That could be reached, south of
Khartoum; thus no trader was permitted to establish himself, or even to
start from Khartoum for the interior, until he should have obtained a
lease from the government. If Central Africa had been already annexed,
and the Egyptian government had been established throughout the country,
I should not have complained; but I now found that my mission from the
Khedive placed me within "a house divided against itself." I was to
annex a country that was already leased out by the government.
My task was to suppress the slave trade, when the Khartoum authorities
well knew that their tenants were slave-hunters; to establish legitimate
commerce where the monopoly of trade had already been leased to traders;
and to build up a government upon sound and just principles, that must
of necessity ruin the slave-hunting and ivory-collecting parties of
Khartoum.
It was easy to conceive that my mission was regarded as fatal to the
interests of the Soudan. Although the actual wording of the contracts
was pure, and the lessees bound themselves to abstain from
slave-hunting, and to behave in a becoming manner, it was thoroughly
understood that they were simply to pay a good round sum per annum
punctually, and that no questions would be asked. There were no
authorities of the government in those distant countries, neither
consular agents to send home unpleasant reports; thus, when fairly away
from all restraint, the traders could act as they pleased.
