Thomas W. Knox

“ Mohammed Ali's conquests were undertaken largely with the view of obtaining soldiers for his army. The men of the Soudan were sent captive to Cairo and converted into soldiers, under the training of French officers; during and since Mohammed Ali's time the flower of the Egyptian army has been the Soudanese portion, and at times there have been not less than 25,000 or 30,000 soldiers under the flag, every man of whom came from the provinces of the Upper Nile. ”

“ Know, my friend, that the world is turned upside down ... be on your guard against the covetousness of the world. In 1886, the Cairo correspondent of the London Daily News discovered among the Egyptian police a man who says that he fought in the battle in which Hicks Pasha and his army were destroyed, and related a tale which the correspondent believed to be true. ”

“ The Soudanese are naturally warlike, can endure heat, fatigue, and privation, and in every way are vastly superior to the fellaheen of Lower Egypt, whose courage and fighting qualities were extinguished centuries ago by the oppression under which they lived. ”

“ One fourth of the inhabitants are Arabs and kindred tribes, and the remaining 9,000,000 are negroes. All the Arabs and many of the negroes are Moslems, but it is probable that fully half of the inhabitants of the Soudan do not belong to the religion of Mohammed, though it has made rapid strides among them during the last twenty years.
From the days of Moses to the present time the rulers of Egypt have been the reverse of mild in their treatment of their subjects. In all ages the Egyptian peasantry have been regarded as the property of the sovereign ”

“ The misrule of the Egyptians had made an intolerable state of things, and when the Mahdi raised the flag of rebellion the oppressed people, whether Pagans or Moslems, flocked around him. The best war cry for a rebellion in any part of the world is a religious one, and the Mahdi shrewdly proclaimed himself the divine messenger. Not long after his trial and banishment to Ceylon, Arabi Pasha said to an English visitor: "Rely on it, if Ceylon had been governed like the Soudan, you would have had your Mahdi to deal with ”

“ On the 29th the rebels were reported about 2 miles distant, and advancing rapidly. They soon appeared in considerable force, both cavalry and infantry, and deployed into a long line, with the evident intention of attacking the angles of the square in which the Egyptian troops were formed. But the rebel cavalry scattered as soon as the shells began dropping among them, and fled in great confusion. ”

“ He stated that the army on leaving Duem soon met the rebels, and engaged in skirmish with them, the Mahdi's men being beaten. It reached Rahad where there is a lake, and then marched to Alouba, where an encounter with the enemy was favorable to General Hicks. On the 2d of November the army left Alouba, and while marching through a forest, was surprised by a large force of rebels. The Egyptians formed square, and after fighting all day finally defeated them and drove them off. ”

“ Closely examined, the speaker explained that Hicks Pasha was at the commencement on a red horse, but when all his men were falling he changed and got on a white horse, because his first horse was tired. Hicks Pasha and his six officers fought for half an hour alone; the battle lasted two hours and a half. The soldier who tells this story says that he escaped death, along with about 150 others, by declaring himself a Mussulman, and he was afterwards told by one of the Arabs: "Hicks Pasha was a terrible man; he killed a great many of us, and so did the other English officers." ”

“ The population of Egypt proper is a little more than 5,000,000, so that the national indebtedness exceeds $100 for each and every man, woman, and child in the country. The land is wonderfully fertile, producing ordinarily three crops a year ”

“ A despatch from General Hicks, sent to Khartoum and telegraphed to Cairo on the 17th October, reported as follows: "The army has arrived within 28 miles of Sarakhna. We found water, but cannot establish military posts and lines of communication. The place is evacuated; the health of the troops is good but the heat is intense." ”

“ The correspondent's informant went on to say that, escaping to Khartoum, he became an orderly to General Gordon, that being sent down to meet the relieving force at Metemneh, he accompanied Sir Charles Wilson to near Khartoum, that afterwards he marched to Korti, and was sent thence to Cairo with four or five other soldiers who had come from Khartoum. ”

“ Towards mid-day, the entire force of the rebels made a general charge with guns, swords, and spears, and General Hicks and his whole army perished, except 200 Egyptian soldiers and a few negro servants, most of whom were wounded. ”

“ To carry out the expedition successfully General Hicks asked the Khedive for full powers, which arrived on the 20th August. He was appointed commander-in-chief of the expedition to Kordofan, with the rank of General of Division. General Hicks' plan was to leave Khartoum early in September and march up the banks of the White Nile to Berair (16 miles below Duem) with 8,600 infantry, 1,400 cavalry and Bashi-Bazouks, 1 battery of Krupp field-guns, 2 batteries of mounted guns, 1 battery of Nordenfeldts, and 5,000 camels. ”