Chapter CXVIII: Section 2 (21)

In the division of the empire of Alexander the Great between
his generals, when he died, Ptolemy Lagus--reputed to be a
natural son of Alexander's father Philip--chose Egypt (see
MACEDONIA: B. C. 323-316), with a modesty which proved to be
wise. In all the provinces of the Macedonian conquest, it was
the country most easily to be held as an independent state, by
reason of the sea and desert which separated it from the rest
of the world. It resulted from the prudence of Ptolemy that he
founded a kingdom which lasted longer and enjoyed more
security and prosperity than any other among the monarchies of
the Diadochi. He was king of Egypt, in fact, for seventeen
years before, in 307, B. C., he ventured to assume the name
(see MACEDONIA: B. C. 310-301). Meantime, he had added to his
dominion the little Greek state of Cyrene, on the African
coast with Phœnicia, Judæa, Cœle-Syria, and the island of
Cyprus. These latter became disputed territory, fought over
for two centuries, between the Ptolemies and the Seleucids,
sometimes dominated by the one and sometimes by the other (see
SELEUCIDÆ: B. C. 281-224, and 224-187). At its greatest
extent, the dominion of the Ptolemies, under Ptolemy
Philadelphus, son of Ptolemy Lagus, included large parts of
Asia Minor and many of the Greek islands. Egypt and Cyrene
they held, with little disturbance, until Rome absorbed them.
Notwithstanding the vices which the family of Ptolemy
developed, and which were as rank of their kind as history can
show, Egypt under their rule appears to have been one of the
most prosperous countries of the time. In Alexandria, they
more than realized the dream of its Macedonian projector. They
made it not only the wealthiest city of their day, but the
greatest seat of learning,--the successor of Athens as the
capital of Greek civilization in the ancient world.

_S. Sharpe, History of Egypt, chapter 7-12._

The first Ptolemy abdicated in favor of his son, Ptolemy
Philadelphus, in 284 B. C., and died in the second year
following.

See MACEDONIA: B. C. 297-280.

"Although the political constitution of Egypt was not greatly
altered when the land fell into Greek hands, yet in other
respects great changes took place. The mere fact that Egypt
took its place among a family of Hellenistic nations, instead
of claiming as of old a proud isolation, must have had a great
effect on the trade, the manufactures, and the customs of the
country. To begin with trade. Under the native kings Egypt had
scarcely any external trade, and trade could scarcely spring
up during the wars with Persia. But under the Ptolemies,
intercourse between Egypt and Sicily, Syria or Greece, would
naturally and necessarily advance rapidly. Egypt produced
manufactured goods which were everywhere in demand; fine
linen, ivory, porcelain, notably that papyrus which Egypt
alone produced, and which was necessary to the growing trade
in manuscripts. Artificial barriers being once removed,
enterprising traders of Corinth and Tarentum, Ephesus and
Rhodes, would naturally seek these goods in Egypt, bringing in
return whatever of most attractive their own countries had to
offer. It seems probable that the subjects of the Ptolemies
seldom or never had the courage to sail direct down the Red
Sea to India. In Roman times this voyage became not unusual,
but at an earlier time the Indian trade was principally in the
hands of the Arabs of Yemen and of the Persian Gulf.
Nevertheless the commerce of Egypt under the Ptolemies spread
eastwards as well as westwards. The important towns of Arsinoë
and Berenice arose on the Red Sea as emporia of the Arabian
trade. And as always happens when Egypt is in vigorous hands,
the limits of Egyptian rule and commerce were pushed further
and further up the Nile. The influx into Alexandria and
Memphis of a crowd of Greek architects, artists, and artizans,
could not fail to produce movement in that stream of art which
had in Egypt long remained all but stagnant. ... If we may
trust the somewhat over-coloured and flighty panegyrics which
have come down to us, the material progress of Egypt under
Ptolemy Philadelphus was most wonderful. We read, though we
cannot for a moment trust the figures of Appian, that in his
reign Egypt possessed an army of 200,000 foot soldiers and
40,000 horsemen, 300 elephants and 2,000 chariots of war. The
fleet at the same period is said to have included 1,500 large
vessels, some of them with twenty or thirty banks of oars.
Allowing for exaggeration, we must suppose that Egypt was then
more powerful than it had been since the days of Rameses."

_P. Gardner, New Chapters in Greek History, chapter 7._

See, also, ALEXANDRIA: B. C. 282-246;
and EDUCATION, ANCIENT: ALEXANDRIA.

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EGYPT: B. C. 80-48.
Strife among the Ptolemies.
Roman pretensions.

The throne of Egypt being disputed, B. C. 80, between
Cleopatra Berenice, who had seized it, and her step-son,
Ptolemy Alexander, then in Rome, the latter bribed the Romans
to support his claims by making a will in which he named the
Roman Republic as his heir. The Senate, thereat, sent him to
Alexandria with orders that Berenice should marry him and that
they should reign jointly, as king and queen. The order was
obeyed. The foully mated pair were wedded, and, nineteen days
afterwards, the young king procured the death of his queen.
The crime provoked an insurrection in which Ptolemy Alexander
was slain by his own guard. This ended the legitimate line of
the Ptolemies; but an illegitimate prince, usually called
Auletes, or "the piper," was put on the throne, and he
succeeded in holding it for twenty-four years. The claim of
the Romans, under the will of Ptolemy Alexander, seems to have
been kept in abeyance by the bribes which Auletes employed
with liberality among the senatorial leaders. In 58 B. C. a
rising at Alexandria drove Auletes from the throne; in 54 B.
C. he bought the support of Gabinius, Roman pro-consul in
Syria, who reinstated him. He died in 51 B. C. leaving by will
his kingdom to his elder daughter, Cleopatra, and his elder
son, Ptolemy, who, according to the abominable custom of the
Ptolemies, were to marry one another and reign together. The
Roman people, by the terms of the will were made its
executors. When, therefore, Cæsar, coming to Alexandria, three
years afterwards, found the will of Auletes set at nought,
Ptolemy occupying the throne, alone, and Cleopatra struggling
against him, he had some ground for a pretension of right to
interfere.

_S. Sharpe, History of Egypt, chapter 11._

EGYPT: B. C. 48-47.
Civil war between Cleopatra and Ptolemy.
Intervention of Cæsar.
The rising against him.
The Romans besieged in Alexandria.
Their ruthless victory.

See ALEXANDRIA: B. C. 48-47.

EGYPT: B. C. 30.
Organized as a Roman province.

After the battle of Actium and the death of Cleopatra, Egypt
was reduced by Octavius to the rank of a Roman province and
the dynasty of the Ptolemies extinguished. But Octavius "had
no intention of giving to the senate the rich domain which he
tore from its native rulers. He would not sow in a foreign
soil the seeds of independence which he was intent upon
crushing nearer home. ... In due time he persuaded the senate
and people to establish it as a principle, that Egypt should
never be placed under the administration of any man of
superior rank to the equestrian, and that no senator should be
allowed even to visit it, without express permission from the
supreme authority."

C. Merivale, History of the Romans, chapter 29.

EGYPT: A. D. 100-500.
Roman and Christian.

See ALEXANDRIA: B. C. 48-47 to A. D. 413-415;
and CHRISTIANITY: A. D. 33-100, and 100-312.

EGYPT: A. D. 296.
Revolt crushed by Diocletian.

See ALEXANDRIA: A. D. 296.

EGYPT: A. D. 616-628.
Conquest by Chosroes, the Persian.

The career of conquest pursued by Chosroes, the last Persian
conqueror, extended even to Egypt, and beyond it. "Egypt
itself, the only province which had been exempt since the time
of Diocletian from foreign and domestic war, was again subdued
by the successors of Cyrus. Pelusium, the key of that
impervious country, was surprised by the cavalry of the
Persians: they passed with impunity the innumerable channels
of the Delta, and explored the long valley of the Nile from
the pyramids of Memphis to the confines of Æthiopia.
Alexandria might have been relieved by a naval force, but the
archbishop and the præfect embarked for Cyprus; and Chosroes
entered the second city of the empire, which still preserved a
wealthy remnant of industry and commerce. His western trophy
was erected, not on the walls of Carthage, but in the
neighbourhood of Tripoli: the Greek colonies of Cyrene were
finally extirpated." By the peace concluded in 628, after the
death of Chosroes, all of his conquests were restored to the
empire and the cities of Syria and Egypt evacuated by their
Persian garrisons.

_E. Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, chapter 46.
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/25717_

See PERSIA: A. D. 226-627.

EGYPT: A. D. 640-646.
Moslem conquest.

See MAHOMETAN CONQUEST: A. D. 640-646.

EGYPT: A. D. 967-1171.
Under the Fatimite Caliphs.

See MAHOMETAN CONQUEST: A. D. 908-1171.

EGYPT: A. D. 1168-1250.
Under the Atabeg and Ayoubite sultans.

See SALADIN, THE EMPIRE OF.

EGYPT: A. D. 1218-1220.
Invasion by the Fifth Crusade.

See CRUSADES: A. D. 1216-1229.

EGYPT: A. D. 1249-1250.
The crusading invasion by Saint Louis of France.

See CRUSADES: A. D. 1248-1254.

EGYPT: A. D. 1250-1517.
The Mameluke Sultans.

The Mamelukes were a military body created by Saladin. "The
word means slave (literally, the possessed'), and ... they
were brought in youth from northern countries to serve in the
South. Saladin himself was a Kurd, and long before his
accession to power, Turkish and Kurdish mercenaries were
employed by the Caliphs of Bagdad and Cairo, as the Pope
employs Swiss. ... Subsequently, however, Circassia became the
country which most largely furnished this class of troops.
Their apprenticeship was a long and laborious one: they were
taught, first of all, to read the Koran and to write; then
followed lance-exercise, during which time nobody was allowed
to speak to them. At first they either resided in the castle,
or were exercised living under tents; but after the time of
Sultan Barkouk they were allowed to live in the town [Cairo],
and the quarter now occupied by the Jews was at that time
devoted to the Circassian Mamelukes. After this period they
neglected their religious and warlike exercises, and became
degenerate and corrupt. ... The dynasty of Saladin ... was of
no duration, and ended in 648 A. H., or 1250 of the Christian era.
{760}
Then began the so-called Bahrite Sultans, in consequence of
the Mamelukes of the sultan Negm-ed-din having lodged in
Rodah, the Island in the Nile (Bahr-en-Nil). The intriguer of
the period was Sheger-ed-dur, the widow of the monarch, who
married one of the Mamelukes, Moez-eddin-aibek-el-Turcomany,
who became the first of these Bahrite Sultans, and was himself
murdered in the Castle of Cairo through this woman. ... Their
subsequent history, until the conquest of Egypt by Sultan
Selim in 1517, presents nothing but a series of acts of lust,
murder and rapine. So rapidly did they expel each other from
power, that the average reign of each did not exceed five or
six years. ... The 'fleeting purple' of the decline and fall
of the Roman Empire is the spectacle which these Mameluke
Dynasties constantly present."

_A. A. Paton, History of the Egyptian Revolution,
volume 1, chapter 3-5._

EGYPT: A. D. 1516-1517.
Overthrow of the Mameluke Sultans.
Ottoman conquest by Sultan Selim.

See TURKS: A. D. 1481-1520.

EGYPT: A. D. 1798-1799.
The French conquest and occupation by Bonaparte.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1798 (MAY-AUGUST),
and 1798-1799 (AUGUST-AUGUST).

EGYPT: A. D. 1798-1799.
Bonaparte's organization of government.
His victory at Aboukir.
His return to France.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1798-1799 (AUGUST-AUGUST),
and 1799 (NOVEMBER).

EGYPT: A. D. 1800.
Discontent and discouragement of the French.
The repudiated Treaty of El Arish.
Turkish defeat at Heliopolis.
Revolt crushed at Cairo.
Assassination of Kleber.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1800 (JANUARY-JUNE).

EGYPT: A. D. 1801-1802.
Expulsion of the French by the English.
Restoration of the province to Turkey.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1801-1802.

EGYPT: A. D. 1803-1811.
The rise of Mohammad 'Aly (or Mehemet Ali) to power.
His treacherous destruction of the Mamelukes.

"It was during the French occupation that Mohammad 'Aly [or
Mehemet Ali] came on the scene. He was born in 1768 at the
Albanian port of Kaballa, and by the patronage of the governor
was sent to Egypt in 1801 with the contingent of troops
furnished by Kaballa to the Ottoman army then operating with
the English against the French. He rapidly rose to the command
of the Arnaut or Albanian section of the Turkish army, and
soon found himself an important factor in the confused
political position which followed the departure of the British
army. The Memluk Beys had not been restored to their former
posts as provincial governors, and were consequently ripe for
revolt against the Porte; but their party was weakened by the
rivalry of its two leaders, El-Elfy and El-Bardisy, who
divided their followers into two hostile camps. On the other
hand, the Turkish Pasha appointed by the Porte had not yet
gained a firm grip of the country, and was perpetually
apprehensive of a recall to Constantinople. Mohammad 'Aly at
the head of his Albanians was an important ally for either
side to secure, and he fully appreciated his position. He
played off one party against the other, the Pasha against the
Beys, so successfully, that he not only weakened both sides,
but made the people of Cairo, who were disgusted with the
anarchy of Memluk and Turk alike, his firm friends; and at
last suffered himself, with becoming hesitation, to be
persuaded by the entreaty of the populace to become [1805]
their ruler, and thus stepped to the supreme power in the
curious guise of the people's friend. A fearful time followed
Mohammad 'Aly's election--for such it was--to the governorship
of Egypt. The Turkish Pasha, Khurshid, held the citadel, and
Mohammad 'Aly, energetically aided by the people of Cairo,
laid siege to it. From the minaret of the mosque of Sultan
Hasan, and from the heights of Mukattam, the besiegers poured
their fire into the citadel, and Khurshid replied with an
indiscriminate cannonade upon the city. The firing went on for
weeks (pausing on Fridays), till a messenger arrived from
Constantinople bringing the confirmation of the popular vote,
in the form of a firman, appointing Mohammad 'Aly governor of
Egypt. Khurshid shortly afterwards retired, and the soldiery
amused themselves in the approved Turkish and (even worse)
Albanian fashion by making havoc of the houses of the
citizens. Mohammad 'Aly now possessed the title of Governor of
Egypt, but beyond the walls of Cairo his authority was
everywhere disputed by the Beys. ... An attempt was made to
ensnare certain of the Beys, who were encamped north of the
metropolis. On the 17th of August, 1805, the dam of the canal
of Cairo was to be cut, and some chiefs of Mohammad 'Aly's
party wrote informing them that he would go forth early on
that morning with most of his troops to witness the ceremony,
inviting them to enter and seize the city, and, to deceive
them, stipulating for a certain sum of money as a reward. The
dam, however, was cut early in the preceding night, without
any ceremony. On the following morning these Beys, with their
Memluks, a very numerous body, broke open the gate of the
suburb El-Hosey-niyeh, and gained admittance into the city.
... They marched along the principal street for some distance,
with kettle-drums behind each company, and were received with
apparent joy by the citizens. At the mosque called the
Ashrafiyeh they separated, one party proceeding to the Azhar
and the houses of certain sheykhs, and the other party
continuing along the main street, and through the gate called
Bab-Zuweyleh, where they turned up towards the citadel. Here
they were fired on by some soldiers from the houses; and with
this signal a terrible massacre commenced. Falling back
towards their companions, they found the by-streets closed;
and in that part of the main thoroughfare called
Beyn-el-Kasreyn, they were suddenly placed between two fires.
Thus shut up in a narrow street, some sought refuge in the
collegiate mosque of the Barkukiyeh, while the remainder
fought their way through their enemies, and escaped over the
city wall with the loss of their horses. Two Memluks had in
the meantime succeeded, by great exertions, in giving the
alarm to their comrades in the quarter of the Azhar, who
escaped by the eastern gate called Bab-el-Ghureyyib. A
horrible fate awaited those who had shut themselves up in the
Barkukiyeh. Having begged for quarter and surrendered, they
were immediately stripped nearly naked, and about fifty were
slaughtered on the spot; and about the same number were
dragged away. ... The wretched captives were then chained and
left in the court of the Pasha's house; and on the following
morning the heads of their comrades, who had perished the day
before, were skinned and stuffed with straw before their eyes.
{761}
One Bey and two other men paid their ransom, and were
released; the rest, without exception, were tortured, and put
to death in the course of the ensuing night. ... The Beys were
disheartened by this revolting butchery, and most of them
retired to the upper country. Urged by England, or more
probably by the promise of a bribe from El-Elfy, the Porte
began a leisurely interference in favour of the Memluks; but
the failure of El-Elfy's treasury, and a handsome bribe from
Mohammad 'Aly, soon changed the Sultan's views, and the
Turkish fleet sailed away. ... An attempt of the English
Government to restore the Memluks by the action of a force of
5,000 men under General Fraser ended in disaster and
humiliation, and the citizens of Cairo had the satisfaction of
seeing the heads of Englishmen exposed on stakes in the
Ezbekiyeh. Mohammad 'Aly now adopted a more conciliatory
policy towards the Memluks, granted them land, and encouraged
them to return to Cairo. The clemency was only assumed in
order to prepare the way for the act of consummate treachery
which finally uprooted the Memluk power. ... Early in the year
1811, the preparations for an expedition against the Wahhabis
in Arabia being complete, all the Memluk Beys then in Cairo
were invited to the ceremony of investing Mohammad 'Aly's
favourite son, Tusun, with a pelisse and the command of the
army. As on the former occasion, the unfortunate Memluks fell
into the snare. On the 1st of March, Shahin Bey and the other
chiefs (one only excepted) repaired with their retinues to the
citadel, and were courteously received by the Pasha. Having
taken coffee, they formed in procession, and, preceded and
followed by the Pasha's troops, slowly descended the steep and
narrow road leading to the great gate of the citadel; but as
soon as the Memluks arrived at the gate it was suddenly closed
before them. The last of those who made their exit before the
gate was shut were Albanians under Salih Kush. To those troops
their chief now made known the Pasha's orders to massacre all
the Memluks within the citadel; therefore having returned by
another way, they gained the summit of the walls and houses,
that hem in the road in which the Memluks were, and some
stationed themselves upon the eminences of the rock through
which that road is partly cut. Thus securely placed, they
commenced a heavy fire on their defenceless victims, and
immediately the troops who closed the procession, and who had
the advantage of higher ground, followed their example. ...
470 Memluks entered the citadel, and of these very few, if
any, escaped. One of these is said to have been a Bey.
According to some, he leaped his horse from the ramparts, and
alighted uninjured, though the horse was killed by the fall.
Others say that he was prevented from joining his comrades,
and discovered the treachery while waiting without the gate.
He fled and made his way to Syria. This massacre was the
signal for an indiscriminate slaughter of the Memluks
throughout Egypt, orders to this effect being transmitted to
every governor; and in Cairo itself, the houses of the Beys
were given over to the soldiery, who slaughtered all their
adherents, treated their women in the most shameless manner,
and sacked their dwellings. ... The last of his rivals being
now destroyed, Mohammad 'Aly was free to organize the
administration of the country, and to engage in expeditions
abroad."

_S. Lane-Poole, Egypt, chapter 8._

ALSO IN:
_A. A. Paton, History of the Egyptian Revolution,
volume 2._

EGYPT: A. D. 1807.
Occupation of Alexandria by the English.
Disastrous failure of their expedition.

See TURKS: A. D. 1806-1807.

EGYPT: A. D. 1831-1840.
Rebellion of Mehemet Ali.
Successes against the Turks.
Intervention of the Western Powers.
Egypt made an hereditary Pashalik.

See TURKS: A. D. 1831-1840.

EGYPT: A. D. 1840-1869.
Mehemet Ali and his successors.
The khedives.
The opening of the Suez Canal.

"By the treaty of 1840 between the Porte and the European
Powers, ... his title to Egypt having been ... affirmed ...
Mehemet Ali devoted himself during the next seven years to the
social and material improvement of the country, with an
aggregate of results which has fixed his place in history as
the 'Peter the Great' of Egypt. Indeed, except some additions
and further reforms made during the reign of his reputed
grandson, Ismail Pasha, the whole administrative system, up
till less than ten years ago, was, in the main, his work; and
notwithstanding many admitted defects, it was at his death
incomparably the most civilised and efficient of then existing
Mussulman Governments. In 1848, this great satrap, then
verging on his eightieth year, was attacked by a mental
malady, induced, as it was said, by a potion administered in
mistaken kindness by one of his own daughters, and the
government was taken over by his adopted son, Ibrahim Pasha,
the hero of Koniah and Nezib. He lingered till August 1849,
but Ibrahim had already pre-deceased him; and Abbas, a son of
the latter, succeeded to the viceregal throne. Though born and
bred in Egypt, Abbas was a Turk of the worst type--ignorant,
cowardly, sensual, fanatic, and opposed to reforms of every
sort. Thus his feeble reign of less than six years was, in
almost everything, a period of retrogression. On a night in
July, 1854, he was strangled in his sleep by a couple of his
own slaves,--acting, it was variously said, on a secret order
from Constantinople, or at the behest of one of his wives. To
Abbas succeeded Said, the third son of Mehemet Ali, an amiable
and liberal-minded prince who retrieved much of the mischief
done by his predecessor, but lacked the vigorous intelligence
and force of character required to carry on the great work
begun by his father. His reign will be chiefly memorable for
the concession and commencement of the Suez Canal, the
colossal work which, while benefiting the trade of the world,
has cost so much to Egypt. Said died in January 1863, and was
succeeded by his nephew Ismail Pasha, the second son of
Ibrahim. As most of the leading incidents of this Prince's
reign, as also the chief features of his character, are still
fresh in the public memory, I need merely recall a few of the
more salient of both. Amongst the former, history will give
the first place to his creation of the huge public debt which
forms the main element of a problem that still confronts
Europe.
{762}
But, for this the same impartial judge will at least
equally blame the financial panderers who ministered to his
extravagance, with exorbitant profit to themselves, but at
ruinous cost to Egypt. On the other hand, it is but historical
justice to say that Ismail did much for the material progress
of the country. He added more than 1,000 to the 200 miles of
railway in existence at the death of Said. He greatly improved
the irrigation, and so increased the cultivable area of the
country; multiplied the primary schools, and encouraged native
industries. For so much, at least, history will give him
credit. As memorable, though less meritorious, were the
magnificent fetes with which, in 1869, he opened the Suez
Canal, the great work which England had so long opposed, but
through which--as if by the irony of history--the first ship
that passed flew the English flag, and to the present traffic
of which we contribute more than eighty per cent. In personal
character, Ismail was of exceptional intelligence, but cruel,
crafty, and untrustworthy both in politics and in his private
relations. ... It may be mentioned that Ismail Pasha was the
first of these Ottoman Viceroys who bore the title of
'Khedive,' which is a Perso-Arabic designation signifying rank
a shade less than regal. This he obtained in 1867 by heavy
bribes to the Sultan and his chief ministers, as he had the
year before by similar means ousted his brother and uncle from
the succession, and secured it for his own eldest son,--in
virtue of which the latter now [1890] nominally reigns."

_J. C. M'Coan, Egypt (National Life and Thought,
lecture 18)._

_J. C. M'Coan, Egypt under Ismail, chapter 1-4._

EGYPT: A. D. 1870-1883.
Conquest of the Soudan.
Measures for the suppression of the slave-trade.
The government of General Gordon.
Advent of the Mahdi and beginning of his revolt.

In 1870, Ismail Pasha "made an appeal for European assistance
to strengthen him in completing the conquest of Central
Africa. [Sir Samuel] Baker was accordingly placed in command
of 1,200 men, supplied with cannon and steam-boats, and
received the title of Governour-General of the provinces which
he was commissioned to subdue. Having elected to make
Gondokoro the seat of his government, he changed its name to
Ismailia. He was not long in bringing the Bari to submission,
and then, advancing southwards, he came to the districts of
Dufilé and Fatiko, a healthy region endowed by nature with
fertile valleys and irrigated by limpid streams, but for years
past converted into a sort of hell upon earth by the
slave-hunters who had made it their headquarters. From these
pests Baker delivered the locality, and having by his tact and
energy overcome the distrust of the native rulers, he
established over their territory a certain number of small
military settlements. ... Baker returned to Europe flattering
himself with the delusion that he had put an end to the
scourge of slave dealing. It was true that various
slave-dealers' dens on the Upper Nile had been destroyed, a
number of outlaws had been shot, and a few thousand miserable
slaves had been set at liberty; but beyond that nothing had
been accomplished; no sooner had the liberator turned his back
than the odious traffic recommenced with more vigour than
before through the region south of Gondokoro. This, however,
was only one of the slave-hunting districts, and by no means
the worst. ... Under European compulsion ... the Khedive
Ismail undertook to promote measures to put a stop to the
scandal. He entered into various conventions with England on
the subject; and in order to convince the Powers of the
sincerity of his intentions, he consented to put the
equatorial provinces under the administration of an European
officer, who should be commissioned to carry on the work of
repression, conquest and organisation that had been commenced
by Baker. His choice fell upon a man of exceptional ability, a
brilliant officer trained at Woolwich, who had already gained
high renown in China, not only for military talent, but for
his adroitness and skill in negotiation and diplomacy. This
was Colonel Gordon, familiarly known as 'Chinese Gordon,' who
was now to add fresh lustre to his name in Egypt as Gordon
Pasha. Gordon was appointed Governour-General of the Soudan in
1874. With him were associated Chaillé-Long, an American
officer, who was chief of his staff; the German, Dr. Emin
Effendi, medical officer to the expedition; Lieutenants
Chippendall and Watson; Gessi and Kemp, engineers. ...
Thenceforward the territories, of which so little had hitherto
been known, became the continual scene of military movements
and scientific excursions. ... The Soudan was so far conquered
as to be held by about a dozen military outposts stationed
along the Nile from Lake No to Lakes Albert and Ibrahim. ...
In 1876 Gordon went back to Cairo. Nevertheless, although he
was wearied with the continual struggle of the past two years,
worn down by the incessant labours of internal organisation
and geographical investigations, disheartened, too, by the
jealousies, rivalries, and intrigues of all around him, and by
the ill feeling of the very people whom the Khedive's
Government had sent to support him, he consented to return
again to his post; this time with the title of
Governour-General of the Soudan, Darfur, and the Equatorial
Provinces. At the beginning of 1877 he took possession of the
Government palace at Khartoum. ... Egyptian authority, allied
with European civilisation, appeared now at length to be
taking some hold on the various districts, and the Cairo
Government might begin to look forward to a time when it could
reckon on some reward for its labours and sacrifices. The area
of the new Egyptian Soudan had now become immense.
Geographically, its centre included the entire valley of the
Nile proper, from Berber to the great lakes; on the east were
such portions of the valleys of the Blue Nile and Atbara as
lay outside Abyssinia; and on the west were the districts
watered by the Bahr-el-Ghazal, and the Bahr-el-Arab, right
away to the confines of Wadai. ... Unfortunately in 1879
Ismail Pasha was deposed, and, to the grievous loss of the
Soudan, Gordon was recalled. As the immediate consequence, the
country fell back into the hands of Turkish pashas; apathy,
disorder, carelessness, and ill feeling reappeared at
Khartoum, and the Arab slave-dealers, who had for a period
been kept under by Baker, Gessi, and Gordon, came once more to
the front. ... It was Raouf Pasha who, in 1879, succeeded
Gordon as Governour-General. He had three Europeans as his
subordinates--Emin Bey, who before Gordon left, had been
placed in charge of the province of the equator; Lupton Bey,
an Englishman, who had followed Gessi as Governour on the
Bahr-el-Ghazal; and Slatin Bey, an Austrian, in command of
Darfur. Raouf had barely been two years at Khartoum when the
Mahdi appeared on the scene.
{763}
Prompted either by personal ambition or by religious hatred,
the idea of playing the part of 'Mahdi' had been acted upon by
many an Arab fanatic [see MAHDI]. Such an idea, at an early
age, had taken possession of a certain Soudanese of low birth,
a native of Dongola, by name Mohammed Ahmed. Before openly
aspiring to the role of the regenerator of Islam he had filled
several subordinate engagements, notably one under Dr. Peney,
the French surgeon-general in the Soudan, who died in 1861.
Shortly afterwards he received admittance into the powerful
order of the Ghelani dervishes, and then commenced his schemes
for stirring up a revolution in defence of his creed. His
proceedings did not fail to attract the attention of Gessi
Pasha, who had him arrested at Shekka and imprisoned for five
months. Under the government of Raouf he took up his abode
upon the small island of Abba, on the Nile above Khartoum,
where he gained a considerable notoriety by the austerity of
his life and by the fervour of his devotions, thus gradually
gaining a high reputation for sanctity. Not only offerings but
followers streamed in from every quarter. He became rich as
well as powerful. ... Waiting till May 1881, he then assumed
that a propitious time had arrived for the realisation of his
plans, and accordingly had himself publicly proclaimed as
'Mahdi,' inviting every fakir and every religious leader of
Islam to come and join him at Abba. ... Convinced that it was
impolitic to tolerate any longer the revolutionary intrigues
of such an adventurer at the very gates of Khartoum, Raouf
Pasha resolved to rid the country of Mohammed and to send him
to Cairo for trial. An expedition was accordingly despatched
to the island of Abba, but unfortunately the means employed
were inadequate to the task. Only a small body of black
soldiers were sent to arrest the agitator in his quarters, and
they, inspired no doubt by a vague and superstitious dread of
a man who represented himself as the messenger of Allah,
wavered and acted with indecision. Before their officers could
rally them to energy, the Mahdi, with a fierce train of
followers, knife in hand, rushed upon them, and killing many,
put the rest to flight; then, seeing that a renewed assault
was likely to be made, he withdrew the insurgent band into a
retreat of safety amongst the mountains of Southern Kordofan.
Henceforth revolt was openly declared. Such was the condition
of things in August 1881. Chase was given, but every effort to
secure the person of the pretended prophet was baffled. A
further attempt was made to arrest him by the Mudir of Fashoda
with 1,500 men, only to be attended with a still more
melancholy result. After a desperate struggle the Mudir lay
stretched upon the ground, his soldiers murdered all around
him. One single officer, with a few straggling cavalry,
escaped the massacre, and returned to report the fatal news.
The reverse caused an absolute panic in Khartoum, an intense
excitement spreading throughout the Soudan.... Meantime the
Mahdi's prestige was ever on the increase, and he soon felt
sufficiently strong to assume the offensive. His troops
overran Kordofan and Sennar, advancing on the one hand to the
town of Sennar, which they set on fire, and on the other to
El-Obeid, which they placed in a state of siege. In the
following July a fresh and more powerful expedition, this time
numbering 6,000 men, under the command of Yussuf Pasha, left
Fashoda and made towards the Mahdi's headquarters. It met with
no better fate than the expeditions that had gone before. ...
And then it was that the English Government, discerning danger
for Egypt in this insurrection of Islam, set to work to act
for the Khedive. It told off 11,000 men, and placed them under
the command of Hicks Pasha, an officer in the Egyptian service
who had made the Abyssinian campaign. At the end of December
1882 this expedition embarked at Suez for Suakin, crossed the
desert, reached the Nile at Berber, and after much endurance
on the way, arrived at Khartoum. Before this, El-Obeid had
fallen into the Mahdi's power, and there he had taken up his
headquarters. Some trifling advantages were gained by Hicks,
but having entered Kordofan with the design of retaking
El-Obeid, he was, on the 5th of November 1883, hemmed in
amongst the Kasgil passes, and after three days' heroic
fighting, his army of about 10,000 men was overpowered by a
force five or six times their superior in numbers, and
completely exterminated. Hicks Pasha himself, his European
staff, and many Egyptian officers of high rank, were among the
dead, and forty-two guns fell into the hands of the enemy.
Again, not a man was left to carry the fatal tidings to
Khartoum. Rebellion continued to spread. After being agitated
for months, the population of the Eastern Soudan also made a
rising. Osman Digna, the foremost of the Mahdi's lieutenants,
occupied the road between Suakin and Berber, and surrounded
Sinkat and Tokar; then, having destroyed, one after another,
two Egyptian columns that had been despatched for the relief
of these towns, he finally cut off the communication between
Khartoum and the Red Sea. The tide of insurrection by this
time had risen so high that it threatened not only to
overthrow the Khedive's authority in the Soudan, but to become
the source of serious peril to Egypt itself."

_A. J. Wauters, Stanley's Emin Pasha Expedition, chapter 1-2._

ALSO IN:
_Major R. F. Wingate, Mahdiism and the Egyptian Sudan,
books 1-4._

_Colonel Sir. W. F. Butler, Charles George Gordon,
chapters 5-6._

_A. E. Hake, The Story of Chinese Gordon, chapters 10-15._

EGYPT: A. D. 1875-1882.
Bankruptcy of the state.
English and French control of finances.
Native hostility to the foreigners.
Rebellion, led by Arabi.
English bombardment of Alexandria.

"The facilities given by foreign money-lenders encouraged
extravagance and ostentation on the part of the sovereign and
the ruling classes, while mismanagement and corrupt practices
were common among officials, so that the public debt rose in
1875 to ninety-one millions, and in January, 1881, to
ninety-eight millions. ... The European capitalists obtained
for their money nominally six to nine per cent., but really
not less than eight to ten per cent., as the bonds were issued
at low rates. ... The interest on these borrowed millions was
punctually paid up to the end of 1875, when the Khedive found
that he could not satisfy his creditors, and the British
government interfered in his favour. Mr. Cave was sent to
examine into Egyptian finances, and he reported that loans at
twelve and thirteen per cent. were being agreed to and renewed
at twenty-five per cent., and that some measure of
consolidation was necessary. The two western Powers now took
the matter in hand, but they thereby recognized the whole of
these usurious demands.
{764}
The debt, although under their control, and therefore
secured, was not reduced by the amount already paid in
premiums for risk. Nor was the rate of interest diminished to
something more nearly approaching the rate payable on English
consols, which was three per cent. A tribunal under the
jurisdiction of united European and native judges was also
established in Egypt to decide complaints of foreigners
against natives, and vice versa. In May, 1876, this tribunal
gave judgment that the income of the Khedive Ismail, from his
private landed property, could be appropriated to pay the
creditors of the state, and an execution was put into the
Viceregal palace, Er Ramleh, near Alexandria. The Khedive
pronounced the judgment invalid, and the tribunal ceased to
act. Two commissioners were now again sent to report on
Egyptian finances--M. Joubert, the director of the Paris Bank,
for France, and Mr. Goschen, a former minister, for England.
These gentlemen proposed to hand over the control of the
finances to two Europeans, depriving the state of all
independence and governing power. The Khedive, in order to
resist these demands, convoked a sort of Parliament in order
to make an appeal to the people. From this Parliament was
afterwards developed the Assembly of Notables, and the
National party, now so often spoken of. In 1877 a European
commission of control over Egyptian finance was named. ...
Nubar Pasha was made Prime minister in 1878; the control of
the finances was entrusted to Mr. Wilson, an Englishman; and
later, the French controller, M. de Blignières, entered the
Cabinet. Better order was thus restored to the finances.
Rothschild's new loan of eight and a half millions was issued
at seventy-three, and therefore brought in from six to eight
per cent. nett. ... But to be able to pay the creditors their
full interest, economy had to be introduced into the national
expenditure. To do this, clumsy arrangements were made, and
the injustice shown in carrying them out embittered many
classes of the population, and laid the foundations of a
fanatical hatred of race against race. ... In consequence of
all this, the majority of the notables, many ulemas, officers,
and higher officials among the Egyptians, formed themselves
into a National party, with the object of resisting the
oppressive government of the foreigner. They were joined by
the great mass of the discharged soldiers and subordinate
officials, not to mention many others. At the end of February,
1870, a revolt broke out in Cairo. Nubar, hated by the
National party, was dismissed by the Khedive Ismail, who
installed his son Tewfik as Prime minister. In consequence of
this, the coupons due in April were not paid till the
beginning of May, and the western Powers demanded the
reinstatement of Nubar. That Tewfik on this occasion retired
and sided with the foreigners is the chief cause of his
present [1882] unpopularity in Egypt. Ismail, however, now
dismissed Wilson and De Blignières, and a Cabinet was formed,
consisting chiefly of native Egyptians, with Sherif Pasha as
Prime minister. Sherif now raised for the first time the cry
of which we have since heard so much, and which was inscribed
by Arabi on his banners, 'Egypt for the Egyptians.' The
western Powers retorted by a menacing naval demonstration, and
demanded of the Sultan the deposition of the Khedive. In June,
1870, this demand was agreed to. Ismail went into exile, and
his place was filled br Mahomed Tewfik. ... The new Khedive,
with apathetic weakness, yielded the reconstruction of his
ministry and the organization of his finances to the western
Powers. Mr. Baring and M. de Blignières, as commissioners of
the control, aided by officials named by Rothschild to watch
over his private interests, now ruled the land. They devoted
forty-five millions (about sixteen shillings per head on the
entire population) to the payment of interest. The people were
embittered by the distrust shown towards them, and the further
reduction of the army from fifty to fifteen thousand men threw
a large number out of employment. ... Many acts of military
insubordination occurred, and at last, on the 8th of November,
1881, the great military revolt broke out in Cairo. ... Ahmed
Arabi, colonel of the 4th regiment, now first came into public
notice. Several regiments, headed by their officers, openly
rebelled against the orders of the Khedive, who was compelled
to recall the nationalist, Sherif Pasha, and to refer the
further demands of the rebels for the increase of the army,
and for a constitution, to the Sultan. Sherif Pasha, however,
did not long enjoy the confidence of the National Egyptian
party, at whose head Arabi now stood, winning every day more
reputation and influence. The army, in which he permitted
great laxity of discipline, was entirely devoted to him. ... A
pretended plot of Circassian officers against his life he
dexterously used to increase his popularity. ... Twenty-six
officers were condemned to death by court-martial, but the
Khedive, at the instance of the western Powers, commuted the
sentence, and they were banished to Constantinople. This
leniency was stigmatized by the National party as treachery to
the country, and the Chamber of Notables retorted by naming
Arabi commander-in-chief of the army and Prime minister
without asking the consent of the Khedive. The Chamber soon
afterwards came into conflict with the foreign comptrollers.
... This ended in De Blignières resigning his post, and in the
May of the present year (1882) the consuls of the European
Powers declared that a fleet of English and French ironclads
would appear before Alexandria, to demand the disbanding of
the army and the punishment of its leaders. The threat was
realized, and, in spite of protests from the Sultan, a fleet
of English and French ironclads entered the harbour of
Alexandria. The Khedive, at the advice of his ministers and
the chiefs of the National party, appealed to the Sultan. ...
The popular hatred of foreigners now became more and more
apparent, and began to assume threatening dimensions. ... On
the 30th of May, Arabi announced that a despatch from the
Sultan had reached him, promising the deposition of Tewfik in
favour of his uncle Halim Pasha. ... On the 3rd of June,
Dervish Pasha, a man of energy notwithstanding his years, had
sailed from Constantinople. ... His object was to pacify Egypt
and to reconcile Tewfik and Arabi Pasha. ... Since the
publication of the despatch purporting to proclaim Halim Pasha
as Khedive, Arabi had done nothing towards dethroning the
actual ruler. But on the 2nd of June he began to strengthen
the fortifications of Alexandria with earthworks. ...
{765}
The British admiral protested, and the Sultan, on the
remonstrances of British diplomacy, forbad the continuation of
the works. ... Serious disturbances took place in Alexandria
on the 11th. The native rabble invaded the European quarter,
plundered the shops, and slew many foreigners. ... Though the
disturbances were not renewed, a general emigration of
foreigners was the result. ... On the 22nd a commission,
consisting of nine natives and nine Europeans ... began to try
the ringleaders of the riot. ... But events were hurrying on
towards war. The works at Alexandria were recommenced, and the
fortifications armed with heavy guns. The English admiral
received information that the entrance to the harbour would be
blocked by sunken storeships, and this, he declared, would be
an act of open war. A complete scheme for the destruction of
the Suez canal was also discovered. ... The English, on their
side, now began to make hostile demonstrations; and Arabi,
while repudiating warlike intentions, declared himself ready
for resistance. ... On the 27th the English vice-consul
advised his fellow-countrymen to leave Alexandria, and on the
3rd of July, according to the 'Times,' the arrangements for
war were complete. ... Finally, as a reconnaissance on the 9th
showed that the forts were still being strengthened, he [the
English admiral] informed the governor of Alexandria, Zulficar
Pasha, that unless the forts had been previously evacuated and
surrendered to the English, he intended to commence the
bombardment at four the next morning. ... As the French
government were unable to take part in any active measures (a
grant for that purpose having been refused by the National
Assembly), the greater part of their fleet, under Admiral
Conrad, left Alexandria for Port Said. The ironclads of other
nations, more than fifty in number, anchored outside the
harbour of Alexandria. ... On the evening of the 10th of July
... and at daybreak on the 11th, the ... ironclads took up the
positions assigned to them. There was a gentle breeze from the
east, and the weather was clear. At 6.30 a. m. all the ships
were cleared for action. At seven the admiral signalled to the
Alexandra to fire a shell into Fort Ada. ... The first shot
fired from the Alexandra was immediately replied to by the
Egyptians; whereupon the ships of the whole fleet and the
Egyptian forts and batteries opened fire, and the engagement
became general. ... At 8.30 Fort Marsa-el-Kanat was blown up
by shells from the Invincible and Monarch, and by nine o'clock
the Téméraire, Monarch, and Penelope had silenced most of the
guns in Fort Meks, although four defied every effort from
their protected situation. By 11.45 Forts Marabout and Adjemi
had ceased firing, and a landing party of seamen and marines
was despatched, under cover of the Bittern's guns, to spike
and blow up the guns in the forts. At 1.30 a shell from the
Superb burst in the chief powder magazine of Fort Ada and blew
it up. By four o'clock all the guns of Fort Pharos, and half
an hour later those of Fort Meks, were disabled, and at 5.30
the admiral ordered the firing to cease. The ships were
repeatedly struck and sustained some damage. ... The English
casualties were five killed and twenty-eight wounded, a
comparatively small loss. The Egyptian loss is not known. ...
At 1 p. m. on the 12th of July, the white flag was hoisted by
the Egyptians. Admiral Seymour demanded, as a preliminary
measure, the surrender of the forts commanding the entrance to
the harbour, and the negotiations on this point were
fruitlessly protracted for some hours. As night approached the
city was seen to be on fire in many places, and the flames
were spreading in all directions. The English now became aware
that the white flag had merely been used as means to gain time
for a hasty evacuation of Alexandria by Arabi and his army.
Sailors and marines were now landed, and ships of other
nations sent detachments on shore to protect their countrymen.
But it was too late; Bedouins, convicts, and ill-disciplined
soldiers had plundered and burnt the European quarter, killed
many foreigners, and a Reuter's telegram of the 14th said,
'Alexandria is completely destroyed.'"

_H. Vogt, The Egyptian War of 1882, pages 2-32._

ALSO IN:
_J. C. McCoan, Egypt under Ismail, chapter 8-10._

_C. Royle, The Egyptian Campaigns, volume 1, chapter 1-20._

_Khedives and Pashas._

_C. F. Goodrich, Report on British Military and Naval
Operations in Egypt, 1882, part 1._

EGYPT: A. D. 1882-1883.
The massacre and destruction in Alexandria.
Declared rebellion of Arabi.
Its suppression by the English.
Banishment of Arabi.
English occupation.