260 



EGYPT. 



Egyptians the expedition was generally approved, 

 many distrusted the motives of the English Govern- 

 ment and feared that the reconquest of the Soudan 

 would be made an excuse for the indefinite pro- 

 longation of the British occupation of Egypt. 



The French Minister of Foreign Affairs, M. 

 Berthelot, asked the English ambassador for in- 

 formation on the causes and aim of the project and 

 called liis attention to the gravity of its conse- 

 quences. The French and the Russian govern- 

 ments took the ground than the unanimous consent 

 of the six powers concerned was necessary to legal- 

 ize a diversion of any of the reserve fund. 



The decision of the mixed tribunal, delivered on 

 June 8. was that the money advanced by the Caisse 

 should be refunded by the Egyptian Government. 



The dervish force at Dongola was estimated at 

 10,000 cavalry, camel men, and spearmen, with a 

 body of Soudanese riflemen, while at Suarda, 100 

 miles from the Egyptian frontier, halfway between 

 Dongola and Wady Haifa, there was an advanced 

 guard of 2,000 or 3',000 picked men. 



Gen. Kitchener depended more upon the excel- 

 lence of the equipment than upon the size of his 

 army, which consisted of about 15,000 infantry, 900 

 cavalry, and 1,000 fighting men in the camel corps. 

 There were also several thousand Arab allies, good 

 fighters and finely armed. About 2,000 more men 

 were in the transport service. All the important 

 officers were young Britons who had served in the 

 Egyptian army, for which they were carefully se- 

 lected. The whole force was composed of picked 

 men. Three fourths of the soldiers were felln/iin 

 belonging to corps that had proved steady under 

 fire, and were admirably trained. The rest were 

 black Soudanese battalions, more active, eager, and 

 self-reliant in battle, and better marksmen than 

 the Egyptians, but less intelligent and amenable to 

 discipline and direction. The artillery consisted of 

 powerful Krupp field batteries and Maxim bat- 

 teries. The advance from Wady Haifa began on 

 March 19, and on the following day Major Collin- 

 son occupied Akasheh without opposition. The 

 Khalifa proclaimed a jehad against Egypt, and 

 called upon all dervishes capable of bearing arms 

 to enroll themselves under the green banner. The 

 Emir Osman Azrak advanced with re-enforcements 

 to Suarda. The vanguard of the Egyptian expedi- 

 tion consisted of 1,200 men, including a camel corps 

 of 500. The main force numbered 8,500 infantry 

 and 630 cavalry, commanded by 120 British officers, 

 with a Maxim battery served by British artillerists. 

 Of the infantry 4,000 were Soudanese. English 

 troops were dispatched at once to Egypt. Three 

 Bnitish battalions and 7,000 Bedouins were organ- 

 ized there to join the expedition, bringing its 

 strength up to 19,000 men. Native troops of India 

 were sent to Suakin to relieve the Egyptian garri- 

 son there, and enable it to take part in the opera- 

 tions in the field. The Imperial Government 

 agreed that the extraordinary expenses of this ex- 

 pedition should "be borne by the Egyptian Govern- 

 ment, while the ordinary pay and cost of mainte- 

 nance of the troops would continue to be defrayed 

 out of Indian revenues. A fort, and intrenched 

 camp were built at Akasheh, beyond which point a 

 halt was made until transport camels and boats 

 could be obtained. In the Suakin district the 

 forces of Osman Digna moved toward Sinkat, and 

 fighting took place between the dervishes and 

 friendly Hadendowas and Amarar, who barred (heir 

 advance. An Egyptian force went out from Suakin 

 on April 15 to support the friendly Arabs, and 

 several sharp skirmishes took place near Khor Win- 

 tri, in which Osman Digna lost over 100 killed and 

 as many wounded. Not long afterward Osman 

 withdrew his entire force, having no provisions. 



On the Nile the campaign was opened on May 1 by 

 Major Burn-Murdoch, who with his cavalry dis- 

 persed a force of dervishes in the vicinity of 

 Akasheh. 



Many sheikhs of the Bisharin, Ababdeh, and Ka- 

 babish tribes who had formerly adhered to the 

 Khalifa were won over by the British, who organ- 

 ized a large force of Arab irregulars to patrol the 

 desert on both sides of the Nile, arming them with 

 Remingtons, while the Egyptians carried Martini- 

 Henry rifles. Contention and division, jealousy, 

 fear, and distrust paralyzed the central power at Om- 

 durman. The mulazamin of the Khalifa attacked 

 the bodyguard of Ali Wad Helu, and in the fight sev- 

 eral hundred men were slain on both sides before 

 peace was restored by the emirs. Ali Wad Helu, 

 who was Khalifa Omar, one of the successors to Ab- 

 dullahi nominated by the Mahdi, persuaded the 

 Khalifa to lay aside his jealousy and suspicion, and 

 endeavor to harmonize all factions in the presence 

 of the enemy. Hence the Khalifa Sherif was re- 

 leased from prison and his followers brought back 

 from banishment. 



On June 6, after all the expeditionary force had 

 been brought up to Akasheh, the troops were led 

 out by the Sirdar to attack the dervishes in- 

 trenched at Ferkeh, 16 miles distant. The main 

 body, 7,000 strong, with field artillery and machine 

 guns, advanced along the river, while the camel 

 corps and cavalry, with horse artillery and 2 Max- 

 ims, 2,100 men in all, took the desert route to oc- 

 cupy the heights east of Ferkeh. The intention 

 was to surprise and entrap the 57 emirs there, who 

 had only 3,000 troops with about 1,000 rifles. The 

 black troops advanced rapidly to the attack at 

 dawn on June 7, opening a well-directed fire. The 

 dervishes were taken entirely by surprise. They 

 returned a heavy, though inaccurate fire, and 

 fought with desperate valor, but were steadily 

 driven from their positions, being unable to resist 

 the double attack, from the front and from the side 

 of the desert. The desert column, which had suc- 

 cessfully turned the position to cut off retreat, fell 

 upon the retreating dervishes after they were 

 driven out of the town, pursuing them beyond Su- 

 arda and capturing the camp there, with a great 

 quantity of supplies. At Ferkeh all their camels, 

 provisions, and ammunition fell into the hands of 

 the Egyptians. The dervishes, who were some of 

 the Khalifa's picked troops, led by his best emirs, 

 did their best to resist the attack. The Baggaras 

 among them refused to surrender when death was 

 the certain alternative. The Jaalin, a religious 

 people, who were once faithful Mahdists but now 

 detest the Khalifa's regime, and the blacks, who 

 fought for the Khalifa under constraint and after- 

 ward were eager to join the Egyptian army> consti- 

 tuted the bulk of the prisoners. Nearly 900 were 

 killed in the camp, including 50 emirs. The brave 

 commander, Hammuda, was on'e of the slain. The 

 Egyptian troops, composed of the most stalwart 

 young men of the nation, finer in physique than 

 any army in Europe, better fed and cared for than 

 most European soldiers, and admirably trained and 

 disciplined, by their coolness and firmness in re- 

 pelling a charge of the dervish cavalry, and by the 

 dashing enthusiasm with which their cavalry 

 charged the enemy in position, dispelled all doubts 

 as to their morale and courage. About 500 pris- 

 oners were taken by the Egyptians, whose total loss 

 was only 20 killed and 80 wounded. The pursuit 

 and the taking of Suarda brought the enemy's 

 losses up to 2,000 killed, wounded, and prisoners. 

 The Egyptian camp was established at Kosheh, 

 close to Ferkeh. 



The Khalifa, after the Ferkeh defeat, preached a 

 holy war, and said he would send large re-enforce- 



