No one can dispute that the Nile is the life of Egypt. This is a crystal clear fact that needs no discussion. And since the Nile is the Sudan, there is no doubt that the relations and ties that bind Egypt to the Sudan cannot accept any separation. Their cohesion is like the bond that ties the soul to the body. If a state were to seize the sources of the Nile, this seizure would be a death sentence for Egypt. From all this, it occurs to every mind that the Khedive's government will not accept any situation by choice and without being forced to do so, which would undermine its existence. In the Blue Book published by Lord Salisbury in 1898 on the Fashoda issue, there is a letter from Boutros Pasha Ghali, the Khedive's minister, in which he said: The Khedive's government, as Your Excellency knows, has never lost sight of the idea of resuming the occupation of the Sudanese territories, which are the very source of life for Egypt. Egypt only occupied those territories due to strong, compelling circumstances. The recapture of Khartoum would be pointless if the Nile Valley, for which Egypt made great sacrifices, were not returned to Egypt. The Egyptian government, knowing that the Fashoda issue at this time is the subject of discussion between Great Britain and France, therefore entrusts me to request Your Excellency to kindly mediate with Lord Salisbury so that Egypt's undeniable rights are recognized and that the territories it occupied until the Mahdist revolt (2) are returned to it. Furthermore, in the eyes of Europe itself, those Sudanese territories – which were abandoned – were not...