70 THE WAR IN THE SOUDAN.

tin at we shall express any opinions on the political significance of despatching a so-called “relief expedition.” Everything points to the necessity of suspend¬ ing our judgment on this point; for, leaving out of consideration the proba¬ bilities of affairs taking a new turn at any moment, the political, commercial, social, and religious eruptions which, as has been pointed out, would in all probability follow in the train of an evacuation of the Soudan, are in themselves so numerous and so complicated as to baffle all analysis. This problem alone is infinitely involved. Politically, either the Soudanese would submit in a body to the usurper, or individual tribes would still stand aloof. Each alter¬ native contains numerous other alternatives : the connexion between Egypt and these States, hitherto definite, would now be indefinable ; the treatment the pretender should receive would be equally so; and complications with the Suzerain and with Abyssinia might occur difficult to adjust. Commercially, the finances of the Egyptian Government would be placed on a different basis —a change involving much ; the trade of the littoral ports, and, consequently, of Upper Egypt, would be seriously affected ; financial securities would, in all likelihood, fluctuate ; stocks would fall, and trade relations be shaken. Socially, the slave trade, with all its attendant influences, would once more flourish ; change of masters, together with the changes in property, rank, esteem, and favour, would bring in new elements. Religiously, the preten¬ sions of the new prophet and the verdict of the authorities at Mecca would clash ; true Moslems would regard him as an intruder ; religious sects would split up; and fanaticism would put a torch to these highly inflammable materials, the blaze of which it is hard to determine what could quench ; India might receive a spark; the Porte might interfere; the holy green flag might be unfurled; and Islamism might be so convulsed that its eruptions wou'd efface the entire road from England to her farthest eastern belongings.

The consideration of such possibilities, even in their merest outlines, would lead us far beyond the limits of this narrative ; and yet in dealing with the significance of England’s present position in Egypt they cannot be altogether overlooked. It is only possible here to state the fact that England had at length determined to send a force to Khartoum, and to chronicle the events which followed that determination.