THE CITADEL, CAIRO.
energies of the Army by offering a money reward to the first detachment which reached Debbeh, and that by the first week of January, 1885, Lord Wolseley would have about 7,000 men at Ambukol, of whom, perhaps, 2,000 might be ready to dash across the desert to Shendy, from whence the decisive blow at the Mahdi must be struck—beyond these facts and conjectures nothing was known. Dim rumours of Gordon’s futile sorties, of his feeling of disgust at being abandoned, and tidings that could not be doubted of the wreck of the steamer in which he had sent his gallant lieutenant, Colonel Stewart, and the British Consul at Khartoum, Mr. Frank Power, down to Berber, filled the minds of the people with the deepest anxiety. Gordon had sent Stewart to Berber with instructions to appeal to private munificence in the United States and British Colonies for funds with which to organise the relief expedition which he had ceased to beg from England. Stewart and his companions were murdered by natives after their steamer was wrecked. Hence the journals and diaries which Stewart carried were conveyed to the Mahdi, who, finding from them that Gordon was in dire straits, pressed the siege with redoubled energy.
After the failure of the Conference to adjust the financial difficulties of Egypt, England “regained her freedom of action.” Lord Northbrook, as we have seen, was sent to Cairo to report on the situation, which in reality was a very simple one. Egypt could not pay the annual interest on her debt, and the Foreign Powers would not, in the interests of the bondholders, submit to have it reduced unless better security were given for the principal. The only course open, therefore, was either repudiation, or the acknowledgment of British responsibility for the financial administration of Egypt, which would have enabled Mr. Gladstone to have cut down, not only the bondholders’ interest, but also the taxes extorted from the Egyptian people. Lord Northbrook’s appointment was caustically criticised by the Tory Opposition, who connected his family name of Baring with a mission undertaken in financial interests. His mission thus did much to destroy the confidence of the populace in the Government, and when he returned, his recommendations, so far as they could be discussed, still further discredited Mr. Gladstone’s Government. For Lord Northbrook had discovered a third course open to him in Egypt. It was to leave the interest of Shylock untouched, but to meet the deficit in the Egyptian Budget, caused by the payment of Shylock’s bond, by transferring from Egypt to England the burden of supporting the Army of Occupation.[194] As for the existing emergency, Lord Northbrook suggested temporary repudiation, and his suggestion was adopted. The Law of Liquidation was suspended, and the creditors of Egypt were asked to be satisfied with less than their due, till matters could be set right. The Queen’s Government early in December attempted to meet the financial difficulty, by proposing to advance a 3-1/2 per cent. loan to Egypt on the security of the Domain lands,[195] or personal estate of the Khedive. The Powers did not receive this proposal cordially. Necessity, which knows no law, having compelled the Egyptian Government, with the sanction of England, to suspend for the moment the Sinking Fund of the Unified Debt, a distinct violation of the Liquidation Law, the Debt Commission prosecuted the Egyptian Government before the International Tribunals. They of course gave judgment in favour of the Commission. Germany and Russia at this juncture insisted on their representatives sharing all the rights and powers of the Debt Commission, indeed, Germany, irritated by the Foreign and Colonial policy of England, showed signs of supporting certain inconvenient claims to the Domain lands which the ex-Khedive, Ismail Pasha, put forward.[196]
The coolness between Germany and England which marked the last half of 1884 arose out of what was at the time termed the “scramble for Africa.” The regions opened up by Mr. H. M. Stanley on the Congo had been practically occupied by an International Association, the head of which was the King of the Belgians. In fact, General Gordon was under an engagement to take up the government of this vast tract of land when he went to Khartoum. England, however, in order to exclude dangerous rivals, recognised the obsolete claims of Portugal to hold the outlet of the Congo; but, as Portuguese officials were alleged by commercial men to be obstructive and corrupt, this policy was not very popular. Germany, indeed, united the Powers in quashing it, and finally it was agreed that an International Conference should meet at Berlin to determine the conditions under which the outlet of the Congo should be controlled. But at this point Germany was sorely irritated by the provokingly vacillating policy of Lord Derby. There was a strip of territory, extending from Cape Colony to the Portuguese frontier on the Congo, in which a Bremen firm had established a trading settlement at Angra Pequena. They applied to Prince Bismarck for protection. He, in turn, asked Lord Granville if England claimed any sovereignty over this region (in which there was only a small British settlement at Walwich Bay), and whether the British Government could give the German traders the protection which they sought. Lord Kimberley, in his despatch to Sir Hercules Robinson of the 30th of December, had warned him that the Government refused to extend British jurisdiction north of the Orange River. But Lord Granville now told Prince Bismarck that, though English sovereignty had only been proclaimed formally at certain points along this coast, any encroachment on it by a foreign Power would be regarded by England as an encroachment on its rights. Again (31st of December, 1884) Prince Bismarck repeated his question—Did England propose to give the German traders protection, and, if so, what means had she at her disposal for that purpose? This despatch was referred to Lord Derby. He left it unanswered for six months, whereupon Prince Bismarck, stung by the affront, answered it in his own way by annexing Angra Pequena to Germany. Englishmen were indignant; but what was there to be said? The British Government refused at first to recognise the annexation. Then they said they would recognise it if Germany would pledge herself not to establish a penal colony on the coast, a demand which Prince Bismarck bluntly refused. Finally, when Lord Derby induced the Cape Colony to retaliate by annexing the coast round Angra Pequena between the Orange River and the Portuguese frontier, Prince Bismarck declined to recognise such an act of annexation. After this event Germany, concealing her designs, despatched an expedition to seize the Cameroons, over which the British Government, in response to the desire of the native chiefs, had already decided to extend a British Protectorate. Disputed land-claims, which German subjects in Fiji preferred in 1874, were also revived. In 1874 England had refused even to investigate them. Now, however, Lord Granville agreed to submit them to a mixed Commission. The British Government surrendered to Germany on these questions, by a curious coincidence, at the very time they issued their invitations to the London Conference on Egypt, in which they were expecting the support of Germany for their Egyptian policy.[197] As a matter of fact, this support was not obtained. In the Conference Count Münster, on behalf of Germany, stood neutral between France and England, who were unable to reconcile their interests. But he persisted in thrusting before the meeting the question of the imperfect administration of quarantine in Egypt by English officials, and on the 5th of August Lord Granville abruptly dissolved the Conference, because this matter was beyond the scope of its discussion. Nor was Prince Bismarck wrathful against England merely because he imagined that Lord Derby had some deep design of thwarting the sudden desire of Germany for colonial expansion.
In a moment of weakness, and when the laurels of victory had not quite faded from the brows of the heroes of Tel-el-Kebir, the British Government had applied to Prince Bismarck for hints and suggestions as to what they should do in Egypt. According to Lord Granville, Prince Bismarck’s advice was “Take it.”[198] According to Prince Bismarck, whilst he assured Lord Ampthill that Germany would not oppose the British annexation of
