At times a vast
expanse of dreary mud flats stretched as far as the eye could see.
At others the forest, dense with an impenetrable undergrowth of
thorn-bushes, approached the water, and the active forms of monkeys
and even of leopards darted among the trees. But the country
- whether forest, mud-flat, or prairie - was always damp and feverish:
a wet land steaming under a burning sun and humming with mosquitoes
and all kinds of insect life.
Onward and southward toiled the flotilla, splashing the brown water
into foam and startling the strange creatures on the banks, until on the
18th of September they approached Fashoda. The gunboats waited, moored to
the bank for some hours of the afternoon, to allow a message which had
been sent by the Sirdar to the mysterious Europeans, to precede his arrival,
and early in the morning of the 19th a small steel rowing-boat was observed
coming down stream to meet the expedition. It contained a Senegalese
sergeant and two men, with a letter from Major Marchand announcing the
arrival of the French troops and their formal occupation of the Soudan.
It, moreover, congratulated the Sirdar on his victory, and welcomed him
to Fashoda in the name of France.
A few miles' further progress brought the gunboats to their destination,
and they made fast to the bank near the old Government buildings of the
town. Major Marchand's party consisted of eight French officers or
non-commissioned officers, and 120 black soldiers drawn from the Niger
district. They possessed three steel boats fitted for sail or oars, and a
small steam launch, the Faidherbe, which latter had, however, been sent
south for reinforcements. They had six months' supplies of provisions for
the French officers, and about three months' rations for the men; but they
had no artillery, and were in great want of small-arm ammunition.
Their position was indeed precarious. The little force was stranded,
without communications of any sort, and with no means of either
withstanding an attack or of making a retreat. They had fired away most of
their cartridges at the Dervish foraging party, and were daily expecting
a renewed attack. Indeed, it was with consternation that they had heard of
the approach of the flotilla. The natives had carried the news swiftly up
the river that the Dervishes were coming back with five steamers, and for
three nights the French had been sleeplessly awaiting the assault of
a powerful enemy.
Their joy and relief at the arrival of a European force were undisguised.
The Sirdar and his officers on their part were thrilled with admiration at
the wonderful achievements of this small band of heroic men. Two years had
passed since they left the Atlantic coast. For four months they had been
absolutely lost from human ken. They had fought with savages; they had
struggled with fever; they had climbed mountains and pierced the most
gloomy forests. Five days and five nights they had stood up to their necks
in swamp and water. A fifth of their number had perished; yet at last
they had carried out their mission and, arriving at Fashoda on the 10th
of July, had planted the tricolour upon the Upper Nile.
Moved by such reflections the British officers disembarked.
Major Marchand, with a guard of honour, came to meet the General.
They shook hands warmly. 'I congratulate you,' said the Sirdar, 'on all you
have accomplished.' 'No,' replied the Frenchman, pointing to his troops;
'it is not I, but these soldiers who have done it.' And Kitchener, telling
the story afterwards, remarked, 'Then I knew he was a gentleman.'
Into the diplomatic discussions that followed, it is not necessary
to plunge. The Sirdar politely ignored the French flag, and, without
interfering with the Marchand Expedition and the fort it occupied,
hoisted the British and Egyptian colours with all due ceremony,
amid musical honours and the salutes of the gunboats. A garrison was
established at Fashoda, consisting of the XIth Soudanese, four guns of
Peake's battery, and two Maxims, the whole under the command of Colonel
Jackson, who was appointed military and civil commandant of the
Fashoda district.
At three o'clock on the same afternoon the Sirdar and the gunboats resumed
their journey to the south, and the next day reached the mouth of the Sobat,
sixty-two miles from Fashoda. Here other flags were hoisted and another
post formed with a garrison of half the XIIIth Soudanese battalion and the
remaining two guns of Peake's battery. The expedition then turned
northwards, leaving two gunboats - the Sultan and the Abu Klea - at the
disposal of Colonel Jackson.
I do not attempt to describe the international negotiations and
discussions that followed the receipt of the news in Europe, but it is
pleasing to remember that a great crisis found England united.
The determination of the Government was approved by the loyalty of the
Opposition, supported by the calm resolve of the people, and armed with
the efficiency of the fleet. At first indeed, while the Sirdar was still
steaming southward, wonder and suspense filled all minds; but when suspense
ended in the certainty that eight French adventurers were in occupation of
Fashoda and claimed a territory twice as large as France, it gave place to
a deep and bitter anger. There is no Power in Europe which the average
Englishman regards with less animosity than France. Nevertheless, on this
matter all were agreed. They should go. They should evacuate Fashoda,
or else all the might, majesty, dominion, and power of everything that
could by any stretch of the imagination be called 'British' should be
employed to make them go.
Those who find it difficult to account for the hot, almost petulant,
flush of resolve that stirred the nation must look back over the long
history of the Soudan drama.
