236 



EGYPT. 



Soodan and the Red Sea had followed Colonel 

 Gordon's departure, that the trade was carried 

 on in the most open way, and that every 

 steamer that left Souakitn had slaves on board. 

 One dealer, known to the correspondent, went 

 backward and forward regularly, and he was 

 only one of many. A report from the Deputy- 

 Governor of the Soodan to the chief of staff 

 was published in the "Official Journal" of 

 October 18th, denying that the traffic in slaves 

 had increased since the departure of Colonel 

 Gordon, and averring that the work of repres- 

 sion was still actively carried on by the same 

 European officers who were appointed to the 

 command of the distant provinces by Gordon 

 Pasha himself. This was immediately met by 

 the publication of a letter from an Austrian 

 officer who had just passed through the Soo- 

 dan to the Victoria Nyanza to Dr. Schwein- 

 furth, containing accounts of the open man- 

 ner in which the slave-trade was carried on in 

 Khartoum and on the Upper Nile, to which 

 Dr. Schweinfurth added the comment, " Since 

 the ever-to-be-deplored departure of Gordon 

 Pasha, every post from the Soodan is but 

 another Job's messenger for the cause of hu- 

 manity." In answer to the letters of Gordon 

 Pasha and the criticisms of a part of the Eng- 

 lish press respecting the continuance of the 

 slave-trade, the Government caused to be pub- 

 lished in the official " Moniteur " the details 

 of the measures which had been adopted for 

 the suppression of the traffic since the resigna- 

 tion of Gordon Pasha. During November, Dr. 

 Schweinfurth published another letter from 

 Cairo, which described the trade as still in- 

 creasing, and said that all the efforts which 

 had been put forth for the last ten years for 

 its suppression, the convention with Great 

 Britain, and the fighting that had taken place, 

 remained fruitless. Saleh Bey, the Governor 

 of Falosha, it is said, continued to levy the 

 tax of two dollars a head ; slaves were disem- 

 barked at Kassa and Kalakla with a view to 

 avoid Khartoom; at Metemmeh gangs of 

 slaves were to be met who were being taken 

 up the Nile country to Berbex ; and a whole- 

 sale importation of little negro children took 

 place every week into Jeddah in spite of the 

 English and French consulate. In December 

 the Khedive received an acknowledgment 

 from the British Government of his efforts to 

 abolish slavery. 



The relations between Egypt and Abyssinia 

 bore an aspect at the beginning of the year 

 promising peace ; but the accounts of the dispo- 

 sition and movements of the Abyssinian King 

 were conflicting. Colonel Gordon, who had 

 visited King John as an envoy from the Khe- 

 dive, returned to Egypt in December, 1879, 

 dispelling by his return some apprehensions 

 that had begun to be felt lest he should be 

 detained, and bearing a letter from the King 

 respecting the terms on which he would make 

 peace with the Khedive. He described King 

 John as a sour, ill-looking man of about forty- 



seven years of age, and of a fanatical disposi- 

 tion, himself hating and hated by all who came 

 in contact with him. The country was sur- 

 rounded by discontented tribes and rulers: to 

 the east, was King Menelek of Shoa, sullenly 

 opposing King John, but afraid to show open 

 hostility ; in the south, Rasadall was in almost 

 open rebellion; and in other quarters, six or 

 more other chiefs were in actual revolt. Placed 

 in this position, Abyssinia could not attack 

 Egypt, and could not in any case do it material 

 harm. The troops of King John might, it was 

 true, plunder the frontier tribes, but the latter 

 were naturally warlike, and would certainly 

 make counter-incursions and pillage the land 

 of their aggressors. Indeed, if the Khedive 

 would only supply the malcontent tribes with 

 arms, the second son of King Theodore would 

 soon be placed on his father's throne. The 

 majority of Abyssinians believed that King 

 John would fall in the course of two or three 

 years by his own dullness and folly. If Eng- 

 land and France were to send envoys to him, 

 they would be treated with the same insolence 

 as he had been subjected to. The King now 

 regretted the exorbitant demands he had made 

 upon the Egyptian Government, and had writ- 

 ten explanatory letters to the Governments of 

 England and France, casting the blame for the 

 present crisis upon Gordon Pasha. 



A belief was expressed among some of the 

 Egyptian officers that King John had wished 

 to entice the Egyptian Government into un- 

 dertaking offensive operations, but had desist- 

 ed on finding that his endeavors were not suc- 

 cessful. The chief Rasalola was recalled, and 

 this was regarded as a sign of more peaceful 

 intentions toward Egypt, for that chief had 

 favored an aggressive policy. The King was 

 afterward troubled by a revolt of several of 

 his chiefs, which ended in the defeat, with 

 capture as prisoners, by the royal forces, of two 

 bodies of insurgents, followers of Rasalola. 

 Toward the end of March, the Egyptian Gov- 

 ernment informed the Porte that it might pos- 

 sibly be forced to undertake another expedi- 

 tion against Abyssinia. Evidence of the de- 

 sirfe of King John for peace continued, how- 

 ever, to come in. Colonel Gordon gave to 

 the public a letter from one of h's former 

 officers of the date of the 18th of January, 

 relating that he had asked the King, ''If the 

 Christian nations of Europe should ask you to 

 suspend for a time all idea of making war upon 

 Egypt until they have been paid the sums 

 due to them by Egypt, what should you do ?" 

 and that his Majesty had replied, " I should 

 probably be obliged in that case to wait, be- 

 cause I do not wish to vex the monarchs of 

 Europe, who are Christians like myself." " Af- 

 ter this answer," said the writer of the letter, 

 " I think we may look for peace between Abys- 

 sinia and Egypt for at least ten or twelve years 

 to come." Naib Mahomed, who had been the 

 bearer of a letter from the Queen of Great 

 Britain to King John, without, however, pos 







