I At Once Perceived That Not Only Was My Expedition Unpopular, But That
It Would Be Seriously Opposed By All Parties.
The troops had been
quartered for some months at Khartoum; during this time the officers had
been intimate with the principal slave-traders of the country.
All were
Mohammedans - thus a coalition would be natural against a Christian who
commanded an expedition avowedly to annihilate the slave trade upon
which Khartoum subsisted.
It was a "house divided against itself;" the Khedive in the north issued
orders that would be neutralized in the distant south by his own
authorities.
As in the United States of America the opinion of the South upon the
question of emancipation was opposed to that of the North, - the
opposition in Soudan was openly avowed to the reform believed to have
been suggested to the Khedive by England.
The season was already far advanced. There is no weapon so fatal as
delay in the hands of Egyptians. I knew the intentions of the
authorities were to procrastinate until the departure of the expedition
would become impossible. It was necessary to insist upon the immediate
purchase of vessels which should have been prepared months before.
None of the steamers from Cairo had passed the cataracts. The fifteen
large sloops upon which I had depended for the transport of camels had
actually given up the attempt and returned to Cairo. Only the smaller
vessels had mounted the cataracts, and they could not arrive at Khartoum
for some months.
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