The weekly Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 1882-188?, 1884-03-13
ENGLAND IN THE SOUDAN.
HOW SHE BECAME MINED Up IN THE
NATTER.
Drifting In. where She bad Idea OF G. ding
by Mortified Pride.
From the y. Y. Evening Post.

Soudan troubles? AS usual, she did not
sail into them. but drifted into them.
| The Mahdi, or Prophet, had begun to
make progress in the Soudan before
English authority became practically
supreme in Egypt by the battle If Tel {
ell Kebir. The Egyptian. Government |
could not make up its mind % abandon |
this vast region to him or rchance. while |
at the same time il hsdreither the moral |
energy nor the materiIforce in men and |
money adequate to ,esist him and re- |
conquer the territoriAs which were Weld |
ing to him, or at leasf.scaping from their |
control They dgpatched some troops
tnlther, T,;ah anu asa Paced them under an
husi,:ii ollses ns~ named Hicks. The repre- |
sentataseso .Ss q England ct Cairo, were in
:aevN by the English Ministry not to |
sssfere with the action of the Egyptian |
Government in the matter Advice was
sometimes given; more frequently it was
not given, but whenever the subject
was mentioned an emphatic declaration
was made that England had nothing to
do with the Soudan, and that the Khe-
dive and his ministers must act on their
own responsibility. Neither Mr.. Glad
stones Cabinet, nor Sir E. Barring, seem
| to have doubted for a moment that the
proper course was to abandon the
| Soudan altogether, and withdraw the
Egyptian frontier to place called Wady
| Halfa, or even to Assuan. That they
refused to force this opinion on the Khe-
dive was owing to their resolve to make
their occupation of Egypt purely tempo
rary, and let the Khedive's Government
stand alone as soon as it was possible for
them to do SO.
In November the catastrophe came.
Hicks's army in the Soudan was ami
Inflated. 1t was plain that Egypt
could not, of herself, reconquer the
country. The question arose whether
England should intervene by sending
English or Indian troops either to re-
establish Egyptian authority and hold
Khartoum, or at. least to insure the safe
withdrawal of such garrisons as remained
in the country. Fearing that to send
| troops would involve the permanent Oc-
cupation of part OF the Soudan, and the
creation of an English empire in Equa-
torial Africa, Mr.. Gladstone's Cabinet
refused to do SO, but went SO far as to
to advise the Egyptian Ministry to with
draw its garrisons and abandon the
Soudan. When, after much delay. it
appeared that the Egyptian Ministry
would not follow this advice, England
went step further, quilted her attitude
of irresponsibility, and, early in January,
told the Khedive that if his ministers
would not comply with her wishes he
must dismiss them. He did so, and the
present Ministry of Nubar Pasha came
in to obey her directions. But mean
while time had been lost. The position
of Khartoum had become much more
perilous. Although the Europeans there
have no claim upon England, since they
went out either in the service of the
| Egyptian government or as traders or
their own account, public sympathy was
reused on their behalf, and the feeling
grew stronger and stronger that the
British government ought to take some
steps to rescue them.
The newspapers cried out for this, and
that large class who had all along desired
that England should strengthen her hold
on Egypt, and proclaim formal pro-
tectorate over it, swelled the cry for in
tervention in the Soudan, because they
saw that the more she committed her
self there the less could she forsake
Egypt.
|
of General Gordon, the one Englishman
whose knowledge of the country as well
as his military gifts and personal daring,
pointed him out as the man for the
crisis. The English Government pro-
posed to the Egyptian Ministry to en-
ploy him, but the objections raised by
the latter took some time to overcome,
so that it was not till the end of January
| tl,ot I,o - tnl
source of anxiety started up on the
coasts of the Red Sea- Baker Pasha
commanded body of Egyptian troops
there. He was attacked by band of
natives, Mohammedan Soudanese, half
black, half Arab in blood, who had come
J down from the Mahdi's main forces,
and so crushingly defeated him that he
had to escape to the port of Suakim,
! w6ere iir7s,ns the ksns Of British vessels give
t sorne protection. The news Of tmsde;,
feat reached England on the very even
x ing when Parliament met. and cioudet
t. the spirits of the Government. 1t wa
quite unexpected, for his force was sup
le posed to be more than match for an
=, antagonist; but it seemed to seal the fat
t. of the Red Sea garrisons, who were no.
left without prospect of relief. lmps
ar tience and irritation rose higher in Ene
Id land. The defeat and the impendin
lg destruction of the garrison were attrll
ok uted to the sluggishness or timidit
to of the Government, which ought, it
et said, to have long ago dispatched trool
he from India to the Red Sea coast al
ar prepared to relieve khartoum by force
as march across the desert.
This was the state of feeling which e
.se couraged Sir Stafford Northcote to mo-
ne his vote of censure. The tension was
ad little relieved by the intelligence Of Ge
ID. Gordon's arrival at Berber on the Cpp
to Nile. from which he .scended the rlv
he to Khartoum in safety. But it was
he creased by the subsequent news or t
nd fall of Sinkat, one of the posts near t
Ter Red Sea coast, and the slaughter of
garrison.
the The effect of all this has been to pl
asst duce among the Liberals feeling ma
t it ND both of mortified pride and imI
eel tience, which has grown keener a
md keener as week after week has pass
yer without decisive action on the part
the Government. They are vexed Il
did n responsibility which the Governmt
she has eventually assumed should not ha
she been assumed sooner, when the mist
My tunes which have befallen might hs
ore been averted. They do not much sy
Who pathize with its anxiety to abstain fr
every possible assertion of authority
ing Egypt, and are, in fact, pretty v
A pleased to stay there. They think
een has been too late in recognizing E
Il it acting upon patent facts. And they
had not like that the troops OF count
the which is for the time being under
ule. agis of England, should be destro
had and its territories torn away. Such I
she ings, it is true, do not exist equally II
sections of the party. They are M
ohm stronger among the aristocratlc and
lght tocratic sections. telling far less on
s to bulk of the middle classes. But
Il he fact which is for the moment impor
e as is that they fall upon the nlnlste
ght, party in the House of Commons,
y he shake the loyalty of some OF It's M
tnat bers. =.
her The feelings of the Conservatives
ery's hardly necessary to analyze. They
now plv hold that things are going the
: the they foretold, and that the minlst
want of courage and vigor would SO
or later bring disaster both at home
cent. abroad.