s with Major Marchand. The small force from the French Congo reached
its destination, and a body of Abyssinian troops, accompanied by French
officers, appeared for a short time a little higher up the river; but
the grand political scheme was frustrated by the victorious advance of
an Anglo-Egyptian force under General Kitchener and the resolute
attitude of the British government. Major Marchand had to retire from
Fashoda, and as a concession to French susceptibilities he was allowed
to retreat by the Abyssinian route. By an agreement signed by Lord
Salisbury and the French ambassador on the 21st of March 1899, and
appended to Art. IV. of the Anglo-French convention of June 14th, 1898,
which dealt with the British and French spheres of influence in the
region of the Niger, France was excluded from the basin of the Nile, and
a line marking the respective spheres of influence of the two countries
was drawn on the map from the northern frontier of the Congo Free State
to the southern frontier of the Turkish province of Tripoli.

The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan.

The administration of the Sudan (q.v.) was organized on the basis of an
agreement between the British and Egyptian governments signed on the
19th of January 1899. According to that agreement the British and
Egyptian flags are used together, and the supreme military and civil
command is vested in a governor-general, who is appointed by the khedive
on the recommendation of the British government, and who cannot be
removed without the British government's consent. Neither consular
jurisdiction, nor that of the mixed tribunals, was permitted, the Sudan
being made absolutely free of the international fetters which bound
Egypt. Sir Reginald Wingate, the sirdar of the Egyptian army (in which
post he succeeded Lord Kitchener at the close of 1899) was named
governor-general, and in the work of regeneration of the country, the
officials, British, Egyptian and Sudanese, had the cordial co-operation
of the majority of the inhabitants.

Egypt's growing prosperity.

The growing prosperity of Egypt in the opening years of the 20th century
was very marked, and is reflected in the annual reports on the country
supplied to the British foreign office by Lord Cromer. Thus, in 1901 he
was able to declare that "the foundations on which the well-being and
material prosperity of a civilized community should rest have been
laid.... The institution of slavery is virtually defunct. The _c