‘I hope and believe that, although the difficulties are considerable, they will not prove insurmountable. A hopeful feature of the future is to be found in the fact, on which I have dwelt at some length in my Egyptian Report, that the programme of fiscal reform in Egypt is now completed. It cannot be doubted that the people of Egypt are now very lightly taxed. Strongly as I should object to any increase of Egyptian taxation for Soudanese purposes, I can see no objection whatever to maintaining such taxes as at present exist, partly with a view to providing the capital necessary for the improvement of the Soudan. Indeed, far from there being any objection, I believe the adoption of such a course to be strictly in accordance with Egyptian interests; for, until capital is spent, the Egyptian Treasury cannot hope that any considerable reduction in the present Soudan deficit will be possible. I am, of course, aware that the purely Egyptian requirements, such as improved justice and police, to which allusion is made in my Egyptian Report, must, in this connection, take precedence of the necessities of the Soudan, great though these latter be. I am, however, not without hope that, if due care and deliberation be exercised, if the projects on which capital is spent be chosen after a thorough examination of their merits and practicability, and if everything in the nature of undue haste and precipitation be avoided, money in fairly adequate quantities may eventually be found both for the improvement of the Egyptian administrative services and for the development of the Soudan.

‘There can be no question as to the direction in which capital expenditure is most required. As I have said in my Egyptian Report, the construction of the Suakin-Berber Railway is absolutely essential to the well-being of the Soudan. I need only add that all the testimony which I received during my recent visit to the Soudan strongly confirmed me in the opinion which I had previously held on this subject.’

Such words coming from Lord Cromer are full of hope and encouragement for the administrators of the Soudan. The man who found means to overcome the financial difficulties of the Reservoir works at Assouan is more than likely to surmount those of the Suakin-Berber Railway.

In the long-run Egypt herself will benefit as well as the Soudan. Of course, most of the trade now passing through Egypt will return to its natural channel by Suakin and the Red Sea. The Customs now taken at Alexandria will go directly to the Soudan, but as soon as this happens a corresponding reduction can be made in the Egyptian contribution. Nor will purely Egyptian trade with the Soudan suffer. The Nile Valley route will remain, but it will be cheaper for goods from Lower Egypt to travel via Suez and Suakin. The import as well as the export trade of the Soudan will be vastly encouraged, and every step forward in prosperity will make her a better market for the goods of Egypt as well as those of other countries. Once the railway is made, but not till then, there is a possibility of the revenues of the Soudan improving sufficiently to make the country self-supporting, and able to dispense entirely with any annual grant from Egypt.

It is calculated that the construction of the new railway will cost £2,500,000. Taking this as a basis, and assuming that Egypt was able to make an arrangement under which the money should be repaid by annual instalments over a period of ten years, with interest at 5 per cent., it would involve an average annual addition to her expenditure of £318,750, or a total cost of ten times that sum. If the period was twenty years, the average annual cost would be £185,625, or, say, £200,000. It is rash for an outsider to speculate on such subjects, and the figures are merely given as a rough illustration; but it seems certain that Egypt could easily bear any such burden. Nor does it appear a sanguine forecast to estimate that within ten years of the completion of the railway the revenues of the Soudan will have so greatly benefited, both by the direct cheapening of supplies, fuel, and other material, and by the development of trade generally, that at least a saving of £200,000 a year will accrue to Egypt, even if she still finds it prudent to contribute something.

What future capital Egypt will have to find must be uncertain. The whole situation will be changed by the advent of the railway. But if all the signs of the times can be trusted, whatever her expenditure may be, she will have no reason to repent of it.

Note.—Since the above was in print, new light has been thrown on the subject by a passage in the Note on the Budget for 1904 by Sir Eldon Gorst, Financial Adviser to the Khedive:

‘The Council of Ministers has authorized the Ministry of Finance to advance out of the Special Reserve Fund the amount required for the construction of a railway to connect the Valley of the Upper Nile near Berber with the Red Sea at Suakin. The preliminary survey of the proposed line has been completed, and an estimate of its cost prepared. The total sum required, which amounts to about £E1,770,000, will be spread over a period of from three to four years, so that there should be no difficulty in meeting the charge out of the annual increment of the Special Reserve Fund, but it will be obviously undesirable to sanction any further large grants out of the fund during this period. The construction of the railway will be put in hand without delay, and if no unforeseen contingency occurs, it may be hoped that it will be available for traffic in about three years’ time.’

The Special Reserve Fund is made up of the free balance remaining at the disposal of the Egyptian Government when all other claims on their receipts have been settled.

CHAPTER XXIII
CONCLUSION

Some time ago a small detachment of Egyptian troops was passing through a village in a remote and primitive part of Kordofan. A soldier of the party, going to draw water at the well, there met, like Jacob, one of the daughters of the people, who helped him in his task. Out of gratitude for her assistance or admiration for her charms, he gave her one of the few things he had to offer, a large red cotton handkerchief. Attired in it, the damsel excited the admiration and envy of all her fellows, and from this chance seed arose a demand for Manchester cotton goods. But as the desired articles could not be purchased for nothing, the supply of charitable soldiers being limited, the inhabitants had to apply themselves to the collection of gum in order to be able to satisfy their wants. And thus the exports improved as well as the imports.

In different forms the same process is going on all over the Soudan, and the sternest admirer of Arcadian simplicity could hardly deny that the people are happier and better because of it. The country is not such an El Dorado that they are likely to be corrupted by excessive wealth. Their awakening needs can only be satisfied by means of habits of industry. Thanks to good government they are able on the one hand securely to enjoy the fruits of their labour, and on the other hand, they are prevented from taking any short-cuts to fortune by raiding their neighbours and selling them into slavery.

If it were necessary to justify British interference in the Soudan, the fact of the repression of slavery would alone be sufficient. If the slave-trade does still exist, it does so only precariously in a few remote holes and corners. The markets of Khartoum and Omdurman and other centres are greater and more various than they have ever been before, but this one traffic, once their principal feature, is absent and gone for ever. No change could be greater or eventually more beneficial in its effects on the whole life and character alike of the slave-owners, the slave-dealers, and those unhappy tribes who involuntarily furnished their material.

The establishment of personal liberty and of security for life and property, elsewhere the commonplaces of government, is not always the result of civilization in Africa. They are new, at any rate, in the Soudan. But it would ill become the English rulers of the Soudan to take any credit to themselves if their five years’ record had no more to show than this. They must not be content to be judged by comparison with any former rulers. After the Khalifa’s tyranny, almost any government would seem mild and beneficent. It is not enough merely to have stanched the wounds by which the patient was bleeding to death; the foundations must be laid for his complete restoration to health and vigour. Judged by this test, however, they need not fear the verdict.

The chief difficulty is the universal ignorance and superstition that prevail. But these ancient fortresses are being directly assaulted every day by the extension of a sound system of education. The strong administration of equal justice, and the increasing growth of trade and commerce, work powerfully in the same direction. All three agents are stimulated by the improvement of communications by river, road, and railway. There is hope in the fact that, though the people start from a very low level, their past has not been one of complete barbarism. Although Egyptian and dervish rule repressed all habits of industry and culture, the people of the country which was once the kingdom of Sennar had considerable repute as weavers, goldsmiths, curriers, and potters. They still practise a native form of inoculation for small-pox. And, to take their traditions still further back, it is said that in some places, in the elaborate dressing of their hair and the use of ornamental sandals on great occasions, they reproduce the fashions of ancient Egypt. Ed Damer, near the junction of the Atbara and the Nile, now a paltry village, had once a university of its own no less than Sennar.

Time, of course, must be allowed for these influences to work. Not in five years and not in one generation can the evils deep-rooted in the past be swept away. Though all the reforms have been introduced most cautiously, and with great regard for the prejudices and traditions of the people, it is still sometimes necessary to teach a sharper lesson, and to clearly advertise the fact that if the Government is benign and merciful it is not because it is weak. When such occasions do arise, as in the case of the last in the succession of Mahdis, suppressed a few months ago in Southern Kordofan, there is no fumbling and delay. The blow is struck at once and decisively. There is a wonderful difference between a prophet with a divine mission to regenerate Islam by force of arms slaughtering a rabble of ill-led Egyptian peasants, and an impostor unable to free himself from prison, or dangling from a gallows in El Obeid after being captured in the field and fairly tried with all the forms of law.

Such incidents, when properly handled, are only ripples on the general calm. There have been rumours from time to time of troubles likely to arise from the action of the Sheikh-es-Senussi. There were internal troubles in the kingdom of Wadai, which lies to the west of Darfur, and it was thought that these might force him to abandon his peaceful attitude, for his influence is predominant in that country. It would undoubtedly be dangerous if he were to proclaim a holy war, for he has many adherents in the Soudan as well as in Egypt. But until now his sect has been founded on rules of conduct, and he and his predecessors have steadily refused to adopt a militant attitude. The Mahdi was a good deal afraid of him, and nominated him as one of his Khalifas, but he refused to accept the position. It is now announced that the French have occupied Wadai; we have every reason to welcome them as neighbours. Wadai was one of the few remaining strongholds of the slave-trade, and its suppression there will facilitate the operations of the Slavery Department in Western Kordofan. And should any trouble arise from the followers of the Sheikh-es-Senussi or any other sect in that quarter, it will be a great advantage to have the co-operation of the French, who would have the same interest as ourselves in speedily putting it down. On the other side, now that the frontier is settled, there is not likely to be trouble with the Abyssinians, and the Italians in Eritrea and Massowah are the best of neighbours.

It may some day be necessary to interfere in Darfur, though not during the reign of the present Sultan, Ali Dinar. Ali Dinar has seen something of the world; he is a vigorous ruler, and he understands very plainly that his interests lie in keeping on good terms with the Soudan Government. But some day Ali Dinar will be gathered to his fathers, and possibly some Rehoboam will succeed him, who will cause internal dissensions, or someone afflicted with Napoleonic ideas, who will have to be chastised. Sooner or later, something of the kind is bound to happen, but it is to be hoped that a country so remote from the Nile will continue under its native rulers as long as possible.

What the future political status of the Soudan will be depends upon the course of events in Egypt. As long as Lord Cromer is there—and long may it be—everyone may feel easy. But when some lesser man has to stand as buffer between Egypt and the Foreign Office, it may make a great difference whether Egypt takes her place as definitely a part of the British Empire or not. Every year the number of British civilians in the Soudan service is growing. Great as have been the services of the officers of the Egyptian army, their employment has this disadvantage, that they are liable to be called away just when they are most required, and when they have thoroughly learned the business of administration. It has been good for the Soudan to have the choice of some of the most capable officers in the British Army for her civil work, and a spell of civil administration is excellent training for the soldier. But a glance at the names of the governors and inspectors of provinces year by year shows what a number of changes there are under the system. Some of them will probably throw in their lot definitely with the Soudan; but this can only be counted upon in exceptional cases. As administration becomes more complicated, it will be less possible for the soldier to take up the reins as he can now. Specially trained men will be more and more necessary. But at present the Soudan civil service is a water-tight compartment. Its members are in a doubtful sort of position. They are not in the Egyptian service, nor in the British Colonial Service, nor are they definitely under the Foreign Office. Up till now there has been no difficulty in recruiting the small number of capable civilians required. But as the number increases there may be some difficulty in obtaining sufficient candidates of the right stamp. Unless the country becomes very much more wealthy, it has no great prizes to offer. But if the whole Nile Valley were in practice regarded as one country, which it really is, and all under one head, with one combined civil service, there would be much more scope for able men, and each part of it would benefit by the possibilities of interchange.

It would be a great piece of organization; but, with Indian experience before us, there is no reason why it should not be a success. Direct administration ought not to be in the hands of the Foreign Office, which has plenty of diplomatic business of its own to look after. In one department, and that a very important one, the whole of Nileland will, indeed, be so organized in practice. When the great schemes for the final binding of the Nile are put in hand, they must be all under one control, and that control will be exercised from Cairo. It would be intolerable and impossible that every time it was thought desirable to open the Reservoir gates, say of Lake Albert, there should have to be negotiations between district governments or departments. The water of the Nile has made its powerful political influence felt throughout the Soudan; in time it will play its part in Uganda.

But such semi-continental speculations are unprofitable except for those who have some power to realize them. For the present the horizon of Soudan politics is bounded by the railway. From its completion all immediate plans of progress must take their start. It would be foolish to take too sanguine a view. Railway communication between Khartoum and the Red Sea will not smooth away all the difficulties of administration. There will still be years of low Nile and scanty rainfall. There will still be an abominable climate during a large portion of the year. Mosquitoes, sand-flies, and other insects will still ply their uncomfortable occupations. Dhurra will still suffer from curious and unique parasites. Cattle will be subject to murrain. Perhaps cotton, free from ‘worm’ and ‘hog,’ will discover some new foe to combat. Locusts and white ants will still occasionally devour what they ought not, and possibly develop fresh objectionable tastes. New Mahdis, unconvinced by the doom of their predecessors, may still require to be put down from time to time. Economic laws cannot be expected to work with the same certainty and freedom from cross-currents as they do in Egypt. In other words, the Soudan is a tropical country, subject to surprises: it will have its ups and downs like other places. These and similar difficulties it would have to face, railway or no railway. But beyond question, once the line is open, it will be in a far better position to grapple with them all, and to reap the benefits of the sound foundations which are now being solidly and patiently laid by the handful of Englishmen to whose charge its destinies have been entrusted by Fate. And whatever else of good or evil the future may have in store, the Soudan has one treasure which makes it certain that it will never again be allowed to lapse from the pale of civilization, and that is not the gold which attracted the attention of its former invaders, with such disastrous consequences both to conquerors and conquered, but the inestimable possession of the Nile.

INDEX