heir own.
Abd-el-Kader, who had succeeded Raouf, telegraphed to Cairo for 10,000
additional troops, and pointed out that if they were not sent at once
four times this number would be required to re-establish the authority
of the government in the Sudan. After gaining some small successes,
Abd-el-Kader was superseded by Suliman Niagi on the 20th of February
1883, and on the 26th of March Ala-ed-din Pasha was appointed
governor-general. Meanwhile 5000 men, who had served in the Egyptian
army, were collected and forcibly despatched to Khartum via Suakin. In
March 1883 Colonel William Hicks, late of the Bombay army, who in
January had been appointed by the khedive chief of the staff of the army
of the Sudan, found himself at Khartum with nine European officers and
about 10,000 troops of little military value. The reconquest of the
Sudan having been determined upon, although Sir E. Malet reported that
the Egyptian government could not supply the necessary funds, and that
there was great risk of failure, Colonel Hicks, who had resigned his
post on the 23rd of July, and had been appointed commander-in-chief,
started from Khartum on 9th September, with a total force of about
10,000 men, including non-combatants, for Kordofan. On the 22nd of May
Sir E. Malet had informed Sherif Pasha that,

"although Colonel Hicks finds it convenient to communicate with Lord
Dufferin or with me, it must not be supposed that we endorse in any
way the contents of his telegrams.... Her Majesty's government are in
no way responsible for his operations in the Sudan, which have been
undertaken under the authority of His Highness's government."

Colonel Hicks was fully aware of the unfitness of his rabble forces for
the contemplated task, and on the 5th of August he telegraphed: "I am
convinced it would be best to keep the two rivers and province of
Sennar, and wait for Kordofan to settle itself." Early in November the
force from Khartum was caught by the mahdists short of water at Kashgil,
near El Obeid, and was almost totally destroyed, Colonel Hicks, with all
his European officers, perishing. Sinister rumours having reached Cairo,
Sir E. Baring (Lord Cromer), who had succeeded Sir E. Malet, telegraphed
that "if Colonel Hicks's army is destroyed, the Egyptian government will
lose the whole of the Sudan, unless some assistance from the outside is
given," and advised the withdrawal to some post on the Nile. On the
following day Lord Granvill