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EGYPT. 



301 



capture and destroy Berber, and the intend- 

 ed sending of Colonel Stewart and the Eng- 

 lish consul, Mr. Power, to report to the Eng- 

 lish Government all that had occurred, and 

 convey his opinions on the situation and the 

 plans to be pursued. The capture of Berber 

 was a manoeuvre undertaken for the purpose 

 of opening the river route and enabling them 

 to descend in a steamer to Dongola. With 

 three steamers and four nuggars Berber was 

 shelled, and the rebel fire silenced, enabling 

 them to pass the fort in safety. At Abu Hamed 

 the escort was sent back to Khartoum. Colonel 

 Stewart and the English and French consuls 

 then proceeded with a large party of refugees 

 in a steamer and two nuggars. Overtaken by 

 the rebels, they cut loose the boats. Near 

 the fourth cataract the steamer was wrecked 

 on a rock. The whole party, except two na- 

 tives, were killed by the Arabs after reaching 

 land. The sheiks offered them hospitality, and 

 then treacherously massacred them. 



Gordon, in an answer to some dispatch from 

 Cairo, asking why he did not retire from Khar- 

 toum, said, July 31, "I stay at Khartoum be- 

 cause the Arabs have shut us up and will not 

 let us out," declaring : " I repeat, I have no wish 

 to retain this country. My sole desire is to 

 restore the prestige of the Government in order 

 to get out garrisons, and to put some ephemeral 

 government in position in order to get away." 

 The position was critical at this time, for food 

 was running short, and the soldiers were evi- 

 dently discontented. In the dispatch of August 

 26, he asked that 300,000 be sent immediate- 

 ly, so that he could give them more satisfactory 

 pay than the paper notes. The remainder of 

 the treasure that Gordon was to take with 

 him into the Soudan, 150, 000 in all, was sent 

 after him as far as Berber, where it fell into 

 the hands of the enemy. His situation, through 

 military successes and the capture of provis- 

 ions, continued to improve after the departure 

 of his ill-fated companions. The rebels soon 

 raised the siege. On the 6th of October Gen. 

 Gordon, with three steamers and eighteen nug- 

 gars, bombarded and captured Shendy and Me- 

 temneh. Berber and Djalyeen were also taken, 

 and a force was detailed to occupy Berber 

 under the command of Kashmil Mous Pasha. 

 The town was afterward burned. During the 

 first six months of the siege, Gen. Gordon fa- 

 cilitated the escape down the Nile of about 

 600 soldiers, mostly invalids, and 2,000 officials, 

 merchants, etc., including their families and 

 dependents. The refugees were received at 

 Korosko by Giegler Pasha, and looked after at 

 Assouan by Col. Duncan. 



Movements of the Mahdi. The Mahdi threat- 

 ened to advance upon Khartoum after the ar- 

 rival of Gen. Gordon. The time when he could 

 move a large body of troops soon passed by, 

 because he could not take them away from 

 their work in the growing season. He was 

 prevented by formidable rebellions against his 

 power in Kordofan. The many wives that he 



took to increase his political importance and 

 social influence impaired his sacred renown. 

 He was scoffingly nicknamed the " bride- 

 groom." He had to withstand a conflict with 

 the not numerous but still formidable people 

 of Takale, who never recognized his divine 

 mission. He put to death their former king 

 and their religious chief for that reason. The 

 people proclaimed the next heir king, and 

 swore revenge, while the Mahdi set out in the 

 spring to destroy the Takalese. The head 

 sheik of the Kabbabish, Saleh, was a more 

 powerful adversary. Saleh's brother, the for- 

 mer sheik, was treacherously murdered by 

 Mohammed Ahmed out of jealousy of his in- 

 fluence. This act turned against the Mahdi the 

 most numerous Arab tribe in the Soudan. 

 Saleh bound his right hand to his breast, vow- 

 ing that he would only unloose it to strike off 

 the Mahdi's head. Mohammed Ahmed made 

 an enemy also of the slave-dealer, Abd-el-Sa- 

 mat, who had in his service several thousand 

 brave soldiers, by demanding tribute from him 

 after promising him immunity from all con- 

 tributions. Gen. Gordon's successes at high 

 Nile, and the abandonment of the siege by the 

 neighboring tribes, induced the Mahdi to send 

 troops to Khartoum. As soon as the harvest 

 was in, he moved the bulk of his available 

 army, reported to Zebehr Pasha in August as 

 100,000 strong, with the intention probably 

 of taking Khartoum and then meeting rite 

 English army of relief. He left behind only 

 a small force under Mahmoud Abd-el-Kader, 

 in El Obeid. A rising of the Kabbabish Arabs 

 caused him to turn back, when he set out in 

 October. Before the 1st of November he in- 

 vested Khartoum with a large army. To his 

 demand for a surrender Gen. Gordon replied 

 that he would hold the place twelve years. 

 The neighboring position of Omdurman was 

 taken from Gordon after some fighting. Gen. 

 Gordon was said to have destroyed the greater" 

 part of Khartoum, inclosing the remainder in 

 a fort with a high watch-tower, to be making 

 his own powder, and still sending out his 

 steamers on the Blue Nile as far as Sennaar. 



The progress of the rebellion was not 

 achieved by the movement of military forces. 

 The Mahdi has no standing army, and makes 

 no assumption of temporal sovereignty. He 

 relies more on proclamations and missionaries 

 than upon the exhibition of power. At first 

 dervishes and emissaries appear singly in a 

 neighborhood. They preach the restoration 

 of Islam in its purity, promise the abolition of 

 illegal taxation, and unfold the object of the 

 movement, which is the expulsion of the for- 

 eign rulers. When the people have been 

 worked up by this means, a quantity of arms 

 are sent. Some Arab tribe is found ready to 

 begin overt action and form the nucleus of an 

 insurgent host. When the revolt is in full 

 progress a lieutenant of the Mahdi comes 

 with arms and ammunition, takes command, 

 and develops an army and a plan of action. 



