so till the middle of
March. After that we may look out for
sunstroke cases.

On the afternoon of February 19 Major
Wardrop, D.A.G., rode in with five of the
Lights from Abu Klea, which he had left
on the afternoon of^Feb. 18 (Wednesday).
His news was twenty-four hours later than
ours, and it indicated a total change of the
situation. The Arabs had disappeared, and
General Buller was only anxious to get as
many men and camels as could be instantly
sent on to bring back the wounded, and
afterwards to advance towards Berber. The
transport difficulty again baulked these plans,
and there was nothing for it but to carry
out the originally-contemplated evacuation
of Abu Klea wells, filling them up to stop
a rapid pursuit, if any was attempted, by
the natives. It is now decided that we are
all to retire from the desert route to Korti
or Merawi, and advance by the posts along
the Nile to reinforce and strengthen the
force sent up the river, I learned, after we
left Abu Klea on February i7th. Major
Wardrop, who had gone out with four
Hussars and Lieutenant Tudway, of the
Mounted Infantry, to reconnoitre what force
the Arabs had behind the north-east hills,
found there were no spearmen lying hid.
This had been the chief cause of anxiety,
for it was felt that to attempt to advance

and dislodge the Arab riflemen with the
chance of having our men 'rushed' by
1,000 fanatics hid in some secure hollow
was running too great a risk. I was there-
fore right in my low estimate of the enemy's
numbers which I wired you. There were
certainly a few spearmen and swordsmen
with the Arabs on the i6th, but they re-
mained mostly behind the low range to the
south, and in front of our position. The
enemy's total strength was not above 1,000-
men. During the course of the afternoon
of the lyth the Arabs dragged a small four-
pounder howitzer to the top of the range
on our left front, and began firing therefrom
at the forts. The Gardners and the Royal
Artillery replied, the duel beginning at one
p.m. at 1,500 yards' range. In a very few
minutes the enemy's gun was put out of
action. One shell from the screw gun
burst over the Arab howitzer and the crowd
of natives gathered about it. A second
carried away the wheel of the carriage.
Meanwhile our men nearest the Arabs
were firing sharply at the enemy. Major
Wardrop and his little party were at the
moment doing gallant and signal service,
turning their reconnaissance into a skirmish.
Warily trotting their horses up the wady,
well out of sight under the hills, keeping
touch with our left rear, which was thrown
out to assist them, they got to the enemy's
right flank. Turning round it, and leaving
their steeds under the brow of a hill, the
Major and his men crept to the top. From
there they could see well down into the
enemy's position. Apparently there were
no spearmen and no reserve near. What-
ever there might have been had disappeared,
and the attacking force numbered but three
or four hundred riflemen. Believing that
the Soudanese, like other savage races,
would not stand if their rear were threatened,
Major Wardrop pluckily decided to try the
experiment, carefully seeing the while that
his own road back was not stopped. Open-
ing fire with all his rifles four at a range
of 700 yards, he banged shot after shot as
quickly as the men could fire into the

A BOLD EXPERIMENT.

45$

thoroughly astonished Arabs. They at once
began trotting off towards the left, barely
halting to return the fire. Leaving one
man to continue firing, the Major galloped
with the remainder to a hill-top half a mile
further on. There he repeated his previous
tactics, and with equal success. Fortunately
for him there were none of the enemy's
horsemen at that part of the Arab line, or
the smallness of the force would have been
laid bare. The Arabs became somewhat
panic-stricken at receiving such a sharp fire
from so unexpected a quarter, and evidently
thought reinforcements had come up. Press-
ing still further round, Wardrop kept repeat-
ing his stratagem until he had driven the
Arabs away from our left well towards the
left front Deciding it was now time to
communicate their numbers and position
to General Buller he rode down the hills
straight into camp, receiving, as he half ex-
pected, a dropping fire from a few of our own
men, who hastily assumed he was one of the
enemy coming on full tilt. He was warmly
congratulated on all sides for his gallantry
and skill, and in a few minutes Buller had
parties of his men out in skirmishing order
upon the hills. The natives were now on
the run, and by three p.m. they had nearly
all left the hills and got out of range. So
ended for the time what may have been a
reconnaissance upon the Arabs' part, or what
might have led to their concentrating a
force upon the Abu Klea hills, and seeking
to invest General Buller. Strong posts were
put upon the detached hill to our left front,
and upon the range opposite the sailors' fort.
In one of the low ranges they found a small
natural crater, the depression being twenty
feet deep, inside which the enemy had sat
snugly popping at our men. Threatening
as the day had looked, the camp lay at
peace on the night of the i;th, and up till

the afternoon of the i8th the enemy showed
no sign of renewing the attack. Parties of
their horsemen hung about our front, three
miles away, and among them were a few
spearmen.

On Feb. 19, Gordon's Soudanese of
whom I should have herein written that
they behaved very well when the convoy
which left Abu Kru on Feb. 13 was
attacked together with details of various
regiments, left Gakdul to escort the 184
sick and wounded in the hospital home
to Korti. Upon Feb. 20 (to-day) the
convoy of Heavies, West Kent, and Lights,
some 300 strong, has started with the 600
loaded camels for General Buller at Abu
Klea. The wells will probably be evacuated
on Feb. 22, and on Feb. 23 or Feb. 24
General Buller, with all the troops now at
Abu Klea, should arrive here.

The knowledge of a very curious letter,
written not long ago by General Gordon to
Major Kitchener, has just reached me from
a trustworthy source in fact, from one who
says he has seen the letter. In it Gordon
writes in the most unmistakably angry terms.
He says Ministers have behaved towards
him in the most unfair manner, abandoning
him without an excuse. If ever he lived to
escape from his predicament he would never
set foot in England again, he protests, on
account of their desertion of him. As to
the money he had spent and the debts he
had contracted on our account, he would
never ask the present Government for one
penny. He hoped to get the money where
with to pay from his sure friend the King
of the Belgians. There is more in the same
strain, I believe. The single remark I care
to venture in this connection is that no one
here is surprised at the dead hero's indig-
nation."

456

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

CHAPTER XCIII.

JHE KHARTOUM RELIEF EXPEDITION LIFE AT KORTI

HE "strong point" of the
British soldier is that he
works almost, if riot quite,
as well when things are not
going well as when they
are. It was this power of his which carried
him back across the Bayuda Desert, and
finally enabled him to reach Korti in
safety.

How did life there present itself? Again
availing ourselves of the inexhaustible fund
of special correspondence, to which we have
already so frequently had to express our
obligation, we now in the following chapter
give some account of camp life at Korti.
A correspondent, writing in March, tells us
that " you must spend a week or two upon
the desert, living in a perpetual dust-storm ;
choked, baked, with nought to slake the
naturally insatiable thirst which such a life
engenders except soapy water, to realize
the delightful rebound of feeling and com-
fort afforded by a return to the banks of
the flowing Nile. The expeditionary force
having begun its return journey, preparatory
to going into quarters lower down the river,
after our evacuation of Abu Kru and Abu
Klea, I set out from Gakdul on Friday
last, with General Buller, getting into Korti
about the same time as he did. Tents had
been erected at this camp for the reception
of the troops coming in from Gakdul, Abu
Haifa wells, Megaga, and elsewhere.
Within the next ten days all our men will
have been withdrawn from the desert route
and quartered by the river. News from
Brackenbury's column just received states
they also are on their way back to Korti.
As at present disclosed the military plan
appears to be to concentrate as quickly
as possible all the troops composing the
expedition at Korti. If by dint of pro-

;

mises and most liberal pay the Kabbabish,
Gordon's Soudanese soldiers, or any of the
natives can be induced to occupy advanced
posts, Megaga wells, Merawi, and a station
on the desert near Debbeh will be held.
The object is to use them as scouts or
buffers to interpose between our troops and
the enemy, so as to block the roads to the
Nile. Our own men will be massed at
some strategical point, so as to protect the
province of Dongola from invasion. Korti
being on the cultivated belt will be aban-
doned, and places are being searched for
the new entrenched camp which is to be
formed, where the dry, healthy desert sand
has rolled down to and bordered the river.
Abu Gus, and a spot opposite Old Dongola,
are spoken of as likely sites for that reason,
as well as because their occupation would
bar the way to the Mahdi's followers march-
ing down the Nile. The soldiers will be
hutted for the summer in grass or reed-
built cabins, which will be cooler than
tents. It is hoped and given out that they
will be able to get through the tropical
heat without much sickness. If the enemy
does not compel them to expose themselves
too much, possibly the health of the camp
may not give cause for over-much uneasi-
ness among their friends at home. So far,
however, all our experience here has been
that even fairly well-selected camps, after a
not very long occupation, become bad and
fever-haunted. Good water and efficient
sanitary arrangements, let us trust, will
minimise the sick and death rate; still,
summer in the blazing Soudan is not to be
contemplated with free and easy indiffer-
ence to the total change from ordinary
camp life. What will be done when the
cool days come round again in September
and October next is too remote for specula

A NARROW ESCAPE.

457

tion. The questions, however, continually
asked are, will the troops attempt in the
autumn to go to Khartoum via the Nile in
whale-boats, or will the British public, long
before then, see them shifted to Berber,
and holding the terminus of the Souakin-
Berber Railway ?

After all, it is admitted that our men at
Abu Klea wells ran a narrow risk from in-
vestment at the hands of the rebels, and

that General Buller withdrew just in the
very nick of time. The information comes
to us not only from prisoners, but from
actual observations on the part of our own
officers. The arrival of the 900 camels
sent from Gakdul on February zoth, en-
abled General Buller to carry off nearly all
the stores at Abu Klea. During the 22nd
and 23rd there had been nothing but a
little outpost firing. The two forts built

LORD WOLSELEY'S HEAD-QUARTERS.

after the affair of February xyth, on the
range of hills on the left and left-front,
overawed the enemy, and kept him from
pushing forward any large number of
skirmishers to assail the camp again. Sub-
sequent search and the admissions of
prisoners disclosed the fact that our fire on
February i6th and i;th must have killed
nearly twenty of the enemy and wounded
over forty. On the morning of the 23rd

the Mahdi's forces received a large rein-
forcement of men and guns from Khartoum.
An officer of the Royal Irish and others,
who estimated their numbers as they
marched into the rebel camp, two miles to
our front in the wady, put them down at
8,000 men. It was also noticed that quite
two-thirds of this force were armed with
Remington rifles, the remainder being
spearmen and swordsmen. With a further

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

aptness for imitation, the rebels, it was
seen, had formed a mounted infantry force
by putting about fifty men on camel-back.
Abd El Sah had decided, so it was reported
by our spies and by an escaped slave, to
attack us either on the night of the 23rd
or early next morning. The Arabs were to
surround the force, stopping the way out
and into the wells by occupying the passes
and the adjacent hills, and keeping up a
heavy and perpetual rifle-fire.

In view of the serious aspect of matters,
General Buller wisely decided to hasten
the evacuation, and slip away as quietly as
he could. At two p.m. all the stores and
supplies that could be taken were sent out
of camp under escort towards the pass,
which was still practically held by part of
the West Kent under Colonel Leech. The
saddles, old and new, for which there were
no camels, were broken up, and with other
rubbish the best of the wells were filled up,
thus giving our men more time before the
enemy could water and follow on. Two
tents were left standing till sunset, and
camp fires and camp life were openly con-
ducted as if nothing was further from the
English mind than the evacuation of Abu
Klea. At seven p.m. all the men, who
were to march on foot every camel avail-
able having been taken to carry the stores
and the sick and wounded fell in, ready
to take the road back to Gakdul. Three
buglers were sent to the look-out hill, and
there they blew the usual ' post,' making
the sounds loudly resonant among the hills.
It was the last English bugle-note heard at
Abu Klea. Running down the hill-side,
they rejoined the column, which at once
silently marched out of the forts and
zarebas. Without as much as receiving a
parting shot from the enemy, who ap-
parently never suspected the movement,
General Buller led his men up and out of
Abu Klea wady, over the pass, and six
miles onward down into the plain, on the
route to Gakdul. There the force bi-
vouacked undisturbed for the rest of the
night. Next day they resumed their march

to the reservoirs. During the forenoon
twenty of the Baggara horsemen were seen
hovering about the rear watching the re-
tiring column. They fired two or three
shots at the rear guard, who returned the
compliment, sending the rascals scamper-
ing off to a safe distance out of range. Ad-
vancing by easy stages, it was the forenoon
of February 26th before the column got
into Gakdul. Although a water station had
been formed at Gebel Noos, nearly half-
way, yet by some misunderstanding in the
serving out of the supply two of the com-
panies of the Royal Irish suffered greatly
from thirst on the last part of the road.
These men had got but three instead of six
pints for the day's supply. It is stated,
several of the soldiers dropped out and
had to be carried in, whilst two of the men
are reported to have been lost on the plain.
It is exceedingly difficult, I confess, to-
get accurate statements as to our losses,,
whether it affects whale-boats, supplies, or
men. In England we have a strange habit,
which nothing, I suppose, will cure, of
accepting 'official statements' as gospel.
My experience and personal knowledge in
this campaign lead me to place only a
chastened reliance upon official returns.

I have told you that Gakdul was rapidly
becoming unhealthy, and the men were
falling sick in large numbers. On the 27th,.
the day I left, a convoy with 107 sick and.
wounded was sent off to Korti. It was the
third in a week. General Wood was
hastening the work of evacuation as rapidly
as could be, and he expected, by the help
of camels from Megaga, to get all the force
out by March 2nd. The men will be moved
to Megaga, and thence gradually sent on to-
El Howeiyat and Korti. The line regi-
ments West Kent, Royal Irish, and Sus-
sex will be among the last to leave for the
base. On my way in I stopped at Megaga,
and was glad to see that Colonel Talbot
and his officers of the Heavy Camel Regi-
ment had got that rocky gorge transformed
into an excellent camp. The change from
Gakdul, with its Stirling atmosphere and

EXPURGATED TELEGRAMS.

459-

countless smells from dead camels, was
doing the Heavies much good, and they
looked stronger and fitter for hard work.
They had had a good deal of the latter,
too, for three stone forts had been built by
the men on the hill-tops, and the location
for the camp cleared of rough stones and
rocks which lay about in thousands. The
Guards were then at Abu Haifa. Both
regiments expect to be ordered back here
the moment General Wood begins to retire
the whole column. The change of plan
necessitated by preparations for going into
summer quarters upset the proposed march
back by way of Merawi for a portion of the
column. Every energy is now bent to-
wards getting the force more together and
healthily encamped before the sun gets
nearer the equator and the days become
unbearably hot.

At Gakdul, and at those places in the
desert where black glistening rocks abound,
the heat during the day is already scorching.
Even at Korti in the shade, under the trees
and by the bank of the river, for two or
three days past the thermometer has been
ranging from noon till four p.m. between
90 and 95 Fah. The doctors look forward
with apprehension to a summer's residence
of the troops on the Upper Nile. There is
already a good deal of sickness, and a
general loss of elasticity and tone is observ-
able on all sides among the men. Soldiers,
like everybody else, if over-worked, and if
their strength be overtaxed, suddenly give
way, 'and what is called the ' fighting vim '
and bounce leave them. There is now
scarcely any longer to be seen that elated
keenness to have a brush with the Arabs.
The men who toiled so vigorously and
laboriously at the ropes and oars, dragging
the whalers against the heavy stream, have
become 'stale' and want rest, or, better
still, change. Camp life is always un-
wholesome, how much so it will be in the
Soudan I fear to conjecture. That the
relief of Khartoum has failed, and failed
solely and simply because of the Govern-
ment's dallying, and ultimately forcing

upon the expedition an almost impracti-
cable route, passes denial. Even had
all gone well it would have been near the
end of March before the whalers could
have reached Khartoum. The return at so
late a season of the year of the garrisons,,
as well as our own men, must have led to
a heavy mortality bill.

I see that my description of the reception,
of the news of the fall of Khartoum and
Gordon's death among the troops at Aba
Kru (miscalled Gubat) was suppressed by
the easy mode of striking many lines out
of my telegram. Substantially what I wrote
and it was the hard, plain truth was-
that the soldiers were horrified and ex-
asperated at the receipt of the news. On
all sides, among officers and men, there
was universal dismay and burning indigna-
tion at the catastrophe. The one opinion
on all sides was, better we had lost half our
number. The toils and dangers of those
splendid soldiers had all been undergone
for nought. There was no question of
politics about the state of feeling, for I am
glad to say that our army are all English-
men first and chatterers afterwards, what-
ever people at home may think. It was-
no reflex of my own sentiments quite the
contrary that I disclosed in writing thus.
For that black day very few of those who-
formed part of the Nile Valley expeditionary
force will ever forgive the officials who are
responsible. I expect there will be little
more serious fighting for over a month to
come anywhere on the Nile. The return
of Brackenbury's column shows that we
do not even mean to take and hold Abu
Hamed just yet That force is to-day near
the scene of the late Colonel Stewart's
shipwreck and murder. There will be pre-
sumably some brisk business with Osman
Digna's forces near Souakin, and with your
permission I intend seeing that conflict,,
and having another look at my old ac-
quaintances the brave Hadendowas."

A little later he remarks that " The sun is
already impressing us with the fact that
summer is rapidly approaching, and for

460

THE ENGLISH IN EG YFT.

three days we have had what is called the
' Kamstn ' wind, which commences in
March and blows at intervals for fifty days.
In India the advent of the hot winds is
welcomed by those unfortunate ones whose
duty or business obliges them to spend the
summer in the plains, because, with screens
made from the ' kuskus ' root, and placed
in the windows and doors in the direction
from which the wind comes, and upon
which water is thrown from the outside
throughout the day, a deliciously cool tem-
perature is caused in the interior of the
building; but here we have no buildings.
Grass and mud houses are being built as
quickly as possible ; but it would be impos-
sible to procure sufficient labour to indulge
in those Indian luxuries. The banks of
the Nile are certainly not over-populated,
and the few men that can be procured for
odd jobs are now sufficiently aware of their
value to name their own price for labour.
As is always the case when we campaign, the
price of everything is treble the ordinary
rate ; the fellah who would formerly have
been only too grateful for a few piastres
for his fowls or eggs, considers now that he
is conferring quite a benefit upon mankind
if he sells the same for a similar number of
dollars. It is a question whether, with
Orientals who are accustomed to stern rule,
this ' if you please ' system commands more
respect and gratitude than the ' you must '
system. It is said that there is no such
word as gratitude in the Arabic language,
and the more generous you are the more
exacting the native becomes and the
greater fool he thinks you. He never con-
siders how much he has got already, but
how much more he can get out of you.

The brigades that are now being formed
and are gradually settling down into summer
quarters between Abu Dom and Abu Fat-
meh, will be movable columns ; and should
the Mahdi be advised to advance towards
Egypt Proper, he will meet with a warm
reception ere he enters the Dongola pro-
vince. If the Mahdi could only be induced
to advance, he would certainly earn the

gratitude of the force that is opposed to
him. The discomforts [of great heat are
intensified by inaction, and lessened by
excitement. To have some other topic of
conversation throughout the summer than
the registering of various thermometers in
different places in the camp, goes far to
obliterate from one's mind the fact of living
in lat. 1 8 deg. But it is to be feared
that the Mahdi will not so far oblige us.
He will have great difficulty in keeping his
followers together for an indefinite period.
Unfortunately, Allah has not vouchsafed
that air and Nile water are sufficient for
man and beast to exist upon ; and even the
prize of Khartoum, and the great command
of supplies obtained thereby, will not serve
for ever as a source of provisions for the
Mahdi's followers. Land must be sown and
irrigated in order that crops may grow, and
there must be men to do this. The pre-
sence of the British army between the
Mahdi and the fertile province of Dongola
obliges him to be dependent solely on the
country he occupies. Therefore, to advance
with any considerable force across the
desert or down the Nile, the Mahdi would
not only devastate the country as he passed,
but would also ruin the harvest prospects.
It is most improbable that the Mahdi's
lieutenants are capable, or have the means,
of organizing the transport requisite for
guns, ammunition, supplies, etc., over 180
miles of desert. If he came by the Nile he
would be forced to fight before he reached
the Dongola province. Again, it is most
improbable that the Mahdi's followers are
sufficiently devoted to him to leave their
homes to embark on an expedition which
has no great prize to offer, and which their
recent experiences of Abu Klea, Gubat, and
Kirbekan have taught them to be of doubt-
ful reward. There is a diversity of opinion
as to the amount of actual belief in the
Mahdi that exists among those who form
his army. Any who have read the Koran
cannot hold that belief. The prospect of
looting Khartoum no doubt increased the
number of the Mahdi's followers, but now

HOPES AND FEARS.

461

that is over the country affords no such
temptations. Were the British forces with-
drawn to Assouan or Cairo, the Mahdi
might then advance with ease, for he would
feed on the country as he passed, and each
village would furnish recruits for his cause,
which, whether they believed in or not,
they would nevertheless join from a natural
fear of the strongest power. The bait held
out to the unsuspecting fellaheen, of instant
relief from taxation and Turkish or Chris-
tian yoke, and a life of ease, with a certainty
of Paradise in the future, would undoubtedly
tempt them to welcome the Mahdi as a
' reformer.' The native population of
Cairo would very soon be roused. But all
these are checked by the presence of the
British army at Dongola. We hear now of
a threatened Abyssinian advance on Galla-
bat, of dissensions between tribes in Kordo-
fan ; and Osman Digna, it is hoped, will
have received his due before this letter
reaches you. It is, therefore, most improb-
able that the Mahdi will advance to attack
us in any force. He has appointed an emir
of the desert Ezzain who will probably
keep small bodies of dervishes at the
various wells in the desert, and who will
occasionally venture to make raids on un-
protected villages in our neighbourhood ;
but that is the extent of excitement the
enemy are likely to afford us.

The forced withdrawal of Brack en-
bury's column before reaching Abu Hamed
leaves the desert on our left flank open.
The Ababdehs, who have been for the
most part loyal, and of whom 2,000 have
been for some months under the command
of Major Rundle, would cause us some
trouble f they became openly hostile. But
with our troops at Korosko and Assouan,

the Ababdehs would gain little by going
against us. The defeat of Osman Digna
will settle the uncertain attitude of the
Bishareen. There is, therefore, little
anxiety to be feared on that flank.

The whole force has now returned to
Korti, and, considering the hardships they
have undergone, the general health of the
troops is very good. The desert force
marched the whole way from Gubat, all the
available camels being required for the
sick and wounded and stores. It is a
matter of wonder that so many camels sur-
vived, considering the very limited amount
of food that was available for them. Some
of the sick and wounded had a very trying
journey back to Korti, as not only were the
camels very weak, but the stretcher-bearers
were mostly Soudanese soldiers from Khar-
toum, who did not by any means study the
comfort of those whom they were carrying.
Thanks, however, to the exertions of the
doctors, all arrived as well as could be, and
are now receiving every care and comfort
that can be given to them. A certain
amount of sickness must be expected from
the reaction of an inactive life; but the
English soldier manages to make himself
comfortable under most circumstances, and
all kinds of diversion will commence as
soon as the new camps are settled down.
Korti is gradually being cleared out head-
quarters will be the last to move to Don-
gola, about the end of this month.

The wreck of the Nasif Khdr at this
time is a very considerable loss, as our
steamers above Abu Fatmeh are thus
reduced to the Yarrmv boat only. The
river is now so low that navigation has
become difficult. The first rise may be
expected here towards the end of May."

462

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

CHAPTER XCIV.

THE KHARTOUM RELIEF EXPEDITION EAF^LE'S ADVANCE

RECALLED TO KOJ\TI.

E turn now away from the
exciting story of heroism in
the Bayuda Desert, and
from the story of camp life
at Korti, and retrace our
steps to follow the fortunes of the expedi-
tion which had been despatched almost at
the same time as Stewart's, but in another
direction. This was the force under General
Earle, which had been sent up the Nile to
punish the men who had murdered Colonel
Stewart, the heroic companion of Gordon.
We have already briefly mentioned that he
and his party, having left Khartoum as
directed by Gordon, in order to open com-
munication with the British, were assassi-
nated on the .voyage. It was only after
much inquiry that the facts were known.

" The sum of all the stories and reports
as disclosed by the natives some of whom
had actually witnessed the scenes they
described, and others had obtained the
news from participators was that Gordon's
colleague Colonel Stewart, together with
forty-four others of whom two were Euro-
peans, four women, and the rest Turks and
Egyptians after the bombardment of Ber-
ber, had set out on a steam-launch with
two boats in tow, travelling northward.
The two boats towed were full of men and
women refugees, no doubt, from the
neighbourhood of Khartoum. As they
neared Abu Hamed, the apex which the
westerly curve of the Nile makes on its way
from Berber to Debbeh, they noticed they
were being followed by armed bands along
the shore. Possibly these bands not only
increased in numbers, but, emboldened by
immunity from danger, opened fire on the
steam launch. Whatever may be the actual
fact is not yet clear, but those on the launch
had to cast their tows adrift, and seek

safety in solitary flight There is an uncor-
roborated story that the Mahdi's men pur-
sued Stewart's party in a boat of some kind.
However that may be, the fate of those
in the tow-boats is known. Below Abu
Hamed they were all captured by the Ro-
batat tribe, led by Sheik Abu Heigel.
Their lives were spared, and they have
since been distributed among the tribe be-
tween Abu Hamed and Berber. Colonel
Stewart and his companions in the steam
launch continued their journey, and suc-
ceeded in reaching the vicinity of Kamsah
Island or Boni Island. There the launch
ran upon a hidden rock, partly passed over
it, when it got caught, and badly hulled
towards the stern. The exact date of the
mishap is unknown, but it is believed to
have been between the 24th and 28th of
September last, and the balance of proof
points to near Boni as the actual spot. The
wild Arabs are above accuracy in dates,
hours, and figures. The Mussulman mode
of computing time, very different from ours,
may have something to do in creating the
confusion as to the day on which the
disaster occurred. That it has happened
is beyond all question, and the hull of the
launch now remains high and dry, marking
the scene. An examination of the launch
doubtless revealed to those on board the
hopelessness of continuing their voyage by
that means."

They came on shore, and at first seemed
to be well received by a party of natives
who were on the banks, which recep-
tion may or may not have been sincere.
Possibly on the part of the richer ones it
may have been real, as they know looting
is dangerously infectious if not sternly
checked among their fellow-countrymen,
and partly from hatred of the Mahdi

STEWART'S MURDER.

463

because of his exactions and stoppage of
the Nile trade. Designedly or otherwise,
the chief sheiks of the Monasseer tribe
got to know all about the wrecked party's
movements. Mayhap even the fiery cross,
or whatever stands for that alarming symbol,
heralded their course from Berber. As the
gun on board the launch could not be
-carried, it was spiked and left. Either just
after, or within a few hours of abandoning
the launch, the hapless travellers were
assassinated. Whilst the majority were
resting and off their guard, a horde of
Monasseer, under Sheik Wad Gamr and
other sheiks, whose names are known,
burst upon them and massacred nearly
every member of the party. An officer,
whose description tallies with Colonel
Stewart's appearance, made a desperate
fight for life, and shot down and killed at
least one of his assailants. A few made a
rush for the dingy, but they were pursued
and killed by the remorseless savages.

Out of the forty-four men aboard the
launch, eight only were saved alive ; of
these one is known to be a fireman and the
other an interpreter. The three Europeans
were killed, and their bodies tossed into the
Nile, the people at Merawi and elsewhere
declaring they saw them floating by.
The Monasseer confessed to a loss in
their murderous affray of one man killed
and one wounded in the leg, which was
broken. Everything the Arabs could lay
hands on was, of course, looted, and a
number of spears and shields and other
articles, apparently being carried from
Khartoum as trophies by the late Colonel
Stewart and his companions, were recap-
tured by them.

Such was the wicked and cruel deed
which Earle's force was to punish. It was
afterwards to proceed to Abou Hamed,
and then, opening up the road to Berber,
enter into communication with Stewart, who
would then be, it was calculated, in posses-
sion of Shendy. The difficulties in the
way of the advance were assuredly very
great ; but these were for some time merely

of a physical nature. On February Qth the
expedition had only reached Dulka Island,
about seventy miles from Merawi. Near
here the enemy were found posted in great
strength, and on the next day the battle of
Kerbekan, or Kirbekan,* took place, at
which General Earle was killed, as already
narrated in our biography of that distin-
guished man.

After the battle, the force under Bracken-
bury proceeded towards Abou Hamed.
But they were recalled by Wolseley to
Korti, in consequence of the events related
in the previous chapters.

Meanwhile at home it had been deter-
mined to " smash the Mahdi at Khartoum "
in the autumn, and to give Wolseley "a
free hand." In a stirring general order to
his soldiers, he announced the thanks of
the Queen, and his plans for the future.

" The Queen, who has watched with the
deepest interest the doings of her soldiers
and sailors, has desired me to express to
you her admiration for your courage and
your self-devotion.

To have commanded such men is to me
a source of the highest pride.

No greater honour can be in store for
me than that to which I look forward ot
leading you, please God ! into Khartoum
before the year is out

Your noble efforts to save General Gor-
don have been unsuccessful, but through no
fault of yours.

Both on the river and in the desert you
have borne hardships and privation without
murmur ; in action you have been uniformly
victorious ; all that men could do to save a
comrade you have done, but Khartoum fell
through treachery two days before the
advanced troops reached it.

A period of comparative inaction may
now be expected.

* It may be as well to point out to the reader
that there is considerable diversity as to the spelling
of names like the above. This is not to be won-
dered at, for no one ever heard of them till the
romantic adventures of the Khartoum Relief Expe-
dition made them matters of interest.

464

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

This army was not constituted with a
view to undertaking the siege of Khartoum,
and for the moment we must content our-
selves with preparations for the autumn
advance.

You will, I know, face the heat of
summer, and the necessary, though less
exciting, work which has now to be done,

with the same courage and endurance you
have shown hitherto.

I thank you heartily for the past. 1
I can wish nothing better I can ask no-
thing more of you in the future than the
same uncomplaining devotion to duty
which has characterized your conduct during
the recent operations. "

CHAPTER XCV.

HE EASTERN SOUDAN CAMPAIGN SOUAKIN TO BERBER.

SORT of supplementary
campaign followed imme-
diately upon the one which
had its base at Korti and
which we have just de-
scribed. The Government, in pursuance of
their plan of smashing the Mahdi, deter-
mined to construct a railway between the
port of Souakin on the Red Sea and Ber-
ber on the Nile. Now a railway between
these two parts would at once let in the
light of civilization upon the Soudan. It
was for some time thought that Lord
Wolseley would take this way for his
advance upon Khartoum, and of course
had there been a railway he would as-
suredly have done so, but it was deter-
mined otherwise. The route even without
a railway is a fairly passable one, for " the
start from Souakin is made at the wells,
which, at a distance inland of two miles
and a half, or rather less, supply the town
with water. Behind rises the white island-
emporium against the sea ; before and
around stretches a smooth and level plain
covered with gravel and small blocks of
stone. Looking across this arid waste, the
traveller sees in front a chain of hills, the
highest point of which he will cross when
about one-quarter of his journey is accom-

plished. Up to this ' divide ' the road
rises pretty sharply, but thence it descends
to the Nile. For nearly fourteen miles the
path lies over the gravel plain, with small
acacia bushes scattered here and there;
then it passes a high spur, the first of the
'foot-hills,' and reaches Bir Handouk, a
watering-place amid rocks, strewn round
the wells with the littered refuse of many
caravans. Six or seven miles further, or
eight kilometres according to the report,
the wayfarer is brought over a gravelly
level, more and more closely hemmed-in
by circling hills, to Wady O Taou. At
this stage the mountains are fairly entered.
Steep crags appear on either side, and in
front are ridges rising to a height of more
than 1,200 feet, with sharp stones and
rugged lines. The wady is a mere boulder
bed, with sandy loam in the wider parts,
and it maintains a few small thorn trees.
Ten kilometres onward the valley of Sinkat
opens, walled in by high and broken hills
not quite destitute of vegetation, though
there is sometimes no rain hereabouts for
two years together. About eight kilometres
farther on this wady narrows to a defile, and
the track is carried at a further distance
of twelve kilometres to a point which Dr.
Schweinfurth took for the ' divide,' where

THE ROAD TO BERBER.

465

the valley has its greatest elevation a
thousand feet. Here is the highland fortress
of Sinkat, of painful memory, where brave
Tewfik Bey sacrificed his life, together
with the lives of his men. The road
now descends into Wady O Mareg the
Crooked Vale where the hills widen out
to a distance of about seven or eight miles,
presently to close in again, amid a dry and
strange desert vegetation, destitute of water.
There the path winds among the hill-spurs,
confused peaks and ridges, and bare moun-
tain sides, to the mouth of Wady Ahmed.
This is nearly fifty miles from Souakin, or
more than a fifth of the journey to Berber,
the entire distance being 241 miles. This
Wady Ahmed is a broad gravelly ' strath,'
with blocks of trap and porphyry lying
about, and a few trees dotting the hollows,
where sometimes a little dhurra is grown
by the Bedouins. The road continues
plain and easy for thirteen or fourteen miles
till a sudden steep pass, which pierces* a
high ridge, leads from Wady Ahmed to
Wady Haratree. There is at this point a
long avenue of acacias, and passing through
them we are brought in four miles or so
to a broad and barren upland, with some
scorched herbage and dragon trees. Be-
yond that plain lies Bir Salalaat, seventy-
five miles from our starting-point. Two
large wells, sheltered with wood, afford
plenty of water. Again, the foot-hills shut
in the path, which passes by Wady O
Habal, a treeless glen, strewn with large
"blocks of trap, and leading into the Wady
Kokreep. It is nine miles from entrance
to exit of this valley, and thence the road
emerging from the hills goes over level
hard ground, past detached rocks and
granite knolls through the Wady Yunga to
the smiling oasis of Ariab. Here a number
of little rills descending on the vale make it
green and pleasant. There are large trees,
abundant grazing ground, thickets and
animal life, both bird and beast ; and the
Arabs keep flocks, and even oxen, along
the basin. The route pursued now gently
slopes away to the Nile over swelling hills

and sterile hard plains to the Wady Lemed,
and then to O-fik, the last outpost of the
hills on the Nile side. The next place
reached is O Baek, a place of sand dunes,
where there are many small wells, and
thence to Berber is a path over some of
the most difficult drift sand to be found in
the Soudan. The whole of this route is
at this day quite practicable for wagons.
By far the greatest part of it is indeed an
excellent road for wheels, though at three
points, namely, the passes of Haratree and
Kokreep and the dunes of O Baek, some
expensive work must be done to make the
road easy for wagons.

Above all other considerations, however,
unless possibly it be the amount of resist-
ance that Osman Digna and his sturdy
Hadendowas can offer, rises that of the
water supply. To convey a force of even
2,000 or 3,000 men over 241 miles of
desert such as this is no easy task, as our
recent experience in the Bayuda country
had shown ; and although this route to Ber-
ber is by far the best watered, it yet pre-
sents very great difficulties to the transport
of any large body of men and horses. The
whole distance is divided by nature into
two portions, the first a comparatively hilly
country as far as the wells of Ariab, 118
miles from Souakin ; the second a less
broken declivity gradually descending to
the banks of the Nile. In the former half
wells are fairly numerous, the greatest
distance separating any two on which re-
liance could be placed being about twenty-
two miles. In the second moiety of the
distance there are 106 miles to be tra-
versed, with only one halting-place at which
water could be obtained, the wells of O
Baek. This, however, does not exhaust the
difficulty, for Major Prout observes, in re-
gard to the wells, that the best of them are
generally sufficient only for 250 men and
as many horses or camels, and it might be
a necessity, in sending an expedition from
Souakin to Berber, to push forward a force
always strong enough to deal with 5,000 of
, the hostile Hadendowas or Bishareen. The

H H

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

Hadendowas are the tribes led by Osman
Digna, and they hold the half of the
Eastern Soudan nearest the sea. To the
Bishareen, on the other hand, the western
part of the territory belongs. It is not
likely that the two tribes would combine,
but each might raise hostile levies to dis-
pute the passage of a relieving column
passing through their country.

After leaving Souakin the first wells of
any consequence are those of El Handoub,
one of which only is sweet, the rest being
brackish. About two hours further on, at
27! miles from the coast, the wells of O
Taou; a journey of eight miles more brings
us to the valley of Sinkat, where there are
holes in the bed of a torrent, which fill
slowly, and which Major Prout found were
not more than enough for his caravan of
200 men, 200 horses, and 300 camels. At
Disibil, five miles further on, there exist
two wells, one choked with sand, while the
other is reported as filling slowly. Reaching
El Bir Tamai, about sixty-four miles from
Souakin, wells are found containing a large
supply of good water, sufficient for 600 men
and as many animals ; and the same is said
of the wells of Salalaat, some nine miles
to the westward, while other smaller but
fairly constant sources are to be met with
at Wady Kokrep, and Bir-el-Matre, after a
further advance of about twenty miles. By
far the most important resting-place, how-
ever, is Ariab, where there are large care-
fully constructed wells of excellent water,
sufficient, says Major Prout, to meet the
wants of any party as numerous as is ever
likely to cross the desert. Ariab is to the
Souakin-Berber route what Gakdul is to the
crossing from Korti to Metemmeh. From
Ariab to Berber there is only one spot worth
mention at which water in any quantity

could be obtained, the wells of O Baek r
which consist of a number of shafts, con-
stantly being filled up by the sand, and the
fluid they provide has the great drawback
of being drinkable only while the shaft is-
recent, for after a time it turns brackish.
The supply also is limited, sufficing only
for a convoy of 400 men with their horses-
and camels.

In the opinion of many travellers who
have crossed this track, which in peaceful
times is that of the great caravans from
Khartoum to the Red Sea, the real capabili-
ties of the country in respect of water sup-
ply have never been tested. The region is
intersected by wadies or watercourses, in the
beds of which boring tubes would probably
reveal the existence of much more copious
supplies than are generally supposed to be
present. At Bir-el-Matre the official report
states there is ' a hole in the sand whence
water is obtained by scraping the surface
with the hands.' At Wady-el-Eiahmib
Major Prout is of opinion water might be
found, as acacias grow there, and there are
many evidences of moisture in the soil. If
this surmise should be verified, it would
lessen the difficulty of the last terrible stage
across the waterless stretch of arid waste
which has now to be traversed before Ber-
ber is reached. The want of water in this
part of the route adds to the natural obsta-
cles raised by the hills of fine sand driven
by the wind, which make progress of any
kind most toilsome and exhausting. Hicks
Pasha led his army, composed of Egyptian
troops, across this desert," and this of itself
proves how practicable the way is. After
all, it is only 271 miles, and considering the
comparative ease of access to Souakin it
seems very strange that the route has not
been more used in the past.

OSMAN DIGNA AGAIN.

467

CHAPTER XCVI.

THE EASTERN jSouoAN CAMPAIGN THE BATTLE OF f-fASHEEN

IEUTENANT - GENERAL
SIR GERALD GRAHAM
was appointed to command
the expedition whose pur-
pose was to open up the
Souakin-Berber route mentioned in our last
chapter. Of that appointment it was said
that: "The selection for the chief com-
mand of the new expedition has at last
been made, and will give general satisfac-
tion. Lieutenant - General Sir Gerald
Graham knows well the nature of the
country in which he has to operate; he
may be trusted to strike hard if it is neces-
sary to do so, and he possesses in a high
degree both the energy necessary to carry
out the difficult task before him, and the
caution which is, above all things, requisite.
The opening out of the Souakin-Berber
road is mainly an engineering operation on
a large scale, and it is fitting that the duty
should be entrusted to an officer of En-
gineers. Moreover, Sir G. Graham is not
yet forgotten in the neighbourhood of
Souakin, and the announcement of his
return to the scene of his former victories
will carry great weight with it. Major-
General Sir G. Greaves is appointed chief
of the Staff, and Major-General Fremantle
to the command of the Guards Brigade.
With Brigadier-General Hudson in com-
mand of the Indian contingent, there
remains only one infantry brigade com-
mand, which may, perhaps, fall to Major-
General Newdigate. The cavalry brigadier
does not appear to be yet named. It is
stated from Bombay that a Madras infantry
regiment, possibly the ist (Pioneers), and
an additional cavalry regiment arc to be
added to the Indian contingent. Steps are
to be taken to make good the deficiency of
the garrisons at home and in the Mediter-

ranean," which was of necessity caused by
this deportation.

The chief obstacle in the way of the
expedition, and the railway construction
over which it presided, was Osman Digna,
who had again collected a force, and
threatened to be a serious difficulty to the
progress of our operations.

On March 2oth, 1885, a battle took place
between the English and the rebels, at
Hasheen, which is " a village situated in a
plain which is surrounded by low hills, and
which is distant about fourteen miles from
Souakin. It is contiguous to Handoub,
which stands on the Souakin-Berber road,
and past which it is expected that the new
railway will run. For some time before it
was occupied by bands of Osman Digna's
followers, the main body of whom had,
however, been posted at Tamai, some
twenty miles to the south of Hasheen, and
sixteen from Souakin. In fact, the whole
of the country round by the foot of the
hills, from Hasheen to Tamai, is admirably
adapted for the kind of tactics which a
man like Osman should follow in fighting
with British troops. It may with sufficient
accuracy be described as a network of deep
khors, or ravines, in which large hosts of
men may easily conceal themselves from
an enemy approaching them on the level of
the plain. On March i7th it was known
that large numbers of the Soudanese were
gathered about the Hasheen ridges and in
the plain, already spoken of, which is con-
cealed from view, on the Souakin side, by
the intervening hills. According to the
testimony of a prisoner taken during a
reconnaissance, three thousand of the
enemy were encamped in and about the
village, and the fighting showed that the
prisoner's estimate was under rather than

468

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

over the mark. The enemy withdrew into
the hills when they saw our men approach
over the ridges. But they gave the new-
comers some trouble, for they lurked about
among the mimosa bush and rocks on the
right and left of the Hasheen Valley, while
our men entered and searched the village.
Some of them even attacked, and a few
casualties occurred on our side. General
Graham learned what he wanted to know
the approximate strength of the enemy,
their positions, and resolution to fight
The significant fact was that as our troops
withdrew the Soudanese returned to their
old positions. The obvious inference was
that they meant to inveigle General
Graham into the hills, and then fall upon
his forces entangled in the bushy, rocky
ground, and narrow precipitous passes. It
was evident that the Soudani leader
repeated the same tactics at the battle.

On the 2oth, then, the English force
marched out at daybreak, and reached the
first series of ridges between eight and nine
o'clock. The enemy, as doubtless General
Graham expected, at once withdrew to a
rigde more than a mile distant, from which
they were driven by the Berkshire and the
Marine Light Infantry, with the Guards
and part of the Indian contingent as
supports. Expelled from this position,
Osman's men retreated southwards towards
Tamai, along a route on which, for good
reasons, their assailants did not follow
them. Others of them made off in a
westerly direction, while they were shelled
by the artillery. It certainly would seem
as if the enemy's object was to draw the
British force onwards. Parties of Arabs
were working round by the right of the
English position, but were scattered by the
5th Lancers. Four thousand is the
estimated number of the Arabs who were
actually engaged which would seem to
show that their retreat on the previous day
towards Tamai was simply a feint. The
fight was a pretty stubborn one, though not
comparable in this respect to the battles in
the previous campaigns. One of the most

notable incidents of the battle was the
charge of the Indian cavalry the distin-
guished regiment known as Hodson's
Horse, after the brave officer who raised
it, and who perished in the Indian Mutiny.
The Qth Bengal Lancers are one of the
crack regiments of the native Indian army.
They are the very men for savage warfare
of this sort. Unlike the gallant iQth
Hussars at El Teb who found their sabres
far too short for their agile foes the
Bengal Lancers could charge in and out
among the mimosa bushes, sure to give a
good account of themselves and of their
opponents. The lance, and not the sword,
is the weapon for cavalry charges in the
Soudan, and last year the ipth Hussars
acted on this principle when, on the march
onwards to Tokar, they armed themselves
with the spears which they picked up on
the field of El Teb. Both during a for-
mer day's reconnaissance and in this
engagement the native Indian troops have
had their share and even more than their
share of the honours of the day. The
Sepoys and Sowars, who formed the Indian
contingent in Lord Wolseley's first Egyp-
tian campaign, used to grumble much at
the little share which was given them in
actual fighting. In that campaign, the
1 3th Bengal Lancers under Colonel Mac-
Naghten, and the mule battery under
Major Free, were the only portions of the
native contingent which had any serious
work to perform. General Graham treated
the present contingent more generously.
Apart from the unpleasant necessity of
fighting a necessity which this country
would most heartily avoid this treatment
of the Indian contingent is good policy.
If there had been continued fighting the
Indian troopers would have proved them-
selves a highly valuable arm. In another
respect, too, and apart from the greater
numerical strength of General Graham's
army, the expeditionary force enjoyed
another special advantage over the force
engaged in the last campaign. It possessed
a first-rate battery of Gardner guns, and on

OSMAN DIGNA' S PLANS.

469

this occasion the men were not obliged to
drag their heavy ' machines ' with their
own hands under a hot sun and over heavy
glaring sands.

The inference suggested by the fight is
that the enemy have an unwonted reluc-
tance to attack in the open. Some of
them did make a faint attempt at a rush at
the square formed by the Guards, but they
were driven off by a volley or two. This
reluctance can be accounted for. Osman's
people had some lively memories of the
very rough handling they received when
the year before they attacked the squares
at El Teb and Tamai. And it may be
supposed they must have heard of how
recently two small squares cut their way
before them, the one across the Bayuda
Desert, the other up the Nile to Kerbekan
crags and beyond. Besides, the army
which the Arabs had now to face was more
than twice as large as that which General
Graham led last year. Osman Digna
evidently felt that his only safeguard
against the English was to inveigle them
into some position amongst the ravines and
rocks of the Hasheen-Tamai stretch of
country, in which it would be difficult for
them to keep in battle order, and easy for
their assailants to ' rush ' before the rifle
fire mowed too many of them down.
During the reconnaissance General Graham
found some letters from Osman Digna to
the sheiks, in which the latter were told
to avoid fighting in the open. One of the
prisoners confirmed these instructions, and
gave it to be understood that if the English
had advanced into the hills an attempt
would have been made by the Arabs to cut
off their line of retreat to the plain."

A Press Association account gives some
additional details. It says : " The force
which General Graham had under his
command at Souakin when he arrived
there on the 1 2th instant numbered about
1 2,000 men, which, after leaving about 600
men of the Shropshire Regiment and
details as guards, would give him nearly
10,000 troops with which to operate against

the enemy. The force consisted of bat-
talions of the Coldstreams, under Colonel
Lambton, and the Scots Guards, under
Colonel the Hon. W. Trefusis, the 2oth
Hussars, under Colonel C. R. Nicholls, the
5th Lancers, three battalions of the line
the Shropshire, Berkshire, and East Surrey
a battalion of Marines, the Indian con-
tingent of one regiment of cavalry, three
battalions of Sepoys, and one company of
Sappers, a battery of Royal Horse Artillery,
one screw gun battery, one garrison battery,
a corps of Mounted Infantry, besides
Engineers and departmental corps. That
General Graham considered this force
sufficient is shown by the fact that on
Tuesday last the igth Hussars embarked
for Cairo, whither they were to be followed
by the Egyptian Camel Corps. The nature
of the operations and necessities of the
ground rendered the services of cavalry and
guns of great importance, the enemy
occupying a range of hills to the west and
south-west of Souakin, the approach to
which was in some places through thick
scrub, the track occasionally becoming so
narrow that our troops were obliged to
proceed in single files. A Gardner battery
under command of Captain Crooke was
drawn by mules, and the G battery B
Brigade R.A. was taken with the force with
a view to shelling the positions and clearing
the way for our advancing troops. Unlike
the operations of last year, when it was
desired only to inflict a crushing defeat on
the Arabs, it was now necessary to occupy
the enemy's country for the purpose ol
covering the line of the proposed railway ;
and although it was believed that water
could with suitable appliances be dis-
covered in the neighbourhood, in addition
to whatever supply the Hasheen wells
might afford, provision for present needs
was made by taking over twenty thousand
gallons, while the troops were supplied
with two days' rations. For obvious
reasons it was desirable to make the
advance early. At daybreak preparations
were being made, and shortly after six

47o

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

o'clock the cavalry started across the plain.
It was expected that by operating in the
direction of Hasheen the main body of
Osman Digna's troops, which it was
thought had not shown themselves during
the reconnaissance on the previous day,
would emerge from between the hills in the
direction of Tamai, which place is about a
dozen miles to the south of Hasheen,
probably hoping thereby to attack our
troops in the rear, while it would, however,
enable General Graham's force to operate
in the open country between the hills and
Souakin. In about two hours the first hill
was reached, but the enemy did not offer
much resistance, retiring to another hill at
a short distance. This was carried by the
Berkshire Regiment and Marines, who
advanced cautiously, and sustained only a
few minor casualties. As the enemy fled
from this position towards their base at

Tamai, the cavalry were able to charge
them, and it was here that the most severe
fighting took place, one officer and several
men falling in hand-to-hand combats. The
artillery also were enabled to drop, a few
shells among the rebels streaming across a
valley west of Hasheen with great effect.
The enemy were pursued for some dis-
tance. After the operations had lasted
several hours the troops returned to
Hasheen, and subsequently to camp, the
position which had been taken at Hasheen
being occupied by the East Surrey, with
the stores and guns entrenched, as a point
from which further operations can be con-
ducted. The enemy engaged were pro-
bably the advanced posts of Osman Digna's
army, which was in force at Tamai," but
which this decided victory certainly did so
much to discourage and dishearten for the
future.

CHAPTER XCVII.

ENGINEERING IN THE DESERT THE SOUAKIN-BERBER RAILWAY.

FTER all, both campaign
and railway, notwithstand-
ing this brilliant opening,
seemed likely to prove a
disastrous failure. A corre-
spondent writing on April 29th, tells us that
" although no definite instructions have as
yet been received, it is 'in the air' that
operations here are over for the season, that
the railway works are to be discontinued,
and that all the troops, except those selected
to garrison the town during the coming sum-
mer, are to be embarked for Cyprus or
Malta. Two events give colour to the
rumour: the Marines, who have so long
borne the burden and heat of life at Soua
kin, are actually on their way down from
Handoub an operation which severely
taxed the resources of our newly-constructed

railway and the Jumna, which brought
1,200 coolies from Bombay, has been sent
back without disembarking a single man.
Meantime there is no evidence at the front
that any change of plans is impending.
The advanced posts at Tambouk and Otao
are held by the Scots Guards, Coldstreams,
and Australians ; between Otao and Han-
doub the Berkshire, Shropshire, and East
Surrey Regiments are echeloned along the
railway line, the terminus of which is now
at Otao, twenty miles from the base at
Quarantine Island. Whether or no there
be any truth in the rumour that no progress
is to be made beyond that point during the
summer (and the sending away of the only
men that could have continued the work
seems to confirm it), it is a fitting moment,
I think, to take stock of the operations and

THE SOUAKIN-BERBER RAILWAY.

47*

*o see what lessons can be learned for
future guidance, especially as this is our
first attempt to construct a military railway.
The original idea was that the line should
be made by officers of the Royal Engineers
and coolies from India. An officer of great
experience in railway construction was ac-
tually selected, and arrangements were
made by him for the collection of 4,000
well-trained coolies specially skilled in the
art of rapid railway building, an art which
is unknown in England. The plant was to
be the Indian metre gauge, quantities of
which are always en route to India, and
suficient for the Souakin line was to have
been diverted on its way down the Red
Sea and landed here. This project, as
dearly-bought experience has proved, was
an admirable one, but unfortunately it fell
through. Lord Hartington entrusted the
construction of the line to the English
engineering firm of Messrs. Lucas and Aird,
who offered to place the resources of their
establishment at the disposal of the Govern-
ment, disclaiming the idea of obtaining any
pecuniary reward. The agreement with
that firm, however, which has since been
published as a parliamentary paper, has
among its clauses one which gives them
bonuses of ,40,000 when the line is com-
pleted, and after all expenses have been
paid. No doubt on such terms any num-
ber of firms would gladly have come for-
ward to find employment for their men and
material at a time of almost universal de-
pression. However, in due time, and much
to the joy of those who know the country
and believe in its prospects, ships began to
arrive at Souakin with the material. Before
any progress could be made it was neces-
sary, in General Graham's opinion, to dis-
lodge Osman Digna and his force from
their position at Tamai. The first portion
of the route between Souakin and Han-
doub, along which it was proposed to lay
the rails, has a north-westerly direction,
whereas Tamai lies eighteen miles away
from the town, almost due south. It would
seem to be rather straining a point, there-

fore, to say that Osman was on our flank
and to apply the methods of civilized war-
fare in dealing with him. But that was
what was done, and for three weeks the
energies of the General, the staff, the com-
missariat and transport, and the whole of
the available troops were concentrated on
the smashing of Digna at Tamal Well,
we did not smash him ; we were very nearly
smashed ourselves ; we slew hundreds of
our own transport camels and scores of our
own camel-drivers. We advanced 6,000
strong on Tamai, burnt a few wretched
huts, fired a few volleys at extremely long
range, and then marched back again to the
town. Three weeks nearly had been taken
up by these manoeuvres, and it was then
decided that as we had gone out to give
Osman a fair chance to fight us again, and
had not been able to induce him to attack
our six battalions of infantry, cavalry, and
artillery, we must get on with the real
object of the expedition, the building of
the railway. The zareba in the bush (I
cannot understand why it has been called
' Baker's zareba ; ' the proper title for it is
M'Neill's zareba that general's name is
always associated with it here) was aban-
doned, and we finally turned our backs
upon the festering, pestilential spot which
thirteen days before was the scene of
agonizing sacrifice and unparalleled hero-
ism, the grave of hundreds of brave men,
and more than one reputation. Even then
the air around the place was laden with a
sickening smell, bodies lay unburied around
it, and the vultures still gathered in scores.
If ever the path to ' M'Neill's zareba ' is
again taken by a British force, it should be
to set up an enduring monument to the
valour of the English private soldier.

Work on the railway had not long been
in progress before it became evident that
the want of system and organization would
prevent anything like the rapid construc-
| tion of the line. No park of materials
was formed, and up to the present day
none has been established. The materials
as they were landed were at once passed

472

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

to the front, with the result that at one
time the working parties were waiting for
sleepers, at another for rails, then again for
spikes ; so that in every working day of
eight hours four at least were spent by the
men at the head of the line sitting on the
sand waiting for materials. The cause of
this want of system is not far to seek. The
War Office sent out a distinguished officer,
and specially charged him with the direc-
tion of the undertaking. He combined,
with other functions, those of General of
the Line of Communications, so that no
interference should take place by any one
at the base (Souakin) or along the line in the
making of the', railway. It was strongly
impressed upon him that on no account
was he to interfere with Messrs. Lucas and
Aird's men, who were to have the entire
construction of the railway. As a matter of
fact, however, circumstances, which proved
far more powerful than the General com-
manding the line of communications, inter-
fered most decisively in the matter.
Messrs. Lucas and Aird sent out, in addi-
tion to their permanent staff, two of their
own partners, and had these gentlemen
remained in the country instead of return-
ing to England after a few days' residence
at Souakin, many subsequent difficulties
would have been avoided. On their de-
parture the firm was represented by two
gentlemen, one at the front to make the
line and the other at Souakin to pay the
men and act as administrative agent gener-
ally. It soon became evident that to leave
the line in the hands of two civilians with-
out any directing head, and to call upon
them at the same time to work with the
army in the field, which was not only to
protect them while working, but to aid
them largely in the actual construction of
the line, was to throw upon them a task to
which they were quite unequal. They
themselves cordially welcomed the assist-
ance of the military, but the hands of the
military officer in charge were tied by the
stringent instructions which he had received
not to interfere with the contractors. The

exigency of circumstances prevented an
actual dead-lock, but the result of all this
was certainly to retard the progress of the
line.

The actual staff provided by Messrs.
Lucas and Aird, beyond engine-drivers and
skilled mechanics, consisted of several hun-
dred English navvies, and I am bound to
say that the imported English navvy has not
proved a success in Souakin. As it was not
found possible to get labour either in
Europe or Egypt, and as none was to be
procured on the spot (for your Arab would
rather starve than work), a corps of 900
coolies was specially raised in India by
Engineer officers. The coolies, who were
chiefly artisans, platelayers, etc., all skilled
in railway making, arrived at Souakin al-
most as soon as the line was begun. They
have proved of the greatest value, and it is
mainly due to them that anything was
done. The Engineer officers who raised
and accompanied them from India are all
experienced men, well known for railway
work. They were expected to work, with
their coolies, under Messrs. Lucas and
Aird's foreman ; in fact it was asked that
the coolies should be placed entirely at
Messrs. Lucas and Aird's disposal. The
arrangement was tried, but it was found
that neither the contractor's foreman, nor
his gangers, nor the navvies, could speak
intelligibly to them. The persuasive argu-
ments of punching their heads and kicking
them did not help matters, and the experi-
ment was given up.

The actual construction work done by
Messrs. Lucas and Aird's men was the
spacing out of the sleepers, placing the
rails, spiking them down, screwing up a
fish-plate here and there (but they often
had to wait a long time for fish-plates), and
straightening the line when it was being
ballasted. The rest of the construction
was done by the army. The formation of
the roadway and the ballasting of the line
was done by English soldiers and Indian
coolies; the rails were dragged from the
place where they had been shot out on to

THE SOUAKIN-BERBER RAILWAY.

473

the sand from the trucks by Horse Artillery
teams or by horses supplied by the Com-
missariat ; the sleepers were carted to the
front in ordnance carts drawn by Army
Transport mules. The result of this divi-
sion of labour was that only 1,100 yards a
day were laid over a country much easier
than Hyde Park and quite as easy as that
in India and the United States, where from
three to seven miles would be quite
possible. Had the expedition gone on and
the railway been laid at the same rate as
that which has hitherto obtained, Berber
would not have been reached until July
next year ; that is to say, that the protect-
ing army would have had to spend sixteen
months on a road which has been con-
stantly travelled by camels in ten days.

The lessons to be learnt by this fiasco,
for it can be called nothing else, are :

(1) That a proper Military Railway Corps
should at once be established in the British
Army.

(2) That, in the event of a real intention
and a real decision to send an army from
Souakin to Berber, a light line, specially
adapted for military purposes, should be
laid, instead of the 4ft. 8|in. gauge, which
is much too heavy and clumsy for rapid rail-
way construction for military purposes.

(3) That the introduction of a civil ele-
ment to work with an army in the field is
an absolute blunder.

All our wars take place in countries
where there are no railways, and we are
therefore free to choose the gauge that suits
us best It is needless to say that the
gauge should be one which can be laid
with the utmost possible rapidity three or
four miles a day at least. To do this, very
light material must be used. Such a line
could wind round mountain sides on the
smallest curves and dispense with bridges
and cuttings. It should be so simple that
it could be laid and worked by soldiers.
In all ages armies in the field have had to
make their own roads, and a railway is,
after all, only a road, five feet wide instead
of twenty. Here I may say that one of the j

most satisfactory features in a not very
satisfactory campaign has been the admir-
able manner in which our little army has
learnt to cut for itself and convoys a broad
straight road through the bush. The attack
of March 24th on the convoy which was
returning from M'Neill's zareba taught us
the lesson. Since then it has not been
possible for the enemy to come up within
ten yards of the face of the square and
attempt to 'rush' the transport animals.
The ' drifts ' which we have made, and by
which the lines of march of the army will
long be able to be traced, are formed by the
apparently simple process of cutting away
the mimosa bushes. But the mimosa is an
awkward bush to tackle ; its thorns have a
capacity for catching and holding quite
remarkable, owing to their arrangement in
pairs at diverging angles, every branch
being a perfect series of chevaux defrise. It
takes three men to clear away a full grown
mimosa two with a rope to hold it back,
and one to cut at the trunk ; then the roots,
which are as tenacious and deep striking
as the thorns, have to be grubbed up so
as to leave a perfectly free path for the
sleepers and rails. Many thousands of
such bushes have our hardworking Tommy
Atkinses thus cleared from the path of the
' Souakin-Berber Railway,' besides doing all
the other work which I have referred to,
and all for the magnificent remuneration of
as many pence per day as Messrs. Lucas
and Aird's navvies receive shillings.

If we are to have war with Russia, a
railway of the description above indicated
should surely follow the army in its advance
to Candahar and Herat from the head of
the present permanent line. It would re-
duce the cost of transport to an enormous
extent, and its expense compared with
other means would be trivial. Take, for
instance, our chief means of transport here
camels. I think I can best illustrate its
costliness by drawing once more on the sad
experience of M'Neill's battle. In twenty
minutes we ourselves shot down, and the
enemy killed or stampeded, 800 camels

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

and mules, representing a value of certainly
;i 6,000. Had we had a light military
railway through the five miles of bush
between us and the town, the enemy would
have found nothing to stampede, and the
troops would not have been exposed to the
dangers of having the camels that were out-
side the zarebas driven in upon them by the
enemy. This, in fact, was what a party of
the Arabs tried to do, and there was no
alternative but to shoot down camels,
camel-drivers, and rebels together. That
episode of the battle was, indeed, the most
terrible of all. The deafening roar of the
Martinis ; the crashing of their deadly hail
into the frantic struggling mass of friends
and foes ; the swaying and sinking of the
.great beasts as they felt the death-stroke by

bullet and knife; the rush of terrified
mules ; the disorderly retreat of the native
regiment, whose officers were gallantly try-
ing to rally it ; the steady, determined stand
of the Berkshire and the Marines, whose
little rallying squares stood out, alone, like
volcanic islands in a raging sea, dealing
death and destruction around it was a
spectacle which can never be forgotten by
those who saw it. The recollection of it
has forced me into this digression from my
more sober theme. I need only add, how-
ever, that if such a railway had been sent
out with the expedition, it could have been
laid to Berber in four months, and that six-
teen trains running upon it would have
delivered 100 tons of stores daily at Berber.
Fifty thousand camels could not do that."

CHAPTER XCVIII.

AN ENGLISHMAN'S ]!,IFE IN JIGYPT ^ RUMMER'S DAY IN JSOUAKIN.

NGLISHMEN, according to
the ordinary continental
version, are said to be a
race apart, wedded to their
peculiar customs, and unwill-
ing, indeed unable, to change them. This
may be so ; still it must be confessed that no
race in the world have to submit to greater
alternations of climate, food, work, etc.
How different, for instance, a day in
London and a day in Souakin I Here is
.an account of this last " by one who has
been there," and whose testimony, therefore,
has a peculiar value : " The day in
Souakin, as far as the public is concerned,
may be said to begin at sunrise. Roused
by a chorus of crowing from the fowls kept
in the court by the Indian contingent, and
the howling of a muezzin from a neighbour-
ing minaret, Jones wearily opens his eyes,
.and takes mechanically a survey of the
wing of the building opposite, in which the

prisoners are getting on the move, and
going forth to their duties of fatigue and
scavenging ; sad to relate, a large proportion
are English soldiers and sailors. The
caravanserai, on the flat roof of which Jones
has wisely fixed his sleeping quarters, to
ensure the utmost possible air and the least
possible stench, is a huge, oblong, three-
storey building, with two gates. The cause-
way leading to the town passes in front of
the main gate. Round, pale, rayless, the
sun rises from the Red Sea ; Jones, after a
vain struggle for a few moments' more sleep
in the cool morning air (it is only 85) with
the flies (those plagues of the tropics), drags
himself slowly from the bed on which he
has passed some hours of unconsciousness
(in a flannel suit and without any covering)?
and having swallowed several cups of com-
forting tea proceeds to look forth on the
outer world. And a curious scene it is. On
the causeway all is bustle. Camels stalk

A SUMMER'S DAV IN SOU AKIN.

475

by in strings, or crouch groaning and whin-
ing to be loaded. Hadendowas, or Fuzzies
{as they are aptly called), with frizzy hair
and corkscrew curls ; Arabs from Jeddah,
in turban, toga, and sandals, like old
Romans ; Arab ladies, balls of white
muslin in yellow or red Wellington boots ;
groups of chattering
Indian or Arab wo-
men, in red, blue, or
green sarees and
faces covered ; In-
dian carts, drawn by
beautiful long-horned
cattle ; gangs of con-
victs, sturdy, bare-
legged ruffians in
sacking shirt and
skull cap, guarded
by puny Egyptian
warders, in baggy
tunic, and drawers,
and filthy fez, Rem-
ington on shoulder,
and cartridge belt at
waist. Here a Sikh
orderly, with chain
mail epaulettes and
slender, pennon-
topped lance, pushes
his scraggy pony
through the throng,
and there comes our
old friend the British
Tommy, looking thin
and worn in his
hideous baggy khaki
and mushroom hat,
but elbowing his
way along with ir-
repressible energy,

addressing every native as Johnny, and
prepared for any emergency. Seven
o'clock: Jones is by. this time dressed.
The sun is now well above the horizon,
and pouring forth that flood of clear, bright,
intense golden light that northern skies
never know. Away towards the south-
west, Tamai, and the desert, a brown haze

EGYPTIAN PORTER.

begins to blot out the hills, and to betoken
the coming of the kamsin wind and a
terrible day. Jones now proceeds to take
his daily header into the strong, buoyant
brine off New House Quay, and while
dressing watches with interest the endless
tribes of fishes, of all shapes, colours, sizes,
and shades, as they
play and feed in the
clear, warm water. As
he returns the tide
of life is at the full in
the wretched cluster
of filthy booths, or
rather dens, which
does duty for a ba-
zaar in Souakin, in
which nothing is
offered for sale, save,
perhaps, a few water-
melons or oranges,
morsels of fly-blown
fried fish, or lumps
of horrible dates, and
other abominations
of native manufac-
ture, but no fruit,
vegetables, fish, meat,
eggs, or milk. By
the time Jones has
returned and break-
fasted, the kamsin
has developed into
a smart, scorching
breeze, the sun blazes
like a ball of hot
brass through the
hazy air, the ground
burns the feet through
the stoutest boots,
shutters are closed,

man and beast fly to cover, the thermometer
in the coolest room marks 104 and rising,
everything feels hot to the touch, even the
backs of the books curl. The British soldier
lolls on his bed and uses fearful language ;
the burly Egyptian ' warrior ' lounges on
sentry over the prisoners in the prison, or
snores on a heap of stones ; the Parsee

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

clerk dozes over his desk in the archway (for
coolness); the provost adjudicates on native
followers, and occasionally the whistle of the
cat and the howl of the offender testify that
he ' beareth not the sword in vain.' Higher
and higher rises the sun, stronger and
stronger blows the wind, up and up goes
the thermometer, more and more plaguing
grow the flies. Were any one rash enough
to propound Mallock's question to Jones,
' Is life worth living ? ' the answer would be
prompt and to the point.
The welcome call to lunch
at length causes a diver-
sion. Notes are compared
and impressions exchanged
as to sensation, height of
thermometer, chances of
getting away, number of
sick, etc. After lunch come
those two terrible sultry,
dreary hours, which some
deem the most trying in
the day. Jones sleeps, or
reads, or works, or what
not, till time, like every-
thing else in this world,
comes round and the wel-
come 4.30 arrives. Shutters
are now opened, the wind
has abated and shifted,
the sun is shorn of much
of his terrors, the ther-
mometer has gone down
below 100 ; some order
their ponies for polo or
a gallop, some their boats
for a sail, some lounge off for a gossip
and a B. and S. at Adams's (the general
meeting-place). The convicts return chat-
ting and laughing from their work on board
ship. Indian guards move to and fro
mounting guard, natives come in on trotting
camels from the desert, officers in brown
boots and mushroom hats trot off to camp ;

LIQUORICE WATER SELLER

life reigns once more. But what are those
three sharp, rolling reports from the direc-
tion of the new cemetery (at intervals) ?
Little need to ask ; poor Sergeant Brown
went into hospital last night at eleven
o'clock sunstroke ! At 7 p.m. the sun
sinks in a blaze of crimson and gold in the
line of the ill-omened Berber railway.
Dinner at 7.30; tobacco, whist, B. and S. r
pass the hours till 9.30, when the exhausted
Jones crawls off to his comfortless couch,
but not to sleep. Vain
hope ! the wind has gone
with the sun, and stagna-
tion of the air ensues.
'The slow moon, too,
climbs,' the Ramadan moon,
bright as the sun, and
greeted with tom-toms and
other sleep-murdering de-
vices by true believers.
Hour after hour does Jones
roll from side to side, the
perspiration streamingdown
him, and listening to the
howling of the packs of
masterless dogs outside the
walls, till at length exhausted
nature finds relief in a heavy
slumber, and he can thank
God that another day in
the 'horrible Soudan' is
over."

Well, this is not a very
cheerful picture of life at
Souakin. We daresay the
reader will very readily
understand the important part which two
functionaries, whose portraits we here give,
play in such an existence. These are the
Egyptian porter, who, quite undisturbed by
the heat, carries his heavy load along, and
the liquorice water seller, whose stock-in-
trade is very soon exhausted on such a
burning day.

WHY GO TO KHARTOUM?

477

CHAPTER XCIX.

EVACUATION OF THE SOUDAN DEATH OF THE M.AHDI.

LOWLY, but all too quickly
for our troops in the burning
desert, the year crept on, and
the heat grew ever fiercer.
But the resolutions of the
people at home grew ever colder. The
Marquis of Lome, writing as early as
February 28th, in the eventful year of 1885,
asked, " Is it necessary to assume with the
Government that the Mahdi must ' be
smashed ' at Khartoum that is, on his
chosen ground ? He has declared his in-
tention to go to Cairo. Is it not possible
that he may be politically and physically
smashed on his way thither if he really
moves northward ? What if we spend much
money and many men in going to Khar-
toum, and our enemy renders himself in-
accessible, as he well may in the surround-
ing deserts, and re-enter the city when our
retirement takes place ? What shall we
have accomplished should he pursue these
tactics ? Is Khartoum necessary to Egypt ?
Egypt has done well in past times without
it. Beyond the fact that there is a water
measurer at Khartoum, no one has ever
heard that it possesses anything of utility
to Egypt. The Nile will rise as before,
whether a Soudanese or an Egyptian
Government have rule, and any trade can
be stimulated whichever flag flies. Our
business with Egypt is only in its relation
to our Indian highway, and to guard this
our policy need not career about the in-
terior of Africa like a mad dromedary. The
slave-trade can be hindered as before by
our cruisers. We want all the troops we
possess for Egypt, for India, and for a
Home reserve. Let us give Osman Digna
another lesson, and if present military exi-
gencies demand it, let us lay the railway
to Berber. Let us take up the position on

the Nile judged best by Lord Wolseley, so
that we may effectually bar any advance of
the Mahdi on Upper Egypt But let us
think once, twice, and thrice before we
waste our strength and play our enemy's
game by placing our troops where they
may be reduced by sunstroke and fever,
and become a useless garrison, striking
only resultless blows at a brave enemy who
desires to see us dance to his music. We
have much reason to guard those posses-
sions which it pays us to keep. In the
Soudan we shall dig holes in the sand,
to be filled by the first drift. We have
enemies elsewhere who will be glad of any
opportunity to stab us in the back while we
are hitting out in the air in front. We
have 'avenged' Gordon by the death of
some 5,000 Arabs. Let us kill 20,000
more if they advance beyond the limits we
assign them, but leave them alone if they
do not. ' On to Khartoum ' was a good
cry when we had Gordon to rescue, but
few like it now, as it would be the veriest
quixotry to believe the Mahdi's influence
can be ' smashed ' only at Khartoum."
And, finally, the Government of the country,
both political parties, and the great mass
of the people, were ready to agree that
after all the Mahdi should be left to him-
self in the Soudan, and that we should not
trouble him if he did not trouble us. In
accordance with this resolution our troops
were withdrawn from the Soudan. As to
the Mahdi troubling us, that question was
very soon relegated to the great category
of the might-have-beens and the perhapses,
since the news reached England in July,
1885, that he had died of small-pox.

By this time people were just recovering
from the apprehension of war with Russia,
and a new government under Lord Sails-

478

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

bury held office. The news did not excite
the notice it once did. The English people
thought indeed that " if the Mahdi be really
dead, it must be confessed that he has
shown excellent good taste in his dying.
For once we can all speak well of him. He
has done civilization a good service. Living
he was no doubt very objectionable, but
we can now be generous. Perhaps Eblis is
not so black as he is painted. We can
afford to pay a posthumous and mitigated
compliment, by saying that the dead pro-
phet, though he harassed us when he was
in the flesh, was capable of better conduct.
His bringing up, perhaps, was bad. He
had been neglected as a lad ; got into com-
pany that did him no good, and gave a
sinister twist to his fancies. His parents,
it may be, spoiled him, let him think too
much of himself, and flattered his preco-
cious ambitions. Well, he is dead now so
we hope and gone, we may hope this too,
where all sincere believers, of whatever
creed, go to after death. He did his work
well ; lost his opportunities now and then,
no doubt, but on the whole fought splen-
didly for his faith and for Allah. What a
weird majesty there was about this man,
who controlled, as if with Solomon's signet
ring, the evil genii of ruin, carnage, and
fierce fanaticism ! How spectral was his
appearance upon the scene, far away in the
Southern Soudan ! He stepped out from
his cell on the river bank, and facing the
mollahs and the dervishes, said, ' I am He.'
They scoffed at him ; but he went forth
into the desert and told them, the dwellers
in tents, that he was the Mahdi, the herald
of the millennium that first 'blast of con-
sternation' which the Moslems say pre-
cedes the Resurrection, levelling the infidel
peoples as a hurricane lays the corn, and
thrilling the faithful as with the sound of
an archangel's trumpet. And they pre-
sently believed him ; embroidered him a
banner, which he blessed ; sharpened their
spears, and brought them to him for con-
secration ; put on his uniform, braided with
those texts from the Koran which promise

everlasting Paradise to such as die for the
faith in fighting against the unbeliever. So
he took the field, and so he held it. A
mystical power was his. He wielded the
sword of Allah, and shook the spear of a
Vicegerent. Tribes rallied to him for his
name alone. All Islam was up at the
sound of it. The mollahs and the der-
vishes vainly said, 'This is not He,' and
set to work with computations of time and
commentaries on prophecy to prove that
they were right. Victory in battle was Mo-
hammed Ahmed's answer. Yet the people
wavered in their credulity. Can it be
He ? It surely is It is ! Was not all the
Soudan by-and-by in his hands ? Lower
Egypt itself was threatened ; Arabia be-
came ripe for outbreak; the Turk grew
troubled. Alone, this one man, a poor
penniless dervish, had opened the flood-
gates of Mohammedan bigotry, let loose
the torrent which more than once in history
has been the terror of the human race.
Everything appeared to lie within his grasp.
The hour of triumph was already striking
had, indeed, struck when, on a sudden,
Azrael whispered in his ear, and Mohammed
Ahmed, ' The Mahdi,' the guided one,'
and guider, laid down dominion and power,
and turned and went forth with the Angel
of Death.

How will they receive the news those
desert-hosts that believed him to be what
he said he was, the legate of Heaven sent
to accomplish a great work ? He has died
before it was finished. Instead of crowning
his mission by triumphant completion, he
has proved himself merely the author of
temporary revolution, an instigator of use-
less mischief, the cause of much fruitless
ruin and futile misery. He destroyed much,
and has bestowed nothing in return. The
country of his birth is prostrated by scarcity,
amounting in parts to famine. Whole clans
have been swept away in fight. The sur-
vivors have good reason for fearing reprisals
and the revenge of the Government they
have insulted by defeat. So there is little
to thank Mohammed Ahmed for on the part

DEATH OP THE MAHDI.

479

of his followers. Those who stood aside in
neutrality will exult. ' We told you so,' they
will say, and great will be the disputation
in the bazaars over the fate of the man who
has gone. Why did Allah step in and
' snub ' him, so to speak, when his hands
were just closing on the prize? A little
longer life and he would have led that great
pilgrimage to Mecca, which he had always
promised to his people, and, having ex-
torted independence from Egypt, would
have lorded it in the Soudan as the Pope
of Islam, the Prophet's deputy, a true pro-
phet himself. Instead of this, however, he
has died, falsifying his own predictions, and
exposing his imposture. Instead of dictat-
ing terms to the Khedive from the Kasr-en"
Nil at Cairo, and leading in prodigious
pomp across to Arabia the hosts who had
fought under his banners, he has lain down
in his grave to await the coming of the
dread examiners who visit all deceased
Moslems in the tomb. Two black angels
of livid countenance, and terrible to look
upon, are Monkir and Nakir. They have
been to Mohammed Ahmed lying in his
grave, and have ordered him to sit upright,
and catechised him in his faith. He, the
heaven-sent man, who was himself the
teacher, has had to undergo the common
examination of all who die ; and what did
he say in answer to the questions of his
dreadful inquisitors? Did he persist in
such an awful presence in his pretensions ?
And what did they da to him? If his
replies are what they should be, there
breathes immediately upon the dead Mos-
lem the fragrant breeze of Paradise, a fore-
taste of delights soon to be enjoyed in un-
limited measure. If not, Monkir and Nakir
set to work with clubs, and pommel the
awakened corpse until he roars with pain ;
then they fill his grave up with dragons,
snakes, and scorpions, and stamp the earth
down tight over him, finally leaving him
dead-alive, to be bitten and stung, until the
day of resurrection. Which was the fate,
Arabs will grimly wonder, of the Mahdi ?
And when Azrael came to separate his soul

from his body, did he do it gently, as is his
custom with those of good life, or painfully,
as he treats the wicked ? In the El Berzak,
' the interval,' how is he living Have
good angels met the soul and conducted
him, as prophets are conducted, straight
into heaven ; or will he, like a martyr's
disembodied spirit, live in the crop of a
green bird that feeds on the trees of Para-
dise ? Or was he only received as one of
the ordinary faithful, and directed to his
proper place in the lowest heaven, where
Adam presides, waiting for Israfil's trump to
sound? It will not seem possible, how-
ever, to the Arab that such a being as Mo-
hammed Ahmed can after death be one of
the commonalty. If he was a prophet, he
has already drunk of the celestial stream
that quenches thirst for ever, and is reclin-
ing in gorgeous apparel within his pavilion
made of one vast moonlighted pearl, pitched
under the Tuba the tree of all bliss with
a river of honey, milk, and wine at his
door, and troops of radiant dark-eyed dam-
sels, ' the girls of Paradise,' created out of
pure musk, of an exquisite beauty, to wait
upon his pleasure. If, on the other hand,
the Angels of Record, the Moakkibat, who
stand on each side of every man throughout
his life, have given in their account, and
the required minimum of virtue, truth, and
justice, ' as heavy as half the weight of a
red ant,' is not attributed to the son of
Abdallah, then in that case it will, says
the ' Perspicuous Book,' be lighter for the
lowest of his slain spearmen, than for the
audacious Dongolese carpenter who pre-
tended to be ' the guided of heaven.'

Such are the questions which, we may be
sure, are perplexing the Arab mind. Ma-
homet taught them that Paradise is material,
corporeal, sensual, and they believe it,
literally, to be just as he described it The
political aspect of the Mahdi's death at
such a moment will of course come under
discussion ; but we may be certain that by
far the most engrossing subject of argument
in the Soudan will be the pretensions of
the dead leaden His followers must be

480

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

utterly bewildered by the blow, the der-
vishes staggered by its force. It was the
very last thing they expected, and the col-
lapse must be almost comical in its com-
pleteness. Without a Mahdi where are
they? There is another, it is true, some-
where in the field. Indeed, if report be
correct, there are several. And unless the
dervishes take up with another claimant
they must relapse into their former ob-
scurity. As lieutenants of the Messiah,
they were personages of importance; but
the last example has died of small-pox, like
an ordinary man, and their position is most
awkward, not to say absurd. As for the
hero himself, if he really was Mahomet's
commissioner, it is delightful to think of
him, after the Moslem's material fashion,
sitting at his pavilion door and sulking.
His disappointment is indeed almost enough
to make him grumble at Paradise. He
will say in ' the Garden ' that his wine is

' corked,' his victuals from the Tuba tree
'gone off;' he will order the birds of the
Sixth Sphere to stop singing, as they bore
him ; he will object to the smell of musk,
and it may even be, scold the houris. Poor
Mahdi ! It is easy to think lightly of him
now that he is gone. Yet he did brave
deeds for the faith, and made stern work
for the stoutest soldiers of Her Majesty ;
so that, blended with a sense of the ex-
treme convenience of his demise, and with
congratulations to Lord Salisbury upon his
splendid political luck, a tear is neverthe-
less due from the Muse of History for
Gordon's arch-enemy, the Mahdi Moham-
med Ahmed."

There was almost a touch of the "irony of
fate " in this exit of the Mahdi from the
scene. It was not only the end of the
Mahdi, but the last chapter of our Soudan
campaign, altogether a remarkable chapter
in our annals.

CHAPTER C.

EGYPTIAN JNCIDENTS p. CAMEL JOURNEY.

;

N the preceding chapters of
this work we have pursued
almost entirely what we may
call the historical method,
that is, we have narrated the
chief expeditions in Egypt in which the
English were sharers, and we have given
biographies of the chief Englishmen engaged
in the expeditions. We purpose, in the few
chapters that remain open to us, to throw a
kind of side-light on English life in Egypt
by giving various narratives of personal ad-
venture, and other papers of an interesting
and instructive character.

The first is from our trustworthy friend
the war correspondent, and tells of his
adventures on the way from Dongola to
Wady Haifa by camel. Writing from

Sarras, and referring to the Khartoum
Relief Expedition, he says : " The newspaper
correspondent during this campaign has
more serious difficulties than usual to con-
tend against. His telegrams are doubly
countersigned, first at the front, and again
at head-quarters, where they are delayed
en route for further inspection. A rigid
order has been issued that on no account
is he to be allowed aboard Government
boats. He must make his way along the
banks of the Nile by camel, and as the
distances between the various points of
interest are immense, and as only one
representative of each journal is permitted
to pass Wady Haifa, he is much puzzled
from day to day, or rather, from week to
week, where to place himself. I had hoped

JVO CORRESPONDENTS NEED APPLY!

481

myself to have gone on with the Nassif-el-
Khier to Merawi, and although her Com-
mandant kindly offered me a passage,
Colonel Sir Herbert Stewart at Dongola
was obliged to enforce the order which
forbids English journalists, whether there is
room for them or not, to put foot on any of
the vessels belonging to their country now
navigating the Nile. The Mudir of Don-
gola, an Egyptian clerk, or an officer's
native servant might be allowed a passage,
but the representative of an English news-
paper on no account whatever. As matters
stand, should an unfortunate correspon-
dent be chased to the bank by a crowd of

howling Arabs, the officer in command ot
any Government craft, if he did his duty,
would be obliged to refuse him refuge,
saying civilly, no doubt, but firmly, 'No
correspondents allowed on Government
boats.' We are thus, in a manner, branded
officially as outcasts, although we come
neither asking nor receiving medals or
honours, but seeking simply, while willing
to share the dangers and hardships of the
troops, to do our duty.

Not being allowed to go on with the
Nassif-el-Khier, I determined to return to
Wady Haifa, to accompany the first batch
of Nile boats on their voyage up the Batn-

AN OASIS IN THE DESERT.

el-Hajar. The distance by road from
Wady Haifa to Dongola is two hundred
and forty-five miles, which, on good trotting
camels, if no baggage is carried, might be
traversed in five or six days. For some
time previously, in Dongola, we had all
been busy supplying ourselves with camels.
From eight pounds each, the market price
of a good animal had risen to fifteen pounds
and twenty-five pounds. As many English-
men during the present expedition are
beginning to learn, the camel is not a
pleasant beast to ride. The novice for the
first time on a camel's back experiences a
general feeling of insecurity. In the event
of a mishap, the distance to be traversed

before the ground is reached, is felt to be
great ; and then, for some time at least, the
conviction is firmly entertained that should
the camel trot round to the left while the
rider intended him to go to the right, it
would not be possible for the latter to
adapt his movements to those of the former
in time to prevent a catastrophe. After a
time this feeling wears away, more or less ;
but I have found no Englishman as yet
who, when asked if he liked camel riding,
replied in the affirmative. A question of
frequent discussion is the kind of saddle to
be adopted. The Camel Corps are accom-
modated with saddles, on which the men
sit astride as on horseback, and on these

i i

482

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

they soon feel as much at home as is
possible on a camel's back. But, un-
doubtedly, the best form of saddle, both
for man and camel for a long journey, is
the Soudan native pattern, on which the
rider seats himself like a lady equestrian,
with rugs and blankets laid on the top, and
a prop behind to lean against. A long
journey on these may be accompanied
with comparatively little fatigue provided
always that the camel is an easy one to
ride. Camels vary very much in that re-
spect. The jolt of a rough camel is perhaps
the most unpleasant motion that a human
being can be subjected to, while a smooth-
going one will carry his rider at a gentle
jog for hours, as easily for the rider almost
as if he were seated in an arm-chair. As
may be understood, the vast majority of
camels supplied to the troops belong to the
former category and very rarely to the
latter. The other day I heard a gentleman,
who had ridden his animal for the first
time, inquire how many feet at each jog an
ordinary camel threw his rider into the air.
He wished to gauge whether his own was
an extraordinary one or not. A Blue-
jacket at Wady Haifa admired a camel he
rode exceedingly, because being pitched up
out of his saddle incessantly, and caught
dexterously as he descended, 'the camel
had only missed him twice during the after-
noon.'

After the usual delays and obstacles to
making a start which the traveller in the
East has always to overcome on beginning
a journey, I left Dongola behind in the
early morning, having on the previous
evening encamped outside the walls. My
camels were induced to leave the town with
difficulty. They seemed to understand
thoroughly that it was no mere afternoon
ride upon which they were bound, and
made their protests accordingly. These
they did by sitting down every few yards
and remaining on the ground until flogged
up again. A camel is always in a state of
extreme mental depression. He whines
and groans incessantly, and never, ap-

parently, like other animals, makes friends
with his master. My own beast trots along
all day with an air of hopeless misery which
nothing I can do seems to alleviate. Only
the courbash has any effect upon him. The
courbash is as necessary an accessory to-
comfortable camel riding as, according to
Ismael Pasha, it was to successful govern-
ment in Egypt. The hide of the Nile
hippopotamus, tanned and oiled and cut into
long strips, forms a whip that, as elastic as
gutta-percha, is yet much harder than that
material ; and it twines round the body of
its victim with electric effect. Probably
there is no more excruciating pain than the
cut of a courbash, and it switches through
the air with a ping like a rifle bullet a
sound by itself generally sufficient to induce
the most obstinate camel or fellah
promptly to obey orders, and so my two-
guides, my servant, and myself jog north-
wards again at five miles an hour in that
dead silence peculiar to camel travelling.
By the margin of the desert we rode where
it encroaches on the strip of cultivated land
that follows the Nile from its source almost
to the sea. Overhead, the sun glared
fiercely, and on every side a misty mirage
distorted the horizon. From the first
moment of starting until the end of the
day's march our four camels stretched out
in front their long necks, peering, anxiously
for the halting-place, and groaning with
disappointment as each clump of palm-
trees was passed, and we still pushed on..
For the night we stopped at a small hamlet
of half a dozen huts, the inhabitants of
which brought us, by way of hospitality, a
chicken in the last stages of starvation,
some dates, an egg or two, and a gourd of
milk. Foolishly we rewarded them with
liberal baksheesh, and, as a result, were
pestered for more throughout our stay.
It is not pleasant to discover that you have
started some forty miles on a five days'
journey and neglected to bring cooking
utensils of any kind ; but such was our fate
on the evening in question. It would not
do, however, to turn back, so we were fain,

IRRIGATING WHEELS.

483

to content ourselves with some cold bully
beef and the eggs aforesaid. Tea of fair
quality we brewed in the empty beef tin,
and so went to sleep side by side with our
camels, with a new moon overhead, by the
dim light of which the villagers sat round
curiously watching us in our bivouac.

Not very far off, unfortunately, was the
usual village water irrigating wheel, which,
during high Nile period, relays of bul-
locks turn night and day. A sound not
conducive to continued slumber is the
creaking of these cumbersome wooden con-
trivances for lifting Nile water on to the
land. Excepting the desolate reaches of
the Batn-el-Hajar there is not a mile of the
long road between Assouan and Dongola,
and probably on to Khartoum and Sennaar
as well, on which the sound of these
machines may not at present be heard ; and
I would recommend all who can, during the
coming advance, to give them, when they
pitch their camp for the night, as wide a
berth as possible. A large number of that
most useful class of servants known in
Lower Egypt as Berberines come from this
portion of Nubia. Just before going to
sleep I was astounded by one of the half-
naked villagers greeting me with ' Good
evening, sar.' He had served on- board a
P. and O. steamer as an officer's servant
for nearly six years, and had visited Bom-
bay, Singapore, and China, yet here we
found him, with the savings accumulated
during that period, once more among the
sordid surroundings of his youth ; so strong
is the love of home planted even in the
semi-civilized Nubian's breast. From this
individual I obtained much interesting in-
formation. According to him the wealthier
classes of the population and he himself,
in his native village, is considered a
capitalist view the threatened approach of
the Mahdi with dread. The radical theories
as to distribution of property and so on
preached by the Mahdi, are no more
fancied by men of substance in Nubia than
they are elsewhere.

Early in the morning throughout my

journey, away on the other side of the Nile,
a red gleam in the sky betokens the ap-
proach of dawn. I am awakened by the
early prayers of my two guides. Kneeling
on mats on the ground, and with heads
turned towards Mecca, they alternately cry
out with loud voices, and alternately mut-
ter their petitions for a successful day's
journey. The most praying country in the
world is this Soudan. Quite independent
of the Mahdi's movement, the people every-
where are filled with religious fervour, which,
it is easy to understand, with little effort
may be turned into fanaticism. In his
rigorous observance of the laws of the
Koran lies in great part the secret of the
Mudir's power; and Osman Digna, at
Souakin, by dressing like a fakir, in a single
dirty cotton cloth, and covering himself
with dust, and praying continuously, in-
duced the Hadendowas to follow him first
to victory, and then to their death. In
Souakin itself, the moolah in the little
mosque began to call the people there to
prayers at four o'clock every morning. At
first the sonorous tones of his deep voice,
rising and falling in musical cadence, was
pronounced interesting in a high degree ;
later on we described it as bellowing and a
nuisance of the first order.

Very cold towards early morning is the
Soudan climate ; and in that respect it
resembles Afghanistan, where, owing to
the extremes of heat during the day and
cold at night, the soldiers sickened in
large numbers of diarrhoea and dysentery,
ailments which have already put in an ap-
pearance beween Wady Haifa and Dongola.
Two blankets to each man are being issued,
and already these are found barely suffi-
cient to prevent chills, with all their evil
consequences. Four hours every morning,
and four hours every evening, we travelled,
thus placing behind us each day, and with
comparative ease, over forty miles. The
second day the camel of one of my guides
broke down, and we were obliged, albeit
with heavy hearts, to sacrifice sundry little
comforts which had been provided for the

4 8 4

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

journey. The trotting camel must carry
nothing but his rider and a day's food.
Our Mounted Infantry are far too heavily
weighted. To the fact that three tins of
bully beef and a spare suit of underclothing
had been entrusted to him in addition, the
guide attributed the collapse of his animal.
But, once having started, let nothing ever
stop you on a journey in Eastern climes.
Consent to even a day's delay, and you
may be unable to advance again for a
week. So, sternly refusing to halt while he
endeavoured to procure another camel, I
proceeded with one guide, leaving behind
the other, and trusting to replace the stores
he carried, with eggs and chickens from the
wayside villages. Every morning we break-
fasted on our camels' backs as they jogged
over the sand, half a dozen eggs each and
some dates forming our repast ; but let me
hasten to explain that a Nubian egg is a
very different article from that deposited
by an English hen. An average wood
pigeon, if fed well for a week and put on
her mettle, would probably surpass in the
size of her produce the best egg-laying bird
in the Soudan.

There are three routes by road between
Dongola and Wady Haifa. The one on
the left band of the river is the best, and
that on the right the worst at least,
according to native authorities, although
the latter has hitherto been adopted by the
military. I crossed the river when half
way, at the village of Koke, and would
recommend any who may be riding up to
Dongola after me to do the same. With
the exception of the Mahass Desert, thirty-
five miles long, and another stretch of
thirty miles between Ambigol and Sarras,
villages will be encountered throughout on
this road, at which supplies are readily
obtainable.

The following is an itinerary of the
route :

First march. From Dongola to Haffir,
six hours, about thirty miles. The road is
good all the way, with frequent villages.
In Haffir travellers may put up.

Second march. To Fakr Bender, about
thirty miles. Fairly good road. One or
two bad places for camels close to Fakr
Bender, which consists merely of a few huts
with no supplies available.

Third march. Across the Mahass Desert
to Koke, thirty-five miles. Good road, but
with no water, as a bend of the Nile is
avoided. At Koke there are several vil-
lages with food in plenty for man and
camel. I found here also a hospitable
moolah, who cooked me an excellent
dinner. At Koke the river is crossed in
native nuggars, an easy operation, which
the camels seem to thoroughly understand.

Fourth march. To Koke, about thirty
miles. Here is the tomb of Sheik Mogh-
rani, the father of the holy sheik who
assisted us in Souakin in our negotiations
with the tribes. His brother lives close
by, and is very hospitable to Englishmen
supplying them with a room and beds.

Fifth march. Koke to Dal, about thirty-
two miles. Road good. At Dal there is a
large commissariat station, and rations are
issued.

Sixth march. Commencement of the
Batn-el-Hagar. From Dal to Ambigol,
about forty-three miles. Road very bad.

Seventh march. From Ambigol to Sarras.
Twenty-eight miles across the desert and
over rocky ground.

Throughout, the inhabitants will be found
most friendly, although I suspect that by
the time the Camel Corps traverse the
road, their stock of fowls and eggs will be
exhausted. Still sheep may be purchased
at moderate prices. During the journey I
was much struck with the ignorance of the
people as to the objects which we English
have in view in entering their country. At
Dongola itself, as I have already explained,
the inhabitants consider that we have been
sent to assist the Mudir in reconquering
the Soudan; but elsewhere the people
think we have come to annex their country,
as they believe we have already done Lower
Egypt. In Lower Egypt itself the wildest
stories are circulated and believed in the

NEED FOR PROCLAMATIONS.

485

villages ; and although Englishmen indi-
vidually, of all the foreigners who mix
among the people, are most popular with
them, our interference with their Govern-
ment is strongly disapproved of. They
believe, for instance, that the main object
we have in view is the recovery of vast
sums lent to Ismail Pasha, and every tax
and every act of oppression is put down to
us, who are supposed to have taken since
Tel-el-Kebir fabulous sums away from the

country. Of our good intentions, of our
efforts to abolish the courbash, and of our
offer to advance money for their relief, they
know nothing ; the fact being that we take
no trouble to tell the people what we are
doing on their behalf. The misrepresenta-
tions to which I refer are chiefly of French
origin, but we do little to counteract them,
although a few Arabic proclamations, judi-
ciously worded and posted in all the bazaars
from time to time, would have a most

A COUNTRY REPAST.

excellent effect. In Tonquin the French
made use of these perhaps too freely.
Nearly every day there was a fresh pro-
clamation, so that the population at last
disregarded these documents; at first,
however, they were not only eagerly read,
but believed in implicitly. Something
of the kind is much wanted now in the
Soudan. Lord Wolseley, I believe, has
gone to Dongola to send messages to the
Mahdi and to the different sheiks. But

those, I suppose, as at Souakin, will be
kept a dead secret until the Blue-books are
issued, and so the tribes will never really
hear of them. Osman Digna simply buried
the letters that were addressed to his fol-
lowers, telling them it was not good for
them to hear what we Christians had writ-
ten. Bat print a number of proclamations,
circulate them industriously, and their con-
tents will soon become the subject of pop-
ular rumour."

486

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

CHAPTER CI.

EGYPTIAN JNCIDENTS TRAVELLING NEAR KHARTOUM.

AY ISLAND, not far from
Wady Haifa, is the first
spot where there is any ex-
tent of cultivated ground.
Here palm-trees abound,
and plenty of milk is offered for sale to the
traveller, which will probably be brought
to the boats in baskets of palm leaves, so
closely woven as to be watertight. Empty
wine-bottles are much appreciated here,
and as a staple of barter, are preferred to
piastres. The plan of placing by a cow,
whose calf has been taken away or died, a

* tulchan,' or sham calf, is always followed
here, and the affection with which the be-
reaved mother licks the ill-shapen model,
and her continued supply of milk, proved
the wisdom of the plan. Meat is, however,
scarce, and the small boats of the crocodile
punter formed of a few rough pieces of

* ambach,' or] ' Dom palm,' fixed together
with strips of hide and caulked, are fre-
quently seen on the river. The meat of
this reptile, with its horrible musky smell
and flavour, is eaten eagerly by the Nubians,
and is credited with wonderful strengthen-
ing qualities ; the skin, too, is valued for
fishing beams or masts together, but the
all-precious morsels are the musk glands
from the throat and tail ; these are care-
fully dried, and after being set in a small
casket, are hung around the neck of the
harem favourite. There is a good deal
of fish in the pools between and above the
rapids, some of large size. None are par-
ticularly palatable, and those only with
scales are wholesome; the large, soft-
skinned Nile turtle is not uncommon. At
Agoulai, near the ruins of the Temple of
Soleb, is a slight rapid. At Koye, one
hundred and sixty miles from Wady Haifa,
the camel route of the left bank cuts across

the Mahass Desert to Fakir Bender. The
distance by land is thirty-two miles, as
against seventy by river ; the track is fairly
good, but without water. The river here
makes two bends, about thirty-five miles in
all, on which towing must be provided for.
On the loop in question, near Delligo, are
the rapids of Kaibar, which are about half
a mile long, with a total fall of five feet.
Six miles above ' Fakir Bender ' begin the
rapids of Hanmik, commonly called the
Third Cataract Their character is very
similar to those in the ' Batn-el-Hajar,'
they are about eight miles in length, over
part of which portage will be most difficult
These rapids surmounted, the chief diffi-
culties of the Nile route are over, and as
the boat sails rapidly to the village of Han-
mik, the natives on the banks shout their
congratulations to those who have survived
their perils. The puggaree, or turban of
the traveller, is claimed by the Reis as his
guerdon ; and a couple of sheep, bought at
Hanmik, make the boatmen happy, the
feast being probably supplemented by
large bowls of ' Boosa,' native beer, and a
bottle of something stronger, provided by
the traveller from his store, or purchased
from one of the itinerant Greek merchants.
Above Hanmik there is much alluvial soil,
more especially on the left bank, which
extends as far as Candala. Just opposite
to Old Dongola, a distance of nearly one
hundred miles, there is also plenty of cul-
tivable land in one of the ' Bahr Bela Mas '
described above. This depression, called
Wady el Kab, runs nearly due south for
over one hundred miles. Some cultivation
is carried on in the wady with wells, and
alongside the river by means of ' Sakyeahs '
and ' Shadoufs ; ' but with the help of a
few irrigation pumps, worked by windmills,

THE RIVER AND LAND ROUTES.

487

a large extent of fertile land could be
utilised. The river from Hanmik to New
Dongola, or Oordeh, is very favourable ;
as, indeed, it is for the ensuing hundred
miles to Dabbeh, whence to Ambukol
towing is at times necessary, owing to the
westerly direction of the stream. Oordeh
is the capital of the district of Dongola.
The town is pleasantly situated amongst
gardens, in which much fruit is grown.
With a population of between two and
three thousand, it boasts of a ' Mudiriah,'
or Government house, a telegraph station,
and a post-office. There are, moreover,
two bazaars here, where the merchants do
a good trade in hides, grain, senna, ivory,
ebony, and other products of the Soudan,
the goods being, as a rule, discharged from
the boats in which they have been brought
from Meroe, Ambukol, or Dabbeh, and
sent on by camels to Wady Haifa. The
route usually adopted is that on the left or
west bank of the river, the length to Wady
Haifa being about two hundred and fifty
miles, the time occupied in actual travelling
about ninety hours. With the exception
of that portion that traverses the Mahass
Desert, there would be no difficulty in es-
tablishing camps at ten miles or so apart,
close to the river, so that there would be
an ample supply of water. In the Mahass
Desert, moreover, two stations might be
made ten miles from Koyeh and Fakir
Bender respectively, with cisterns and stores j
to be continually replenished by a service
of camels. There is another camel route
along the right side of the river, but this
involves transshipment at Koye, or a con-
siderable detour. The third route is little
known ; it is also on the right or east side,
and goes nearly straight from a point on
the river opposite New Dongola to Wady
Haifa, and is said to be fairly supplied with
wells. It was by this route that in 1876
the late Ismail Pasha Eyoub over-reached
Zebehr Pasha, who was travelling by Berber
and Korosko, and got first into Cairo.

The route along the left or west bank is
-decidedly the best, and has at former times

been largely used, as is evidenced by the
remains of numerous 'Mahattas,' or sta-
tions, along it. The road is good, except
between Dal and Okmeh, where for five
hours it is very sandy, and between Okmeh
and Melkanaza, where for five hours also it
is bad, the length between Dal and Mel-
kanaza being twenty-five miles. Comparing
the relative merits and demerits of the
river and land routes between Amka, or
Sarras and Oordeh, it may safely be
affirmed that no one who has tried the
river would ever so travel again, were any
other means available. As before men-
tioned, a Nubian camel will carry two
hundred and fifty to three hundred pounds,
but for the traveller himself a donkey,
when, as is the case here, water is procur-
able along the route, is the pleasantest
mount. From Oordeh to Ambukol, as
before stated, no difficulties present them-
selves by water. It may be mentioned,
however, that the midges, here called
' Nemittas,' are intolerable in the warmer
months on this piece of river^ At daybreak
they rise in myriads from the water, dulling
the sun and sky, and nearly madden the
unprotected traveller until sundown brings
him relief. The natives protect themselves
by carrying smouldering firebrands, the
smoke of which keeps these insect pests
away. For the traveller by boat the only
plan is to wrap face and hands in muslin,
or, creeping into the decked portion of the
* nuggar,' to close the opening in front with
a sail, and burn wet wood or straw, until
a fairly choking atmosphere is attained.
Handak, Old Dongola, and Dabbeh, at
forty, seventy, and ninety miles from New
Dongola, are the best places for obtaining
supplies on this portion of the river.

Ambukol is the starting-place for the
march across the Desert or Wilderness of
the Bayuda Sahrat Bayuda the length
being about one hundred and seventy-five
miles. This route strikes the Nile at Me-
temmch, opposite Shendy, a town about
half-way between Berber and Khartoum.
By this short cut a distance of two hundred

488

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

and twenty miles is saved, and, in addition,
the difficulties of the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth
Cataracts are avoided ; whilst the Bayuda
Desert affords an ample supply of water
and firewood, with a considerable amount
of cattle and forage. Ambukol is at present
but a small place with about one thousand
inhabitants, but judging from the ruins of
a masonry pier and other buildings, it has
been a place of some importance. Four
miles above Ambukol a large 'wady'
(valley or stream course) debouches on
the Nile, taking its rise in the Gebel Gilif
range, some seventy miles from the river.
It is called by different names in different
portions of its course, but in order to avoid
confusion, it is here termed throughout the
Wady 'Aboo Geer,' as it is known for
many miles. Water is obtainable from
shallow wells along its entire course, and
its bed, as in most of the lower ground in
the Bayuda Desert, is thickly covered
with vegetation. This principally consists
of Sammarah bushes (a spreading thorny
acacia), occasional ' Sunt ' trees (Acacia
Arabicd), twenty to twenty-five feet high ;
the milk plant (Asdepia Gigantea) ; the
'Merkh,' a green shrub ; the 'Thundub,' a
bush about fifteen feet high ; ' Sereh ' and
' Hegleek trees,' twenty to twenty-five feet
high, often with a diameter of trunk at five
feet from the ground of twelve to fifteen
inches ; the ' Mokert ' (Sattadora Persica\
and even occasionally the Dom palm
(Hypcene Thebaica), of which the latter, the
' Esker,' or milk plant, and the ' Merkh '
are indicative of water near the surface.
Best suited for firewood are the ' Sunt,' the
'Sammarah,' the 'Thundub,' and the ' Heg-
leek,' the wood of the last-named being
used as the base on which the natives, by
twirling a dry piece of ' Sammarah ' root,
procure fire. Sheep, of which large flocks
are owned by the ' Hassaneeya,' ' Umeah,'
and other wandering Bedawee tribes in the
' Bayuda,' find even during the dry season
a sufficiency of food in the grassy plains
near Gebel Gilif, whilst the fresher shoots
of the Merkh and Thundub, and the juicy

leaves of the Esher provide sustenance for
the goats. It is stated by one of the en-
gineers who surveyed the Soudan railway
that during a couple of months passed by
him in this desert he lived almost entirely
on the food there procurable, finding it
much more wholesome than the tinned
meats he had brought with him.

The readiest route from Ambukol strikes
for the desert close to the village, whence
an easy slope two miles in length rises to
the desert plateau, about fifty feet higher
than the Nile bank ; a level shingly plain
is then traversed for about three miles,
when the Wady Aboo Geer is struck, lead-
ing right to the Gebel Gilif, with an ascent
of about ten feet per mile. The route now
skirts the hill Gebel Aboo Shenkawe, near
to the salt-diggings, and passing a clump
of hills Dubbayat-el-Khebir (the Great
Hyena) joins another route from the Nile
near the point where the Wady Mofok-
kakart debouches into the Wady Aboo
Geer, some thirty miles from Ambukol.
This other camel track, after leaving Am-
bukol, follows the Nile Valley to near Korti,
a distance of about four miles, whence,
turning sharply to the right by the Wadies
Ummarrah and Tel-Monfuch, and crossing
the ridge of Nasaib-el-Ruchan at a point
three hundred feet above Ambukol, it
descends over rather broken ground to the
Wady Aboo Geer, whence there is but one
route. At about thirty- seven miles from
Ambukol the first existing wells are met
with ; these are merely holes dug in the
sand and deepened as the subterranean
waters fall, until either the sides cave in or
the whole excavation is obliterated by the
rush of water down the wady during the
rainy season. The water is drawn from
these and all similar wells in the Bayuda
by means of rude skin bags ; it is then
poured into small earth cisterns made on
the surface, at which the camels, sheep,
etc., are watered, and is so pure that when
watering camels a small amount of salt,
which is fairly plentiful, is frequently mixed
with it; this class of well is rarely more

VOLCANIC ROCKS.

489

than twenty to twenty-five feet deep. Near
this point, at thirty-eight miles from Am-
bukol, the wady, which has hitherto been
flat and sandy, with very gently sloping
sides, becomes much broken, small meta-
morphic ridges, hills, and lava-like mounds
close in, showing that the belt of meta-
morphic rock intervening between the lower
Nubian sandstone and the extensive granite
rocks is being traversed. The hills assume
curious forms ; some, of black basalt, are
almost perfectly conical, whilst the rock of
which they are composed is so magnetic as
seriously to interfere with the action of the
compass in their vicinity ; the tops of others
are composed of small five or six-sided

columns, so regular as to resemble artificial
paving ; others, again, consist of alternate
layers of sandstone and lava, and resemble
giant fortifications and buildings; whilst
all around are strewn globular volcanic
bombs of every possible form, hard as glass
on the exterior, and when broken found to
be filled with sand of different colours.
Here, again, are long streams of rock re-
sembling lava which, in cooling, has con-
tracted and divided into regular joints, so
that the fossil vertebrae of some enormous
beast are closely simulated ; whilst, as
though carelessly thrown about, here and
there are seen the trunks of fossil trees,
some of which are as much as thirty to

A BEND IN THE RIVER.

forty feet long. About fifty-five miles from
Ambukol are the wells of El-Howeiyat, of
similar character to those described above ;
the plain of El-Rechewa is then left on the
right, and, quitting the Wady Aboo Geer,
which turns towards the hills abruptly to
the left, the route crosses a curious plain
three to four miles wide, called El-Mesa-
leema. This plain is surrounded by low
hills, and is without vegetation. It is very
level, and is intersected by veins of moun-
tain limestone much resembling marble,
and here are to be found fossil remains of
the Saurian type.

Leaving El-Mcsaleema through a gap in
the hills, the route enters on the plain lying

at the southern foot of the Gebel-el-Gilif,
passing over frequent watercourses, which
in the rains serve to carry off the water
from the mountains. These streams issue
from wild gorges, and are said to drain
extensive plains twenty or thirty miles
distant, a statement corroborated by the
quantity of dry brushwood and small timber
strewn about, and which has evidently been
water-carried for a considerable distance.
After issuing from these gorges, the streams
run over a sharply sloping talus of boulders
and debris that they have brought down,
and over which they spread in numberless
irregular channels reuniting at the foot ;
they then follow well-defined sandy chan-

490

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

nels from one to three miles long, whose
permanent character is proved by their
tree-fringed banks; after this they again
break up into a number of small diverging
channels, losing themselves in a grass-clad
plain to the south, fairly covered with trees
and brushwood and about eight miles
across. This plain is said to have water
on it during the rains to a depth of three
to four feet, but to be dry at other seasons.
Water may be procured in any of these
sandy channels by digging holes as de-
scribed above, and at Aboo Haifa, about
ninety miles from Ambukol, are large wells
of this class, at which numbers of camels
and flocks are daily watered.

It is stated that at Christmas, 1871, a
party of surveyors persuaded, with diffi-
culty, a sheik of the Hasaneeya to guide
them up one of these mountain gorges,
which are extremely wild, often only wide
enough at the bottom to admit of one
camel passing at a time, and with steeply
precipitous sides. After passing many
small pools of water still standing in basins
worn out of the granite bed, the gorge, at
a distance of two or three miles from the
entrance, widened out into a valley about
half a mile across here was a small lake,
the edges fringed with bulrushes and Dom
palms, whilst the character of the native
huts, the vegetation, birds, and conies
clearly proved the permanent character of
the lake. They heard that many similar
lakes exist in the recesses of Gebel Gilif,
but the Arabs were extremely reticent on
the point. As an evidence of the per-
manence and class of the water they men-
tioned that the sheik was mounted on a
good horse of the bay Arab type, a rare
sight in the desert. At about ninety-five
miles from Ambukol the Gebel Gilif range
changes its character ; the precipitous face
breaks up into outlying spurs and inter-
mediate plains. In one of the spurs, about
two miles to the north of the route, and
one hundred miles from Ambukol, are
situate the wells of Gakdul. The water

is sweet, but the lower pools are much
contaminated by the flocks constantly using
them, and the sight of myriads of flying
beetles issuing from the water at dusk is
not inviting. The upper pools are, how-
ever, much cleaner. With Gebel Gilif, the
granitic rock is left, and the route traverses
the Upper Nubian sandstone, metamorphic
and simple, to the river at Metemmeh.
Between the hundred and fifteenth and
hundred and twenty-fifth mile the route
crosses a belt of drift-sand hills travelling
from east to west. At one hundred and
fifty-two miles from Ambukol are the wells
of Abu Klea, artificial pits of similar
character to those at El Faur ; the water
is good, and rarely fails. They require, ot
course, frequent clearing out At Sheboeat,
near the hundred and sixty-eighth mile, is
a large permanent well, about twelve feet
in diameter, sunk to a depth of some fifty
feet through sandstone rock to a bed of
water-bearing gravel. The water is brack-
ish, but the supply perennial. At a hundred
and seventy-three miles from Ambukol,
Metemmeh, or Mattammeh, is reached, the
town being about one mile from the river,
and the intervening plain subject to floods
at high Nile. The population is about two
thousand five hundred, and they derive
their supply of water from wells sunk
to the water-bearing strata, into which the
river percolates. Immediately opposite to
Metemmeh, on the right bank of the river,
is Shendy, whence the route for Abyssinia
leaves. From Metemmeh to Khartoum,
about a hundred and fifteen miles, the
navigation of the Nile is uninterrupted for
the greater part of the year. For two or
three months, however, at the period of
dead low Nile, the Sixth Cataract is to a
certain extent an obstruction. Across the
Bayuda, as between Sarras and New Don-
gola, stations could be made every ten
miles, with ample supply of water, fuel, and
forage, whilst at the same time the railway
might be laid across this comparatively
level country at a very speedy rate."

UP THE NILE IN A NUGGAR.

491

CHAPTER CII.

EGYPTIAN INCIDENTS UP THE NILE IN A NUGGAR.

HILST such are the diffi-
culties of travel near Khar-
toum, they are not less
further towards the mouth
of the river. We have al-
ready, in our illustrations, shown some of
our boats laboriously toiling up the Nile.
Here is now an account from an eye-wit-
ness, who, writing in December, 1884, says:
"Two months ago I made my first trip
from Sarras to Dongola, taking by pre-
ference passage up the Nile in a nuggar.
Since then I have ceased to run the least
risk of taking to the water route from
choice. At that time the river had fallen
many feet below the average annual flood
mark, yet we covered the distance in a
little over ten days, for the Nile then ran
for the greater part of the way in unbroken
volume, the thick, muddy water swelling
from bank to bank. To-day apparently it is
no longer the same river. The whole aspect
of its borders is so changed that you cannot
recognise the former landmarks, the rocks,
sandbanks, and ghizerehs (fertile islands),
as the same. If rocks and islets might
then have been told by hundreds, now they
must be numbered by tens of thousands,
whilst cataracts and rapids have also multi-
plied daily. A faint conception of what
the Nile is like and the difficulties it inter-
poses to navigation at this season may be
got by imagining a north-country trout-
stream, with its cascades, runs, shallows,
pools, rocks, sand and gravel banks, but all
on a vaster scale, up which boat-loads of
townspeople attempt to sail, row, haul, and
carry deeply-ladened boats. Whatever ideas
they might have had before starting of
going picnicking in that fashion would
soon be dispelled. Late as the season was
when I set out on the nuggar, we had only

to be towed through the Semneh Cataract,
for, by taking advantage of eddies, the
skipper sailed through the gates at Ambigol,
Tangur, Dal, and others. No unloading of
cargo was necessary even, for the wide-
spreading lateen sail forced the nuggar
along. Over 200 such boats as the one
referred to, each capable of conveying fifty
men and necessary stores, could, I am told,
have been started and mustered at Wady
Haifa in August last. Crediting the state-
ments that the English-built whalers were
to convey the Nile Valley expeditionary
force all the way to Khartoum, I naturally
arranged to have a small boat, in addition
to my dahabeah, forwarded up the Nile to
use as a despatch boat The farthest point
to which anybody would transport it for me
was Wady Haifa, so it remained for me to
return to that place by camel, and take
personal charge of it for conveyance to the
front. My wish and instructions were for
a racing gig without outriggers to be sent,
but the Fates and ' the other fellows '
whom you have to trust when you cannot
do a thing yourself forwarded, through
John Cook's agents, a podgy heavily-built
dingy. My hope had been to have carried
the boat to the placid waters beyond Dal,
or perchance to Dongola itself, on a camel's
back. One look at the 6oolb. of oak, elm,
and pine planking dispelled that illusion.
By rare luck the Haifa cataracts had not to
be faced, as I succeeded in getting the
dingy conveyed by train to Sarras. Having
sent my horse and camel back by the
road they came, I determined to proceed
at leisure from Sarras to Dongola in the
dingy on my second voyage up the Nile.
My boat was provided with a lateen, small
lateen sail, boat-hook, rudder, and four
heavy ash oars. The crew comprised two

492

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

Greeks and myself. One of the Greeks
knew something about a boat ; the other,
who said he was a sailor, of course knew
nothing whatever, and was even unable to
pull an oar. He was a source of dread to
me from the moment we started, and I
determined to shunt him the first moment
another man could be engaged. That was
no easy affair, for the Government had
impressed all the river-side population at
Haifa and Sarras, as well as at the other
cataracts and places where porterage work
had to be done. It was Hobson's choice,
so I set sail with my No. 2 Greek aboard.

When Tom Sayers was told about the
size and strength of Heenan, and an effort
was made to dissuade him from the prize-
fight which followed, he only smiled, so
runs the legend, and said, ' The bigger the
better. 5 With equal confidence and in the
same way, but with far less experience of
the task before them, ' our military authori-
ties,' and one or two naval ones, being
frequently reminded, two or three months
ago, that the Nile was rapidly falling,
laughed, and replied, 'The lower the
better ; all the easier to go up it.' Alas !
Never did past or present experience of
that river more flatly contradict such an
assertion. From the date when the Royal
Sussex^Regiment went from Sarras to Don-
gola in nuggars in twelve days, down to the
moment of writing, with the whalers taking
over thirty days, the lower the Nile the
more difficult and tedious becomes its
navigation for all kinds of craft. The case
was put forcibly by a voyager, who re-
marked : ' If this 'ere river keeps falling
for a week or two more, and Lord Wol-
seley wants us to get the boats through to
Khartoum, the quickest way will be to
carry the things there.' The great series
of cataracts between Wady Haifa and
Gemai are like all the rest, fast getting no
better. Seen from the river-bank, the Nile
at that place rushes and tumbles through
a labyrinth of rock-bound channels. How
Lord Charles Beresford and the officers
associated with him now manage, by tow-

ing and porterage combined, to get as
many as forty boats daily through the
fifteen miles of rock-work to Gemai is truly
surprising. It actually takes between two
and three days to pass a boat across from
Haifa to Gemai, but the forty boats repre-
sent the best daily delivery. The labour
of carrying and hauling is done by Don-
galese. At Gemai the soldiers are for the
first time assigned to boats, which are,
however, then unloaded. From there to
Sarras is a journey along open water of
eighteen miles, which generally occupies
nearly two days, the men in that time get-
ting initiated in rowing and navigating the
whalers. At Gemai, on Nov. 24th, there
were close upon a hundred whale boats
waiting in readiness for troops. The re-
pairs they required through damages sus-
tained in transit had been effected, for
already patches of tin, lead, and pitch were
conspicuous on many boats. The head-
quarters of the Black Watch, with several
companies belonging to other regiments,
were then at Wady Haifa (Nov. 25th).
Officers and men were all anxious to get
to the front and finish the campaign before
March and the hot weather came. Un-
fortunately no voyageurs were available to
pilot the whalers. The majority of these
experts were at the moment employed con-
veying stores and troops to the front, whilst
some of them were stationed to assist at
the passage of the more dangerous cata-
racts. The troops had therefore to wait
several days for the return of voyageurs,
and between Ambigol and Dal, on my way
up the river, about forty empty whalers,
with Canadians and Indians aboard, re-
turned to Gemai. The men rowed the
boats down, 'shooting' the rapids and
cataracts in fine style. It was exciting
enough to watch the whalers with the re-
turning voyageurs jump and bound over
the gates at Ambigol and Akasheh at rail-
road speed. How much more sensational
it must have been to have sat in the boats
at the time, with nothing but thin planking
between you and granite rocks, I can only

DIFFICULTIES OF NAVIGATION.

493

guess, assisted thereat by a few minor ex-
periences of my own in going over cata-
racts at Tangur.

A portion of the Camel Corps, about the
same date as the infantry, also had perforce
to lag behind. On Nov. 24th two sections
of the Heavy Camelry proceeded by train
to Sarras, intending to start next day with
the 1 9th Hussars. The same night the
Heavies were stopped by telegram, and
told to turn over their camels to the Trans-
port Service. This they did, returning to
Haifa next day. An order of that sort led
to the circulation of scores of 'shaves,'
among others that Gordon was a prisoner,
that Wolseley had squared the Mahdi, that
the Mahdi had written to say that he would
let Gordon out, that the Mahdi was dead,
and so on. The truth was, Lord Wolseley's
trip had shown him the real nature of the
whalers' difficulties, and that increased
camel transport must be provided. Orders
were therefore issued for the employment
of 900 camels as baggage animals to convey
stores beyond Sarkamatto and for porterage
at Kaibur and Hanneck cataracts. By this
means it was hoped the whalers would be
lightened, at any rate as far as Sarkamatto,
the top of Dal cataracts, carrying instead
of 100 days' Nile boat stores but half that
quantity, until they reached more open
water. A whaler with its full complement
of men and stores has a dead weight of
about three tons to float Loaded, as they
are, to the paint streak, they draw quite
eighteen inches of water, so that Tommy
Atkins has no light labour imposed on him
to haul and row such craft to Khartoum.
The Nile at Wady Haifa is reputed to be
420 feet above the sea level. At Khartoum
it is 1,240 feet higher than the Mediter-
ranean, and at Dongola between 700 feet
and 800 feet above the sea. If what one
hears is true, that the cost of each whaler
by the time it arrives at Wady Haifa is
^200, then the British public will have a
fine bill to pay. Taking it even at ^i 50
each and it is not less, all included the
amount will be considerable.

The i gth Hussars, under the command
of Colonel Barrow, who was so dangerously
wounded at El Teb, left Sarras on the
morning of Nov. 25th to march by easy
stages to Dongola. They were mounted
on Egyptian cavalry horses, the fellaheen
soldiery for the second time, when fighting
was to done, having been compelled to
turn over their ' mounts ' to our men. The
1 9th 'mount' under 400 men, but all of
them look fit and well. At Sarras there
was a large accumulation of stores of all
kinds, which had been brought by train
from Wady Haifa. The railway, which in
September was in such a tumble-down con-
dition, has been rehabilitated by the Royal
Engineers, and three or four trains a day
are now running between the two terminal
stations. As at Gemai, so at Sarras, I
noticed there was one of Her Majesty's ship
dockyards for repairing and equipping the
whalers. Putting a few stores on board my
dingy, with a fair wind, at n a.m. on
Nov. 25th I started for Dongola. From
Sarras to Semneh twelve miles by the
river had aforetime taken us two days and
a half in the nuggar. The rapids and whirl-
pools were, if anything, worse, and certainly
more numerous ; but, by hugging the banks
where possible, I got the dingy along,
reaching that cataract in the afternoon.
On the river banks and on the islands were
strewn the hulls of wrecked Government
nuggars, with here and there whalers which,
like beacons, told the whereabouts of dan-
gerous rocks and channels. Near Semneh
I passed Captain Scott Stevenson's com-
pany of the Black Watch, in their whalers.
These men had hauled, sailed, and rowed
whale boats from Philae to Wady Haifa in
something under ten days. Here they
were, scarce ten miles from Sarras, which
place they left on Nov. 24th, working and
striving with Highland fervour to beat
every whaler that preceded or should
follow them. It was the heavily-loaded
boats that made the progress so slow.

I also passed a company of the Essex
Regiment, out from Sarras one day, and a

494

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

very little farther on whalers which had
started five days previously from that place.
The voyageurs sometimes sat in the stern,
sometimes in the bows, directing the course
of the whalers. When in the stern they
steered; in the bows they used the pole.
All the whalers had their lug-sails set, and
although these were drawing well, the
soldiers kept toiling at the oars to hurry
the boats on. The numerous boxes of
stores, pack them as best they could, filled
the whalers above the seats, so that the
men were cramped for room to bend their
backs in rowing, and had to paddle, as it
was impossible to get a free swing to
pull. When the current was very strong
and the broken water rushed or tumbled
over ledges of rock, the men landed and
hauled the boats by ropes past these
obstacles. When the rapids were very bad,
two or more boats' crews would unite in
hauling the whalers one by one across.
Two Canadians or Indians would on these
occasions take command, one in the bow,
the other in the stern. 'Rock-rangers'
and ' galley-slaves ' were the grim terms in
which Tommy Atkins spoke of himself and
his Nile boating experience. From sunrise
to sunset, with scarcely a respite for a
noonday meal, the soldiers laboured, now
at the oars, and anon clambering over
sharp rocks, tugging at the tow-rope.
Printed copies of a ' Nile Boat Song,'

which has a refrain about striking another
link from Gordon's chain, were liberally
distributed to the men of every boat. On
all my journeyings I have never yet had the
satisfaction of hearing it sung. It was, I
understand, composed by a distinguished
officer, and the rhythm of words and tune
was assumed to be just the sort of thing
to make the men pull together and swing
the boats up stream. I am told it is even
dangerous to quote two lines of the song,
as the men get excited and desperate at
the free-and-easy way it makes of the miles
that lie between them and Khartoum.
They have, in short, reached the stage of
the travellers in the snow-bound Pacific
train who, when blocked for a week,
started concerts. An unfortunate wretch
began the ballad, ' O, the snow ! the beauti-
ful snow.' He never lived to finish it. So
it is hazardous to talk of the ' Nile Boat
Song ' on a whaler.

When done with work for the day, the
men light fires ashore, pitch little tents,
and, after a meal of soup, tinned beef or
mutton, coarse biscuit, coffee or tea, turn in
for the night, only to rise next morning,
and for many to-morrows, to repeat the
routine of duty. Perhaps there are high
and weighty reasons why the ' active-service
rum-tote' is denied the soldiers in this
campaign." Lord Wolseley is known to
be against it.

FATHER ZONONrS NARRATIVE.

495

CHAPTER CIII.

EGYPTIAN INCIDENTS FATHER BONONI'S J^ARRATIYE.

ATHER BONONI,the well-
known missionary, was taken
prisoner by the Mahdi's
forces. He saw a good
deal of the pretended pro-
phet, and on his release furnished the
following interesting account of his ex-
periences :

"The sun had not risen when I, Luigi
Bononi, chief of the Latin Mission to
Central Africa, with a heart [full of grati-
tude to God who had so far preserved me
through perils great and terrible, still to
serve Him, fled from the foul city that had
been so long my prison. Alas ! I left
behind and my heart was sore at it my
three friends, Guiseppe Orwalder (an Aus-
trian subject), Pado Rosignoli (an Italian),
Regnatto and Guiseppe Regnalo. Regnatto
was a layman who belonged to our mission.
Perhaps I may as well state how it was that
I came to be at Obeid.

I was once first parish priest-minister in
the diocese of Verona, and in 1873 entered
the mission of Central Africa, and went to
Khartoum in 1874. I was first missionary
in Kordofan, then at Gebel Nuba, and in
1876 superior at El Obeid, from 1877-79
superior at Gebel Nuba, and from 1879
to 1 88 1 general vicar of Bishop Bamel
Camboni at Khartoum, and then general
superior of the mission in the countries of
Nuba. In May, 1882, I was at Gebel
Belim, central seat of mission, among the
Nubani ; when surrounded by the rebels
1 7th September, was made prisoner,
as well as all the missionaries and 150
soldiers. I was present at the siege of El
Obeid, which surrendered i7th January,
1883, when all the prisoners and nuns there
were made prisoners. When the Mahdi
marched upon Khartoum I was with twelve

European surviving members of the mission.
The priest, three nuns, and one catechist
died of starvation and bad treatment. I,
with a mission composed of Padre Yousef,
Orwalder, the layman called Guiseppe
Regnalo a mechanic, Gabriel Madiani
also a mechanic, and three nuns, estab-
lished a church at Gebel Deli, three days'
journey from Obeid. We succeeded in
making thirty liberated slaves embrace
Christianity ; these we trained to different
trades or to farming. We carefully tilled a
large quantity of land which we had pur-
chased, and we were allowed soldiers as a
guard. We now established a mission at
Obeid ; a priest was at the head, and there
were laymen and five sisters. When the
Baggara Arabs in the neighbourhood heard
of Mohammed Ahmed, that he had come to
cast off the yoke of the Turks, they at once
made ready to join him ; they got danger-
ous too, and made a fierce attack on our
mission. We resisted this attack, and beat
them back, and they could not prevail
against us. The blacks who were with us
fought well and assisted us greatly. These
were the Nubi from the mountains, abori-
gines driven up there by the succeeding
waves of Arabs that flooded the country
after the crusades. They hied them to the
mountains, and have never been completely
subjugated. We made Christians of some
of these. We were environed from the 2nd
of April to the end of September, 1882.

About this time, it will be remembered,
the army, under command of Yousef Pasha
Shellali, marching to the relief of Obeid,
was annihilated. The soldiers had found
the wells on the previous day's march filled
up. On arriving at the next wells their
thirst was so great that they at once broke
from the ranks and rushed to them. The

49<5

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

Arabs were in ambush and slaughtered
them all. After this success the Mahdi
proceeded to lay siege to Obeid. He first
sent an Emir called Mek Omar to attack
the mission. This man had orders to put
us all to the sword ; not one was to escape
alive. He had, however, an insufficient
force; so he simply sat down before the
place, well knowing that thousands of Arabs
were on their way to help him. Day after
day their number increased. So we, seeing
our case hopeless, resolved to collect our
cattle and sheep and whatever we had, and
leave the station, and make the best of our
way to Fashoda : for it would be impos-
sible to get into Obeid, as that town was in
a close state of siege. We had fixed to
make our move on the i4th of September,
1882 ; but man proposes, God disposes !
A man called Khalel Eff, a military officer,
informed the rebels of our intentions. We
had foolishly entrusted him with our secret.
Thereupon El Mek Omar completely sur-
rounded us, tightening the cordon around,
and sent us a summons to surrender, stating
if we did not we should be put to the
sword. At this juncture, to our misfortune,
the officer commanding the Egyptian
troops, and all his men, who were there
to protect us, declared for Mohammed
Ahmed. Then seizing their rifles and
ammunition they passed the zarebas and
deliberately went over to the Arabs. Our
situation was now desperate hopeless. So
we determined to offer to surrender on
condition that our lives should be spared,
and that we should be allowed to proceed
to Egypt unmolested. These terms were
granted, and we became prisoners. All
our cattle, sheep, farming instruments,
books, and clothes were seized. We were
bound, and marched off to Mohammed
Ahmed, who was then before Obeid. Elias
Pasha, with all the notables, all the mer-
chants, and, in fact, all the inhabitants of
this place, had sided with him. Elias
Pasha is a near relation of Zebehr Pasha,
the notorious slave-hunter, whom you have
now a prisoner at Gibraltar. When these

people deserted the town the commander,
Mohamed Pasha Said, Governor of East-
ern Soudan, drew in his lines of defence.
Before this Obeid was, like all their towns,
defended by an enormously long and
straggling trench and zareba nearly two
miles in circumference and unable to be
held except by an immense force. But
now trenches were dug afresh, simply en-
closing the Government house and offices,
the arsenal, barracks, and mudiriah. Up
till now the troops had resisted all the at-
tempts of the rebels to storm the place.
Whenever they had done so they had been
repulsed and scattered with enormous loss,
several hundred being shot at each assault,
the rebels themselves having spears. It is
strange they did not take the rifles of the
army they had destroyed (Yousef Pasha's),
but these they left lying about on the
ground.

There were seven of us, and we were led,
as I before said, before Mohammed Ahmed.
He informed us that it would be necessary
for us immediately to embrace Islamism.
We replied firmly, ' We cannot do this thing,
nor forsake our holy religion. God forbids
it ; and even were we to do this and become
Moslems in garb and outward form, our
hearts would remain unchanged.' This bold
reply greatly irritated Mohammed Ahmed.
He cried, ' Hark ye, accursed infidels !
To-morrow is Friday. I give you time to
reflect. If you have not embraced Islamism
by the rising of to-morrow's sun, behold
you shall be led forth and executed as a
punishment for your obstinacy and disobe-
dience. So have a care and repent while
yet there is time. I have spoken.' We
were during the day visited by several der-
vishes, who adjured us to embrace Islamism,
but we replied, ' We give you, O dervishes,
the same answer as we did to your master,
We cannot do this thing.' They were very
wroth, and spat at us, and brandished their
long swords at us. But we trusted in God.
The next morning we were led forth from
the hut built of dhurra stalks, and where
we had been confined. We found the

fATHER BONO NFS NARRATIVE.

497

Arabs drawn up in line. Behind them
was a vast assemblage of horsemen.
Thousands of spears and bright swords
gleamed and glistened in the rays of the
morning sun ; and we looked upon it as it
rose and gilded the edges of the few mimosa
and rocks scattered about on that vast
yellow sandy plain we looked upon it, as
we supposed, for the last time. Never again
were we to see a sun rise; our race was
run ; and we, as thousands had done before

us, were to die martyrs for the faith of our
Lord. We had no fear. We rejoiced that
we were thought worthy to die for His
sake.

As we were led along, marching with firm
step, the Arabs brandished their long two-
edged swords over our heads, cursing us as
we passed. And now we reached the spot
where Mohammed Ahmed, the so-called
Mahdi, was. He was mounted on a magnifi-
cent dromedary. He cried aloud to us, ' O

AN ANGLO-EGYPTIAN TOWN.

Christians ! are you prepared to embrace
Islamism, or to have your heads struck off
from your shoulders?' Then we, having
our trust in God, made answer, ' O Sheik
Mohammed Ahmed ! you have vast powers ;
you command this huge assemblage of war-
riors, stretching as far as the eye can see.
You can order them to do whatsoever seems
good in your eyes, and you are obeyed ;
and you also have power over us to slay us,
for God for some wise purpose has delivered

usjnto your hands, but you have not power,
O Sheik, to make us embrace Islamism.
We prefer death to doing this thing.' We
one and all made this solemn asseveration.
There was silence all along those dusky
ranks, and near us stood dervishes with
long swords waiting and longing to do the
bidding of their master and strike oft our
heads. But Mohammed Ahmed gazed up-
wards and eastwards for some time and
spoke not. He then fixed his eagle eyes

K K

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

upon us with intensity, and perceiving we
were steadfast in the faith, he cried aloud,
4 O Nazarenes, may Allah, the most boun-
tiful and merciful, put your hearts right and
show you the right path ; ' and when he
had thus spoken he again cried aloud, ' All
ye who are here present, sheiks, and der-
vishes, and every man under you bearing
arms, put up now your swords in their
sheaths, for this is the order I give you.
Let these Nazarenes be conducted to my
hut in safety I have said it ! ' So we
were led off, praising God for having put it
into the heart of this fierce man to spare us.
We were conducted to a straw hut. He
ordered us to sit down, and to partake of
food with him ; and he conversed freely
and in an animated manner with us, asking
us our ideas on many subjects. ' Be as-
sured,' he said, ' of my protection. There
shall not be a hair of your head injured. I
shall now give you in charge of a Syrian of
the name of Georgie Stambouli. This man,
praise be to Allah, has seen the error of his
ways, as no doubt you will shortly, and has
embraced Islamism. He will instruct you
in all needful doctrine.' It is probably
this man who drew up that document, now
known to be forged, that was sent in to Sir
R. Buller, or at any rate some one forged
the signatures, knowing what was in the
body of the letter. We were now handed
over to him, and he took us to his hut. It
was built of dhurra stalk, and inclosed
round about. We dwelt here two months,
keeping inside always, for we knew that the
dervishes sought occasion to slay us.

Our situation became extremely wretched,
for we lay squalid, dirty, and naked. Our
privations were great, for the Mahdi took
no further care of us. We were in dirt,
with hardly enough to eat. One layman
sank under this treatment, and died of
low fever ; and shortly afterwards two
sisters sickened and died. Poor creatures !
they too sank gradually, the iron had
entered into their soul. They succumbed
under a horrible dread, they were famished
and naked, and when it rained they were

exposed to it. Poor weary souls ! your
troubles are over. You have died for the
cause as much as any holy martyr of old.
I performed the last rites of the Church
over them, but even our religious exercises
we had to perform in the greatest secrecy.
It was hoped that by ill-treatment we should
be forced to embrace Islamism, and we
would probably have been slain had we
been caught at Christian worship. I was
horrified at the miserable deaths of these
poor wretches, and I resolved to betake
myself to the Mahdi, come what might. I
entered his presence and demanded that
the terms of our surrender should be
honourably fulfilled, and that we should
be allowed to set off on our journey to the
land of Egypt ' I cannot, I regret, accede
to your request,' Mohammed Ahmed replied.
' God will not permit it ; but take now
these ten thaleries, buy with them whatso-
ever you may need. Here also is raiment
wherewith you may clothe yourselves. It
is not forbidden for you to go to and fro
about the market. I have given orders
that no man shall molest you ; but you are
always, when outside, to wear Moslem gar-
ments.' And now the time had arrived
when the garrison of Obeid, which had re-
sisted all assaults so gallantly, were com-
pelled to surrender, being on the verge of
starvation. Their sufferings had been
terrific. The little corn there was was sold
at an enormous price 2,200 dollars an
arobb. Eggs, though they were seldom to
be got, were sold for a thalerie each. The
men had become gaunt-looking, walking
skeletons, with their bones showing through
their skin. If one was killed or died there
was none to bury him. The arms of the
survivors were too weak to dig a grave,
there the corpses lay rotting. Each day
lent new horrors to the scene. Men dug
up buried carcases of dogs, donkeys, and
camels; others stripped the leather from
the angeribs [native bedsteads, on which
the mattress is supported by thongs of
leather transversely drawn across and at-
tached to the woodwork]. These thongs

FATHER BONO NFS NARRATIVE.

499

they would soften in water and then eat.
The live donkeys were killed and cut up ;
even the tail would fetch 20 reals, and the
head and entrails much more. Dogs were
treated in the same way. Others, too,
would shoot the foul carrion crows, vul-
tures, and kites that hovered around.

The grim and ghastly sights to be seen
in that beleaguered city were enough to
freeze the blood, and the narrative of those
days is too horrible to be continued. But
the stern old Turk commanding refused to
surrender ; while the wretched soldiers were
unable to hold their rifles, but prowled
about like wolves to find something to eat,
unable to make further defence. On the
1 8th January, 1883, the rebels walked over
the trenches and entered the Mudiriah
and other houses. When the dervishes
entered the dewan of the Mudiriah, the
large hall, they found the commandant
Achmet Pasha Said sitting in a high carved
armed-chair of stained wood, bolt upright,
with his arms folded, gazing at them de-
fiantly. They rushed at him and would
have slain him, but others insisted that he
should be brought before Mohammed
Ahmed. ' Back, dogs ; touch me not,' he
cried. ' You defile me, base rebels. I will
go myself before this arch rebel Mohammed
Ahmed. Lead on.' They instinctively drew
back, startled at his terrible voice and fierce
aspect. One is reminded of the old Roman
whom the gaoler was afraid to kill. ' Hold
his hands and search him,' ordered Mo-
hammed Ahmed the moment he saw him :
and he was just in time with this precau-
tion. The old man was drawing forth from
his breast a revolver, and undoubtedly
meant to deal death to his enemy. ' Take
the cursed dog of a Turk away,' cried
Mohammed Ahmed, 'and sell him for a slave
by auction in the bazaar. Away with him.'
Then was the commandant led forth and
exposed for sale, but no man durst buy
him at first. But it happened that an Emir
passed by that way, and, out of derision,
cried out, ' O auctioneer, I will surely give
680 piastres for this man.' So he was

knocked down to the Emir. Now when
this came to the ears of Mohammed Ahmed
he sent forth an order that the commandant
should be slain with all speed. So some
dervishes went from the Mahdi's presence
then and there and sought out the com-
mandant. They heard he was in the house
of the Emir; they went there and ordered
that Achmet Pasha should be brought forth.
He presented himself to them with unquail-
ing look and bold bearing as the dervishes
drew their swords. ( You have come to
murder me, have you ? Cursed, cowardly
dogs, I fear you not. May your fathers'
grave be defiled. I curse them, you, and
the foul harlots that bore you. I curse
your fathers and mothers back to three
generations. All your female relations are
abandoned women, and may the graves of
all your forefathers be defiled. I curse you
all, and your vile false prophet Mohammed
Ahmed.' They fell upon him pouring forth
these maledictions, and he died like a brave
man, with the utmost fortitude. I forgot to
mention that on the entering of the town
by the dervishes this gallant soldier tried
to blow up the magazine and destroy him-
self and army with the rebels, but the
officers prevented him. The dervishes now
in their rage for they were cut to the
heart by the words of the commandant
sought out Ali Bey Sherrif ; him they also
slew, with other officers. Now the dervishes
returned to Mohammed Ahmed, and told all
these things to him. He burst into a flood
of tears, threw dust on his head, and up-
braided them for thus spilling blood. ' Ye
be sanguinary men, O ye dervishes. These
deeds do not find favour in my sight'

During the siege a priest named Giovanni
Losi died in Obeid, but two others were
captured, and compelled to embrace Is-
lamism, and there were five sisters taken at
the same time; these were now sent as
companions to us, in the hopes that they
should follow the example of the men.
The sisters refused in the most determined
manner to leave their religion. In what a
fearful condition these poor women were

500

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

bags of bones. They never left the house.
This was the state of things to the 28th
March, 1883.

One day a letter was slipped into my
hand ; it was from Hicks Pasha, then at
Khartoum, and was dated 2ist of April.
He stated in it that he was on the point of
marching against Obeid with a large army,
and told me to be of good cheer, for surely he
would deliver us. While I was at Obeid I saw
three men being hunted out of the town ;
but there seemed to be something unreal in
this chase. I have since heard they were
the three sham guides of Hicks. This was
done for effect ; they were ordered to mis-
lead him. Khalifa Abdalla El Taishi now
arrived at Obeid. The first thing he did
was to have us brought up before him.
He then enjoined us to embrace Jslamism.
We replied to him as we had to Mohammed
Ahmed when the same demand was made.
We were sent back to our house, but he
sent us an order to deliver up to him the
sisters. We replied, ' By your own Moslem
law, women are forbidden to visit the
houses of strangers.' However, on the
ist of April, he sent and took the nuns by
force, and a terrible life, if possible, was
now to be their lot. They were distributed
as slaves among the Emirs ! I and my
two companions, men, were treated in the
same way. I was sent to the Bert El Wai,
Guiseppe Orwalder to the house of the Emir
Abdalla, Wad en Noor, and Guiseppe
Regnolo to the house of Sherrif Mahmoud.
From that day I never saw the sisters, but
I know that the treatment they received was
horrible, most horrible. They were afflicted
and tormented in order that they might be
induced to embrace Islamism, but they
were steadfast in the faith, neither would
they deny their Saviour. Some time after
this these wretched women were made to
go along on foot almost nude to Rahat.
The Mahdi was there, and they were
brought before him. Alas ! their frail nature
could hold out no longer. Their strength
of mind as well as body was gone. Driven
to desperation, to avoid greater degradations

and insults, they affected to embrace Is-
lamism. They were then taken as wives
by three Greeks who themselves had be-
come Mohammedans. The names of their
so-called husbands were Demetri Coco-
ronbo, Andrea, and Paragioli. These men
declare that they only did this to save the
women from a worse fate, and that the
marriage is really one in name only. I
therefore consider them to be deserving of
the highest honour, for by so doing they
incurred great risk of life.

On the 2oth of April I was sent myself
to Rahat with my two companions, and
kept there till the 3oth of August, when we
were conducted, back to El Obeid with
heavy chains round our necks after the
manner of conducting criminals in the
country. We were again released, and
dwelt in a house of Es Sherrif Mahmoud,
full liberty being given to go to and fro
about the town, and even in its neighbour-
hood.

And now the day of my deliverance was
at hand. Little attention was paid to my
ingoings and outgoings. Famine stalked
through the town, and it was full of that
direst of diseases, small-pox. Men were
dying masses of corruption right and left
As the Egyptian soldiers had done during
the siege the Arabs were doing now
actually digging up skeletons of carcases
buried years back. There was little corn ;
it was sold at 50 reals an ardeb. It was
found that many merchants who had fled
from Obeid had buried their gum in the
ground. This, though it had become rotten,
was now dug up and eaten by hundreds.
Es . Sherrif Mahmoud, the Mahdi's Emir,
had gone to Buka with an army of 2,000
men, half of them carrying rifles. His
intention was to attack Nowai, the chief of
the Howayma and Homran Baggaras the
Arabs who had deserted at Omdurman, and
raised the standard of revolt against him
among the Bedouins in Gebel Kowaleeb.
It was the isth of last Regib when he set
forth to battle against these men. While
he thus threatens the Arabs from the north,

FATHER BONONrS NARRATIVE.

Abo Anga menaces them from the east,
hear that Nowai, hearing of their approach,
retreated to Gebel Dinka, in the south ; but
some submitted to Mahmoud, while others
did the same to Abo Anga. Others, again,
fled to their homes. As Abo Anga ad-
vanced from Omdurman he collected rein-
forcements on the way, and at last, when he
had 10,000 he made an attack on Gebel
Lamman, one of the Tagala mountains.
He laid waste all the country round, and
carried off the inhabitants as slaves, besides
taking large quantities of grain, cattle, and
sheep. He now advanced ' upon Gebel
Dair, and drove El Mek Kumbo to the
mountains. Thus, as he has possession of
the land at the foot of the mountains, the
inhabitants are unable to till the land. A
guerilla war is carried on there ; every now
and then the brave mountaineers sweep
down at night and retake their cattle. This
they do with great success, and their raids
actually extend to near Obeid. On the one
hand the mountaineers dare not risk an
open battle; on the other, the dervishes
dare not ascend the mountains.

The story about Anga's defeat is utterly
untrue. These stories were circulated by
the opponents of the Mahdi to encourage
the English. The Mahdi's power is not on
the wane, a story so briskly, it appeared,
circulated for your edification. Utterly
broken, indeed ! The so-called Mohammed
Ahmed is supreme all through Kordofan,
though the cruelties and oppression of his
dervishes have made his rule detested ;
therefore the unfortunate inhabitants, who
have to pay higher taxes than they did to
the Egyptian Government, long for its
return. By the ist June Abo Anga had
arrived from Gebel Tagata, and had taken
up a position at Gebel Dair. Terror was
struck into the hearts of all the Arabs when
the news of your victory at Abu Klea and
at Metemmeh arrived. You were looked
upon as invincible, and the Arabs flatly re-
fused to appear in arms against the British.
The whole army had you advanced in-
tended flying to the mountains and deserts,

so you would have walked into Khartoum,
or gone wherever you pleased without the
least opposition. But every single move-
ment of the British, their intentions even,
were well known and spied out, and
swiftly reported. You were surrounded by
spies, they dwelt among you. So it came
to pass that your intention of giving up the
game was quickly known, and the Arabs
took courage who before had been thrown
into a perfect panic. * The Inglezi are re-
treating, are retreating,' was shouted and
passed along all over Kordofan, from sake-
yeh wheel to sakeyeh wheel, by camel, by
donkey and swift messenger.

Regarding Olivier Pain, I will tell you.
When I was in Obeid August last there
entered the town one day a little French-
man, about thirty-five years old. His beard
was scrubby and carroty ; his complexion a
muddy red-clay colour. I was ordered to
examine this strange man's papers. I
found a passport, with ' Olivier Pain. Pro-
fession, homme de lettres,' written on it.
His Arabic was very imperfect; but he
would invariably try to speak in that
tongue. He was dressed & la dervish. He
always passed us by without the slightest
recognition, and even if saluted he neither
returned the compliment nor spoke. When
addressed by a European, it he replied at
all, it was in bad Arabic. He remained at
Obeid ten days, and then went to join Mo-
hammed Ahmed at Rahat. He then went
to Shat, and reached Onderoo by Duem,
passing down by water. Here he sickened,
and died of a grievous malady. The der-
vishes rule the country with a rod of iron
so much for these people fighting for their
liberty. Patriots indeed ! The dervishes
and the men who fight are a perfect terror
to the poor peaceful inhabitants, who only
wish to be allowed to till the land, but they
are forced to take arms everywhere. If
they do not, they are made slaves, their
villages pillaged, and their wives and mai-
dens carried off for the use of the dervishes
and their officers. Often these poor down-
trodden villagers are massacred. And this

502

THE ENGLISH IN EGYPT.

is what some people in England call ' fight-
ing for their country.' There was regular
news sent between Khartoum and Obeid.
Much of this agrees with the statements of
men escaped from Khartoum regarding the
massacres at Khartoum. When I fled I
escaped by way of Assaf, north of Barra-
Rajmar and Safia. I was nineteen days on
the road. We struck the Nile at Abou
Goss, and after a rest proceeded to Don-
gola, arriving at the house of Major Turner,
Intelligence Department, where he and
Captain Luke White received me most
hospitably. It is to the exertions of the
first-named gentleman, who arranged with
my guide my escape, that I owe my release
from my cruel and savage persecutors. The
sum of ;ioo, besides an advance of 100
dollars, was paid by him, with General
Lord Wolseley's sanction."

Writing at the time, a correspondent
says :

" Father Bononi is a thin spare man of
ordinary height, sharp aquiline features,
extremely dark from exposure, of about
forty years of age. He is of an extremely
excitable temperament and very voluble.

He arrived in rags. Major Turner took
the greatest care of him, and afterwards
conducted him down to Wady Haifa. He
is now on his way to Cairo.

Great credit is due to Major Turner, of
the Intelligence Department, for the skilful
manner in which he arranged Bononi's
escape. Sir R. Buller considered the sum
of ;ioo too much, and would not sanction
this on his own responsibility. Lord Wol-
seley was telegraphed to, and he sanc-
tioned it. The total expense was about
^150. This, as far as is yet known, will
not be repaid either by the Latin mission
or by the Italian Government, as is erro-
neously supposed. The money comes out
of the Secret Service Fund. It should be
clearly understood that it is the British
Government that pays this sum. It is to
be observed that Sir C. Wilson, I.D.,
always declared that it would be impossible
to get a messenger to El Obeid. Major
Turner, his successor in the office of the
Intelligence Department, has managed to
show the fallacy of this statement."

With this narrative we conclude at once
our " Egyptian Incidents " and our Volume.

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