SUDAN, ANGLO-EGYPTIAN

its status is defined by the anglo-egyptian convention of 1899 made after its re-conquest by the joint efforts of the british and egyptian armies. according to this convention an anglo-egyptian condominium was established over the sudan and the adminis- tration placed in the hands of a governor-general to be nominated by the british govt. and appointed by a royal decree of egypt. this secures british predominance in the administration. area 1,014,600 square miles. the population in 1921 was estimated at 4,853,000. i. political history pre-war period—until a few years before the war the sudan was little known and its possibilities were not fully realised. great progress was made under the administration of sir reginald wingate and his lieutenants, the results slowly becoming apparent in the agricultural development, increasing trade and added security. in ror1zr experiments were started in the area lying between the white and blue niles, known as the gezira, with the object of ascertaining whether long-staple cotton could profitably be grown. early in 1912 the railway from khartoum to el obeid was completed, thus bringing the gezira area within easy reach of khartoum, and making the resources of the rich gum and cattle areas of kordofan more fully available. in the same year the land settlement and cadastral survey of the gezira, undertaken with a view to safe: guarding native rights therein, was finally completed. by that time the possibilities of cotton growing had been more fully realised, and the matter was energetically taken up by the british cotton growing association. delegates, headed by the chairman in person, visited the principal cotton areas early in 1912, and reported their conviction “ that in the anglo- egyptian sudan there is one of the very finest cotton-growing propositions in the whole of the british empire, both for egyp- tian and american cotton. there are almost boundless possibili- ties for the future.’ shortly after the return of the delegates to england an influential deputation waited on the british govt., and urged the desirability of guaranteeing a loan for cotton development. as a result an act was passed in 1913 giving parliamentary sanction for a guarantee of £3,000,000, of which £2,800,0c00 was to be applied to irrigation of the gezira and railway extensions, and £200,000 to other irrigation proj- ects in the neighbourhood of kassala (the gash delta) and tokar (the baraka delta). the foundations of the sudan’s economic career were thus laid, but the completion of the projects then planned was delayed for many years by the outbreak of the world war. just at this time (1913-4) the value of any project for giving to large areas the certainty of adequate water supplies by means of artificial irrigation received a striking demonstration. in iqi3 rains were very bad and the river flood was the lowest recorded for more than a century so that all over the northern sudan, and particularly in the gezira area, famine conditions obtained during the following wintcr. the situation was saved by the government importing corn from india, and it is prob- able that this contributecl more than any other factor to the quiet that prevailed in the sudan during the four years of the war. war period.—fortunately rains and nile flood alike were excel- lent in i914 and, except in darfur, the outbreak of war excited no great attention in native circles. the province of darfur, some 142,500 sq. m. in extent, lying about three weeks’ journey west of khartoum, had never been administered nor visited by any official of the government since the re-occupation of the sudan, but had been left in charge of a native sultan, owing nominal fealty to the sudan government. this sultan, ali dinar, adopted an aggressive attitude in i915, and his warlike preparations at the beginning of 1916 made it imperative to suppress him before he took the offensive and invaded the neighbouring province of kordofan. an expedition was therefore despatched to darfur, under the command of lt.-col. p. v. kelly, and a crushing defeat inflicted on the sultan outside his capital of el fasher on may 22 1916. the sultan fled with the rem- nants of his army and was killed in the following november. the country then rapidly settled down, and, with the'exception of a fanatical outbreak which occurred in the south of the province in 1919, administration progressed smoothly and successfully on the same lines as intherest of thesudan. the western frontier of darfur, 676 which had been a bone of contention between the british and french govts. ever since the daysof fashoda, was the subject of negotiations between the two powers in 1919 andagain in 1923. after thecomple- tion of a joint survey of the whole boundary from, approximately, lat. 5° n. to lat. 19° n. a settlement was finally embodied in a protocol during jan. 1924. post-war period.—within the sudan the immediate political results of the war, apart from the darfur expedition, were relatively unimportant, the ultimate effects were still difficult to gauge in 1925. that the world cataclysm should have no reactions in the sudan was out of the question, and the economic development of the country, which, at the close of the war, at once brought it into close touch with european thought and european markets, rendered any such idea doubly impossible. moreover, the intellectual fer- ment into which egypt had been plunged as a result of the war, the political disturbances of 1919, and the press agitation engineered by egyptian nationalists for the ejection of the british from the sudan and its incorporation with egypt had their effects, and the national sclf-consciousness which is dormant in every race showed signs, under egyptian instigation, of awakening among that section of the sudanese, town dwellers for the most part, which by education and contact with outside influences tended naturally to be receptive of new ideas. happily 1920 wasa year of prosperity, rich harvests anc increasing trade, and the interests of the classes in question was largely centred on money making and the possibilities of the gezira irrigation scheme, on which preliminary work was being actively prosecuted. legitimate aspirations in the political field, however, were not ignored. late in 1920 the milner commission, which, though primarily appointed to inquire into the causes of the disorders in egypt and to make recommendations as to the future constitution of that country, had also touched in its report upon the question of the sudan, expressed the opinion that the ‘' present administration is popular in the sudan and, with few exceptions, peaceful and progressive conditions prevail throughout the country.”” at the same time a warning was issued against undue centralisation, and a policy of “ decentralisation and the employment, wherever possible, of native agencics for the simple administrative needs of the country "' was advocated. this policy was not in fact a new one, but its reas- sertion by so authoritative a body undoubtedly exercised a revitalis- ing effect, and considerable strides were subsequently made in the direction recommended. the only disturbance to an ordered and healthy course of political evolution in the sudan, came as a reaction from political disturb- ances in egypt. the milner commission recommended that what- ever change was made in the relation between great britain and egypt, british predominance in the sudan should not be affected. accordingly when in feb. 1922 the independence of egypt was declared, provision was made for the maintenance of the “ status quo” in the sudan, and the sudan was included as one of the four matters reserved for future negotiations between great britain and egypt. it soon became clear, however, that the grant of inde- pendence to egypt was to be followed by further demands, and the nationalist party under zaghloul adopted as one of its principal political crics the claim that the independence of egypt was mean- ingless without the independence of the sudan, meaning by “ inde- pendence " in the latter case subordination of the sudan to egypt. an active campaign of anti-british propaganda and intrigue was conducted from egypt in the sudan, where the position was com- plicated by the fact that the whole military garrison of the country was furnished by the egyptian army, consisting partly of purely egyptian units but mainly of locally recruited units officered by egyptians and sudanese with a small addition of british officers. it would have been idle to expect that all the seed then sown would fall on barren ground. the really remarkable fact was that so little germinated. a ‘‘ white flag league ” with funds and motive powcr drawn from egypt, but with a membership composed for the most part of young sudanese, had been started in the sudan, and, as a result of its activitics, a few minor disturbances occurred in omdur- man, khartoum, port sudan, atbara and elsewhere. more impor- tant incidents were mutinies of the egyptian railway battalion at atbara, and of the sudanese cadets of the military school in khar- toum, in aug. 1924, but the country as a whole remained staunch and viewed these manifestations with distaste or indifference. concurrently with these local developments correspondence had been passing during the summer of 1924 between the british prime minister (mr. ramsay macdonald) and zaghloul for arranging conversations to discuss the four points which had been reserved in the declaration of 1922 for further discussion. these conversations finally took place in sept. and oct. and ended abortively. the british prime minister then addressed a despatch! to the british high commissioner in cairo laying down very clearly the position and policy of the british govt. in relation to egypt and the sudan. the following passage may be quoted :— 1cmd. 2269 of 1924. sudan ... in the meantime, the duty of preserving order in the sudan rests, in fact, upon his majesty's government, and they will take every step necessary for this purpose. since going there they have contracted heavy moral obligations by the creation of a good system of administration; they cannot allow that to be destroyed; they regard their responsibilities as a trust for the sudan people; there can be no question of their abandoning the sudan until their work is done. his majesty’s government have no desire to disturb existing arrangements, but they must point out how intolerable is a status guo which enables both military and civil officers and officials toconspire against civil order, and unless the status guo is accepted and loyally worked out until such time as a new arrangement may be reached, the sudan government would fail in its duty were it to allow such conditions to continue. his majesty’s government have never failed to recognise that egypt has certain material interests in the sudan which must be guaranteed and safeguarded—these being chicfly concerned in her share of the nile water and the satisfaction of any financial claims which she may have against the sudan government. his majesty’s government have always been prepared to secure these interests in a way satisfactory to egypt. i have in the preceding paragraphs defined the position which his majesty’s government are compelled to take up in regard to egypt and the sudan and which i] conceive it to be my duty to conserve unimpaired, the failure of zaghloul in london left him without any con- structive policy for dealing with the sudan, and the forces of disorder asserted themselves. on nov. 20 1924 sir lee stack, the governor-general of the sudan, succumbed to a murderous attack made on him in the streets of cairo. an ultimatum was at once presented by the british govt. and among its terms was the immediate withdrawal of all egyptian troops from the sudan, z.e., all purely egyptian units and the egyptian officers of the arab and sudanese units. the demand was refused, and on nov. 23 orders were issued for their compul- sory evacuation. some of them departed without demur; others adopted an attitude of passive resistance. at this stage some black sudanese detachments stationed in khartoum, probably misunderstanding the exact position of affairs, and certainly instigated by the egyptian officers and by sympa- thisers among their own officers, mutinied on nov. 27, and it was not until the 29th that order was restored. in outlying districts the evacuation of egyptian troops took place without trouble except one incident at talodi, which ended with no loss of life. the evacuation of the egyptian units and personnel was followed by the creation of a sudan defence force, consisting of sudanese and arab units which had hitherto been incorporated in the egyptian army and which, in the new force, under- took allegiance solely to the governor-general of the sudan. by the end of the year conditions had been restored to normal. the egyptian troops had gone, a number of egyptian oflicials, whose political sympathies with their motherland had led them into excess, had been deported, and the country settled down with relief to the ordinary business of life. the disturbances had been limited to the few urban centres and had never had any effect on the country as a whole. in jan. 1925 sir geoffrey archer, the newly appointed governor-general, arrived from uganda. at the close of 1925 the country was peaceful and contented. il, economic history the economic progress of the sudan after 1914 was largely the result of the development of certain large projects for the grow- ing of long staple cotton under irrigation in the gezira, kassala and tokar areas, the increasing export of gum, and the general improvement of agriculture in the southern areas where the rainfall is sufficient to produce regular crops of cotton, sesame, ground nuts, etc. work on the gezira irrigation project, for which the british govt. had in 1913 agreed to guarantee a loan for £3,000,000, was suspended during the war and resumed in r9t9. costs of all material and labour having doubled, the amount asked for was increased to £6,000,000, the guarantee by the british govt. authority being given by the sudan loan act of 1919. this amount once again proved an under- estimate and by successive loan acts, the authorised sum was increased to £13,000,000, of which about £12,000,000 was re- quired for the gezira scheme itself. the scheme was success- fully completed in july 1925 and an area of about 160,000 ac. suless—suez canal put under cultivation, of which 80,000 ac. are under cotton, 40,000 durra and 40,000 lubia (a green crop). by the 1926 season the total canalised area of the original project was available, i.¢e., 300,000 ac., of which 100,000 will be under cotton, 100,000 under food crops and 100,000 fallow. this project will have a very great effect on the economic position of the country. a moderate estimate of the average value of the cotton crop is £e.2,000,000. the work is being carried out on the basis of a partnership arrangement between the govern- ment, the sudan plantations syndicate and the native culti- vators. the latter reccive the whole of the food crops and 40% of the value of the cotton crop and get land and water free. the kassala cotton area consists of the delta of the inland river gash in the eastern sudan, some 60 m. long by 10 to 20 m. wide. a railway giving direct access to the sea was essential to the development of the area, and in 1922 a loan of £1,250,000 was authorised, guaranteed under the trade facilities act by the british govt., for the building of a railway from haia junction near thamiam station on the atbara-port sudan line, to kassala. this line was completed in 1925. the exploitation of the area is being carried out by the kassala cotton company under an arrangement similar to that of gezira. in the tokar area cotton is grown between the red sea moun- tains and the coast. the natural conditions are similar to those at kassala. the value of the crop for 1924-5 was about £500,000. a short railway line used for the transport of the crop connects tokar with trinkitat harbour on the red sea. in addition to these projects steps have been taken since 1922 to encourage the development of rain grown cotton in the central and southern districts. these had not yet produced large results up to the end of 1925, but returns were steadily increasing. in 1925 cotton exports from the sudan were valued at £e.1,636,784. apart from cotton the most important export is gum arabic; the aver- age value of total exports of this product for the period of 1923-5 was £e.881,811, as compared with an average of {e.470,220 for the period 1911-3. the general growth of trade and production is shown in the following tables:— external trade imports exports and government public re-exports £e. le, fi. i9i3 504,176 1,605,300 1,278,841 1922 1,696,535 2,559,355 2,298,770 1923 1,694,779 2,974,225 2,758,425 1924 1,820,210 3,654,700 3,830,171 1925 1,609,317 3,828,410 4,168,364 communication and transport.—the extension of the halfa- khartoum railway line to el obeid, and the construction of the branch to kassala were of immense importance to the develop- ment of the country, which depends very largely upon the extension of transport facilities. the atbara-port sudan line is taking an increasing quantity of both exports and imports, the trafhc via halfa and the egyptian railways having greatly decreased since 1910, particularly since the abolition of the british protectorate over egypt. port sudan had, by 192s, become a regular port of call for ships travelling through the red sea; its increasing trade is shown by the following table:— shipping at port sudan for- total ie tonnage ves. tonnage | ves- tomas - sels sels sels ioi 269,626 40 84,625 231 334,251 242 527,845 72 | 194,02 314 721,870 342 | 1,138,601 | ito | 361,334 | 452 | 1,499,935 456 | 1,768,603 | 153 | 496,772 | 609 | 2,265,375 513 | 1,940,266 | 186 | 582,963 | 699 | 2,523,229 2,479,493 3,174,500 bibliograpiy.—h. a. macmichael, tribes of northern and central kordofds (1912); r. m. odell, cotton goods in the red sea markets 677 (1913); sudan notes and records (khartoum, 1918, etc.); p. e. mar- tin, lhe sudan in evolution (1921); h. a. macmichael, a history of arabs in the sudan, 2 vol. (1922); a. a. r. dugmore, the vast sudan (1924); egypt and the sudan; despatch to h. m. high com- missioner (cid. 2269, 1924); the penal and criminal procedure code of the sudan (london, 1924). see also reports of the central economic board, sudan govt. (annual); the sudan gazette, publ. by the authority of the sudan govt. (annual); iandbook of the sudan government railways and steamers (1925). suess, eduard (1831-1914), austrian geologist (sce 26.21), died at vienna april 25 rorq. suez canal (sce 26.22), the waterway linking the mediter- ranean sea with the gulf of suez in the red sea. it was obvious in 1909 that the suez canal must be recognised not only as an essential waterway of the world, but also as a perma- nent factor in the commercial and political association of the east and west. the company, therefore, decided to approach the egyptian govt. with a request for the prolongation of their concession, which was due to expire in 1968, on terms that ap- peared exceptionally favourable to egypt. that view was not shared, however, by the egyptian parlia- ment, which unanimously rejected the terms offered by the company and the request for an extension of their lease. but this fact had no untoward influence, either upon the shares of the company or upon the sea-borne trade entrusted to it. on the contrary, the traffic through the canal continued to increase until the outbreak of the world war in to1t4, which utterly changed the character of the administration and purpose that had hitherto been associated with the name of the company. in consequence of the hostilities, the entire defence and direction of the canal—its enormous plant and its expert personnel—was handed over to the british military authorities. the canal became the strategical frontier of egypt, guarded by the armies and navies of france and of the british empire. its waterway was open to the ships of allied and neutral powers for the whole of those four eventful years, except during a few hours of fight- ing on feb. 3 tots when a turkish army that had marched across the desert from damascus to invade egypt was routed— never to return. from end to end the banks of the canal resem- bled one long armed camp, of which all traces had in 1925 dis- appeared; and the only signs visible to future generations of that great upheaval will be the three war monuments at port said, ismaillia and suez, and the railway which lord allenby laid from kantara to jerusalem for the subjugation of palestine. the figures show how much the canal suffered commercially during the war, and also how plainly the subsequent reaction proved its necessity for the wellbeing of the world. in 1912 5,373 ships, with a net tonnage of 20,200,000, passed through the canal. in that year the receipts amounted to 140,000,000 francs and the expenditure to 47,500,000 francs in round figures. by the year 1917 the traffic through the canal had gradually dropped to 2,353 ships, with a net tonnage of 9,000,000; the receipts were reduced to 72,000,000 francs and the expenditure to 37,000,000 francs. after peace was declared in 1918 the reaction immediately set in: statistics for 1919 show that close on 4,000 voyages were made through the canal, representing a total of 16,000,000 tons; the receipts for that year were 184,500,000 francs, and the expenditure amounted to 42,000,000 francs. the figures 1924 show that during that year 5,122 ships, with a total net tonnage of 25,000,000, passed through the canal, the receipts amounting to 508,500,000 francs and the expencliture to 60,000,000 francs. the depreciated value of the franc is largely accountable for the huge total recorded as receipts in 1924, since the suez canal company convert all their takings from egyptian francs (at 25-20 to the {£e.) into french francs. | improvements: canal.—since the war, the engineering pro- grammes, which had been seriously interrupted, have been taken in hand with redoubled vigour. the igt2 programme has been completed, and the 1923 programme is already in advance of its time schedule. these programmes include the building of jetties and of ‘* bassins,” and the widening, deepening and straightening of the canal, a process which will be continued until the two largest ships that use eastern and far eastern ports can cross one another in the canal without tying up. ; another great improvement is the creation of a new city opposite to port said, to which the name of port fuad has recently been given, to this new centre of activity all the company’s engineering and repair shops were transferred, an operation which greatly re- duced the congestion in port said. on this, the asiatic side of the canal, all the employees and workpeople now resident in port said will eventually live; and in this hope the company drew up a 678 far-reaching scheme fora kind of garden city with avenues and boule- vards, shops and schools, hospitals, churches and mosques, and with dwelling houses and apartments suitable for all classes of a very international community. . some 12,000 persons (including wives and children) are dependent upon the company for their maintenance in egypt—that is to say, from port said to suez. between the highest and lowest grades of these we find superintendents, doctors, architects, schoolmastcrs, priests, nuns, clerks, pilots and representatives of every rank in the organisation of industry, down to the native labourer. for all of these the company has the greatest care: a minute study of the de- tailed accounts for any one of recent years will convince the most scrupulous sociologist or socialist, that few companies give such un- remitting attention to the wellbeing of their personnel. it is certain that, in egypt, no body of employees or of workmen enjoy such com- fortable circumstances. since the war salarics have been raised, sick pay increased, an eight-hour day instituted, holiday pay and free tickets granted to the servants of the company and their families without distinction of grade or nationality; and a co-partnership scheme has been created, to which all are admitted and thereby become entitled to a share in the profits of this great undertaking. the company also provides its people with cheap houses, free dis- pensaries, hospital accommodation, co-operative stores, schools, sports and-—most important of all—with a plentiful supply of filtered fresh water at the price of 50 centimes a ton. under these exceptional conditions, service with the company is as eagerly sought for in egypt as in france; and, whilst jabour and other political troubles were rife throughout egypt in 1919 and 1920, they scarcely created a ripple of disturbance on the calm social waters of the sucz canal administration. 3 control and finance.—it will be seen that there is no foundation for the prevalent idea that it is a british undertaking which belongs to the british govt., even though the british govt. holds (as has already been shown) seven-sixteenths of the shares. the company is, as a matter of fact, french through and through for purposes of administration. on the board of management there are 1 dutch, 10 british and 20 french directors, and they work in closest harmony together. of the ten british directors, three represent the british govt. in re- spect of their large holding of shares, and seven represent the shipping and commercial interests of great britain, which now supplies about 60% of the total traffic through the canal. next in order of importance comes the dutch mercantile marine, with 10% of the total; and third on the list we find germany (whose flag was not seen on the canal between 1915 and 1920) providing 6-5%, france 6% and so on. the capital sum ({£4,000,000) invested by great britain in suez canal shares in 1875 has been repaid about eight times in dividends and interest. in 1922 his majesty’s govt. received £892,000; in 1923, £1,016,- 000, and in 1924, £1,167,000, free from all taxation at the source. the french govt. owns no shares in this pre-eminently french enterprise, but it benefits to no small degree by the pros- perity of the company, whose business was taxed in 1925 to the extent of about 42,000,000 francs. m. ferdinand de lesseps’ great undertaking has fully justified its existence. it is upon the facts stated above, rather than upon the present value of the shares (7.e. 14,000 francs, on dec. 4 1925, for a share whose face value was 250 francs) that the company base confident hopes for their continued prosperity and useful- ness until their lease from the egyptian govt. expires. (see palestine, campaign in.) bibliography.—j. charles-roux, le canal de suez, 2 vol. (paris, 1901); voisin bey, le canal de suez, 6 vol. (paris, 1902); georges douin, l’atiague du canal de suez, 1 vol. (paris, 1922); etienne micard, le canal de suez, 1 vol. (paris, 1922); suez canal co., bulletins decadaires (paris, 1910-25). (i. ma.) sugar: see control, inter-allied}; food supply. suk, josef (1874- ), czech composer, was born at kiefovice jan. 4 1874. he attained maturity almost at the very outset of his career and his compositions are distinguished more for their quality than for their number. all his work is marked by a finished skill, both of content and form. in his resourceful harmonisation and varied rhythm he showed him- self a follower of the tendencies inaugurated by dvorak. he wrote compositions for piano, violin, cello and orchestra. his symphonic poem “ prague” is an elaborate evocation of the glory of the czechoslovak capital. his symphony ‘ asrael ” sugar—summer schools and the symphonic poem, ‘‘ a summer legend,” are of an elegiac character. suk excelled also in vocal compositions, both for male and female voices. his most noteworthy work 1s that entitled ‘‘ ripening, ’’ which, in three sections, life, work and love respectively, expresses his own emotional development. he was one of the founders of the bohemian quartet, and in 1922 became professor at the master school for composition at the prague conservatoire, where he had studied under bennewitz, stecker and dvofak. : sulgrave manor, the early english home of the ancestors of george washington. situated 24 m. northwest of ilelmdon in northamptonshire, it has come to be recognised as a shrine for all patriotic americans and thoughtful english folks to visit. laurence washington, twice mayor of northampton, bought the property from king henry viii. in 1539, on the dissolution of the smaller religious houses. it had previously belonged to the priory of st. andrew, northampton. laurence washington, from whom george washington was seventh in direct descent, and his children and grandchildren lived in the manor house until 1610. _ the place, therefore, carries the history of the washington family back to the days of henry viii. and the english reforma- tion, and antedates mount vernon, george washington’s home in virginia, by 200 years. it was purchased, in jan. 1914, for £8,400, by the british committee for the celebration of 100 years of peace between great britain and the united states (1814-1914), and the whole property, including the contents of the manor house, is vested in three ex-officio trustees: the american ambassador in london, the british ambassador in washington and the regent of the mount vernon ladies’ association of the union. it is administered and controlled by the sulgrave manor board, a body formed to carry on the work of the british peace centenary committee in perpetuity. the manor house has been partially restored to its original condition, and tastefully furnished with choice furniture of the period. a portion of the grounds has also been laid out. at the conclusion of this preliminary work, a formal reopening and dedication took place, on june 21 1921, in the presence of a large anglo-american gathering. the portion of the house restored is the oldest part, the south or tudor wing. on the south gable are the royal arms of the tudors; and in the right spandrel of the arch of the main door- way, the washington arms, three mullets and two bars, which were the inspiration of the stars and stripes, the american national flag. the building is, therefore, one of rare historical interest, and every care is taken by the sulgrave manor board to preserve its distinctive character and atmosphere. the furnishings are, for the most part, gifts from both british and american donors, and include an original gilbert stuart portrait of george washington and many other treasures. (l. of f.)