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[2727.]

No. 22.

-THE LORD LIEUTENANT OF IRELAND.

Printed for the use of the Cabinet.

January 12, 1886.

CONFIDENTIAL.

No. 1.

Captain Cameron and Mr. Fox to the Marquis of Salisbury.—(Received December 19.) My Lord,

8, Queen Anne's Gate, Westminster, December 18, 1483.

THE question of the pacification of the Soudan has not become of less importance during the past year; and, indeed, when we consider the gravity of the present situation on the Egyptian frontier, it is of urgent necessity that some steps should be taken at once, both in the interests of this country and of Egypt, which will put an end to the present most unsatisfactory condition of affairs.

It must be remembered that the forces which we now have to cope with will not be recruited only from the provinces which furnished the principal part of the lovies of the Mahdi, but also from all the Mahommedan States which stretch across from the Nile to the Niger south of the Sahara.

The military operations which have already taken place, although they have con- clusively proved the superiority of our soldiers to the Soudanese, have done next to nothing in causing the natives to cease from aggressive action.

We have, therefore, the honour to submit to your Lordship that a solution of the question may be found in handing the country over to a powerful Chartered Company, which should devote its whole energies to the important task of the pacification and development of the Soudan and of its future government.

The conditions under which such a Company would work, and the powers it should exercise, would necessarily have to be approved by Government; and we would most respectfully submit that, at the outset, it should be granted a subsidy or subvention to enable it to cope with the difficulties it would primarily have to encounter.

The Reports of General Gordon and Sir Samuel Baker prove most conclusively, if order can be restored, that the commercial prospects of the Soudan are of the highest class, and that such a Company would not only prove of use to the world in a political sense, but also in a few years become self-supporting, and repay those who invested their capital in the undertaking.

The Nile should be one of the great mercantile highways, and the development of legitimate commerce along its course would tend to the civilization of Africa and the extinction of the Slave Trade. At present, the tribes of the Tehad Basin have to depend for their supplies of European goods on the passage of the Sahara by caravans at great cost and risk; but if the Nile were utilized as it should be, it would be by that route, perhaps supplemented by a railway from Berber to Suakin, that they would find the readiest means of etmmunication with Europe.

We would suggest that, as a tentative measure, we should attempt to enter into negotiations with the Caliph Abdullah and his subordinates, and that some person be deputed to examine into the actual state of the country, and advise as to the measures which should be taken by the Company to attain the end in view.

If Sir Charles Warren, G.C.M.G., could be deputed by the Government to under- take this duty, and is willing to proceed to Egypt, we would request that his abilities and experience be at once utilized, and that he be commissioned to enter upon the work.

We have been for some time in communication with the Right Honourable W. E. Forster, the Earl of Northbrook, the Marquis of Lorne, Mr. Villiers Stuart, and others, and, as far as we have proceeded in the matter, have received assurances of their support and approval.

Those we have endeavoured to interest financially have fully agreed that the scheme is a good one, and would be willing to join in the undertaking if they were

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