Chapter XXXVI: Section III: of article 111 of the federal constitution is (4)

"On December 11th, 1875, Portugal concluded a treaty with the
Transvaal Government under which the latter Government bound
itself to continue the line of railway—which the Portuguese
Government proposed to build from Lourenço-Marques to the
Transvaal frontier—'up to a centre of production and
consumption which should insure the traffic of the line and
the development of international commerce.' The Portuguese
Government then began to look about for a concessionaire and
contractor for this line, and after some research, eventually
came to terms with one Colonel Edward McMurdo, a citizen of
the United States of America, who undertook to build the line
without any Government subvention,—a matter of some importance
to the Portuguese Government,—but upon certain conditions, of
which the most important was that the concessionaire should
have the right to fix the tariffs without any State
interference. A contract … was drawn up and executed in Lisbon
on December 14th, 1883." The government bound itself to grant
no concession for a rival railway from the coast to the
Transvaal boundary, and gave the contractor certain valuable
mining rights and grants of land. On his part he was to
complete the road within three years. He formed a Portuguese
company for the purpose, and seems to have been prepared for
success in his undertaking, when rumors began to circulate
that the Transvaal government had secured from that of
Portugal the right to build a steam tramway from the eastern
terminus of its own line to the coast. These rumors were
contradicted by the Portuguese government: but are said to
have been eventually confirmed. Five months after the signing
of the contract with Colonel McMurdo, the Portuguese
authorities, it seems, had actually violated it in the manner
described. Henceforth the contractor appears to have had every
possible embarrassment thrown in his way by combined action of
the Portuguese and Boer governments. His Portuguese company
was broken down, but he organized another in England, which
struggled on with the enterprise until 1880, when a decree
from Lisbon rescinded the concession, declared the railway
forfeited, and ordered military possession of it to be taken.
The sufferers in the matter, being British and American
citizens, appealed then to their respective governments, and
both intervened in their behalf. The result was a reference of
the matter to the arbitration of Switzerland. So much was
settled in June, 1891; but it was not until March, 1900, that
the judgment of the arbitrators was pronounced. They awarded
to the Delagoa Bay Company, as its due on the railway,
13,980,000 francs. "To this is added a sum of fr. 2,000,000 as
an indemnity for the land grant, which brings the total award
(less £28,000 paid by Portugal on account in 1890) to fr.
15,314,000 (or about £612,560), with interest at 5 per cent.
from June 25th, 1889, to the date of payment. The amount of
this award came as a considerable shock to the claimants, as
well it might. It was insufficient to pay even the bonds in
full (including interest at 7 per cent.), and left nothing
whatever for the shareholders, while even the expenses are to
be borne by each party equally."

_M. McIlwraith,
The Delagoa Bay Arbitration
(Fortnightly Review, September, 1900)._

DELAWARE: A. D. 1897.
A new Constitution.

A new constitution for the State of Delaware, which went into
effect June 10, 1897, provides that after January 1, 1900, no
citizen shall vote who cannot write his name and read the
constitution in the English language. It also provides a
registration fee of one dollar as a qualification to vote.

DEMOCRACY: In the Nineteenth Century.

See (in this volume)
NINETEENTH CENTURY; THE TREND.

DEMOCRACY: In the Nineteenth Century.
Pope Leo's Encyclical concerning.

See (in this volume)
PAPACY: A. D. 1901.

DEMOCRATIC EXPERIMENTS, New Zealand.

See (in this volume)
NEW ZEALAND: A. D. 1891-1900.

DEMOCRATIC PARTY, and the Silver Question in the United States.

See (in this volume)
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1896 (JUNE-NOVEMBER);
and 1900 (MAY-NOVEMBER).

DENMARK: A. D. 1899.
Complaints from Danish Sleswick of German treatment.

See (in this volume)
GERMANY: A. D. 1899.

DENMARK: A. D. 1899.
Representation in the Peace Conference at The Hague.

See (in this volume)
PEACE CONFERENCE.

DÉROULÈDE, Paul:
Trial and conviction for treasonable conspiracy.

See (in this volume)
FRANCE: A. D. 1890 (FEBRUARY-JUNE);
and 1899-1900 (AUGUST-JANUARY).

DERVISHES, of the Sudan, The.

See (in this volume)
EGYPT: A. D. 1885-1896; 1897-1898; and 1899-1900.

DEVIL'S ISLAND.

See (in this volume)
FRANCE: A. D. 1897-1899.

DEWEY, Admiral George:
Destruction of Spanish fleet in Manila Bay.

See (in this volume)
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1898 (APRIL-JULY).

DIAMOND JUBILEE, Queen Victoria's.

See (in this volume)
ENGLAND; A. D. 1897 (JUNE).

DIAZ, Porfirio:
The results of twenty years of his Presidency in Mexico.

See (in this volume)
MEXICO: A. D. 1898-1900.

DINGLEY TARIFF, The.

See (in this volume)
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1897 (MARCH-JULY); and 1899-1901.

DIPHTHERIA: Discovery of antitoxine treatment of.

See (in this volume)
SCIENCE, RECENT: MEDICAL AND SURGICAL.

DIR: Inclusion in a new British Indian province.

See (in this volume)
INDIA: A. D. 1901 (FEBRUARY).

{192}

DISCOVERIES, Scientific:
Comparison of the Nineteenth Century with preceding ages.

See (in this volume)
NINETEENTH CENTURY; COMPARISON.

DISFRANCHISEMENT OF THE NEGRO.

See (in this volume)
MISSISSIPPI; LOUISIANA; NORTH CAROLINA: A. D. 1900;
SOUTH CAROLINA; A. D. 1896;
MARYLAND;
and UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1901 (JANUARY).

DISPENSARY LAWS.

See (in this volume)
SOUTH CAROLINA: A. D. 1892-1899;
NORTH CAROLINA: A. D. 1897-1899;
SOUTH DAKOTA: A. D. 1899;
and ALABAMA: A. D. 1899.

DIVINE RIGHT, Kingship by:
German revival of the doctrine.

See (in this volume)
GERMANY: A. D. 1894-1899.

DOMINICA: Condition and relief measures.

See (in this volume))
WEST INDIES, THE BRITISH: A. D. 1897.

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: A. D. 1899.
Assassination of President Heureaux.
Revolution.
Election of President Jiminez.

General D. Ulises Heureaux, President of the Republic, was
shot through the heart by an assassin and instantly killed, on
the 26th of July. "He was in his fourth consecutive term as
president, and had occupied that position for fifteen years,
although still a young man. San Domingo had been more free
from revolution, more prosperous, better inclined toward
outside capital and enterprise, and more disposed toward the
ways of modern civilization under Heureaux, than at any
previous time for many decades. Although nominally a republic,
San Domingo was ruled by this iron-willed and resolute negro
with a stern despotism hardly matched by any other
contemporary government on earth. He was superior to all law.
He constantly made use of the practice of executing officials,
generals, and well-known public men with his own hand whenever
dissatisfied with them. Still more frequently, when the
objects of his disapproval were not within easy traveling
distance, he gave orders to some officer or subordinate,
dependent upon his favor, to undertake an assassination.
Failure to comply promptly and successfully with such a
mandate meant death to the men who failed. These statements
convey no exaggerated impression of the way in which Heureaux
has ruled San Domingo, nipped insurrection in the bud, and
kept himself in power. … He always excused his ruthlessness on
the ground of public necessity. Of course, it was inevitable
that such a man should sooner or later be assassinated
himself."

_American Review of Reviews,
September, 1899._

According to the provisions of the constitution, the
Vice-President, General Figuereo, succeeded to the presidency;
but an insurrection against his government was so rapidly
successful that he resigned his office on the 31st of August,
and a provisional government was created, pending arrangements
for an election. The recognized leader of the revolutionary
movement was Juan Isidro Jiminez, who had been compelled, some
years before, to quit San Domingo, on account of his
opposition to Heureaux, leaving a large property behind. Since
that time he had been a successful and well-known merchant in
New York. Latterly, Jiminez had established himself in Cuba,
whence he attempted to assist as well as direct the revolution
in the neighboring island; but the United States authorities
objected to such use being made of neutral territory, and he
was placed for a time under arrest. When released, however, he
was permitted to proceed to San Domingo, without men or arms,
and there he was elected President, assuming the office on the
14th of November.

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: A. D. 1900.
Commercial Convention with the United States.

See (in this volume)
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1899-1901.

DOMOKO, Battle of.

See (in this volume)
TURKEY: A. D. 1897 (MARCH-SEPTEMBER).

DONGOLA, Expedition to.

See (in this volume)
EGYPT: A. D. 1885-1896.

DREYFUS AFFAIR, The.

See (in this volume)
FRANCE: A. D. 1897-1899.

DREYFUS AFFAIR, The
Closed by the Amnesty Bill.

See (in this volume)
FRANCE: A. D. 1900 (DECEMBER).

DRIEFONTEIN, Battle of.

See (in this volume)
SOUTH AFRICA (THE FIELD OF WAR): A. D. 1900 (MARCH-MAY).

DRIFTS, Closing of the Vaal River.

See (in this volume)
SOUTH AFRICA (THE TRANSVAAL):
A. D. 1895 (SEPTEMBER-DECEMBER).

DUM-DUM BULLET, The.

The dum-dum bullet, about which there was much discussion at
The Hague Peace Conference, is constructed to spread slightly
at the point. All modern rifle bullets have an outer jacket of
hard metal, to take the grooving of the gun-barrel.
"Originally the jacket was thickest at the point, and so
strong that, while penetration was enormous, stopping power
was wanting; in other words, one bullet might easily go
through half a dozen men, yet, unless it happened to hit a
vital spot or a bone, they need not be disabled, and might
therefore continue to fight. This was amply illustrated in the
Chitral campaign, during which our soldiers began to lose
confidence in their weapon, while the enemy, quick to
recognize the different effect of volleys, were inclined to
attack British infantry armed with the Lee-Metford rather than
native infantry armed with the Martini-Henry. The Indian
military authorities at once set about designing a bullet
which, while maintaining range, should have the required
stopping power. The result was the dum-dum bullet—so named
after the place near Calcutta where it is made—of which much
has been heard. The difference in appearance between it and
the original pattern is comparatively slight. The shape is
exactly the same, but the jacket is differently arranged;
instead of having its greatest strength at the point, it is
weakest there—indeed, at the apex a small part of the core is
uncovered, but does not project."

_Quarterly Review, July, 1899._

{193}

DUTCH EAST INDIES: A. D. 1894.
Revolt in Lombok.

A rising in the island of Lombok, one of the Lesser Sunda
group, which began in August, proved a troublesome affair.
"The cause of the rebellion was the concession made to the
Sassaks, to be henceforth governed by their own chiefs,
instead of by the Balinian chiefs, who had hitherto been
all-powerful. During the continuance of the hostilities, the
Sassaks remained constantly faithful to the Dutch, and fought
against the Balinians, who, although far inferior in numbers,
had, nevertheless, oppressed their fellow-islanders for many
years; but the courage, energy and audacity of the Balinians
were well known, and as early as 1868 the Dutch troops had
been in serious conflict with them. The news of this disaster
aroused in Holland great excitement, and public opinion was
unanimous in its demand for speedy and energetic reprisals.
Several severe and bloody encounters took place, but finally
the Dutch troops, under the orders of General Vetter,
succeeded in making the Rajah of Lombok prisoner, his immense
wealth falling at the same time into the hands of the
victors."

_Annual Register,
1894, page 308._

DYNAMITE MONOPOLY, The Boer.

See (in this volume)
SOUTH AFRICA (THE TRANSVAAL): A. D. 1895 (NOVEMBER).

E.

EAGAN, General Charles P.: The case of.

See (in this volume)
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1899 (JANUARY).

EAST AFRICA, German: Trade, etc.

See (in this volume)
GERMANY: A. D. 1899 (JUNE).

EAST AFRICA PROTECTORATE, British.

See (in this volume)
BRITISH EAST AFRICA PROTECTORATE: A. D. 1895-1897.

EAST INDIES, Dutch.

See (in this volume)
DUTCH EAST INDIES.

ECCLESIASTICAL LAWS, The Hungarian.

See (in this volume)
AUSTRIA-HUNGARY: A. D. 1894-1895.

ECUADOR: A. D. 1894-1899.
Successful Revolution.
Government measures against the Church.

In the fall of 1894 the government of Chile sold ostensibly to
that of Ecuador a war vessel, which the latter at once
transferred to Japan, then at war with China. The round about
transaction was regarded with suspicion, the Ecuadorian
government being accused of a corrupt agency in it, to cover
the Chilian breach of neutrality. Much feeling on the subject
was excited in the country, and this gave to the Radical party
an opportunity to stir up revolt. They improved it with
success. After an obstinate civil war of more than six months
the government of President Cordero was overthrown, and
General Aloy Alfaro, the revolutionist leader, was inaugurated
Executive Chief of the Republic on the 4th of November, 1895.
The defeated Conservatives, stimulated by the clergy, were
quickly in arms again, in the summer of 1896, but again they
were overcome, and the government of Alfaro began to deal
severely with the religious orders and the Church. Much of the
Church property was confiscated, and the inmates of religious
houses are said to have fled in considerable numbers to other
countries. In October, 1896, a National Convention was held
and the constitution revised. Among other changes, it imposed
limitations on the former power of the Church, and extended
religious freedom to other sects. In 1897 the Indians who had
supported Alfaro two years before were admitted to
citizenship. A renewed attempt at revolution, that year,
organized and armed in Colombia, was suppressed with the help
of the Colombian government. The same fate attended another
undertaking of rebellion in January, 1899; but it was overcome
only after a hard fought battle.

ECUADOR: A. D. 1900.
Commercial Convention with the United States.

See (in this volume)
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1899-1901.

ECUMENICAL CONFERENCE ON MISSIONS.

See (in this volume)
MISSIONS.

EDUCATION: Australia and New Zealand.
Progress of educational work.

See (in this volume)
AUSTRALIA: RECENT EXTENSIONS OF DEMOCRACY.

EDUCATION:
Birth of educational systems in the Nineteenth Century.

See (in this volume)
NINETEENTH CENTURY: THE TREND.

EDUCATION: Canada: A. D. 1890-1896.
The Manitoba School Question.

See (in this volume)
CANADA: A. D. 1890-1896.

EDUCATION: Canada: A. D. 1898.
Encyclical Letter of Pope Leo XIII. on the
Manitoba School Question.

See (in this volume)
CANADA: A. D. 1898 (JANUARY).

EDUCATION: Belgium: A. D. 1895.
Religious teaching restored.

A new school law was carried in Belgium, against fierce
opposition from the Liberals and Socialists, which restores
obligatory religious teaching in both public and private
schools. Parents are permitted, however, to withhold their
children from the instruction that is given during school
hours by Catholic priests, on attesting in writing that it is
their wish to do so.

EDUCATION: Congo State:
The Belgian provision of schools.

See (in this volume)
CONGO FREE STATE: A. D. 1899.

EDUCATION: Cuba: A. D. 1898.
As left by the Spaniards.

See (in this volume)
CUBA: A. D. 1898-1899 (DECEMBER-OCTOBER).

EDUCATION: Cuba: A. D. 1900.
Organization of public schools.

See (in this volume)
CUBA: A. D. 1900.

EDUCATION: Egypt:
Gordon Memorial College at Khartoum.

See (in this volume)
EGYPT: A. D. 1898-1899.

EDUCATION: England: A. D. 1896-1897.
"The Voluntary Schools Act" and "The Elementary Education Act."

See (in this volume)
ENGLAND: A. D. 1896-1897.

EDUCATION: England: A. D. 1899.
Creation of a Board of Education.

See (in this volume)
ENGLAND: A. D. 1899 (AUGUST).

EDUCATION: England: A. D. 1900.
Age at which children may leave school
raised from eleven to twelve years.

See (in this volume)
ENGLAND: A. D. 1900 (FEBRUARY).

EDUCATION: Hawaii:
Progress of educational work.

See (in this volume)
HAWAII: A. D. 1900.

EDUCATION: Japan: 1897.
Restriction of religious teaching.

See (in this volume)
JAPAN: A. D. 1899 (AUGUST).

EDUCATION: Japan: A. D. 1899.
A Japanese injunction to students concerning
behavior to foreigners.

See (in this volume)
JAPAN: A. D. 1899 (JULY).

EDUCATION: Mexico:
Progress of educational work.

See (in this volume)
MEXICO: A. D. 1898-1900.

{194}

EDUCATION: Philippine Islands: A. D. 1898.
Schools and colleges under the Spanish regime.

"The only educational advantages attainable by the common
people of the archipelago are those afforded by the primary
schools. The Spanish regulations provided that there should be
one male and one female primary school teacher for each 5,000
inhabitants, instruction being given separately to the two
sexes. This wretchedly inadequate provision was, as a matter
of fact, never carried out. … From [a table showing the
relation between number of primary school teachers and
population in the several provinces, etc.] it appears that the
number of teachers of each sex required by law for a
population of 6,709,810 is 1,342, making a total of 2,684
teachers, whereas there are in reality but 991 male teachers
and 923 female teachers, giving a total of 1,914. Disregarding
the question of sex, we see that while there should be one
teacher for each 2,500 inhabitants, there is in reality but
one to each 3,500, even if we include only that portion of the
population sufficiently civilized to be taken account of in
the above enumeration. Taking the entire population at
8,000,000, we find that there is but one teacher to each 4,179
individuals. Examination of the … table further shows that in
many instances the lack of teachers is greater in those
provinces which are most thickly populated and whose people
are most highly civilized. …

"While most of the small towns have one teacher of each sex,
in the larger towns and cities no adequate provision is made
for the increased teaching force necessary; so that places of
30,000 or 40,000 inhabitants are often no better off as
regards number of teachers than are other places in the same
province of but 1,500 or 2,000 souls. The hardship thus
involved for children desiring a primary education will be
better understood if one stops to consider the nature of the
Philippine 'pueblo,' which is really a township, often
containing within its limits a considerable number of distinct
and important villages or towns, from the most important of
which the township takes its name. The others, under distinct
names, are known as 'barrios,' or wards. It is often quite
impossible for small children to attend school at the
particular town which gives its name to the township on
account of their distance from it. …

"The character and amount of the instruction which has
heretofore been furnished is also worthy of careful
consideration. The regulations for primary schools were as
follows: 'Instruction in schools for natives shall for the
present be reduced to elementary primary instruction and shall
consist of—

1. Christian doctrine and principles of morality and sacred
history suitable for children.

2. Reading.

3. Writing.

4. Practical instruction in Spanish, including grammar
and orthography.

5. Principles of arithmetic, comprising the four rules for
figures, common fractions, decimal fractions, and instruction
in the metric system with its equivalents in ordinary weights
and measures.

6. Instruction in general geography and Spanish history.

7. Instruction in practical agriculture as applied to the
products of the country.

8. Rules of deportment.

9. Vocal music.'

"It will be noted that education in Christian doctrine is
placed before reading and writing, and, if the natives are to
be believed, in many of the more remote districts instruction
began and ended with this subject and was imparted in the
local native dialect at that. It is further and persistently
charged that the instruction in Spanish was in very many cases
purely imaginary, because the local friars, who were formerly
'ex officio' school inspectors, not only prohibited it, but
took active measures to enforce their dictum. … Ability to
read and write a little of the local native language was
comparatively common. Instruction in geography was extremely
superficial. As a rule no maps or charts were available, and
such information as was imparted orally was left to the memory
of the pupil, unaided by any graphic method of presentation.
The only history ever taught was that of Spain, and that under
conventional censorship. The history of other nations was a
closed volume to the average Filipino. … The course as above
outlined was that prescribed for boys. Girls were not given
instruction in geography, history, or agriculture, but in
place of these subjects were supposed to receive instruction
'in employments suitable to their sex.'

"It should be understood that the criticisms which have been
here made apply to the provincial schools. The primary
instruction given at the Ateneo Municipal at Manila, under the
direction of the Jesuits, fulfilled the requirements of the
law, and in some particulars exceeded them. … The only
official institution for secondary education in the
Philippines was the College of San Juan de Letran, which was
in charge of the Dominican Friars and was under the control of
the university authorities. Secondary education was also given in
the Ateneo Municipal of Manila, by the Jesuit Fathers, and
this institution was better and more modern in its methods
than any other in the archipelago. But although the Jesuits
provided the instruction, the Dominicans held the
examinations. … There are two normal schools in Manila, one
for the education of male and the other for the education of
female teachers. … The only institutions for higher education
in the Philippines have been the Royal and Pontifical
University of Santo Tomas, and the Royal College of San José,
which has for the past twenty-five years been under the
direction of the university authorities."

_Report of the Philippine Commission,
January 1, 1900, volume 1, part 3._

EDUCATION: Porto Rico: A. D. 1898.
Spanish schools and teachers.

See (in this volume)
PORTO RICO: A. D. 1898-1899 (AUGUST-JULY).

EDUCATION: Porto Rico: A. D. 1900.
First steps in the creation of a public school system.

See (in this volume)
PORTO RICO: A. D. 1900 (AUGUST-OCTOBER).

EDUCATION: Russia:
Student troubles in the universities.

See (in this volume)
RUSSIA: A. D. 1899 (FEBRUARY-JUNE); 1900; and 1901.

EDUCATION: Tunis:
Schools under the French Protectorate.

See (in this volume)
TUNIS: A. D. 1881-1898.

EDUCATION: United States:
Indian schools.

See (in this volume)
INDIANS, AMERICAN: A. D. 1899-1900.

EDUCATION: United States: A. D. 1896.
Princeton University.

The one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the founding of
the institution at Princeton, New Jersey, which had borne the
name of "The College of New Jersey," was celebrated on the
20th, 21st, and 22d of October, 1896, with ceremonies in which
many representatives from famous seats of learning in Europe
and America took part. The proceedings included a formal
change of name, to Princeton University.

{195}

EDUCATION: United States: A. D. 1900.
Women as students and as teachers.

See (in this volume)
NINETEENTH CENTURY: THE WOMAN'S CENTURY.

EDWARD VII., King of England.
Accession.
English estimate of his character.

See (in this volume)
ENGLAND: A. D. 1901 (JANUARY-FEBRUARY).

Opening of his first Parliament.
The Royal Test Oath.

EDWARD VII., King of England.
See (in this volume)
ENGLAND: A. D. 1901 (FEBRUARY).

----------EGYPT: Start--------

EGYPT:
Recent Archæological Explorations and their result.
Discovery of prehistoric remains.
Light on the first dynasties.

See (in this volume)
ARCHÆOLOGICAL RESEARCH: EGYPT: RESULTS.

EGYPT: A. D. 1885-1896.
Abandonment of the Egyptian Sudan to the Dervishes.
Death of the Mahdi and reign of the Khalifa.
Beginning of a new Anglo-Egyptian movement for
the recovery of the Sudan.
The expedition to Dongola.

After the failure to rescue General Gordon from the Mahdists
at Khartoum (see, in volume 1, EGYPT: A. D. 1884-1885), the
British government, embarrassed in other quarters, felt
compelled to evacuate the Sudan. Before it did so the Mahdi
had finished his career, having died of smallpox in June,
1885, and one of his three chief commanders, styled khalifas,
had acquired authority over the Dervish army and reigned in
his place. This was the Khalifa Abdullah, a chieftain of the
Baggara tribe. Khartoum had been destroyed, and Omdurman, on
the opposite side of the river, became his capital. The rule
of the Khalifa was soon made so cruelly despotic, and so much
in the interest of his own tribe, that incessant rebellions in
many parts of his dominions restrained him from any vigorous
undertaking of the conquest of Egypt, which was the great
object of Dervish desire. But his able and energetic
lieutenant in the Eastern Sudan, Osman Digna, was a serious
menace to the Egyptian forces holding Suakin, where Major
Watson, at first, and afterwards Colonel Kitchener, were
holding command, under General Grenfell, who was then the
Egyptian Sirdar, or military chief. Osman Digna, however, was
defeated in all his attempts. At the same time the Khalifa was
desperately at war with the Negus. John, of Abyssinia, who
fell in a great battle at Galabat (March, 1889), and whose
death at the crisis of the battle threw his army into
confusion and caused its defeat. Menelek, king of the
feudatory state of Shoa, acquired the Abyssinian crown, and
war with the Dervishes was stopped. Then they began an advance
down the Nile, and suffered a great defeat from the British
and Egyptian troops, at Toski, on the 17th of August, 1889.
From that time, for several years, "there was no real menace
to Egypt," and little was heard of the Khalifa. "His
territories were threatened on all sides: on the north by the
British in Egypt; on the south by the British in Uganda: on
the west by the Belgians in the Congo Free State, and by the
French in the Western Soudan; whilst the Italians held Kassala
on the east; so that the Khalifa preferred to husband his
resources until the inevitable day should arrive when he would
have to fight for his position."

A crisis in the situation came in 1896. The Egyptian army,
organized and commanded by British officers, had become a
strong fighting force, on which its leaders could depend. Its
Sirdar was now Major-General Sir Herbert Kitchener, who
succeeded General Grenfell in 1892. Suddenly there came news,
early in March, 1896, of the serious reverse which the
Italians had suffered at Adowa, in their war with the
Abyssinians (see, (in this volume) ITALY: A. D. 1895-1896).
"The consternation felt in England and Egypt at this disaster
deepened when it became known that Kassala, which was held by
the Italian forces, was hemmed in, and seriously threatened by
10,000 Dervishes, and that Osman Digna was marching there with
reinforcements. If Kassala fell into the hands of the
Dervishes, the latter would be let loose to overrun the Nile
valley on the frontier of Egypt, and threaten that country
itself. As if in anticipation of these reinforcements, the
Dervishes suddenly assumed an offensive attitude, and it was
rumoured that a large body of Dervishes were contemplating an
immediate advance on Egypt. … A totally new situation was now
created, and immediate action was rendered imperative.
Everything was ripe for an expedition up the Nile. Whilst
creating a diversion in favour of the Italians besieged at
Kassala, it afforded an opportunity of creating a stronger
barrier than the Wady Halfa boundary between Egypt and the
Dervishes, and it would moreover be an important step towards
the long-wished-for recovery of the Soudan. The announcement
of the contemplated expedition was made in the House of
Commons on the 17th of March, 1896, by Mr. Curzon,
Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs. It came as a great
surprise to the whole country, which, having heard so little
of the Dervishes of late years, was not prepared for a
recrudescence of the Soudan question. [But a vote of censure
on the Egyptian policy of the government, moved by Mr. John
Morley in the House of Commons, was rejected by 288 to 145.] …

"An unexpected difficulty arose in connection with the
financing of the expedition. This is explained very plainly
and concisely in the 'Annual Register,' 1896, which we quote
at length:—

'In order to defray the cost of the undertaking, it being
obviously desirable to impose as little strain as possible on
the slowly recovering finances of Egypt, it was determined by
the Egyptian Government to apply for an advance of £500,000
from the General Reserve Fund of the Caisse de la Dette, and
the authorities of the Caisse obligingly handed over the
money. … However, the French and Russian members of the Caisse
de la Dette protested against the loan which the Caisse had
made. … In December (1896) the International Court of Appeal
required the Egyptian Government to refund to the Caisse the
£500,000 which they had secured. The very next day Lord Cromer
offered an English loan to make good the advance. The Egyptian
Government accepted his offer, and repaid immediately the
£500,000 to the Caisse, and the result of this somewhat absurd
transaction is that England has thus strengthened her hold in
another small point on the Government of Egypt.'"

_H. S. L. Alford, and W. D. Sword,
The Egyptian Soudan, its Loss and Recovery,
chapter 4 (London: Macmillan & Company)._

{196}

On the 21st of March, the Sirdar left Cairo for Assouan and
Wady Halfa, and various Egyptian battalions were hurried up
the river. Meantime, the forces already on the frontier had
moved forward and taken the advanced post of the Dervishes, at
Akasheh. From that point the Sirdar was ready to begin his
advance early in June, and did so with two columns, a River
Column and a Desert Column, the latter including a camel corps
and a squadron of infantry mounted on camels, besides cavalry,
horse artillery and Maxim guns. Ferket, on the east bank of
the Nile, 16 miles from Akasheh, was taken after hard fighting
on the 7th of June, many of the Dervishes refusing quarter and
resisting to the death. They lost, it was estimated, 1,000
killed and wounded, and 500 were taken prisoners. The Egyptian
loss was slight. The Dervishes fell back some fifty miles, and
the Sirdar halted at Suarda during three months, while the
railroad was pushed forward, steamers dragged up the cataracts
and stores concentrated, the army suffering greatly, meantime,
from an alarming epidemic of cholera and from exhausting
labors in a season of terrific heat. In the middle of
September the advance was resumed, and, on the 23d, Dongola
was reached. Seeing themselves outnumbered, the enemy there
retreated, and the town, or its ruins, was taken with only a
few shots from the steamers on the river. "As a consequence of
the fall of Dongola every Dervish fled for his life from the
province. The mounted men made off across the desert direct to
Omdurman, and the foot soldiers took the Nile route to Berber,
always being careful to keep out of range of the gunboats,
which were prevented by the Fourth Cataract from pursuing them
beyond Merawi."

_C. Hoyle,
The Egyptian Campaigns, new and revised edition,
to December, 1899, chapter 70-71._

The Emir who commanded at Dongola was a comparatively young
man, Mohammed Wad el Bishara, who seems to have been possessed
by a very genuinely religious spirit, as shown in the
following letter, which he had written to the Dervish
commander at Ferket, just before the battle there, and which
was found by the British officers when they entered that
place:

"You are, thank God, of good understanding, and are thoroughly
acquainted with those rules of religion which enjoin love and
unison. Thanks be to God that I hear but good reports of you.
But you are now close to the enemy of God, and have with you,
with the help of God, a sufficient number of men. I therefore
request you to unite together, to have the heart of a single
man founded on love and unity. Consult with one another, and
thus you will insure good results, which will strengthen the
religion and vex the heathen, the enemies of God. Do not move
without consulting one another, and such others, also, in the
army who are full of sense and wisdom. Employ their plans and
tricks of war, in the general fight more especially. Your
army, thank God, is large; if you unite and act as one hand,
your action will be regular: you will, with the help of God,
defeat the enemies of God and set at ease the mind of the
Khalifa, peace be on him! Follow this advice, and do not allow
any intrigues to come between you. Rely on God in all your
doings; be bold in all your dealings with the enemy; let them
find no flaw in your disposition for the fight. But be ever
most vigilant, for these enemies of God are cunning, may God
destroy them! Our brethren, Mohamed Koku, with two others,
bring you this letter; on their return they will inform me
whether you work in unison or not. Let them find you as
ordered in religion, in good spirits, doing your utmost to
insure the victory of religion. Remember, my brethren, that
what moves me to urge on you to love each other and to unite
is my love for you and my desire for your good. This is a
trial of war; so for us love and amity are of utmost
necessity. You were of the supporters of the Mahdi, peace be
on him! You were as one spirit occupying one body. When the
enemy know that you are quite united they will be much
provoked. Strive, therefore, to provoke these enemies of
religion. May God bless you and render you successful."

EGYPT: A. D. 1895.
New anti-slavery law.

A convention to establish a more effective anti-slavery law in
Egypt was signed on the 21st of November, 1895, "by the
Minister of Foreign Affairs, representing the Khedival
Government, and the British diplomatic agent and
consul-general. … This new convention will supplant that of
August 4, 1877, which … was found to be defective, inasmuch as
it provided no penalty for the purchaser of a slave, but for
the seller only. An Egyptian notable, Ali Pasha Cherif, at
that time president of the Legislative Council, was tried for
buying slaves for his household, but escaped punishment
through a technicality of the law hitherto escaping notice. …
Under the existing regulations, every slave in the Egyptian
dominions has the right to complete freedom, and may demand
his certificate of manumission whenever he chooses. Thus, all
domestic slaves, of whom there are thousands in Cairo,
Alexandria, and the large towns, may call upon their masters
to set them free. Many choose to remain in nominal bondage,
preferring the certainty of food and shelter to the hardships
and uncertainty of looking after themselves."

_United States, Consular Reports,
March, 1896, page 370._

EGYPT: A. D. 1897.
Italian evacuation of Kassala, in the eastern Sudan.

See (in this volume)
ITALY: A. D. 1897.

EGYPT: A. D. 1897 (June).
Census.

A census of Egypt, taken on the 1st of June, 1897, showed a
population of 9,700,000, the area being Egypt up to Wady
Haifa. In 1882 an imperfect census gave six and three-quarter
millions. Twelve per cent. of the males can write, the rest
are totally illiterate. There are, it is said, about 40,000
persons not really Egyptians, but who come from other parts of
the Ottoman Empire. The Bedouin number 570,000, but of these
only 89,000 are really nomads, the rest being semi-sedentary.
Of foreign residents there are 112,500, of whom the Greeks,
the most numerous, number 38,000. Then come the Italians, with
24,500. The British (including 6,500 Maltese and 5,000 of the
Army of Occupation) are 19,500; and the French (including
4,000 Algerians and Tunisians), 14,000. The Germans only
number 1,300.
{197}
The classification according to religion shows nearly
9,000,000 Moslems, 730,000 Christians, and 25,000 Jews, The
Christians include the Coptic race, numbering about 608,000.
Only a very small proportion profess the Roman Catholic and
Protestant faiths. Amongst the town populations Cairo contains
570,000, Alexandria 320,000.

EGYPT: A. D. 1897-1898.
The final campaigns of the Anglo-Egyptian conquest
of the Eastern Sudan.
Desperate battles of the Atbara and of Omdurman.

"The winter of 1896-1897 was passed, undisturbed by the enemy.
The extended and open front of the Egyptian army imperatively
called for fresh guarantees against a Dervish invasion. The
important strategic position of Abu Hamed was then held by the
enemy, to dislodge whom was the objective of the 1897 campaign.
The railway was boldly launched into the Nubian Desert; the
rail-head crept rapidly and surely towards the Dervish post,
until within striking distance of Abu Hamed: when the
river-column, by a forced march, through difficult country,
delivered an attack on 7th August. Abu Hamed was taken by the
Egyptian army under Major-General (now Sir Archibald) Hunter,
with trifling loss: and the effect of this victory caused the
precipitate evacuation of Berber. The Dervishes withdrew: the
Egyptians—not to lose so favourable an opening—advanced.
Berber, the key to the Sudan, was promptly re-occupied. The
railway was hastened forward; reinforcements were detrained,
before the close of the year, at a short distance from Berber:
and the Anglo-Egyptian authorities gathered force for the last
heat. British troops were called up. In this final struggle
[1898] nothing could be risked. An Egyptian reverse would have
redoubled the task on the accomplishment of which, having
deliberately accepted it, we had pledged our honour. Mahmud,
the Dervish emir, and that ubiquitous rascal Osman Digna, with
their united forces, were marching on Berber. They, however,
held up at the confluence of the Atbara, and comfortably
intrenched themselves in a 'zariba.' Here the Sirdar came out
to have a look at them. The Dervish force numbered about
19,000 men. The Anglo-Egyptian army was composed of 13,000
men. The odds were good enough for the Sirdar: and he went for
them. Under the demoralization created by some sharp artillery
practice, the Anglo-Egyptians stormed the 'zariba,' killed
three-fourths of the defenders, and chased the remainder away.
This victory [April 8, 1898], which cost over 500 men in
killed and wounded, broke the Dervish power for offence and
seriously damaged the Khalifa's prestige. With reinforcements,
bringing his army up to 22,000 men, including some picked
British regiments, the Sirdar then advanced slowly up the
river. It was a pilgrimage to the Mahdi's tomb, in sight of
which Cross and Crescent combined to overthrow the false
prophet. This sanguinary and decisive engagement [before
Omdurman] took place on 2nd September, 1898. The Khalifa was
put to flight; his forces were scattered and ridden down. On
the same evening, the Sirdar entered Omdurman, and released
the European captives. Subsequently, the British and Egyptian
flags were hoisted together at Khartum; and divine service was
celebrated at the spot where Gordon fell."

_A. S. White,
The Expansion of Egypt,
pages 383-384
(New York: New Amsterdam Book Company)._

"The honour of the fight [at Omdurman] must still go with the
men who died. Our men were perfect, but the dervishes were
superb—beyond perfection. It was their largest, best, and
bravest army that ever fought against us for Mahdism, and it
died worthily of the huge empire that Mahdism won and kept so
long. Their riflemen, mangled by every kind of death and
torment that man can devise, clung round the black flag and
the green, emptying their poor, rotten, homemade cartridges
dauntlessly. Their spearmen charged death at every minute
hopelessly. Their horsemen led each attack, riding into the
bullets till nothing was left but three horses trotting up to
our line, heads down, saying, 'For goodness' sake, let us in
out of this.' Not one rush, or two, or ten—but rush on rush,
company on company, never stopping, though all their view that
was not unshaken enemy was the bodies of the men who had
rushed before them. A dusky line got up and stormed forward:
it bent, broke up, fell apart, and disappeared. Before the
smoke had cleared, another line was bending and storming
forward in the same track.

"It was over. The avenging squadrons of the Egyptian cavalry
swept over the field. The Khalifa and the Sheikh-ed-Din had
galloped back to Omdurman. Ali Wad Helu was borne away on an
angareb with a bullet through his thigh-bone. Yakub lay dead
under his brother's banner. From the green army there now came
only death-enamoured desperadoes, strolling one by one towards
the rifles, pausing to shake a spear, turning aside to
recognise a corpse, then, caught by a sudden jet of fury,
bounding forward, checking, sinking limply to the ground. Now
under the black flag in a ring of bodies stood only three men,
facing the three thousand of the Third Brigade. They folded
their arms about the staff and gazed steadily forward. Two
fell. The last dervish stood up and filled his chest; he
shouted the name of his God and hurled his spear. Then he
stood quite still, waiting. It took him full; he quivered,
gave at the knees, and toppled with his head on his arms and
his face towards the legions of his conquerors. Over 11,000
killed, 16,000 wounded, 4,000 prisoners,—that was the
astounding bill of dervish casualties officially presented
after the battle of Omdurman. Some people had estimated the
whole dervish army at 1,000 less than this total: few had put
it above 50,000. The Anglo-Egyptian army on the day of battle
numbered, perhaps, 22,000 men: if the Allies had done the same
proportional execution at Waterloo, not one Frenchman would
have escaped. … The dervish army was killed out as hardly an
army has been killed out in the history of war. It will shock
you, but it was simply unavoidable. Not a man was killed
except resisting—very few except attacking. Many wounded were
killed, it is true, but that again was absolutely unavoidable.
… It was impossible not to kill the dervishes: they refused to
go back alive."

{198}

The same brilliant writer gives the following description of
Omdurman, as the British found it on entering the town after
the victory: "It began just like any other town or village of
the mean Sudan. Half the huts seemed left unfinished, the
other half to have been deserted and fallen to pieces. There
were no streets, no doors or windows except holes, usually no
roofs. As for a garden, a tree, a steading for a beast—any
evidence of thrift or intelligence, any attempt at comfort or
amenity or common cleanliness,—not a single trace of any of
it. Omdurman was just planless confusion of blind walls and
gaping holes, shiftless stupidity, contented filth and
beastliness. But that, we said, was only the outskirts: when
we come farther in we shall surely find this mass of
population manifesting some small symbols of a great dominion.
And presently we came indeed into a broader way than the
rest—something with the rude semblance of a street. Only it
was paved with dead donkeys, and here and there it disappeared
in a cullender of deep holes where green water festered. …
Omdurman was a rabbit-warren—a threadless labyrinth of tiny
huts or shelters, too flimsy for the name of sheds.
Oppression, stagnation, degradation, were stamped deep on
every yard of miserable Omdurman.

"But the people! We could hardly see the place for the people.
We could hardly hear our own voices for their shrieks of
welcome. We could hardly move for their importunate greetings.
They tumbled over each other like ants from every mud heap, from
behind every dung-hill, from under every mat. … They had been
trying to kill us three hours before. But they salaamed, none
the less, and volleyed, 'Peace be with you' in our track. All
the miscellaneous tribes of Arabs whom Abdullahi's fears or
suspicions had congregated in his capital, all the blacks his
captains had gathered together into franker
slavery—indiscriminate, half-naked, grinning the grin of the
sycophant, they held out their hands and asked for backsheesh.
Yet more wonderful were the women. The multitude of women whom
concupiscence had harried from every recess of Africa and
mewed up in Baggara harems came out to salute their new
masters. There were at least three of them to every man. Black
women from Equatoria and almost white women from Egypt,
plum-skinned Arabs and a strange yellow type with square, bony
faces and tightly-ringleted black hair, … the whole city was a
huge harem, a museum of African races, a monstrosity of
African lust."

_G. W. Steevens,
With Kitchener to Khartum,
chapter 32-34
(copyright, Dodd, Mead & Company, quoted with permission)._

"Anyone who has not served in the Sudan cannot conceive the
state of devastation and misery to which that unfortunate
country has been brought under Dervish rule. Miles and miles
of formerly richly cultivated country lies waste; villages are
deserted; the population has disappeared. Thousands of women
are without homes or families. Years must elapse before the
Sudan can recover from the results of its abandonment to
Dervish tyranny; but it is to be hoped and may be confidently
expected, that in course of time, under just and upright
government, the Sudan may be restored to prosperity; and the
great battle of September will be remembered as having
established peace, without which prosperity would have been
impossible; and from which thousands of misguided and wretched
people will reap the benefits of civilization."

_E. S. Wortley,
With the Sirdar
(Scribner's Magazine, January, 1899)._

EGYPT: A. D. 1898.
The country and its people after 15 years
of British occupation.

"The British occupation has now lasted for over fifteen years.
During the first five, comparatively little was accomplished,
owing to the uncertain and provisional character of our
tenure. The work done has been done in the main in the last
ten years, and was only commenced in earnest when the British
authorities began to realise that, whether we liked it or not,
we had got to stay; and the Egyptians themselves came to the
conclusion that we intended to stay. … Under our occupation
Egypt has been rendered solvent and prosperous; taxes have
been largely reduced; her population has increased by nearly
50 per cent.; the value and the productiveness of her soil has
been greatly improved; a regular and permanent system of
irrigation has been introduced into Lower Egypt, and is now in
the course of introduction into Upper Egypt; trade and
industry have made giant strides; the use of the Kurbash
[bastinado] has been forbidden; the Corvée has been
suppressed; regularity in the collection of taxes has been
made the rule, and not the exception; wholesale corruption has
been abolished; the Fellaheen can now keep the money they
earn, and are better off than they were before; the landowners
are all richer owing to the fresh supply of water, with the
consequent rapid increase in the saleable price of land;
justice is administered with an approach to impartiality;
barbarous punishments have been mitigated, if not abolished;
and the extraordinary conversion of Cairo into a fair
semblance of a civilised European capital has been repeated on
a smaller scale in all the chief centres of Egypt. To put the
matter briefly, if our occupation were to cease to-morrow, we
should leave Egypt and the Egyptians far better off than they
were when our occupation commenced.

"If, however, I am asked whether we have succeeded in the
alleged aim of our policy, that of rendering Egypt fit for
self-government, I should be obliged honestly to answer that
in my opinion we have made little or no progress towards the
achievement of this aim. The one certain result of our
interference in the internal administration of Egypt has been
to impair, if not to destroy, the authority of the Khedive; of
the Mudirs, who, as the nominees of the Effendina, rule over
the provinces; and of the Sheiks, who, in virtue of the favour
of the Mudirs, govern the villages. We have undoubtedly
trained a school of native officials who have learnt that it
is to their interest to administer the country more or less in
accordance with British ideas. Here and there we may have
converted an individual official to a genuine belief in these
ideas. But I am convinced that if our troops were withdrawn,
and our place in Egypt was not taken by any other civilised
European Power, the old state of things would revive at once,
and Egypt would be governed once more by the old system of
Baksheesh and Kurbash."

_E. Dicey,
Egypt, 1881 to 1897
(Fortnightly Review, May, 1898)._

{199}

Reviewing the report, for 1898, of Lord Cromer, the British
Agent and Consul-General, who is practically the director of
the government of Egypt, "The Spectator" (London) has noted
the principle of Lord Cromer's administration to be that of
"using English heads but Egyptian hands. In practice this
means the policy of never putting an Englishman into any post
which could be just as well filled by a native. In other
words, the Englishman is only used in the administration where
he is indispensable. Where he is not, the native, as is only just
and right, is employed. The outcome of this is that Lord
Cromer's work in Egypt has been carried out by 'a body of
officials who certainly do not exceed one hundred in number,
and might possibly, if the figures were vigorously examined,
be somewhat lower.' Lord Cromer adds, however, that 'these
hundred have been selected with the greatest care.' In fact,
the principle has been,—never employ an Englishman unless it
is necessary in the interests of good government to do so, but
then employ a first-class man. The result is that the
inspiring force in every Department of the Egyptian State is a
first-class English brain, and yet the natives are not
depressed by being deprived of their share of the
administration. The Egyptians, that is, do not feel the
legitimate grievance that is felt by the Tunisians and
Algerians when they see even little posts of a couple of
hundred a year filled by Frenchmen."

_Spectator,
April 15, 1899._

EGYPT: A. D. 1898 (September-November).
The French expedition of M. Marchand at Fashoda.

On the 10th of September, eight days after destroying the
power of the Khalifa at Omdurman, the Sirdar, Lord Kitchener,
left that fallen capital with five gunboats and a considerable
force of Highlanders, Sudanese and Egyptians, to take possession
of the Upper Nile. At Fashoda, in the Shilluk country, a
little north of the junction of the Sobat with the White Nile,
he found a party of eight French officers and about a hundred
Senegalese troops, commanded by M. Marchand, entrenched at the
old government buildings in that place and claiming occupation
of the country. It had been known for some time that M.
Marchand was leading an expedition from the French Congo
towards the Nile, and the British government had been seeking
an explanation of its objects from the government of France,
uttering warnings, at the same time, that England would
recognize no rights in any part of the Nile Valley except the
rights of Egypt, which the evacuation of the Egyptian Sudan,
consequent on the conquests of the Mahdi and the Dervishes,
had not extinguished. Even long before the movements of M.
Marchand were known, it had been suspected that France
entertained the design of extending her great possessions in
West Africa eastward, to connect with the Nile, and, as early
as the spring of 1895, Sir Edward Grey, speaking for the
British Foreign Office, in reply to a question then asked in
the House of Commons, concerning rumors that a French
expedition from West Africa was approaching the Nile, said
with unmistakable meaning: "After all I have explained about
the claims we consider we have under past Agreements, and the
claims which we consider Egypt may have in the Nile Valley,
and adding to that the fact that those claims and the view of
the Government with regard to them are fully and clearly known
to the French Government, I cannot think it is possible that
these rumors deserve credence, because the advance of a French
expedition under secret instructions right from the other side
of Africa into a territory over which our claims have been
known for so long would be not merely an inconsistent and
unexpected act, but it must be perfectly well known to the
French Government that it would be an unfriendly act, and
would be so viewed by England." In December, 1897, the British
Ambassador at Paris had called the attention of the French
government to Sir Edward Grey's declaration, adding that "Her
Majesty's present Government entirely adhere to the language
that was on this occasion employed by their predecessors."