And the ambitions of British policy. 25

A war with the state descending on the shores of Lake Victoria, it would be exposed either to the East or to drowning, as that enemy might think. Commander Monteil said in his report to the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs about the Fashoda campaign: "The English set their sights from the first hour on the Great Sudan, which must be the ransom of little Egypt, offered to England." And it was stated in the report of Sir Gerald Portal, the British representative in Uganda, in 1894: "If we look at Uganda from a political perspective, we find that it is the strongest government in East Africa. And in Uganda are the sources of the Nile. Therefore, Uganda and Egypt are in one inseparable position, because whoever possesses the sources of the Nile controls Egypt according to his will and desire, and is able to destroy Egypt." Riyad Pasha said in a memorandum dated December 9, 1888, to Sir Evelyn Baring: "It is crystal clear that the Nile is the life of Egypt, and the Nile is the Sudan, and no one can deny that the ties that bind Egypt to the Sudan are strong and unbreakable, like the soul is bound to the body." It is enough for the Egyptian to review these sayings and their like to know the position and value of Sudan, and to find it as easy as his fathers and ancestors found it easy to make every precious sacrifice for its sake.

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