THE BATTLE OF EL OBEID.

Evening Star, Issue 6476, 18 December 1883, Page 1

THE BATTLE OF EL OBEID.

The army of Hicks PaKha has been destroyed by the forces of El Mahdi. Intelligence of the disaster was brought to Khartoum by a Coptic officer, who says the fighting was continued from the 3rd to the sth November, and resulted in the completa annihilation of the Egyytiaii troops. It is said that a European artist is the only person who escaped. The forcea of kl Mahdi comprised., it is estimated, 30,00 a men. [The cable gave the numbers as 300,000]. and included deivbh?s, Bedouins, and re,>u'Usrs. The battle was fought near El Obeiu. El Mahdi first sent forward dervishes, declaring that they would vanquish the eneuiy_ by Divine aid. Subsequently the regulars joined la the attack, and later the became general. The army of Hicks Pasha, which early In the battle divided into two bodies, subsequently reunited and formed a square, which the forcea of the False Prophet broke after three days' desperate fightirg, The force u-iuor Hicks Pa'ha comprised 15,000 men. Ha had with him ten Butuh officer?. O'Dcnovan, of the 'London Daily News,' and an artist connected with a German illustrated pftpcr accompanied the ari^y. Captain Hulstsn, who was with Hicks Pssha'a forces, and escaped in the disguise of r» dervish, Bays on the way from the battle field he c:u3ted 950 wounded survivors of the engagement, and among them a European artist named Power. Hicks Pasha had divided his army, sending half to Bl Obeid to demand the surrender o* that place. He waited the arrival of El MaLdi, v,-o was advancing from the south east. El Mahdi, however, met half of Hicks Pasha's sumy advancing to El Obeid, and attacked it. Keying firing, Hicks Pasha came up with his vh.le force, and for reed a hollow square. I'l Mahdi brought up fresh regulars, who, It is supposed, were soldiers captured when El Obeid ftil, and who agreed to take service under Ei Ma-idf, These numbered 3,000. The square of Hicks Pasha's men was then broken, and his ..tiny annihilated. The English officers with the Egyptian army fought gallantly. An rnan who escaped is thought to be O'Doi --van or Frank Vizetelly, of the London ' Grftv.hi.;.' Hicks Pasha hid 1,000 soldiers and 1.0» 0 camp followers, and his Arabs numbered 10.CC0. The ' Times' has a Khartoum despatch, dated November 20, which fays one of the movi trustworthy sheiks in the service of the Government; reports that 1,100 men, including Ric-ka Pasha and his entire staff, were annihilated in a dcfi!o at Kasbacat, wbither th<?y wore led by a treacherous guide on the niornirg of November 1. Hicks Pasha and his entire army marched from Malhas. The guide led them to a rocky wooded defile, which was without water, and where an ambuscade had been prepared by the rebels, who were armed with rifles and artillery. Hicks Pasha was unable to use his gun* for three days, while the army defended iteelf, but on the fourth day it was annihilated to a man. Vizetelly, the artists, and fifty soldiers who were outside came in, and were taken jjii&otfcrß. They were carried to El Obeid, The rebels captured thirty-six Krupp, Nordenfeldt, and mountain guns, all the flags, munitions o: war, and camels. The official accounts state that the force tinder Hicks Pasha aggregated 10,500 men. It is now believed that the correspondent o£ the ' Graphic,' who accompanied Hick 3 Fasha, has been killed. A letter from Mr O'Donovan, of the ; Daily News,' sent from Daem, thirty roilej to the south-west of Khartoum, has been received at Kbattoum It announces that Surgtor.-geaeral George Bey, Captain and Morriis Brady, late Se/gtaut-major of the Royal Horse Artillery, certain beys and pachas weie with Hicks Pasha, There were 12,000 officers and men. Kordaatan is virtually lest. Colonel Coetlogen was at Dovern when some sheiks arrived. He at once proceeded to Khartoum, which he ia arranging to defend. Be is also arranging to suppress an expected revolution in all the outlying garrisons. Colonel Coetlogen and the correspondent of the ' Times' are the sole surviving Englishmen in the Soudan. Ali Soudan is in a blaze. The army will retreat on Bergo if possible. It cannot muster 4,0C0 regulars, &U told. 16 will tiy to reach gouakim. TLu; population of Khwtoum Is disaffected, and a crisis » expected. The 4,000 soldiers now scattered along the small forts of the Nile will be concentrated at Khartoum, where there are already 2 000 troopa. Altogether there are from li>,Coo) to 20.00Q soldiers in the Soudan, The following officers were with the exped&»

tion:—Colonel Itorquahor (chief of tho stuff), Majors Warner. Jechoadoif, and Mastett. Capfctu: u II«.->i;ii and Walker, burgeon- Kosouberg, Lieutenß....l-Goioneb .Ciiri.es ft.-.d 00-:rt-lo fe on t and Major Martin. Tie latter commanded the cavalry. The catastrophe seems for a moment to have paralysed tho iigyptian Government. Unless very -weedy action is taken, it hj '''Wfd that Scii...k.-'-i will fail into the hands of ihs tribes in revolt and acting in concert with Msbdf. If t&pit place should bo oapturtd, there would be no good defensible pos'.tioi between Mabdl ana Cbiro except Minich, wbi'h 3a o;dy .six .':oi-s distant from Cairo. St is feared that Turkey will interfere and insist <tn reconquering the lost province, but neither England nor France wishes Mat. The prospect thus bristles with serious complications. Notwithstanding the reports as to the numbers engaged in tho battle, the corresnondents of the English papers have wriui-n that o;i tlih Eepteaiber Hicks Pashft nnn-ched out of Khartoum with 7,000 regular infantry, 4GO cavalry (of which 100 were Ooirasi-ors, find the remainder I3i;hi-B:vZoul'.s), and one battery o' p.r:il. l crv. At Bennr and Duem, en route for El <.ib'.)id.'lTick<i Pa&hh was to be rrii.forced with rt;>nlais am I.OfO additional BvibiBionics, making his total command oaly about 10 000. After leaving tho Nile, eight posts were to bo established to koep up a lino of communications, which would require nearly S.COO men. leaving 7,000 available forces of all a'ms to meet 20,000 men, who wero reported to be under El Mahdi, Prominont sheiks under El Mahdi in September claimod that tho forces numbered £O,OOO, and that they had Remington guns and rockets, which they had taken from tho Turks: but that El Mahdi had forbidden their uso. Only speara and swords were to be used by fighting men. *Oo?onel Ooetlogen, who was with Hicks Pasha, haa telegraphed from Khartoum to Sir Evelyn Wood, confirming the previous reports of the disaster. He says thai the whole country has risen. The Government asked Baker Pasha to eend 1,000 gendarmes to Souakim to help to clear the desert, but he refused to send them, thinking that they were required In Upper Egypt. U is stated that Turkey offered to send 20,000 troop 3 to re-establioh Musselman authority in tho houdan, Xntetse excitement pravails everywhere In Egypt. The cortati-y ia not safe above the second cataract of the Kile. 'jThj Ehedive has ordered the evacuation of all

military pouts on the Blue Nile and White Nile. Tho troop 3 from the po«t* on the former river ' v/iil be massed at Sennaar, and thoio from the posto on the latter at Khartoum. The principal officers at Khartoum have beon ordered to consult and adopt defensive measures. If necessary Sennaar will be abandoned and the troops massed at Khartoum. All recognise the necessity of re openirg the road between Sonaklm and Berber. Orders have been sent to ihe British Admiral on the East ludia station to support Egyptian interest in tho tied Sea. '.The squadron will be reinforced by gunboats from the Mediterranean oquadron. The Paris * Temps' cays *hat a Frenchman named Soulier organised the forces of El Mahdi. Sculler, after the bombardment of Alexandria, went to Khartoum without a definite objsqt, and subsequently met El Mahdi and gained his confidence. The French Press generally expresi delight at the defeat of Hicks Pasha. They say that the success of El Mahdi in Egypt will threaten the English Indian Empire, and France, by the force of events, will be called apou to resume her position in Egypt. The ' Times' b»jh Mr Gladstone and his colleagues misunderstood that England will hold them answerable for any furthar errors of judgment, or if Egypt is allowed to relapse iuto anarchy, aggravated by tho' passions of religious fanaticism an J the maddening influences of an invasion by barbarism from the interior of Africa. A telegram from Mr Power, the artist, who was with Hicks Pasha, reports that the first attack by the Egyptian army was successful. Not until the enemy was believed to be routed did Hioks Pasha accept as a guide an emissary of Mahdi, who led the army into a waterless defile, where it was annihilated. 'X'he news of the defeat of Hicks Pasha caused a painful 3ensati.ni at Berlin, as eight German officers were with the Egyptian expedition, It is the unanimous opinion of the German Press thrvt £ngbnd cannot withdraw her forces from Jiijjyor, and that she most avenge the. deaths of H:"k* Pasha, Mr Moncricif (Consul as Souakiui), aad others who were active opponents of the slave trade. The French newspaper 'Bosphere - Egypt!,' published at Cairo, has an article reflecting bitterly on the past and present action of England in Egypt. It insinuates that the victory of Tel-el-Kebir was won by bribery, and blames England for the bloodshed in the Soudan. It hopes that the English staff will have the grace to disappear and uo longer thwart tie Egyptian Minister of War. , . B-Ai-on De Less-apa is of opinion that the rising of hi Mahdi is not dangerous, Ko does ; not think that El Mahdi, if left alone, will get Ur enough north, and not trouble the Suez Canal. He thinks it would be very unwise to send English troops to the Soudan, as they cannot stand tho climate. The Vienna 'Prisse' publishes a recent letter from burgeon-major Rosenberg, who taporta the misery of tho troops cau?ed by the scarcity of water. El Mahdi. he wrote, was possessed of 15,000 breech-loading rifles, fourteen guns, and numerous and excellent cavalry. His adherents were f nuitics who would fearlessly ride to death, Hicks Pasha, had 10,000 men, 6,000 camels, and many pack horses and mule?, His baggago had proved a great Impediment, The letter concluded—"lf our cavalry suffice for outpost duty suocesi is possible; otherwiso, the issue will ba v*ay disastrous, If we ai:e defeated not a soul will return, and the entire Soudan will be irrevocably lost, since ail the Natives will believe 4h»t El Mahdi is the Messiah." General Charles P. Stone, formerly of California, and now known aa "Stone Pash,>," says respecting Hicks pasha's defeat: —The Soudan is as impoitant to Egypt as the "Upper Mississippi is to the Lower Mississippi. Hicks Pasha'a disaster muat not therefore, bo regarded as the conclusion of a holy w»r. Tho False Prophet cannot be crushed with Egyptian and Arabian aoldiers, for they aro paralysed Ly superstition and awe whsnever they confront him in battle, sad his victory will increase the terror with which they regard him. Doubts are expressed in New York an to tho reliableness of the report that Hicks Pasha's army is annihilated. -, Ismail Padia, the ex-Khedive, considers that the disturbance in the Soudan is due to tho weakness of the Central Government at Cairo. Throughout the Soudan power wa3 exercised by religious chiefs md dervishes, who could be readily controlled by conciliatory measures and the allowance of a small stipend, a practice which has been unwisely discontinued. The suri'erers by its discontinuance threw In their lot with the slave dealers; hence the present misfortune, which might have been avoided. The railroad from Souakim to Eerbsr might have been continued to the Soudan, and the abandonment of that scheme was fal?e economy. He attributed the defeat of Kicks Pasha to the disorganisation of his forces. The Egyptian soldiers need more thaa other soldiers—a flag, military muslo, and all *he eclat of war. Without these they would not' and «ould not fight. The army included Ar*bi Pasha's men, who had been sent out like E&lefactors, How could Hicks Pasha fight with such material? The ox-Khcdive was not surprised at the calamity. He would not advise the sending of English troopi to the fcoudan, as aach a course might produce mere evils.