had never embraced Mahdism, or with the Italians, Egyptians and British. Notwithstanding all this opposition the khalifa found in his own tribesmen and in his black troops devoted adherents and successfully maintained his position. The attempt to conquer Egypt ended in the total defeat of the dervish army at Toski (Aug. 3, 1889). The attempts to subdue the Equatorial Provinces were but partly successful. Emin Pasha, to whose relief H. M. Stanley had gone, evacuated Wadelai in April 1889. The greater part of the region and also most of the Bahr-el-Ghazal relapsed into a state of complete savagery.
In the country under his dominion the khalifa's government was carried on after the manner of other Mahommedan states, but pilgrimages to the Mahdi's tomb at Omdurman were substituted for pilgrimages to Mecca. The arsenal and dockyard and the printing-press at Khartum were kept busy (the workmen being Egyptians who had escaped massacre). Otherwise Khartum was deserted, the khalifa making Omdurman his capital and compelling disaffected tribes to dwell in it so as to be under better control. While Omdurman grew to a huge size the population of the country generally dwindled enormously from constant warfare and the ravages of disease, small-pox being endemic. The Europeans in the country were kept prisoners at Omdurman. Besides ex-officials like Slatin and Lupton, they included several Roman Catholic priests and sisters, and numbers of Greek merchants established at Khartum. Although several were closely imprisoned, loaded with chains and repeatedly flogged, it is a noteworthy fact that none was put to death. From time to time a prisoner made his escape, and from the accounts of these ex-prisoners knowledge of the character of Dervish rule is derived in large measure. The fanaticism with which the Mahdi had inspired his followers remained almost unbroken to the end. The khalifa after the fatal day of Omdurman fled to Kordofan where he was killed in battle in November 1899. In January 1900 Osman Digna, a wandering fugitive for months, was captured. In 1902 the last surviving dervish amir of importance surrendered to the sultan of Darfur. Mahdism as a vital force in the old Egyptian Sudan ceased, however, with the Anglo-Egyptian victory at Omdurman.[1]
D. The Anglo-Egyptian Condominium.—Of the causes which led to the reconquest of the Sudan—the natural desire of the Egyptian government to recover lost territory, the equally natural desire in Great Britain to “avenge” the death of Gordon were among them—the most weighty was the necessity of securing for Egypt the control of the Upper Nile, Egypt being wholly dependent on the waters of the river for its prosperity. That control would have been lost had a European power other than Great Britain obtained possession of any part of the Nile valley; and at the time the Sudan was reconquered (1896–98) France was endeavouring to establish her authority on the river between Khartum and Gondokoro, as the Marchand expedition from the Congo to Fashoda demonstrated. The Nile constitutes, in the words of Lord Cromer, the true justification of the policy of re-occupation, and makes the Sudan a priceless possession for Egypt.[2]
The Sudan having been reconquered by “the joint military and financial efforts” of Great Britain and Egypt, the British government claimed “by right of conquest” to share in the settlement of the administration and legislation of the country. To meet these claims an agreement (which has been aptly called the constitutional charter of the Sudan) between Great Britain and Egypt, was signed on the 19th of January 1899, establishing the joint sovereignty of the two states throughout the Sudan.[3] The reorganization of the country had already begun, supreme power being centred in one official termed the “governor-general of the Sudan.” To this post was appointed Lord Kitchener, the sirdar (commander-in-chief) of the Egyptian army, under whom the Sudan had been reconquered. On Lord Kitchener going to South Africa at the close of 1899 he was succeeded as sirdar and governor-general by Major-General Sir F. R. Wingate, who had served with the Egyptian army since 1883. Under a just and firm administration, which from the first was essentially civil, though the principal officials were officers of the British army, the Sudan recovered in a surprising manner from the woes it suffered during the Mahdia. At the head of every mudiria (province) was placed a British official, though many of the subordinate posts were filled by Egyptians. An exception was made in the case of Darfur, which before the battle of Omdurman had thrown off the khalifa's rule and was again under a native sovereign. This potentate, the sultan Ali Dinar, was recognized by the Sudan government, on condition of the payment of an annual tribute.
The first duty of the new administration, the restoration of public order, met with comparatively feeble opposition, though tribes such as the Nuba mountaineers, accustomed from time immemorial to raid their weaker neighbours, gave some trouble. In 1906, in 1908, and again in 1910 expeditions had to be sent against the Nubas. In the Bahr-el-Ghazal the Niam-Niams at first disputed the authority of the government, but Sultan Yambio, the recalcitrant chief, was mortally wounded in a fight in February 1905 and no further disturbance occurred. The delimitation (1903–1904) of the frontier between the Sudan and Abyssinia enabled order to be restored in a particularly lawless region, and slave-raiding on a large scale ended in that quarter with the capture and execution of a notorious offender in 1904. In Kordofan, Darfur and the Bahr-el-Ghazal the slave trade continued however for some years later.
With good administration and public security the population increased steadily. The history of the country became one of The Regenerative Work of Great Britain. peaceful progress marked by the growing contentment of the people. The Sudan government devoted much attention to the revival of agriculture and commerce, to the creation of an educated class of natives, and to the establishment of an adequate judicial system. Their task, though one of immense difficulty, was however (in virtue of the agreement of the 19th of January 1899) free from all the international fetters that bound the administration of Egypt. It was moreover rendered easier by the decision to govern, as far as possible, in accordance with native law and custom, no attempt being made to Egyptianize or Anglicize the Sudanese. The results were eminently satisfactory. The Arab-speaking and Mahommedan population found their religion and language respected, and from the first showed a marked desire to profit by the new order. To the negroes of the southern Sudan, who were exceedingly suspicious of all strangers—whom hitherto they had known almost exclusively as slave-raiders—the very elements of civilization had, in most cases, to be taught. In these pagan regions the Sudan government encouraged the work of missionary societies, both Protestant and Roman Catholic, while discouraging propaganda work among the Moslems.
In their general policy the Sudan government adopted a system of very light taxation; low taxation being in countries such as Egypt and the Sudan the keystone of the political arch. This policy was amply justified by results. In 1899 the revenue derived from the country was £E126,000, in 1909 it had risen to £E1,040,000, despite slight reductions in taxation, a proof of the growing prosperity of the land. This prosperity was brought about largely by improving the water-supply, and thus bringing more land under cultivation, by the creation of new industries, and by the improvement of means of communication. A shorter route to the sea than that through Egypt being essential for the
- ↑ In the autumn of 1903 Mahommed-el-Amin, a native of Tunis, proclaimed himself the Mahdi and got together a following in Kordofan. He was captured by the governor of Kordofan and publicly executed at El Obeid. In April 1908 Abd-el-Kader, a Halowin Arab and ex-dervish, rebelled in the Blue Nile province, claiming to be the prophet Issa (Jesus). On the 29th of that month he murdered Mr C. C. Scott-Moncrieff, deputy inspector of the province, and the Egyptian mamur. The rising was promptly suppressed, Abd-el-Kader was captured and was hanged on the 17th of May.
- ↑ Egypt, No. 1 (1905), p. 119.
- ↑ At first Suakin was excepted from some of the provisions of this agreement, but these exceptions were done away with by a supplementary agreement on the 10th of July 1899.
