"what ought to have been done." 43 seen, enlisted under the distinct promise to the recruits that they should not be called upon to serve in the Soudan.

It would appear that the whole disaster in the Soudan may be attributed to the determination of the Egyptian government to send Hicks Pasha to operate in Kordofan. Sir Samuel Baker had advocated the White Nile being made the boundary of Egypt's authority. As early as April, 1SS3, the Earl of Dufferin had told the Egyptian minister for the Soudan that the disturbances which had then taken place were mainly to be attributed to the misgovernment and cruel exactions of the local Egyptian authorities at Khartum, and that whatever might be the pretensions of the Mahdi to a divine mission, his chief strength was derived from the despair and misery of the population. Lord Dufferin added that if the Egyptian government were wise it would confine its efforts to the re-establishment of its authority in Sennar, and would not seek to extend its dominion beyond that province and the bordering river banks. This would have diminished and ultimately put an end to the drain on the Egyptian treasury, and if Dongola, Khartum, and Sennar had been endowed with a just and humane administration, the ultimate recovery of so much of the abandoned territories as it might have proved desirable to reannex, might have been easily effected at a later period.

General Hicks had to contend with innumerable difficulties and annoyances, and was frequently thwarted by the jealousies, the apathy, and the incapacity of the local authorities with whom he had to act. His means of transport were also deficient; the steamers placed at his disposal were in an unsatisfactory condition; nor were his troops any of the best, though under his leading they do not seem to have fought badly. Over all these impediments, however, he successfully triumphed, and Lord Dufferin, on the day that he left Egypt, telegraphed to Earl Granville the news of the general's victory at Marabiyeh, which took place on the 29th of April, 1SS3, and led to the complet re-establishment of the authority of the Egyptian government in Sennar. Lord Dufferin was distinctly of opinion that had General Hicks's offensive operations terminated here, all would have been