A tense stand-off ensued, and though the rebels could have easily killed Gordon and his party, as Gordon wrote in a letter to his sister that the rebels were all "...dumbfounded at my coming among them". This bold move proved successful, as one chief then another pledged his loyalty to the Khedive including Suleiman Zobeir himself, though the remainder retreated to the south. Gordon visited the provinces of Berber and Dongola, and then returned to the Abyssinian frontier, before ending up back in Khartoum in January 1878. Gordon was summoned to Cairo, and arrived in March to be appointed president of a commission. The Khedive Isma'il was deposed in 1879 in favour of his son Tewfik by the Ottoman Sultan Abdul-Hamid II following heavy diplomatic pressure from the British, French and Italian governments after Isma'il had quarrelled with Baring.