That at least fifty thousand are
positively either captured and held in the various zareebas (or camps)
or are sent via the White Nile and the various routes overland by Darfur
and Kordofan. The loss of life attendant upon the capture and subsequent
treatment of the slaves is frightful. The result of this forced
emigration, combined with the insecurity of life and property, is the
withdrawal of the population from the infested districts. The natives
have the option of submission to every insult, to the violation of their
women and the pillage of their crops, or they must either desert their
homes and seek independence in distant districts, or ally themselves
with their oppressors to assist in the oppression of other tribes. Thus
the seeds of anarchy are sown throughout Africa, which fall among tribes
naturally prone to discord. The result is horrible confusion, - distrust
on all sides, - treachery, devastation, and ruin.
This was the state of Central Africa and the White Nile when I was first
honoured with the notice of Ismail Pacha, the present Khedive of Egypt.
I had received certain intimations from the Foreign Minister, Nubar
Pacha, concerning the Khedive's intentions, a short time previous to an
invitation with which I was honoured by his Royal Highness the Prince of
Wales to accompany their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess during
their tour in Egypt.
It is almost needless to add that, upon arrival in Egypt, the Prince of
Wales, who represented at heart the principles of Great Britain, took
the warmest interest in the suppression of the slave trade.
The Khedive, thus supported and encouraged in his ideas of reform,
concluded his arrangements for the total abolition of the slave trade,
not only throughout his dominions, but he determined to attack that
moral cancer by actual cautery at the very root of the evil.
I was accordingly requested to draw up a plan for the proposed
expedition to Central Africa.
After some slight modifications, I received from the Khedive the
following firman: -
"We, Ismail, Khedive of Egypt, considering the savage condition of the
tribes which inhabit the Nile Basin;
"Considering that neither government, nor laws, nor security exists in
those countries;
"Considering that humanity enforces the suppression of the slave-hunters
who occupy those countries in great numbers;
"Considering that the establishment of legitimate commerce throughout
those countries will be a great stride towards future civilization, and
will result in the opening to steam navigation of the great equatorial
lakes of Central Africa, and in the establishing a permanent government
. . . . We have decreed and now decree as follows: -
"An expedition is organized to subdue to our authority the countries
situated to the south of Gondokoro;
"To suppress the slave trade; to introduce a system of regular commerce;
"To open to navigation the great lakes of the equator;
"And to establish a chain of military stations and commercial depots,
distant at intervals of three days' march, throughout Central Africa,
accepting Gondokoro as the base of operations.
"The supreme command of this expedition is confided to Sir Samuel White
Baker, for four years, commencing from 1st April, 1869; to whom also we
confer the most absolute and supreme power, even that of death, over all
those who may compose the expedition.
"We confer upon him the same absolute and supreme authority over all
those countries belonging to the Nile Basin south of Gondokoro."
It was thus that the Khedive determined at the risk of his popularity
among his own subjects to strike a direct blow at the slave trade in its
distant nest. To insure the fulfilment of this difficult enterprise, he
selected an Englishman, armed with a despotic power such as had never
been intrusted by a Mohammedan to a Christian.
The slave trade was to be suppressed; legitimate commerce was to be
introduced, and protection was to be afforded to the natives by the
establishment of a government.
The suppression of the slave trade was a compliment to the European
Powers which would denote the superiority of Egypt, and would lay the
first stone in the foundation of a new civilization; and a population
that was rapidly disappearing would be saved to Africa.
To effect this grand reform it would be necessary to annex the Nile
Basin, and to establish a government in countries that had been hitherto
without protection, and a prey to the adventurers from the Soudan. To
convey steel steamers from England, and to launch them upon the Albert
Lake, and thus open the resources of Central Africa; to establish
legitimate trade in a vast country which had hitherto been a field of
rapine and of murder; to protect the weak and to punish the evil-doer,
and to open the road to a great future, where the past had been all
darkness and the present reckless spoliation - this was the grand object
which Ismail, the Khedive of Egypt, determined to accomplish.
In this humane enterprise he was firmly supported by his two Ministers,
Nubar Pacha and Cherif Pacha (an Armenian and a Circassian). The young
princes his sons, who are well-educated and enlightened men, took the
greatest interest in the undertaking; but beyond these and a few others,
the object of the expedition was regarded with ill-concealed disgust.
Having received full powers from the Khedive, I gave orders for the
following vessels to be built of steel by Messrs. Samuda Brothers: -
No. 1. A paddle steamer of 251 tons, 32-horse power.
No. 2. A twin screw high-pressure steamer of 20-horse power, 108 tons.
No. 3. A twin screw high-pressure steamer of 10-horse power, 38 tons.
Nos. 4, 5. Two steel lifeboats, each 30 ft. by 9 - 10 tons each.
