lo THE STORY OF THE KHEDIVATE.

Nubia under his son Ibrahim, who captured the

fortress of Ibreeim, which was then the headquarters of the Mamelukes, and forced them to seek safety further south at Dongola. Later on they were hunted out of their new city of refuge by a fresh Egyptian army under another son of Mahomet Ali, and only a handful succeeded in getting away to Sennaar, which in its turn was occupied by the Egyptian forces. The conquest of Nubia and Sennaar marks the first stage in the campaign, which ended in the annexation of the Soudan.

Mahomet Ali belongs to the category of empire makers, who can hardly be judged, either for good or evil, by the standards of ordinary humanity. If

I even attempt to form any estimate of his character,

it is because his policy, his traditions, his aspirations, and his ideas, have influenced in no small degree the character of his successors.

It would, in my opinion, be a mistake to regard him as a patriot, still less as a ruler, anxious to promote

the happiness of his people. On a smaller stage he played the part of a Caesar, or a Napoleon. ' From

the day when he crushed the power of the Mame-

lukes, he began preparations with the view of seizing Egypt for himself and severing the ties which bound her to Turkey, an idea which there is some reason to suppose he entertained from the day when he was f nominated Pasha by the Porte. The first step towards^

; .effecting the separation, of Egypt from the Ottomaa

^£in^ixe was to make his Pashalik prosperous and