12 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

of the Eastern Soudan to the Mahdi or to the Turk, than it

would to retain your hold upon Eastern Soudan by the aid of such material as exists in the provinces. Darfur and Kordofan must be abandoned. That I admit; but the provinces lying to the east of the White Nile should be retained, and north of Sennar. The daneer to be feared is not that the Mahdi will

march northward through Wady Haifa; on the contrary, it is very improbable that he will ever go so far north. The danger is altogether of a different nature. It arises from the influence

which the spectacle of a conquering Mohammedan power estab-

lished close to your frontiers will exercise upon the population

which you govern. In all the cities in Egypt it will be felt that what the Mahdi has done they may do; and as he has driven

out the intruder and the infidel, they may do the same. Nor is it only England that has to face this danger. The success of the

Mahdi has already excited dangerous fermentation in Arabia and Syria. Placards have been posted in Damascus calling upon the population to rise and drive out the Turks. If the whole of the

Eastern Soudan is surrendered to the Mahdi, the Arab tribes on both sides of the Red Sea will take fire. In self-defence the

Turks are bound to do something to cope with so formidable

a danger, for it is quite possible that if nothing is done the whole

of the Eastern question may be reopened by the triumph of the

Mahdi. I see it is proposed to fortify Wady Haifa, and prepare

there to resist the Mahdi's attack. You might as well fortify against a fever. Contagion of that kind cannot be kept out by

fortifications and garrisons. But that it is real and that it does

exist will be denied by no one cognizant with Egypt and the

East. In self-defence, the policy of evacuation cannot possibly be

justified.

There is another aspect cf the question. You have 6000 men in Khartum. Y\ nat are you going to do with them? You have garrisons in Darfur, in Bahr Gazelle, and Gondokoro.

Are they to be sacrificed? Their only offence is their loyalty to

their sovereign. For their fidelity you are going to abandon them

to their fate. You say they are to retire upon Wady Haifa. But