While the Sudanese were shaking
off the yoke of Egypt, the Egyptians themselves grew impatient of
their own masters-- the Turkish and Circassian Pashas who filled
with their incompetence all the high offices of state. The army
led by Ahmed Arabi, a Colonel of fellah origin, mutinied, the
Khedive gave way, and it seemed as if a new order were about to
be established. A new order was indeed upon the point of
appearing: but it was of a kind undreamt of in Arabi's
philosophy. At the critical moment, the English Government
intervened. An English fleet bombarded Alexandria, an English
army landed under Lord Wolseley, and defeated Arabi and his
supporters at Tel-el-kebir. The rule of the Pashas was nominally
restored; but henceforth, in effect, the English were masters of
Egypt.
Nevertheless, the English themselves were slow to recognise this
fact: their Government had intervened unwillingly; the occupation
of the country was a merely temporary measure; their army was to
be withdrawn as soon as a tolerable administration had been set
up. But a tolerable administration, presided over by the Pashas,
seemed long in coming, and the English army remained. In the
meantime, the Mahdi had entered El Obeid, and his dominion was
rapidly spreading over the greater part of the Sudan.
Then a terrible catastrophe took place.
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