EGYPT. 



299 



said to be 13,000 strong, under the Emir Ah- 

 med el Hoda, attacked the fort, which was 

 held by 500 Bashi r Bazouks. They tried for 

 seventeen hours to storm the position in the 

 face of a rifle and mitrailleuse fire, and then 

 retreated, leaving, it was reported, 3,700 dead. 

 The rebel sheik retired to the Ambukol district, 

 where he gathered his forces in a fortified 

 camp. The mudir marched against this posi- 

 tion with two battalions of Bashi-Bazouks, two 

 companies of infantry, two mountain guns, and 

 4,000 volunteers from the province. A battle 

 was fought in which the Mahdi's emir was 

 beaten and driven out of the province into the 

 Berber district. Afterward a fresh Arab army 

 entered the province, to establish a new emir 

 appointed by the Mahdi. The mudir set out 

 from Debbeh in boats against the rebel force, 

 which had possession of Ambukol, and was 

 encamped outside of Corti. The Egyptian 

 force was about 400, supported by a small 

 gun on a steamer. Ambukol was shelled and 

 taken. The Arabs advanced in a long line and 

 gave battle on an open plain. A part of them 

 broke and fled when the fight began, leaving 

 about 700 to contest the field. Some 150 sol- 

 diers of the Mahdi, from Kordofan, fought to 

 the death. About 200 were slain on the field 

 and many more in the retreat. Among the 

 killed were the Arab commander, the Sheik 

 Ahmed el Hedday, the newly appointed Emir 

 of Dongola, and others appointed to Assouan, 

 Cairo, Tripoli, and other -places. The mudir 

 pursued the enemy as far as Assli, and then 

 returned to Ambukol. After this battle, which 

 took place September 8, the Mahdi remitted 

 his efforts to gain the province of Dongola, and 

 stir up revolt in Upper Egypt. 



General Gordon's Mission to the Soudan. In 

 January, while about concluding arrangements 

 with the King of the Belgians to take com- 

 mand, in association with H. M. Stanley, of 

 the establishments of the African Association 

 in the Congo valley, Gen. C. G. Gordon, for- 

 merly Governor-General of the Soudan (see 

 sketch in " Annual Cyclopaedia" for 1883, page 

 399), received a summons from the British 

 ministry. After a conference with members of 

 the Cabinet, he departed for Khartoum. He 

 was first commissioned to report and advise 

 from Suakin on the best means of evacuating 

 the Soudan, etc. The plan was altered at the 

 suggestion of Sir E. Baring. He had an audi- 

 ence with the Khedive January 26, and was 

 appointed Vali of the Soudan. He had hirn- 

 self suggested that it would strengthen his 

 influence to be nominated Governor-General. 

 He took the route up the Nile, and across the 

 Nubian Desert to Berber, accompanied only by 

 Lieut.-Col. Stewart and six native followers, 

 carrying with him treasure to the amount of 

 45,000 sterling. The instructions received 

 by Gen. Gordon from the British Government 

 were to effect the withdrawal of the Egyptian 

 garrisons and officials, and of the foreign popu- 

 lation of the Soudan, by pacific means, and to 



take the most effective measures for establish- 

 ing an organized government in the different 

 provinces, for the maintenance of order and 

 the suppression of revolt. When lie arrived at 

 Khartoum, February 18, he was received with 

 jy by the population, who were in a state 

 of consternation, being surrounded by hostile 

 tribes, and in dread of the threatened ad- 

 vance of the Mahdi. Gen. Gordon found that 

 the insurrectionary 1 movement was more gen- 

 eral, and the state of feeling in the Soudan 

 graver than he expected. He issued proclama- 

 tions assuring the people that they should be 

 freed from the tyranny and exactions of the 

 Egyptian officials. He proclaimed the abroga- 

 tion of certain heavy taxes. One of his earli- 

 est proclamations announced that no measures 

 would be taken to interfere with the slave- 

 trade or slavery. He soon became convinced 

 that he could not gain the confidence of the 

 population of the Soudan. He accordingly sent 

 a dispatch to the English Government, asking 

 that his old enemy, Zebehr Pasha, be sent to 

 him as a coadjutor with the appointment of 

 Governor of Khartoum. The proclamation 

 regarding the slave-trade, and the request that 

 its former champion in the Soudan should be 

 called in to aid in establishing a new system 

 of government, provoked contemptuous com- 

 ments in the Continental press, and a protest 

 from the French Government, and in England 

 aroused such displeasure among the ranks of 

 the Liberals that, had the wish of Gordon been 

 fulfilled, the Government would have been 

 overturned by a vote of censure. This was the 

 consideration that deterred them from adopt- 

 ing the advice of Sir Evelyn Baring, and send- 

 ing Zebehr to Khartoum. When he heard of 

 the operations undertaken by Gen. Graham, 

 Gordon expostulated with the Government, 

 advising that a proclamation be issued at Sua- 

 kin, desiring the chiefs of the insurgent tribes 

 to repair to Khartoum and learn from him the 

 plans for delivering the Soudan from oppres- 

 sion. When, against his advice, the Govern- 

 ment persisted in military action, after Sinkat 

 and Tokar had already fallen, he believed, as 

 did every one in the Soudan, that British 

 troops would press through to his support, and 

 the relief of the ten beleaguered garrisons in 

 the Soudan. His instructions were to effect a 

 restoration of the petty Sultans who governed 

 the country before Mehemet Ali's conquest, 

 and bring about, if possible, a confederation 

 of those Sultans. The ferment was so great 

 that none of the hereditary rulers listened to 

 his overtures. He was on the point of visiting 

 the Mahdi, but was held back from this peril- 

 ous adventure by a remonstrance from Sir 

 Evelyn Baring. He proclaimed the Mahdi 

 Sultan of Kordofan. Mohammed Ahmed, 

 however, spurned the appointment, and sent 

 a threatening reply, whereupon Gordon re- 

 called the nomination. Hemmed in at Khar- 

 toum, and unable to effect any political com- 

 bination, he sent word that he must resort to 



