Gordon, the
fall of Khartum, and the Nile Expedition under Lord Wolseley, are
described below separately in the section of this article dealing with
the military operations. The practical result was that the khedive's
authority was limited to the Nile valley north of Wadi Halfa.

Internal reorganization

With the internal difficulties Sir Evelyn Baring had been struggling
bravely ever since his appointment, trying to evolve out of the
ever-changing policy and contradictory orders of the British government
some sort of coherent line of action, and to raise the administration to
a higher standard. For two or three years it seemed doubtful whether he
would succeed. All over Egypt there was a feeling of unrest, and the
well-meant but not very successful efforts of the British to improve the
state of things were making them very unpopular. The introduction of
English officials and English influence into all the administrative
departments was resented by the native officials, and the action of the
irrigation officers in preventing the customary abuses of the
distribution of water was resented by the great landowners, who had
been, from time immemorial, in the habit of taking as much as they
wanted, to the detriment of the fellahin. Even these latter, who gained
most by the reforms, considered that they had good reason to complain,
for the defeat of Arabi and the re-establishment of order had enabled
the Christian money-lenders to return and insist on the payment of
claims, which were supposed to have been extinguished by the rebellion.
Worst of all, the government was drifting rapidly towards insolvency,
being quite unable to fulfil its obligations to the bondholders and meet
the expenses of administration. All departments were being starved, and
even the salaries of poorly paid officials were in arrear. To free
itself from its financial difficulties the government adopted a heroic
remedy which only created fresh troubles. On the advice of Lord
Northbrook, who was sent out to Cairo in September 1884 to examine the
financial situation, certain revenues which should have been paid into
the Caisse for the benefit of the bondholders were paid into the
treasury for the ordinary needs of the administration. Immediately the
powers protested against this infraction of the law of liquidation, and
the Caisse applied for a writ to the Mixed Tribunals. In this way the
heroic remedy failed, and to the internal difficulties were added