How prophetic these words have since proved to be it is needless to say. In April 1880, just a year later, Gordon wrote, as he left for India:—
I have learned with equal pain and indignation that the Khedive and his subordinate officers have permitted the resuscitation of the slave-trade in Darfour and the other provinces of central and equatorial Africa, and that fresh parties of slave-hunters are forming at Obeyed in Kordofan, and that every order which I gave concerning the suppression of this abomination has been cancelled.
The two missionaries—Wilson and Felkin—who have lately come down from Uganda, passed through these districts, and they tell me that the slave-hunters are all ready to start once more upon their detestable trade, and that there is a very strong feeling abroad that all the Europeans, including of course Gessi and the other officers who acted under me, are about to be turned out of the country. This report, even if it be untrue, will largely serve to lower the authority of the European officers, and to render their work more difficult.
This news is very disheartening, especially when one realises the immense misery which will ensue to the remains of these poor tribes of helpless negroes.
The events which followed on these first examples of a wholesale perversion of Gordon’s methods have proved over and over again the value of his warning words; it is worthy of special remark that among the causes of the great rebellion which ensued, as interpreted by the English Government in their history and the insurrection of the False Prophet,[2] not the religious fanaticism of the native tribes has a foremost place, but the venality and oppression of by Egyptian officials, the unjust manner of collecting the taxes, and, above all, the suppression of the slave-trade, which Gordon had repeatedly said must lead to future troubles, unless accompanied by a proper system of government.
Thus the condition into which the Soudan drifted during Gordon’s absence was due to deliberate neglect of the precautions he had urged. Had the Egyptian Government watched and warded off the regeneration of the slavers after Gordon dealt his final blow in Suleiman’s death; had they set their face against the oppression and cupidity of their own officials, the Soudan might still have been at peace, as Gordon left it in 1879. But the new rulers were in favour of slavery, in favour of oppression, in favour of backsheesh; and “a revolt of the whole country” was their reward.
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It is needless to do more than briefly recall the events preceding those related by Gordon himself in these Journals. Every one remembers his going, and the triumph of his journey and reception in the Soudan; the wide welcome which his first Proclamation received, and the fortunes of the peace policy he at first endeavoured to pursue. Every one remembers how, before he had been in Kartoum a week, he issued a further Proclamation, warning the rebellious against forcing him to severe measures. The Sheikhs and people were anxious to be loyal; without Government protection they would be forced, in self-defence, to join the Mahdi. This Colonel Stewart had discovered in his journey up the White Nile. For this reason Zubair was asked for, the only man of enough prestige to hold the country together. A Pasha among the Shaggyeh irregulars, a tribe wavering between loyalty and revolt, and blockaded at Halfyeh, outside the city,—to him were open sources of information closed to the English Governor-General. Zubair would prove stronger than the Mahdi, and the Mahdi must be “smashed up;” otherwise, not only would peace and the evacuation of Kartoum be impossible, but Egypt itself would be in danger. This state of affairs and the measures necessary for a new departure being alike unacceptable to Her Majesty’s Government, Gordon thereupon used, as he had every right to do, the resources to his hand. His predictions as to what would result if Zubair were not sent up were soon realised. The rebels gradually gathered round the city, besieged its outlying suburbs, and cut the communications. His suffering subjects, unable to hold out, were either killed or, escaping, went over to the enemy. In some cases he managed to drive the rebels from the trenches of Kartoum, and even to relieve the beleagured villages, and return loaded with ammunition and stores; in others, his army of defence, composed largely of Egyptians and Bashi-Bazouks, encountered miserable defeat. These expeditions were made in small steamers, armoured with boiler plates and carrying mountain guns, with wooden mantlets of his own contriving. On one occasion the rebels so harassed the city that Gordon resolved on a sortie; but no sooner had the rebels retired to a place of safety than five of his own commanders charged back on their men and aided the rebels, who suddenly leaped from their hiding-place, driving the affrighted army back to Kartoum. In this treacherous and cowardly affair the loss on both sides was great; but the disgrace was the besiegers’, and of it they showed their sense by crying out for justice on the traitors. Two of them were tried and found guilty, and were shot by the men they had outraged. Henceforth the city was exposed to the attacks of the Mahdi’s troops; the streets, the Mission House, the Palace were hourly shelled; citizens died as they passed from end to end; but the Governor-General, always exposed as in old days, though daily inspecting the lines or pacing the Palace roof, escaped unhurt.
Meantime the strength of the rebellion grew with every day; the Mahdi, still at El Obeyed, had despatched his emissaries in all directions; around Suakin, Berber, Shendy, Kassala, the rebels rapidly recruited their ranks. The would-be loyal fell from sheer collapse; they were unable to help themselves. All chance of relief was gone, and the rebel leaders re-echoed in jeering tones the Governor-General’s reiterated words, “The English are coming.” Then Berber, the main link between Kartoum and Cairo, cried out for help, but like those at Tokar and those at Sinkat, it cried out in vain. To do as he pleased was the answer sent to its hitherto loyal Governor; and, to save his people and himself, he joined the Mahdi’s hordes. In his triumph, the False Prophet despatched two dervishes to Kartoum, to ask if Gordon would himself become a follower of the Imam, the Expected One; but they were told that no terms could be made while Kartoum held its ground.
All hope of a peace, all hope of aid from his own Government or country, being at an end, Gordon forthwith began to provision the town, and to take such steps as would ensure a safe means of defence and attack. Money was scarce, so a paper currency was established, and three of the wealthier citizens were called upon to advance sums on the Governor-General’s security. Their arrears were paid, the poor were succoured, and rations issued. All possible precautions were taken for the safety of the people. Mines were contrived, torpedoes laid, and broken glass and wire entanglements arranged, and watchers posted everywhere. The blacks quartered in the poorer district of the town were made to serve, and all men ordered to bear arms; the staple food of officers was biscuit, and dhoora was given the men. Having made all his arrangements on land, he now turned his attention to the Nile; and, as in the campaign against the Taipings, so in this desperate struggle with the Arabs, he organized out of the wretched materials at hand a fleet such as the rebels could not withstand. Thus he avenged defeat, drew in stores and guns, and held the enemy at bay. So that for eleven long months, spite of mutiny, cowardice and treachery within, and the constant attacks from the enemy without, he held his own; and to spare, out of the little navy he had built, a steamer for the conveyance of his comrades, Stewart, Power, Herbin, and the Greeks. Moreover, when at last the news of the English Expedition arrived, he was further able to send down three other boats to Metemma for their use. It is at this point, when vainly watching day and night for English help, that the Journals begin. How his time was passed till we should come, how he viewed our chances of success, and how he proposed to act if we at last did arrive—this is a story which the Journals tell themselves.