4 Seven Years in the Soudan.

Times, -would liavc tliouglit that slavery was com- ])lete]y suppressed, and that a great part of the African territory had been annexed to Egypt. But this expedition, which cost more than half a million

sterling, had no important result, and yet it is certain that Sir Samuel Baker had to sustain a severe cam-

paign, not having had the forethought to place himself in safety before the tempest broke.

All the owners of seribe'' conspired against him, and offered a vigorous resistance. Finalh', worn-out, and beaten by the enemy, who burned all his provisions in the various depots, he found himself compelled to retreat. The supposed conquests and suppression of

slavery were proved a chimera ; the trade flourished more than ever, and the country again had to endure the horrors of its oppressors.

It was a serious check for the Egyptian Govern-

ment ; but the Viceroy was not the man to pause mid-

way in his work of civilization. He meditated a new expedition, and this time with greater circumspection and prudence. Convinced that such expeditions would not yield better results than the first without a leader

who should unite to military qualities a conciliatory

spirit, he obtained the English Government's consent that Colonel Gordon should assume the administra-

tion of the Soudan.

Colonel Gordon was known to all Europe by his cam-

paign in China, so that in England, to distinguish him

from other Gordons, he was called " Chinese " Gordon. When he accepted the connnand of the expedition, he

was representing his Government on tlie European commission to reo-ulate the boundaries near the Danube in conformity with the treaty of Paris. He had taken part in the Crimean War, and had been decorated with the Legion of Honour, and after that campaign he was charged by the Government with the settlement of the Russian-Turkish frontiers.

'• Vill;i>j;cs suiTomuleil liy lioilgcs or palisade?.