134 Egypt
Cairo, Cromer, who had succeeded Dufferin, had forced
the British Government to face the alternative of either
sending an expedition or insisting on evacuation. They
elected for the latter course. " We cannot lend English
or Indian troops. ... It would not be for the advan-
tage of Egypt to invite Turkish troops into the Sudan.
If consulted, recommend the abandonment of Sudan
within certain limits/5 so wrote Granville (November 20,
1883). But what were the limits to be? Was Khartum
to be held, and, if so, how ? Faced with this problem, the
British Government sanctioned the use of Turkish troops,
provided they paid for themselves. As this was obviously
somewhat optimistic, Cairo was told to abandon
Khartum. But this was such unwelcome wisdom that the
"Turkish " ruling class, that had now returned to power,
feared to force it upon Egypt. Sherif'(the Frenchman ''
resigned, Riaz <(the Turk" refused the responsibility,
and recourse had to be had to Nubar, the servile
Armenian (January 7, 1884).
But by then the question had become not so much
whether the Sudan garrisons were to be evacuated as by
what miracle this could be done. Besides the garrison
at Khartum there were others in the Eastern Sudan at
Kassala, Tokar, Sinkat, and elsewhere. There were also
garrisons in Darfur, under-Slatin Pasha; in Equatoria,
under Emin Bey ; in Bahr-el-Ghazal, under Lupton Bey ;
also in Sennar and along the Abyssinian frontier. Evacua-
tion, if possible at all, would be a protracted and perilous
operation. And it became almost impossible with the
reflux of Mahdism from Kordofan back across the Nile
as far as the Red Sea, Since 1883 the Eastern Sudan
had been conquered for the Mahdi by a slave dealer,
Osman Digma. The operations of Baker Pasha from
Suakim against him only led to disaster, and Tokar, with