The rest were
not consulted: and the Declaration may thus be said to have been recognised
by the world in general.
It is perhaps early to attempt to pronounce with which of the contracting
Powers the advantage lies. France has acquired at a single stroke, without
any serious military operations, the recognition of rights which may enable
her ultimately to annex a vast African territory. At present what she has
gained may be described as a recognised 'sphere of aspiration.' The future
may convert this into a sphere of influence, and the distant future may
witness the entire subjugation of the whole region. There are many
difficulties to be overcome. The powerful influence of the Senussi has yet
to be overthrown. The independent kingdom of Wadai must be conquered.
Many smaller potentates will resist desperately. Altogether France has
enough to occupy her in Central Africa for some time to come: and even
when the long task is finished, the conquered regions are not likely to be
of great value. They include the desert of the Great Sahara and wide
expanses of equally profitless scrub or marsh. Only one important river,
the Shari, flows through them, and never reaches the sea: and even Lake
Chad, into which the Shari flows, appears to be leaking through some
subterranean exit, and is rapidly changing from a lake into an
immense swamp.
Great Britain and Egypt, upon the other hand, have secured a territory
which, though smaller, is nevertheless of enormous extent, more fertile,
comparatively easy of access, practically conquered, and containing the
waterway of the Nile. France will be able to paint a great deal of the map
of Africa blue, and the aspect of the continent upon paper may please the
patriotic eye; but it is already possible to predict that before she can
develop her property - can convert aspiration into influence, and influence
into occupation - she will have to work harder, pay more, and wait longer
for a return than will the more modest owners of the Nile Valley. And even
when that return is obtained, it is unlikely that it will be
of so much value.
It only remains to discuss the settlement made between the conquerors
of the Soudan. Great Britain and Egypt had moved hand in hand up the great
river, sharing, though unequally, the cost of the war in men and money.
The prize belonged to both. The direct annexation of the Soudan by Great
Britain would have been an injustice to Egypt. Moreover, the claim of the
conquerors to Fashoda and other territories rested solely on the former
rights of Egypt. On the other hand, if the Soudan became Egyptian again,
it must wear the fetters of that imprisoned country. The Capitulations
would apply to the Upper Nile regions, as to the Delta. Mixed Tribunals,
Ottoman Suzerainty, and other vexatious burdens would be added to the
difficulties of Soudan administration. To free the new country from the
curse of internationalism was a paramount object. The Soudan Agreement
by Great Britain and Egypt, published on the 7th of March, 1899,
achieves this. Like most of the best work done in Egypt by the British
Agency, the Agreement was slipped through without attracting much notice.
Under its authority a State has been created in the Nile Valley which is
neither British nor Ottoman, nor anything else so far known to the law
of Europe. International jurists are confronted with an entirely new
political status. A diplomatic 'Fourth Dimension' has been discovered.
Great Britain and Egypt rule the country together. The allied conquerors
have become the joint-possessors. 'What does this Soudan Agreement mean?'
the Austrian Consul-General asked Lord Cromer; and the British Agent,
whom twenty-two years' acquaintance with Egyptian affairs bad accustomed
to anomalies, replied, 'It means simply this'; and handed him the
inexplicable document, under which the conquered country may some day
march to Peace and Plenty.
CHAPTER XVIII: ON THE BLUE NILE
The authority of the Khalifa and the strength of his army were
for ever broken on the 2nd of September, and the battle of Omdurman is the
natural climax of this tale of war. To those who fought, and still more to
those who fell, in the subsequent actions the climax came somewhat later.
After the victory the public interest was no longer centred in the Soudan.
The last British battalion had been carried north of Assuan; the last Press
correspondent had hurried back to Cairo or London. But the military
operations were by no means over.
The enemy had been defeated. It remained to reconquer the territory.
The Dervishes of the provincial garrisons still preserved their allegiance
to the Khalifa. Several strong Arab forces kept the field. Distant Kordofan
and even more distant Darfur were as yet quite unaffected by the great
battle at the confluence of the Niles. There were rumours of Europeans
in the Far South.
The unquestioned command of the waterways which the Sirdar enjoyed
enabled the greater part of the Egyptian Soudan to be at once formally
re-occupied. All towns or stations on the main rivers and their tributaries
were at the mercy of the gunboats. It was only necessary to send troops to
occupy them and to hoist the British and Egyptian flags. Two expeditions
were forthwith sent up the White and Blue Niles to establish garrisons,
and as far as possible to subdue the country. The first, under the personal
command of the Sirdar, left Omdurman on the 8th of September, and steamed
up the White Nile towards Fashoda. The events which followed that momentous
journey have already been related. The second expedition consisted of the
gunboats Sheikh and Hafir, together with two companies and the brass band
of the Xth Soudanese and a Maxim battery, all under the command of General
Hunter. Leaving Omdurman on the 19th of September, they started up the
Blue Nile to Abu Haraz. The rest of the Xth Battalion followed as soon as
other steamers were set free from the business of taking the British
division to the Atbara and bringing supplies to Omdurman.
