All the warlike operations of Mohammedan peoples are characterised by fanaticism, but with this general reservation it may be said—­that the Arabs who destroyed Yusef, who assaulted El Obeid, who annihilated Hicks fought in the glory of religious zeal; that the Arabs who opposed Graham, Earle, and Stewart fought in defence of the soil; and that the Arabs who were conquered by Kitchener fought in the pride of an army.  Fanatics charged at Shekan; patriots at Abu Klea; warriors at Omdurman.

In order to describe conveniently the changing character of the revolt, I have anticipated the story and must revert to a period when the social and racial influences were already weakening and the military spirit was not yet grown strong.  If the defeat of Yusef Pasha decided the whole people of the Soudan to rise in arms and strike for their liberties, the defeat of Hicks satisfied the British Government that those liberties were won.  The powerful influence of the desire to rule prompted the Khedive’s Ministers to make still further efforts to preserve their country’s possessions.  Had Egypt been left to herself, other desperate efforts would have been made.  But the British Government had finally abandoned the policy of non-interference with Egyptian action in the Soudan.  They ‘advised’ its abandonment.  The protests of Sherif Pasha provoked Lord Granville to explain the meaning of the word ‘advice.’  The Khedive bowed to superior authority.  The Minister resigned.  The policy of evacuation was firmly adopted.  ‘Let us,’ said the Ministers, ‘collect the garrisons and come away.’  It was simple to decide on the course to be pursued, but almost impossible to follow it.  Several of the Egyptian garrisons, as in Darfur and El Obeid, had already fallen.  The others were either besieged, like Sennar, Tokar, and Sinkat, or cut off from the north, as in the case of the Equatorial Province, by the area of rebellion.  The capital of the Soudan was, however, as yet unmolested; and as its Egyptian population exceeded the aggregate of the provincial towns, the first task of the Egyptian Government was obvious.

Mr. Gladstone’s Administration had repressed the revolt of Arabi Pasha.  Through their policy the British were in armed occupation of Egypt.  British officers were reorganising the army.  A British official supervised the finances.  A British plenipotentiary ‘advised’ the re-established Tewfik.  A British fleet lay attentive before the ruins of Alexandria, and it was evident that Great Britain could annex the country in name as well as in fact.  But Imperialism was not the object of the Radical Cabinet.  Their aim was philanthropic and disinterested.  As they were now determined that the Egyptians should evacuate the Soudan, so they had always been resolved that the British should evacuate Egypt.