260 



EGYPT. 



chief fighting leader, and all his faithful emirs 

 around him. They were all found dead in a 

 group, their horses killed behind them, and the 

 mulamirin, or black bodyguard of the Khalifa 

 lying prone, their faces to the foe, in a straight 

 Tine about 40 yards in front of their master s 

 body In the camp were found about 0,000 women 

 and* children. The dervishes accepted aman, or 

 quarter, and the fugitives, who were pursued by 

 the cavalry, surrendered as soon as they knew 

 that the Khalifa was dead. Besides the women 

 and children, about 4,000 fighting men were taken, 

 with large numbers of cattle and arms and prop- 

 erty of various kinds. Of the Egyptian force, 

 27 were killed or wounded: of the dervishes, 700. 

 Although Osinan Digna was not among the slain 

 or the captives, the power and influence of 

 Mahdism was extinguished forever. Lord Kitch- 

 ener sent officials to administer the reconquered 

 territory, and reconstruction proceeded at such a 

 pace that he announced the purpose of throwing 

 the whole Egyptian Soudan open to commerce 

 from .Ian. 1. 1900. 



The Anglo-French Agreement. An agree- 

 ment between England and France, delimiting 

 the spheres of influence of both countries in 

 Africa so far as they were not already defined in 

 the Niger convention, was signed on March 21, 

 1S91). Great Britain retains Bahr-el-Ghazal and 

 Darfur, while Wadai, Bagirmi, Kanem, and the 

 territory to the north and east of Lake Chad 

 are relinquished to France, whose sphere extends 

 south of the Tropic of Cancer as far as the west- 

 ern limit of the Libyan desert. The country be- 

 tween the Nile and Lake Chad and between 5 

 and 15 of north latitude the two countries agree 

 to treat equally in commercial matters. The 

 withdrawal of the French from Fashoda made it 

 more apparent than ever that colonial policy in 

 Africa must be governed by questions of the com- 

 mercial interests of European nations. France, 

 in order to protect and further her commerce in 

 Africa, negotiated for the possession or reversion 

 of Tibesti and of Wadai and Kanem, which are 

 crossed by the caravan routes going to and from 

 the Nile, and also by those going to and from 

 Tunis and Tripoli. The possession of the whole 

 eastern shore of Lake Chad insures territorial 

 continuity and establishes closer communication 

 between the various African possessions of 

 France namely, the French Congo, Senegal and 

 the French Soudan, and the Sahara territory ex- 

 tending southward from Algeria and Tunis. 

 France will also have commercial access to the 

 Nile from the Lake Chad country through the 

 central Soudan and from the French Congo ter- 

 ritories on the Ubangi and Welle. The meager 

 knowledge of the geography of the central Sou- 

 dan makes it difficult to calculate the gains or 

 losses of the two countries resulting from the 

 agreement. Three separate methods were used 

 in determining the boundary. The line of sepa- 

 ration commences at the junction of the Congo 

 Free State and the watershed of the Congo and 

 Nile rivers, and follows the water parting up to 

 11 of north latitude, then runs north to 15 

 in such manner as to leave all of Wadai on one 

 side of the boundary and Darfur on the other. 

 The frontier line between those two countries 

 will l>e traced by a mixed commission. North of 

 15 of latitude the line of separation starts at 

 the intersection of the Tropic of Cancer with the 

 meridian 16 east of Greenwich, near the south- 

 ern frontier of Tripoli, and runs southeast till 

 it meets the twenty-fourth meridian of east longi- 

 tude, which it follows to the northern frontier 

 of Darfur. The present agreement is the com- 



plement of the Niger convention of June 14, 1898. 

 The whole course of the Nile river is left under 

 British control, but France does not abandon 

 her diplomatic position regarding the status of 

 Egypt and all territories formerly governed by 

 Egypt as reverting to the independent Govern- 

 ment of the Khedive under the suzerainty of the 

 Ottoman Sultan upon the termination of the 

 temporary military occupation of Egypt by 

 Great Britain. England expects the conquered 

 provinces of the Egyptian Soudan to become self- 

 supporting. The present condition of Darfur is 

 not known. Neither is the political state of 

 Wadai, the old Sultan having recently died, and 

 Abu Said been proclaimed Sultan in the begin- 

 ning of 1899. Bagirmi is a flat country, rising 

 slightly toward the north. Including Bagirmi, 

 , Wadai has a population of about 2,600,000 per- 

 sons, partly Arab and partly negro, and an area 

 of 172,000 square miles. The Mabas, who have 

 embraced the Mohammedan religion and live in 

 the northeastern part of Wadai proper, are the 

 ruling race. The eastern frontier of the French 

 sphere is the mountain range of Tibesti, which is 

 almost unknown. In Rome and in Constanti- 

 nople this latest Anglo-French agreement was re- 

 garded as an encroachment on what has always 

 been regarded as the Hinterland of Tripoli. After 

 the French occupation of Tunis Turkey would 

 not negotiate for a delimitation of the bounda- 

 ries of Tripoli, fearing such negotiations would 

 acknowledge sovereign rights of France in Tunis. 

 France was thus able to extend her influence to 

 the south without hindrance. Italy, which looks 

 forward to the future possession of Tripoli when 

 Turkish might shall no longer be able to hold 

 the empire together, has considered the posses- 

 sion of Tibesti and Ghadames indispensable to 

 Tripoli, whose chief value lies in the caravan 

 routes which run through this large territory to 

 distant parts of Africa. In the event of the dis- 

 integration of the Ottoman Empire Italy's con- 

 tingent claim to the reversion of the country 

 lying between Tunis and Egypt is held with a 

 fixity of purpose that admits no rival preten- 

 sions, and her moral claim has not yet been dis- 

 puted. The policy of England, her ally in the 

 Mediterranean, which gave Tunis to France, 

 deeply wounded Italian susceptibilities, and now 

 the abandonment to France of the main caravan 

 routes of Tripoli in the new Anglo-French agree- 

 ment has given a shock to Italian feeling that 

 threatens the stability of the Anglo-Italian naval 

 alliance. Italy has at various times prompted 

 the Ottoman Porte to make objections to en- 

 croachments made by France in the Hinterland 

 of Tripoli ; but the Turks, viewing Italy's interest 

 in Tripoli with suspicion, took measures for the 

 military defense of the vilayet itself rather than 

 of the caravan routes and the oases of the desert. 

 The Turkish protests were ignored by both France 

 and Egypt, because the pretensions of the Porte 

 were so enlarged beyond the Italian suggestions 

 as to embrace extensive territories already in* the 

 possession of other powers. In reply to Italy's 

 request for explanations regarding the Anglo- 

 French agreement, both France and England gave 

 assurances that Italy need fear no movement 

 against Tripoli in the future, and that no efforts 

 would be made by either of them to interfere 

 with the trade routes between Tripoli and the 

 interior. The British Government by the new 

 convention engaged not to acquire either terri- 

 tory or political influence to the west of the line 

 separating the two spheres, and the French Re- 

 public engaged not to acquire territory or influ- 

 ence to the east of the same line. 



