The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-06-11

Ministry-The SOudun Aroused
The Attack on the KhaIifa.
In the Anglo Egyptian difficulties which
have conVulsed the old world for over
decade two pairs of dumb lips have sue
cessively pleaded for and obtained au-
thoritative hearing from the world.
Gen. Chinese" Gordon, the strangest
and noblest mixture of Paladin and Don
QuiXote that this century has known,
was betrayed to his death on Jan, rs,
1885, when the forces of Ell Mahdi stormed
the city of Khartoum, where the British
government had left Gordon to perish.
His head was cut off. That CORY head,
or its astral representative, was shaken
in the face of Gladstone by the OPPOSE
ton, which accused him of indirect re-
sponsibility for the assassination. 1t
helped to turn Gladstone out of office and
to install his successor, Lord Salisbury
Gladstone's adherents cried out tardily
for vengeance from the ministry which
had attained Office under the plea that
vengeance was due. At last In 1885, a
Conservative ministry sent Kitchener into
the Soudan, and the promised vengeance
was brilliantly achieved, says the N Y.
Herald.
MAHDFS BODY DECAPITATED.
Then a curious coincidence occurred.
History repeated itself in signal fashion
Ell Mahdi, the reputed murderer of
Gordon, had died of smallpox on June
Is, 1885, just about five months after Cor
don's assassination, A small party of
the British captors of Khartoum, led by
one Maj Gordon, a relative of the de-
ha6 70 fba Of
the Mahdi disinterred the body and
struck off it's head, which was sent to
Cairo for dispatch to England. But this
act of vandalism raised such horror
stricken protest among the opposition in
England that the actual whereabouts of
the head are unknown. 1t Is known,
however, that the body and the tomb
which held it were destroyed. That
knowledge and the further knowledge
that the head is still extant somewhere
have created a revulsion of feeling which
must tell in favor of the conquered Nah
dists in the Soudan.
WHAT IS THE SOUDAN?
The country known as the Soudan is an
extensive region, many times larger than
Egypt itself. In 1882 it was a province of
Egypt, with its capital at Khartoum. 1t
had not been conquered all at once, how
ever. Little by little, piece by piece,
IL ietU US6Il dHHSASQ TO the XII 3Q1VG 3
domintonS Not until the triumph of
Kitchener's expedition can it be said to
have been thoroughly subdued or fully
occupied. The Egyptian government at
Cairo expressed it with public taxes, the
Egyptian officials in Khartoum and else
where oppressed it for private gain. Dis
content was rampant. The very name
Egyptian" grew to be a stencil In the
nostrils of the inhabitants
But who were those inhabitants?
Ihey were number of ignorant and
Fanatic negro and Arabian tribes, mu-
tually discordant and inharmonious In
spite of the all pervasive discomfort there
had never appeared a leader there until
Mohammed Achmet proclaimed himself
Ell Mahdi
Ell Mahdi, it may be explained, means
the anointed one" 1t was the name
under which the Mohammedans of the
plains have long looked forward to the
successor Of the Great Prophet, who is
TO be their teacher ana saviour
- He rallied these discordant elements
around his banner He cut to pieces a
detachment of the Egyptian army armed
with the best Remington rifles. He made
his headquarters in a wild mountain
named Gebul Gedir, and invited new re-
Inducements from the disaffected
GREAT BRITAIN AS POLICEMAN.
Meanwhile, the rebellion of Arahi
NSOAAANS ASWlIh, the kn6QlV0 or
Egypt, had broken out. Years before
Great Britain had entered into a. solemn
pledge to maintain the khedive on the
throne. Gladstone now announced that
this pledge would be kept An English
army and an English fleet backed I'D
this announcement. Arab was defeated.
TeWhk was escorted back to the palace
whence he had fled, and the actual occu-
patton OF Egypt by the British was now
commenced, though a pretty fiction was
still maintained at the foreign office that
England had really nothing to do with
Egyptian affairs, save to perform the po-
iceman's part and keep order in the
streets of Cairo.
During the Egyptian civil strife the
Soudan- had been almost forgotten But
once that was over the policemen awoke
TO md that this enormous province had
well nigh slipped away from their grasp.
Victory after victory had crowned the
Mahdi's arms. The policeman urged that
1t would be just as well to let the Soudan
go. The finances and the strength of
Egypt had been crippled, the Soudan it
self was far away and almost inaccessi-
Die. But the government at Cairo could
not make up its mind to let go without
struggle. What it finally did was to
place Hicks Pacha, an English officer.
Z In command of a motley army and send
him against the Mahdi. He got no fur
Their than Kashgeil, where he fell fight
ing, his army anihilated
THE sOUDAN AROUSED.
The news ran through the Soudan with
the marvellous celebrity peculiar to East
ern communities. The whole country was
af1ame. Khartoum and other towns gar
nsoned by Egyptian troops were beleag-
uered by the rapidly increasing forces of
the Mahdi. Egypt appealed to Great
Britain. But Great Britain's ministry
under Gladstone was in almost as tight a
place as the garrison in Khartoum.
France watched every movement in
Egypt with angry suspicion. Worse still
the Liberals were divided among them
selves. strong minority in the house
of commons resented the continued oc-
cupatfon of Egypt, and would have gone
over to the opposition If active opera
tons had at this time been extended to
the Soudan
80 the Gladstone cabinet hesitated and
temporized. The Egyptian government
did nothing. The Mahdi did much. His
power increased every day. The position
of the beleaguered garrisons grew daily
more critical
Then in a sudden panic England order
ed the evacuation of the Soudan. Gen.
Gordon was offered and accepted the
task of making his way to Khartoum.
where he was known of old, and perfecting
arrangements for the withdrawal of the
garrison. He was received in Khartoum
with wild enthusiasm For a time st
seemed that confidence in hold over the
Soudanese would be justified and that his
work would be accomplished without
bloodshed. Then came the news of the
humiliation of the garrisons there.
DEATH OF GORDON.
The cry went up, "Khartoum will share
the same fate!' The people of England
3 protested against the desertion of one Of