CHAPTER LIII.
THE MAHDIST INVASION.
It was not unnatural that the retirement of the Gordon Relief Expedition, in 1885, should have inspired the Mahdi with the idea that the moment had now arrived for the fulfilment of what he regarded as part of his Divine mission, viz., the invasion of Egypt. Two British armies had been sent, in two successive years, to the Eastern Soudan, and both, after a certain amount of fighting, had been withdrawn, whilst a third, despatched for the relief of Khartoum, had, when almost at the gates of Khartoum, been forced to retrace its steps, and retreat down the Nile. What ensued was only the result foretold by Lord Wolseley when he prophetically declared to Her Majesty's Government that "the struggle with the Mahdi, or rather with Mahdism, must come sooner or later. Eventually you will have to fight him to hold your position in Egypt. No frontier force can keep Mahdism out of Egypt, and the Mahdi, sooner or later, must be smashed, or he will smash you."[139]
When, as stated in another chapter, the last of the British troops left Dongola on 5th July, 1885, an Egyptian frontier field force, composed of British and Egyptian troops, was formed, and placed under the command of Major-General Grenfell, Sir Evelyn Wood's successor as Sirdar of the Egyptian army. His head-quarters were fixed at Assouan, whilst Brigadier-General Butler commanded the advanced brigade at Wady Halfa, with outposts at Kosheh, about forty-two miles south of the railway terminus at Akasheh.
The Mahdi's plans for the invasion of Egypt were formed as early as May, in fact, as soon as he was able to make sure of the break-up of the Nile Expedition.
The idea was to make the advance in two river columns, under the command of the Emirs Abd-el-Medjid and Mohammed-el-Kheir respectively, who were to march on Wady Halfa, whilst a third column was to cross the desert from Abu Hamid to Korosko, thus cutting the communications of the defensive force at Wady Halfa.
The death of the Mahdi in the month of June by no means interfered with the carrying out of this programme, his successor, the Khalifa Abdullah-el-Taaishi, being almost as capable a leader as his predecessor, and even more oppressive and unscrupulous.
Notwithstanding that Omdurman, which had become the Khalifa's capital, was ravaged by famine and small-pox, the preparations for the advance continued, and by the early part of August Debbeh and Old Dongola were occupied by the forces of Abd-el-Medjid, numbering 4,000 men. By the end of the month the whole of the country south of Dongola was in the hands of the Khalifa's troops. On the 24th, Wad-en-Nejumi, one of the chief Emirs, was reported as having left Omdurman with a large force, going north. It must not be supposed that the expedition was popular with the Khalifa's soldiers, but unfortunately they had no choice in the matter. They are said to have declared, "Our brothers are dead; the English shoot well, and we have nothing to eat."
From Dongola the invaders proceeded north along the Nile, till, on the 20th September, they had reached as far as Hafir. The Dervish forces at that place, and at Dongola, were estimated at 7,000 by the beginning of October.