English policy in Egypt—Excuse for retaining her army there—England responsible—Soudan and equatorial regions—Mehemet Ali conquers the Soudan—Central Africa and slave-hunters—The bloody trail of the slave-trader and kourbash—The touch of infamy by Abbas Pacha—Policy of Saïd Pacha—Effort of Ismail to extend his empire—Baker appointed governor of the Dark Region—Chinese Gordon appointed—Explorations of English and American staff-officers—Elephants introduced—Gordon resigns—Reappointed with extraordinary powers—The Soudan in debt and boundaries diminished—Gordon retires again—Money legitimately expended—Rich lands and untouched treasuries—Untold possibilities for commerce—Vast acres for cotton and cane—England's opportunity and Egypt's hope—Assouan and Philæ the ancient boundary-line of Egypt—The camel and his carrying power—The Atbara River and its wonderful work—The town of Cassalla—Railroad scheme of Khedive—Greatest scheme of modern times—Teeming millions of “Les noir les negres”—Abandonment of Soudan—Wild pandemonium of slave-hunters—Ismail only man to govern—Ismail great loss to Egypt—Tewfik England's tool—Humiliating position—England refuses “to carry her own skin to market”—England's responsibility—Khartoum centre of trade—Title of Khedive—Backsheesh and Divine right—No sympathy for the slave—Ismail opposes slavery—Opinion in letter of General Stone—Disorganization of Soudan and El Mahdi's opportunity—Ruin of Egypt—The shadow of the stranger—History of El Mahdi—Birth and concealment—Last judgment and trumpet blast—El Mahdi takes advantage—Wahab, reformer and puritan of the desert—El Mahdi conquers Yusef, Hicks and Baker Pachas—Political importance—El Mahdi as a prophet—Mahometan belief in El Mahdi—Fired the Arab heart—Now called Kâdirîyeh Dervish—Holy men and mystical signs—Ex-Khedive's opinion—Influence of another Mahomet—Suez Canal insecure.
SHOULD England so shape her policy as to establish such a protectorate over Egypt as would insure the administration of just laws over that country, there can be no question that the terrible ordeal through which the unfortunate land has passed will inure to its permanent benefit. As the Egyptian people are no doubt excited and discontented, and now that they have a new war to deal with, England has a plausible excuse before the civilized world for retaining her armed force there to preserve tranquillity. The safety of the Suez Canal, as dear to her as the mouth of the Thames, and her immense commercial interests throughout the East, with many other political reasons of paramount importance, are considerations which must induce her, through her diplomacy and by other means of a peaceful character, to retain her forces in the country, until by wise government the people of Egypt and of Europe will come to look at an armed occupation as a matter of necessity. Now that she is free from the entangling alliance with France, and is entirely responsible, the world must await the quiet settlement of the question with patience. To understand the problem we must not study Egypt from the Mediterranean to Assouan, 650 miles above Cairo, alone. It is necessary to look also into that vast region which fifty years ago Mehemet Ali annexed to Egypt, including several extensive provinces added by his successors, now called the Soudan, including the provinces of Nubia, Dongola, Sennaar, Taka, Berber, and Meroe, and all the country extending along the Blue and White Niles for great distances east and west of them, and several degrees beyond the Equator.
The energetic old man who commenced the conquests discerned the wonderful resources of Central Africa, and as early as 1839 visited the Soudan and tried to instil into the teeming millions there some idea of commerce and the cultivation of the soil. He spared no pains to try and turn the trade in ivory, ostrich feathers, gums, and spices down the Nile, but unfortunately he was deeply concerned in the slave trade also, which was a certain though temporary means of filling his coffers. Weakened with age, he could not control the inborn savage instincts of his officials, who at that immense distance from the seat of government influenced by no law but that of might, took advantage of the situation to turn all Central Africa into one grand preserve of slave-hunters, with the government as its chief factor and supporter. This accursed traffic interrupted intercourse, drove back the explorers and scientific men who were making the geography and resources of the Nile Valley known to the world, and spread war and death throughout the whole territory, at first so peaceful.
But little was done for many years, either in exploration or commerce, and there was no thought but of the slave-trade and the kourbash which left a bloody trail through Central Africa. One more touch of infamy was subsequently added to this benighted region by Abbas Pacha, the nephew and successor of Ibrahim, in ordering a state prison to be fixed by direct command in the most poisonous and deadly locality, in case Fazougli, already established, did not prove pestilential enough ; to that point he had already taken great delight in consigning his political prisoners, with perfect certainty of their never returning. Fitful efforts were made by Said Pacha in person in 1859 to increase the power and commerce of Egypt in Central Africa, and a grandiloquent order was promulgated for all abuses to stop. This decree denounced especially the odious traffic in slaves ; yet its effect lasted only until his return to the lower valley.
Something else amused this singular child of fortune, and the Soudan with its crimes was forgotten in the receipts from onerous taxation and the profits from a continuation of the slave-trade. There was at the close of his reign a revenue of $1,500,000 from taxation, and a large amount from the slave-trade which came as a legacy to his successor. Upon the accession of Ismail a more strenuous effort was made than at any other period to bring within Egypt's control the country beyond the Soudan, extending around the headwaters of the Nile, including the great lakes which border the Equator and several provinces east and west of the Nile and its tributaries.
In order still further to illustrate the extent of Egyptian territory and the slave-trade, it is necessary to speak of those who have explored and governed there, their exploits and their failures, and the difficulties which in the future need to be overcome. Sir Samuel Baker, the renowned traveller, who had done so much toward the exploration of the equatorial region, being in Egypt, Ismail, pleased with his good judgment and experience, appointed him governor over the indefinite limits of the Dark Region, with a salary of $50,000 per annum. Accepting the responsible trust, there was nothing from “ a tin pan to a steamboat” that was not freely given him, with which to carry to a successful issue the great enterprise of increasing the commerce and extending the empire of Egypt. After several years of adventure in that splendid hunting region of the lion, the elephant, and especially the wild man of the jungles, Baker left this region gallantly fighting his way with a small force against large odds.
He tells us in his very interesting narrative that his “ well-directed shots” and the regular force of Egyptian soldiers he then had with him were not sufficient to continue the fight with the slave-hunters and their black crowd who aided them with their sympathy. This distinguished man, after four years' service, retired, leaving the field in the equatorial region to the undisputed possession of those monsters, the slave-dealers. Then it was that the “ besotted people, without the knowledge of even a God,” as Baker tells us, were left again to fetish worship in their solitudes, only to be aroused when the crack of the kourbash informed them that they were under new masters, and were destined on the instant to quit their jungles for more favored lands. This extraordinary expedition, planned with so much cost and as ably conducted as it could have been by any man, ended leaving a scene of the fiercest turbulence behind it. Notwithstanding the enormous expense to which he had been subjected, Ismail still clung to this idea of equatorial empire. Then another distinguished Englishman, “ Chinese Gordon,” came, recommended, it was said, by the Prince of Wales. An American by the name of Ward organized an army in China against the rebels there, and fought with great success and distinction. After his death Gordon commanded his force, and is represented as having been very much distinguished in suppressing the Tae-Ping rebellion. Beginning in 1874 in the embryo empire, Gordon was able to ascend the Nile beyond Khartoum and establish new forts and stations there, the “ Sudd”—a dense matted marsh and great obstruction in the river—having been removed by Eyoub Pacha, a native Egyptian, before his arrival. Gordon had with him several able and accomplished Englishmen, together with numbers of scientific and able Americans of the Egyptian staff, who were assigned to his department.
Chiefly through the zeal, energy, and courage of the Englishmen and Americans, under his command there was opened a wide field of exploration and survey in the first years of Gordon's control, extending to the great lakes on both sides of the Equator and far to the east and west of the Nile and its tributaries. I have taken occasion elsewhere in this work to speak of the officers who served in the Dark Continent, and who, necessarily left to their own discretion and intelligence, penetrated into the deserts and jungles of Central Africa. In these immense solitudes they lived for months without orders, guides, or advice from any quarter. Directed entirely by their compasses and their own good judgment, they worked amid savages and, worse still, the deadly malaria. The wonderful services of these devoted men in that hidden region, which they explored and mapped, have been supervised and in part published by General Stone, late chief of staff at Cairo. Gordon, failing to carry out the designs of the Khedive or to equal his own expectations in the first years of his service, demanded in 1876 extraordinary powers, and again, returned to strive for the coveted prize. His plenary power virtually removed him from under the authority of the Khedive, with a sort of quasi support of England. It was said at the time that the advice to put him there was equivalent to a command. The whole Soudan and the country beyond the Equator was given him to rule, with extraordinary powers. In a word, this whole region was placed under him in absolute control ; he was independent alike in civil, military, and financial government, there being no interference from Cairo even in matters involving the disposal of life. The Khedive disliked granting this power over such an immense territory, but he was pressed at the time by his creditors and feared to antagonize the anti-slavery feeling which Gordon was supposed to represent. It was said of Gordon that he would enter the Dark Continent “ with the sword in one hand and the Bible in the other,” and this plea induced Ismail to bow to fate, and convinced that it was the desire of England to send Gordon there, did so with an “ inshallah” (God willing) to carve out his new empire.
It is well to state that in former times the wild elephants of Africa were tamed and utilized. And in order to assist Gordon in passing through the jungles and marshes of Central Africa, Stone Pacha interested the Khedive in the importation from India of six tame elephants, which, it was said, could be used to domesticate the savage animals. Upon their arrival they were forwarded to Gordon as a means wherewith to experiment with the numerous herds found wild in the interior. The result of their visit to their savage fellows I have never learned.
Gordon Pacha entered the Soudan with great hopes. Holding a power greater than any official who had ever preceded him, with ample means at his command, the whole resources of the equatorial region to draw upon, and with no one to question him, much was anticipated from his government. Upon taking command he found the country not only self-supporting, but paying into the Egyptian treasury over half a million dollars per annum, besides carrying on a large commerce with Lower Egypt amounting to several millions more. After three years' experience Egypt was surprised to hear that Gordon Pacha had determined to abandon its vast possessions. And when his chief reason was announced, the Khedive was startled to learn that it was because he had not money enough to carry on his government. The question was asked what has become of the fabulous sums which, judging by the past, the Soudan must have yielded? Why was it that under Gordon's administration the Soudan was $1,500,000 in debt? In lamenting the deficit of 1879, the year in which he proposed to take his leave, after stating that the deficiency would amount to $850,000, he innocently asked the question, Where is the money to come from? Unfortunately the answer given was that he had broken up the ivory and ostrich-feather trade, and that the virtual abandonment of Darfour and the Bahr-el-Ghazel, which had previously yielded considerable revenue, with the general disorder of his whole command and his extraordinary expenditures, had destroyed all hope of securing the money from any source. It is proper to state that this money was legitimately spent in the Soudan in carrying out his policy. A letter from Egypt written at this time by one high in authority says : “ Gordon's service in the Soudan was an entire failure. It needed a great governor, but with all his immense power and resources he was unequal to it. Gordon found the Soudan out of debt and with a surplus in the treasury ; he left it encumbered by a heavy debt with diminished boundaries.”
It is thus that another renowned explorer was compelled to leave this part of Africa by the slave-traders, in this instance turning his back upon acquisitions of Egypt, made before he went there.
The situation on the return of Gordon was that Egypt had lost control of Darfour and the greater part of the White Nile and the river region of the Bahr-el-Ghazel, nominally controlling Taka, Sennaar, and Kordofan. Her other possessions are Souakim and Massowah on the Red Sea, Zeila and Berbera on the Gulf of Aden, and much of the coast of the Sommali, with the province of Harrar taken from them, and Bogos and Gallibat on the frontier of Abyssinia. These well-intentioned efforts under the auspices of the Khedive, though ending in discomfiture, succeeded, through the energy and ability of the staff of Americans and Englishmen, and in many instances of the native officers, in opening much of the equatorial region, and of the higher Nile and its tributaries. The fact has been demonstrated that there are vast tracts of rich lands filled with untouched treasures lying fallow and covered with millions of human beings who can easily be brought, with capital and a vigorous government, under the influence of that higher Western civilization in which it is our privilege to live. It is estimated that there are five million acres of arable land in the valley of the Nile extending from the Mediterranean to Assouan—much of that used by the ancients having become desert. Some of that has been reclaimed, and there is no difficulty, with modern facilities and by means of canals, in reclaiming all that in former times was cultivated and even vast tracts besides. But that to which particular attention is now called is the extensive region beyond the borders of Egypt proper—those provinces over which there has been a semi-military government claimed by Egypt through conquest and exploration, and of which there are now about two hundred thousand acres partially cultivated in doora, corn, and vegetables. Without exaggeration there have been explored over a hundred million acres of fertile lands inhabited by great numbers of people who at one time professed to obey the orders of Egyptian officials and for that reason were called civilized ; and innumerable savages under still more uncertain control, who are called semi-civilized. The whole population of this region, with which Egypt came in contact, was kept under subjection by military power alone. In the many millions of acres of fine land is not included much that is beyond Gondokoro on the Nile or in the equatorial region, nor that about Harrar and the Sommali country bordering the Red Sea. That which has been already described opens a wide field for the imagination to survey, of both the country and its inhabitants. The ivory, ostrich feathers, gums, precious woods and minerals, of which there are untold quantities, add to its importance. When it is remembered that there are at least ten million acres of the richest land on the Upper Nile and between it and its tributaries where good cotton and cane can be cultivated, and a population of docile savages who can be made to work, it is well worthy the profound attention of the civilized world. When the immense quantities of rich lands and the vast population that live on, and wander about them, are considered, it can be seen what a mighty future is possible for Central Africa, under a well-directed government. Egypt is the natural channel whereby to reach its immense resources, but it is only a great power that can consummate so great a design.
It was expected that England, dismissing all questions of territorial right and commercial jealousy, and having in her power the long-coveted prize to which her policy had led her, would continue her march toward the centre of Africa. Occupying “ the seat of the Faithful” in Lower Egypt, it is an easy task to pacify the beasts of burden who live there and to elevate them by disseminating education. An amelioration of their condition and religion would soon follow a just administration of law, and the Egyptian people would joyfully assist with their labor to extend Egypt's fertile lands into the deserts which border them. England has within her grasp an empire equal in magnitude to that of the Indies to civilize and to add to the world's family of nations. The only hope for Egypt from the source of the Nile to its mouth is in England. If she relegates Egypt back to despotism, it will be a trebly refined cruelty.
In the light of recent events it is necessary to give a more detailed account of the Soudan, its lands, people, commerce, and its approaches.
Assouan and Philæ were considered by the ancients as the boundary line of Egypt ; but in these latter years, since the day of Mehemet Ali, the founder of the present dynasty, and more particularly during the reign of Ismail Pacha, the boundary of Egypt has been extended so as to include the equatorial basin in the south, Darfour and Wahday on the west, and the provinces of Gallibat, Bogos, and Harrar on the east ; and it was even claimed by Ismail that he had the right to extend his borders as far as the Juba River on the Indian Ocean. It is more particularly the region watered by the Nile and its tributaries, and known as the Soudan, that we shall now notice, with only a casual reference to more distant provinces as of less importance in considering the future of Egypt.
Travellers up the Nile, after entering the gateway at Assouan and Philæ, have often wondered, while observing the narrow fringe of soil in feathering their way through the province of Nubia, with its scattering date-trees and impoverished people, how it could have been possible for the Ethiopian empire, whose history is written in hieroglyphics upon its monuments and those of Egypt, to have sustained so great a population, and one of such power as to conquer Lower Egypt, establish its own dynasty, and carry its arms into Asia. On arriving at the village of Semneh, above the Second Cataract and thirty-five miles above Wadi-Halfa, we find what some Egyptologists regard as a solution of the mystery. This was a boundary under the twelfth dynasty of the Pharaohs, and a formidable fortification was erected here.
Much of it still stands, after 4000 years, for the antiquarian to marvel at. Mariette Bey tells us that near the village of Semneh there are some rocks bearing hieroglyphic inscriptions twenty-one feet above high-water mark. These inscriptions record the fact that during the reigns of the twelfth dynasty, forty centuries ago, The Nile level was twenty-one feet higher than it is to-day. How so great a change has occurred we do not know, and scientific men have not been able to solve the problem. As the kings of the twelfth dynasty accomplished some of the most extraordinary things ever undertaken by man, the question has been asked, Was the change of the Nile level a hydrological enterprise, intended to create a natural rampart at the Second Cataract, between Egypt and her redoubtable enemy, by rendering the river unnavigable, and preventing ships from descending the stream, from the Soudan to Lower Egypt? On the other hand, the obstruction may have been the work of the Ethiopians, for like reasons. However that may be, a study of the surrounding deserts shows that the region of fertility in the time of higher level must have been much broader than it is now. Not only are there many great ruins indicating that what is now desert was once a thickly populated country, but rich deposits of alluvial soil are found in the midst of the sandy wastes, and these could only have been formed there by the inundations of the Nile when its level was much higher than it is at present. The gigantic ruins of Dakkeh and Abou Simboul are convincing proofs that once a great and prosperous people lived here. When the grand obstruction, natural or artificial, which thus crossed the path of the Nile and raised its level gave way, we do not know. The event is unrecorded in history, but its results are traceable at Assouan, a hundred miles below, where there are marks of a great deluge which at some remote period tore away the soil and ploughed great gullies in the rocks.
Leaving the miserable little village of Assouan on its sandbank, soon the diminutive, picturesque island of Philæ is in view, its ruined temples covering its whole extent. On either side of the river there are rocky hills 250 feet high, with evidences that here too the ancients had formidable fortifications. With the thermometer at 100° and the eternal sun glittering upon rock and ruin, though it all looks exceedingly beautiful the impulse is to move on, though going up the river is simply passing out of one glowing furnace into another still more heated.
The long line of poor mud villages and still more miserable people are strewed along the Nile a distance of 136 miles to Korosko. This place, in lat. 22½° N., is situated on a bed of sand, a few mud huts giving it rank as a village, and its view is the long vista of desert on the east and west. The place is important as the starting-point in cutting off the great bend in the river, to Abou Hamed, and thence along the Nile to Berber. The distance is 230 miles, across a most frightful desert, and there is but one watering-place at four days' march called Moorad (Bitter). The water is found in an extinct crater near rocky cliffs, and is a mixture of salt and bitter, execrable for man, but drunk by camels. It is by means of the camel alone that the journey can be effected. Filling himself with water before starting, it lasts him to this station. Each camel carries 400 pounds, a part of which is water, and it is in this way that man and horse are enabled to make the journey with him. But for this patient animal it would be impossible to have commerce with the Soudan except by the long, circuitous route of the river or by the way of Souakim. In the summer, as in the winter, the thermometer ranges, in the intense heat, as high as 115° or 120°, and as the poisonous (simoom) blast sometimes comes, it is difficult to keep the little water carried from evaporation. The whitened skeletons of camels and horses mark the route and tell of the conflict of life and death that these companions of man have to fight in their march over the heated sands of this desert.
Another four days' march over burning plains must be made, and the traveller is often deceived, when suffering with parching thirst, by the fascinating and constant mirage. It happens at times, in spite of the warning of the Arab guide, that men rush into death in pursuit of this phantom. When the caravan reaches Abou Hamed, another mud village, it is enabled once more to drink the delicious water of the Nile.
Following the course of the river it is 143 miles to Berber. Notwithstanding the agreeable fact that the Nile is close by, the extreme heat, and often the burning simoom, causes intense pain and weariness, and though water is poured down the parched throat, while it sustains life, yet it does not slake thirst.
Berber is a large military station under a governor. It is a good-sized mud village, with well-cultivated gardens of palm and lemon-trees. In contrast with the desolation of the deserts over which caravans have recently crept with the slow-moving camel, these gardens filled with vegetation appear to the suffering Arab like Mahomet's Paradise. Shaded under the palm-tree near the river, his constant exclamation is “ Alham delillah” (Thanks be to God) for creating water whose magical power converts deserts into flowery gardens.
Berber has recently become important, being on the Nile in the most direct route of travel to Khartoum, which is at the junction of the White and Blue Nile and the capital of the Soudan. It is 300 miles from Souakim on the Red Sea, and the distance is travelled in twelve to fifteen days by camels, the route being rough and scantily supplied with water. The route to Berber and Khartoum from Cairo is much the best by the way of the Red Sea and Souakim. It is only by means of wells, the principal of which is Kokreb, that the military and caravans are enabled to make the journey from Souakim to Berber, and thence by steamer it is 200 miles. Twenty miles above Berber is the mouth of the Atbara, the first river in 1200 miles which empties into the Nile. Half way between Berber and Khartoum is the large village of Shendy ; other smaller villages are along the river on both banks, and scrubby mimosa and date trees fringe it. As along the river below, the cultivation is by irrigation by means of the assékiah and the still slower shadoof.
Khartoum, in lat. 17° N., is at the end of the Nubian Desert ; a short distance above it the fertile lands commence, and the equatorial rains, so copious above, terminate. It is here that the two great rivers, the Blue and White Nile, unite and form the main river, which 180 miles below receives immense impetus from the Atbara, which like the Blue Nile is laden with the fertilizing alluvium that is carried over 1500 miles through the great desert, to enrich in its course the banks of the river as far as the Mediterranean.
Retracing the route to the mouth of the Atbara, it is proposed to follow the course of that stream and rapidly describe the country bordering it. This river is even more prolific in rich mud than its great competitor, the Blue Nile, and like it takes its rise in the Abyssinian mountains. The bed of this river is partly dry, and the water stands in great holes during a portion of the year. Like the other large branches, it rises periodically, nature having so ordered that they all harmonize in the season of the flood. In the summer, becoming turbulent in its rapid descent from the mountains with its great volume of water, it adds its swift current to the onward flow of the main Nile. Scientists say that without its aid there would not be sufficient water and force to send the rich matter so far down into Lower Egypt to perform its wonderful work there. A mountain stream in a country of copious rains, it has numerous branches in its long course. It is in the midst of these streams, particularly the Settite, and the main stream, that there is found a great area of uncultivated and fertile land, extending north and east to the river Gash or Mareb in Abyssinia. West of the stream is the rich delta between it and the main Nile, and a large domain between it and the Blue Nile and its tributaries. It is more than 100 miles from the mouth of the Atbara to Gos Regeb, the end of the desert and first permanent settlement. The scarcity of water makes it difficult for man or beast to travel over this desert region. With proper hydraulic appliances during the time of the flood it could be irrigated and its fertile lands utilized. As it is, only the Jayleen and Sheikarian Arabs on the west side and the Hadendowa Arabs on the east side, with their numerous herds, frequent it. The Bishareen Arabs extend along it and the Nile to Berber and also in the direction of Souakim. The rains commence in the mountains of Abyssinia in the months of April and May and reach here in June. The river then becomes a torrent, sweeping through the rich and parched soil ; the stumpy mimosa and date trees begin to bloom, and the plains are soon covered with nutritious grasses. It is then that the numerous nomadic pastoral Arabs flock to the rivers with their thousands of camels, cattle, sheep, and goats for the rich pasturage which lies along their banks for hundreds of miles. From the important village of Gos Regeb it is about 100 miles to the village of Gorassé, a trading station on the caravan road from Khartoum, the rich provinces of the Soudan and Gallibat, to Cassalla, in the province of Taka. This place is the second in size and importance in the Soudan.
Cassalla, which is 50 miles from Gorassé, is situated at the head of the Abyssinian river Gash or Mareb, is distant 350 miles from Berber, 300 from Souakim, about 250 from Massowah, and is a strongly fortified town of 10,000 inhabitants. North and south of it the country is open prairie. Under Ismail it greatly increased in the cultivation of doura and cotton, and in its trade in hides, senna, and gums. The same general features continue about 100 miles to Tomat, another of Ismail's stations, at the junction of the River Settite which comes from the east. Baker, who hunted in this region several months, represents it as not only rich in soil, but a splendid hunting-ground for the elephant, lion, rhinoceros, buffalo, giraffe, ostrich, and great numbers of birds and smaller fauna. The nomadic tribes of Hamran Arabs and the savage Basé are on the east side, and the powerful tribe of Daibaina Arabs on the west. About 40 miles from Tomat, en route to Gallibat, which is 140 miles distant, the road is intersected by the great caravan trail, which passes through Katarif to Abou-Harraz on the Blue Nile, a distance of 250 miles. At Gallibat, which is on the Abyssinian frontier, Ismail always kept a large military force to guard against invasion and to keep in fear the numerous strong Arab tribes which frequent this rich country. It is the home of the Toukrouris, who migrated from Darfour, and also of the remnant of that tribe which burned to death Ismail Pacha, the favorite son of Mehemet Ali, of whom account has been already given, and who fled hither, as this region was then in the territory of Abyssinia, to escape the persecution of the old warrior who had determined upon their extermination. Fifty-five miles from Gallibat is the Rahad, a branch of the Blue Nile, which runs parallel with the Dinder, another branch, both taking a south-westerly course 240 miles to Abbou-Harraz. The country is a level prairie, covered with fine pasturage and thorny bushes, and abounding in game. There is a large population living in idleness, who could be easily brought under subjection by the strong arm of civilized man. From Abou Harraz it is 118 miles to Khartoum, where the heated sands of the desert are again encountered.
Before leaving the possessions of Egypt in the eastern Soudan, it is necessary to speak of acquisitions of Ismail still more distant, near the mouth of the Red Sea. Just before the Abyssinian war in 1875 it was said that Ismail had purchased the seaport of Zeila, on the Arabian Gulf. Once in his possession, it became easy to march a sufficient force to Harrar, a good-sized town and the capital of the country, and there depose the authorities, subsequently declaring that the place was a part of Egypt by right of conquest. It was in conjunction with this movement that Munzinger Bey marched into the interior, bordering Abyssinia on the east, to capture the noted salt-mines, where he met his untimely fate. Both of these expeditions were a part of the policy that really dictated the war with Abyssinia, which the reader will understand when he follows the writer into the second part of this book. The movement upon Harrar was successful. This province has a docile people and fertile soil, its great advantage being in its tropical productions, but particularly in its coffee-plant, which is equal in every respect to the finest Mocha. Egypt has no more valuable province, nor one more capable of wonderful development, and if Ismail had not been forced from his throne by the “ reformer” he would have added, through his enterprise here, no little to aid in paying the interest of the bondholders.
Coming again to Khartoum, with the view of ascending the White Nile, or Bahr-el-Abiad, which is undoubtedly the main river, it is a happy thought that at least in a short distance the “ frightful desert of interminable scorching sand,” as Baker calls it, will be left behind ; but at some future day it is hoped that the same journey may be made on the return trip, following the same mighty river which pierces the sterile, parching desert for nearly 2000 miles to the sea, spreading its fertility on both sides, with so much regularity that they have been the uninterrupted home of man in all recorded time. The country which is to be penetrated, so long the land of mystery, is now well known. The pluck and energy of Baker, Stanley, Gordon, Long, and Mason have not only explored but have mapped the Nile and its tributaries and the water system of the equatorial basins. Stanley navigated the Victoria Nyanza, and passed around the head-waters of the Nile, which takes its source in the mountains beyond the lake, and he is still developing a mighty work on the Congo River ; Mason and Prout, with a steamer, which was with great difficulty carried piecemeal over rapids and around the falls of the upper Nile to Albert Nyanza, navigated the entire lake ; and Long who first sailed upon the Victoria Nyanza, has brought to geographers the knowledge of Lake Ibrahim, heretofore unknown as one of the reservoirs of the Nile.
The White Nile is navigable from Gondokoro to Khartoum, 1400 miles, running northerly through a country of swamps, marshes, and tangled grasses, with few trees of any size ; it winds its way through water plants, and is sometimes obstructed.
This great river takes its rise in the equatorial mountains ; after coursing through the great lakes, at an elevation of 3700 feet above the sea, it frequently descends in rapids until finally it becomes a navigable stream some distance before reaching Gondokoro. Its greatest branch, the Sobat, joins it on its eastern side in lat. 9° 21´, and the Bahr-el-Ghazal on the west just below. The Sobat takes its rise in the Galla country, is well timbered and very fertile, but still in its greater part unexplored. The Bahr-el-Ghazal rises in the province of Darfour. Both these rivers are in the region of copious rains, a country thickly inhabited and very fertile, which when cultivated yields abundantly.
Enough has been written of this country, of its great river and its tributaries, to give an idea, with the aid of a map, of the vast tracts of rich land, much of it fertilized by copious rains, and the large population which inhabit them. It will be seen by examining a map of the country described (the information having been obtained from the best authorities, much of it from personal intercourse with numerous explorers, and a part of it—that in Egypt proper, on the Red Sea, and in Abyssinia—from my own observation) that the equatorial basin lies between lat. 5° N. and as many degrees south of the Equator, and between 20° and 45° E. The numerous provinces south of this, including the provinces of Gallibat, Bogos, and Harrar, which are east of the Nile, and those of Darfour and Wahday west of it, lie between lat. 5° and 24½° N. and between 20° and 37° E. lon.
It was into this extensive region that Ismail, the late Khedive, intended in his railroad scheme to penetrate, with his mind particularly on “ the equatorial region.” He meant not only to reap immense advantages for his country in agriculture and commerce, but also to civilize the teeming millions who inhabit its soil, whom along the whole line he distinguished as Les Noirs and Les Nègres, the former of mixed blood, and in many instances the ruling class.
Under Mr. Fowler, of London, an able engineer, he had projected a railroad 1100 miles long, 200 miles of which he had completed before his overthrow, to aid in his far-reaching policy.
As a part of his plan, he had expended no less than $10,000,000 in explorations into Central Africa, extending them beyond the Equator and to the Juba River on the Indian Ocean. A portion of this large sum was expended in his Abyssinian campaign, that country coming within the scope of his grand enterprise.
The railroad, it was thought, would soon develop the country and increase the traffic in cotton, sugar, grain, gums, senna, dates, ebony, skins, ivory, ostrich-feathers, gold, wild animals, and birds. The traffic southward would be in cotton goods, cutlery, tobacco, coffee, beans, rice, and earthenware.
It matters not that he may have been inspired, as his enemies have said, by vaulting ambition. His scheme had the merit, at least in its conception, of being the greatest undertaking in modern times for the amelioration of the millions of human beings living there—a people who, Baker has written, “ are living in a condition of such besotted ignorance that they have not a knowledge of even a God.” And now we are told by one of the great Christian nations that not only is this great work to be abandoned and Central Africa to be turned back in the course of civilization, but the whole equatorial region is again, unrestrained, to become a wild pandemonium of slave-hunters. The loss of life and the labor and the millions of dollars expended are hereafter to be considered as of questionable necessity and very doubtful utility. England having determined not to fulfil the German saying “ of carrying her own skin to market” makes the problem a “ tangled web.”
It is well to recall the fact that Ismail, the late Khedive, among all his sins made a strong effort to elevate his country and give it some vitality. With wonderful power he not only peacefully controlled his ignorant and superstitious people, but guided them, against their will, in the path of progress. Under his government Lower Egypt became more populous in proportion to its extent than any country in Europe. Increasing in material wealth, after supplying her people with her own productions she had a large surplus for exportation, and at the same time more than doubled her importations. It was unfortunate that this ruler, the only one who had the sense and influence to govern the country, should have been persuaded that it was an easy thing to attain his greatness by lavish expenditure from an already depleted treasury.
It was unfortunate that in pledging large sums for his grand constructions he was deceived, by the applause which greeted him, into the belief that he was on the road to fame.
It will be understood that Khartoum is the centre of this extensive territory, to which the entire traffic of the rivers mentioned concentrates, and all the routes to the Red Sea and Lower Egypt point. Though a miserable, sickly place, it is of commercial importance, and must from its situation always continue so.
In the abandonment of the Soudan, in accordance with English policy, this too is included in the cession of territory. Unless events should change this determination, it will be a breach of good faith for a great nation to enter a country over the dead bodies of its people, professing to be a reformer, after they had previously by an arbitrary and unheard-of act removed its rightful ruler, and in his stead placed one whom they knew was weak and vacillating and utterly helpless in the hands of his Western masters. Tewfik is England's tool, and by no fair interpretation of facts can he be held responsible for the misfortunes of his country, and especially for its dismemberment and the undoing of all that Ismail did to add Equatorial Africa to Egypt, and thus to form an empire worthy of transmission to a line of Egyptian kings. But for this strong ambition Tewfik would not have been placed in the humiliating position he now occupies. Ismail would not have impoverished and embarrassed himself by paying enormous bribes to the Sultan and his ministers to secure the succession for Tewfik and his line, in contravention of the old law which gives it to the senior male descendent of Mehemet Ali. Neither would he have involved himself in bitter quarrels with his uncle and brother concerning this matter of the succession, which resulted in their banishment. The title of Khedive would not have been thought of but for English suggestion. Meaning little less than king, its adoption was simply a step toward independent sovereignty. Another huge backsheesh and Ismail might have worn the purple, and then the respect for “ divine right” would of course have kept him on the throne. Ismail never would have attempted all these additions to his importance, to remain as a simple Viceroy. The dignity was not worth the enormous sums he expended for it.
It is not the loss of domain simply, nor the breaking up of commerce in ivory and other objects in the Soudan, but it is the abandonment of that splendid sympathy which the great power has always shown for the manacled slave throughout the world that is to be considered in estimating the course of England in giving up Egypt's authority over the Soudan. How can England reconcile her course in thus helping the traffic in human beings, because of their race and color, with her well-known policy in the last century? Has she considered that in giving up the Soudan she opens again the business of slave-hunting beyond her reach in the jungles of Africa, and that Khartoum, the capital of the Soudan, on the withdrawal even of the despotism of Egypt, will be turned into a pandemonium of slave-traders busily plying their infamous traffic in human beings?
Ismail Pacha, the late Khedive, was denounced throughout Europe as a despotic tyrant. In all his official acts, at least upon the subject of slavery, he was very positive, not only in denouncing the slave-trade, but equally in dealing with domestic slavery. Having lived in Egypt for many years, I know it was understood there that both were abolished in the Soudan. It is now asserted, however, that slavery had not been interfered with. The publication of the following letter from General Stone will show how the Khedive regarded not only the slave-trade, but also the making of merchandise out of human beings because of their color in any case :
To the Editor of the Sun.
SIR : The newspapers of New York, The Sun included, published this morning a portion of the proclamation issued by General Gordon to the inhabitants of the Soudan on his recent arrival at Khartoum as the representative of the Government of Great Britain, and, nominally, as representative of the Khedive, Tewfik, though we all know that he does not at all represent the Khedive. The extract from General Gordon's proclamation is as follows :
“I desire to restore your happiness, and so I have decided to permit slave traffic. Every one having domestic servants may consider them his property and dispose of them.”
Now mark well the above, as part of a proclamation made by General Gordon on his arrival there, fresh from conference with and instructions from the humane and Christian Government of England. Then go back just ten years and mark what happened then. On the 21st day of February, 1874, Colonel Gordon left Cairo to proceed to the Soudan to take charge of the Egyptian provinces of the Equator. In those days Egypt and its dependencies were firmly ruled by the Khedive Ismail, whom the English newspapers never weary in calling tyrant and oppressor when they desire to excuse their intervention in Egypt.
This kingly ruler, Ismail, had invited Colonel Gordon into his service, and appointed him Governor of the provinces of the Equator, with a view to establishing, under a firm and honest hand, regular and just government in that remote region which had recently been under the command of Sir Samuel Baker. The latter had returned thence in September, 1873.
I have the best of reasons for believing that the following formed part of Colonel Gordon's written instructions, signed by the hand of the Khedive Ismail, and which Colonel Gordon carried with him when, ten years ago to-day, he left Cairo as an Egyptian official, to assume the government confided to him.
I give the extract in the language in which it was written and delivered to Colonel Gordon :
MONSIEUR LE COLONEL : Au moment de votre départ pour les provinces dont je vous ai confié le gouvernement, je désire appeler votre attention d'une manière plus particulière sur les points dont je vous ai déjà entretenu.
La province que vous allez organiser et administrer est un pays peu connu. Jusque vers ces derniers temps elle a été exploité par des aventuriers qui y faisaient le trafic de l'ivoire conjointement avec celui des esclaves. Ainsi, que vous le savez, leur mode de procéder consistait à établir des comptoirs ; à y entretenir des hommes armés, et à y faire avec les tribus environnantes des échanges forcés.
Mon gouvernement, depuis déjà nombre d'années, et lorsque ces provinces n'étalent pas incorporées au Gouvernement-Général du Soudan, dans le but de faire cesser un commerce illicite et inhumain, a cru devoir indemniser les chefs de ces établissements et acheter leurs comptoirs.
Une partie de ces chefs quitta le pays ; mais d'autres, sous l'engagement formel de ne point se livrer au trafic des esclaves demandérent et obtinrent de mon gouvernement l'autorisation d'y trafiquer sous la surveillance des autorités du Khartoum et sous certaines conditions. Mais las surveillance des autorités du Khartoum ne pouvait que s'exercer faiblement sur ces contrées éloignées, de communications difficiles, et sur des bandes qui, jusqu'a-lors, n'avaient reconnu aucune loi.
C'est cet état de choses qui m'a amené naturellement à séparer le gouvernement de ces provinces de celui du Khartoum, à leur donner une administration propre, et à decider le monopole des échanges.
C'est en effet le seul moyen efficace, le seul possible pour faire cesser un trafic qui s'est fait jusqu'à présent à main armée, qui s'est exercé comme le brigandage, et de rompre avec des habitudes séculaires.
Votre premier soin, donc, Monsieur le Colonel, est de veiller strictement à l'application de ce principe, car, je vous le répète, pour le commencement c'est le seul moyen de mettre fin au trafic barbare qui s'exerçait jusqu'à présent. Les habitudes de brigandage une fois perdues, le commerce libre pourra s'exerçer sans danger.
Je pense que vous devez accepter les services et utiliser selon leur caractère et à des travaux auxquels ils sont propres ceux qui consentent à abandonner leur métier et à vous faire leur soumission ; mais vous devez poursuivre et appliquer toute la riguer des lois militaires à tous ceux qui, d'une manière ouverte ou détournée, continueraient leur ancien trafic et ne romperaient pas avec leurs habitudes de brigandage.
Ceux-là, Monsieur le Colonel, ne doivent trouver en vous ni rémission ni merci. Tout le monde doit enfin comprendre que les hommes, parce qu'ils sont d'une couleur différente, ne constituent pas une marchandise, et que la vie et la liberté sont choses sacrées.
Translation. COLONEL : At the moment of your departure for the provinces whose government I have confided to your care, I desire to call your attention in a special manner to those points on which I have already conversed with you.
The provinces you are about to organize and administer is a country as yet little known. Up to recent times it has been worked by adventurers for their own advantage, who there joined the trade in ivory to the trade in slaves. As you are aware, their mode of proceeding consisted in founding trading stations, in occupying these stations with armed men, and then carrying on trade by force with the surrounding tribes.
My Government saw fit, some years since, and before these provinces were incorporated among those of the Governorship-General of the Soudan, with a view to put an end to illicit and inhuman trade, to indemnify the chiefs of these establishments and purchase their trading posts.
Some of these people left the country ; but others, under a formal obligation not to engage in the slave-trade, asked and obtained from my Government the authority to trade there under the surveillance of the Khartoum authorities, and under certain conditions.
But the surveillance of the Khartoum authorities could be only feebly exercised in those remote countries, where the communications were difficult, and over bands of men who up to that time had recognized no law.
This state of things has naturally led me to separate the government of these provinces from that of Khartoum, to give them a local administration, and to decide on a government monopoly of trade there.
In fact, this is the only efficacious, the only possible means of causing the cessation of this traffic, which, up to the present time, has gone on by armed force, which has been conducted as a robbery—the only way to break up old-time habits.
Your first work, then, Colonel, is to watch strictly over the application of this principle, for I again repeat to you, it is the only means of putting an end to the barbarous traffic which has been going on up to the present time. The habits of brigandage once done away with, commerce will again enjoy free scope without danger.
I think that you should accept the services of such as consent to abandon their trade and make their submission to you, and make use of them according to their character and the work for which they may be fit ; but you should pursue and apply all the rigor of military law to such as in any manner, whether open or evasive, may continue their old traffic, and shall not abandon their old habits of brigandage. Such, Colonel, should receive from you neither remission nor mercy.
Everybody there must be made to understand that men, simply because they are of a different color, are not to be considered as merchandise ; and that human life and liberty are sacred things.
Such were the instructions given by the Moslem Khedive Ismail ten years ago to Colonel Gordon when he sent him to the provinces of the Equator. Colonel Gordon, as an honorable officer, endeavored to carry out these instructions, and in carrying them out he received the applause of the whole civilized world. The world gave him credit for not only doing the work of a civilizer, but for having initiated it. It is easy to see from the above who initiated it.
Now, General Gordon (the Khedive Ismail gave him the rank of General for carrying out vigorously his above quoted orders) has again gone to the Soudan after receiving his powers and orders from the humane British Government, and he is no doubt carrying out his orders as faithfully as before. It may be doubted, however, if his faithful execution of orders which make him declare that tens of thousands of human beings, because they are of a different color, are merchandise, by order of Queen Victoria, will bring him as much applause from the civilized world as did the carrying out of the Khedive Ismail's order that human beings are not merchandise.
Very respectfully, your most obedient servant,
CHARLES P. STONE,
Lieutenant-General.
FLUSHING, L.I., February 22.
The unnecessary war with Egypt and the consequent disorganization of the government and the disbanding of the army left the Soudan to the adventurer El Mahdi, without the force to hold him to account. The writer has recently said that “ Egypt had been rendered helpless by these numerous episodes in her recent history ; and that the chief actor in bringing her to ruin, while dictating her policy, should refuse, without an effort, to save an integral and important part of her possessions, is without doubt inexplicable.” Is it that the lion's skin is too short to be eked out by the fox's? “ The shadow of the stranger has darkened her history with spoliation and ruin, and we see her to-day in one of those crises which have so often beset the unfortunate country, in a desolation which makes her the object of pitiable commiseration, while it increases our amazement in witnessing the extraordinary spectacle of a great nation, guided by her own interests, coldly administering upon the little that is left, without the slightest regard for its victim.”
It seems to be true that England intends to narrow Egypt into a very small compass, so that with a small force she can hold it, and while giving perfect protection to it, by the aid of her navy she can secure a safe transit for her shipping through the Suez Canal to the Indies, and at the same time inclose in a circle enough of the rich lands of the Lower Nile to pay the interest as it becomes due to her people who are holders of Egyptian securities.
The author will be excused for giving some account of the history and tradition connected with the name of El Mahdi, and of the adventurer who has assumed the name and is now interesting Egypt and the English in the Soudan. Gibbon, vol. vi. pp. 280, 281, ch. 1., says : “ The twelve Imams or Pontiffs of the Persian creed are Ali, Hassan, Hussein, and the lineal descendants of Hussein to the ninth generation. Without arms or treasures or subjects, they successively enjoyed the veneration of the people and provoked the jealousy of reigning caliphs. Their tombs at Mecca or Medina, on the banks of the Euphrates or in the province of Chorasan, are still visited by the devotees of the sect. The twelfth and last of the Imams, conspicuous by the title of Mahadi or the guide, surpassed the solitude and sanctity of his predecessors. He concealed himself in a cavern near Bagdad ; the times and place of his death are unknown ; and his votaries pretend that he still lives and will appear before the day of judgment, to overthrow the tyranny of Dejal or the Antichrist.”
D'Herbelot (“ Bibliothèque Orientale”) says that “ this Mahadi or Mehedi was born at Semeuroi 225 years after the Hegira, and when he was nine years old his mother concealed him in a cavern, whence he should come at the end of the world.” The Persian says that this Imam will join Jesus and unite the Christian and the Mahometan Law. There is in Chaldea a little place called Haf'n-Mahadi, where the Shiites (the followers of the family of Ali) pretend that the Mahadi will appear.
The appearance of El Mahdi (El Méhdi) in the minds of a large sect of El Islam (or subjection to God), known as the Shiites, has particular reference to the resurrection and the last judgment. In the Arabic library at Cairo, founded by Ismail, late Khedive of Egypt, are several thousands of volumes. Among numerous illuminated copies of the Koran, written through the centuries of its existence, there are many erudite and copious disquisitions by the learned writers of the different sects, and many wise sayings in them from the Koran and tradition in support of their practices and superstitions, in contradistinction to those of their rivals. This sect has its vagaries recorded, which confirm the statements of Gibbon and D'Herbelot. That generally understood in the present day is as follows.
It is from the large sect known as the Sunnites (tradition) that the Shiites at a very early age separated, and under the auspices of the Fatimite dynasty soon spread over all Persia and a great part of Egypt, including the Soudan in Central Africa. They believed that Ali, the son-in-law of Mahomet, was of equal if not superior rank to the Prophet. They thought him “ the impersonation and among some of the believers the incarnation of Divinity, and they further believed in the divine mission of the Imams who descended from him.” El Mahdi (El Méhdi), the last of these and the twelfth Imam, is believed by them not to have died, but to be awaiting in concealment the coming of the last day.
Mahomet, who no doubt got his idea from the Christians, announces in the Koran the doctrine of the resurrection and judgment, and refers to the office of Issa the son of Mary upon the great occasion ; and where he has not satisfied the Mahometan mind, tradition comes to his support and completes the work for him. The tradition as it is generally understood is that upon the great day Christ will appear and declare El Islam as the true religion of the world ; that with him will come El Mahdi “ and the beast of the Earth, while the peoples Gog and Magog will burst the barriers beyond which they were banished” (Koran). At this time the trumpet blast of the angel Asrafil (Gabriel) will proclaim the end of all things ; the first will kill every living being ; the second will awaken the dead ; then follows the judgment.
Mahommed Achmet, who is now of middle age and has been represented as dark-skinned with Arab blood, though he claims to be a full-blooded Arab and the regular male descendant of Mahomet through Fatima his daughter and Ali her husband, was born at Abou, a small island on the White Nile about 200 miles above Khartoum. It is well known that for several years the idea of the early coming of the last day has generally prevailed among Mahometans. Mahommed Achmet, aware of this dim belief, noted as a fanatic and living as an ascetic, has, as it is said, prepared himself in the silence of his retreat to answer the description which tradition gives him of El Mahdi the twelfth Imam, and circumstances favoring him, he now proclaims himself as the true El Mahdi, so long and so carefully hidden away in the desert sands of the Soudan of Central Africa.
The Mahometan world has not been stirred up so much as now since the advent of Abd-el-Wahab in Arabia during the latter part of the eighteenth century. This Puritan of the desert, who was no doubt a reformer, believing in the early teachings of Mahomet, determined to bring back El Islam to its ancient simplicity. With a great following, after denouncing the superstitions and corruptions of those who professed his religion, he commenced by “ destroying the tombs of saints, even those of Mahomet and Hûsén, inculcating at the same time a higher state of morals.” The Sultan, alarmed at the progress of Wahab, whose followers were designated as the Wahabees, with the double object of dealing a heavy blow at this formidable sect and at the same time, if possible, destroying his satrap, Mehemet Ali, the Governor-General of Egypt, whom he equally dreaded, ordered Mehemet to march with his whole strength against them. Mehemet Ali, unlike his weak descendant, was a great man. Sending his illustrious son Ibrahim against the Wahabees, he remained in Egypt and foiled the designs of the Sultan so carefully planned for his destruction during his absence. The result of this movement into Arabia is well known to history. Ibrahim not only vanquished the Wahabees, but began his brilliant march upon the Sultan himself at Constantinople, and was only arrested by the interference of the great powers, who established the present dynasty, whose end seems much nearer than does El Mahdi's last judgment. There is little question that in their ignorance, during the centuries through which these traditional sects passed, they mixed up what they learned of the Saviour with their own Mahometan belief, and in this way produced this superstition, which has been handed down in various versions.
The tradition as to who El Mahdi was in the past and what is expected of him in the future as given in the above statement, is gathered from history, and verbal accounts of intelligent Mahometan devotees of the present day. The new Prophet, who now calls himself El Mahdi, the “ Messiah of the Scriptures,” taking advantage of circumstances, as already stated, imposed himself upon great numbers of the credulous, backed by interested parties, until his fame and following extended to Egypt and Arabia. Up to this time he was considered a simple adventurer ; then followed his victories over Yusef Pacha and subsequently those over Hicks and Baker Pachas. Since these victories his adherents have increased, not so much because of any religious enthusiasm his followers may possess as because they have given him power. Success has had more to do with making him a real prophet than all the asceticism he has practised. Then, again, his prominence and the fear that hereafter it may give trouble has elevated him into the position of a political leader, who now requires great judgment in handling. His political importance is not confined to the deserts of the Soudan and alone to Egypt, but it is seriously agitating the councils of England, and particularly those of the Sultan of Turkey. The question is now asked, How far does his influence extend? While some sects are more deeply interested than others, there is an indefinite but universal belief in El Mahdi or Shia (Guide) among, it is estimated, more than 200,000,000 souls. These millions, with few exceptions when compared with Western civilization, are an uneducated, superstitious people, in no way to be considered favorably with it in its profoundly religious or social characteristics. In estimating the effect that the teachings of El Mahdi may have upon this enormous mass of human beings, it must be considered, that while appealing to Mahometans throughout the world, his influence is yet confined to the Arab race, and it must depend upon circumstances to be developed hereafter whether it will go beyond this race or no. In forming an opinion it must be understood that no movement can succeed which rests solely upon fanaticism as a religious conviction, but may become an element in Oriental politics when combined with some deep-seated cause of excitement.
Starting from a corrupt and insignificant beginning, it has fired the Arab heart precisely as it did a few months since when Arabi raised the standard of revolt. It is really a deep-seated hatred of Turkish rule, a government of centuries of misrule and painful oppression, that rouses into activity their profound sympathy. It matters not what sect gives birth to the leader—all they care to know is that he is an Arab and has the symbol of success.
Another important element has of late entered into the mind of the people of Egypt, which is also felt in the Soudan : it is the act of the reformer, who humanely enforces upon the people of Egypt at the point of the bayonet the most onerous taxation known, to pay an enormous interest upon bonds which they honestly believe were founded in fraud, and for which they never received one cent of benefit. The writer four years ago, after many years' residence in Egypt, and knowing her people from intimate relations, published the statement that there would be serious difficulty there in consequence of the removal of Ismail Pacha growing out of this very bond question, and that England, France, and Egypt would come to grief. This opinion has been verified by subsequent events. Though the Soudan may be abandoned, and England may narrow her circle around Assouan and the Suez Canal, with the addition of the littoral of the Red Sea, yet there will remain as before the same burning hatred, and trouble will crop out, even if this one shall be smoothed over, which is not likely. The writer still adheres to the opinion then expressed, that the only hope for Egypt, from the mouth of the Nile to its source, is that England should take possession and govern by her own laws.
Except what I have already given, very little is known of the antecedents of El Mahdi. Recently it has been stated that he belongs to the powerful order of dervishes known as the Kâdirîyeh. This society has several colleges in Cairo, and its disciples are scattered over Africa and Asia. Its mendicants move in all Mahometan countries, notwithstanding the Koran denounces the Christian monastic system. Like other orders of dervishes, it has a vast number of adherents. It is through these dervishes that information concerning El Mahdi is spread and credited, and as religion is their business, it does not lose by repetition. It comes through holy men, who have mystical signs and secrets between them, and they traverse regions where newspapers never penetrate. There is very little sympathy between the Arab race and those who live in the Indies and Persia, or where the real Turk lives. There is also a difference of opinion in matters of belief, and really the same utter ignorance of what Mahometanism means ; and of course they are all indifferent to its dogmas. What little there ever was of pure or elevated monotheistic faith was long since so hopelessly corrupted that what they call religion is only degrading superstition, and, as correctly said, they are influenced in their ignorance “ far more by the mysterious power of some local saint than they are by any religious doctrine.” Yet these considerations are also an element with which statesmen have to deal.
Ismail Pacha has recently said that the great event in the Eastern problem is the creation, the organization of a great Arab nationality. Notwithstanding England's attitude now, the days of the Turk are numbered in moral, material, and martial power.
There is no question but that Ismail had in his mind, when in power, the organizing of this Arab nationality of which he speaks, and ambitious of empire, by slow and certain methods he was laying the foundation in Egypt for the consummation of this design through this very nationality. He was aware how degraded and ignorant were the masses he had to deal with, and that the worn-out creed called a religion is but a degraded superstition which must be reformed. Engaged in building up the country and inspiring industry, he provided largely for the education of the masses. The writer in this work has demonstrated the progress which was made under his auspices, and the large amounts he expended for that purpose. He knew that the entire people were but a degree above savages, without thought, and incapable of governing themselves. Throughout the various episodes of his reign, he never lost sight of one absorbing thought—the education of the people. Their education he believed would result in the amelioration of their religion, and thus by slow movements he expected to accomplish the object he had at heart. With Egypt as a nucleus, he knew that it was an easy matter to extend it over the entire Arab race. His fame had favorably spread, before his fall, throughout Arabia and Syria, and caused serious concern to those who were propping up Turkey. Had he remained on his throne a few years longer he would have been a far more dangerous element in causing alarm to Turkey than the movements of Russia, or even Austria backed by Germany, in their designs upon the Porte.
It is extremely doubtful whether El Mahdi will be able to organize the Arab race, even those in the Soudan, for any useful purpose, as his fitful rule, after creating great excitement, must eventually end in turbulence and anarchy. Even if he had an intelligent material to work with, it would be equally necessary that he should be, as Ismail Pacha says, “ a great apostle of their faith and a great soldier of their affection” in order “ to combine the crescent and the sword” in creating a nationality or to become a benefactor of the Arab. The abandonment of Khartoum will give El Mahdi an opportunity. In this new arena he will be both prophet and political leader. His people a wild horde of savages, without thought, brought in contact with civilization, he must at once prove whether he is equal to the great work promised by his devotees. If another Mahomet shall wield an iron despotism over their minds and bodies, and be at the same time capable of organizing and directing the vast numbers of savages who surround him, very similar to those in the earlier day, the small force at Assouan will not be able to secure that perfect safety expected to the Suez Canal.