Although
the slave-hunters were driven out of the territory under my command,
there were nevertheless vast tracts of country through which new routes
could be opened for the slave caravans to avoid the cruising steamers on
the White Nile, and thus defeat the government. The Sultan of Darfur
offered an asylum and a secure passage for all slaves and their captors
who could no longer venture within the new boundaries of Egypt. It was
evident that the result of the expedition under my command was a
death-blow to the slave trade, if the Khedive was determined to persist
in its destruction. I had simply achieved the success of a foundation
for a radical reform in the so-called commerce of the White Nile. The
government had been established throughout the newly-acquired
territories, which were occupied by military positions garrisoned with
regular troops, and all those districts were absolutely purged from the
slave-hunters. In this condition I resigned my command, as the first act
was accomplished. The future would depend upon the sincerity of the
Khedive, and upon the ability and integrity of my successor.
It pleased many people and some members of the press in England to
disbelieve the sincerity of the Khedive. He was accused of annexation
under the pretext of suppressing the vast organization of the White Nile
slave-trade. It was freely stated that an Englishman was placed in
command because an Egyptian could not be relied upon to succeed, but
that the greed of new territory was the actual and sole object of the
expedition, and that the slave-trade would reappear in stupendous
activity when the English personal influence should be withdrawn. Such
unsympathetic expressions must have been a poor reward to the Khedive
for his efforts to win the esteem of the civilized world by the
destruction of the slave-trade in his own dominions.
Few persons have considered the position of the Egyptian ruler when
attacking the institution most cherished by his people. The employment
of an European to overthrow the slave-trade in deference to the opinion
of the civilized world was a direct challenge and attack upon the
assumed rights and necessities of his own subjects. The magnitude of the
operation cannot be understood by the general public in Europe. Every
household in Upper Egypt and in the Delta was dependent upon slave
service; the fields in the Soudan were cultivated by slaves; the women
in the harems of both rich and middle class were attended by slaves; the
poorer Arab woman's ambition was to possess a slave; in fact, Egyptian
society without slaves would be like a carriage devoid of wheels - it
could not proceed.
The slaves were generally well treated by their owners; the brutality
lay in their capture, with the attendant lawlessness and murders; but
that was far away, and the slave proprietors of Egypt had not witnessed
the miseries of the weary marches of the distant caravans.
