adopted to the Khalifa, what use was to be made of the local
tribes: all this is veiled in the mystery of intrigue. It is well known
that for several years France, at some cost to herself and at a greater
cost to Italy, had courted the friendship of Abyssinia, and that the
weapons by which the Italians were defeated at Adowa had been
mainly supplied through French channels. A small quick-firing gun
of continental manufacture and of recent make which was found in
the possession of the Khalifa seems to point to the existence or
contemplation of similar relations with the Dervishes. But how far these
operations were designed to assist the Marchand Mission is known only to
those who initiated them, and to a few others who have so far kept their
own counsel.

The undisputed facts are few. Towards the end of 1896 a French
expedition was despatched from the Atlantic into the heart of Africa
under the command of Major Marchand. The re-occupation of Dongola was
then practically complete, and the British Government were earnestly
considering the desirability of a further advance. In the beginning of
1897 a British expedition, under Colonel Macdonald, and comprising
a dozen carefully selected officers, set out from England to Uganda,
landed at Mombassa, and struck inland. The misfortunes which fell upon
this enterprise are beyond the scope of this account, and I shall not
dwell upon the local jealousies and disputes which marred it. It is
sufficient to observe that Colonel Macdonald was provided with Soudanese
troops who were practically in a state of mutiny and actually mutinied
two days after he assumed command. The officers were compelled to fight
for their lives. Several were killed. A year was consumed in suppressing
the mutiny and the revolt which arose out of it. If the object of
the expedition was to reach the Upper Nile, it was soon obviously
unattainable, and the Government were glad to employ the officers in
making geographical surveys.

At the beginning of 1898 it was clear to those who, with the fullest
information, directed the foreign policy of Great Britain that no
results affecting the situation in the Soudan could be expected from the
Macdonald Expedition. The advance to Khartoum and the reconquest of the
lost provinces had been irrevocably undertaken. An Anglo-Egyptian force
was already concentrating at Berber. Lastly, the Marchand Mission
was known to be moving towards the Upper Nile, and it was a probable
c