OBITUARY.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1643, 9 January 1913, Page 7

OBITUARY.

i • ZOBEIR BAHAMA PASHA.'•': < By Telegrarh—Frees Association—Copyright ; . ■ Khartum, January 7. i.... .Tho. dentil is announced, at Iho age of 83, of Zobeir Rahama Pasha, who played a notable part in councction with' Gen-. oral Gordon's, mission. ■> 1 : A,MINIATURE MONARCH.; ZobeirPasha was.a moinber oi a family which claims 'descent from, Abbas, the r uncle of Mahomet.. V: Ho'became promin*' ont as one of tho most energetic, Arab' . . ivory ■ and sldve traders' who about .1860 established themselves on tho "White Nile. 1 ' : Nominally a subject of Efrrpt, he raised an array 'of .several thousand wellarmed blacks, hnd .became .a, 'dangerous: rival to'-the'Egyptian, authorities.'. In .1869 an, expedition ' sent s . from' Khartum, ■into.jthe Bahr-el-Ghazal was attacked by. • Zobeir, and completely defeated,'.rts commander being, slain. represented that he was . blameless in this matter,' received a "pardop," and was himself appointed , Governor*of . Bahr-el-Ghazal, 1 where: he was practically ; independent. In 1873.he attacked tho Sultan of Darfur; and the Khedive Ismaie gave him ,the rank.of Bey,'and sent troops to co-oper- - ' ate.'.After ho ■ had conquered Darfur (1874), Zobeir was made a Pasha, but he claimed . thej more substantial reward of boin|» made Governor-Goiieral of the new province; and went to Cairo, in tho.spring of 187G, to press his title. He was now. in the power of .the Egyptian authorities, who prevented his return, though he was • allowedto go to Constantinople , at. the outbreak of tho Russo-Turkish War. In 1878,• however, his eon Suloiman, haying got possession of. the Bahr-etGhazal, and acting on instruction^'from his father, defied the authority of General Gordon, the new Governor-Genoral of.; Sudan. Gordon sent R-omolo 'Gcssi aga,inst Suleiman, who . was subdued after an' arduous campaign, and] executed. " During the campaign Zobeir offored if he wore allowed to return to the' Sudan to restore order, and to pay a revenue of-JE25.000 a year! to the Khedive.Gordon declined this help,. and subsequently,,' for his instigation' of the .revolt,: iZobeir was condemned: to death, but the trial was a farce, tho sentence wai remitted, and he remained .at Cairo, now. in high favour with' thb Khedivo's court. In March,:'lßßl,' Gordon, who had been srnt to Khartum to effect, if" possibly, the Telief of the Egyptian garrisons in the Sudan, astonished Europo by renuestinri that Zobeir,. whoso son he ha/J. oierthrAwn, and whose character ;he hnd described by Sir Reginald Wingate, who knew him well, as "a ,quiet, tar-sceing, thoughtful man, of iron will, a born ' ruler of men," might have been ahlo.to stem .the Mahdist movement; But to reinstate the notorious slave-dealer was regarded in London as too' perirous an expedient, even: in the extreme circumstances then existing,, although-Colonel Stewart (Gordon's companion in Khartum), Sir Evelyn/Baring, and Nubar Pasha, in Cairo, and Queen Viotoria; and Mr. Gladstone all favoured'such a course. In March, 1885, Zobeir was arrested in Cairo by order of'.tho British Govern-' ment for treasonable correspondence v/ith the Mahdi and other enemies of Egypt, and was interned at Gibraltar. In, Aug- ' list, 1887', ho was allowed ,to return to Cairo, and after: tho reconquest of tho Sudan was permitted (1899) to settle.in his native country. Ho established himself .on his estate at'Geihi, near Khartum. HERO OF RORKE'S DlllFT. By Telegraph-Preg? Association-Copyright (Rec. January 8, 11.10 p.m.)'' London, January 8, Mr. Fred Hitch, a Victoria Cross of the fight at Rorke'd Drift, in the Zulu' War of 1879, is dead.

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