The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1885-02-21 00:00:00

THE SITUATION IN THE SOUDAN.

Under this heading the following has appeared in
the Morning Post :—ln the course of a conversation a
distinguished Personage, well acquainted with the
condition of affairs in the Soudan, expressed himself
in the following terms :—The whole of the Lower
Soudan is in a state of revolution, I can trace it,e
origin to the appointment as Governor of Souakim
of a colonel who had been turned out of the
army for irregularities, who was readmitted a few
years ago and appointed Governor of Souakim. He
began to levy new taxes in the most tyranical moa-
ner, and attempted to exact old taxes—an absurd
thing to do in Egypt. It is all very fine to put
down the credits in books and registers, but one
must thank God if one levies the taxes of the year
without thinking of those overdue. The brutal and
arbitrary acts committed by the colonel at the head
of a few men against the natives aroused the popula-
tion to revolt, and soon the whole country was in
flames. The greatest error committed by you was the
withdrawal after having defeated Osman Digma. The
withdrawal was considered as a defeat, and in the
minds of the natives the idea prevails that the enemy
was driven to the sea. I hear people censuring Lord
Woheley's plan of marching on Khartoum by the
Nile instead of from Souakim, but there is no doubt that
Wolseley's plan is the right one. Whatever happens
he has the Nile to fall back upon as a line of opera-
tions. Those who speak of despatching an army
from Souakim have no notion of the difficulties and
dangers to be encountered. In the first place, it is
impossible to think of sending more than 2000 men
at a time. This implies 2000 camels, and at least
2000 camel drivers, and who guarantees that this
small force will not be decimated by heat or have
to encounter the enemy in considerable numbers, for
thee columns would have to traverse districts in a
state of complete revolution, and would have to march
from well to well with the probability of finding but
scanty supplies of water, these wells being only Ora-
tious from the Nile, and the abundance or the scanti-
ness of the water is naturally in proportion to the rising
the lowering of the Nile. I confess I cannot
Inderstand the object of the expedition to Khartoum.
[f it is to lose hundreds and hundreds of precious
lives and to spend millions and millions I have
nothing to say. But if England aims at obtaining a
practical and lasting result, and if £40,000,000 is to
no spent, it would be much wiser to dedicate
£10,000,000 for war purposes and the rest to improve
the country, and to win the tribes by showing that
their welfare is seriously taken into consideration.
This is the only means of pacifying the country and
obtaining durable results which will compensate for
the money laid out. Nor can I understand the object
of the proposed railway from Souakim to Berber.
Evidently the fact that the whole of the Soudan is
in a state of revolution has not been duly con-
sidered. A railway is, after all, only an auxiliary of
3ivilisation, and becomes a necessity when a State
is flourishing, or when there is a probability of its
assisting in producing prosperity. But to construct
a railway at this moment implies the presence of an
army to protect the works and to repulse hostile
attacks. Evidently no clear notion exists of he
difficulties arrising simply from the state of the
climate, and from the fevers. Egyptian troops were
sent in former times across the desert from Souakim,
but no one ever dreamt of sending more than 1,000 men
at a time when these troops knew they were traver-
sing a quiet country. A single soldier would have
been as safe on the way as a whole army. But, as I
have said, the greatest difficulty to be eneountered
at this season is the heat. I remember that on
one occasion I was going up the Nile in a steamer,
and, althoagh the heat was not so intense as it
would be in the desert, it was so unbear-
able that I was compelled to stay on deck,
sheltered by a tent, in the lightest of costumes, and
with a man fanning me with a huge fan. It was just
one o'clock, and we were standing before a well. I
noticed a man drawing water in the native way, a
fatieuing exercise under any circumstances. I counted
fort-y minutes, and the man, under a scorching sun,
never ceased his work, while not a drop of sweat
appeared on his forehead or body. I was so struck
by this fact that I called the doctor of the steamer,
and pointed out the case. He dwelt at length on the
peculiar strength of these natives' skulls, which allow
thorn to stand any amount of heat, "as true children
of the sun." The personage then dwelt at length
on the constitution of the conntry, which, so far
as the different tribes with their chiefs are concerned,
reminds one very much of the old feudal barons.
Another false prophet had 'appeared many years ago,
hut was soon defeated. The victories of the present
itla:acli have stirred up a general revolution, and
the extent of the danger may be estimated by
the fact that between Kordofan, Sennaar, Khartoum,
Beiber, Dongola, Kassala, &c., the population may
be calculated at 6,000,000, of which one-third
are fixed residents, and the other two-thirds nomad
tribes. But all indiscriminately are warriors of
undoubted courage and ability. "I see," he said,
"that with regard to the capture of Khartoum the
most absurd stories are narrated, one being that
one of the gates had been opened to the
Mai-Kills men by treachery, while no gates exist.
Khartoum, as you know, is defended partly by the
White Nile, partly by the Blue Nile, and partly by a
ditch. The fort which existed near the barracks and
the powder magazine was destroyed by Gordon on his
arriving there, although he may subsequently have
constructed new fortifications that did not previously
exist." This led to a conversation about Gordon.
Referring to the opinion which the ex-Khedive had of
Gordon, the Personage narrated the following story as
he had it many years ago from Ismail Pasha: My
opinion of Gordon is that he was a man whose sense of
duty, and whose courage, honesty, and disinterestedness
were without example. When he was in Egypt
he received £5OOO a year, and he had never a sou.
I believe he sent £lOOO to his sister ; but all his
money went to the poor. He could tot see a beggar
in the street without putting his hand in his pocket.
I never knew him to be what I have heard him des-
cribed—a religious fanatic. I can assure you that,
whatever his religious convictions may have been, he
never once allowed those convictions to interfere with
his duties. Moreover, whenever he considered that
the action of missionaries could compromise his work
of pacification he used his authority to pravent a dis-
play of zeal on their part. I will tell you an anee-
dote, which will prove to you how he understood his
duty. On one occasion he asked leave to return for a
few months to London. While there intrigues were
got up to induce him to tender his resignation, and he
wrote to a friead at Cairo that he would not return to
Khartoum, but would come and take leave of me and
settle in England. I was informed of this, and
received Gordon, who told me of his decision. My
answer was: "You are at liberty to do what you
choose, only I must remark that I was mistaken in
my appreciation of you. If you were the Gordon
that I believed, the Gordon that I associated with my
work of civilisation, you would not abandon me when
the work begun was not yet completed.' His only
reply was, "Your Highness is right, I am at your
orders." And the very next day he met his friend
and tom him, "I am off to-morrow." "What ; for
London already? Has the Khedive accepted your
resignation ?" `-No, for Khartoum," was the reply.
"The Khedive has still confidence in me, and I will
continue to serve him."

In the German Parliafnent the proposal TRE been
adopted to raise the duty on rye and on wheat to 3
marks. Prince Bismarck said it was a perversion of
historical truth to say that corn duties bad been con-
demned by history.