CHAPTER II.

REVOLT OF THE SOUDAN.

The Mahdi, his programme and military successes--Disaster of Hicks Pasha--Osman Digna and engagements near Suakin--English intervention--Gordon at Brussels; starts for Khartoum--Hesitation of England--Further success of the Mahdi--Capture of Berber--Blockade and siege of Khartoum--Organisation of relief expedition under Lord Wolseley--Engagements at Abu Klea and Metammeh--Fall of Khartoum and death of Gordon.

Prompted either by personal ambition or by religious hatred, the idea of playing the part of “Mahdi” had been acted upon by many an Arab fanatic. Such an idea, at an early age, had taken possession of a certain Soudanese of low birth, a native of Dongola, by name Mohammed Ahmed. Before openly aspiring to the _rôle_ of the regenerator of Islam he had filled several subordinate engagements, notably one under Dr. Peney, the French surgeon-general in the Soudan, who died in 1861. Shortly afterwards he received admittance into the powerful order of the Ghelani dervishes, and then commenced his schemes for stirring up a revolution in defence of his creed. His proceedings did not fail to attract the attention of Gessi Pasha, who had him arrested at Shekka and imprisoned for five months.

Under the government of Raouf he took up his abode upon the small island of Abba, on the Nile above Khartoum, where he gained a considerable notoriety by the austerity of his life and by the fervour of his devotions, thus gradually gaining a high reputation for sanctity. Not only offerings but followers streamed in from every quarter. He became rich as well as powerful, and married a large number of wives, whom he took care to select from the most influential families of the country, principally from those of the opulent slave-dealers in Kordofan and Bagara.

Waiting till May 1881, he then assumed that a propitious time had arrived for the realisation of his plans, and accordingly had himself publicly proclaimed as “Mahdi,” inviting every fakir and every religious leader of Islam to come and join him at Abba.

So skilfully was his proclamation conceived that it could hardly fail to attract to him a large number of adherents. From a religious point of view, he fascinated his devotees by his announcement of the imminent fulfilment of prophecies, always popular, declaring the destined supremacy of the reformed religion of Mahomet. In a socialist aspect, he secured the sympathy of the disinherited classes by promises of universal equality and community of goods. On the other hand, he attracted the goodwill and support of the traders by reminding them of the tyranny and rapacity of the officials of the Egyptian Treasury, and by declaring that, although it was tabooed by an European Governour, the traffic in slaves was perfectly legitimate. Finally, he appealed to the nationality of all classes of the Soudanese, and exhorted them to rise in insurrection against the invaders, and to fight for the independence of their country.

Convinced that it was impolitic to tolerate any longer the revolutionary intrigues of such an adventurer at the very gates of Khartoum, Raouf Pasha resolved to rid the country of Mohammed and to send him to Cairo for trial. An expedition was accordingly despatched to the island of Abba, but unfortunately the means employed were inadequate to the task. Only a small body of black soldiers was sent to arrest the agitator in his quarters, and they, inspired no doubt by a vague and superstitious dread of a man who represented himself as the messenger of Allah, wavered and acted with indecision. Before their officers could rally them to energy, the Mahdi, with a fierce train of followers, knife in hand, rushed upon them, and killing many, put the rest to flight; then, seeing that a renewed assault was likely to be made, he withdrew the insurgent band into a retreat of safety amongst the mountains of Southern Kordofan. Henceforth revolt was openly declared. Such was the condition of things in August 1881.

Chase was given, but every effort to secure the person of the pretended prophet was baffled. A further attempt was made to arrest him by the Mudir of Fashoda with 1500 men, only to be attended with a still more melancholy result. After a desperate struggle the Mudir lay stretched upon the ground, his soldiers murdered all around him. One single officer, with a few straggling cavalry, escaped the massacre, and returned to report the fatal news.

The reverse caused an absolute panic in Khartoum, an intense excitement spreading throughout the Soudan.

“The Governour-General”--so writes M. Vossion, the French consul at Khartoum--“perfectly terror-stricken, telegraphed to Cairo for reinforcements, and his request was urgently supported by all the European consuls. On the 23d of December a telegram from the Khedive announced that reinforcements had been granted, and it was stated, moreover, that Abdellal Bey’s negro regiment had received orders to start; but the military party, then all-powerful (it was just the time in which Arabi’s _pronunciamento_ appeared), believing that it was a mere pretext for packing off some of the compromised troops out of the way into the Soudan, flatly refused to allow Abdellal Bey and his men to go. In this way the Soudan was left to shift for itself.”

Meantime the Mahdi’s prestige was ever on the increase, and he soon felt sufficiently strong to assume the offensive. His troops overran Kordofan and Sennar, advancing on the one hand to the town of Sennar, which they set on fire, and on the other to El-Obeid, which they placed in a state of siege. In the following July a fresh and more powerful expedition, this time numbering 6000 men, under the command of Yussuf Pasha, left Fashoda and made towards the Mahdi’s headquarters. It met with no better fate than the expeditions that had gone before. Unable to withstand the impetuous cavalry charge of the Bagara rebels, it was cut to pieces on the battlefield, all the wounded being massacred and the prisoners beheaded.

The way to Khartoum lay open. There the confusion and dismay were beyond description. Dreading an immediate attack from the rebels, the Government in all haste threw up fortifications, and despatched still more urgent demands to Cairo for assistance, making no concealment of the critical situation in which the 11,000 Christian inhabitants of the town and its garrison of 6000 soldiers were placed. But Cairo was powerless to make any effective movement.

And then it was that the English Government, discerning danger for Egypt in this insurrection of Islam, set to work to act for the Khedive. It told off 11,000 men, and placed them under the command of Hicks Pasha, an officer in the Egyptian service who had made the Abyssinian campaign. At the end of December 1882 this expedition embarked at Suez for Suakin, crossed the desert, reached the Nile at Berber, and after much endurance on the way, arrived at Khartoum.

Before this, El Obeid had fallen into the Mahdi’s power, and there he had taken up his headquarters. Some trifling advantages were gained by Hicks, but having entered Kordofan with the design of retaking El-Obeid, he was, on the 5th of November 1883, hemmed in amongst the Kasgil passes, and after three days’ heroic fighting, his army of about 10,000 men was overpowered by a force five or six times their superior in numbers, and completely exterminated. Hicks Pasha himself, his European staff, and many Egyptian officers of high rank, were among the dead, and forty-two guns fell into the hands of the enemy. Again, not a man was left to carry the fatal tidings to Khartoum.

Rebellion continued to spread. After being agitated for months, the population of the Eastern Soudan also made a rising. Osman Digna, the foremost of the Mahdi’s lieutenants, occupied the road between Suakin and Berber, and surrounded Sinkat and Tokar; then, having destroyed, one after another, two Egyptian columns that had been despatched for the relief of these towns, he finally cut off the communication between Khartoum and the Red Sea. The tide of insurrection by this time had risen so high that it threatened not only to overthrow the Khedive’s authority in the Soudan, but to become the source of serious peril to Egypt itself.

The English Government was consulted, and gave the advice that the Egyptian Government should relieve the beleaguered garrisons, and retiring as quickly as possible from the districts threatened by the Mahdi, should concentrate its forces in the rear of Wady Halfa at the second cataract. Promise of the assistance of English troops was held out, if this line of defence should in its turn be threatened.

Added to this, Colonel Coëtlogon, who had been sent by the Khedive to Khartoum under a commission to report upon the condition of the town, recommended a speedy retreat. According to his account, a third of the soldiers in the garrison were disaffected, the whole of the soldiers were on the worst terms with the population, and the entire situation was most critical. Moreover, unless the retreat were made at once, it would before long become impracticable, and great disaster must ensue.

Thus compelled by stress of circumstances, the Khedive’s Government adopted the resolution of concentrating at Khartoum all their troops that were dispersed over the Soudan, and of ultimately evacuating the town; but at the same time an intimation was forwarded to the English Government warning them of the immense difficulties that were involved in the execution of the measures which were being undertaken in conformity with their advice. Where was the man who would volunteer to conduct so hazardous a retreat, through a district given over to revolt and overrun by bands of rebels? Who was there in all the Soudan of sufficient influence to negotiate with the Mahdi, and to secure some guarantee of safety or some facilities by which the retreat could be accomplished? Raouf Pasha, who, with unwarrantable injustice, had been held responsible for former reverses, had been recalled a year ago; and Abd-el-Kader, who had succeeded him, had not been in any respect more fortunate, and was, moreover, quite bewildered by the complication of dangers which continued to increase.

And now it was that England bethought herself of the versatile and famous general who once before for four years had held rule in the Soudan, gaining an uniform popularity alike with the European residents and the natives of the place. For the second time Gordon Pasha should appear upon the scene.

Since 1879, when he had been called upon to resign the Governour-Generalship of the Soudan, Gordon had successively occupied posts in India as secretary to the Viceroy; in China, where he settled the dispute about Kashgar between Russia and the Celestial Empire; in Mauritius, where he had been the very life-spring of British influence; at Suez, whither he went to meet his brave and devoted friend Gessi, who died there of fever in March 1881; and at the Cape, where he had been entrusted with the settlement of the Basuto-land question.

On the 1st of January 1884 he arrived at Brussels, having been summoned by a telegram from the King of the Belgians, which reached him at Jerusalem while he was making a pilgrimage in Palestine. The King at once gave him an audience, and explained to him that, as patron of the Congo Association, he was anxious to renew negotiations that had been opened some years previously, and that he had sent for him to induce him to go to Africa and to share with Stanley the mission of introducing European influence into the districts along the upper part of the river. It was a task altogether in unison with Gordon’s tastes, and he did not hesitate to accept it, undertaking to be ready to set out by the steamer on the 6th of February so as to arrive at Vivi as soon as possible to relieve Stanley, who for some months past had been applying for leave to return to Europe.

But although it was thus arranged that Gordon should go to Africa, his destination was to be elsewhere than on the Congo.

Returning for a brief visit to England to take farewell of his sister and friends, he was “interviewed” at Southampton by one of the staff of the _Pall Mall Gazette_, which was forthwith published with a sensational article containing Gordon’s views on the Egyptian difficulty with the Soudan, a subject which was very near to his heart, and of which there was no one more capable of forming a practical judgment than himself.

Again in Brussels, on the 16th of January, he was suddenly recalled to England by a despatch from the Government at home. On the following day he submitted to King Leopold the fact that he had been summoned to go to the Soudan that he might, if possible, effect the deliverance of the Egyptian troops, making no concealment of his sentiments that a soldier’s first duty was to his own country, when it appealed to his devotion. The king at once released him from his engagement.

Not an hour was lost. On the evening of the 18th he left Charing Cross station, where he was attended by the Duke of Cambridge, Lord Granville, and Lord Wolseley, and reached Cairo on the 24th. On the second day after his arrival, refusing all escort and accompanied only by his adjutant, Colonel Stewart, he started for Khartoum by the quickest possible route, along the Nile to Korosko, and thence by camel-ride across the desert to Berber. Exactly one month after quitting London, on the 18th of February, he came within sight of Khartoum, where he was hailed by the population as a deliverer, and entered the town amidst the wildest enthusiasm.

From the very first moment of his entry he displayed the most prodigious energy; he held public audiences; he instituted a council of notables; he visited the prisons, where for years some hundred wretches, most of them unjustly, had been huddled together in the most abject misery; he administered justice; he provisioned the white troops at Omdurman, on the left bank of the Nile; he entrusted the defence of Khartoum to the Soudanese regiments; he abolished tolls and remitted payment of arrears of taxes; he placed boxes in various quarters of the town for the reception of claims and complaints, and finally issued a proclamation announcing that henceforward the Soudan would be independent, and recognising as legitimate that slavery which, according to a former decree of the Khedive, had been definitely prohibited, from November 1889, through all the districts between Assouan and the great lakes.

Great was the consternation excited by the latter clause of this announcement. It was interpreted as the official re-establishment of the slave traffic and regarded as a scandal by Europe, where it seems to be imperfectly realised that domestic slavery has from time immemorial existed, and will continue to exist for a long period yet to come, in spite of all the decrees in the world. It is obvious that if Gordon were to fulfil his object of evacuating the Soudan, there must of necessity be involved an acquiescence in this kind of slavery, and therefore it is altogether beside the mark for European philanthropists to criticise his words without regard to the practical view of the case.

Months elapsed. There was a continuous interchange of despatches between the defender of Khartoum and the English Cabinet in London, carried on by the intervention of Sir Evelyn Baring, the British representative at Cairo. They bear evidence of the indecision of the Government as to the course to be pursued. The questions were various and complicated. Should an effort be made to retain the Soudan at any price? Should it be entirely abandoned? Should any of the equatorial provinces be reserved for civilisation? No one seemed competent to give an answer or to suggest a policy. So involved and disorderly was the state of affairs that even Gordon himself, with the best opportunity of forming an opinion, does not appear to have had altogether settled views as to what was best. At first he declared his intention of presenting himself personally in the camp of the Mahdi, and of seeking to negotiate with him directly terms upon which the western provinces might be definitely surrendered. He was forbidden, however, by the authorities at home to persevere in this step, because, it was alleged, it would entail serious political inconveniences.

He next demanded that after the withdrawal of the Egyptian troops the office of Governour-General should be conferred on Zebehr Pasha, formerly a merchant in the Bahr-el-Ghazal, and the father of Suleiman Zebehr, who had been taken and executed by Gessi. This Zebehr, then in confinement in Egypt, Gordon believed was the only man to be found with anything like sufficient influence to counterbalance the power of the Mahdi; he was a direct descendant of the Abbasides, and had obtained a high reputation all through the country. This proposition was rejected by the English Cabinet, notwithstanding Sir Evelyn Baring’s approval of it, on the ground that public opinion would not tolerate its being carried into effect. As matter of fact, “the Anti-Slavery Society” indignantly protested against the idea of either seeking or accepting the co-operation of one who had been so actively concerned in the slave traffic.

Failing thus to obtain authority to execute his mission by means of the only men in the Soudan who were able to assist his purpose, Gordon appealed for foreign intervention. He asked that 200 English soldiers should be sent to Wady Halfa, for the simple sake of showing that he was really supported by European military influence; he likewise advised that the route between Suakin and Berber, which was still occupied by Osman Digna, should be reopened by the employment of Indian troops.

No reply came to his application, and Gordon almost began to think himself forsaken by those who had sent him out. He next proposed, without further delay, to move all the troops and the Egyptian officials to Berber, under the command of Colonel Stewart; and feeling that his presence would then be no longer requisite at Khartoum, he tendered his resignation, intimating his own intention of retiring, with the steamers, ammunition, and Soudanese troops, to the provinces of the Bahr-el-Ghazal and the Equator (then under the government of Lupton Bey and Emin Bey), and placing them under the protection of the King of the Belgians, whose possessions on the Congo were adjacent.

“Quick!” wrote Gordon on the 11th of March 1884--“Quick, or we shall be blockaded.”

Sir Evelyn Baring could only answer that the English Government were not contemplating any military movement, at the same time making Gordon understand that he must manage to remain at Khartoum, and that under no pretext whatever was he to betake himself to the south.

Thus time was lost; and while all this tedious circumlocution was going on, the power of the Mahdi and the number of his partisans were being continually augmented; the circle of the rebels was drawing in, closer and closer, around the town, and Osman Digna was still holding the Red Sea route, having on the 11th of February worsted Valentine Baker at Trinkinat and slaughtered more than 2000 of his men, and subsequently captured both Sinkat and Tokar. Some bloody successes, indeed, were gained by General Graham at Teb on February 29th, and at Tamanieh on March 13th, but they were altogether futile in displacing Osman from the mastery of the road.

The advances of the Mahdi’s people towards Khartoum became more and more daring. On March 12th the town was completely invested. Four days later a sally was made by a bevy of troops, but they were betrayed by five of their officers, and, stricken with panic, fell back in confusion and with considerable loss. Thenceforward the place was exposed to continual assaults from the besiegers; the blockade became closer, and soon the bombardment was almost incessant, shells falling into the centre of the town, though without doing serious damage or creating much alarm.

On the 27th of April the outlying station of Mesalimmeh, with all its ammunition and a steamer, made a surrender. At the end of May Berber fell into the hands of the enemy, whereby all communication between Egypt and the Soudan was interrupted. There was no longer any question about evacuating Khartoum. The sole consideration was by what means to rescue its defenders.

Impossible was it for England any longer to remain a passive looker-on; the demand for military interference was imperative. The voice of the press, enforcing public opinion, cried vehemently for the deliverance of Gordon, and the British Government decided upon sending out an expedition of relief. Parliament voted £300,000 towards the expenses, and Lord Wolseley, the hero of Tel-el-Kebir, was appointed Commander-in-Chief, and started for Egypt, where his forces arrived during August 1884.

There had been no cessation of the fighting at Khartoum; for months not a day had passed without a skirmish. The garrison soon reckoned a loss of 700 men. During an attack upon Gatarneb upon the 10th of July, Saati Bey, one of Gordon’s bravest associates, was killed, with three of his officers, while Colonel Stewart, who took part in the engagement, escaped only with the utmost difficulty.

Hope now began to flag and misgivings to arise lest help should not arrive in time. As a consequence, symptoms of disaffection became too apparent, not only amongst the besieged troops, but especially amongst the Egyptian officers.

Military matters in Lower Egypt were pressed forward with all possible despatch. Portable steamers and whale-boats manned by Canadians, accustomed to their own rapids, were launched upon the Nile. The expeditionary forces, composed of picked troops and a volunteer camel corps, were not long in starting, and Lord Wolseley, with his staff, arrived at Wady Halfa on the 5th of October. The first cataract was passed, and by the beginning of December the advanced guard reached Debbah, forty miles from Dongola.

By the end of the month an entrenched camp was formed at Korti, and from thence were despatched two columns--one, under General Earle along the river, to entice the enemy towards Berber; the other, under General Sir H. Stewart, across the desert straight for Khartoum, in order to assist Gordon to hold out until the main body of the troops should arrive.

So opened the fatal year 1885. The situation at Khartoum had become desperate.

On the 17th of January Stewart first fell in with the Arabs, and gave battle at the wells of Abu-Klea, which were defended by 7000 of the Mahdi’s men, against 1350 under the English general. At the outset the engagement was indecisive, but ultimately the Arabs were out-manœuvred, and the column proceeded on its march. The next day a second battle took place at Metammeh, where Stewart was killed, with several of his leading officers, as well as Messrs. Herbert and Cameron, the correspondents respectively of the _Morning Post_ and _Standard_ newspapers.

The command of the column devolved upon Colonel Wilson. Notwithstanding its heavy losses, it was still victorious, and continued its way, reaching El Guba the same evening, where it entrenched. This was on the Nile, about seventy-five miles below Khartoum. It had been a forced march, skilfully conducted and brilliantly accomplished; but the end seemed in view, and the courage and energy of the British soldiers rose nobly to the occasion.

On the 23d four iron-plated steamers hove in sight. What could these be? and whence and for what purpose had they come? The explanation was not far off; Gordon had sent them from Khartoum. Although the town had been besieged for months, the assailants continually increasing in numbers and ferocity, it still held its own. The Mahdi had taken up his position before its gates, superintending the operations of the siege, and himself leading an attack upon the entrenched camp at Omdurman, in which, although he was repulsed, he took one of his adversary’s boats. Gordon, however, did not give in; with a presence of mind that never failed, he persevered in facing every danger from without, whilst all along he had perpetually to be upon his guard against the inertness, and still worse, the treacherous spirit of mutiny of a portion of his own troops. And now the announcement came that the long-looked-for succour was at hand; he would hasten to send some recognition of its advance, and accordingly he sent out, laden with provisions, the four steamers that had appeared in view.

Without losing time, Sir C. Wilson and Colonel Stewart, with twenty men of the Sussex regiment, embarked on two of these steamers, and on the next day left the entrenchments at El Guba and started for Khartoum. It was a time of deep suspense. On the 28th they came in sight of the beleaguered town. All was silence. There was no sound nor sign of welcome. Uneasy and in bewilderment, they at once hove to, but only to find themselves under a close fire from the ramparts, over which, floating from the Government palace, was seen the green banner of the Mahdi.

Too late! The relief had indeed come too late. Eight-and-forty hours before, Khartoum had been surrendered by treachery to the rebels; the great and blameless hero was dead, shot down under the acacias of the Government buildings, on his way to the Austrian Consul’s, to take his last farewell of his good friend Hansal.