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GENERAL GORDON. 
 
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 THEE 
 
 WAR IN THE SODDAiN 
 
 AND 
 
 THE CAUSES WHICH LED TO IT, 
 
 WITH SHORT BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF THE 
 PRINCIPAL PERSONAGES ENGAGED. 
 
 BY 
 
 T. ARNOLD HAULTAIN, M.A. 
 
 XIL.XiTJSTIi-A.TEID. 
 
 PUBLISHED BT 
 
 THE GRIP PRINTING and PUBLISHING CO., TORONTO. 
 
 1885. 
 
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DT I in 
 
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 J-/6ui7/)/U T,/9, 
 
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 Entered aooording to Act of Parliament of Canada, in the year one thousand eigfht hundred and 
 
 eighty-flve, by The Grip Printinq and Publishiko Company, Toronto, in the 
 
 Office of the Minister of Agriculture. 
 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 f 
 
 Pkitaoe 
 
 Chap. I.— Thk First Shot 
 
 II.— Why England is Fightinq 
 III.— Tbl-el-Kebik 
 
 FAOK 
 
 6 
 
 9 
 
 11 
 
 15 
 
 rv.— Internal Reforms 19 
 
 v.— The Soudan 
 
 VI.-Thk Mahdi 
 
 VII.— Slain in the Desert 
 
 VIII.— More Disasters 
 
 IX.— The Call for Gordon 
 
 X.—" I Will Save the Honour of Egypt " . 
 
 XI.— At Khartoum , 
 
 XII.— Still Further Reverses 
 
 XIII.— El Teb 
 
 XIV. —What Gordon is Doing 
 
 22 
 
 29 
 
 34 
 
 87 
 
 39 
 
 41 
 
 . 46 
 
 48 
 
 50 
 
 53 
 
 XV.— Problems 57 
 
 XVI.— England Roused 58 
 
 XVII.— A Medlrt 62 
 
 XVin.-"WHAT Shall We Do?" 66 
 
 XIX.— How TO Get There 71 
 
 XX. —The Votageurs 76 
 
 XXI.— The Camel Corps 80 
 
 XXII.— The Beleaguered Citt and Its Three Defenders 86 
 
 XXIII.— Relative Distances of Important Places 89 
 
 XXIV.— The Toilers of the Nile 94 
 
 XXV. -Lei't Alone 100 
 
 XXVI.— Thk Horrors of the Desert 103 
 
 XXVII.— Abu Klea and Abu Kru 107 
 
 XXVIII.— Too Late 115 
 
 XXIX.— The Journey Back 118 
 
 S:XX.~What Now ? 120 
 
 Bioob^phioal Sketches 121-137 
 
-^r 
 
 \l 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 

 PREFACE. 
 
 The historia/n of contemporary events labours under a two-fold 
 disadvantage: the unfinished state of the period he attempts to depict 
 precludes the possibility of representing it in artistic form ; the incom- 
 pleteness of the circ^imstances with which he deals, and the inability 
 accurately to gauge their residts, make it impossible to indulge in any 
 philosophical generalizations. Added to this, the want of perspective 
 that obtains in treating of events still in progress, makes it dijfficult 
 to rightly judge tJmr relative importance. This account of the toar 
 in the Soudan and the causes which led to it, must, therefore, be 
 regarded as a narrative rather than as a history. 
 
 T. A. H. 
 
 University Colleqe, 
 
 Toronto, 
 
 Canada. 
 
l^ 
 
 * ! 
 
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 i\ 
 
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 It 
 
 THE 
 
 WAR IN THE SOUDAJNT, 
 
 CHAPTEK I. 
 
 THE FIRST SHOT. 
 
 Let u8 imagine ourselves, you and me, my reader, at Alexandria on the 
 night of the 10th of July, 1882. We shall not sleep ; the whole town is in a 
 state of suspense and excitement. Outside there, in the harbor, are thirteen 
 great ships of war, England's ironclads, prowling about within gun-shot 
 of us. This morning, at seven o'clock, the Admiral in command. Sir Beauchamp 
 Seymour, gave notice that if work on the fortifications lining the shore did 
 not cease, twenty-four hours from that time he would open fire. No wonder 
 nobody sleeps. With the muzzles of those 81 ton guns peering at us throu<»h 
 the iron walls of the gieatest naval force in the world who could lie down un- 
 concerned ? No one knows what is going to happen. Arabi Pasha has sent 
 two of his officers to the Admiral to make terms. But the electric light from 
 the fleet which has been silently pouring its searching rays on the Arab gun- 
 ners in the forts, shows that the work is still going on. Now the sun rises 
 and shows the great ships ready for action. Seven o'clock strikes, — boom ; a 
 puflf of smoke from Her Majesty's ship Alexandra shows what is meant. Four 
 minutes' grace is given, then up goes the signal from the Invincible, " Attack 
 the enemies' batteries," immediately the Monarch, Penelope, Invincible,. 
 Sultan, Superb, Tem6raire, Inflexible, and Alexandra, pour in shells which 
 weigh some 1,500 lbs., the cost of firing of each of which would buy a com- 
 fortable lot in a country town. 
 
 For ten mortal hours the deafening thunder is kept up. One by one the 
 great forts are silenced. The largest of the Egyptian cannons are turned on 
 end like pop-guns. The solid masonry of the parapets yawn with great holes. 
 
10 
 
 THK WAR IN THK SOUDAN. 
 
 The light-houae has holes in it visible at two miles' distance. Powder 
 magazines have been blown up, and where were once trim fortiticationH, are 
 now masses of ruins. 
 
 But what is it all about 7 What is England doing in thin part of the 
 world, smashing forts, shelling soldiery, and doing damage that will cost soma 
 millions of dollars to rebuild ? To answer this I must trouble you, my reader, 
 with a few dry factn. We shall not lioger over thtim. But before it is 
 possible to know why England is now in Egypt, why she is warring against 
 the Mahdi, why she has voluntarily spent £3,000,()0(), been content to lose 
 some of her bravest generals, and risked the lives of thousands of her 
 Boldiei'S in a foreign country tlxat does not belong to her and probably never 
 will belong to her, it is necessary to go beneath the surface, aud to inquire 
 into a few things not quite so interesting as the destroying of forts. 
 
 Note. — Arabi'a own version of the bombardment, as given in his newspaper, SI 
 Taif, is very intoresting reiuling: — 
 
 " War news.— On Tuesday, 25 Shaban, 1209, at 12 o'clock in the morning (July 11, 
 7 a.m.), the English o{)cned fire on the forts of Alexandria, and we returned the fire. 
 
 '* At three o'clock (10 a.m.) an ironclad foundered off Fort Ada. 
 
 " At 6 o'clock (noon) two vessels were sunk between Fort Pharos and Fort Adjeray. 
 
 "At half-post 6 (1.30 p.m.) a wooden man-of-war of eight guns was sunk. 
 
 "At 10 o'cl(x:k (5 p.m.) the large ironclad was struck by a shell from Burj-ez-Zefr, 
 the battery was injured, and a v/hite flag was immediately hoisted by her as a signal 
 to cease firing at her, whereupon the firing ceased on both sides, after having lasted 10 
 hours without cessation. Some of the walls of the forts were destroyed, but they were 
 repaired during the ni^ht. The shots and shells discharged from the two sides 
 amounted to about 6,000, and this is the first time that so large a number of missiles 
 have been discharged in so short a time." And so on. 
 
 i 
 
 ■k;> 
 
I 
 
 WHY KMQIiAND IB FIQHTIKO. 
 
 u 
 
 f 
 
 THB LION S SHARK. 
 
 CHAPTER n. 
 
 WHY ENGLAND IS FIGHTING. 
 
 This is by no means an easy thing to find out. Every nation and every 
 country will give us a different answer. France will probably tell us that we 
 are a nation of shopkeepers, and that we are merely fighting for money. Ger- 
 many, perhaps, will say we are fighting to keep up our prestige — whatever 
 that may mean. Russia says we are aggressive. The Conservatives think 
 we are not fighting half enough. Gladstone does not know whether we are 
 or not, but enigmatically says that we must not " merely secure tranquility 
 for the moment, but must obviate future perturbations." 
 
 Perhaps the truth lies in a mixture of all these. 
 
 I shall not trouble you, my reader, to go into details ; we will keep clear 
 for the present of all such phrases as condominium, entente cordiale, nnified 
 debt, Daira estates, Domain lauds, caisse, dual control, protocol, finance 
 adviser, procureur-g^neral, etc., etc. Let us put the events that led up to 
 
12 THE WAR IN THE SOUDAN. 
 
 England's taking the responsibility of helping Egypt to govern herself (for 
 that is what she is really doing) in the form of a fable. 
 
 In a great street where rich and powerful merchants were wont to con- 
 gregate stood a large shop. This shop was owned by a man who lived far 
 away, and who took little interest in the business as long as his share of the 
 profits was regularly sent to him. The proprietor was called by some people 
 the sick man. This shop of his was very badly managed. The head clerk 
 cared as little as did his master as to how matters stood. He was very extra- 
 vagant, ho spent enormous sums of money, presumably in the management 
 of the business, and his subordinates did the same. The consequence was 
 that both the customers and the wholesale merchants were very harshly 
 treated. The former did not get the worth of their money ; the latter were 
 never paid. The whole affair naturally soon became insolvent. 
 
 Behind this shop stood a great warehouse. It was a very grand one-^ 
 so grand that the lady ms ho owned it (for it was a lady at the time I speak of) 
 called herself by a title specially on its account. This title was " Kaiser-I- 
 Hind." Unfortunately the only way worth speaking of to get into this ware- 
 house was through the shop I spoke of a moment ago. There was a back 
 way, but it was very round about. Amongst the clerks of another merchant 
 was one clever one who proposed that people should go through the shop 
 into the warehouse. The lady jumped at the idea at once and gladly pnid 
 an enormous sum of money (she was very rich) for the right to go through 
 the sick man's premises whenever she wished. 
 
 Well, as I have said, the shop was in a bad way. The great lady, seeing 
 how useful, in fact necessary, it was to her that tho business should be kept on, 
 lent the managers money, more money probably than all the other merchants 
 put together felt inclined to do. The consequence was she became the chief 
 creditor — aud i-his is a very important point. The merchant to whom the clever 
 clerk belonged certainly had great claims too, but he did not seem to take any 
 very great interest in matters. He had no warehouse in the rear, you see. 
 
 Matters instead of getting better grew worse. The hands employed in 
 the shop — and there were very large numbers of them — were harshly treated. 
 But they had no redress. The head clerk pocketed as much money as he 
 could, every other clerk did the same, the expenses were tremendous, the 
 money spent in stationery alone being something fabulous. 
 
 Amongst the subordinates was a bold man. He saw the disaffection 
 which existed amongst the shop-boys. He made friends with them, and 
 defied the chief manager, the real proprietor, and the great lady — all three. 
 The down trodden shop-boys, and indeed many in higher positiona also, 
 flocked to him ; the managers were powerless ; he seized the shop — and tho 
 greatest tumult arose. 
 
WHY BNOLAND IS FIOHTINQ. 
 
 13 
 
 There are some who think, in fact, I dare say they are very few who do 
 not think, that the sick man connived at what the rebellious clerk was doing. 
 At all events he made no attempt whatever to put a stop to the uproar. He 
 ought, one would have thought, to have upheld the chief manager at all 
 hazards, and to have helped him to quell the rebellion. But this he did not 
 do. What wa8 to be done ? Things could not go on in this way. The interest 
 on the loans must be paid, and while the shop was in this state this was out 
 of the question. Nobody in the C'^tablishment seemed to have any wits about 
 them except the bold man, and his hand was turned against every one. It 
 would never do to let him go on in this way, for what would become of the 
 right of way through the shop to the warehouse 7 In this extremity the great 
 lady asked a friend — the same merchant in whose employ was that clevci' 
 clerk who proposed the shor*^ ^ut — the great lady asked this friend to join her 
 in putting a stop to the rebellion. The friend higgled and haggled a groat 
 deal but finally refused. So there was nothing for it but to do it single 
 handed. The other merchants who lived in the neighbourhood did not object i 
 and so it was determined to send some good strong men down at once to take 
 possession of the premises, and to put an end to the doing:) of the recalcitrant 
 clerk and his followers. 
 
 This brings us to The First Shot. 
 
 This fable needs scarce any explanation. The great lady is Her Majesty 
 Queen Victoria ; her warehouse is India, the short-cut to which is the Suez 
 Canal ; the shop is Egypt, with its proprietor the Sultan of Turkey, and its 
 chief clerk the Khedive ; the clever proposer of the short-cut is M. de 
 Le'^seps ; his merchant is France ; and the rebellious clerk is Arabi. 
 
 I have, perhaps, laid scarcely sufficient stress on the vast mass of corrup- 
 tion which existed in the internal administration of Egyptian affairs, for this, 
 it appears to me, is the secret of England's presence in that country. If 
 Egyptian officials were honest, if they nad a keen sense of justice, if they 
 cared more for the well-being of the lower classes than for the filling of their 
 own pocijets, the fertility of the soil and the industry of its tillers would 
 suffice, not only to pay off the debts with which Egypt is now burdoiied, but 
 to bring the country into a high state of commercial efficiency. But as it is, 
 this was the very remotest of all possibilities. It is not saying too much to 
 assert that as little reliance could be placed in the integrity of the highest as 
 in the integrity of the meanest of the dignitaries employed by the govem- 
 m nt. Bribes were known openly to be the key to all favours. The taxes 
 were farmed. As long as the requisite sum was paid into the treasury what 
 cared any governor of any province how he obtained the remainder ? Corrup- 
 tion existed in the veiy heart of administrative affairs. The London Timet 
 correspondent tells us that the expenditure in Cairo for one year on stationery 
 
 . k 
 
I-I _IJU«U. I 
 
 14 
 
 THK WAR IH THE SOUDAN. 
 
 alone amounted fco upwards of $240,000. The fellaheen were ground down. 
 The insolence of their superiors was as intolerable as their taxes. A system 
 of forced labor existed, from which there was no relief. Under these circum- 
 staiices : with the bulk of the working-classes groaning under irremediable 
 wrongs, their spirits broken, their intelligence stunted, their self -respect 
 nowhere, their industry fruitless, their property and even their lives (owiig 
 to the detestable character of the Cadi courts) in jeopardy, what could be 
 expected of poor Egypt if left to herself 1 Only ruin more complete. With 
 an indifferent and apathetic suzerain who never visited his tributary state, 
 who only proved his authority over it by drawing a yearly income and occa- 
 sionally uttering a weak protest against the actions or demands of interested 
 powers, and who openly connived at anarchy ; with a powerless Khedive, an 
 extravagant ministry, and a merciless executive, no wonder that the poverty- 
 stricken natives rallied round Arabi Pasha as their deliverer. No wonder 
 that his fame spread ; that the ranks of his followers were joined by thou- 
 sands. Loyalty there was none, and patriotism in such a country was a 
 misnomer. No wonder then, again, that even from the so-called army his 
 numbers were augmented. 
 
 But such a state of affairs could not be allowed to exist. If the Sultan 
 would not, and the Klhedive could not, interfere — even if — and there were 
 such rumours — even if these both sided with the rebel, he must be put down ; 
 and if France will not lend a helping hand , England will do it alone. 
 
 This it was that led to the bombardment of Alexandria, and, in process 
 of time, to a'l those events which it is the object of thia narrative to record. 
 
TBL-EL-KEBIB. 
 
 16 
 
 CHAPTER IIL 
 
 TELEL-KEBIR. 
 
 We left Alexandria with its forts dismantled, its gnns dismounted, and 
 its fortiflcationa generally abandoned. The events which followed need noii 
 be described in detail. Arabi and his army left the city, which was now in 
 the hands of marauding hordes, many of them composed of released convicts. 
 The larger portion of the town was burnt, and wholesale depredations and 
 murders continued for two days, after which they were checked by the land- 
 ing of a body of marines and blue-jackets. 
 
 England now decided to send troops into Egypt to reconquer the country 
 for the Khedive. A vote of credit was passed (July 27), and three days after- 
 wards the Scots Guards sailed for Alexandria, followed at short intervals by 
 tri'ops amounting in all to 1,010 officers, 21,200 non-commissioned officers 
 and men, 54 fie!d guns, 5,600 horses, and 500 mules. But this force was in 
 a short time swelled — including contingents from India, Cyprus, and else- 
 where—to 40,560. 
 
 Sir Garnet Wolseley took command, arrived at Alexandria on August 
 the loth, and was immeiliately empowered by the Khedive to undertake 
 operations and occupy the country. 
 
 The campaign against Arabi was destined to witness some notable and 
 successfully carried out surprises by this general. The first wa^' the occupa- 
 tion of Port Said. The fleet sailed, cleared ready for action, from Alexandria 
 as if with the intention of seizing Aboukir, but when night fell, the order to 
 " 'bout ship " was given, and the ships steamed back and took possession of 
 Port Said. Several minor actions took place at Tel-el-Mahuta, Kassassin, 
 etc. , but by a wonderfully accurate prophecy of General Wolseley's the spot 
 on which the whole campaign was settled was Tel-el-Kebir. To this we will 
 at once proceed. 
 
 The body of the troops was now stationed at Kassassin. The intentions 
 of the General were kept secret in the extreme ; aiid it was not till within 
 twelve hours of the premeditated attack that orders were given to leave the 
 camp. At sundown, on the evening of Tuesday, September 12th, every tent was 
 struck. The men bivouacked on the ground, taking a rest of five or six hours. 
 At midnight, the order was given to march, and in a few moments the men 
 were noiselessly moving over the ground in the direction of the enemy's 
 entrenchments. "Never," says the London Staiidard'a correspondent, "did 
 
16 THE WAR IN THE SOUDAN. 
 
 a body of 14,000 men get under arras more quietly ; the very orders appeared 
 given in lowered tones, and almost noiselessly the dark columns moved off, 
 ' their footfalls being der«daued by the sand. The silence broken only by the 
 occasional clash of stee,, the certainty that the great strui^gle would commence 
 ■with the dawn, and the expectation that at any inomynt we might be ohal- 
 lenged by the Bedouin horsemen far out in the plain in front of the enemy, all 
 combined to make it an imp'.essive march, antl one which none v7ho shared in * 
 
 it •will ever forget. 
 
 " There wei ^ fj" queut halts to enable the regiments to maintain touch, and 
 to allow the transpoi' ; waggons, whose wheels crunched over the sandy plains 
 with a noise which to our ears seemed strangely loud, to keep up with us." 
 
 This silent march across from Kassassin to Tel-el-Kebir has been most 
 graphically described. The night was pitch dark ; not a word was uttered ; 
 and when nearing the enemy not even a match to light the longed-for cigar- 
 ette was allowed. The line of march was followed by means of the stars, a 
 young lieutenant of the navy leading the way. At times, however, incidents 
 occurred which were within an ace of bringing about the most disastrous re- 
 sults. For instance, the force moved in two divisions, and it sometimes hap- 
 pened that the outer part of the wings moved faster than the centre, thus 
 bringing the men partly opposite and within ear-shot of each other. In the 
 pitch darkness that prevailed, relieved only by starlight, it waa quite possible, 
 nay probable, that each wing might mistake the other for the enemy, and 
 without command open fire. Such a catastrophe was indeed once narrowly 
 averted. 
 
 '* By early dawn the troops had arrived within a thousand yards of the 
 enemy's lines, and halted there for a short time to enable the fighting line to 
 ijlj be formed, and other preparations to be made. 
 
 "A perfect silence still reigned over the plains, and it was difficult to credit 
 the fact that some fourteen thousand men lay in a semi-circle round the 
 enemy's lines, ready to dash f<jrward at a signal at the low sand heaps in front, 
 behind which twice as many men slumbered, unsuspicious of their presence. 
 
 '' Swiftly aud silently the troops moved forward to the attack. No word . 
 
 was spoken, no shot fired until within 300 yards of the enemy's earthworks, » 
 
 nor up to that time did a sound in the Egyptian lines betoken that they were 
 ^ aware of the presence of their assailants. Then suddenly a terrific fire flashed 
 
 along the line of sand heaps, and a storm of bullets whizzed over the heads 
 of the advancing troops. A wild cheer broke from the troops in response, 
 the pipes struck shrilly up, bayonets were fixed, and at the double this splendid 
 body of men dashed forward. 
 
 " The first line of entrenchments was carried, the enemy offering scarce any 
 resistance, but from another line of entrenchments behind, which in the still 
 
 1' 
 
 I 
 
TEL-EL-KEBIR. 17 
 
 dim light could be scarcely seen, a buret of musketry broke out. For a few 
 minutes the troops poured in a heavy fire in exchange ; but it was probably 
 as innocuous as that of the unseen enemy, \ihose bullets whistled harmlessly 
 overhead. The delay in the advance was but a short ore. Soon the order 
 was given, and the brigade again went rapidly forward. Soon a portion of the 
 force had passed between the enemy's redoubts and opened a flanking fire 
 upon him. 
 
 " This was too much for the Egyptians, who at once took to their heels 
 and fairly ran, sufiering, as the crowded masses rushed across the open, very 
 heavily from our fire, being literally mown down by hundreds. 
 
 "The fight was now practically over, the only further danger arising from 
 the bullets of our own troops, who were fixing bayonets in all directions 
 upon the flying enemy, as with loud cheers our whole line advanced in pur- 
 suit. The Egyptians did not preserve the slightest semblance of order, but 
 fled in a confused rabble at the top of their speed. 
 
 " It is stated that from the time our men gathered for the first rush at the 
 trenches to the time when Fort Galeis fell into our hands it was but fifteen 
 minutes. " 
 
 The Morning Post^a correspondent states that the whole of the action 
 occupied exactly one hour and forty minutes. 
 
 The Times correspondent says : — The Egyptians were panic-stricken ; 
 they crouched and threw themselves down, and multitudes fled across their 
 fortified plateau, now strewn with their mangled bodies, or through the lux- 
 urious station filled with camels and bales of cloth, fresh fruit, and stores of 
 every description. 
 
 The surprise of the Egyptians (the Times correspondent says) must have 
 been complete. Breakfasts are left spread in some tents, and some wretches 
 lie dead in the midst of food and cooking utensils. Several shammed dead, 
 and I saw one young Nubian revived in a marvellous way. The soldiers are 
 carefiU to ascertaiu the fact of death before passing recumbent Arabs. 
 "I went to help one man, and he fired after me," said an indignant 
 sergeant. 
 
 The sprvices of the Indian contingent, which hitherto had played but a 
 subordinate part, were now called into use. Pressing rapidly over the battle- 
 field, they made straight for Zagazig, which was occupied in the course of the 
 day. The bulk of the cavalry and mounted infantry, seized upon Beilbeis. 
 From this place they were again soon astir,, and by a forced march of 39 miles 
 under a blazing sun, they reached Cairo on the evening of September 14th, 
 captured Arabi, and preserved the city from the dangers of a repetition of 
 the Alexandria horrors. On the following day Sir Garnet Wolseley entered 
 the capital. 
 
 
 I 
 
18 
 
 THB WAR IN THB SOUDAN. 
 
 Thus, in reality, in an engagement lasting some twenty-five minntes was 
 the rebellion crushed ; the loss of life on our side being as small as the battle 
 was short — amounting, in all, to 64 killed and 342 wouu.led. 
 
 Events after this are comparatively uninteresting. Wiih the fall of Cairo 
 and the capture of Arabi the "national" movement, as it wat. called, com- 
 pletely collapsed. The re-embarkation of the British troops ac once com- 
 nienced. Arabi Pashi was tried and condemned, although he put Lito the 
 hands of his counsel documents which implicated the Sultan, Ismail, the 
 ex-Khedive, and numerous Egyptian officials. Lord Duflferin was sent to 
 suggest reforms, and the last day of 1882 saw the first instalment of his much- 
 praised scheme for the regeneration of Egypt. 
 
 Ex-Khedive Ismail Pasha sums up Arabi's character thus : "I remember 
 Arabi well. He became a Lieutenaut-Colonel when very young, and, in the second 
 or third year of my Administration, was tried by Court-martial for breach of 
 trust. He shovdd have been broken, but one of my Generals persuaded me to 
 pardon him, and I did so. He was then transferred to the Commissariat, and only 
 quite recently returned to active service in the army. Arabi can be painted in a word — 
 he is what the French call a ' blageur. ' He can talk and do nothing else. He is the tool 
 of Mahmoud Fehmy and Toulba, about both of whom I have nothing good to say. 
 Arabi is, and always was, an arrant coward. I always said he would run away, and he 
 certainly decamped very quickly at Tel-el-Kebir. The only brave men in his party 
 are All Fehmy and Adelal ; they are soldiers, but I would defy Arabi himself to define 
 either 'patriotism ' or ' national feeling.' He certainly has neither one nor the other, 
 although half Europe seems inclined to regard him as the would-be saviour of his coun- 
 try. The truth is that the Egyptian people must lean on something and follow some 
 one. The Egyptian Government was hopelessly weak, and Arabi and his friends knew 
 it. He and his partisans achieved three visible and striking successes, and the Egyptians 
 saw this, and saw, morever, the representatives of great Powers practically in treaty 
 with him. Arabi pointed triumphantly to these facts, and told the Egyptians he could 
 and would restore Egypt to the Egyptians ; and it is not surprising in the circumstances 
 that the Egyptians clung to him as the stronge;' vessel. The movement he headed 
 was from the first actively encouraged at Constant nople, but it is very improbable that 
 either the Sultan himself or any of his responsible Ministers were ever in direct com- 
 munication either with him or his associates. Direct communication is not a feature 
 of Turkish intrigue, as the desired effect can be produced without it. Arabi and his 
 accomplices must be severely punished. An example should certainly be made of the 
 leaders of the revolt, and half-measures will only be a premium to future disturb- 
 ances. They may give to Eg^pt a succession of Arabis. Arabi himself should be treated 
 as a vulgar mutineer and rebellious soldier ; to look on him as an Egyptian Garibaldi 
 is a capital mistake, and one which augurs ill for the future." 
 
 ! 
 
 
i 
 
 INTERNAL REFORMS. 
 
 19 
 
 CHATTER IV. 
 
 f 
 
 \ 
 
 INTERNAL REFORMS. 
 
 TsL-rL-KEBiR fought, and Arabi safely shut up in Ceylon, nothing of any 
 very sensational character occurred for some months. The murder of Pro- 
 fessor Palmer (Professor of Arabic, at Cambridge), Captain Gill and Lieuten- 
 ant Charrington, who had been sent to various Arab tribes by the English 
 Government ostensibly for the purpose of purchasing camels, but in reality 
 probably to learn the attitrle and gain the good will of the Bedouins, was 
 avenged on the 28th of February by the execution of five prisoners who were 
 convicted of the crime ; and many of the pillagers of Alexandria and the per- 
 petrators of the atrocities that followed its bombardment were tried and 
 punished. An army of occupation was still retained in Egypt, a measure 
 which evoked muclj criticism in Parliament and some comment from foreign 
 powers. The attitude of these latter towards England has been described as 
 *' one of acquiescence tempered by expectancy." There was no denying the 
 rapidity and success with which the rebellion had been quelled, and the 
 declared purpose of England had been to uphold the then existing regime. 
 Few, however, conceived it either likely or possible that the status quo ante 
 bellum would be restored, and the announcement of England's intentions was 
 awaited with some anxiety. The suspense was speedily relieved by a circular 
 note issued to the Great Powers by Lord Granville early in January of 1883. 
 Lord Granville first proposed various measures to secure at all times the 
 freest possible navigation of the Suez Canal, its strict neutrality in time of 
 war, and equal rights therein to all nations ; second, the attainment of greater 
 economy in the management of the Daira estates ; third, the treatment of 
 foreigners on the same footing as natives with regard to taxation ; fourth, th*.- 
 continuance for the present of the system of mixed tribunals for civil suits 
 between natives and foreigners ; fifth, the formation of a small Egyptian 
 army, with British officers, lent for a time; to fill the higher posts, and of a 
 separate force of gendarmerie and police ; sixth, some new arrangement in 
 lieu of the dual control ; seventh, the prudent introduction of representative 
 institutions in some form adapted to the present political intelligence of the 
 people, and calculated to aid their future progress. {See Aivrmal Register for 
 1883.) 
 
 Lord Dufferin was now sent out to elaborate a scheme of administrative 
 and social reform. With the usual astuteness with which this famed diplomat 
 
20 THE WAR IN THE SOUDAN. 
 
 grasps the general character of a country, Lord Duflferin recognized at once 
 the lamentable state into which Egyptian politics had nunk, and advocated 
 ■weeping reforms. He proposed amongst other innovations the ostablishraen^J 
 of an Egyptian army of 6,000 men, a semi-militaiy constabulary of 5,600, 
 both officered to a small extent at first by Europeans ; an urban police force 
 of 1,60U, to maintain order in the large towns of the Delta ; representative 
 institutions comprising village confitituencies, provincial councils, a legislative 
 council, a general assembly, and eight ministers responsible to the Khedive ; 
 a thorough revision of the codes ; the organization of new tribunals ; reassess- 
 ment of the land tax ; assistance to the fellaheen in relieving themselves from 
 the heavy debt encumbering their lands ; a national system of education ; 
 reform of the civil service; and the eO'ectual suppression of the slave trade. 
 
 The document containing these schemes of the noble Lord's is already 
 famous, but to practically carry out its details was a task perhaps beyond 
 human power. It is hard to conceive of the character of the Egyptian people. 
 One ludicrous example of their blunted intelligence and indomitable apathy is 
 seen in the fact that when asked to vote for the election of representatives, 
 they displayed a wide-spread desire to pay a sum of money rather than cease 
 their work to attend the polling, although it had been distinctly pointed out 
 to them that the measures of reform undertaken were for their exclusive 
 benefit. 
 
 Now come upon the scene two English names of merit — that of Colonel 
 Valentine Baker, now called Baker Pasha after his services in the Turkish 
 army, and that of Colonel Hicks. Both deserve some mention. Colonel 
 Baker, a dashing cavalry officer of great popularity in the army, will perhaps 
 on this side of the Atlantic be best remembered as having been the object of 
 an unpleasant accusation. Although the charges were not wholly substantiated 
 Col. Baker was forced to quit the army, and he was soon after heard from as 
 having obtained a commission under the Sultan. 
 
 Colonel Hicks was one of those brilliant In lian officers, who having 
 retired while as yet in the prime of life, discovers that a life of inactivity at 
 home, separated from all the associations which have grown almost a neces- 
 sity of existence, find it impossible to abstain from volunteering to under- 
 take any expedition of novelty and danger which may be opened to them. 
 He was typical of his class : proud, high minded, imperious, yet withal gen- 
 erous and tender to a degree ; hating sham and cant, but willing to take any 
 trouble to benefit those in whom there is no taint of these. He was English 
 to an extreme. A somewhat ludicrous incident has been told of his reply to 
 a young German officer who introduced himself to him in a lall room. He 
 was ignorant of the permissibility of this proceeding at a German military 
 ball, and the young gentleman who with a nice bow remarked that " he had 
 
 
 , 
 
INTERNAL RUFURM8. 
 
 21 
 
 
 the honour to be von So-and-So," wuii rather astonished to be answered by 
 " Indeed 1 Glad to hear it. Good name," as the Colonel turned on his 
 heel. 
 
 Colonel, now General, Baker, was charged with the formation of a gen- 
 darmerie for the prot^ection of Egypt along the deseii borders. Colonel 
 Hicks undertook to attack the Mahdi at El Obeid (to the south-west of 
 Khartoum), and was killed at the battle of KashgUl. But of this more here- 
 after. 
 
22 TUB WAR IN THB 80UDAN. 
 
 CHAPTKR V. 
 
 THE SOUDAN. 
 
 Wb now come to the true field of war, that terrible region in which has 
 been spilt acme of England's noblest and bravest blood — the Soudan. A few 
 remarks are necessary to explain its position and its relations and connections 
 with Egypt proper. 
 
 The population of the Soudan Provinces is estimated at 12,000,000, three- 
 fourths of them of pure or mixed negro descent, mostly pagans, but including 
 many thousands of Mohammedan natives, some of whom were, at last accounts, 
 making war under the direction of the Mahdi's agents upon the Egyptian 
 garrisons in the Bahr el Ghazal Province. The remaining millions ere Arabs, 
 whose ancestors entered the country centuries ago by way of Egypt and the 
 Nile, and the indigenous peoples north-west of Abyssinia and in the Nubian 
 Desert, from whom Osman Digna's army is recruited. They are not Arabs, 
 though commonly called so, but they equal the Arab tribes of Kordofan and 
 Darfur in ferocity and fanatical zeal. Lieut. -Colonel Stewart, in his report 
 two years ago on the Egyptian Soudan, gives an interesting account of the 
 nomad Arabs of Kordofan and Darfur, who are the mainstay of the Mahdi. 
 He says they are bom robbers, hunters, and warriors, who leave manual 
 work to their women, and, after caring for their cattle, devote all their time 
 and energies to slave hunting and war. They are all large owners of cattle, 
 camels, horses, and slaves. The Nile for 600 miles from Khartoum to the 
 Sobat River is held by cattle-raising Arab tribes, and it was estimated ten 
 years ago that there were 6,000,000 beeves, besides an immense number of 
 sheep, in the Egyptian Soudan. 
 
 Two years ago Egypt was about to divide its Soudanese possessions into 
 four administrative districts, when the Madhi ruined the Khedive's project. 
 The proposed districts, Western Soudan, Central Soudan, Eastern Soudan, 
 and Harrar, all have their distinctive geographical features. Western Soudan, 
 including Dongola, Kordofan and Darfur, is strikingly uniform in the steppes- 
 like character and partial aridity of the country. Many Arab tribes live in 
 these regions, each wandering with its herds within certain well-known limits. 
 Southern Darfur, however, is very fertile, and supports a population estimated 
 at 600,000 people. The Bahr of Ghazal region on the south is also rich in 
 resources, and Lupton Bey, its Governor, sent word late in 1883 that, though 
 he was fighting with four tribes that had espoused the Madhi's causo, his 
 
 . 
 
THE SOUDAN. ' SS 
 
 revenues for the previous year, if he could get his ivory, gums, and other 
 collections north, would exceed the expenses of his province by £60,000. 
 The proposed district of Central Soudan is the flower of the Egyptian pro- 
 vinces. It includes the Provinces of Khartoum, Sennoar, Foshoda, and the 
 equator, and the magnificent subtropical region east of the Nile, embracing 
 the basins of the Aznk and Atbara Rivers. It is the rich sediment from the 
 Atbara that annually renews the fertility of Lower Egypt. Prof. Keano says 
 the basin of the Atbara is a succession of dense woodlands, rich pastures, and 
 well-watered arable tracts. The country is healthful, and is said to contain 
 many millions of acres of unsurpassed cotton lands. This country, according 
 to Sir Samuel Baker and many others, needs only transportation facilities to 
 make it a region of great commercial importance. 
 
 The proposed district of Eastern Suudau includes the well-known country 
 along the Red Sea littoral and a part of Nubia. 
 
 Though the Egyptian Soudan is a region of great ethnical complexity, 
 Arabs, negroes, and negroids fusing here and there, and forming a great 
 variety of clans and tribes, nearly all the people, except the pagan Soudanese, 
 are united in religious fanaticism and in their hatred of Egyptian rule. The 
 time has come when civilization must gain the mastery in their land, or be 
 content to abandon its immense resources, and the millions of poor blacks who 
 live in and around it, to a horde of slave-hunting semi-barbarians, who will 
 perpetually menace the white settlements south of them and the peace of 
 northern nations as well. — New York Sun. 
 
 The region in central Africa, known as the Soudan, extends from Assouan 
 on the equator, and from Massowah on the Red Sea, to the western limits of 
 Darfour, a territory 1,650 miles long by 1,200 broad. 
 
 The name Soudan is from the Arabic aswad, plural suda, black, and 
 Beled-es-Soudan, as the Arabs call it, means literally the Land of the Blacks. 
 
 Of the desert General Colston thus writes : — " All the vast spaces ejust 
 and west of the Nile valley between the fourteenth degree and the Mediter- 
 ranean (over eight hundred thousand square miles) are The Desert. It would 
 seem at the first glance to be absolutely unfitted for the habitation of man. 
 He who has never travelled through the desert cannot form a just idea of that 
 strange and marvellous region, in which all the ordinary conditions of life are 
 completely changed. It is essentially a waterless land, without rivers, creeks, 
 rivulets, or springs. Once away from the Nile, the only supply of water is 
 derived from deep wells, few, scanty, and far apart. Long droughts are 
 frequent. When I explored the great Arabian Desert between the Nile and 
 the Red Sea, it had not rained for three years. Between the twenty-ninth 
 and the nineteenth degree of latitude it never rains at all. Water becomes 
 precious to a degree beyond the conception of those who have never known 
 
S4 TUB WAR IN TUB 80UDAK. 
 
 its scarcity. Members of the Oatholic mission at El Oboid, where water is 
 much mure plentiful than in the deserts, assured me that, the summer before, 
 water had been sold as high as half a dollar a gallon by the proprietors of the 
 few wells that had not dried up. As tu the quality, desert water is generally 
 bad, the exception being when it is worse, though long custom enables the 
 Bedouins to drink water so brackish as to be intolerable to all except them- 
 selves and their flocks. The atmoor, as the Arabs call it, is truly the ideal 
 desert, consinting mainly of hard gravel plains diversified by zones of deep 
 sand, rocky ridges, sometimes of considerable altitude, and rugged defiles. 
 It is absolutely destitute of all vegetation, and consequently of animal life, 
 only the ostrich and hyena cross it swiftly by night, and the vulture hovers 
 over the canvvans by day. Not a tree, not a bush, not a blade of grass re- 
 lieves the glare of the sunlight upon the yellow sand. No one can resist the 
 solemn impression of deep silence and infinite space produced by the desert. 
 Whenn:ght has come, and the soldiers and Bedouins are asleep in their 
 bivou8«8, walk away under the unequalled African moon beyond the first 
 ridge of sand or rocks. Around you stretches a boundless sea-like horizon. 
 The sand gleams almost as white as snow. Not a sound falls upon the ear, 
 not the murmur of a breeze, not the rustle of leaf or grass, not the hum of the 
 smallest insect. Silence — only silence — as profound as death, unless it is 
 broken by the howl of a -prowling hyena or the distant roar of the king of 
 beasts. Within the limits of Egypt and the Soudan these desolate atmoors 
 extend over three-quarters of a million of square miles, never trodden by the 
 foot of man. Only a few caravan trails cross them in their narrowest parts, with 
 scanty wells at long intervals ; and the necessities of trade can alone account 
 for their being penetrated at all. They are oceans, where caravans pass each 
 in haste, like vessels at sea. The marches are perfectly terrible, and yet it is 
 worse to halt during the day than to keep in motion, for the heat makes sleep 
 or rest impossible, even under canvas. With the burning sand under your 
 feet and the vertical sun over your head, you are as between the lids of an ' ' 
 oven. In June the thermometer rises to 150" and 160®. The air that blows 
 feels as if it had just passed through a furnace or a brick-kiln. Over the 
 plains it quivers visibly in the sun, as if rising from a red-hot stove, while the 4 
 
 mirage mocks your senses with the most life-like image of lakes, ponds, and 
 rippling waters." — {Century, March, 1885.) 
 
 The dress of the Soudanese women if not voluminous is simple. They 
 attire themselves in dark blue calico, which they wrap round the waist, and 
 which covers them down to the knees. Besides this they wear a white muslin 
 veil, which covers the head and the face, leaving only the eyes exposed. They , 
 are very fond of ornaments, especially of beads, which they wear not only 
 round their necks, but also round their vpaists, and their wrists. They further 
 
 \ I 
 
 ^ 
 
f 
 
 TUB SOUDAN. 25 
 
 decornto tbcmBelvos with nocklncos of '• sauineet," or pieces of ajjftte an inch 
 thick, with alturnatoil colourd of black, bruwn and white. They wear ear- 
 rings and nose-rings of gold. Those- in the car weigh half an onnco oiioli, and 
 that in the nose i» so large as to cover the mouth. It is worn on the right 
 side of the nose. When they cannot atlord the gold rings they put a piece of 
 coral through the nose. Not only are the neck, ears and nose ornamented, 
 but the ankloH also. Strings of glass beads, or fili>freo ornaments fastened 
 with a silk tassel, generally red, above thick-soled brown leather Hiindals, 
 adorn the feet of the Soudanese girls. The girls themselves are thus 
 described in Petherick's interesting book, Egypt : — 
 
 " Their colour partakes of various shades, from light to brown, almost 
 black ; and although they scarcely ever wash — using the " dilka," dough and 
 oil, instead of water — their skin appears clean and fresh. The hair, which 
 never reaches below the shoulders, an<l inclines to be wooll>, is plaited into a 
 variety of forma, but genemlly closely to the head, fitting like a skull-cap, and 
 hanging down in thick masses of innumerable small plaits all round the side 
 and back of the head. Another form is to plait the hair so as to adhere close 
 to the top of the head, as in the former case, but the ends, instead of being 
 plaited, are combed out and stiffened with a solution of grease, forming a 
 thick bushy circle around the head. With this head-dress, as the lady only 
 arranges her hair once or twice a month, she cannot recline upon a pillow, for 
 which she is obliged to substitute a small wooden stool, hollowed out to tit the 
 neck, upon which she reposes." 
 
 The houses of the people in the Soudan are as simple as their dress, and 
 more simple than their ornaments. They are built of sun-burnt bricks, 
 plastered with a composition made of manure and grey sand. There is gener- 
 ally only one large room in the kouse, which is used both for living and Bleep- 
 ing in, and a small one used as a lumber-room. Often there are no windows, 
 but if there are any, they are placed in very high positions. 
 
 The children are never dressed until they are eight or nine years old, and 
 they are very young when they are married. A mother carries her baby on 
 her left hip : the baby is always naked, and sits aatride. 
 
 The following extract from a letter from one of the Canadian Voyageurs, 
 descriptive of this region, will be read with interest : — 
 
 Meeawi, 31st January, 1885. 
 
 I know not but I may have convoyed a wrong impression in some of my 
 former letters respecting the fertility of the Soudan, which certainly improves 
 vastly as we go south. The banks of the river from Abbafatma, where not 
 encroached on by the sterile desert, are very fertile. 
 
 B 
 
 : 
 
36 THE WAR IN THE SOUDAN, 
 
 Here we come upon patches of well-tilled soil filled with the vegetable 
 productions of the country. There may be seen on the right or left bank 
 beautiful groves of date palms alternating with thorn trees with lovely green 
 spray and yellow blossoms, a strong contrast with the white thorn ; and every 
 now and then a lawn-like expanse strikes the eye, the ground looking as if it 
 was rolled, so even and smooth is it — fields of barley in all stages of growth, 
 the castor oil plant, cotton, corn and beans of various kin Js, many of the 
 latter having a beautiful purple and white flower. To the eye, tired and sun- 
 scorched with the glare of the desert sand just left behind, it is indeed a 
 vision of the Elysian fields. 
 
 On the 28th, we passed an island of exceeding fertility and beauty — a 
 very Arca^lia — where one might fancy that they had found a haven of rest 
 and peace, that the desire of their soul and their longings for the beautiful 
 and the " Rest for the weary " had at last been attained, were the scene not 
 marred with the miserable mud huts and filthy corrals of the natives, which 
 are surrounded by such an atmosphere that any description of it would so 
 taint the paper on which it was written that you could not get near tnuugh 
 to read it. 
 
 I cannot by any description that I can give do justice to Merawi. 
 Stretching tack from the river about a quarter of a mile, the clififs rise boldly 
 and assume quite a castellated form. Huge blocks of white, grey and pink 
 freestone seem to have been laid together like built masonry. But nature 
 haa done a work that man with all his ingenuity and education could only 
 faintly imitate. The impress of the Master hand is there, stamped with the 
 Maker's name from everlasting to everlasting. Right from the foot of this 
 wall of rock to the river edge, a lawn level a: you could imagine slopes 
 gently, dotted with groups of palm and thorn and fringed as it were here 
 and there with crops of young barley, with the odd-looking caustic plant with 
 its broad leaver, very like those of the cactus, interspersed, and ne irer the 
 bank of the stream a belt of grass looking very like our Canadian foxtail, and 
 close on the water edge a broad belt of the bean plant, making a most charm- 
 ing scene. But delightful as all this is, it has only the effect of making me 
 sigh for the green fields, the forest glades and the lovely lakes of dear Canada 
 my home. 
 
 The tribes up this way are slightly different from those below, the men 
 are certainly better and more indeprndent looking, better clothed also and 
 altogether more manly. 
 
 The women wear their hair in the form of a fringe, each strand about a 
 quarter of an inch in diameter, plaited and well greased, rings in their noses 
 and their ears, with bracelets and anklets. As a general thing this is " full 
 dress for the belles of the Soudan." 
 
i 
 
 THE SOUDAN. 27 
 
 " Though the middle and doubtful aged ladies wear a plaited fringe of hair, 
 something after the fashion of a Highlander's kilt, but — ' rather shorter.' 
 
 " A race of negroes, very thick-lipped, are scattered thickly among the 
 natives, and I fancy these are slaves — in fact, I saw one poor devil with a 
 heavy ankle lock on the other day. 
 
 " All traffic is conducted by convoys c.r caravans of camels and donkeys, 
 and there seems to be a very fair share of trade going on." 
 
 The population of the Soudan, north of 11 N. lat., consists chiefly of 
 Mahommedan Arabs, whilst south of that line, negro tribes, mostly pagans, are 
 scattered more or less densely. For centuries past the former have found 
 among the latter supplies for the slave markets of Cairo, Damascus and Con- 
 stantinople. Egyptian rule was first extended to these dihtricts by Mehemet 
 Ali, under whom Ibrahim Pasha carried it as far south as Kordofan and Sen- 
 naar. The Arabs sullenly acquiesced in this invasion so long as their slave 
 trade was not interfered with. When, however, Ismeul Pasha, under Euro- 
 pean pr<'ssure, was induced to issue his proclamation against slavery ^ he 
 alleged the necessity of extending Egyptian rule to the parts whence the 
 traders drew their supplies. Sir Samuel Baker's expedition in 1870 thus led 
 to the conquest of the equatorial provinces, of which, in 1874, Colonel 
 ("Chinese") Gordon was appointed Governor-General. In the foUowinj^ 
 year Dai-four was added to the Egyptian possessions. Two years later Ismail 
 Pasha brought all his Central African provinces under one Government, and 
 this he entrusted to Colonel Gordon. The induence of the just rule of 
 such a Governor-General can be imagined. By treating his subjects on prin- 
 ciples of absolute justice, by listening attentively to all their little grievances, 
 by mercilessly repressing all those who defied the law, "Chinese" Gordon 
 accustomed the Soudanese to a much higher standard of Government than they 
 had ever yet seen. But alas ! on the fall of Ismail, economy necessitated the 
 recall of their exemplary ruler, and he gone, a whole horde of Turks, Circas- 
 sians, Bashi-Ba^ouks were once more let loose to harass and oppress the un- 
 fortunate Soudanese. 
 
 Now arose a deliverer, by name Mahomet Achmet, self-called El Mahdi. 
 
 Carlyle believes the great man is heaven-sent. To say that the time calls 
 forth the man he declares is "melancholy work." "The great man," he says, 
 " with his free force direct out of God's own hand, is the lightning. His word 
 is the wise healing word which all can believe in. All blaze.s round him now, 
 when he has once struck on it, into fire like his own. The dry mouldering 
 sticks are thought to have called him forth. They did want him greatly ; but 
 as to calling him forth — ! — Those are critics of small vision, I think who cry : 
 * See, is it not the sticks that made the fire V " 
 
Bo THE WAR IN THE SOUDAN. 
 
 This sounds very nice ; but Thomas Carlyle's "great man" is so great 
 that Carlyle can see nothing else. He forgets that the dryness of the sticks 
 is one factor in the creating of a great man. If there were no dryness there 
 were no need perhaps of a great man. It is the seeing the dryness and then 
 holding to them a lighted torch that makes the man great. 
 
 The sticks were very dry indeed in the Soudan, and there was a man 
 there who knew it. Of him let us now take notice. 
 
 :■ I 
 
V.'> ' 
 
 THE MAHDL 
 
 29 
 
 •' 
 
 CHAPTBH VI. 
 
 := ^ 
 
 THE MAHDI. 
 
 In many Mussulman countries there existed a belief that on the com- 
 pletion of twelve centuries from the Hegira, the Mahdi, or new deliverer, 
 would appear. The twelve centuries were reckoned to come to an end on 
 12th November, 1882. But one who would not await for that eventful day 
 had already arisen, and declared himself the Mahdi. This was a man about 
 thirty years of age, who is described as being tall and slim, and having a 
 light brown complexion. His name was Mahomet Achmet, and he was the 
 son of a carpenter. He was apprenticed to his uncle, who one day gave him 
 a beating, which so enraged him that he ran away and went to a free school 
 kept by one of the dervishes at Hoghali, a village near Khartoum. This 
 school is attached to the shrine of the patron saint of Khartoum, and is 
 greatly venerated by the natives. From this school he went to another at 
 Berber, where also there is a shrine ; and he there seemed to be a religious boy. 
 
30 
 
 THE WAR IN THE SOUDAN. 
 
 In 1870 he became the disciple of Sheikh Nur-el-Danoi, a name which 
 means " continuous light," and he ordained him a faki or sheikh. After this 
 he went to live in the ialand of Abba, on the White Nile, where he dug a 
 cave for himself, which he called a retreat, and into which he went constantly 
 to worship. He began to be known as a very pious man, greatly given to 
 fasting and incense-burning, and prayers. After a time he was joined by 
 followers, who gave him presents, so that he became very wealthy. He 
 married as many wives as he was allowed to have, and airways took them from 
 wealthy families, by which means, of course, his own wealth and influence 
 were increased. In May, 1881, he began to write letters declaring himself the 
 Madhi whom Mahomet had foretold. He said that he had been sent to 
 reform Islam, that he would bring a new state of things into the Mahom- 
 medan world, that he would establish the equality of man, and make tlie 
 rich share with the poor. A great many people at once believed in him and 
 followed him. Then he went further, and said that those who did not receive 
 him should be destroyed, whoever and whatever they were. 
 
 The world had been so occupied with Arabi Pasha in Egypt, that very little 
 notice was taken of the Mahdi for some time ; but on the 19th December, 
 1881, news came that there were troubles in the Soudan. The False Prophet, 
 at the head of one thousand five hundred men, totally annihilated an Egyptian 
 force of three hundred and fifty men, who were led against him by the Gover- 
 nor of Faahada. The Governor himself was among the killed. The Governor- 
 General of the Soudan at once sent for reinforcements, and the Black Kegiment, 
 under the command of Abdallah Bey, was ordered to advance. But the 
 Egyptian forces were very half-hearttd in the matter, and were beaten again 
 and again. 
 
 In July, 1882, the Mahdi brought his followers and made them surround 
 the Egyptian soldiers under Yusef Pasha. The Egyptians were without food, 
 and were easily overcome, the entire army being massacred by the Mahdi. 
 
 On the 8th of September, he attacked Obeid and was repulsed. He made 
 a second and a third attack with the same result ; and on the last occasion 
 10,000 of his men were slain. 
 
 On the 8th of December, a man arrived on the scene who was likely to 
 make things better if it were possible, and that was Colonel Stuart ; but in 
 the beginning of January, 1883, both Bara and Obeid surrendered to the 
 Mahdi, who at once entered the latter town and took up his residence there. 
 
 The Daily News published a very curious letter from an EflFendi, which 
 had been forwarded by its special correspondent, Mr. O'Donovan, and which 
 shows how some of the Mahdi's followers regard him: — "The Mahdi seeks 
 nothing but God. He is kind and speaks civilly to all. He abhors falsehoods, 
 and his pride is to spread the glory of our religion. He fights in the path of 
 
THE MAIIDI. 
 
 31 
 
 God, and only with those who refuse to obey him. Hia daily life (peace be 
 unto him 1) is quite opposed to worldly matters, nor does he care for its enjoy- 
 ments. He is simple in his diet and plain in dress. Kisaret dourra (millet) 
 steeped in water is all that he eats. A plain shirt and trousers made from the 
 native cloth is all that he wears. He is always smiling, and his face is as 
 resplendent as the new moon. His body and form is of the sons of Israel, 
 and on his right cheek is a mole (khal), and also other marks which are written 
 in the books of the holy law are stamped upon him. He neither honors the 
 rich for their riches, nor does be neglect the poor on account of their poverty. 
 All Muslims to him are equal. Like a kind father to his children, so 
 much is his kindness towards us. Had he punished us for what we have done 
 none of us would be saved, but he forgave us on our repentance. We all 
 received a sufficient sum from the treasury for the support of our family, but 
 do not get any fixed pay. If I were to describe to you all the good qualities 
 of the Mahdi, it would take a long letter to do so. He is following in the 
 footsteps of his grandfather (ancestor ?) — peace be to his bones ! — and if you 
 are Muslims and the sons of Muslims, banish worldly affairs, and follow not 
 the inclination of sinful souls, which leads its possessor to destruction, but look 
 to the end and to Paradise." 
 
 Such is the man whom England is now doing her best to crush. 
 
 It would be interesting here to discuss the Tightness or wrongness of so 
 doing — indeed this is a question which not a few of the journals on this side 
 of the Atlantic have already more than once touched upon. On the one side 
 it may be said : His followers, if not he himself, believe him to be the true 
 Imam Mahdi who was to appear ; they are fighting against oppression and a 
 government which they abhor ; and they believe they are doing Ood'a service 
 by exterminating the feringhees or infidels sent by the British and Egyptian 
 Governments to conquer him. The following letter sent to Admiral Hewett 
 and General Graham, signed and sealed by the sheikhs of twenty-one tribes, 
 describes accurately their belief : — 
 
 *' In the name of the most merciful God, the Lord be praised, etc. — From 
 the whole of the tribes and their sheikhs who have received your writings, 
 and those who did not receive writings, to the Cum nandant of the English 
 soldiers, whom God help to Islam. Amen. Then your letters have arrived 
 with us, and what you have informed us in them — to come in — then know 
 that the gracious God has sent his Madhi suddenly who was expected, the 
 looked-for messenger for the religious and against the infidels, so as to show 
 the religion of God through him, and by him to kill those who hate him, 
 which has happened. You have seen who have gone to him from the people 
 and soldiers, who are countless. God killed them, so look at the multitudes." 
 Here follow verses from the Koran. "You who never know religion till after 
 
32 THE WAR IN THE SOUDAN. 
 
 death hate God from the beginning. Then we are sure that God, and only 
 Ood, sent the Mahdi, so as to take away your property, and you know this 
 since the time of our Lord Mahomet's coming. Pray to God, and be con- 
 verted. There is nothing between us but the sword, especially as the Mahdi 
 has come to kill you and destroy you unless God wishes you to Ii^iam. The 
 Mahdi's sword be on your necks wherever you may escape, and God's iron be 
 round your necks wherever you may go. Do not think you are enough for 
 us, and the Turks are only a little better than you. We will not leave your 
 heads unless you become Mussulmans and listen to the Prophet and laws of 
 God, and God said in His dear book those who believe Him tight for Him, \ 
 
 and th'ise who do not believe in Him shall be killed." Here follow many 
 verses from the Koran referring to permission to kill intidels. " Therefore 
 God has waited for you for a ling time, and you have thought that He would 
 always go on waiting for you ; but God said He would wait for you as you 
 were bad. People but know that during the time of the Mahdi he will not 
 accept bribes from you, and also will not leave you in your infidelity, so there 
 is nothing for you but the sword, so that there will not remain one of you on 
 the face of the earth, therefore Islam. 
 
 On the other hand it may be said : He is no prophet ; he is deceiving his 
 disciples ; even the Mussulmans of India declare he is noMohammedan ; the just 
 rule of England will be superior to any Oriental government ; he is iu revolt 
 against the rightful powers ; Egypt under England is better able to judge 
 what is best for the Soudanese ; and his defeat will lead to the rapid spread 
 of civilization. 
 
 Some of the former of these considerations, added to the extreme diffi- 
 culty which, it was felt, attended any attempt to bring the whole of the 
 Soudan provinces completely under subjugation, seem to have had great 
 weight with the British Cabinet. The instructions issued to General Gordon 
 on the occasion of employing him as the pacificator of these regions show 
 this. "Her Majesty's Government," said Lord Granville, "are desirous 
 that you should proceed at once to Egypt, to report to them on the military 
 situation in the Soudan, and on the measures which it may be advisable to 
 take for the security of the Egyptian garrisons still holding positions in that 
 country, and for the safety of the European population in Khartoum. You 
 are also desired to consider and report upon the best mode of ejfecting the 
 evacuation of the interior of the Soudan, and upon the manner in which the 
 safety and the good administration by the Egyptian Government of the porta 
 on the sea coast can best be secured. In coanection with this subject, you 
 should pay especial coi sideration to the question of the steps that may use- 
 fully be taken to counteract the stimulus which it is feared may possibly be 
 
 ) i 
 
1 
 
 \ 1 
 
 THB MAHDI. 33 
 
 given to the slave trade by the present insurrectionary movement, and by 
 the withdrawal of the Egyptian authority from the interior." 
 
 However, public opinion is now less soft-hearted, and the intention seems 
 to be at all hazards to — " smash the Mahdi." 
 
 What a Mahdi is. 
 
 The ordinary reader is perhaps satisfied to think that el Mahdi signifies nothing 
 more than "the prophet" — or, in the case of Mahomet Achmet, the rebel of the 
 Soudan, " the false prophet. " But the word Mahdi has a deeper meaning, and con- 
 tains a whole history in itself. 
 
 At the risk of being tedious, not to say '* dry," a few remarks may be here inserted 
 on the origin and growth of the true notion of the Mahdi. 
 
 On the death of Mahomet, no successor having been appoir ' ed, and uncertainty 
 existing as to whether the succession should be elective or hereditary, three different 
 parties put forward pretensions: first, the Mohadjirs, or early converts; second, the 
 Ansars, who had powerfully contributed to the prophet's success ; third, the prophet's 
 near relations. This last party gained the succession, but personal rivalries led to a 
 long and bitter conflict between the partisans of Ali, the prophet's cousin and son-in- 
 law, and the 8upi)orters of Moawia, a more distant relative. In the long run the latter 
 were successful, Ijut the adherents of All's descendants continued to regard Moawia 
 and his successors as usurpers, and held that the true line would some day again be 
 looked upon as tho proper successors of Mahomet, and the personage who would soon 
 appear to demand and seize the succession would be— the Mahdi. 
 
 This, in briwf, is the history of the idea, but it is invested with many metaphysical, 
 theological, and mystical doctrines. A renegade Jew, by name Abdallah-ibn-Saba, 
 preached that Ali was an incarnation of the divine essence ; that he had disappeared 
 from tho world for a time, and would reappear as Mahdi. The object of this Abdallah- 
 ibn-Saba was to overthrow the Abbaside dynasty (tha successors of Moawia) ; he cared 
 little for consistency, and explained the Mahdi theory under various forms : to the 
 Jew he represented him &a the Messiah, to the Christian he identified him with the 
 Paraclete. 
 
 In all ages it has been believed that the Mahdi would have both a political and a 
 religious mission. It is in this sense, probably, that the simple people of the Soudan 
 have received Mahomet Achmet. They think little— probably know little — of his 
 presumed descent from Ali, of his being an incarnation of the divine essence ; they 
 have heard naught of the mystical and theosophical dogmas with which the office is 
 encompassed. " It ic enough for them to know," says a Constantinople correspondent, 
 "that Allah has sent a prophet and a deliverer who is to drive unbelievers and tax- 
 gatherers out of the country, and to give his followers abundance of opportunities for 
 obtaining plunder. So long as he continues to accomplish successfully this holy mission 
 his pretensions to being something more than an ordinary mortal will not be too closely 
 scrutinized, and the fetwahs of learned sheikhs in Cairo, Mecca, or elsewhere, declaring 
 him to be an imposter, will produce very little effect upon his followers. The followers, 
 on their part, need not know anything of the early history of Islam, or be capable of 
 understanding pan-theistii 'octrines. All they require is to be brave and enduring, 
 and to be capable of a cei ii enthusiasm for the cause which they have espoused. 
 That they possess these rec^ i sites in a very high degree they have abundantly proved." 
 
^ 
 
 34 THE WAB IN THE SOUDAN. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 SLAIN IN THE DESERT. 
 
 To give some of the reasons of the Mahdi's astonishing progress and the 
 successes he achieved, as well as to record the sad fate of Colonel Hicks and 
 his 11,000 men, it will be well to say something of the expedition led by this 
 splendid officer against the forces of the false prophet. 
 
 The Mahdi's influence was spreading. All the country about Khartoum 
 and El Obeid was ablaze with rebellious and furious fanaticism. The Egyp- 
 tian authorities became seriously alarmed, and it was resolved to send troops 
 immediately for the purpose of quelling the rising. The disbanded soldiers 
 of Arabi's shattered army were sent to the south, and Colonel Hicks, having 
 been created a Pasha, was given the virtual command. He left Cairo accom- 
 panied by several British officers early in February, 1883, and proceeded to 
 Suakim ; from thence they made for Khartoum via Berber. At Khartoum 
 no time was lost in obtaining reinforcements and organizing an army. From 
 March to October various reverses and s.tccesses were recorded. Amongst 
 the latter being the battle of Assalia, fought on April 29th. 
 
 The desperate way in which the Arabs rushed fearlessly to certain death 
 in this engagement has been described by Colonel Colborne. "With t5e 
 greatest sang froid," he says, " they came up within a few paces. Those 
 whose horses were killed advanced on foot. One Arab coolly walked up to 
 within ten yards of us, and when told to lay down his spear brandished it in 
 defiance. Call this valour, infatuation, madness, or what you will, such cool 
 determination and such utter disregard of certain death has seldom been 
 equalled on the battle-field." This reminds one strongly of the recklessness 
 of the Zulus, who rushed frantically, armed perhaps only with a spear and 
 an ox-hide shield, upon the ranks of their foes. Or of the Moplahs in the 
 south-west of Hindustan, who, it is said, even when transfixed by the bayonet i 
 
 strive to reach their opponent by drawing themselves up the musket. 
 
 The last telegram received from Hicks was on the 17th of October, and 
 not till the last week in November was it known that he and his army had 
 perished in the desert, fighting doggedly for three days against countless 
 numbers of the enemy. 
 
 The most authentic accounts give the following particulars : — 
 In September, Hicks Pasha set out from Duem on the Nile for a two- 
 hundred-mile maroh across the desert with the intention of capturing El 
 
(• 
 
 \ 
 
 SLAIN IN THB DESERT. 36 
 
 Obeid. His army bore the character more of a mob than of disciplined 
 soldiers, and although consisting of some 11,000 men it seemed to all a sort 
 of forlorn hope to attempt to vie with the hosts of the Mahdi, especially 
 in such a country. 
 
 Worse than all, they could never be sure that they were free from 
 treachery. Indeed, as the sequel will show, this it was that brought on the 
 almost unparalleled disaster of which I am about to speak. 
 
 On November 3rd, the army entered a sort of defile. Unsuspecting 
 danger they entered fearlessly, but when fairly enclosed, suddenly they found 
 themselves absolutely surrounded by the enemy. It was an ambuncade. The 
 guide had deceived them. And now alone in the desert, encompassed by 
 thousands of wildly fanatical rebels, scarce of water, and with no path by 
 which to advance or retreat, there was nothing for it but to stolidly fight it 
 out to tlie bitter end. And this they did. For three days did that army 
 under the inspiring valour of their magnificent leader, repel the onslaughts of 
 their foes. Day and night they fought though parched with thirst and with 
 aching limbs. Night only brought fears of surprises, and dawn only showed 
 the numbers of the enemy augmented with fresh and vigorous reinforcements* 
 Ammunition ran short ; the foe pressed closer. A third of the Egyptian troops 
 surrendered; and the remainder, with the courage of despair, resolved to die 
 in a last charge upon the foe. The last cartridge was fired. Bayonets were 
 fixed, and recklessly they threw thfemselves against the dark wall of men 
 before them. It was useless. The bullets of the opposing forces mowed them 
 down by hundreds ; and of that army of eleven thousand men it is said that 
 one man only escaped to record the dauntlessnesa of his fellows. Hicks Pasha 
 himself was found dead, a bloody sword grasped in one hand, and in the other 
 a pistol. With him fell Mr. O'Donovan, correspondent of the Daily News, 
 famous for his adventures in Merv ; AUa-ed-Deen Pasha, Governor-General 
 of the Soudan, and several British officers, pashas, and beys. 
 
 Such a victory naturally set the whole Soudan in a blaze. The fiction of 
 the Mahdi's divine mission required no further confirmation, and additional 
 thousands rallied to his standard. 
 
 The history of the events which led up to the war in the Soudan would 
 have been incomplete without special mention of this expedition and its sad 
 ' termination This, more perhaps than any other success achieved by the 
 
 Mahdi, tended to spread his fame far and wide. The consternation even at 
 < Cairo was profound. If the false prophet continued upon his path of victory 
 
 what hindered his marching on the very palace of the Khedive ? He had 
 myriads at his beck, and the fate of those sent against him showed the com- 
 parative uselessness of the Egyptian soldiery when pitted against men fighting 
 
 1 
 
86 THE WAR IN THE SOUDAN. 
 
 for their liberty, their country, their prophet, and their God. The rebellion 
 of Arabi was, as compared with thia, as a momentary blaze to a vast and rush- 
 ing prairie fire. So useless did the British Government consider it to oppose 
 this new-arisen Soudanese spectre, that it earnestly advised the Khedive to 
 leave that country to its own fate, and not to attempt further the reconquest 
 of those distant provinces. Reluctant as the Egyptian Government evidently 
 was to act upon such advice, there seemed but little possibility for anything 
 else to be done. 
 
 Fre^h troubles sprang up. The Soudanese spectre of fanaticism and 
 revolt h&< ' atherto haunted the deserts of the west ; now it stalked through 
 the east also. Sinkat was surrounded by the exasperated foe ; Tokar was 
 surrounded ; the high road between Berber and Suakim was seized ; Suakim 
 itself threatened ; a relief force for Tokar was cut to pieces ; 760 men out of 
 800 fell in cue day at Sincat. 
 
. 
 
 I 
 
 MORE DI8A8TEB8. 37 
 
 CHAPTER VIU. 
 
 MORE DISASTERS. 
 
 To the civilian and to the ordinary reader the chief business of the soldier 
 aeems to be to fight : to form square when the enemy appears ; to put a cart- 
 ridge into his rifle and fire it off ; to charge at the sound of the bugle ; to kill as 
 many men as he can ; and to avoid being killed himself. People do not think 
 of the long, long marches with heavy knapsacks ; the getting up to start per- 
 haps across a waterless desert, at half-past one in the morning ; the looking 
 after jaded horses and unruly camels ; the going without water under a terrific 
 sun for hours and hours ; the dragging of guns over, commonly speaking, im- 
 passable ground ; the hard fighting for long weiirying hours, at any time of 
 day or night, with or without meals ; the glaring sun ; the intense heat ; the 
 parched throat ; the aching legs and arms ; the likelihood of surprises ; and, 
 not least, the absence of all news from home : no letters, no newspapers, no 
 word at all from the longing wife and the loving children ; really quite alone 
 in the horrible desert ; behind — a thousand miles to the nearest seaport ; in 
 front — three hundred miles of desert, and two hundred thousand black savages 
 waiting for blood. These are some of the things that make up war. Perhaps 
 the fighting is the best part of it. There is excitement in that, there is some 
 tangible evidence of the result of hard work ; there is the chance of being 
 mentioned in despatches ; there is the praise given in the general orders. 
 But before the battle — what hardships ! and after it — what agony often ! If 
 one hundred men die on the battlefield, how many people, think you, weep at 
 home ? Too many poets ting the " pomp and circumstance of war ; " too few 
 poets weep the pain cf wounds, the pang of loss. 
 
 Wounds and loss now followed in thick succession. 
 
 Elated by the grand defeat of the gallant Hicks the rebels grew bold. 
 Tokar is surrounded, Sincat is surrounded. The latter place cannot be reached, 
 and brave Tewfik Bey, the commander of its little force, is left to die. The 
 black hordes come up to the walls and shout curses at its gallant defenders. 
 There is no food ; the last dog even is killed to keep off starvation. Half a 
 pound of grain in the twenty-four hours is all the fighting men get now. And 
 at last there is but one sack of this left. They make up their minds. The 
 guns are spiked ; the stores burned ; the magazines blown up, and the six 
 hundred men who are left to defend Sincat resolve to cut their way through 
 the enemy. They fill their pouches with cartridges and sally forth. Osmau's 
 
 . 
 
38 THE WAR IN THE HOUDAN. 
 
 men at once rush down. The six hundred fomi square and fighb, — it ia true 
 fighting this, but it is useless. One side of the square is burst in and that 
 brave little band is masnacred to a man. Sincat is oapturod. Five men and 
 thirty women are spared — that is all, and when the news reaches Suakim there 
 are streets filled with weeping women and — yes — weeping men. 
 
 Sincat fallen and Tokar surrounded, something must be done. In this 
 dilemma the Khedive turned to Baker Pasha, now at the head of a creditable 
 body of gendarmerie. This general managed to get together 3,000 troops of 
 an utterly nondescript character, and with these attempted the relief of Tokar. m 
 
 His men were perfectly useless. In the first battle, about 10 miles from 
 Trinkitat, they fell on their knees and begged for mercy from the rebels. It 
 was not a battle, said a correspondent, but a butchery. 
 
 Soon Graham is ordered to take 4,000 men and fight for Tokar. He does 
 so, and the battles of El Teb, in which he was victorious, did a little to damp 
 the ardor of the rebels. 
 
 It is necessary now to go back a little and speak of the causes which 
 broUj^ht the groat Gordon on the scene. 
 
 i 
 
 a 
 

 TU£ CALL FOK UUUDOIf. 39 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE CALL FOR GORDON. 
 
 MBANWHiiiB the cry went up from all sides •' Send Gordon." Every one 
 who had heard his name and knew of his popularity as Govemor-Genorul of 
 the Soudan cried out for him. Why not sent Gordon? said newspaper 
 correspondents ; whore is Gordon 7 said natives who had experienced his 
 beneficial rule. Above all, the Pall Mall Gazette urged his employment. 
 
 " Why not send Chinese Gordon," it wrote, '• with full powers to Khar- 
 toum, to assume absolute control of the territory, to treat with the Mnhdi, to 
 relieve the garrisons, and do what can be done, to save what can bo saved 
 from the wreck in the Soudan ? There is no necessity to speak of the pre- 
 eminent qualifications which he possesses for the work. They are notorious, 
 and are as undisputed as they are indisputable. His engagement on the 
 Congo could surely be postponed. No man can deny the urgent need in the 
 midst of that hideous welter of confusion for the presence of such a man, 
 with a bom genius for command, an unexampled capacity in organising 
 ' Ever- Victorious Armies,' and a perfect knowledge of the Soudan and its 
 people. Why not send him out with carte-blanche to do the best that can be 
 done ? He may not be able, single-handed, to reduce that raging chaos to 
 order, but the attempt is worth making, and if it is to be made it will have 
 to be made at once. For before many days Gonoral Gordon will have left 
 for the Congo, and the supreme opportunity may have pissed by." 
 
 The cry was echoed and re-echoed till it became the voice of public 
 opinion. The Government recognized it, saw the cogency and force of the 
 appeal, and at once decided to act. 
 
 On Wednesday, January the 16th, Gordon had started for Belgium on 
 his way to the Congo, which region ho had undertaken to administrate for 
 the King of the Belgians. On Thursday he received a telegram from the 
 British Government asking him if would undertake the pacilication of the 
 Soudan. He returned to London at once ; and Friday evening saw him 
 e)i route for Cairo. 
 
 This, as it proved, the most momentous errand of his whole life, was 
 commenced in the simple, quiet way in which this truly wonderful man was 
 accustomed to conduct all his affairs. Accompanied only by Lieutenant- 
 Colonel Stewart, of the 11th Hussars, he left Charing Cross Station by the 
 evening train for Dover. The Duke of Cambridge, Lord Wolseley, Colonel 
 
 I 
 
40 
 
 'iHE WA\. IN THE SOUDAN. 
 
 Brocklehurst, and Lord Hartington's private secretary, were the only ones to 
 see him off. The Puke got the ticket ; the hero of Tel-el-Kebir carried the 
 portmanteau, and Coloiiel Brocklehurst opened the carriage door for th? 
 quiet gentleman who was going away never to return. Who does not envy 
 the men who were able to render to him the last little services England could 
 do ? It was the last London saw of him. For one year and eight days there 
 were thousands in England who watched and waited anxiously for any, the 
 minutest piece of, information they could obtain about him. At the end of 
 that lime there arrived the news that he was no more. A grand history his ; 
 full of infinito sadness, inexpressible nobility. — Are they ever separable ? — ! 
 
 f 
 
"I WILL SAVE THE HONODB OF EGYPT." 
 
 41 
 
 CHAPTEB X. 
 
 ♦'I WILL SAVE THE HONOUR OF EGYPT." 
 
 "Bvx what definitely is the object of Gordon's mission ? Briefly, the paci- 
 fication of the Soudan. But how to be accomplished ? This it is not easy, 
 even with the light of after events, accurately to determine. We have seen 
 that the British Government at one time recommended Egypt to give up the 
 southern provinces. We have seen that notwithstanding this she permitted 
 or allowed Generals Hicks, Baker and Graham to march against (a part at all 
 events of) the foe that was menacing these southern provinces. One thing, 
 however, is clear : a resort to arms will be the last resort ; that is r<:-solved 
 upon, and a man is sent whose chief influence lies in his known distaste for 
 an appeal to the sword. General Gordon is to use his friendship with the 
 Sheikhs and his popularity with the people, not his power as the representa- 
 tive of a belligerent intruder. " You will bear in mind," writes Sir Evelyn 
 Baring to him, "that the main end to be pursued is the evacuation of the 
 Soudan. This policy was adopted, after very full discussion; by the Egyptian 
 Government on the advice of Her Majesty's Government. It meets with the 
 full approval of His Highness the Khedive and of the present Egyptian Min- 
 istry. I understand also that you entirely concur in the desirability of 
 adopting this policy, and that you think that it should on no account bo 
 changed. You consider that it may take a few months to curry it out with 
 safety. You are further of opinion that the restoration of the countrj' should 
 be made to the petty Sultans who afisisted at the time of Mehemet Ali's con- 
 quest, and whose families still exist ; and tliat an endeavour should be made 
 to form a confederation of those Sultans. In this view the Egyptian Govern- 
 ment entirely concurs. It will, of course, be fuUy understood that the 
 Egyptian troops are not to be kept in the Soudan merely with a view 
 to consolidating the power of the new rulers of the country. But the 
 Egyptian Government has the fullest confidence in your judgment, your 
 knowledge of the country, and of your comprehension of the general line of 
 policy to be pursued. You are, therefore, given full discretionary power to 
 retain the troops for such reasonable period as you may think necessary, in 
 order that the abandonment of the country may be accomplislied with the 
 least possible risk to life and property." 
 
 This was written after a long and earnest conversation with General 
 Gordon himself, his own phrases being occasionally inserted. 
 
 
 
 \\ 
 
 \ 
 
asa 
 
 42 THE WAR IN THE SOUDAN. 
 
 It will be well if we enter into this intricate subject at some little length, 
 seeing that on the solution of this problem depended (indeed wo may say 
 depends) the whole of the future conduct of affairs in Egypt. 
 
 The state of the Soudan at the time of Gordon's arrival at Cairo was 
 this : The Mahdi's power had swelled to gigantic proportions. It now 
 extended from beyond El Obeid to within a few miles of Suakim. His troops 
 were elated with successes, and having been promised a certain and immediate 
 entrance into paradise by death on the battlefield, they fought with a reck- 
 lessness that might truly be called supernatural. They were consequently to 
 be dreaded. Sincat was in their hands ; the battles of El Teb (which to a 
 slight extent decreased their ardour) had not yet been fought ; Tokar was 
 not yet saved. Osman Digna was rivalling his master in daring. The Egyp- 
 tian garrisons were faltering, and the rebels were correspondingly exultant. 
 Every day added fresh numbers to the foe. Years of oppression had done 
 their work but too well, and it might be said without exa<i;geration that the 
 whole Soudanese were clamouring for ' home-rule.' Deeply impressed with 
 this, the British and Egyptian Governments decided to bring about a sort of 
 compromise. The Mahdi was not to be considered as an integral part of the 
 problem at all. The people were to be won back by assurances of kind 
 Ijovernment ; their estates were to be deeded over to them ; their debts for 
 unpaid taxes were to be repudiated — they were, in short, to be coaxed into 
 loyalty — not to any hated power, but to governors of their own choice — from 
 among their own families. To bring this about the man was chosen whom 
 they knew, whom they could trust, who had trusty friends amongst their 
 chiefs, and to whose rule they had been already accustomed. 
 
 I cannot do better than to append here the memorable memorandum of 
 General Gordon, which gives in his own words his views of what lay before 
 
 him. 
 
 " Memorandum by General Gordon. 
 
 " I understand that Her Majesty's Government have come to the irrevo- 
 cable decision not to incur the very onerous duty of securing to the peoples of 
 the Soudan a just future Government. That, as a consequence, Her Majesty's 
 Government have determined to restore to these peoples their independence, 
 and will no longer suffer the Egyptian Government to interfere with their 
 affairs. 
 
 " 2. For this purpose Her Majesty's Government have decided to send 
 me to the Soudan to arrange for the evacuation of these countries, and the 
 safe removal of the Egyptian employes and troops. 
 
 " 3. Keeping Paragraph No. 1 in view — viz., that the evacuation of the 
 So'idan is irrevocably decided on, it w^ill depend upon circumstances in what 
 way this is to be accomplished. 
 
 / 
 
"I WILL SAVE THE HONOUR OP EGYPT." 43 
 
 " My idea U that the restoration of the country should be made to the 
 diflferoni petty Sultans who existed at the time of Mehemet All's conquest, 
 and whose families still exist ; that the Mahdi should be left altogether out of 
 the calculation as regards the handing over the country ; and that it should 
 be optional with the Sultans to accept his supremacy or not. As these Sul- 
 tans would probably not be likely to gain by accepting the Mahdi as their 
 Sovereign, it is probable that they will hold to their independent positions. 
 Thus we should have two factors to deal with — namely, the Petty Sultans 
 asserting their several independence, and the Mahdi's party aiming at 
 8u jremacy over them. To hand, therefore, over to the Mahdi the arsenals, 
 etc. , would, I consider, be a mistake. They should be handed over to the 
 Sultans of the States in which they are placed. 
 
 " The most difficult question is how and to whom to hand over the arsen- 
 als at Khartoum, Dongola, and Kassala, which towns have, so to say, no old 
 standing families — Khartoum and Kassala having sprung up since Mehemet 
 All's conquest. Probably it would be advisable to postpone any decision as 
 to these towns till such time as the inhabitants have made known their 
 opinion. 
 
 " 4. I have, in Paragraph 3, proposed the transfer of the lands to the 
 local Sultans, and stated my opinion that these will not accept the supremacy 
 of the Mahdi. If this is agreed to, and my supposition correct as to their 
 action, there can be but little doubt that, as far as he is able, the Mahdi will 
 endeavour to assert his rule over them, and will be opposed to any evacuation 
 of the Government employes and troops. My opinion of the Mahdi's forces 
 is, that the bulk of those who were with him at Obeid will refuse to cross the 
 Nile, and that those who do so will not exceed 3000 or 4000 men, and also 
 that these wiU be composed principally of black troops who have deserted, and 
 who, if offered fair terms, would come over to the Government side. In such 
 a case, viz. , ' Sultans accepting transfer of territory and refusing the supremacy 
 of the Mahdi, and Mahdi's black troops coming over to the Government, re- 
 sulting in weakness of the Mahdi,' what should be done should the Mahdi's 
 adherents attack the evacuating columns 1 It cannot be supposed that these 
 are to offer no resistance ; and if in resisting they should obtain a success, it 
 would be but reasonable to allow them to follow up the Mahdi to such a 
 position as would ensure their future safe march. This is one of those difficult 
 questions which our Government can hardly be expected to answer, but which 
 may arise, and to which I would call attention. Paragi-aph 1 fixes irrevocably 
 the decision of the Government — viz., to evacuate the territory, and, of 
 course, as far as possible, involves the avoidance of fighting. I can, therefore, 
 only say that, having in view Paragraph 1, and seeing the difficulty of asking 
 Her Majesty's Government to give a decision or direction as to what should 
 
 / 
 
 / 
 
44 
 
 THE WAB IN THE SOUDAN. 
 
 be done in certain cases, that I will carry out the evacuation as far as possible 
 according to their wish to the best of my ability, and with avoidance, as far 
 as possible, of all fighting. I would, however, hope that Her Majesty's Gov- 
 ernment will give me their support and consideration should I be unable to 
 fulfil all their expectations. 
 
 " 5. Though it is out of my province to give any opinion as to the action of 
 Her Majesty's Government in leaving the Soudan, still I must say it would be 
 an iniquity to reconquer these peoples and then hand them back to the Ej^yp- 
 tians without guarantees of future good government. It is evident that this 
 we cannot secure them without an inordinate expenditure of men and money. 
 The Soudan is a useless possession, ever was so, and ever will be so. Larger 
 than Germany, France, and Spain together, and mostly barren, it cannot be 
 governed except by a Dictator, who may be good or bad. If bad, he will 
 cause constant revolts. No one who has ever lived in the Soudan can escape 
 the reflection — * What a useless possession is this land.' Few men also can 
 stand its fearful monotony and deadly climate. 
 
 "6. Said Pasha, the Viceroy before Ismail, went up to the Soudan with 
 Count F. de Lesseps. He was so discouraged and horrified at the misery of 
 the people, that at Berber Count de Lesseps saw him throw his guns into the 
 river, declaring that he would be no party to such oppression. It was only 
 after the urgent solicitations of European Consuls and others that he recon- 
 sidered his decision. Therefore, I think Her Majesty's Government are fully 
 justified in recommending the evacuation, inasmuch as the sacrifices neces-ary 
 towards securing a good government would be far too onerous to admit of 
 such an attempt being made. Indeed, one may say it is impracticable at any 
 cost. Her Majesty's Government wUl now leave them as God has placed 
 them ; they are not forced to tight among themselves, and they will no longer 
 be oppressed by men coming from lands sf» remote as Circassia, Kurdistan, 
 and Anatolia." 
 
 Thus he wrote oflBcially ; but in his speeches to the people, in his private 
 correspondence, and in hi-- jemi-official communications, the thoroughly whole- 
 hearted manner in which he seemed to be eaten up with the zeal of his 
 project continually shows itself. As probably it has been with all truly great 
 conquerors, clemency was, if not his salient characteristic, by no means a 
 secondary one. The wrongs which the poor, wretched, down-trodden 
 Soudanese had so long borne seemed to pierce him to the heart. He was on 
 an errand of mercy. It was a labor of love in the truest sense. This he be- 
 lieved ; this he expressed. His last words to Nubar Pasha on leaving Cairo 
 were : " I will save the honour of Egypt." 
 
▲T KHARTOUM. 46 
 
 is 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 AT KHARTOUM. 
 
 " Khartottm is a city numbering between fifty and sixty thousand people. 
 Several European consuls reside here. The European colony in small and 
 continually changing ; Khartoum is a perfect grave-yard for Europeans, and 
 \n the rainy season for natives also, the mortality averaging then from thirty 
 to forty per day, which implies three thousand to four thousand for the season. 
 Khartoum is the commercial centre for the Soudan trade, amounting alto- 
 gether to sixty -five million dollars a year, and carried on by one thousand 
 European and three thousand Egyptian commercial houses. There are large 
 hagans, in which is found a much greater variety of European and Asiatic 
 goods than would be expected in such distant regions. In the spacious 
 market-place a brisk trade is carried on in cattle, horses, camels, asses, sheep, 
 as well as grain, fruit, and other agricultural produce." 
 
 Here General Gordon arrived on the morning of February the 18th, 1884. 
 
 The telegraphic despatches reporting his actions and movements on 
 reaching the seat of government are at this date sufficiently full to quote : — 
 
 " Khartoum, Feb. 18, 3.30 p.m. 
 
 " General Gordon's arrival here this morning led to a wonderful demon- 
 stration of welcome by the people, thousands of them crowding to kiss his 
 hands and feet, and calling him the * Sultan of the Soudan.' 
 
 " His speech to the people was received with enthusiasm. He said : — 
 
 " 'I come without soldiers, but with God on my side, to redress the evils 
 of the Soudan. I will not fight with any weapon but justice. There shall be 
 no more Bashi-Bazouks. ' 
 
 " It is now believed that he will relieve the Bahr Gazelle garrisons with- 
 out firing a shot. 
 
 " Since they heard that he was coming the aspect of the people has so 
 changed that there are no longer any fears of disturbances in the town. They 
 say that he is giving them more than even the Mahdi could give. 
 
 " He is sending out proclamations in all directions. 
 
 " Such is the influence of one man that there are no longer any fears for 
 the garrison or people of Khartoum. 
 
 " Feb. 19, 4.30 p.m. 
 
 "Yesterday was one series of acceptable surprises for the people of 
 Khartoum. 
 
46 THE WAR IN THE SOUDAN. 
 
 " General Gordon's proclamation preceded him, and immediately on his 
 arrival he summoned the officials, thus preparing the people for some aalutory 
 changes. He next held a levee at the Mudirieh, the entire population, even 
 the poorest Arab being admitted. On his way between the Mudirieh and the 
 Palace about 1,000 persons pressed forward kissing his hands and feet, and 
 calling him ' Sultan,' * Father,' and ' Saviour of Khordofan.' 
 
 " General Gordon and Colonel Stewart at once opened offices in the 
 Palace, giving to every one with a grievance admittance and a careful hearing. 
 The Government books, recording from time immemorial the outstanding 
 debts of the over-taxed people, were publicly burnt in front of the Palace. 
 The kourbashes, whips, and implements for administering the bastinado from 
 Government house were all placed on the blazing pile. The evidence of debts 
 and the emblems of oppression perished together. 
 
 " In the afternoon General Gordon created a Council of the local notables, 
 all Arabs. Then he visited the hospital and arsenal. With Colonel Stewart, 
 Coetlogon Pasha, and the English Consul he visited the prison, and found it 
 to be a dreadful den of misery. Two hundred wretches loaded with chains 
 lay there. They were of all ages, boys and old men, some having never been 
 tried, some having been proved innocent, but forgotten for over six months, 
 some arrested on suspicion and detained there more than three years, many 
 merely prisoners of war, and one a woman, who had spent 15 years in the 
 prison for a crime committed when she was a girl. 
 
 "General Gordon at once commenced to demolish this bastille. All the 
 prisoners will be briefly examined, and if it be advisable set at liberty. Before 
 it was dark scores of wretches had had their chains struck oflF, and to-day Col. 
 Stewart is continuing this work. 
 
 ' ' Last night the town was in a blaze of illumination, the bazaar being hung 
 with doth and coloured lamps and the private houses beaui;ifully decorated. 
 There was even a fine display of fire works by the negro poptUation, who in- 
 dulged in great rejoicings till midnight. 
 
 " The people are devoted to General Gordon, whose design is to save the 
 garrison and for ever leave the Soudan — as perforce it must be left — to the 
 Soudanese. 
 
 "By private advices from Cairo we learn that surprise is expressed at 
 General Gordon's proclamation. Here the Europeans hail it with delight, 
 and agree that it is the only means of saving the lives of themselves and the 
 garrison. 
 
 " The Mahdi is proclaimed ruler of Kordofan, it is true ; but he is already 
 its virtual ruler, and the official recognition of the fact will prevent his advance 
 upon Khartoum. The slave trade is not to be interfered with ; but the Gov- 
 
 i 
 
. 
 
 LT KHARTOUM. 
 
 47 
 
 emment is already powerless to interfere with it, and the General is, therefore, 
 only making a virtue of necessity. Half of the taxes are remitted, because 
 the people are totally unable to pay. 
 
 "General Gordon is evidently determined to carry out his orders to 
 
 ' effect the evacuation of the Soudan, without risking the lives of another ten 
 
 thousand men. The Egyptians and Europeans have the utmost confidence in 
 
 him and his measures, and foresee that he will spare the useless effusion of 
 
 blood." 
 
 i 
 
 ' 
 
 '<\ 
 
«8 
 
 TUE WAB IN THE SOUDAN. 
 
 \ 
 
 CHAPTBR Xn. 
 
 STILL FURTHER REVERSES. 
 
 After Gordon'ti arrival at Khartoum, while he was exerting his utmost en- 
 deavi lurs to avert warfare and bring about a peaceful solution of all difficulties, 
 affairs elsewhere wore a threatening aspect. On February the 21st, Tobar sur- 
 rendered to the rebels. This in itself was a loss of the first magnitude, for, in 
 addition to its important position being on the littoral and within a short 
 distance of Suakim — a port of inestimable value, the effect upon the rebels 
 was much to be dreaded. The way in which it was given up also added to its 
 ill efiects. There was no valid reason for its surrender : there was an abun- 
 dance of provisions ; the garrison truly numbered only 300, but there were 
 46,000 rounds of ammunition, and the authorities were perfectly aware of the 
 fact that British forces were hastening to their rescue. 
 
 Bad news came also from Massowah further down (south) the coast. 
 And it was said that the insurrection was spreading everywhere even amongst 
 the Government oflBcials. Suakim also was reported to be in a disorganized 
 condition. One thing saved Tokar's garrison from the sad fate of that of 
 Sinkat, viz. : the presence of an English regiment at Trinkitat. Sinkat was 
 helpless, and no terms wo'ild the rebels make. Tokar was within reasonable 
 distance of aid, and the life of its garrison was spared. " Possibly too, " says 
 the Cairo correspondent of the London Times, " because the prestige of 
 General Gordon had reached the eastern tribes." On this subject this writer 
 waxes warm. "Mr. Gladstone," he says, "despises prestige. So do many 
 less able men despise prestige — as well as sugar-plums and children's toys. 
 But if by one or the other we can save valuable lives and restore peace, why 
 not employ them ? The other day the adhesion of some powerful Sheikhs 
 was gained at Suakim by presenting them with some squeaking dolls. 
 Because such gifts would not influence the Premier, there is no reason why 
 we should not employ them with savages. And it is the same with prestige. 
 What else but prestige enabled General Gordon to cross the desert and create 
 peace as if with a magic wand ? It may be foolish to fight solely for prestige, 
 but, having it, it is more foolish to refuse to use it in order to obtain 
 valuable ends. Had the policy accepted a week ago been adopted a fortnight 
 earlier, it would have saved Sinkat. A month earlier it would have saved 
 Morico Bey and his companions ; six months earlier it would have saved 
 Hicks Pasha, Colonel Moncrieff, and 10,000 Egyptians. If it had been adop- 
 
 I 
 
 \ 
 
 ii 
 
STILL FURTHER REVERSES. 49 
 
 ted two years earlier the massacre at Alexandria, the ruin of that town, the 
 battle of Tel-el-Kebir, and all the attendant waste of life and treasure would 
 never have occurred. Let us not be content with this one feeble use of a 
 valuable and bloodless weapon. Other garrisons remain. Shall we wait until 
 they are beleaguered before we attempt to save them from their fate ? Shall 
 we tempt Providence by leaving all on the broad shoulders of one man 1 No ; 
 let us appoint General Gordon British High Commissioner in the Soudan, 
 placing at his disposition not only the force now commanded by his old friend 
 and school-fellow, Major-General Graham, but a supplemental body of Indian 
 cavalry. Let such a force be used only when and where he directs, and it 
 may march unopposed through the (vhole of the Soudan. Then, when all the 
 beleaguered garrisons are free, when the accursed rule of the Turkish- Egyptians 
 over a people who are their superiors is destroyed, let us withdraw once and 
 forever from the Soudan, accept our responsibilities in Egypt, strangle the 
 slave trade where it can alone be reached, trust to time bringing the Soudan 
 voluntarily under the civilized rule of a regenerated Egypt, and receive the 
 gratitude of the millions inhabiting the Nile Valley !" 
 
 Many other towns were either in the hands of the rebels or were sur- 
 rounded by them ; amongst others : El Fasher, Darra, Masteri, Foga, Om 
 Shanga, and ThashL 
 
 \ 
 
60 TUE WAR IN THE SOUDAN 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 EL TEB. 
 
 The last day of February, 1884, witnossed a long expected battle — that 
 of El Teb, in whioh General Graham inflicted a severe lesson upon the rebels. '* 
 
 An eye witness gives the following account : — 
 
 " At 10 o'clock in the morning the scouts feit the enemy and fire was 
 opened on the mounted infantry, who covered the right flank. Shortly after- 
 wards we neared the old battlefield and saw the enemy in considerable 
 numbers on a small hill, which they had ftirtified and where they had two 
 Krupps. The hill was dotted with numerous flags and seemed to be the rebel 
 headquarters. As we approached the rebels hid, but occasionally we could 
 mark heads popped up out of holes watching us. We marched to within a 
 quarter of a mile of the hill to its right and then halted. Directly we had 
 done so the enemy opened a tremendous shell and rifle fire. The bullets for- 
 tunately went high ; but it was evident that, if the enemy had had more time 
 and practice, they would have made good shots. The shell practice was very 
 good, the shells bursting in the square, but fortunately doing no damage, only 
 causing a stampede among the mules and horses. At this moment General 
 Baker was wounded under the eye by a shrapnel buUet^ and lost a great deal 
 of blood. He refused to dismount, but was finally persuaded, re-mounting, 
 however, as soon as the wound had been bandaged. 
 
 " Most of the men shot were hit about this time ; but soon the artillery 
 drove the rebels from the two guns in the first fort. 
 
 "About 11.40 we advanced Again, inclining to the left, which brought us 
 to the rear of the enemy's position. As we advanced. Lieutenant Eoyds, of 
 Her Majesty's ship Carysfort, received a ball in the stomach ; the wound is 
 very dangerous. When about a thousand yards in rear of the enemy, towards 
 Tokar, we halted, changed front, bringing the 42nd in the front and the Gor- 
 don Highlanders in the rear, and advanced on their position. Then they 
 tried to pass us, and while the men in the forts poured a heavy fire from rifles 
 and guns, a vast number more encircled us, coming down on all sides at once. 
 Our men lay down and waited till the enemy were within 160 yards, when the 
 fire from the hill ceased. Then the Gatlings and Gardners got to work, and 
 a deadly fire poured forth from all sides of the square. In spite of our fire, 
 however, which every second knocked over hundreds like rabbits, the rebels 
 oams on, rushing up to meet their death in our very ranks. Their courage 
 
 
i 
 
 I 
 
 EL TEB. 61 
 
 was incredible. I saw men rushing wildly on singly, all their comrades for 
 yards around having fallen, and in spite of the hail of bullets, roach the square 
 and throw their ppear, or stab, before despatched by the bayonet. 
 
 " But no courage or determination could avail against the steadiness of 
 our men, and after half an hour's struggle to break the square, the rebels were 
 obliged to retire, leaving numbers killed on the ground, and more dropping 
 at every step as our men sent volley after volley after them, till they sought 
 shelter behind the hill to the right rear of the first fort. As the enemy retired 
 a wild cheer broke from our men, who, taking advantage of the momentary 
 check, advanced rapiiily towards the first works. The rebels, however, were by 
 no means beaten yet. Behind tlie hill they stopped, apparently to concentrate 
 their forces and to concert measures for another rush. From all sides fresh 
 bands of them hastened up. The ground about here was greatly broken and 
 very difficult. The formation became consequently slightly irregular in 
 places, and gaps were left here and there. A halt was, therefore, called to 
 re-form and distribute fresh ammunition to all needing it. After a few mo- 
 ments the rebels, thinking we were hesitating, came on again in greater 
 numbers than before, and had another three-quarters of an hour's hard fight- 
 ing before they retired again, baffled. 
 
 " Taking advantage of every inch of cover they hid behind each hillock 
 and bush, creeping towards us, and dodging the bullets, so to speak. When 
 sufficiently near they would start up, make a dash for our lines, stab, or 
 attempt to stab, and die. One moment's hesitation on the part of our 
 men would have caused a very serious disaster, but they never flinched or 
 recoiled a step. At last the enemy withdrew some 300 yards, and we advanced 
 upon the fort. When we got close a company of the Black Watch charged 
 the fort, Colonel Burnaby and some sailors being with them. Here the rebels 
 made a desperate stand ; Colonel Buniaby's horse was shot under him, and 
 he himself was wounded in the arm. Colonel Burnaby did good work with a 
 double-barrelled gun and slugs, finishing ten men with 20 cartridges. Another 
 gallant act in the fort was that of Captain Wilson of the Hecla, who, seeing a 
 marine closely pressed, rushed to his assistance, and while surrounded by five 
 or six of the enemy broke his sword at the hilt in the body of one of them. 
 The others closing round him, he tackled them with his fists, doing terrible 
 havoc with his sword hilt. He received a sword cut through his helmet, 
 cutting the scalp, but after having the wound dressed was at it again. 
 
 " The fort was at last taken and we halted, while the gunners turned the 
 captured guns on the enemy's second position, from which they were still 
 actively firing. We could now see the village of Teb close to ; hitherto it ha4 
 been hidden by high ground. Some hundred yards in front was a brick 
 building, in which large numbers of the rebels were concealed, while in front 
 
09 THE WAR IN THE SOUDAN. 
 
 of this building was a large iron boiler lying on the ground. All around, 
 thick afl n rabbit warren, were pita dug for the enemy to lie hidden in and 
 then spring up suddenly as we passed. These pits gave considerable trouble, 
 some of the rebels lying low, feigning to be dead, till the first linos had passed, 
 and then springing up and doing much mischief before they were killed. As 
 we advanced we shelled the building to break down the walls, but the guns 
 were too small to effect this. The walls were loop-holed and the rebels fired 
 heavily from within. Lieutenant Graham with the Naval Brigade, charged 
 the building, the sailors Uring revolvers through the windows while the High- 
 landers shot the rebels who rushed from behmd the walls. When quite close 
 I saw three or four men creep from the boiler, rush at us with indomitable 
 pluck, and meet their doom. 
 
 " Now, the cavalry, which hitherto had been idle, got to work, sweeping 
 round our rear, getting to tiie left, and then charging the rebels on our front. 
 In the plain behind Teb the rebels were thick as boes, but the cavalry were 
 unable to effect much, as the men dodged and lay down, rising as the horses 
 passed, and attacking in the rear. We charged three times through them with 
 little effect and losing heavily. 
 
 " The building taken, the enemy were now greatly wavering, but still 
 shelling us from their last position to the right rear of Teb as we advanced. 
 The Gordon Highlanders at once advanced on the village, where the enemy, 
 who were thick in the huts, attempted again to hold their own, but after a 
 sharp tight were put to flight, and this time for good. Thousands made off at 
 a great pace in the direction of Tokar and on this side the rout was now 
 general. 
 
 " The fight was now over, the distant plain was covered with fleeing 
 rebels, and ten minutes later not one was within fight, save on the distant 
 ridge already mentioned. Inch by inch the rebels had fought the ground for 
 three-and-a-half hours, with a courage that only fanaticism could give, and no 
 higher praise can be given our nien than that they met a worthy enemy. 
 That naked savages should have held their own against troops splendidly 
 trained and disciplined, and armed with the best aims existing, makes it easier 
 to understand General Baker's defeat. It is regrettable to be obliged to fight 
 such an enemy for such an ally. The conduct of every sin;4'e man of our own 
 troops was simply admirable. Officers and men, one and all, behaved with 
 perfect coolness, forethought and courage." 
 
WUAT aOHDON IB DOINO. 58 
 
 CTI AFTER XIV. 
 
 WHAT GORDON IS DOING. 
 
 Let uh now go back to Khartoum and Gordon. 
 
 It is diiiicult for ns to ima^'ine what in that far off place his thoughts and 
 feelings are. He is almost alone — latterly quite alone. Col. Stewart and the 
 Timef "orrespondent are at present the only Enfilishtnon with whom he can talk 
 ovei lii hopes and fears. He lias no army to rely upon, and no army is within 
 call. Around him are vast numbers of Soudanese, some friendly, more 
 treacherous, still more hostile. There are conflicting interests which it seems 
 impossible to adjust ; there are potty wr(m<{S to be avenged, and there are 
 gigantic problems to be solved. There are thousands of poor, helpless, ignor- 
 ant blacks to care for, and there are numbers of powerful and wealthy Sheikha 
 to conciliate or to punish. Gordon may be said to be Governor, Mayor, Police 
 Magistrate, President of the Bank, Chairmau of the Board of Trade, and Chief 
 of Police of Khartoum all in one. What courage, what forbearance, what 
 calm dispassionate judgment does it require ! 
 
 External influences, too, add to his difficulties. Parliament does not 
 hesitate to question the rightness of his doings*; the Egyptian Government, 
 although under the sway of England, and although pretending to place im- 
 plicit confidence in the man she has chosen to rule the Soudan, is watching 
 him with a keen eye. Once before Egypt had objected to a feringhee (an infidel) 
 being placed at the head of afl"uirs in tlie Southern provinces, and though now 
 his prt sence seems to be a necessity, it is perhaps still a distasteful one. 
 England herself, too, thwarted him in some of his plans. Gordon wants 
 Zebehr — he even goes so far as to offer him (April 16) the Assistant-Governor- 
 ship of the Soudan — bu". England will not allow it. 
 
 Was ever man placed in so critical a position ? The Soudan belongs to Egypt, 
 Egypt belongs to Turkey, Gordon undertakes to manage matters for all three ; 
 and France, Germany, Russia, Austria, and Italy are critically looking on to 
 see how he does it. The future of the Mahdi, the future of the Soudanese, of 
 Egypt herself, of England's relationships to Egypt, and of her relationships to 
 the five great powers — all may be said to hinge directly or indirectly on Gor- 
 don's actions at Khartoum. 
 
 •„. He and his few faithful followers too, were continually attacked by the 
 rebel tribes surrounding the town. Now 3000 of them fall upon a party of 
 
 * His proclamation on the slave trade, for example. 
 
 
r 
 
 54 
 
 THE WAR IN THE SOUDAN. 
 
 some 300 who are sent out to gather fire-wood ; now they draw up in long 
 lines under arms with colours flying and drums beating and threaten the whole 
 town. Worse than all, the Egyptian soldiers under Gordon are almost worth- 
 less. On one occasion they behaved so badly that Gordon was utterly 
 defeated. On March the 16th, about 2000 troops were got together composed 
 of Bashi-Bazouks, Egyptians, and regular Soudanese, and it was determined 
 to sally forth and attack the rebel lines about eight miles from Khartoum. 
 As Gordon's men approached, the enemy quietly slipped away, disappearing 
 biihind some low sand hills. On reaching these, the five chief Egyptian 
 officers, who were leading the for^e, suddenly wheeled round and galloped 
 back, breaking through their own ranks. Of course their men followed suit, 
 and the whole army broke up and rushed back for Khartoum. The enemy 
 now re-appeared and dashed after their retreating foe in all directions. One 
 Arab lancer, armed with a lance and sword only, killed seven Egyptians in as 
 many minutes. All the sword and spear wounds received by Gordon's men 
 were in the back. So terrified were they during the retreat that not a shot 
 was fired nor a bayonet fixed throughout the day. The enemy captured a 
 field piece, 58 roundf. of shell, and 15,000 rounds of cartridges. This was the 
 so-called battle of II ifiyeh. Luckily this defeat tended in no way to depre- 
 ciate General Gordon's influence ; the townspeople remained as staunch as 
 ever. An Arab on the following day came and offered to lend the treasury a 
 thousand guineas free of interest. Another Arab equipped, armed, and paid 
 200 blacks for Gordon. 
 
 Fighting now took p'ace daily. The steamers were continually engaged 
 in shelling the enemy, and heavy rifle firing was often continuously kept up. 
 The rebels became every day bolder and bolder ; they approached the town 
 on all sides. They fired incessantly upon the palace, Krupp ammunition was 
 running short in the city, Gordon's steamers were so heavily fired upon that 
 they were obliged more than once to relinquish the objects of their expeditions. 
 Fresh numbers were added daily to the opposing forces, and on April the 7th 
 came the telegram : " Khartoum is at present the centre of an enormous rebel 
 camp. The situation is now very critical." 
 
 Of the pass to which matters had come we may judge by the feeling of 
 those shut up in the invested town, and by the measures they were already 
 discussing for their relief. "The total ignorance which exists among us," 
 telegraphs the Times correspondent, " as to the intentions of Her Majesty's 
 Government is far worse than the certainty, however bad. We have not 
 learned that any help will be sent from without. It is now (April 2nd) four 
 months since the English Government heard of Hicks Pasha's disaster ; yet, 
 except the sending of General Gordon, no step has been taken to relieve us. 
 Would it not be more honest of the Government, if it cannot carry out its 
 
 1 
 
 
WHAT CORDON 18 DOING. 
 
 66 
 
 aelf-imposed duty towards us by means of British troops, to hire Turkish 
 regiments ? If England will not arrest the advance of the Mahdi, why not 
 give £500,000 to the Turks to do so ? It would not cost more. Again, if the 
 Government has decided to do nothing, would it not be better to say so to 
 the townspeople, instead of persuading them to hold out, day after day, and 
 thus to jeopardize their chances eventually with the rebels ? General Gordon 
 might tell them to make the best terms possible with thn enemy, while we 
 might try to get together the garrison, and attempt to escape, leaving the 
 townspeople to their fate. The hope deferred of Englisli intervention is 
 making the people heart-sick. I have jnly two sources of hope in this crisis 
 — first, the expectation of an English relieving column ; secondly, the plan of 
 a retreat across the Equator. Because I am coniident that General Gordon is 
 abandoned by the Government, and that without Zebehr Pasha he can never 
 beat the rebels, I fear that he will be driven to retreat by Central Africa. 
 For to-day arrived an unciphered telegram sent from Sir Evelyn Baring to 
 Berber, saying that no English troops would be sent to that place — in a word, 
 clearly indicating that General Gordon and the others who have been faithful 
 to the Government are thrown over. To retreat on Berber is impossible. Sir 
 Evelyn Baring's unciphered telegram to that place will quickly be spread 
 abroad, and the Arabs will learn that the members of the English Government 
 have turned down their thumbs while General Gordon is struggling here. A 
 retreat on the Congo will entail great hardships." 
 
 Still worse news comes. Hussein . Pasha Khalifa, Governor of Berber, 
 pathetically telegraphs that he "trusts now in Providence alone," since he 
 has been abandoned by the Government. The insurgents show themselves 
 as far north as the Cairo-side of that town ; N ubar Pusha declares he Avill not 
 take the responsibility of refusing aid, and hastily requests the Khedive to 
 summon a council. Gordon meanwhile telegraphs Sir Samuel Baker that he 
 is surrounded by 2,500 Arabs, and goes the length of proposing that an appeal 
 be made to wealthy Englishmen and Americans to advance £200,000 to enable 
 the Sultan to send 2,000 or 3,000 Turkisli regulars to Berber, by which to 
 dispose of the Mahdi. Earl Granville issues a circular note inviting a con- 
 ference on the subject of Egypt. At Cairo a most uneasy feeling prevails : 
 the stagnation is degenerating into administrative anarchy ; no one feels 
 secure ; credit is destroyed ; the crops are threatened j and the people show 
 lively signs of discontent. 
 
 Then come the following telegrams : — 
 
 No mie ivill go to Khartoum at any price. 
 
 The position is declared to be desperate. 
 
 Exasperation against England is increasing. 
 
I 
 
 66 THE WAR IN THE SOUDAN. 
 
 All the country is in a state of rebellion. 
 
 Impossible to communicate with Qordovj. 
 
 Berber seriously threatened. 
 
 Every one leaving for Cairo. 
 
 Absolute obscurity veils the fate of Khartoum. 
 
 Suddenly Sir Evelyn Baring is summoned to London. 
 
 Note. — It may cause a B'.-'.ile— especially to those given to moral reflections— to 
 know that while the seething ca ildron of Egypt and the Soudan was well nigh bursting 
 with antagonistic forces, the papers in England were quietly informing the world 
 that : — the Duchess of Edinburgh had been safely delivered ; primroses were worn on 
 the anniversary of Lord Beaconsfield's death ; the London Corporation deprecated the 
 Municipality-bill ; the Bell public-house, Old Bailey, took fire ; Mr. Farmer, a trades 
 man, swallowed ammonia for cough-mixture ; excavations had been made at San ; the 
 lot of a Russian Student was not a happy one ; and so on. 
 
PROBLEMS. 
 
 57 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 PROBLEMS. 
 
 On the arrival of Lord DnfF rin at Cairo, two main courses were open to 
 the British Government : To leave Egypt to govern herself ; or to govern it 
 for her. England tried a compromise : she would govern Egypt through 
 Egyptian officials. Under the first, the Khedive wou'd have been re- 
 established together with the Governmpnt of Riaz Pasha, and the country 
 would probably have soon lapsed into the same condition in which it was 
 before. Under the second it is difficult to say what would have taken place 
 — perhaps some awkward questions might have been asked by European 
 powers. Under the third — the one adopted — there arose constant conflicts 
 between the English and the native element. 
 
 Since the rise and fall of Arabi the problem had become infinitely 
 involved, and the conflicthig elements still survived. First of all, the finan- 
 cial difficulties were enormously augmented, (I) by the destruction of 
 property at Alexandria, and the awards of the indemnity commission ; (2) by 
 the prolonged endeavours of Egypt to hold the Soudan and to suppress the 
 insurrection in that region ; (3) by the precautionary measures which must be 
 taken in view of this danger ; (4) by the excess of ordinary current expendi- 
 ture over revenue ; and (6) by the necessity of undertaking works of irrigation. 
 
 Then came the insurrection, and the problems became even more 
 intricate. England desired Egypt to relinquish the Soudan and stick to her 
 eastern seaports — a policy naturally most advantageous to English commerce ; 
 Egypt on the other hand wislied to keep the Soudan and give up the eastern 
 ports, for the ports monopolized the trade which would otherwise have gone 
 to her great cities. In this contest, however, Egypt had to give in, and it 
 was resolved that the Soudan should be evacuated. 
 
 But the Mahdi at El Obeid, and Osman Digna in the region of Tokar 
 and Sinkat, were investing Egyptian towns and massacring Egyptian garrisona 
 Now England gives in and adds to Egypt's feeble exertions by sending her 
 own troops. 
 
 But affairs look very threatening near Khartoum, so England sends help 
 again in the form of General Gordon. 
 
 Now Gordon is hemmed in ; the Mahdi is growing invincible ; Khartoum 
 is likely to fall at any moment ; and the insurrection attaining incredible 
 proportions. What is to be done ? 
 
 D 
 
Hi \ 
 
 58 
 
 THK WAR IN THB SOUDAN. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 ENGLAND ROUSED. 
 
 Wb left Khartoum invested, Gordon virtually a prisoner, the insurrection 
 rapidly spreading, and Sir Evelyn Baring on his way to London. What was 
 to be done ? 
 
 To this question the British public gave no uncertain answer. 
 
 A Blue-book had by this time been 'ssued containing the despatches 
 which had passed between Lord Granville, Sir Evelyn Baring, and General 
 Gordon. The London dailies had reprinted the best part of these. Mr. 
 Power's telegrams from Khartoum had given the fullest information of all 
 that had been going on in that town. The correspondents at Cairo and Sua- 
 kim had sent graphic accounts of the feeling which existed at these ports. 
 The public, therefore, were well competent to express a correct opinion on 
 the present state of affairs and the best course to be pursued. And the 
 opinions the public n )W began to express were strong in the extreme. 
 
 It' the English people take some time to form an opinion, they are not 
 backward in forcibly expressing it when formed ; but rarely has it been 
 expressed with such stinging force as it was on the present occasion. Sir 
 Samuel Baker wrote numerous vigorous and incisive letters to the Times, 
 denouncing the Government, mapping out an Egyptian policy, and proposing 
 elaborate schemes for the conveyunce of a flying column to Khartoum. A 
 subscription list was opened at the Times office for the rescue of the belea- 
 gured garrison and its heroic leader. One lady offered £10,000 towards the 
 equipment of a force, and hundreds volunteered their services. Political 
 speeches delivered throughout the country inflamed the minds of the people. 
 The Government was taken to task in phrases to which English ears had long 
 been strangers. Gordon was declared to have been " cruelly abandoned. " 
 The nation was said to have "forfeited its prestige." The policy of the 
 Gladstone ministry was characterized as a " career of madness. " "I never 
 remember," said Lord Salisbury, leader of the Conservative party, at a din- 
 ner of the London and Westminster Working Men's Constitutional Associa- 
 tion, " I never remember a case where the conduct of the Government in 
 Egypt generally with respect to those garrisons and with respect to this 
 unhappy and splendid hero General Gordon (cheers) has excited a deeper and 
 unanimous feeling in the country — a feeling of condemnation which is intense. 
 Men are horrified that a man who has been guided by such high motives as 
 
ENGLAND ROUSED. 69 
 
 General Gordon should Se abandoned. (* Shame,' and cheers.) Everyone 
 must feel that as a matter of business nothing could be more contemptible than 
 the course which the Government has pursued, except, perhaps, the excuses 
 by which they have defended themselves. Having had all the winter to 
 undertake the rescue of those beleaguered garrisons they have dawdled away 
 the time until it is too late, and then thoy put forward aa an overwhelming 
 justification that it has now become too hot to move. (Laughter.) What 
 man of business in this city would endure such an excuse for those whom he 
 employed 1 (A voice — ' No one.') Then those who look rather deeper and 
 think of the effect of those things upon England's empire and England's repu- 
 tation, see how our power is gradually ebbing under the influence of this 
 display of indecision ; how foreign countries less and less regard our wishes, 
 how more and more we are sinking from our high estate, and how we are 
 even beginning to lose all the acknowledged superiority which is the sole 
 pledge to those vast multitudes of Eastern races that have hitherto submitted 
 to U8. (Cheers. )" 
 
 Lastly the Opposition determined to introduce a motion for a vote of 
 censure against the Government. The excitement rose high. Defections 
 from the Liberal ranks were numerous and important. Staunch supporters 
 of the Cabinet wavered or altogether fell away. The majority upon which the 
 Conservatives had all along depended was known to have dwindled appreci- 
 ably. How the voting would go not one could calculate, and what would be 
 tke outcome of either defeat or victory could even less easily be conjectured. 
 A change of ministry at a time so critical was a change surrounded with grave 
 responsibilities, and a retention of office could hardly be accompanied by the 
 same inaction of which, by the verdict of the masses, that ministry now stood 
 convicted. 
 
 Monday, May the 12th, was the day appointed for the trial. Sir Michael 
 Hicks-Beach, pursuant to notice, rose and formally moved a "ote of censure 
 on the Government " for their failure to take the necessary stepa to secure the 
 success of General Gordon's mission, and especially to provide for his personal 
 safety." 
 
 Though couched in calm and dispassionate phraseology, as befitted 
 Parliamentary procedure, the motion contained in it the essence of the 
 popular feeling. It was not so much the general policy of the cabinet, not 
 BO much the view they had taken of the limit to which they should go in 
 their interference in Egyptian affairs, not even so much the measures they 
 had taken for the solution of the Soudan difficulties, as it was the uncertainty 
 of the fate of the much-loved man who might even at this moment be in the 
 hands of a crafty and merciless foe, that troubled the minds of the British 
 public. Had no fears arisen as to the safety of their hero, had it been 
 
 ) 
 
Ik- 
 
 60 THE WAR IN THE SOUDAN. 
 
 certain that there was no cause to doubt his ultimate extrication from his 
 present unfortunate position, it is doubtful if popular sympathy could ever 
 have been fanned into so hot a flame, even were Khartoum doomed and the 
 Mahdi finally triumphant. 
 
 Of all nations, perhaps the English is the most sentimental — in the true, 
 deep, and better meaning of the word. The stolidity of the Germans prevents 
 the free exercise of this feeling among those people ; amidst the frivolities of 
 the French it is evanescent ; in America more or less sordid influences stifle 
 its growth. 
 
 Of this feeling Sir Michael Hicks-Beach took excellent advantage. In 
 an energetic ant" closely-reasoned speech he reviewed the histo;y of the 
 mission, and recalled, the feeling of gratification which the country experienced 
 on learning that Gordon was to be untrammelled. He showed how, never- 
 theless, the Govemmenr. liad thwarted their envoy, had intimated that no 
 assistance wo\dd be sent him, and lastly had invited him to retire as best he 
 could. With much efiect he f ung at the Treasury benches, with a marked 
 stress on the personal pronoun, t.'.e sentence from Gordon's despatch — " I shall 
 laave to you the indelible disgrace of abandoning the garrisons." * 
 
 To this speech Mr. Gladstone rer.lied with all the exuberance of debating 
 power and aggressive energy of invective of which he was capable. He had 
 for ten days previously refused to give any detailed statement regarding 
 General Gordon's mission, and the means t'. be adopted for his relief, on the 
 ground that it waa proper to wait for the debavvi on the vote of censure. This 
 debate had now come. But, according to the Times, ** it is hardly too much 
 to say that the emptiness and irrelevance of his sp(;«ch filled the most faithful 
 of bis followers with consternation. . . . The impression produced in the 
 House of Commons was one of deep disappointment; and that feeling, we 
 believe, will be still stronger out of doors." This — whether or not it be a 
 correct estimate of Mr. Gladstone's defence, resulted in, if not a theoretical, 
 yet a practical, defeat of the Government. The motion certainly was negatived 
 
 * The despatch reads thus : 
 
 " (Telegraphic.) Khartoum, April 16, 1884, 5.15 p.m. 
 "Major-General Gordon to Sir E. Baring. 
 
 " Ab far as I can understand, the situation is this : you state your intention of not 
 sending any relief up here or to Berber, and you refuse me Zebehr. 
 
 " I consider myself free to act according to circumstances. 
 
 " I shall hold on here as long as I can, and if I can suppress the rebellion I shall 
 do 80. If I cannot, I shall retire to the equator, and leave to you the indelible disgrace 
 of abandoning the garri'ions of Senaar, Kassala, Berber, and Dongola, with the 
 certainty that you will eventually be forced to smash up the Mahdi under great diffi- 
 culties if you would retain peace in Egypt." 
 
ENGLAND BOUSED. 
 
 61 
 
 by 28, but in addition to the extreme narrowness of this majority, the fact 
 that many of the strongest adherents of the Liberal policy either declined to 
 vote or sided with the minority, was eloquent in its significance. 
 
 The tension was over. If the Government had scored a technical victory, 
 they had suffered a moral defeat. Public opinion had asserted itself, and its 
 influence had penetrated within the gates of Westminster. Henceforth the 
 Ministry muat change their ways. True, they retained office ; but the con- 
 ditions under which they did so were now altered. To ignore that any pressure 
 had been brought to bear upon them was out of the question. It was neces- 
 sary now to allow that that pressure had driven them from their previouu 
 course. Deviation was forced upon them. To act antagonistically to popular 
 opinion was absurd. England had been roused. 
 
 f. 
 
62 THE WAR IN THE SODDAN. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIT. 
 
 A MEDLEY. 
 
 If the Government had determined artistically to act out a tragedy, they 
 could not have better arranged their materials. The last chapter has described 
 them going through the third act — the climax ; and the ordinary individual 
 would have imagined that after such rapid succession of events, involving such 
 tremendous influences, the end was not far off. In this he would bo mistaken. 
 With the skill of practised dramatists they now insert a long fourth act, keeping 
 their audience in the most painful suspense. Whether they over-did it or 
 not is a party question. 
 
 To explain : — After the very vigorous onslaught made by the Opposition 
 in moving the vote of censure, backed up as it was by the full force of public 
 opinion, people naturally expected that some decisive action regarding, at all 
 .'j events, the safety of General Gordon, would be taken. So confident were 
 
 II they in this assurance, that the ringing cheers with which the Opposition 
 
 jjl greeted the announcement of the bare majority by which censure was averted 
 
 jj — the insignificant (or rather extremely significant) twenty-eight — were — at 
 
 i« least mentally — echoed and re-echoed throughout the country. The Ministry 
 
 j I raust surely now definitely formulate some policy, and immediately put it into 
 
 lis execution. Even the tone of the leading articles of the great papers was re- 
 
 i|il assuring. The party in power, they took for granted, would now retrieve the 
 
 j I prestige of the nation, and so sure were all parties that the rescue of Gordon 
 
 1 1 could be safely left to their care, that for a time it was with a comparatively 
 
 light-hearted feeling that Egyptian questions were discussed. 
 
 But in reality the utmost that had been dragged from the occupiers of 
 the Treasuiy benches was that they considered themselves responsible for 
 their envoy — a phrase perhaps as vague as it was seemingly definite ; as empty 
 as it was seemingly full of meaning. 
 
 As a sort of episode to this terrible tragedy there was introduced now a new 
 element — an Egyptian conference. As an episode it did good service : it took, 
 for a time, the public mind oflF the main plot ; it delayed admirably the 
 succession of events ; it involved and made more intricate the already complex 
 sequence of actions ; it introduced new characters ; and made more difficult 
 any prophecy as to what would be the final catastrophe. 
 
 This proposed Egyptian conference caused much friction between Govern- 
 ment and Parliament ; it was understood that the only question to be dis- 
 
A MEDLEY. 63 
 
 cuBBod was the financial one, but bo many rumours were afloat to the effect 
 that a secret treaty with France was under ministerial consideration ; that an 
 understanding on matters unconnected with finance was to be arrived at with 
 that country ; that Parliament would be kept in the dark as to all that was 
 done ; etc. ; that the House of Commons was goaded into a high state of irrita- 
 bility, and evinced the same by pertinacious and pointed questions. 
 
 So great in fact was the reticence of the Government, that riimours now 
 flew thick and fast. It was asserted that the co-operation of a Turkish army 
 was sought by the Cabinet ; that troops were shortly to be despatched to 
 Khartoum ; that a railway was to be built for the conveyance of a force from 
 Suakim to Berber ; that international control was to be adopted ; that a dual 
 control was again to be tried ; that British influence was to be altogether 
 withdrawn from Egypt ; and such like. 
 
 Meanwhile in Egypt itself British influence fell to low-water mark. Mr. 
 Clifford Lloyd was recalled from Cairo (May 28), on which occasion a high 
 Egyptian ofhcial was heard to remark, " England's paramount influence in 
 Egypt bej;an on July 11, 1882, and closes on May 28, 1884. I have learnt 
 English ; I shall now learn French." 
 
 In England affairs seemed altngothcr in a strange state. It was as if the 
 diagnosis of the disease under which the country sufi'ered was thought to be 
 a mistaken one by the consulting physicians (public opinion) who were called 
 in, that a new and powerful remedy had been applied, and that both the 
 attendant doctor and the new arrivals were watching its effects with curiosity, 
 and not without anxiety. A pretty strong dose had bepn prescribed by the 
 new-comers, which the patient, beginning to lose faith in his old adviser, took 
 with avidity. But unfortunately the regular practitioner kept on his old treat- 
 ment, and for a time perhaps the last state of affairs was worse than the first. 
 Dissensions, too, arose in the Conservative ranks. And altogether the public 
 mind was tossed about by every wind of policy. 
 
 In Egypt and in the Soudan there was no better outlook. No news came 
 from lOiartoura, and no news could be sent to that ill-starred town. It was 
 rumoured that the Mahdi had gone thither in force, and that its fall was 
 imminent. Yet nothing could be done. Troops were stationed at Assouan, 
 troops were stationed at Korosko, but the rebels over-ran the country and 
 excited the neighbouring tribes. Attacks were made nightly on Suakim. 
 What news could be gleaned of Gordon showed that he was still harassed by 
 his ever-increasing foes. The only welcome intelligence came from the tele- 
 grams of the pious Mudir of Dongola, who, "by the help of God," managed 
 now and again to defeat a few troublesome insurgents. A little by-play (as 
 though an episode were not enough) was introduced in the shape of a treaty 
 concluded by Admiral Sir William Hewett with the King of Abyssinia, who 
 
64 THE WAR IN THE SOUDAN. 
 
 undertook to more some troops in tho direction of Kassala. Then came a 
 cata^itrophe — the fall of Berber and the maasacre of its garrison and popula- 
 tion — 3,500 souls — another victory for tho rebels.* 
 
 The plight of the poor fellah became weekly worse and worse, the price 
 of grain foil, taxes remained as before except tliat now they were allowed 
 to be paid in kind. Anarchy surged over tho land like a flood, panic 
 was chronic, and the people cared not who ruled over them. " We possess 
 nothing but our shirts to defend our bodies," they said, " we are friends of 
 the first who brings the stick."! All was a medley : no news could be relied 
 on, no official could be relied ou, even the pious Mudir of Dongola began to 
 be suspected ; whetlier Berber had fallen no one knew ; what was the fate of 
 Khartoum no one knew. 
 
 In England a similar medley existed : amidst a host of internal topics 
 Egypt actually began to be forgotten. The Egyptian conference, with the 
 interminable researches of the "financial experts," for a long while dragged 
 out a sorry existence, then ended in nothing ; the Franchise bill and the 
 faujoua Reform demonstration gave the people something else to think about 
 beside the oppressed fellah, the unsettled finances, and the beleaguered garri- 
 sons. Worse than all, the fate of Gordon himself seemed for a time to have 
 slipped the public memory, for we find a correspondent writing on the 
 advance of the Mahdi and the situation in Upper Egypt actually apologizing 
 for his temerity and saying that "even Gordon's isolation at Khartoum and 
 the question as to whether an attempt is or is not to be made to relieve him 
 is one about which the public has apparently ceased greatly to care."^: 
 
 It seemed as if by some curious influence the public senses were dulled to 
 all external impr« ssions though the mind still wandered excitedly within — ^as 
 a man in delirium perceives no outward object yet furiously raves on ideas of 
 his own making. The drug, in the form of thi "ote of censure, had acted 
 diflTerently from the manner expected, and instead of inducing activity it 
 ' f brought on stupor — a stupor only made more profound by the lulling influence 
 
 of tho conference. 
 
 At length this last is brought to an end. France and England cannot 
 agree, and the meeting is adjourned sine die. England is once more free to 
 act ; she has thrown off the fettering friendship of her quondam ally in Egyp- 
 tian affairs and henceforth will act alone. The fever is gone ; the senses 
 
 *Thi8 massacre, by the way, the Iford Leutache Zeitung calmly remarks was due 
 solfily to England'y Soudan policy. 
 
 t See despatch from Alexandria to the Times, dated Jime 23, 1884. 
 
 t Mr. Claude Vincent iu the Times, July 17th, 1884. 
 
 f 
 
 I'v 
 
A MEDLEY. 
 
 66 
 
 resume their wonted aouteness ; and Parliament rises from the bed of diseased 
 inactivity to the contemplation of what is going on around it. 
 
 And what is going on around it is now of no mild, calming kind. A letter 
 from Gordon, it was known, was at Dongola in the hands of the Mudir. The 
 faU of Berber had been fully con6rmed. Sixteen thousand rebels sat close 
 round Khartoum. Debbeh had seen the fall of 5,000 of th« followers of the 
 prophet Something shall be done. 
 
 ^ 
 
66 THR WAR IN THE SOUUAN. 
 
 CHAPTER XVin. 
 
 "WHAT SHALL WE DO?" 
 
 '• Enolaitd may thank God that the conference is a still-born child, and 
 that the miscarriage has saved us from a multiple paternity with an individual 
 responnibility. The question of a new birth now arises. What shall we do ? " 
 
 So wrote Sir Samuel White Baker in the week in which happened the 
 events chronicled in the closing paragraph of the last chapter. 
 
 We are now, my reader, approaching one of the mo.st interestini:^ of the 
 stages of English interference in Ey[yptian affairs. That interference may be 
 divided into five periods : First, from the bombardment of Alexandria to the 
 sending of General Gordon ; second, from the sending of General Gordon to 
 the investment of Khartoum ; third, from the investment of Khartoum to the 
 vote of censure ; fourth, from the vote of censure to the sending of a relief 
 expedition ; the fifth period is that in which we now find ourselves. Where 
 it will end who shall say ? * This tragedy — as I have already called it. — bears 
 a likeness more to the drama of the Greeks than to that to which Coleridge 
 has given the name " romantic " : the hero truly dies — dies as a hero should 
 die, in the midst oi his foes, never for one moment relinquishing his aim, but 
 there the play does not end. There is yet to follow the avengeraent of his 
 death. How or when this shall take place, till the curtain falls, none can say. 
 The play is complete in all its parts : the shelling of the Alexandrian forts, 
 followed by the brilliant defeat of the up-start Arabi and the sober attempt to 
 quell oppression and introduce reforms, was a fitting opening for a drama in 
 which the exhibition of determined force was linked with a moral aim. 
 i ,, Under-plots in the shape of expeditions against a rebellious prophet and his 
 
 doughty lieutenant only served to extend and enhance the effect of the main 
 plot. The episode of the Egyptian conference contributed, as we have seen, 
 to the further complication of the sequence of events. That dispelled, we 
 enter upon, of all the phases of the war, the saddest because the most 
 disastrous. 
 
 Already, perhaps, we have lingered too long upon a period in which so 
 little was done ; but we who know how fatal was the result of that inaction, 
 
 •1. July 11, 1883— January 18, 1884; 2. January 18, 1884— March 24, 1884; 
 8. March 24, 1884- April 12, 1884 ; 4. April 12, 1884— August 28, 1884 ; 5. August 
 28,1884- 
 
 J 
 
 ■^ ^ 
 

 '•what shall we do?" 67 
 
 cannot but vividly recall its history, and regretfully dwell upon its conse- 
 quences. Lot us rapidly recall the 8toi)8 taken for its remedy. 
 
 On Tuesday, August the 5th, the public wore first officially informed 
 that a "step of some importance" was contemplated by the Government in 
 reference to Egyptian affairs. Mr. Gladstone, when the questions for the 
 day had come to an end, without f::rther preface than an acknowlodgimr t of 
 the serious responsibility imposed on the Government by the failure of the 
 Conference, said that to assist the cabinet in meeting this responsibility Hot 
 Majesty had boon pleased t'j ap;>rove their proposal that Lord Northbrook 
 should proceed to Egypt to inciuire and report and advise the Government 
 upon the counsels they should give to the Egyptian Government, and also on 
 the steps which it might be necessary to take in connexion therewith. Lord 
 Northbrook had accepted this commission, and would proceed to Egypt in 
 the course of the present month. Sir E. Baring would accompany him. 
 Upon this the House want into committee of supply, and Mr. Glad-stone 
 moved a vote of credit of £300,000 to enable the Government to undertake 
 operuticjns for the relief of General Gordon. At the outset he reminded the 
 House of the pledges which the Government had given at various times, 
 especially of the promise of Lord Hartington, to undertake military measures 
 for the rescue of General Gordon if they should be demanded for his safety, 
 and he then canvassed the conflicting reports which had appeared in the 
 papers as to the position of Khartoum since there had ceased to be any official 
 communication with him. The general conclusion he drew was that the con- 
 tingency contemplated by Lord Hartington, when military measures would 
 be necessary, had not yet arisen, but it might arise during the recess, and 
 the object of the vote was to put the Government in a position to meet it if 
 it occurred while Parliament was not sitting. It was also desirable to make 
 certain preparations, the nature of which he thought it advisable not to state. 
 The vote, he added in conclusion, was one rather of principle than an exact 
 estimate of the sum which would be required, and under cover of it the 
 Government would be able to undertake whatever measures might be 
 necessary. 
 
 Gordon then was to be rescued. One would imagine that from every 
 heart would have gone up a sigh of relief. Yet the report ot the debate which 
 followed the motion for a vote of credit for the sending of an expedition to 
 extricate the defender of Khartoum from his perilous position is curious in 
 the extreme, Mr. Laboiichere opposed the vote, arguing that General 
 Gordon was disobeying instructions by remaining at Khartoum, and that the 
 expense of his relief should fall on the Egyptian Government. Sir W. Lawson, 
 facetiously or otherwise, objected to the vote, being oj^po-ed to the policy of 
 "smashing" anybody, and would prefer to vote £300,000 to the Mahdi to 
 
J I- 
 
 68 THE .VAR IN THE SOUDAN. 
 
 put down General Gordon. If he was a Christian hero he ought not to 
 require military operations to relieve him. Lord Oalway expressed his opinion 
 that the vote was a mere electioneering trick, and that the Government did 
 not intend to spend a shilling of it. Sir J. Hay asked whether there was any 
 truth in the rumour that a portion of the vote was to be spent on subsidizing 
 the Abyssinians. Sir G. (Campbell decidedly objected to a " vote of principle " 
 which might involve the country in much larger expenditure. 
 
 On the day following the passing of the vote of credit, Gordon's letter 
 was telegraphed by Major Kitchener from Dongola, together with news more 
 accurate than had lately been obtained. His despatch reads as follows : — 
 
 " Gordon's letter, sent by post on the 2nd instant, contains the following : 
 
 " ' Khartoum and Senaar are still holding out. The bearer of this letter 
 will give you full news of me. Give him all the news you have, and tell him 
 where the expedition is that is coming from Cairo, and the numbers of the 
 soldiers coming. We have eight thousand soldiers at Khartoum. Give the 
 messenger one hundred dollars. (Signed) C. G. Gokdon.' 
 
 " It is sealed and dated 28th Shaaban. 
 
 " The messenj^er returns to-day. He says that Gordon, Stewart and 
 Power are quite well. The siege of Khartoum is still kept up, but the rebels 
 have retired from their first positions. The rebel army is composed of 5,000 
 men under the Sheikh el Obeid, 2,000 with Sheikh Abu Gegah, and 3,000 
 with Sheikh el Buseer between the Niles. On the White Nile is the Sheikh 
 Fadleh, with 3,000 men ; and the Sheikh Mustapha, with 3,000, is at Omdur- 
 man. Total, 16,000. 
 
 " Gordon possesses seven armed steamers with which he makes attacks 
 in every direction. 
 
 "Berber fell through the treachery of Hussein Pasha Khalifa, who let 
 the rebels in. The soldiers fought after the entry of the rebels, but were 
 slaughtered. Hussein Pasha Khalifa was not wounded. 
 
 " This account is corroborated by thirteen soldiers who have arrived at 
 Dongola from Berber, and who escaped after the fight. 
 
 "The people appear to want the old Government back, but are much 
 afraid of the Mahdi's Arabs. 
 
 " Gordon, with the help of three steamers and a part of the garrison, 
 seized 5,000 quarters of maize from about 11,000 of the rebftls. Gordon's 
 men waited till the rebels' ammunition was finished, and then landed, and 
 thoroughly routed the ei.jmy and carried oflf the maize." 
 
 Four facts were learned from this : The rebels had organized a system- 
 atic warfare ; their influence was spreading ; they centred specially round 
 Khartoum ; and Gordon was evidently expecting support. 
 
fi 
 
 "what shall wb do?" 
 
 69 
 
 These things being so, Gordon shall be relieved, this was now the deter- 
 mination of the Government — a determination not hastily arrived at, nor 
 blatantly announced. What was meant by the relief of Gordon must now 
 occupy our attention. 
 
 It is only after the lapse of a comparatively long space of time that the 
 facts of history can be viewed in their true light. To the foreign policy of a 
 government this rule especially applies, and more particularly t(j the foreign 
 policy of the Court of St. James. Little is known — nothing positively — out- 
 side the cabinet of the intentions of the Government. Even blue-books give 
 only facts, not motives, and refer only to particular parts of operation. We 
 have not come to the end of the story yet ; and till the last chapter is finished 
 the preface must remain unwritten. If we recognize this we shall exercise 
 caution in dealing with, or forming opinions on, England's present relations 
 with Egypt and the Soudan. We are not far enough advanced in tho history 
 of the contention with the Mahdi and the pacification of the Soudan to be 
 able to formulate accurately what is or has been the true end in view in the 
 determination to despatch troops for the "relief of General Gordon." We 
 must be careful also not to be led away by the superficial meaning which 
 attaches to this phrase. We know that these were the 'rords oftenest in the 
 mouths of all speakers on the question ; we know they were used with great 
 efi'ect upon the occasion of the vote of censure ; and we know that the expe- 
 dition the head-quarters of which are at this moment within easy reach of 
 Khartoum, has been denominated the "relief expedition." But we need not 
 therefore necessarily suppose that the fittiu'^ out of 10,000 men, and the 
 spending of some ^3,000,000 had only for their object the extricating of one 
 individual from the hands of an enemy. It must be remembered tiiat Gordon 
 represented at Khartoum the Egyptian Government ; that he also bore in his 
 own person, as it were, the concrete embodiment of English supervision — to 
 use no more definite language ; that the population and garrison of Khai toum 
 had been loyal to Gordon, and, through him, therefore, to the Khedive 
 as against the Mahdi ; that promises of succour and support had bee'i made 
 this population and garrison ; that money had been borrowed from them with 
 the Governor-General's endorsement and the implied security of England ; 
 that Khartoum was a town of unrivalled stratej^ic importance ; that if it fell, 
 the Soudan States would fall with it ; that unless Egypt, or England throu;;h 
 Egypt, held this commercial centre, no influence over slave traders could be 
 exercised; that the abandoment of this place would virtually mean the aban- 
 donment of the Soudanese to the new prophet ; and that such abandonment 
 would draw in its train political, commercial, Focial, and religious eniiitions 
 the influence and ultimate outcome of which it is utterly impossible to con- 
 jecture. If we bear these in mind, it will, I say, be with excessive c ution 
 
 1 
 
1 
 
 70 THE WAR IN THE SOUDAN. 
 
 til at we shall express any opinions on the political significance of despatching 
 a so-called "relief expedition." Everything points to the necessity of suspend- 
 ing our judgment on this point ; for, leaving out of consideration the proba- 
 bilities of affairs taking a new turn at any moment, the political, commercial, 
 social, and religious eruptions which, as has been pointed out, would in all 
 probability follow in the train of an evacuation of the Soudan, are in themselves 
 so numerous and so complicated as to baffle all analysis. This problem alone 
 ia infinitely involved. Politically, either the Soudanese would submit in a 
 body to the usurper, or individual tribes would still stand aloof. Each alter- 
 native contains numerous other alternatives : the connexion between Egypt 
 and these States, hitherto definite, would now be indefinable ; the treatment 
 the pretender should receive would be equally so ; and complications with the 
 Suzerain and with Abyssinia might occur difficult to adjust. Commercially, 
 the finances of the Egyptian Government would be placed on a difierent basis 
 — a change involving much ; the trade of the littoral ports, and, consequently, 
 of Upper Egypt, would be seriously aftected ; financial securities would, in all 
 likelihood, fluctuate ; stocks would fall, and trade relations be shaken. 
 Socially, the slave trade, with all its attendant influences, would once more 
 flourish ; change of masters, together with the changes in property, rank, 
 esteem, and favour, wouH bring in new elements. Religiously, the preten- 
 sions of the new prophet and the verdict of the authorities at Mecca would 
 clash ; true Moslems would regard him as an intruder ; religious sects would 
 split up; and fanaticism would put a torch to these highly inflammable 
 materials, the blaze of which it is hard to determine what could quench ; India 
 might receive a spark ; the Porte might interfere ; the holy green flag might 
 be unfurled; and Islamism might be so convulsed that its eruptions woud 
 eiface the entire road from England to her farthest eastern belonj^ings. 
 
 The consideration of such possibilities, even in their merest outlines, 
 would lead us far beyond the limits of this narrative ; and yet in dealing 
 with the significance of England's present position in Egypt they cannot be 
 altogether overlooked. It is only possible here to state the fact that England 
 bad at length determined to send a force to Khartoum, and to chronicle the 
 events which followed that determination. 
 
HOW TO GET THEBB. 71 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 HOW TO GET THERE. 
 
 I F^VB remarked that the Government by no means erred by any precipi- 
 tate or hasty arrival at their determination to despatch a relieving force, or 
 in blatantly announcing the same. This is very far within the truth. If 
 they erred at all — and there are some, as we have seen, who thought so — it 
 was in the opposite direction. The public were not informed, nor the enemy 
 through the public, that a force would immediatelji take the field ; that the 
 conqueror of Tel-el-Kebir would assume command ; that Gordon would be 
 reached, and rescued without delay ; that the Mahdi would be smashed ; and 
 that the last spark of insurrection would be stamped under foot. Much as 
 such a report might have cowed the rebels, the reverse of such a cour.-^e was 
 adopted. The intentions of the Ministry only leaked out by slow degrees ; 
 even people at home found extreme difficulty in ascertaining their true policy ; 
 the little phrase " if necessarj' " crept in, as a sort of saving clause, in all 
 their utterances ; and the frequent changes of purpose served excellently to 
 mystify all concerned and unconcerned. At first it was believed that the 
 Suakim-Berber route was to be the one adopted. There were troops at the 
 former place ; railway plant had been there deposited ; indeed some rails 
 were already laid, and two engines were already on the spot. Then great stress 
 began to be laid on the fact that Major Kitchener, a young officer of engineers, 
 — a host in himself, certainly, — was at Debbeh, and he was described as the 
 rocket line by which the cable was to be conveyed to the ship-wrecked vessel. 
 Then people learned that the Nile between Assiout and Assouan was tl:e 
 "scene of unwonted activity." Soon it was rumoured that the Admiralty 
 had ordered 400 boats for the navigation of the river, and that a contingent 
 of Canadian voyageurs had been telegraphed for, and that 3,000 troops were 
 to be concentrated at Wady Haifa. Altogether, as the leading London paper 
 editorially remarked, "the Government had kept the secret of their plans — 
 for that they had a plan it would not be reasonable to doubt — without falter- 
 ing, and they will be entitled hereafter to claim whatever credit may turn 
 out to be due to the gift of silence as contributoiy to military success." 
 
 We know now, however, what was in the minds of the authorities, and 
 it is needless to pursue further the details of its working out. Suffice it to 
 say, troops were to proceed to Khartoum, and Lord Wolseley was to take com- 
 mand. 
 
72 
 
 THE WAR IN THE SOUDAN. 
 
 There are three ways of reaching Khartoum. (1) There is the river 
 Nile, which may be followed from Cairo to Khartoum — a distance of some 
 1,900 milos ; (2) there is the choice of making short cuts across deserts — more 
 especially the Nubian Desert, from Korosko to Abu Hamad, shortening the 
 river route by some 500 miles ; (3) and there is the Suakim-Berber route, 245 
 miles. Each deserves notice. 
 
 The river route is long, tedious and has many disqualifications. The 
 Nile is very circuitous, is navigable only at certain seasons of the year, is in 
 many places shallow, and contains dangerous cataracts where the water rushes 
 ovef a rocky bottom. It requires, too, many embarkations and disembarka- 
 tions. From Cairo to Assiout the journey is usually performed by train. 
 At Assiout travellers take to the water. From thence, steamers towing barges 
 conduct them to Assouan. At Assouan is the first cataract. To obviate this 
 a railway has been built to Philse. From Philae to Korosko is done by 
 stenmers again. From Korosko we can go round the long bend of the Nile, 
 or take camels across to Abu Hamad. From Abu Hamad it is possible to 
 follow the river all the way to Khartoum, or at Korti, by means of camels, 
 the Bahiula Desert may be crossed to Metamneh. 
 
 The Nile itself is a terrible stream to navigate : there are great stretches 
 of shallow and broken water, nearly all of them impassable when the river is 
 low, and even when it is high too dangerous to be common. Passing the 
 cataracts is most toilsome work and fraught with extreme diflSculties. Great 
 rocks jut out, the water pours over them and between them, forming swift 
 rapids, and boats have usually to be towed ui> by means of ropes from the 
 banks. 
 
 The desert routes are far worse, that from Korosko to Abu Hamad across 
 the Nubian Desert being particularly bad. It has not a single well. It has 
 been described as " absolutely ferocious in its desolation." From Korti to 
 Metamneh is not so terrible : there are here a few weUs of drinkable water to 
 relieve the awful aridity. 
 
 The road from Suakim to Berber passes through a very different country. 
 In the first 195 miles there are wells at every stage. There is plenty of brush- 
 wood and herbage for fuel and forage, and frequently there is the shade of 
 t' ees. There is a good deal of grain in the country, and there are large flocks 
 of sheep and goats. A railway can here be built within the space of a few 
 months by which communication with Berber from the Red Sea may be accom- 
 plished in some sixteen hours. Tanks of water, it is said, ca'x be deposited at 
 regular intervals, and even a pipe line be laid down. 
 
 Of these three — or, in main, two — ways of reaching Khartoum, the first 
 was the one chosen. 
 
 Tliis choice has been made the object of severest criticism — expressed 
 
HOW. TO GET THERE. 
 
 73 
 
 vehemently at the time, and since equally vehemently renewed. It will be 
 well, therefore, to give in full the Government's own reasons for their decision 
 — especially as ma ly of the arguments adduced will be interesting to Canadian 
 readers and those acquainted with the Red River expedition : — 
 
 " In the selection of the route by which a force operating for the relief of 
 General Gordon should advance into the Soudan the question of water supjjly 
 held by far the most important place. Putting aside for a moment the con- 
 sideration of th ', physical suffering produced by thirst and the rapidity with 
 which men in tropical and semi-tropical regions are brought face to face 
 with it, and applying to the question only the tests of weight and carriage, it 
 was calculated that the carriage of water for one man for one day would 
 require five times the amount of transport necessary for the conveyance of food 
 per head for the same time, w^hile the ditiiculties iu the way of conveying and 
 storing water are at least doubled by the nature of tlie Imrden oarried. 
 
 "Alone among the routes proposed, the Nile was free from this paramount 
 water difficulty. Whatever might be the len<^th of its water-way or the 
 obstacles that lay in its cataracts and rapids, the first and most important 
 consideration — that of an inexhaustible supply of pure and wholesome water, 
 in a land the climatic and physical conditions of which induced almost con- 
 stant thirst — was met ; and this advantage alone was considered so great, 
 that if the cataracts had been much more difficult than they were known to 
 be the certainty of an inexhaustible supply of water through the Egyptian 
 desert would have inclined the authorities to operate by the Nile route rather 
 than to commit an army of English soldiers to the intense sufferings of a 
 march across the practically waterless waste that for more than 200 miles lies 
 between Suakim and Berber. But the difficulties which the Nile i)resented 
 in its cataracts were not unknown in the history of the British Army ; they 
 were almost identical, indeed, with physical obstacles which on another con- 
 tinent had been successfully surmounted by British troops. 
 
 " Fourteen years ago a small expedition had followed a water-way in the 
 depth of the North American wilderness, where there were rocks, rapids, 
 cataracts, and waterfalls as formidable as those of the Nile. The boats used 
 in that expedition had been specially constructed for the work — quickly put 
 together in different parts of Canada. They had been conveyed by steamer 
 and railway many hundreds of miles before they could be placed upon the 
 waters which they were finally to navigate. They carried 10 men, with 
 from two to three months' supplies. They were adapted for sailing, rowing, 
 poling, and " tracking," and they were light enough to be lifted, in case of 
 necessity, out of the water, and dragged or " portaged ' along the shore. 
 
 " In the 500 or 600 miles that lay between the height of land north of 
 Lake Superior and the basin of Lake Winnipeg, which was the destination of 
 
74 
 
 THE WAR IN THE SOUDAN. 
 
 the Red River Expedition, there were nearly 50 interruptions from rapida 
 and falls over which thoae boata had to be carried. Within the space of three 
 months a battalion of infantry, with a small force of artillery and engineers, 
 traversed the double journey 1,200 miles in all, having in that time carried 
 their boats, provisions, stores, and munitions, on 94 separate occasions, a total 
 distance over rocks and through forest of 15 miles. It was a military feat 
 which attracted at the time less attention than it deserved, because the great 
 struggle between France and Germany was then at its height. 
 
 " In this Red River enterprise lay the germ of the expedition now proposed 
 along the Nile. If boats of a certain description manned by soldiers had suc- 
 cessfully ascended the Winnipeg river with its fall of 2 ft. 8 in. to the mile, 
 why, it was asked, should not similar craft carry troops up the Nile when the 
 fall was not above 1 ft. to the mile ? There did not happen to be in Egypt 
 any oflBcer who, from personal experience with the American expedition, was 
 
 WHALKR-GIO. 
 
 in a position to explain to the authorities in Cairo the real nature of the craft 
 proposed and of the methods of using them, and hence it was that the con- 
 sideration of the Nile route was approached both by the naval and military 
 authorities in Egypt from a point of view which regarded the employment of 
 steamers of considerable size and native craft of from 10 to 20 tons weight as 
 necessary to the operation. But any expedition involving the use of large 
 craft made high Nile an indi'^pensable factor to the success of the undertaking, 
 and high water in the Nile could only be depended upon during the aoonths 
 of August and September. For the work proposed to be done by the small 
 boats of the American type high Nile was altogether unnecessary, and so long 
 as the river had 20 inches of water in its shallowest places so long could these 
 boats make good their way. These different points of view from which the 
 question of the Nile route was regarded at home and in Egypt caused some 
 loM of time in the preliminary stages of decision, and it was only in the 
 
lis 
 e 
 
 IS 
 
 ,11 
 
 ae 
 le 
 ne 
 
 HOW TO GET THERE. 
 
 75 
 
 middle of August that orders for the construction of the boats and the per- 
 paration of supplies could be given and the work of organization could really 
 begin." 
 
 The boats — called "whaler-gigs " — deserve some little notice. They are 
 built of white pine, and weigh each from 920 lbs. to 1,100 lbs. without the 
 gear, and are supposed to carry four tons of provisions, ammunition, and camp 
 appliances ; the length is from 30 ft. to 32 ft. ; beam 6 ft, to 7 ft. ; and they 
 draw only 20 inches when loaded. The crew consists of twelve men, soldiers 
 and sailors, the former rowing, the latter (two) attending the helm. Each 
 boat is fitted with two lug sails, which can be worked reefed, so as to permit 
 of an awning being fitted underneath for protection from the sun. On 
 approaching the cataracts they are transported on wooden rollers over the 
 sand to the next level for re-launching. The ration for the boat service is a 
 special one, resembling more a ship ration than a field ration. Ifc was based 
 
 WHAtER-OIO, WITH AWNINO. 
 
 on the assumption that for a considerable period the troops would be entirely 
 dependent on the supplies contained in the boats. Each boat carries 75 
 packages of food supplies, weighing, roughly, about 48 cwt., including weiglit 
 of packing cases. This provided 100 days' supplies for the 12 men. The 
 ration consisted of preserved meats of various sorts, including specially pre- 
 pared bacon, biscuit, cheese, pickles, preserves, flour, tea, sugar, salt, pepper, 
 preserved vegetables, limejuice, erbswurst, rice, tobacco, etc. Each boat also 
 carried a box of medical comforts for the sick, and was fitted to exist as a 
 separate unit during the period for which it was supplied. 
 
 These boats, piloted by the now famed Canadian voyageurs, together 
 with an accompanying troop of mounted infantry — mounted on the " sliip of 
 the desert," solved the problem of "How to Get There." 
 
 The voyageurs and the camel corps each deserve a chapter to themselves. 
 
 le 
 
• 
 
 76 TUE WAR IN TUB SOUDAN. 
 
 CHAPTErt XX. 
 
 THE VOYAGEURS. 
 
 The intelligence and ability of Canadian boatmen, as displayed in the Red 
 River expedition, had so inspired Lord Wolscley with the fact of their value, 
 that he determined to make use of a Canadian contingent to aid in transporting 
 his troops up the river Nile. 
 
 He therefore telegraphed to Lord Melgund who forthwith communica ed 
 with authorities throughout Canada, and in a short space of time between 400 
 and 500 voyageurs — some from the Ottawa valley, some from Winnipeg, many 
 from Lower Canada, including Caughnawaga Indians — were got together untler 
 the command of Major Denison. 
 
 After being inspected by Lord Lansdowne they left Canada for Alexandria 
 on September 16 in the Ocean King, arriving at their destination on the 8th 
 of October. 
 
 Perhaps the best possible way of presenting a picture of the kind of work 
 done by the voyageurs will be to quote from a letter, written in diary form, 
 from one of themselves.* 
 
 Speaking of the passage of the Hannek cataract, Mr. J. A. Sherlock 
 writes : — 
 
 " It looked almost an impossible thing to take a heavy loaded boat up, 
 yet it was done with strained muscles helped by strong will, many a heavy dip 
 we met where the craft hung for tive minutes or mere, every effort to propel 
 her useless until a favourable gust of wind would come and give its welcome 
 aid, and then slowly but surely the obstacle would be overcome and the oars- 
 men get a short breathing and resting spell. By good steering and manage- 
 ment combined with the efforts of brawny arms we came to a place where 
 neither oars nor sails availed, and where we could not land to use the tow 
 rope, but with the exercise of a little judgment and ingenuity, we made a bold 
 effort to surmount the difficulty. A rope was attached to some osier bushes 
 above the fall and bound to some poles and then dropped down towards us, 
 
 * By kind permission of Mr. Lucius Sherlock, of Peterborough, I am permitted to 
 publish extracts from the letters of his late son, John Andrew Sherlock, one of the most 
 intr>^pia of the Canadian voyageurs. Mr. J. A. Sherlock was one of the 86 who from 
 their ability were chosen to remain with the expedition when the services of the remain 
 der of the contingent were dispensed with. His death was telegraphed to this country 
 in the interval between the printing of the letter on pages 25, 26, 27 and the one hero 
 quoted. 
 
THE VOYAOEURS. 77 
 
 and as the boats pulled up in the slack water beli^w, the poles were picked up 
 and all hands clinched the rope (leaving the poles in the water) and pull hand 
 over hand to the bush above. 
 
 " My beat was unlucky in the first attempt. I caught the rope and told 
 the crew to catch and pull. Hesitation was worse than folly, as the boat was 
 running swiftly up into an eddy. But the men were too slow, and when the 
 boat struck the heavy water only one man and myself had hold. Round she 
 swung, broadside in the rushing torrent. The rope was torn out of our hands 
 as if a runaway locomotive was hitched on to it, and somehow Sergeant Carey 
 
 (* 'Twas in the town of nate Cloghem 
 
 That Seargeant Snap met Paddy Carey, &c. ') 
 
 f.jot tangled in the line and jammed hard against the side of the boat. This 
 (at his expense) broke the first shock we got when we hit the rock below, and 
 as the boat rebounded off the rock, the rope was slacked for a moment, only 
 two or three seconds, just long enough to permit one of the crew to take a 
 hitch round a rowlock, thus swinging us round straight into the stream, saving 
 us from drifting into sure destruction, and enabling all onboard to take a firm 
 hold on the rope, j-ou may bet your life it was a firm grip this time, and we 
 try the upward movement again and with greater success. Heavens, but the 
 strain was a terror, inch by inch we crept up to the top, hung there for a mo- 
 ment, touch and go, then slowly forge ahead and out of danger, for a moment 
 and but a moment only, out fly the oars, and pull, my hearties, for your lives ! 
 pull ! pull ! is the word. Four oars scraping the bank, and four moving the 
 boat around a sharp turn just about thirty feet from the head of the heavy 
 ])itch, where if we failed to connect it was all over with us. Boat and men 
 would have run their last trip, and my place would be known no more, except 
 in the meiunry of the home ones. 
 
 " This was the worst place on the cataract. We arrived at Abbafatma 
 just at dark. Here we could see, from a small eminence, miles upon miles of 
 river al)ove and below, and far off in the east the sky and desert meeting. 
 The horizon broken here and there by great conical hills, table topped, 
 standing out of the dreary waste of the sandy desert in sullen, solitary gran- 
 deur, while aloft a few stars glimmered faintly here and there, now showing 
 a dim light and anon holding themselves from the eye as if afraid even to look 
 upon so barren, so dreaiy, so heaven-cursed a ecene. 
 
 " We left ^ bbafatma on the evening of the 14th and made seven miles 
 against nightfall. 
 
 " 15th. A fine day's sailing and no accident. 
 
 "16th. Passed New Dongola with a grand wind blowing. Our orders 
 were against stopping hce as the small-pox has been raging here for some 
 time past and we kept the eastern bank of the rivei. 
 
I 
 
 78 THE WAP IN THE SOUDAN. 
 
 *' 17th. Steady wind and good time made. 
 
 " 18th. Head wind and tx)w along the banks nearly all day. We passed 
 the old town of Haiidak. It is very compact looking, is situated on a hill 
 close to the river bank, and has every appearance of beiflg well fortified. 
 • *' Coming on towards the evening tlie captain and six boats got ahead of 
 us, and at sunset wo fancied we could see their camp on the east bank a lung 
 way off. The sergeant in charge of the men in my boat was anxious to catch 
 up with the rest, so we concluded to push on, but while towing away in the 
 dusk we get stuck in a shallow muddy place, and all hands had to wade out, 
 shove the boat off and row along the east bank in the heavy current. Hero 
 the bank was so steep we could not land. The men were getting quite 
 wearied out towing and rowing. We made two or three attempts to land, bi't 
 did not succeed. There was no moon and not even a dog to bay at it. No 
 sound broke the air, the night was close, heavy and gloomy, and the men 
 were silent and low spirited. A phosphoric glimmering every now and then 
 in the stream had rather a startling effect, the men fancying that it was a boat 
 drifting down with someone in it with a light, which he was trying to liide, 
 and I rather fancy that some of them had a sort of superstitious feeling, and 
 on the whole they were not very ' comfortable.' We rowed on until we 
 managed to reach a landing place. 1 wanted them to pitch camp, but no, they 
 concluded to send one of the lads ahead to see if the light we had been steer- 
 ing for was the advanced party's camp fire. Well, he was gone about twenty 
 minutes, when he came back on the run, with no more puff in him than there 
 would be in a slit bellows, and as frightened as a man could well be I believe. 
 He alarmed all hands by telling them to get out their rifles and ammunition, 
 as there were 500 natives encamped near the liglit we had been moving on 
 and that they had two Gatlin^: mhs with them he was sure as he had seen the 
 brass shining in the fire light. To make naatters worse while he was gone we 
 had noticed camp fires on the west bank, an unusual thing, as it was against 
 orders. Well, I think that I may safely boast that I had the smartest crew 
 that ever manned a boat for the time being, — in boat, out oars, ofi" shore, and 
 pulling like the 'deil mon,' in less time than I can describe it for the 'lights 
 along the other shore ' until the bowman gave warning that the water was 
 shoaling fast, and soon we were stuck on a sand-bank in the middle of the 
 river. Then they all agreed to let their voyageur have his way and get them 
 out of the scrape their foolish conduct had got them into. The boat was 
 shoved off and we ran down stream for about half a mile, pitched camp on a 
 small island, lighted our fires and had our kettles • singing songs of harmony 
 glee ' in double quick time. A good supper soon drove all gloomy forebodings 
 away, the laugh, the jest, the song went round for an hour, our tent spread 
 out on the ground and one man detailed lor guard while the rest lay down, 
 
THE V0YAGEUR8. 
 
 79 
 
 clothes on, rifle at side, fully worn out with the day's toil. Many a night I am 
 8o weary I cannot even eat, but the morn sees me up and at work as fresh 
 BM ever. 
 
 "I can make pretty shrewd guess as to the water we are in from the different 
 shades of sand, rock or pebbles where a boat may float, and where she cannot, 
 sometimes so close that the keel will grate on the pebble or sand. But 1 
 would shfjut 'pull away boys, pull away, we'll get over it all safe'- and the feat 
 was accomplished. You would hear one of them say ' sure Duke but you're 
 the divil — how do you tell at all, at all, the way of it. Why any one would 
 think when we are scraping and scratching over the ground we'd never get 
 through, but here we are safe and sound, and more power to your elbow.' " 
 
 On the whole it will appear that the decision of Lord Wolseley to employ 
 Canadian voyageurs was a wise one. The Government, too, by their liberal 
 treatment of the boatmen on their return from active service, endorsed this 
 view. 
 
 ma 
 
80 THE WAR IN THE SOUDAN. 
 
 CHAl'TER XXI. 
 
 THE CAMP:L <5()RPS. 
 
 What the ocean would be without ships, Egj-pt would bo without its 
 " ship of the desert." Vast areas would bo absolutely impassable ; merchan- 
 dise could not pass from one productive spot to another; whole regions would 
 be isolated ; news could only with extreme difficulty cross from one locality 
 to another by h)ng and circuitous paths; trade would be confined; tril)e8 
 dwelling in habitable localities separated by sterile and waterless wastes would 
 learn little if anything of each other; and the country at largo would probably 
 1)6 made up of a number of isolated peoples kn<jwing little of each other and 
 nothing of the outside world. 
 
 All this the camel obviates. It is truly a most wonderful animal. It 
 
 scorns the terribleness of the desert. It can go for ten days witli(jut drinking, 
 
 and fur twenty days with(>ut eating. It will travel twenty-five miles a dny 
 
 with a weight of four hundred or live hundred pounds on its back. It will 
 
 set out for a ten days' march in which not a drop of water or a morsel of food 
 
 j • can be obtained without fear of the results. The rider must have i.is threu 
 
 i meals and his proportionate sup])ly of wiuor daily, — the animal that carries 
 
 him will ]>l<id on for a week and half and cover two hundred and fifty miles 
 
 [ without either. 
 
 I It was on these animals that Lord Wolseley proposed to mount 1,100 
 
 men, to form a corps made up of detachments from the three Household 
 Cavalry regiments, seven battalions of the Guards, 16 cavalry regiments, and 
 a part of the naval brigade. They were to travel along the west bank of the 
 Nile, and to form one of the principal parts of the expedition. 
 
 This important branch of the army was not without its ludicrous side. 
 
 The gigantic heavy dragoon mounted as he would be on horse-back* on the 
 
 !j restless, ill-contented, and altogether astonished camel was a sight not easily 
 
 it to be forgotten. The rider knew not what to make of his beast, and the 
 
 I beast could less easily comprehend the nature of his rider. The ordinary 
 
 i riding-school words of command fell at first unheeded upon his ears, accus- 
 
 i;i tomed only to Arabic persuasives and Arabic expletives. The blue-jackets 
 
 '\ got on better. Jack Tar takes kindly to animals and was soon on the best of 
 
 I terms with his "ship of the desert," to which he had of course given an 
 
 * The saddles supplied were quite different from those ordinarily used in Egypt, 
 and allowed the rider to ride astride just as on a horse. 
 
r" - 
 
 ■fx 
 
 A 
 O 
 ■J 
 
 -1 
 
 I i-H 
 
 •A 
 
 D 
 
 W 
 
 Q 
 
 
82 THE WAR IN THE SOUDAN. 
 
 appropriate pet name — often a highly amusing one. One old salt, before his 
 first mount, was very anxious to know which end of his beast got up first — no 
 useless query, for the process by which a camel rises to his feet is a compli- 
 cated and an uncomfortable one. His question was answered before his eyes, 
 for one of his messmates who had neglected to inform himself on this point, 
 or who had, perhaps, been misinformed by some flippant landsman, was sent 
 head over heels over the neck of his animal when it made the first move in 
 rising. 
 
 He is an extraordinary brute, the camel ; save when worn out by fatigue 
 he is never quiet. He is never at any time happy ; he will bite at the hand 
 that tends and feeds him with the same animosity that he exhibits towards 
 the hand that loads and bri lies him. He knows nought of gratitude, is be- 
 reft of any of the softer passions, and looks on whomsoever approaches him 
 for whatever purpose as his bitterest enemy. In spite, however, of the way- 
 wardness of the brute, the men sought by care and attention to improve his 
 health and appearance by every means in their powei". They even went so 
 far as to groom him, an attention to which the camel is altogether unaccus- 
 tomed, and which at first so filled him with astonishment as to deprive him of 
 the power to protest. Soon, however, it dawned upon him that he was being 
 cleaned, and, his resentment quickly roused, he at once filled the air with 
 hideous roars and groans, which he never failed to renew each time the pro- 
 cess was rejieated. 
 
 Lau5,hable above all things was the sight of Lord Charles Beresford, who, 
 mounted on a donkey, led the naval brigade towering above him on their 
 camels. This celebrated animal of Lord Charles's was by name, "The 
 County of Waterford," so called by his lordship because the second time he 
 contested him he lost his seat. 
 
 In their long march and frequent stoppages at the towns the river 
 bank, there was time for an occasional letting off of the high spirits of the 
 men which had by no means been damped by the difficulties of the road. At 
 Dongola, especially, a few festivities were indulged in while awaiting the 
 arrival of the main body. Am^ongst other things a camel race was arranged 
 for. It has been well described by an onlooker : 
 
 "The scene at the starting post was quaint in the extreme. Camels 
 were there of every size and hue, bellowing one and an as though in direst 
 agony ; some of them bestridden by English soldiers on their red leather 
 saddles, some by "icers who preferred the comfortable Soudan sadJle, some 
 by naked Bischari or Ababdeh, sons of the desert, who not unfrequently dis 
 dain" g saddles of any kind, Fat perched on the rump of the animal as on a 
 jackass, aud guided their beasts by the nc.stril string alone. Here and there 
 among the crowd wereBashi Baz uiks on slim-necked, slender-legged animals, 
 
 J 
 
THE CAMEL CORPS. 83 
 
 whose rich accoutrements showed that their owners found war a paying trade, 
 and townsfoLi who, perched on their high wooden saddles, their ' 'wg robes 
 bound closely round their waists, intended evidently to make a desperate 
 struggle for victory. At last, profiting by a moment when all the competi- 
 tors seemed to be in line — a result to obtain which had taken some three- 
 quarters of an hour — the signal waa given to go, and the camels started. 
 Then some trotted, some galloped, some turned themselves round and round 
 seeking to tie themselves in knots and refusing to move forward, otlkers threw 
 themselves on the ground and rolled their riders oflf, and one or two, disen- 
 gaging themselves from tha ciowd, started off in a mad breakneck gallop to- 
 wards the hills, their riders, albeit wild sons of the desert, unable to do more 
 than cling to the beasts for dear life. Every now and then occurred a terrific 
 collision between two eager competitors, which flung both camels and riders 
 to the ground. As the beasts rounded the turning post the confusion became ' 
 
 proportionate to the excitement. Many camels never got round the post at 
 all, but fell to tij;hting one with another on the far side of it, in which con- 
 flicts their riders, wheii natives, soon took part with right good will. Others 
 sought to cheat, diminishing the distance by a hundred yards or so, but these 
 defaulters were promptly 'spotted ' and hounded off the course by the watch- 
 ful stewards. The winner was greeted as he passed the post by such cheers 
 as completely disconcerted the poor brute, and had not his rider warily fore- 
 stalled him he would have turned back in flight from before the crowd of 
 spectators. The race was a good one, and one of the most interesting features 
 about it was the fact that, although the winning camel was ridden by a native, 
 the English soldiers, whose acquaintance with camels dated from but a fort- 
 night, seemed to hold their own very fairly against the natives, who were, so 
 to speak, bom and bred camel-riders. As to knowledge of the habits of the j 
 
 brute and adaptability to a long journey, the superiority of the native is, of 
 course, incontestible ; but at this short trial of speed the Englishmen showed 
 themselves not much his inferiors." 
 
 Lord Wolseley has not found himself free from criticism in the manner 
 in which he organized this camel corps. Major-General Sir Henry Green, 
 K.C.S.I., C.B., advocated the sending of a camel corps from India, — "a 
 proper camel oorps>" he said, "not that nondescript force with a heavy 
 dragoon perched on the top of the hump of a camel which Lord Wolseley has 
 improvised on the Nile, but a camel corps such as was raised by the late Sir 
 C. Napier in Scinde, and the organization of which has been elaborated ever 
 since. The proper camel corps is based upon one fundamental principle, 
 which is essential to success in dealing with camels, and that is that each 
 camel must be under the control of a man who understands it. There is no 
 more delicate brute in the world than a camel unless it is properly looked 
 
 
j 
 
 84 THE WAR IN THE SOUDAN. 
 
 after and well cared for by a man who understands its habits, its tempera- 
 ment, etc. , and hence in every camel corps that is raised upon proper prin- 
 ciples you must have one man to drive and another man to fight. The driver, 
 a light-weight, carrying a light carbine, sits in the front of the camel's hump. 
 ! Your fighting man, equipped complete, sits behind the hump. When neces- 
 
 ! sary the camel kneels down, the soldier alights, the driver takes his beast to 
 
 the rear, and you have at once an infantry force ready to resist or attack 
 i 
 I without being burdened with any sense of responsibility for the camels, which 
 
 ' are left in the hands of theiv drivers, who constitute an eflScient force for 
 
 i their defence. In the nondescript corps which has been careering across the 
 
 Bahiuda desert, who takes charge of the camels when the riders dismount in 
 
 I order to go into action ? It is an axiom in all camel corps that if you don't 
 
 take care of your camel you lose him — that is to say, he will die. But with 
 
 proper care your camel will go through almost incredible hardships. In one 
 
 ! campaign on the Indian frontier I had 6,000 camels under me and did not 
 
 I lose one of them. In the Afghan campaign we lost 60,000 — and why ? 
 
 ; Because in the former case the camels were in charge of men who understood 
 
 '\ them, whereas in Afghanistan the camels were handed over in most cases to 
 
 i the tender mercies of those who had no more idea of a camel than they had 
 
 i of an ostrich. The result was that the poor brutes were often shamefully ill- 
 
 I used and died by thousands. It is a mistake, however, to imagine that the 
 
 i excessive consumption of what you may call transport camels in Afghanistan 
 
 I has in any way diminished the number of camels recjuired for a camel corps. 
 
 i The camels used up in Afghanistan were small beasts of burden, costing from 
 
 £5 to £10 each. The camels with which the camel corps was formed were 
 
 ihe finest camels in the world, bred in Jesulmere, and trained as riding 
 
 camels, costing from £25 to £35 each. Of these you can get plenty, if you 
 
 pay for them. The difficulty of shipping camels is absurdly exaggerated. 
 
 We carried shiploads df them to the Persian Gulf Avithout any ditfioulty. 
 
 The great thing is to entrust the job to the hands of men wIid kuuw their 
 
 business." 
 
 Nevertheless there are some sjilendid achievements 3\-t to ba recorded of 
 
 - General Wolseley's camel C(n'p3. 
 
 . 
 
TUB BELEAGUERED CITY AND ITS THREE DEFENDERS. 85 
 
 CHAPTER XXn. 
 
 THE BELEAGUERED CITY AND ITS THREE DEFENDERS. 
 
 While we have been calmly talking about votes of censure, routes to 
 Khartoum, white pine boats, and camels, what of the three Englishmen and 
 their loyal band shut up in the besieged city in the midst of a hostile land 
 two thousand miles from help ? Ah ! what of them ? " The count of mighty 
 Poets is made up," sings Keats, "the scroll is folded by the Muses." Not so 
 the count of heroes. Brightest on the scroll of Mars will shine the names of 
 Gordon, Stewart, Power. Heroism the world has witnessed before ; but 
 heroism that never yet excelled that displayed by these brave men. It was 
 magnificent, and it was war, that defence of theirs — war every day, every 
 night ; fighting hourly for their lives, and for the lives of thousands of men, 
 and women and children. " Old Homer's Helicon ! that thou wouldst spout a 
 little streandet o'er these sorry pages." I will do my best, my reader, to tell 
 you what they did, these splendid men : forgive me if I fail. 
 
 On the seventeenth of April all communication between Gordon and his 
 country was cut off. From then till October the 1st no news came at all. 
 England at home went on its usual way : eating and drinking, talking and 
 dancing, making money and losing it, and speculating how to make more. 
 England at Khartoum — her three representatives there — how are they spend- 
 ing the time ? Enjoying themselves? Yes; they say they are happy, they 
 say they are hopeful, they say they are well. What are they doing / Round 
 them on every side are hosts of watchful savages becoming bolder every day. 
 They incessantly attack them, first on this side, then on that ; build forts 
 along the river, place in them powerful cannon and daily push the siege. 
 Now we hear of a heavy attack from the west, now of a strong force in a con- 
 tiguous village. They fight well, these savages. For whole days they will 
 contest a sniglo position, and armed only with spears will rush boldly upon 
 twenty times their number. But so do the Englishmen fight —fight right 
 well. The town is fortified to the la-'t extent. Broken glass, crowsfeet, 
 tangled wire, chevanx-de-frise, and three lines of percussion mines line the 
 walls. The ammunition is all safely housed ; steamers are made bullet-proof 
 by plates of iron ; towers, 20 feet high, are built on the barges ; and from 
 these the enemy is daily shelled. Up and down the river they go, driving 
 the opponents from this fort, blowing up that magazine, «apturing cattle, 
 
86 THE WAR IN THE SOUDAN. 
 
 capturing corn, killing hundreds the while. Listen to the account of these 
 exploits. 
 
 "April 16, 17, 18, 19, and 20.— Attacks by the rebels on the Palace 
 from the villages opposite. Fearful loss of life to the Arabs from mines put 
 down by General Gordon. 
 
 "May 6. — Heavy attack from the Arabs at the Blue Nile end of the 
 works ; great loss of life I'rom mines. 
 
 *' May 7. — Great attack from a village opposite ; nine nn'nes were exploded, 
 115 rebels killed. The Arabs kept up a fire all day. Colonel Stewart, with 
 two splendidly directed shots from a Krupp 20-pounder at the Palace, drove 
 them out of their principal position. During the night the Arabs loopholed 
 the walls, but on the 9th we drove them out. They had held the place for 
 three days. 
 
 " May 25. — Colonel Stewart, while working a mitrailleuse at the Palace, 
 was woixnded by the rebel fire, but he is now quite well. 
 
 " May 26. — During an expedition up the White Nile Saati Bey put a shell 
 into an Arab magazine. There was a great explosion. Sixty shells going oflf. 
 
 ' ' During May and June steamer expeditions were made daily. Our loss 
 was slight, and much cattle were captured. 
 
 "June 30. — Saati Bey captured 40ardebsof com from the rebels, killing 
 200 of them. 
 
 "July 10. — Saati Bey having burnt Kalakla and three villages, attacked 
 Gatarneb, but, with three of his officers, was killed. Colonel Stewart had a 
 narrow escape. 
 
 " July 29. — We beat the rebels out of Buri, on the Blue Nile, killing num- 
 bers of them and capturing munitions and eighty rifles. The steamers 
 advanced to El Fan, clearing thirteen rebel forts and breaking two cannon. 
 Since the siege began our loss has been 700 killed. 
 
 " For the last five months the siege has been very close, the Arab bullets 
 from all sides being able to fall into the Palace. 
 
 " Since March 17 no day has passed without firing."* 
 
 And inside the city — what is the scene ? — All through the streets are seen 
 poor black frightened people crouching in terror of the bullets. Young 
 mothers with children ; some sick, some weak with wounds ; yet all with firm 
 faith in the kind and brave three who are doing the best they can for them. 
 Food is frightfully dear. Everything has gone up 3,000 per cent. Meat — 
 when it can be bought — after the capture of a few cattle, perhaps, — is ruinously 
 expensive. There are some stores of food, but they consist of corn and 
 biscuits only, and of these only enough for a few months at most. Yet every- 
 
 * Telegraphic despatches from Mr. Power, dated July 30. 
 
■. I ; '"u • i r . irnrmrrnrTTt in -~"sx 
 
 THE BELEAGUERED CITY AND ITS THREE DBFBNDE?»8. 87 
 
 one works with a will. Colonel Stewart, with arms bared, like a gunner, 
 himself points with good effect the guns ; General Gordon is up before dawn 
 — often all night — overlooking and ordering. He is as kind as he is great, 
 this wonderful general. And the beauty of it all is he does not know he is 
 either. Like Carlyle's truly great man he is perfectly unconscious of his 
 greatness. Let him tell you himself what he is doing : — 
 
 "April 23. — Thunderstorms in all directions at night. The rising of the 
 Nile will enable steamers to destroy irrigating machines along river banks, 
 ^ and thus prevent any cultivation. 
 
 "April 24. — Rain during night. Thermometer 90 deg. 
 
 "April 27. — Usual Friday church paritde. Not many rebels in south 
 front. Yesterday Steamers went up White Nile and captured four cows, two 
 donkeys, 26 sheep and three prisoners. 
 
 "April 27. — We are all well and strong. 
 
 "July 30. — The people refuse to let me go out on expeditions, owing to 
 the bother which would arise if anything happened, so I sit on tenter-hooks 
 of anxiety. To show you the Arabs fire well, two of our steamers which are 
 blinded received 970 and 860 hits in their hulls respectively, I should think 
 we have fired half a million cartridges. It may be bad taste to say it, but if 
 we get out of this give Stewart a K. C. M. G. , and spare me at all costs. You 
 will thus save me the disagreeable n ess of having to refuse, but I hate these 
 things. If we get out it is in answer to prayer, and not by our might, and it 
 is a true pleasure to have been here, though painful enough at times. We 
 have a decoration with three degrees — silver, silver gilt, and pewter, with 
 inscription " Siege of Khartoum," with a grenade in centre. School children 
 and women have also receive d one ; consequently I am very popular with the 
 black ladies of Khartoum. We must fight it out with our own means ; if 
 blessed by God we shall succeed ; if not His will, so be it. All is for the best. 
 I will conclude in saying we will defend ourselves to the last ; that I will not 
 leave Khartoum ; that I will try and persuade all Europeans to escape, and 
 that I am still sanguine that, by some means not clear, God will give us an 
 
 issue 
 
 "* 
 
 Let us say as was said of a great man once: "For ourselves, we feel that 
 there is actually a kind of sacredness in the fact of such a man being sent into 
 this Earth." 
 
 And is no army coming from England after all 1 the blacks are asking. 
 We have trusted you, lent you money, fought for you, and you have promised 
 to succour us. When is help coming 1 — When indeed 1 An English army is 
 certainly on the road, but it is a long road, and before they can travel it — ! — 
 
 * Telegraphic despatches from General Gordon to Sir Evelyn Baring. 
 
88 
 
 TIIF, WAR IN THK SOUDAN. 
 
 i 
 
 Worse than all, before this a telegram conies all the way from England 
 to say that no help will be sent. Whether the three Englishmen tell this sad 
 news to the poor hoiiiiig blacks or not we cannot say. Let us hope not. 
 But they themselves ? Do they despair / Listen again: 
 
 "Since the despatch which arrived the day before yesterday all hope of 
 relief by our Government is at an end, so when our provisions, which wo have 
 at a stretch for two months, are eaten we must fall, nor la there any chance, 
 with the soldiers we have, and the great crowd of women, children, etc., of 
 our being able to cut our way ihroiij,'h the Arabs." Then some news about 
 successes quietly stated, and then the sentence — '* General Gordon is quite 
 well, and Cohjuel Stewart has quite recovered from his wound. I am quite 
 well and happy."* 
 
 No ; they did not despair. They were "happy ;" it was a "true plea- 
 sure to have been there," they say. Was there ever in all hist Ty greater 
 devotion to duty ? What was the Soudan to them or they to the Soudan that 
 they should (.lie for it ? For they died. There was no compensation ; nothing 
 to make death easy but the sense of having done what they ought to have 
 done. Ah! reader, does not your heart ache for them? Three thousand 
 miles from all they loved ; not even a kind message from home, fr> m a wife, 
 or a sister, not even a " well done " — not in this world — to cheer them. Yet 
 they are "happy." Thank God for that. — 
 
 Let us return to the " relief " expedition. 
 
 * Telegiaijhic despatches from Mr. Power, dated July 31, 
 
 r L <,^-^-'-^- 
 
 Wi^oZr>-. 
 
 
 KHARTOUM FROM THE RIVKK. 
 
 ■ 
 
BBLATIYB DISTANCES OF IMPORTANT PLACES. 
 
 B9 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 RELATIVE DISTANCES OF IMPORTANT PLACES. 
 
 Before we '.ommence the account of the cascent of the Nile it will be well 
 to obtain as clear a view as possible of the various distances to be covered by 
 our troops both by river and desert. The following table gives fairly accurately 
 the relative positions of the chief towns through which they passed, together 
 with short accounts of the more dangerous cataracts : — 
 From Cairo to Benisooef, 73 miles. 
 
 Benisooef is a large and important town, seventy-three miles from Cairo. 
 It is the capital of the province, and the residence of the Mudir, or Governor. 
 There is a railway station and a good bazaar. The population is about 5,000. 
 The chief industry is the manufacture of woollen carpets and warm linen 
 stuffs. 
 
 From Cairo to Minieh, 160 miles. 
 
 Minieh is a flourishing town, the capital of the province of the same name, 
 and is situated on the left bank of the Nile. The great industry is that of 
 sugar, the first sugar factory in Egypt having been built there. During the 
 sugar cane harvest, and when the mills are in full activity the town presents 
 a very lively appearance. 
 
 From Cairo to Assiout, 247^ miles. 
 
 Assiout is nominally within eighteen hours (336 miles of Alexandria) and 
 from this point steamers will, without difficulty, convey the troops 320 miles 
 up stream to Assouan. Assiout is the capital of Upper Egypt, contains the 
 residence of the governor, and has a population of 25,000 souls, of whom 
 about 10,000 are Christians, its trade in linen, cloth, earthenware, woollen, 
 and opium is considerable, and it is the starting-point of the caravans to Darfur 
 and Nubia. The pipe-bowls of Assiout are renowned throughout Egypt. 
 From Cairo to Girgeh, 341 miles. 
 
 Girgeh is chiefly interesting from the fact that it contains a large Christian 
 population, and that the town is manifestly of Christian origin. Formerly 
 Girgeh was the capital of the province, but the town is now of small import- 
 ance. It contains a Latin monastery — the oldest Roman Catholic monastery 
 now in Egypt. 
 
 From Cairo to Thebes, 450 miles. 
 From Cairo to Esneh, 484 miles. 
 
 F 
 
90 
 
 THE WAR IN THE SOUDAN. 
 
 Esneh is a great place for marketing. One of the chief features of Esneh 
 is the colony of Ghawdzee, or dancing girls, who inhabit a separate hamlet. 
 
 Frotn Cairo to Edf u, 514 miles. 
 
 From Cairo to Assouan, 583 miles. 
 
 At Assouan is the fir.-it cataract. There is a genei-al impression that the 
 Nile cataracts are species of miniature Niagaras, whereas they are really little 
 more than a succession of rapids, whirlpools and eddies caused l^y rocks and 
 islets. At High Nile all but the tallest rocks are covered with water, and 
 then it is possible for boats to sail up what is practically little nioi'e than a 
 very powerful stream. As the river falls, however, it becomes divided into 
 numerous narrow channels, which necessitate the boats being towed through 
 the rapids and falls which are then produced. The First Cataract, or Cataract 
 of Assouan, is from two to three miles long Both Dahabeahs and NugLjars 
 (smaller Nile boats) pass with their cargoes at High Nile. At Low Nile, wJien 
 ascending and descending, they usually dischnrge cargo. The gradient is not 
 more than one in fifteen. Up to this point navigation is perfectly easy. 
 Seven or eight steamers go up and down the Nile from Assouan to Cairo 
 (twelve days). Seven postal steamers ply between Assiout and Assouan (four 
 days), and then from Philae, above the First Cataract, to Wady Haifa (forty- 
 two hours). Nile steamers can pass the First Cataract from August until 
 January, and boats of not more than sixty tons can pass at all seasons. The 
 river bank has always a lively appearance as the large vessels unship their 
 cargo, which is transported on came! -back or by rail six miles up the river 
 beyond the Cataract. For this purpose there is a short railway, and by this 
 our men and stores, as they arrive from Siour, at Assouan, are transhipped and 
 forwarded to Philre, where steame s will take them to Wady Haifa, a distance 
 of 200 miles. 
 
 From Cairo to Korosko, 705 m'les. 
 
 At Korosko the river makes a rapid and beautiful reverse curve. From 
 Korosko the direct rt)ute strikes across the Nubian Desert to Abu Hamad, 
 the Upper Nile, Shendy, Seunaar, and Khaitoum. To Abu Hamad is 
 a distance of 227 miles, and a large bend in the river is thus avoided. But 
 the desert is almost waterless, and offers a tremendous obstacle to the move- 
 ment of a force of any size. It was from Korosko that General Gordon and 
 Colonel Stewart started on their adventurous journey across the desert to 
 Khartoum. Though a place of considerable traffic as the point of departure 
 for the Upper Nile and Xhartoum, Korosko is in itself scarcely a village. A 
 few scattered huts lie along the foot of the mountain, and the bank is gene- 
 rally lined with the tents and merchandise of traders. 
 
 From Cairo to Wady Haifa, 783 miles. 
 
 Wady Haifa is a large village lying scattered amongst a thick belt of 
 
 t 
 
t 
 
 RELATIVE DISTANCES OP IMPORTANT PLACES. 91 
 
 palms. It is a place of much importance in connection with the Expedition 
 for the relief of General GordDU, us it practically forms the base of operations. 
 From Phila) to Wudy Haifa the troijps will be transported by boats. From 
 Wady Haifa a railway about thirty miles long turn'* a portion of the Second 
 Cataract, and strikes the Nile at Sarass. The town is somewhat picturesque, 
 but the surrounding country is drear and desilate. Wady Haifa is, however, 
 often enlivened by encampments of traders on their way to or returning from 
 the Soudan. Here the merchandise is transferred from camels to boats, or 
 vice versa. Lord \Vt)l8eley arrived at Wady Haifa on October 5th in a Nile 
 steamer. He took uj) his head-(iuarters in a dahabeah, and at once began to 
 make short tours of inspecti(jn. 
 
 The Cataract of Wady Haifa, or the Second Cataract, is from nine to 
 fourteen miles long. Daliabeahs cannot as a rule ascend above the Cataract. 
 The boat used above this is the nug,'ar. Four miles north of Watly Haifa is 
 the north terminus of the proposed Suiidan Railway, of which thirty-three 
 miles of rails are laid, the permanent way being completed some twenty-two 
 miles further on. At Sarass the boats of Lord Wolseley's Expedition took 
 the water, an i the real difficulties began. 
 From Cairo to Semneh, 828 miles. 
 
 The Cataract of Semneh is not difficult, and with a fair wind nuggars can 
 pass wi'h their cargoes. The part of the river about Semneh is called by the 
 Arabs Batu en Hogar, or " the Belly of Rock." On either bank are interest- 
 ing temples of the third Thothmes. That on the east bank consists of a 
 portico, a hall parallel to it, and some minor chambers. It stands in an 
 extensive enclosure. The river can be crossed on frail rafts, made of logs 
 lashed together, and pushed forward by men who swim behind it. The tem- 
 ple on the west side consists of only one chamber. At Semneh north winds 
 are prevalent. 
 
 From Cairo to Hannek, (?) 
 
 Proceeding up the Nile from Wady Haifa the following minor cataracts 
 are passed ; — Semneh, Ambigole, Okmeh, Dal and Kaibar. The last-named 
 is seven or eight miles in length. It is impassable at Low Nile, but only pass- 
 able at High Nile. This difficulty surmounted, the next important obstruc- 
 tion is the Third Cataract, or Cataract of Hatmek, which is impassable at Low 
 Nile, but passable at High Nile. From Wady Hfilfa to this point the Nile 
 is practically one series of rapids extending over a distance of 130 miles, the 
 passage of three of the cataracts being very difficult. From the Cataract of 
 Hannek onwards there is clear water for about 220 miles. 
 From Cairo to Abu Hamad, 1,297 miles. 
 
 From the Third Cataract to Abu Hamad the Nile makes a large right- 
 angle bend. Proceeding up stream, the Island of Argo is first passed, and 
 
92 THE WAU IN THE SOUDAN. 
 
 then the town of Ordee, or New Dongola, is reached. Tt is the capital of 
 Lower Nubia and the residence of the Mudir, wlioso loyalty to tlie British 
 during the Soudan rebellion has been so repeatedly questioned. New Don- 
 gola is nn insigniiieant place ; and the traveller next reaches Old Dongola and 
 Delibeh. From Debbeh is a direct road across the desert to Khartoum, a 
 ten days' journey. After Debbeh the next important place is Ainbukol, 
 whence a desert route to Shendy cuts oft' another bend in the Nile. After 
 Anibuk(d comes Merawi, wlience there is a direct route to Berber. Soon after 
 passing Merawi there is a stretch of 140 miles, ini passable at L'.w Nile, ixnd 
 only passable for small boats at High Nile. There are in this district some 
 seven distinct cataracts, sometimes known as the Cataracts of Shakoujeh. 
 
 Frcjm Cairo to El Umas, (I) 
 
 The Fifth Cataract, or Cataract of El Umas, is impracticable at Low Nile 
 It lies on the stretch of river between Abu Hamad and Berbor. There 
 are here no mountains or even hil s, and the falls at a little distance are 
 scarcely perceptible. The boats used on this part of the Nile are mainly 
 " nuggars. " 
 
 From Cairo to Berbei', 1,400 miles. 
 
 Berber (204 miles fn)m Khartoum) is one of the most important towns of 
 the Upper Nile. Once at Berber, the main tlillicuhies of Lord Wolseley's 
 River Expedition are at an end, for from Berber to Khartoum there are but 
 204 miles of river, which oiler no great difHculties to navigation. Berber 
 itself is an insigiiiticuit and unattractive Nubian town. It is the limit of the 
 southern flight of the (pi.til, and between it and Khartoum crocodiles and 
 hijipopotami abound. About twenty miles above Berber is the mouth of the 
 Atbara River. The male population is about 3,000. The streets are dirty 
 and unpaved, the houses are of sun-dried bricks. There is a small bazaar, 
 government buildings and a telegraiih office. The town la protected by earth- 
 works, 4,500 yards in extent. 
 
 From Cairo to Shendy, 1,515 miles. 
 
 Shendy is the next town of importance after leaving Berber. In 1872 it 
 had a population of ;i,000. There is a bazaar and market. It is the terminus 
 of the desert route from Ambukol. Around Shendy the sceneiy is flat and 
 uninteresting. 
 
 From Cairo to Khartoum, 1,900. 
 
 At Khartoum, Half Nile occurs in the middle of July, High Nile about 
 the beginning of September, lasting about a month, and falling early in Octo- 
 ber. Half Nile occurs again about the end of October, It is High Nile at 
 Khartoum forty days sooner than at Cairo. 
 
 From Cairo to Dongola, 9G0 miles. 
 
 From Dongola to Debbeh, 105 miles. 
 
RELATIVE DISTANCES OF IMPOHTANT PLACES. 
 
 93 
 
 From Dubbeh to Korti, 46 niilos. 
 From Korti to Mutaimieh (acroas desert), 185 miles. 
 From Suakim to IjerUer (ncroas desert), 2(>i> miles. 
 From Merawi to Berber (acroaa desertj, lOU miles. 
 
 A IKTrEK HOME. 
 
' r 
 
 
 
 IMAGE EVALUATION 
 TEST TARGET (MT-3) 
 
 I rs 1^ |2.8 |m2.5 
 
 j.U 150 "^ i^ 
 
 I.I 
 
 1.25 
 
 JO ■ lii 
 
 u US 
 
 io mil 2.0 
 
 1.8 
 
 U lii 1.6 
 
 V] 
 
 
 4^ ^ >> 4 
 
 /A 
 
 ^^:^^' 
 
 '^^^ 
 
 ''^y 
 
 om 
 
 m 
 
 •ss 
 
 ,\ 
 
 « 
 
 :\ 
 
 \ 
 
 % 
 
 V 
 
 
 
 ^W^ 
 ^<^ 
 
 
,r V— ■ • — ■-•" — ' ifi 
 
 
 i 
 
 v\ 
 
94 THE WAR IN THE SOUDAN. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 THE TOILERS OF THE NILE. 
 
 On August the 14th the Nile route was adopted ; on November the 4th 
 it was telegraphed, •' The expedition may now be said to be fairly under way." 
 During this interval little of any interest touching the relieving force occurred. 
 On August 28th Lord Wolseley was appointed to command; on the 10th of 
 the following month he arrived at Cairo. There was a very great deal to be 
 done : 800 boats to be built; tlie preparatioi. and transport of immense quan- 
 ' tities of stores; steamers, nuggars, and Nile craft of all kinds t(^ be collected 
 or repaired ; coal to be stored ; camels to bo purchased ; and the million and 
 one other things that are required between Aldershot and the battlefield. 
 There was bustle everwhere, from Pindico to Cairo, from Cairo to Assiout, 
 and from Assiout on to Wady Haifa. Thousands of packages of stores, arms, 
 ammunition, accoutrfments, rations, medical appliances, and what not, were 
 daily being landed and sent on towards the front; steamers were hauled 
 over cataracts ; delaclmients of troops arrived one after the other ; and 
 altogether it seemed to one at Cairo that England had shaken off her aj^athy, 
 and with her heart in the work was setting out in real earnest to achieve 
 success. Delays of course occurred. Lord Wolseley was summoned to Eng- 
 land before hie final dejiarture south ; supplies failed to arrive as punctually 
 as expected ; coal ran short at certain stations ; and unforeseen obstacles 
 occasionally thwarted the eager desire for haste. Meanwhile the railways 
 were all but succumbing beneath the uni)recedented amount of traffic, and the 
 Nile from Assiout to Dongola was alive with boats, all witii their i)row8 turned 
 southwards. Voyageurs, Kroomen, blue-jackets, heavy dragoons, infantry, 
 and camel corps, officers and privates, not to mention Arabs and Soudanese, 
 Egyptian soldierH, negro bearers and Dongolese pilots, all had their share of 
 work, and toiled beneath blazing sun or chilly moon with an energy worthy of 
 the ainj in view. Detachments go oflf as soon as means of transit can be pre- 
 pared for them in steamers, launches, nuggars, vrhaler-gigs, or on camels and 
 horses. . 
 
 Life on the nuggars,* though toilsome, was by no means unrelieved by 
 pleasure, excitement, and adventure. It has been graphically described by 
 one who took part in it : — 
 
 ♦The nuggar is a rough but strongly built boat, some 40 ft. in length, and in shape 
 to be compared to the half of a walnut shell. It is open in the middle with a few feet 
 of deck fore and aft. One heavy mast, 30 ft. high, rises from the centre. 
 

 • 
 
96 THE WAR IN THE SOUDAN. 
 
 " The frequent stoppages and the necessity of towing the boats for dis- 
 tances varying from 400 yards to three miles afforded excellent exercise for 
 the men, and were looked on by them as constituting quite one of the pleasant 
 features of the excursion. On these occauions the different boat parties dis- 
 played great spirit of rivalry and some most exciting struggles for best place 
 animated each band of trackers. The oflScers were quite as interested in the 
 result as were their men, and it was amusing at more than one difficult point 
 in the latter part of tho voyage to see Colonel Stewart, the new Commandant 
 of Dongula, and the various members of his staff, with coats off and shoes full 
 of black mud, hauling, m the midst of the soldiers and the native crews, on 
 to a grass hawser, which almost invariably snapped suddenly and overthrew 
 the whole party. The struggle over, the first boat round the difficult point 
 would sail triumphantly away, the soldiers on board cheering and railing at 
 the less fortunate occupants of the other boats still plodding wearily on the 
 bank. The labour ended, and all the boats save some one laggard, well under 
 way again, the soldiers would sit, as Tommy Atkins will always sit when he 
 gets a chance, with their pipes upside down in their mouths and their legs 
 hanging over the sides of the boats and almost touching the water, and as one 
 nuggar now and again over-hauled another a volley of chatl" would l)e exchanged 
 between the occupants of the two crafts. Shortly before dusk the halt would 
 be signalled from the Major's boat, and all the crafts would, if p()8-«ible, join 
 and moor up to the bank. Then, as soon as guards were placed, all the men 
 were allowed on shore with, however, strict orders to keep out of the village 
 if there happened to be one near. Orders were also given to sjare the date 
 palms, but strict compliance with such a mandate was hirdly to be expected, 
 and the punishment to poor Tommy Atkins was sufficiently heavy, when, after 
 laboriously clambering to tlie top of a palm to till his pockets at ease, he dis- 
 covered that an officer or a sergeant was awaiting his descent at the foot of the 
 tree in order to take his name and number. Sometimes when the wind failed 
 altogether, or was so adverse as to render towing absolutely unpracticable, tho 
 halt was necessarily called (juite early in the afternoon. Then was Thomas 
 Atkins in his elemejit. He bathed in some shallow part of the stream, took 
 his tea comfortably and at his ease reclining on the tank, and then, attired in 
 his favourite off-duty undress, lounged about the bank enjoying the inevitable 
 pipe and the jokes and conversation of his friends. Comfort in costume to 
 the British soldier is represented as follows. His jacket and shirt are replaced 
 by his great coat, the cuff's of which are turned back. His trousers, unbi'aced, 
 are rolled up to his knees. His boots are unlaced, his pipe, of course, upside 
 down, and liis helmet is put on wrongside before. Has he been able to obtain 
 some particularly uncouth head-dreas — such as an old and mangy rabbit or rati 
 «kin cap, a battered tarboosch, or broken-down and brimless felt hat — he dons 
 
I 
 
 .1 
 
 THR TOILERS OF THE NILE. 97 
 
 it with pride and satisfaction, provided always it be thoroughly disreputable 
 — for otherwise where would be the merit — but failing this he is content with 
 the helmet worn as I have described. In this atthe, and with a, convenient 
 post or tree to lean against, or with a rail or a bank to sit on, he enjoys the 
 assertion of his dress of his momentary freedom from restraint, and feels 
 that he has for the time being retired into private life where care cannot reach 
 him till the next bugle call. 
 
 "Despite the good- will and spirits of oflficers and men, tiuwever, the voyage 
 was not wholly enjoyable. Throughout the day all were exposed, without 
 hope of cover, to the scorching glare of the sun. No movement among the 
 men on board could be permitted, for when any man stood up for a moment, 
 the reis or native captain called upon his gods, danced upon the tiller, and 
 vowed that wreck was inevitable if his view should be obstructed. These wily 
 natives soon discovered that implicit reliance was likely to be placed on them, 
 and that tliey would be humoured in any liltle whims they chose to display 
 regarding their own particular province. This being the case, they lost no 
 opportunity of harassing the men whenever occasion offered. 
 
 " After the great heat of the day the change of temperature at night was 
 most appreciable. The men were provided with but one blanket, which was 
 quite insufficient to protect them from the night air. The night can hardly be 
 said to be cold here, but between 4 p.m. and 4 a.m., there is a fall in the 
 thermometer of never less than 60 degrees, and the effect of this change of 
 temperature, combined with the absence of any stimuknt for the men, was a 
 considerable amount of coughing and huskiness in the early morning, which 
 continued until thf men's throats had been thawed by the sun. 
 
 " The absence of all stimulant is a very serious matter to the English 
 soldier. In time of peace, where his strenj^th and endurance are not tasked 
 in any way, he has at hand the regimental canteen, where he «an purchase a 
 moderate supply of liquor. But here he has no canteen, and even if he were 
 allowed to do so can purchase no stimulant but the horrible na ive beer, a 
 most undesirable beverage. 
 
 "When the boats were within two days of their journey's end, a mishap 
 occurred which, though fortunately without iserious result, entailed the loss of 
 one boat. The matter happened thus. All the difficult rapids had been 
 passed, and over 200 miles of river covered without mishap of any kind. The 
 boats had reached a place on the west bank named Kassikon, some ten miles 
 below the cataracts of Hannek. At Kassikon the river takes an awkward 
 turn and is much broken by sunken rocks and one or two small islets. The 
 channel runs under the west bank, and as a strong head wind was blowing it 
 was necessary to tow the boats for about a mile. This operation had been 
 tetisfactorily performed by all the boats save one, under command of Lieut. 
 
98 
 
 THE WAR IN THE SOUDAN. 
 
 Tudway, which was momentarily piled up on a sunken rocic close into the 
 bank. Most uf the men were on shore vvith a hawser, and the few who 
 remained on bi ard were labouring to pole the obstinate craft out into the 
 stream. Suddenly and without further warning than a fierce roar and a savage 
 crackling of dry twigs, the mimosa bushes and rank growth of shrubs that 
 lined the bank became enveloped in a mass of flame, which speedily com- 
 municated itself to the sail and rigging of the nuggar. The native captain 
 and his Batellites, after one glance at the bushes and another at the blazing 
 sail, promptly seized their little sleeping mats and a bag or two of dourra, which 
 constituted their whole interest in the concern, and disappeared over the stern 
 with an invocation to the prophet -and the Seyd el Bedawee — a saint of great 
 renown on the Nile. In this climate everything is so dry and so hot as to be 
 ready to bum on the smallest provocation. Thus, wherever a spark fell, and 
 sparks fell in plentiful showers, a little fire promptly declared itself, and 
 although all on board worked manfully to extinguish these ever incessant flames, 
 it soon became apparent that the only chance of saving the ammunition, the 
 men's kits and other objects on board, would be to clear the boat of all she 
 contained. This was promptly done. The men formed a line from the ship 
 to the shore, and the bales and boxes were handed to them by those on board, 
 whose position was rendered disngreeable by the imminence of the fall of the 
 two huge spars from aloft. The spars fell, and were soon followed by the 
 heavy mast, but, as all were prepared for the event, no one was injured. 
 
 " The fire on the bank soon burned itself out ; it extended for about 
 half-a-mile and was stopped by a barren nullah, the tempting trees on ihe 
 other side of which were wholly beyond its reach. ' 
 
 " The natives came back when all was over and renewed their occupations 
 as though nothing had happened, being utterly indifierent to the scornful 
 epithets showered on them by the soldiers, which, indeed, they did nut 
 understand." 
 
 As will be seen, it was no pleasure trip this : the labour was toi'some and 
 excessive, the dangers extreme. The heat and glaring sun by dav and the 
 Cold and sleeplessness by iii<>ht had told a good deal on the men. All super- 
 fluous fat was worked ofi", and they were described as being hard as nails and 
 fit fur anything. But indeed their clothes 8uff"ered more than their wearers. 
 The constant rowing, hauling, portaging, shoving, and wading, had reduced 
 the former to mere rags ; "the trousers," writes a correspondent, "as might 
 have been expected, fared the worst. I saw a ma'i rowing the other day who 
 had none left, not even the waistband." 
 
 To give a succinct and detailed nccount of the passage up the Nile is im- 
 possible. The various regiments and j.arts of regiments started at different 
 times, and owing to the offer of a prize of £100 by Lord Wolseley, made the 
 
 ' 
 
 .. 
 
THE TOILERS OF THE NILb. 
 
 99 
 
 best possible time up the river irrespective of each other. The exigencies of 
 the various parts of the journey also called forth all sorts of contrivances by 
 which to overcome obstacles. Each cataract had to be passed in a peculiar 
 manner, and each vessel required different handling. The skill of the 
 engineers was taxed to the utmost, and many ingenious devices were sug- 
 gested to aid in hauling boats and steamers round difficult bands or through 
 powerful currents. Not seldom a boat with all its stores and many of its 
 crew would be totally lost, and the narrow escapes which, without exception, 
 one and all experienced would of tliemselves make a thrilling uarrative. But 
 all worked with a will. Their hearts were in their work. VVaa not Khartoum 
 and Gordon their goal ? - ' 
 
 AlUcked'.Vov. 20 
 
 Countcr-atiack Deo. 
 
 CaplDred JuD. 
 
 A" 
 
 'O 
 CucvomaN 
 
 Matidl with 30,000 men 
 . , 
 
 I Nuw Camp I 
 
 and 
 of Kbartovai held 
 
 »», 
 
 Tbres llaes of uadcrgrouQil nilaei 
 
 SA/\iDY HILLS 
 
 Hum 
 
 AtMc'uc.J May 
 CounlLr.) - , „„ 
 altack [J"'7 28 
 
 SRIPCO, E.NOriAVERS. 
 
 PLAN OF KHAHTOUM. 
 
100 THE WAa IN THE SOUDAN. 
 
 CRAFTER XXV. 
 
 LEFT ALONE. 
 
 We have seen the army hurrying on to reach the three Englishmen shut 
 up in Khartoum. Strong arms pull vigorously at the oars. The boats are 
 dragged through the surging rapids. The mounted corps ride along day by 
 day and often far into the night. Khartoum must be reached and its de- 
 fenders delivered. Not an hour is needlessly wasted. Yet meanwhile what 
 is happening i They do not know at Khartoum that help is on the way. 
 They are figliting hard as well as they can by themselves. The Nile is now 
 high and General Gordon sends his steamers out daily ou excursions. They 
 go up stream as far south as Senaar, shelling the enemy and obtaining pro- 
 visions ; they go north too with the same errands and come back victorious — 
 except on one sad occasion, and it is this occasion that must now be chronicled. 
 
 No news from the outside world reaches the inveited town. There is an 
 opportunity now to obtain some : it is high Nile ; the steamers have shown 
 their ability to pass up and down comparatively unscathed ; why should they 
 not go all the way to Berber and from thence to Merawi ? Major Kitchener, 
 they know, is at Debbeh, not far from Merawi ; he will know if an army is 
 on its way ; he will link the exiles once more with their friends ; they will 
 find out from him for certain what is being done for them. It is running a 
 desperate risk ; but it shall be attempted. 
 
 Had they counted the cost, these three brave men 1 Did they know all the 
 dangers that surrounded such an expedition ? An open enemy they need not 
 fear. But behind these there lurked that ever-present spectre — treachery. 
 It dogged our General like a shadow. He could not free himself from it. 
 Wherever he went it followed him. Stealthy, silent, unseen. Working in 
 the dark. Unapproachable. Not to be grappled with. Never revealing it- 1 
 
 self till its cold deathly grip was on the throats of its victims. Now appear- 
 ing as a peaceful ally ; now stalking unnoticed amongst the ranks of apparently 
 friendly soldiers. A powerful foe. Much to be dreaded. Always to be 
 watched for. Already it had slain its thousands, and none could tell where 
 its blow would next be dealt. It was quiet in its way of working ; it waited 
 patiently for an opportunity to lure on its enemies to destruction, and when 
 the opportunity came it was remorseless. If this spectre treachery could 
 have been annihilated, the history of the Soudan war would have been 
 different. 
 
 
 \ 
 
LEFT ALONB. 101 
 
 Fearlessly, however, the expedi i m to Berber is commenoed. It is no 
 ordinary excursion this. Berber is more than two hundred miles from Khar- 
 toum, Merawi is nearly another two hundred further. Luckily it is down 
 stream, they have good pilots, and the steamers are well armed. It shall be 
 done. Ammunition in abundance is placed on board, provisions are packed, 
 the men are told off, and Colonel Stewart and Mr. Power undertake to bring 
 back news, if nothing else. 
 
 This is the boldest venture yet made. It looks as though release were 
 possible. An expedition that has for its goal a point four-hundred miles from 
 the place of imprisonment is a sort of communication with all that is going on 
 outside. Those who accompany it will see another English face perhaps, will 
 be greeted with English greetings, and will hear words of encouragement and 
 hope. They will be able to tell all about their hardships, their battles, the 
 bravery of the loyal little garrison that has stood firm all these months, but 
 also of the longing for help, and of the hope that, so long deferred, was 
 making sick the hearts of the poor blacks. What may not be the results of 
 such a journey ? They will be able to telegraph to England itself. The men 
 who have for so long been fighting for their lives will be able now to tell the 
 true state of affairs, will show how urgently help is needed to extricate those 
 poor forlorn men and women shut up at Khartoum, and perhaps will bring 
 back strong, brave, white soldiers to fight for them. Truly a noble expedi- 
 tion. 
 
 The people come down to the river bank to see them start. Surely they 
 will be successful. They have done wonders heretofore. They will do 
 wonders again. — Ah ! treachery, treachery was on their path. 
 
 The rest of the story is short. Down the river they bravely fought their 
 way, undaunted by the numbers that sought to stop them. Behind them 
 they left a town which patieutly but anxiously awaited their return. Before 
 them lay unknown help. Nothing will stop them. Day ar ' nifjht they 
 travel, overcoming every obstacle. Berber is reached in safety. No friends 
 here, only more enemies. There is nothing for it but to push on for the next 
 two hundred mi'es. But first they shell the town and thoroughly intimidate 
 their foes. Here too it is determined that all the steamers cannot be spared 
 to go so far from Khartoum. So all are sent back but one. This one with 
 Colonel Stewart, Mr. Power, and forty men, will accomplish the rest of the 
 journey. Fatal error. The rescuers thought more of tliose they were to 
 rescue than they did of themselves. All too brave a band. Not fai' from 
 Berber the solitary steamer struck upon a rock. Here indeed was a dilemma. 
 There was no going back, and there was no going forward. Still theie is a 
 ray of hope. A friendly man of the name of Suleiman Wad Gamr comes on 
 board, and generously offers to aid the party as much as is in his power to 
 
102 
 
 TUE WAR IN THE SOUDAN. 
 
 reach their friends. He points out that they can cross the desert direct to 
 Merawi, and promises to provide oamela to transport the whole forty-two 
 men. It is a tempting offer. True, it is a terrible ride. A hundred and 
 sixty miles lie between them and Merawi, and it is through that terrible 
 Bahiuda desert. Still it caa be traversed in a week by hard riding. And 
 Suleiman is friendly. They accept the offer. The whole party disembark 
 and are escorted to the tent of the Sheikh, a blind old man named Fakrietman, 
 who receives them cordially. 
 
 The rest is sad news. They all go unarmed except Colonel Stewart who 
 carries a small revolver in his belt. Presently Suleiman makes a sign, and 
 immediately those standi:^ by divide into two parties and fall upon the 
 strangers. Swords, spea; . and muskets are used. Oolonel Stewart is one of 
 the tirst killed. A few throw themselves into the river and escape. The 
 rest are ahot or drown. 
 
 So ended this little expedition. Gordon is now left quite alone. Un- 
 friended by his country, bereft of his friends, he has now single-handed to 
 renew the conflict with his foes. 
 
 n 
 
 fl) lif|l i?)':ffl''f) iiti i« m'W\^ 
 
 
 ■Ifl i J . ll i] ii 
 
 
 
 GOVERNMENT HOUSE, KHATITOUM. 
 
VUfi UOkfiOBS or THE DSSSHT. 103 
 
 CHAPTER 3(ZTL 
 
 THE HORRORS OF THE DESERT. 
 
 At last Korti is reached. (December 16th, 1884.) For ninety-seven 
 days the toilers of the Nile have litei !ly dragged themselves along t)iis almost 
 unnavigable stream. But now they are within reasonable distance of their 
 goal. From Khartoum to Korti a messenger can travel within a week. Surely 
 Qordon is now to be saved. Only a month ago his letters told that he could 
 hold out. till the expeditii n arrived. Still, between him and Wolseley lay 
 unknown and untold dangers. Within the walls of Khartoum itself every 
 body knew that treachery was lurking. Hardly one could be depended on, 
 and " the one supremely capable Englishman" must be reached at once — at 
 once. 
 
 From Korti to Khartoum there are two routes. The Nile here takes a 
 long bend to the left and contains many rapids. Directly south stretches 
 the desert. What shall be done 1 Once more General Wolseley's thorough- 
 ness comes to the front. Both routes shall be used. Orders are issued (Dec. 
 29th) that General Stewart shall make a de&perate dash across the terrible 
 Bahiuda desert. There are only 180 miles of it, and there are reported to be 
 wells hera and there. The next day the march begins, and the resolute band 
 set their faces for Motemneh. 
 
 This little force, composed only of some fifteen hundred men, was des- 
 tined to witness the hardest fighting that was experienced throughout the 
 campaign. It fought on the open field in the desert was es, against reckless 
 hordea that outnumbered it by twelve to one. It lost its leader, and it lost 
 many of its highest oflScexB. It was more than once totally surroundad by 
 the enemy ; and was not seldom on the brink of complete annihilation. 
 
 Let us regard closely this brave band. 
 i ' The object was to establish at Gakdul a depot of stores and ammunition, 
 
 and so to fortify these wella as that they might serve as an auxiliary base between 
 Korti and Metemiieh. Accordingly, the following force was despatched : — 
 1,000 baggage camels, each three led by camel-men ; 1,000 troops mounted on 
 camels ; a detachment of heavy and light cavalry ; a rocket battery ; coamis- 
 sariat camels ; m )unted infantry, and hussars. They were led by Major 
 Kitchener and half-a-dozen Bedouin guides, and flanked and headed by 
 scouts. The formation was in column of companies, so formed that in two 
 minutes three squares oould be formed in dcbelon to resist any attack. Tho 
 
104 
 
 THB WAR IN THE SOUDAN. 
 
 first halt of any length was made at Qakdul. How the little army performed 
 this march, and the almost indescribable sufferings they endured, has been 
 told by almost the last despatch penned by the well-known Mr. Cameron, 
 correspondent of the London Standard. We give his words in full : 
 
 Gakddl, January 13. 
 
 " At three o'clock in the afternoon of the 8th inst., we were all paraded 
 in the Desert outside Korti, ready at last to open the campaign. General 
 Stewart's previous march to Gakdul and back was more of the nature of a suc- 
 cessful reconnaissance made in search of water. We were now in grim earnest 
 bound on a dash straight across, to plunge unsupported into the heart of the 
 enemy's country, and amidst a population all of them avowed disciples of the 
 Crescentade against infidels every whero, inaugurated by Mahomed Achmet, the 
 Mahdi of the Soudan. No wonder that the natives who watched looked upon 
 us as men doomed to destruction, for had not three large armies more numer- 
 ous than ours, and as well equipped^ already passed over the same road, bound 
 on a similar errand to ours, and had they not all perished to a man ? But 
 what the natives did not realize, although some among them were beginning 
 to have a glinnnering of the fact, was that these great white soldiers, although 
 they did not bully and kick and tyrannise over them, were still a very different 
 kind of fighting material to the white-livered, despicable Egyptian and mur- 
 dering Bashi-Bazouk, to whom they had hitherto been accustomed. Only 
 Greeks, Copts, and blacks — chiefly runaway slaves — would accompany us as 
 servants. In the desert, water is the great thing. Food we can do without 
 for a period, and not suffer much, but never water. And so the first thing to do 
 on halting was to examine the skins that contained our precious supply ; and 
 then by the friendly bivouac of the Mounted Infantry detachment on rear 
 guard, we lay on the sand to try and snatch some sleep ero the bugles sounded. 
 For the waning moon would rise at half-past one, and at that hour General 
 Stewart had ordered the start to be made. Apparently the last tire to remain 
 alight had only flickered out and silence had but reigned for a few minutes, 
 when the beautiful but weirdlike reveille of the British army startled us 
 unwillingly into life again. Once or twice only during my campaigning expe- 
 riences have I heard the r^veill^ sound with feelings of satisfaction. The 
 last occasion was the morning of the battle of Tamai. All night we had lain 
 silent while the enemy cracked volleys of musketry into us from the bush 
 outside our zeribah. But with the first note of the rdveill6 we sprang to 
 our feet as one man, glad all of us to think that now our turn had come. 
 And before the bugles ceased the Arabs, too, had stopped their firing and 
 retired to the ambush from where they subsequently sprang upon us. With 
 very different disposition do we listen here in the desert to the morning call ; 
 
TUB HORRORS OF THE DESERT. 
 
 105 
 
 for it is tho signal to jump up with unwilling,' energy and load our moaning 
 camels, and prepare to jog on again wearily in the dark To load a cnmel 
 projjerly, even in daylight, is a work of art. The cargc muat be balanced 
 exactly, one half on either side of his back, otherwise it will inevitably, 
 sooner or later, tumble off, und there is nothing more heartbreaking than to 
 see one's baj^gage tumble off on the line of march — particularly when in an 
 enemy's country. The last rope had hardly been fastened when the ' fall in' 
 sounded, and then tor an hour men and camels grouped into their places in 
 the dark ; and at half-past two we moved off our ground, the pebble-strewed 
 desert glistening in the dim moonlight as if it were covered with a coat of 
 yellow shining varnish. Frequently would the bugles sound the halt in n-ar, 
 to allow time for stragglers to cloje up, for the officer commanding the rear 
 guard had the usual orders to leave nothing behind. With him were the 
 spare camels, and if a loaded one tumbled, or lay down to die, as they fre- 
 quently did, a fresh beast at once took his place, and so wearily until morning 
 we silently marched — few cared to converse— gliding across the det^ert like 
 one long shadow. At lialf-past five what looked like the reflection of a liuge 
 conflagration appeared on the liorizon. It signalled the approach of day ; 
 and when it was light the bugles sounded a merry march, the men shouted 
 and talked cheerily, and even the camels looked mildly contented. At ten 
 we halted for breakfast, and tried to get a little sleep until two, when we 
 were away again, striding on sometimes across stretches of sand, sometiuies 
 over stony ground, and anon through mimosa country ; but ever the sun 
 shone fiercely overhead. A peculiarity of the deserts that border the Nile is 
 that the mouths of men and beasts who traverae them are always parched- 
 Those who have experience know that it is no use to drink continuously. 
 That only increases the torture, but it is difficult *o resist the temptation. 
 There was scarcity of water with all. Lucky was he who, having ventured to 
 bring with him a horse, could give that horse a drink ; and never shall I 
 forget the blank look of despair with wiiich one journalist announced that he 
 'had no water for his horse and none for himself.' But it was not always 
 the skins that ht.d leaked ; sometimes, too, had the honesty of the servants 
 in charge, for soldiers were foraging about, ofi'ering any price, even a dollar 
 for as much as would make a single drink. 
 
 " Again, early in the morning, we started, but there was now no unwill- 
 ingness to get on ; for with many delay meant torture — perhaps death — while 
 progress meant water and life. The Wells of Hambok, forty-seven miles out 
 from Korti, were found empty. Only a bucketful of the precious fluid was 
 there, and that was given to a couple of horses that otherwise would have 
 died. The column did not even halt at Hambok, but pushed on to El 
 Howeyet, eight miles further, where a better supply was expected. But 
 o 
 
n 
 
 106 
 
 THE WAR IN THE SOUDAN. 
 
 thore, too, ill-luck awaited ua. The c nvoy that started from Korti the day 
 before had only left El Howeyet half an hour previous to our arrival — ao 
 quickly had we travelled — and they had drunk all the water. But we halted 
 at El Howeyet until evening, and by that time enough water— if that name 
 may be given to a fluid of the color and consistency of pea-soup — had 
 accumulated to allow every man to have a slight drink. So wild were some 
 of the soldiers with thirst, that for some time it seemed as if a tumult might 
 set in ; but Major Wardroper ordered all to fall in as they stood, and so one 
 by one, and in ordef, were they supplied with their share. On as:ain we 
 went until dark, the camels striding at their quickest pace, as anxious as 
 their riders that water in plenty should be reactied ; and on again in the 
 morning too we went, making for the Wells of Abu Haifa, which, although 
 some distance oflfthe main track, were eight or ten miles nearer than Gakdul. 
 There the guides assured us would water bo found in plenty. In front the 
 squadron of the 19th Hussars pushed on, for the horses had only drunk a 
 quart a piece during the previous twenty-four hours. They were much dis- 
 tressed, of course, and, if not watered that day, would many of them 
 assuredly die. At first the Well ( f Abu Haifa looked anything but promising. 
 A shallow pool of water, green on the top, we saw, i/hich was well nigh 
 emptied before even the horses had satisfied their thirst. But then a clear, 
 bubbling spring, waa discovered at the bottom, which, when cleared, attbrded 
 sutticient for everybody : only the wretched camels went without. For a 
 period the scene at the Abu Haifa Well was exciting in the extreme. Chat- 
 tering Somalies, wild with thirst, barred from the main pool until the fighting 
 men had drunk their full, grubbed frantically in the sand, and in an incon- 
 ceivably short period dug holes, at the bottom of which a little water collected, 
 that was promptly lapped up. The soldiers, too, could hardly be restrained 
 from throwing discipline aside and thronged in on all sides, while in the 
 background were plunging horses and camels broken loose and fighting 
 despera jly with their human masters for a place. 
 
 "At present we know not whether our road is to be barred by thousands, 
 or whether we shall reach the Nile without firing a shot. In camp parlance 
 it is * even betting ' on either contingency. We only know that if we fight 
 at all it will not be for victory, but for very existence ; for behind us there 
 will be no retreat." 
 
 Poor fellow ; for Lim there was no retreat. Within a few hours — at the 
 battle of Abu Klea, he was killed, doing his duty as bravely as the bravest 
 fighting man. 
 
ABU KLEA AND ABU KRU 107 
 
 CHAPTER XXVn. 
 
 ABU KLEA AND ABU KRU. 
 
 Gakdul was reached and passed, and the troops pri ssed on for Metemneh. 
 On the road to this town lay the wells of Abu Klea. 
 
 Abu Klea ; — the name baa become known wherever English pluck has 
 become known, for here occurred the tirst and perhaps the greatest of the 
 battles fought by the soldiers of the Nile expedition. 
 
 At noon on January the 16th as the troops were bivouacking in sight of 
 the ridge leading to the wells, news was brought that the enemy were holding 
 Abu Klea in force. At once dispositions were made for attack, and in com- 
 pact square of colunm the brigade moved forward as steadily as if on parade. 
 In this formation they* came within four hundied yards from the foot of the 
 ridge, when General Stew.art determined to rest where he was for the night 
 and attack the enemy in the morning. A zariba was formed, strong pickets 
 posted, and the men lay down under arms to gain what rest they could. 
 
 And this was not much. 
 
 All night bullets kept falling in and around the square, and three times 
 the alarm was sounded with the expectation of a general assault. 
 
 However, breakfast was comi)aratively quietly enjoyed after sunrise, and 
 at 10 o'clock Generjvl Stewart ordered a general advance. " We advanced 
 two miles," says Mr. Pearse of the Daily News, "exposed to a heavy fire on 
 all sides. We moved out to the attack under a hail of bullets. Men dropped 
 from the ranks right and left, but none of the wounded were left on t^e field. 
 It was nearly an hour before we sighted the enemy's main body, and realised 
 that at least 7,000 or 8,000 men were against us. We halted and closed 
 square. The concealed enemy sprang up, twenty banners waving, and came 
 on in a splendid line. The troops on the right were led by Abu Saleh, Emir 
 of Metemneh. On the left they were under Mahommed Khair, Emir <f 
 Berber. The latter was wounded, and retired early ; but Saleh came 
 desperately on at the head of a hundred fanatics, escaping the withering fire 
 of the Martinis marvellously until shot down in the square. The rear face, 
 composed of the heavy cavalry, broke forward in the endeavour to fire on the 
 rebels, who swept round the flank and broke into us. Then came the shock 
 of the Arabs' impulsive charge against our square. For a moment, there was 
 miiuh confusion, and the fate of the whole force trembled in the balance, until 
 the steadiness of the Guards, Marines, and Mounted Infantry prevailed. The 
 
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ABU KLEA AND ABU KRU. 
 
 109 
 
 Sussex Regiment, though taken in rear, rallied and fought desperately. The 
 men fell back, re-formed in gf od order, and poured volleys into the enemy, 
 everyone in the leading division falling dead in our midst. The Guards 
 moved not an inch, even when the rear was threatened simultaneously with 
 the front. Among the tirst of our officers mortally wounded was Colonel 
 Burnaby, who fell gallantly in fight close to his old comrades the Blues." 
 Mr. Burleigh, of The Telegraph, thus describes Bumaby's death : — 
 " Still down upon us the dark. Arab wave rolled. It had arrived within 
 three hundred yards undiminished in volume, unbroken in strength — a rush 
 of 8f earsmen and swordsmen. Their rifle fire had ceased. Other Arab forces 
 surrounding us — the Mahdi's troops, plundering Bedouins and pillaging vil- 
 lagers from the river side — stood eager on the hill side watching the charge 
 upon the British square. In wild excitement, their white teeth glistening 
 and the sheen of their brandished weapons flashing like thousands of mirrors, 
 onward they came charging straight into lur ranks. I was at that instant 
 inside the square, not far from Gardner gun, when I saw the left face move 
 somewhat backward. Col. Burnaby himself, whose every action I saw from 
 a distance of about thirty yards, rode out in front of the rear left face, appar- 
 ently to assist two or three skirmishers running in hard pressed. All but one 
 man succeeded in reaching our lines. Col. Burnaby went forward to his 
 assistance sword in hand. As the dauntless Colonel rode forward he put him- 
 self in the way of a sheikh charging down on horseback. Ere the Arab closed 
 with him a bullet from some one in our ranks brought the sheikh headlong 
 to the ground. The enemy's spearsmen were close behind, and one of them 
 suddenly dashed at Colonel Burnaby, pointing the long blade of his spear at 
 his throat. Checking his horse and pulling it backward, Burnaby leapt for- 
 ward in his saddle and parried the Molem's rapid and ferocious thrusts. But 
 the length of the man's weapon— eight feet — put it out of his power to return 
 with interest the Arab's murderous intent. Once or twice Colonel Burnaby 
 just touched his man, only to make him more wary and eager. Affray was 
 the work of seconds only, for the savage horde of swarthy negroes from Kor- 
 dofan and straight-haired tawny- complexioned Arabs of the Bahiuda stripe 
 were fast closing in on our square. Colonel Burnaby fenced the swarthy 
 Ar.il) as if he were playing in an assault-at-arms, and there was a smile upon 
 his features as he drove off the man's awkward points. The scene was taken 
 in at a glance. With that lightning instinct which I have seen desert war- 
 riors before now display in battle while coming to one another's aid, an Arab, 
 who was pursuing o soldier and had passed five paces to Bumaby's right and 
 rear, turned with a sudden spring, and this second Arab ran his spear into 
 the Colonel's right shoulder. It was but a slight wound. Enough, though, 
 to cause Burnaby to twist around in his saddle and defend himself from thia 
 
110 
 
 THE WAR IN THE SOUDAN. 
 
 unexpected attack. Before the savage could rejjcat his unlocked for blow, so 
 near the ranks of tha scjuare was the scene now being enacted, a soldier ran 
 out and drove his sword bayonet throuj/h tiie second assailant. Brief as was 
 Burnaby's glance backward at this faval episode it was long, enough to enable 
 the first Arab to deliver his spear full iu the brave officer's throat. The blow 
 drove Burnaby out of the saddle, but it required a second one before he let 
 go his grip of the reins and tumbled upon :he ground. Half a dozen Arabs 
 Were now about Inm. With blooJ gusbiug in streams from his gashed throat 
 the dauntless guardsmen leapet! to hii foet sword in hand and slashed at the 
 ferocious group. They were the v ild strokes of a proud, brave man dying 
 hard, and he was quickly overborne and left helpless and dying." 
 
 This victory gave us possession of the wells, and of these the troops were 
 sorely in need. 
 
 Here they bivouacked unmolested by the enemy that night. But hard 
 fighting was yet in store for them . 
 
 On the following day they again pressed forward, making a forced march 
 in order to reach the river and escape the horrors of the desert. At daylight 
 on the 19th the column found itself but six miles from the green and fertile 
 banks, within reach of inexhaustible clear, sweet water, and approaching 
 their goal. But the enemy was on the aLrt. Let Mr. Burleigh tell the 
 story of what now took place. 
 
 " Streams of men on horseback and on foot came from Metammeh, inter- 
 posing themselves between the column and the water we longe^l to gain. For 
 a short time, Sir Herbert Stewart deliberated whether to push on two miles 
 nearer the Nile. As the Arabs mustered in sufficient force seriously to 
 threatuu our advance, he decided to halt upon a ridge of desert covered with 
 sparkling pebbles, four miles from the river. To our right and rear lay a few 
 low black hills, one mile to two miles distant ; on our front, the Desert rolled 
 downward, towards the green flats bordering the Nile ; for here, as at Dongola, 
 the belt of cultivation is rich and wide. 
 
 •' Turning with a light smile to his staff. General Stew.irt said, ' Tell the 
 officers and men we will have breakfast first, and then go out and fight.' The 
 column was closed up, with the baggage animals t ) the centre, as usual • the 
 boxes and pack-saddles being taken off, to make an inclosure to protect the 
 square from rifle fire. In less than ten minutes the Arabs were not only all 
 over our front and flanks, but had drawn a line around our rear. Groups 
 bearing the fantastic Koran-inscribed banners of the False Prophet, similar to 
 those of which wo had taken two or three score at Abou Klea, could be seen 
 occupying vantage points all around. The enemy's fire grew hotter and more 
 deadly every minute. Evidently their Remingtons were in the hands of Kor- 
 dofan hunters. Mimosa bushes were cut, and breakfast preparations were 
 
O 
 
 H 
 
 H 
 <) 
 
 PP 
 
112 THE WAR IN THE SOUDAN. 
 
 suspended for an hour, whilst most of the troops lay flat. Fatigue parties 
 strengthened our position. In going towards a low mound, a hundred yards 
 on our right front, where we had a few skirmishers, General Stewart w an shot 
 in the groin. The command devolved upon Lord Charles Beresford Ly 
 seniority, but he, being a naval officer, declined it, and Sir Charles Wilson 
 took it over. One of the most touching incidents in the zariba was th.^ 
 wounded General tended by his friends, two or three of whom wept like men, 
 silently. Poor St. Leger Herbert, the Morning Post correspondent, one of 
 these, was himself shot dead shortly afterwards. 
 
 " The mound on our front was quickly turned into a detached work, forty 
 volunteers, carrying boxes and pack-saddles, rushing out, and, in a short 
 space of time, converting it into a strongly defensible post. Gradually, the 
 enemy's riflemen crept nearer, and our skirmishers were sent out to engage 
 them. They were too numerous to drive away ; and the nature of the ground, 
 and the high trajectory of their Remingtons, enabled the Arabs to drop their 
 bullets iiito the square at all points. Soldiers lying behind camels and saddle- 
 packs were shot in the head by dropping bullets. Mr. Cameron, the Standard 
 correspondent, was hit in the back and killed whilst sitt'ng behind a camel, 
 just as he was going to have lunch. The enemy were firing at ranges of from 
 700 t ) 2000 yards, and their practice was excellent. The zip, ping, and thud 
 of the leaden hail was continuous ; and, while the camels were killed in num- 
 bers, our soldiers did not escape, over forty having to be carried to the hospital, 
 sheltered as well as possible in the centre of the square behind a wall of saddles, 
 bags, and boxes. As a precaution against stampede, the poor camels were 
 tied down, their knees and necks securely bound by ropes to prevent their 
 getting upon their legs. The enemy's tire incre;ised in intensity ; and, as 
 stretcher after stretcher with its gory load was taken to the hospital, the space 
 was found too little, and the wounded had to be laid outside. Surgeon-Major 
 Ferguson, Dr. Briggs, and their colleagues had their t-kill and time taxed to 
 the utmost. Want of water hampered their operations; doctors and patients 
 were alike exposed to the enemy's iire. , 
 
 *' Our situation had become unbearable. We were being fired at without 
 a chance of returning blows with or without interest. The ten thousand 
 warriors whom the Mahdi had sent from Omdurman to annihilate us were 
 blocking our road to the Nile ; and over a hundred Baggara, the ht rsemen of 
 the Soudan, and crowds of villagers, who had joined Mohamed Ahmed's cru- 
 sade, hung like famished wolves on our rear and flanks, awaiting an opportunity 
 to slay. Apparently, they were emboldened by our defensive preparations. 
 
 "There were three CDurses open to us — to sally forth and fight our way 
 to the Nile ; to fight for the river, advancing stage by stage, with the help of 
 zaribas and temporary works ; or to strengthen our position, and try to with- 
 
 ' s 
 
ABU KLEA AND ABU KRU, 
 
 lis 
 
 > 
 
 etand the Arabs ami endure the lack of water, till Lord Wolseley should tend 
 a force to our assistance ; we, meanwhile, sending u messenger or two hack to 
 Korti with the news. It was bravely decided to go out and engage the enemy 
 at close quarters. At two p.m. the force wastomarcli out in scjuare, carrying 
 nothing except ammunition and stretchers. Each man was to take a hun- 
 dred rounds and to have his water-bottle full. Evoi'3'thing was put into 
 thorough readiness for this enterprise. Lord Charles Beresford, with Major 
 Barrow, remained in command of the inclosure, or zariba, containing the 
 animals and stores. Thtiy had under them the Naval Contingent, the 19th 
 Hussars, a party of Royal Engineers, and Captain ^Torton's detachment of 
 Royal Artillery, with three screw-guns, and details from regiments and men 
 of the Commissariat and Transport Corps. 
 
 •' It was nearly three o'clock before the square started, Sir Charles Wilson 
 in command, and Colonel Boscawen acting „3 Executive Officer. Lord Airlie, 
 who had been slightly wounded at Abou Klea, and again on the 19th, together 
 with Major Wardroper, served upon Sir Charles's staff, as they had done upon 
 General Stewart's. The square was formed to the east of our inclosed defence, 
 the troops lying down as they were assigned their stations. The Guards 
 formed the front, with the Marines on the right front corner, the Heavies oa 
 the right and right rear, the Sussex in the rear, and the Mounted Infantry on 
 the left rear and left liank. Colonel Talbot led the Heavies ; Major BaiTow, 
 the Hussars; Colonel Rowley, the Guards ; Major Pde, the Marines, and 
 Major Sunderland, the Sussex Regiment. Captain Verner, of the Rifle 
 Brigade, was told off to direct the square in its march towards the river. 
 When the order was given for the square to rise and advance, it moved off to 
 the west to clear the outlying work. 
 
 " The instant the Aribs detected the forward movement on our part, they 
 opened a terrific rifle-fire upon the square from the scrub on all sides. In the 
 first few minutes many of our men were hit and fell. The wounded were with 
 difficulty picked up and carried. When the square slowly marched, as if upon 
 parade, down into the grass 'and scrub-covered hollow, intervening between 
 the works we had constructed and the lino of bare rising desert that bounded 
 our view towards the south and east — shutting out of sight tl.e river and the 
 fertile border slopes — all felt the critical movement had come. 
 
 " Steadily the square descended into the valley. Gap.' were made in our 
 force by the enemy's fire. As man after man staggered and fell, these gaps 
 were doggedly closed ; and, without quickening the pace by one beat, onward 
 our soldiers went. All were resolved to sell their lives dearly. Every now 
 and again the square would halt, and the men would lie down, firing at their 
 foes hidden in the valley. Those sheltered behind the desert crest were too 
 safely screened to waste ammunition upon at that stage. Wheeling to the 
 
114 THE WAR IN THE SOUDAN. 
 
 right and swinging to the left our men fought like gladiators, without unneces- 
 sarily waiting strength or dealing a blow too many. A more glorit)U!j S2)ectacle 
 was never seen than this little band iu broad daylight, on an open plain, 
 seeking hand-io-hand conflict with the courageous^ savage, and fanatical foe, 
 who outnumbered us by twelve to one. 
 
 "As the square moved over the rolling ground, keeping its best fighting 
 side — or rather its firing side — towards the great on-rushes of the Arabs, the 
 soldiers swung around, as thougli the square pivoted on its centre. Once it 
 entered ground too thickly covered by grass and scrub, halted, and coolly 
 swung round and marched out upon the more ope i ground, with the Arabs 
 to the ri^ht front, their tom-toms beating, and their sacred battle-flags of red, 
 white, and green flying in the air. 
 
 " Bearing banners lettered with verses from the Koran, a host of fanatic 
 Arabs was the first to hurl its swordsmen and spearsmen upon the sijuare. 
 The column wheeled to receive them, and the men, by their officers' direction, 
 fired volleys by companies, scarcely any independent firing being permitted. 
 The wild dervishes and fanatics who led the charge went down in scores before 
 our fire, which was opened on them at 700 yards, and none of the enemy got 
 within some yards of the square. This checked their ardour, which had been 
 excited by seeing the gaps in our ranks. Turee more charges were attempted 
 by the enemy at other points along the line of the square's advance. 
 
 "At half-past four, after nearly two hours' incessant fighting, as the 
 column neared the south-easterly edge of the valley to pass out of it, the Arabs 
 made their final grand rush. Nearly 10,000 of them swept down from three 
 sides towards the stjuare, their main body — numbering not fewer than 6000 — 
 coming upon our left face. It was a critical moment. Their fire had made 
 fresh gaps in our ranks, and fierce human waves were rolling in on every side 
 to overwhelm our force. Down the Arabs came from behind the ridge at a 
 trot, and not at the top of their speed, as the Hadendowas charge. Gallant 
 horsemen and wild dervishes led them, and shouted to their followers to ru^h 
 on in Allah's name and destroy us. Firm as a rock, the square stood steadily, 
 aimed deliberately, and fired. Again and again had volleys to be sent into 
 the yelling hordes as down they poured. Tne feeling was — Could they be 
 stopped before closing with us ? Their fleetest and luckiest, however, did not 
 get within twenty-five yards before death overtook them ; while the bulk of 
 the enemy were still a hundred yards away. At last — God be thanked ! — 
 they hesitate, stop, turn, and run back. Victory is ours, and the British 
 column is sife ! The broken lines of Arabs sullenly retreated towards Metem- 
 neh ; but our square had to gain the ridge before escaping from their sharp- 
 shooters' fire, or getting a chance of punishing the darinj,' foe. Without further 
 opposition, the British advanced to the river, and encamped for the night." 
 
TUO LATC. 115 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIll. 
 
 TOO LATE. 
 
 You know well enough, my reader, that we have now reached the catas- 
 trophe of the whole play. You know how tragically it ends. How a sombre 
 curtain falls on a gloomy scene — a hero dead, a city lost, an army powerless, 
 a country in tearo. A year ago that hero left his country to gave another ; 
 and from that date to this he has thought of naught else. Many have died 
 for their country, many for their creed, many for their friends ; but few alone 
 unaided, single-handed, for friends united to them hy no lies but such as 
 bind a weak and trusting nation to a strong and worthy heart. "Greater 
 love," said the most loving Man that ever the world saw, '*hath no man than 
 this : that a man should lay down his life for his friends." Let us be glad 
 that we have on this earth those who can reach this divine ideal. 
 
 Not without dimly-shaped fears did England see her great pro-consul 
 venture forth alone to quiet an unruly nation. From then till now un- 
 ceasingly the clouds gathered thick around him. At no time did the sky 
 seem altogether bright. And now the thunders that muttered on the horizon 
 remorsely crash over his head. — It needs not to spin out the tale. 
 
 General Gordon cannot communicate with Wolseley, so Wolseley will 
 communicate with General Gordon. Everything is prepared : there are troops 
 at Korti, there are troops at Gakdul, there are steamers at Metemneh. These 
 last shall go up the river and greet him — greet him in the name of England's 
 army which has at last reached him. 
 
 What a thrill of pleasure must have gone through the ranks when the 
 orders are issued. They are actually there ; they will see him ; shake hands 
 with him ; glory over him ; rescue him. What mattered the hardships of the 
 journey now : the worn-out limbs, the burning thirst, the painful wounds ? 
 They scorned them before ; they jest at them now. Besides, has not the great 
 general they are about to save gone through the same 1 Yes ; and ten times 
 more. And what a man to save. — The fate of twelve million people hang on 
 his words. All Europe — nay, Asi* and the chief part of Africa, are guided 
 by hi-t acts. 
 
 To return. Let us trace, step by step, the course of this little expedition. 
 
 At eight o'clock on the morning of January the 24th of the present year, 
 two steamers, the Bordein and the Tall-Haweiya left Metemneh for Khar- 
 
116 THE WAR IN THE SOUDAN. 
 
 toum, having on board General Sir Charles Wilson, Major Gascoine, Captain 
 Trafford, Lieutenant Stuart-Wortley, and detachmentB of the Sussex Regi- 
 ment. Three hours later, at eleven o'clock, they received a word of en- 
 couragement. Stopping at the villnge of Gandatu a powerful Sheikh of the 
 name of Hussein sends a niexsenger on board to say that his tribe, the 
 Shagiyeh, would join the English when their power was established, remark- 
 ing also that the British troops were held in much dread, and that their 
 victories had produced a great effect. That night the steamers stopped at 
 Bewena. On the following day they pushed on , not without a brisk fire from 
 the enemy. Indeed, this soon became so hot that it was determined to travel 
 by night. 
 
 It was a strange little expedition this, and a notable one. Two little 
 steamers, manned by a small number of men, linking the great army that had 
 come from England to the great general that army came to save. Well might 
 they be proud of their post. And they were. It was no trivial duty, this 
 allotted to them, and bravely did they undertake it. All along the banks at 
 short intervals were the enemy and the enemy's guns, and as the two vessels 
 steamed past them a deadly fire from cannon and rifle sought to stay their 
 progress. Even in the darkness of night, a^ was echoed the noise of the 
 passing vessels, the enemy could be heurd calling to arms, and the dark and 
 dimly seen banks were lit up with the flare of hostile torches and the flash of 
 discharging musket r}'. 
 
 Now they near the invested city — the prison of their comrade, the object 
 of all their hopes, and all their fears. At once a fierce fire breaks out upon 
 them from every side. Shells burst on the very decks ; bullets fly over them 
 and around them till it seems scarcely possible that even now they can reach 
 the goal. 
 
 On the morning of the 28th Khartoum is sighted, but here the enemy 
 crowd thick. A battery of four Krupp guns opens upon them from Halfiyeh ; 
 then the battery from the island of Tuti ; then the guns from Omdurman ; 
 finally even the Krupps in the city itself pour upon them a great hail of iron. 
 Smoke and flashes of fire line the banks beside them, the banks before them. 
 Seven thousand rifles and sixteen cannon are doing their utmost to annihilate 
 them. Will there be aught left of this relieving band to perform the work 
 for which they set out ? 
 
 The thought comes over them : is it thus our general has been attacked 
 all along 1 Do those at home image to themselves this infuriate crowd of 
 savages gathered round this one man, all bent on taking his life? Avilling, nay 
 glad, to lose their own, so that their hated foe shall not escape. And this is 
 what the great Gordon Las been fighting against ! This is the warfare he has 
 kept up, month after month, so quietly mentioned in those simply-written, 
 
 1 
 
. 
 
 < 
 
 TOO LATE. ' 117 
 
 ■elf-forgetful despatches of his ! He shall bo saved, come what may. But 
 those guns from the city are ominous, ominous. 
 
 Undaunted, through the din, calmly they press on. But it is hard work. 
 The water is shallow and the course difKcult. At noon Tuti is reached. A 
 frightful fusilade ensues, and is kept up for four hours. Many shells bunt 
 on board, and many are wounded. Still they keep on ; push their way to 
 Khartoum itself ; come within six hundred feet of the city ; and see clear 
 into its very streets. 
 
 What do they see ? It can be told in a few words. The guns still blazing 
 at them from the heights ; the streets one mass of howling savages, exultingly 
 shouting defiance at the two little steamers peering at them from the water ; 
 on every side signs of vie' jrious hostility ; hatred open and blatant ; rage run 
 riot ; the Palace gutted ; the flag-staff flying the Mahdi's flag ; and — General 
 Gordon ? — what of him ? — who knows ? Who can tell ? No one. The one 
 man in that city they came to see ; the man whom ten thousand fighting men 
 came three thousand miles to save ; the man England is waiting daily to 
 welcome back — is not there. Disappointment unutterable. Success at 
 the moment of achievement turned into bitterest disaster. All these long 
 months of pain and toil utterly thrown away. The object of their search 
 irretrievably lost. The bravest of brave warriors gone. 
 
 Now truly did their hearts sink within them. Dangers they can face ; 
 difficulties they can overcome ; but to ba the bearers of this so sad news ; to 
 return having accomplished nothing ; to be the first to tell England her all 
 was lost ; — this was terrible. 
 
 Yet there was naught else to do. To land and oppose those shrieking 
 hordes ; to hew their way through these exulting foes ; to wreak vengeance in 
 their blood ; — this were tempting. But duty demands that they shall calmly 
 retreat and report to the relieving force the fate of the man for whom they 
 sought. 
 
 So it is done. The boats are turned northwards, and the journey back 
 is commenced. 
 
118 
 
 TUK WAR IN TUE SOUDA.f. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 THE JOURNEY BACK. 
 
 Thb hero of the war in the Soudan is dead. We need not now dwell on 
 the comparatively unimportant after-events. 
 
 The two steamers fared ill on their way back. The firing xaa vigorously 
 kept up against them, and they had hard work slipping past the guns which 
 lined the banks. On the 25)th one steamer went aground sixty miles above 
 Gubat. The remaining stea)ner, havirg rescued the crew, kept on its solitary 
 way. But only for anothei* twenty miles. Then it too struck a rock and 
 sank in deep water. All ihe guns, stores, and ammunition of both steamers 
 were lost. Sir Charles Wilson escaped with the membeis of his party and 
 the crew from the wreck of his steamer in a small nuggar to the island, where 
 they entrenched themselves. At three in the morning of the 0th of February 
 the troops at Gubat were thrown into a state of intense excitement by the 
 appearance of a small row-boat coming down the Nile. It contained 
 Lieutenant Stuart- Wortley, with two men (another report says with three 
 English soldiers an-l natives from Khartoum), who had rowed forty miles 
 down stream— a most perilous venture — fortunately, they were not molested. 
 The camp was horror-stncken. No tongue or pen can adequately describe, 
 says the correspondent of the Daily Chronicle, the effect produced in all hearts 
 by the fatal announcement. It was so little expected that the men had been 
 comforting themselves with the prospect of being able to relieve the long 
 beleaguered city, and cheer its heroic defender within a few weeks at latest. 
 The news fell like a thunderbi It in our camp, and has saddened and depressed 
 the stoutest hearts. Eager inquiries were made on all sides about Gordon, 
 but it could only be replied that the steamers could not get close enough in 
 shore to ascertain anything positively. 
 
 At two o'clock Lord Charles Beresford left on a steamer flying the British 
 ensign to rescue Sir Charles Wilson and Im party on the island. He took 
 with him twenty picked marksmen of the Royal Rifles attached to the 
 Mounted Infantry. The Mahdi's irregular followers were gathering round 
 that point, and this the third relief expedition it almost seemed was to share 
 the fate of its predecessors. But not quite. Still it was a daring exploit and 
 the dangers were great. The gauntlet had to be run between crowds of 
 rebels, and under a heavy fire. One steamer was shot through the boiler and 
 
1 
 
 THE JOURNKY BACK. IIU 
 
 disabled for huun. Finally, however, buccom shone on them and both 
 rescuing parties returned in safety. 
 
 MeanwhiJe autiientic news of Gordon's death was received. 
 
 At early morning on the *27th of January, Farag Pasha, a black slave 
 whom Gordon had freed and advanced, and who had been implicitly trusted 
 throughout, opened the gates in the southern wall to the enemy. The bulk 
 of the Mahdi's fighting men were close at hand and at once rushed into the 
 town. General Gordon, hearing the C( nfusion, seized a sword in one hand 
 and an axe in the other, and hurried to the scene. Ho was accompanied by 
 Ibrahim Bey, the chief clerk, and twenty men. On his way to the Austrian 
 consulate he met a party of the Mahdi's men. These tired a volley, and 
 General Gordon fell dead. The Arabs then rushed on with their spears, 
 killed the chief clerk and nine of the men ; the re8t escaped. One consul 
 (Nicola) was made prisoner ; all the rest of the Europeans were kiileii, also 
 most of the notabley. The majority of the inhabitants fraternized with the 
 enemy. 
 
 In the words of Schiller: "So died a hero, right worthy to be wtr- 
 •hipped." 
 
120 
 
 THE WAU IN THE SOUDAN. 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 WHAT NOW? 
 
 The protagonist dead, little interest attaches to the fate of the deuter* 
 agonist : General Gordon no more, the public cares not much what is left to 
 his would-be rescuers to do. At first indeed was raised a great hue and cry. 
 The Mahdi, every one cried out, must be " smashed," and Gordon avenged ; 
 and for a time all read eagerly of what was being done in Egypt and the Sou- 
 dan. We need not here, however, linger over the details of this phase of the 
 war. Sufiice it to say that new problems sprang up, and the news of what 
 England was doing in Egypt varied from day to day. 
 
 The fighting around Suakim and against Osraan's hordes now became 
 more fierce, one battle in particular, when, because of the omission to advance 
 with scouts, the enemy dashed unawares upon the troops and many of our 
 soldiers' lives were sacrificed, creating a large amount of notice not unmixed 
 with severe criticism. The Suakim-Berber railway, too, was vigorously 
 pushed forward, and as late as the middle of April large sums were voted for 
 the railway lines to be built along the banks of the Nile. 
 
 Soon, however, Russia's advance towards Herat absorbed all attention, 
 and the Soudan problem was for the time left unsolved. 
 
 In this state it now exists ; and it mxist be left to a future edition to 
 complete the story of The War in the Soudan and the Causes which 
 L>:d id II. 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. ' 121 
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 GENERAL GORDON. 
 
 It will be unnecessary here t© sketch at length the life of the soldier, 
 statesman, and hero around whom has centred the chief interest of the war 
 in the Soudan, and of whom the world has long ere this computed the worth. 
 It is the peculiar property of the warrior to be early appreciated. His 
 deeds are patent to all, and their results are in general so soon accomplished 
 that they become rapidly universally perceived and commented on. Gordon 
 is no exception to this. During his lifetime he was everywhere known, and 
 after his death probably not a paper in the civilized world did not frequently 
 contain his name. And, perhaps, of all the characters of history, not one has 
 been entitled to so much praise and so little blame. 
 
 Major-General Charles George Gordon was born on the 28th of January, 
 1833, at Woolwich, in tne very cradle of that branch of the service in which 
 he was destined to pass a career of more than usual distinction, even if his 
 own proper career as an English officer be alone taken into consideration. 
 He was the fourth son of an artillery officer, Henry William Gordon, who 
 attained the rank of Lieutenant-General. He was educated at different pri- 
 vate schools, havinj^ as his companion and mentor at one of these in Somer- 
 setshire his elder brother, the late Major-General Emlerby Gordon, but when 
 he was little more 16 he was entered at the Royal Military Academy at Wool- 
 wich. He passed his examinations successfully, and obtained the much- 
 coveted distinction of a Commission in the Royal Engineers. Hij first station 
 in 1854 was at Pembroke Dock. At the end of 1854 he was ordered to pro- 
 ceed with some huts to the Crimea. On his arrival in January, 1855, he was 
 at once placed under the officer in command of a portion of the trenches, and 
 during the remaining nine montlis of the siege he took a prominent part in 
 the engineering operations in front of the Russian stronghold. At the close 
 of the Crimean War, General (then Captain) Gordon was employed in Bessar- 
 abia, Armenia, the Caucasus, and lastly China. On the outbreak of the 
 Taeping rebellion he was appointed to the command of the foreign drilled 
 force, to which the Chinese authorities mainly trusted to bring the rebels 
 into subjection, and was given the brevet rank of Major. This force had 
 been styled the "over-victorious army," and Gordon soon vindicated its 
 claim to this high-sounding title. He had to organize the simplest details in 
 person. He was always the first man in attacks. It was he who showed the 
 way to victory as well as how to prepare for it ; but he never cjirried any 
 weapon save a small cane, which the Chinese soon regarded with almost 
 superstitious reveronco, and named his "wand of victory." The successful 
 termination of the long struggle which had brought such misery upon China 
 and her people was generally and rightly attributed to the young officer, wlio 
 refused to profit in any worldly sense by his remarkable achievement. He 
 accepted a few unmeaning honours at the hands of the Chinese Government, 
 eager to express its gratitude, but he refused all offers of a more solid charac- 
 ter. He also took every measure in his power to avoid the ovation with 
 which his countrymen were prepared to welcome him on his return ; but his 
 
' 
 
 122 
 
 THE WAR IN THE SOUDAN. 
 
 modesty could not stifle the general admiration felt towards liim for what he 
 had accomplished, nor prevent his receiving the name by which he will per- 
 haps be best remembered among his contemporaries, of f^inese Gordon. 
 
 The Taeping rebellion crushed, he returned to England, and was appointed 
 to a post at Gravesend. Many anecdotes have been preserved of his life here 
 during six years to show that he devoted himself with the same thoroughness 
 
 ' 
 
 
 Gcnef&l Qofdo/i 
 
 to the question of dealing with the impoverished classes of the London out- 
 skirts as he had done to the suppression of the rebellion among the Taepings, 
 In 1871 Colonel Gordon was appointed British Consul at Galatz, in which 
 corner of Europe he remained buried from public view i'or three years, until 
 he volunteered at the end of 1873 his services for any work in Egypt. At that 
 moment Sir Samuel Baker had just resigned his command under the Khedive, 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 123 
 
 1 
 
 and Colonel Gordon was appointed in his place, at first as Governor of the 
 the tribes on the Upper Nile, and later on with the higher title of Governor- 
 General of th'3 Soudan. From the beginning of 1874 until 1&79 he governed 
 the vast region of the Blacks with satisfaction to the Cairo administration, 
 which was exti-emely hard to please, and with credit to himself. He gained 
 at the same time a high reputation among the people by his justice and 
 courage. He had that great merit in the eyes of an Eastern people of being 
 always accessible ; and he inspired his soldiers with something of his own in- 
 exhaustible ardour and confidence. His rule in the Soudan was glorious to 
 himself, satisfactory even to the Khedive, and gratifying to Englishmen as a 
 practical demonstration of the qualities which they must wish to see moat 
 common among their countrymen. 
 
 On his return from the Soudan he accepted the post of private secretary 
 to Lord Ripon, Governor-General of India, but resigned it a few months later. 
 From India he went to China in response to a summons from his former colleague 
 Li Hung Chang, and he is credited with having inspired the Chinese with peace- 
 ful views at the most critical period of one of their disputes with Russia. He 
 returned to England, and soon afterwards commanded the Engineers in the 
 Mauritius for a year. He then visited South Africa and Palestine. Return- 
 ing to England in De'cember, 1883, it became known that he had accepted a 
 command from the King of the Belgians to proceed to the Congo. How that 
 plan was suddenly changed and how the remainder of his life was spent till 
 his death on January 27th, 1885, has been already told. 
 
 MAJOR-GENERAL SIR HERBERT STEWART, K.C.B. 
 
 Major-General Sir Herbert Stewart, K.C.B. , was born on June 30, 
 1843, the eldest son of the Rev. Edward Stewart, rector of Sparsholt, Hamp- 
 shire, and was a great-grandson of the seventh Earl of Galloway. His mother 
 was daughter of the late Charles John Herbert, of Muckross, county Kerry. 
 He was educated at Winchester College, and entered the Army as ensign in the 
 37th Regiment (now the Hampshire) in 1863. It is not generally known that 
 Stewart was at one time intended for the Bar, that he kept all his terms and 
 ate all his dinners, but in the end abandoned that life for a military career. 
 He was gazetted Lieutenant in 1865 ai«i Captain in 1868. For two years 
 from this time he acted as Aide-de-Camp to the Major-General Commanding 
 the Bengal Presidency, and the year following as Deputy- Assistant Quarter- 
 master-General in Bengal. In 1873 he joined the 3rd Dragoon Guards, on 
 the lists of which regiment his name now stands as Major. In 1878 he passed 
 the Staff College and served as Brigade Major in the Zulu War of 1879, and 
 was present at the aftair of Erzungayan. He was specially employed on the 
 lines of communication after the breaking up of the Cavalry Brigade, and for 
 his services here lie was mentioned in Colonel Russell's report with brevet 
 rank as Major, which rank he gained substantively in 1882. He served as 
 principal Staff officer to the Transvaal field force in the operations against 
 Secocoeni, and as Military Secretary and Chief of the Staflf to Sir Garnet 
 Wolseley, and in this capacity he gained further mention in despatches and 
 his brevet of Lieutenant-Colonel, together with a medal and clasp. In 1881 
 he went to South Africa on special service, and was Assistant Adjutant and 
 Quartermaster General in the Boer war, for which he was again mentioned. 
 In the early part of 1882 he was appointed Aide-de-Camp to the Lord-Lieu- 
 tenant of Ireland, and later in the year he again saw active service as Deputy- 
 Assistant Adjutant-General and Quartermaster-General for the cavalry division 
 
124 
 
 THE WAR IN THE SOUDAN. 
 
 in the operations in Egypt. Here he was present at all the minor engage- 
 ments of that campaign, as well as at the battle of Tel-el-Kebir and the cap- 
 ture of Cairo. For these services he was mentioned in despatches, appointed 
 Aide-de-Camp to the Queen, made a Companion of the Bath, gained a medal 
 
 I kv' 
 
 GENERAL STEWART, 
 
 with clasp, and was decorated with the Third Class of the Osmanieh and the 
 Khedive's Star. In the same year he gained the rank of Colonel. Last year, 
 again, he served in Egypt. Under Sir Gerald Graham he commanded the 
 Cavaljy Brigade, and was present at the battles of El Teb and Tamai, for 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCUKS. 
 
 125 
 
 which he was promoted to the rank of K.C.B. and gained additional distinc- 
 tions. 
 
 When General Stewart started across the desert for Metemneh Lord 
 Wolseley regarded the temporary deprivation of his services as a national loss. 
 General Stewart, he said, was one of the ablest soldiers and most dashing 
 commanders he had ever known. Lord Wolseley recommended him to the 
 Queen's most favourable consideration, and not in vain ; the Queen promoted 
 him at once to the rank of Major-General, the youngt'st of that rank in the 
 British Army. While engaged in a severe fight near Metemneh on January 
 19 he was so badly wounded that he was at once incapacitated, and the com- 
 mand devolved on Sir Charles Wilson, and afterwards on Sir Redvers Buller, 
 After the arrival of the column at Gubat he was placed on board a steamer 
 for a time, and was carried in safety to Gakdul. On February the 19th he 
 succumbed to the fever induced bv his wound. 
 
 CAPTAIN LORD CHAS. BERESFORD. 
 
 Captain Lord Charles Beresfohd belongs to a fighting race. He wears 
 upon his left breast two medals. While a midshipman, on two occasions he 
 sprang overboard and saved life. On one occasion his own life was very nearly 
 •acrificed — he, as well as the seaman he saved, being insensible when rescued. 
 
') 
 
 126 
 
 TUE WAR IN THE SOUDAN. 
 
 For each of these acts the Royal Humane Society of Great Britain voted him 
 a medal. He was the commander of the Thunderer when she blew up, bub 
 fortunately at that time was enjoying a leave of absence. After that he com- 
 manded the Queen's yacht Osborne for a time, but finding that there was 
 fighting possible in Egypt, at once obtained an appointment there. Lord 
 Charles is well known in the clubs in Dublin and London as a noted athlete, 
 being one of the finest boxers that ever put on the jjloves. 
 
 MAJOR-GENERAL SIR GERALD GRAHAM, V.C, K.C.B. 
 
 Major-Geneeal Sir Gerald Graham, who was appointed to the com- 
 mand of the Suakim-Berber expedition, joined the army in June, 1850, as 
 second lieutenant of Royal Engineers. He became cai^tain in October, 1858, 
 Major in the following year, and in October, 1881, was created Major-General. 
 Some eighteen years ago General Graham was a resident of Montreal. He 
 was then a lieutenant-colonel and district commanding engineer, under Colonel 
 
I 
 
 BIOQRAPUICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 127 
 
 i 
 
 Forde, R.E , and was very popular, not only in military circles, whera from 
 Ilia immense size and strength he bore the sobriquet of " Long Tom." 
 
 At Sebastopol he was twice severely wounded. In the assault of the 
 Redan he bravely led a ladder party, a most daring duty, and for his heroism 
 in bringing in wounded on several occasions under a terrific fire he was 
 awarded the Victoria Cross. He was also engaged in the battles of Alma and 
 Inkerman, and in 18G0 went to China, where he took part in numerous engage- 
 ments, being present at the assault of Tangku and the Taku forts. He was 
 also present at the surrender of Pekin and in this war was wounded by a 
 jingal ball. In the summer of 1882 he was appointed to the command of the 
 second brigade in the British expedition to Egypt, and was actively engaged 
 in the preliminary movements of the camnaiga against Arabi Pasha, and took 
 a prominent part in the battle of Tel-el-Kebir. 
 
 MAJOPv-GENERAL SIR REDVERS BULLER, V.O. 
 
 AIajor-General Sir Redvers Bull , V.C, Lord Wolseley's Chief of 
 Staft', has seen much honourable service be. >re the present campaign. He was 
 gazetted 2nd lieutenant in 1868, lieutenant in 18(52, captain in 1870, major in 
 1874, lieutenant-colonel in 1878, and colonel in 1879. He is also aide-de camp 
 to the Queen^ and D. A. & Q. M. General of South Africa, with the rank of 
 
128 THE WAR IN THE SOUDAN. 
 
 major-pjeneral. He was one of General Wolseley's companions-in-arms in the 
 Red River Expedition, and also accompanied him to Ashantee. He fought 
 valiantly in the Zulu War when Lord Chehnsford came to grief, and materially 
 aided Lord Wolseley in the last Egyptian campaign, taking a prominent part in 
 the battles of El Teb and Tamai. Of the General, Mr. Archibald Forbes 
 Bays : " Redvers BuUer has seen more war than any of our soldiers who are 
 not yet veterans. The Red River Expedition was not war but it had its 
 merits as a preparatory lesson. He accompanied Wolseley to Ashantee, and 
 soon took his place there as a man who might be trusted to organize, to lead, 
 and to tight. In South Africa his name was bracketed with Sir Evelyn Wood. 
 Men who were in the field with hira in the Zulu campaign will not soon forget 
 what dominance he swayed, what a power he wielded both of restraint and of 
 encouragement over the wild, mixed, irregular horsemen with "whom he did 
 service, so constant, so active, and so enterprising. They recognized in him, 
 with his taciturnity, varied by a rare sudden flash of speech that stirred men's 
 blood — in the subtle something that made his men love him while they feared 
 him, a born leader of men." 
 
 General Buller obtained the Victoria Cross for his gallant conduct at the 
 retreat at Inhlobana, on the 28th March, 1879, in having assisted, whilst 
 hotly pursued by Zulus, in rescuing Capt. C. D'Arcy, of the Frontier Light 
 Horse, who was retiring on foot, and carrying him on his horse until he over- 
 took the rear guard ; also for having, on the same date and under the same 
 circumstances, conveyed Lieut. C. Everitt, of the Frontier Light Horse, whose 
 horse had been killed under him, to a place of safety. 
 
 GENERAL WOLSELEY. 
 
 The life of Lord Wolseley is too well known to need any lengthened 
 account. 
 
 Lieutenant-General Garnet Joseph Wolseley, G.C.B., G.C.M.G., LL.D. . 
 D.C.L., is a son of Major G. J. Wolseley, and was br)rn in 1833. He entered 
 the army as Ensign in the 12th Foot at the age of 19. His first service was 
 in the Burmese War ; after this in the Crimea, where he was severely 
 wounded, and frequently mentioned in despatches. He next served in the 
 Indian campaigns of 1857-59, ngain being brought before the notice of the 
 authorities at home. The mutiny over, he next saw active service in China. 
 Ten years later he conducted the Red River Expedition, for the success of 
 which he was created Knight of St. Michael and St. George. His next 
 achievements were in the Ashantee War, for which he was puolicly thanked 
 by the Houses of Parliament, and was nominated a G.C.M.G., and K.C.B. 
 For the following years he administered the Government of Natal, and after- 
 wards was appoin ed High Commissioner and Commander-in-Chief of the 
 island of Cyprus. In June, 1879, Lord Wolseley was sent to South Africa 
 again as Governor and High Commissioner of Natal and the Transvaal, to 
 re-organize the affairs of Zululand, and conducted the cperations against Seco- 
 coeni, whose stronghold he destroyed. Returning in 1880, he was appointed 
 Quartermaster-General at headquarters, and afterwards became Adjutant- 
 General. His brilliant achievements against Arabi Pasha — for which he was 
 raised to the peerage, and his subsequent leadership of the "relief expedi- 
 tion," has been given in detail in the-ne pages. 
 
 The above brief account of Lord Wolseley's career will show that he is a 
 general of no little experience in the art of war. He has fought in Burmah, 
 in Rus'^ia, in India, in China, in Canada, on the west coast of Africa, in the 
 Bouth of that continent, and in Egypt ; and everywhere, we may say, with 
 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 129 
 
 >^ 
 
 success. He has filled the important posts of Quartermaster-General and 
 Adjutant-General of the army. He has studied the theory of militaiy organi- 
 zation, and has not left out of view the practical details of a soldier's life in 
 peace and war. He has attempted bold strategies, and has succeeded. Has 
 led armies through countries utterly unknown before to British troops, and 
 has led them not only without extraordinary loss and hardship, but with ease 
 and comparative safety. This exjjerience, gained in a thoroughly active mili- 
 tary life of many years, he has used to excellent advantage in the Soudan war. 
 
 
 QENF.HAL WOLSELET. 
 
 Whatever view we may take of his choice of routes by which to reach 
 Khartoum we must allow that he has undertaken the expedition which 
 travelled along that difficult and circuitous river, the Nile, not only with 
 skill but with a forethought and with an attention to details that are more 
 than admirable. 
 
 Lord Wolseley places implicit confidence in the officers and men under 
 his command, and these return the feeling with interest. He possesses in a 
 high degree the quality of evoking obedience linked with the assurance of 
 success, and than such combination perhaps few are more advantageous to a 
 General commanding an army in the field. 
 
 J 
 
130 
 
 TilK WAR IN TUB SOUDAN. 
 
 SIR CHARLES WILSON, C.B., K.C.M.G. 
 
 This distinguished Colonel of the Royal Eogineers, who took the com- 
 mand as senior officer of the advanced force of the Khartoum Expedition when 
 General Sir Herbert Stewart was wounded, and who afterwards went up in a 
 steamboat to Khartoum, has seen much staff service, and his previous experience 
 had specially qualified him for the duty in which he has just been engaged. 
 As a subaltern, he acted as secretary to Sir J. Hawkins in the delimitation of 
 the boundary between British North America and the United States territory,! 
 and served for several years on the Ordnance Survey in Ireland and Scotland. 
 From 1869 to 1876 he acted as Assistant Quartermaster-General on the In- 
 telligence Branch of the Head-quarters' Staff. In 1879 he was employed 
 under the Foreign Office in Turkey and Asia Minor, and later on, while 
 officiating as Consul-General of Anatolia was ordered to Egypt for special duty, 
 gaining the medal with clasp and bronze star, for his services in the Egyptian 
 
DIOGRAPUICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 131 
 
 campaign of 1882. During tlie preBuut campaign, he has aetuil as head of the 
 Intelligence Department with the expeditionary force, and wiis acting in this 
 capacity with the Staff of Brigadier-General Sir Herbert Stewart in tlio advanie 
 from Korti to Metemnoh, Ho was in temporary command of the troops at 
 Gubat, until the arrival of Major-General Sir Redvers Buller. Sir Charles 
 William Wilson was born in 1830, being a scm of thu late Mr. Edward Wilson ; 
 he was educated at Cheltenham, and entered the Royal Engineers, in which 
 he became Lieutenant in 1855, Captain in 1864, Major in 1873, and Brevet 
 Lieutenant-Colonel in 1879. He was created a Knight of the Order of St. 
 Michael and St. George in 1881. having been made a Companion of the Hath 
 in 1877 for civil services. Ho rendered valuable servicos to the Palestine 
 Exploration Committee from 1864 to 1868, in the earlier topographical surveys 
 of the Holy Land and adjacent countries, and in editing their reports for 
 publication. , 
 
 LIEUTENANT-COLONEL FREDERICK C. DENISON. 
 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Frederick C. Denison was born at Rusholme, 
 Toronto, on the 22nd November, 184(>. He is the second son of the late 
 Colonel George T. Denison, of Rusholme, and grandson of the late Colonel 
 George T. Denison, of Bellevue, Toronto, his great-grundl'ather. Captain John 
 Denison of the 2nd West York hegiment, in England, came to Canada in 
 1792, and settled in Toronto in 1796, 
 
 Lieut. -Colonel F. C. Denison, who commands the Canadian contingent 
 of boatmen in the Nile Expedition, is Captain of tiie "A" tro<-p of the Gov- 
 ernor-General'H Body Guard. He was educated at the Upper Canada College. 
 He studied law in the office of his brother, Lieut, -Colonel George T. Denison, 
 Police Magistrate. 
 
 His first commission in the Canadian Militia was as Lieutenant in the 
 Administrative Battalion, which was placed on active service on the Niagara 
 Frontier in 1866 to preserve the neutrality during the closing scenes of the 
 American civi) war. He served there for four months. On the 25th August, 
 1865, he was gazetted Cornet in' the Governor-General's Body Guard, and in 
 the September following he attended the camp of instruction at La Prairie, 
 where he served for the first time under Lord Wolseley. In the Fenian Raid 
 of 1866 Cornet Denison was with the Body Guard in Colonel Peacock's column 
 on the march from New Germany to Fort Erie, and on the morning of the 
 3rd June was with his corps, when being sent on to reconnoitre, they entered 
 and took possession of the place. In the month of August, 1866, a second 
 raid wad threatened and the Body Guard was again ordered to the frontier to 
 form a chain of posts along the Niagara River to cover a camp of observation 
 which was formed at Thorold under the command of Colonel Wolseley. 
 During this period Cornet Denison was continually used by Colonel Wolseley 
 as an aide-de-camp in the reviews and field days which often took place. In 
 August, 1868, '^Jornet Denison was gazetted Lieutenant, and when the Red 
 River Expedit on ,vas organized by Colonel Wolseley, he appointed Lieutenant 
 Denison as his aide-de-camp. In this expedition he was several times em- 
 ployed by Colonel Wolseley to do special services of a difficult and arduous 
 character. On arriving near Fort Garry Lieutenant Denison was sent on 
 alone by Colonel Wolseley to reconnoitre, and rode into the gate of the Fort as 
 Riel's followeis were running out, being the first man in Fort Garry, as he 
 and his two brother officers of the Body Guard were the first in Fort Erie. 
 
132 
 
 THE WAR IN THE SOUDAN. 
 
 Colonel Wolseley mentioned him in his despatches as a " most promising and 
 sealous soldier." He wa» gazetted Captain in 187'i, Brevet Major in 1870, 
 and Brevet Lieut .-Colonel, Oth September, 1884, and on the occasion of the 
 Imperial authorities requiring a contingent of Canadian boatmen, the com- 
 maod was offered to Colonel Denison, wlio at onco obeyed the call of his old 
 
 UEl/T.-COL. K. C. UENiaON. 
 
 Chief. When the greater proportion of the Canadians came honfie, Lieut. - 
 Colonel Denison and some eighty voyagcurs and three officers remained, and 
 General Brackenbury, on the conclusion of his movements, issued a general 
 order thanking Colonel Denison and the Canadians for their cournge and 
 energy in sharing the trials and dangers of the campaign. Lieut. -Colonel 
 Denison was for several years alderman for St. Stephen's Ward, Toronto, 
 and twice Chairman of the Executive Committee, which positions he resigned 
 on leaving for the Soudan. 
 
BIOOHAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 133 
 
 
 OLIVIER PAIK 
 
 Pain's career has been one of extraordinary adventure. During the 
 Commune he was made Secrotjiry -General for Foreign Affairs, and escaped 
 with Rochefort, whose acquaintance he first made when the latter was in 
 prison under the Empire. During the Russo-Turkish war Pain joined Osman 
 Pasha, and fought against Russia. He was captured by the Roumanians, and 
 cast into a Russian prison, whence he was liberated through the intervention 
 of the Swiss Government, which was influenced by his friend Rochefort. 
 Pain was stated to be a Swiss and a journalist, and thus the Emperor Alex- 
 ander II. was constrained to give the ex-Communist his liberty. After the 
 amnesty Pain returned to Paris, and left for the Soudan and joined the 
 Mahdi. 
 
134 
 
 THE WAR IN THE SOUlwVN, 
 
 COLONEL FREDERICK BURNABY. 
 
 Colonel Frederick Gustavus Burn.aby, or, aa he is best known, 
 *' Fred" Burnaby, was by no means the least of those who made for them- 
 selves a name in the Soudan war. He was born at Bedford in 1842, and was 
 educated at Harrow. His chief achievements here were his excellence in all 
 athletics, his mastery f)f French, and his ability to fight. From Harrow, too, 
 he wrote for Punch on th.; subject of fagging. At seventeen he was gazetted 
 Cornet in the Royal Hrr, f^ Guards (Blue). At twenty-two he made his first 
 balloon trip. Li 18G8 he travelled through France, Spain, Russia and Turkey. 
 After this he was Gordon"' companion in the Soudan, and it was here that he 
 made up his mind to make his celebrated journey to Khiva After accom- 
 plishing this, he visited iiaia Minor. In 1878 he was returned member for 
 jBirmingham, and, strange to say, attacked Radicalism vigorously. In 1882 
 
 ii 
 
. 
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 135 
 
 he accomplished the feat of croBsing the channel in a balloon alone. On the 
 out-break of the Soudan war he joined Baker Pasha, and later on was severely 
 wounded at El Teb. After this, failing to obtain an appointment which 
 would bring him into active service with General Wolseley, he left for Africa, 
 but the next that was heard of him was that he was at Korti, doing excellent 
 service for the relief expedition. How his career was brought to an end at 
 the battle of Abu Klea has been uarrated. 
 
 MAJOR-GENERAL EARLE, C.C. 
 
 General Earle was born May 18, 1833. He, like Burnaby, was 
 educated at Harrow. His first services were in the Crimea, and afterwards 
 served in India and in Canada. In 1882 he was appointed Brigadier- General 
 to the expeditionary forces sent to Egypt. On the commencement of the 
 Soudan war, General Earle was at first designated for the supreme command, 
 Lord Wolseley, however, being ultimately chosen. He was killed on the 10th 
 of February in a successful engagement of tiie force which he led at Kerbekan, 
 near Dulka Island, on the Nile, seventy-five miles ab )ve Merawi. 
 
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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 137 
 
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 THE MUDIR OF DONGOLA. 
 
 The devout Mudir of Dor.^ola, whose name has so often been heard in 
 connexion with the Soudan war, deserves a short notice. This oriental old 
 gentleir.an is a peculiar character. When not in uniform, he dons the dress 
 of a dervish, and is indeed a dervish of the most fanatical description. His 
 faithfulness to the Khedive has frequently been mistrusted, but his attacks 
 against the rebels, and his vigorous repudiation of the divine mission of the 
 Madhi, has at last convinced the British public that he is in truth their ally. 
 For his services he has been decorated with the entignia of the Order of St, 
 Michael and St. George. 
 
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