Chapter XXIII: Appendix: A (2)

Mr. Gladstone is much obliged for your further note of to-day on the subject of the position of affairs at Khartoum. He admits the force of what you say; but he was under the impression that there was a known route to the South and to the sea from Khartoum, and that there must be persons, perhaps many persons, who are acquainted with it from the course of trade or otherwise. He would be glad to know whether he is right or wrong in this impression. Faithfully yours,

E. W. HAMILTON.

MEMORANDUM BY SIR HENRY GORDON, DATED _22nd July_ 1884. FORWARDED TO MR.
GLADSTONE, _23rd July_ 1884. GENERAL GORDON’S PRESENT POSITION

There is no proof that Khartoum is invested upon the South—on the contrary there is presumptive evidence that it is not, since the Rebels, if in position there, would find it difficult to keep up their communications for supplies of Food, while their flanks would be exposed on either side to constant attacks—by means of steamers from Khartoum. All communications that have come to hand, whether true or not, point to the country to the South as being open, and as of supplies coming in.

There is no question but what if General Gordon wished to leave with Colonel Stewart he could do so at any time, he could go to the Bahr-el- Gazelle—or he could move to the Equator (see General Gordon’s own statement that he could get away to the Congo, also Sir Samuel Baker’s letter to the “Times” of 30th April, and to the fact, according to Dr. Hill’s book, “Colonel Gordon in Central Africa,” that he was travelling to and fro on a “low Nile,” in March and April 1874).

But it is equally certain that General Gordon would not desert the people who have been faithful to him.

It is not a question of the safety of the garrison, but it is one of the protection of the traders at Khartoum.

The former might be moved to Sennaar and thence transported further to the South, the latter would not leave—to do so would be worse than death (see enclosure in No. 3, Egypt, dated Khartoum, 8th April 1884, showing that General Gordon had traded with the people whom he would not desert).

The question would be the same if a force were at Khartoum.

No doubt General Gordon at this time is doing all he can to secure the safety of the inhabitants, and would not care how he accomplished it.

It is believed that he is conferring with the Mahdi, having this object in view, although he has no faith in his (the Mahdi’s) power. If General Gordon could secure the safety of the people of Sennaar and Khartoum he would retire, since it may be assumed that Kassala is safe.

It seems probable that the Rebels to the North of Khartoum are instigated by Zebehr, and that the money at Berber has been too great a temptation to the Governor of that Station. It is doubtful whether Berber was not quietly given over to the rebels, and that it did not fall by assault.

The Tribes to the North of Khartoum rose in rebellion for the reasons stated in the “Times” of the 10th March, under date of Khartoum 7th March; “this is not owing to disaffection, but to fear caused by the pronounced policy of the abandonment of the Soudan, which policy has been published by sending down the widows and orphans and Cairo employees from Khartoum. We cannot blame them for rising when no definite sign is shown of establishing a permanent Government here. The Mahdi is a nonentity as to any advance on Khartoum, but all-powerful through his emissaries when backed with pronounced policy of abandonment without establishing a permanent Government.”

On the other hand while General Gordon may not, at this time, be in actual personal danger more than that incidental to disaffection at Khartoum, or from the daily contingencies which present themselves in time of war, yet the time is approaching when some steps must be taken to prove that he, as the agent of the British Government, is not to be abandoned, and to this must be coupled the fact that his ammunition is running short, and that he has not been heard of for so long a period.

It was hoped that the outbreaks among the tribes to the North of Khartoum would long ago have been put down, and that the country would have been quiet: such an expectation, however, has not been realized, and when General Gordon’s ammunition fails he will be at the mercy of the Rebels.

In the absence of a Government that could secure the safety of the inhabitants, matters could not improve, it is therefore necessary, imperatively so, to reconsider General Gordon’s application to have Zebehr sent up (see “Times,” 5th March, dated Khartoum, 3rd March).

“It is now admitted that Zebehr Pasha is the only man connected with the Soudan, who is endowed with the ability and firmness necessary to head any Government here.

“It is out of the question that General Gordon should leave Khartoum without first having formed a Government which would in some measure stem the wave of fearful anarchy that must eventually sweep over the Soudan. The arrival of Zebehr Pasha would draw off to his side the bands of rebels which are now scattered over the Soudan, and his great knowledge of the tribes fits him more than any other man to take the place of the Egyptian Government. He would, of course, come here under certain stringent conditions. General Gordon had foreseen this ever since he left Cairo.” I mentioned to Lord Granville in consequence of confidential information from Cairo, to the effect “that if Zebehr went up to Khartoum his first act would be to hang General Gordon,” that it would be dangerous to send Zebehr up, and to this opinion I have adhered up to the present time.

As, however, the rebels remain in force to the North of Khartoum, and as matters have not improved, and cannot improve unless some future in the way of Government is made clear (bearing also in mind that General Gordon will not desert the people at Khartoum, unless he can leave them in safety), the time has now arrived that Zebehr should be sent up. It would be in compliance with General Gordon’s own request, and Zebehr might be offered a sum of money provided he established an independent Government and so enabled General Gordon to leave Khartoum. The payment might be withheld until the object in view, viz., General Gordon’s absence from Khartoum, had been secured.

It is believed that if Zebehr was sent up all danger to the peoples at Khartoum, Sennaar and Kassala would cease, and the country would be quieted.

At the same time it is necessary that other precautions should be taken the more especially as General Gordon’s ammunition is daily decreased by expenditure. It would therefore seem desirable that a force should be sent to Suakim in order to open the road from that place to Berber (one of General Gordon’s suggestions), but of course if Zebehr agrees to go, and is successful, then this force would not be called into action, although no delay should take place in its preparation.

It would be out of place my making any remarks upon any expedition advancing by the Nile, nevertheless I do not believe it to be practicable.

Any movement of Abyssinia upon Kassala and Sennaar would raise the whole of the Soudan, and would do an amount of harm that cannot be contemplated.

H. W. GORDON.

THE RT. HON. W. E. GLADSTONE, M.P., TO SIR HENRY GORDON

10, Downing Street, 22 _Feb._ 1885.

DEAR SIR HENRY GORDON,

As long as a hope could in any way be entertained that your distinguished and excellent brother had survived the betrayal of Khartoum, I was unwilling to forgo the slender consolation it might afford; and I have also been delayed in writing this note for two or three days by an inquiry on a kindred subject. But I cannot longer forbear from addressing to you my humble tribute to his memory, insignificant as that tribute must be when rendered to one, whose fame has not only become a national possession, but gone forth throughout the world.

Though I had not the privilege of his personal acquaintance, yet his was a character of which I think many features could be plainly read even from a distance. The judgement of mankind has pronounced him a hero; and the application of that lofty name is specially marked in his case by the fact that it applies not only to his public acts, but to the man; to the spirit of self-sacrifice, such as distinguished martyrs and apostles, to a simplicity of character not less remarkable than his profound enthusiasm and his boundless courage. I cannot but add, though it is perhaps presumptuous, my admiration of his astonishing command, under circumstances so difficult of military resource, and of that inexhaustible strength of will which formed the crown of his powers, it is difficult to wish any of his virtues had been in any respect restrained; yet I reflect with pain, now that catastrophe has come, how ill his generous confidence was requited by some of those for whose welfare, though they were of a foreign race, it was his desire to live or die. I congratulate you on your close and intimate association with General Gordon, and I trust that among us there are and will be many who will strive to learn lessons in their several places from this noble example of Christian heroism. Believe me with much respect, faithfully yours,

W. E. GLADSTONE.

SIR HENRY GORDON TO MR. GLADSTONE

_23rd February_ (1885).

DEAR MR. GLADSTONE,

I am very much obliged for your very kind note of sympathy, and for the very handsome manner in which you speak of General Gordon’s character and services. It is not for me to dwell upon them, and the subject is a very painful one, and therefore I hope you will forgive the brevity of my reply.

Yours faithfully,
H. W. GORDON.

H.M. QUEEN VICTORIA TO MISS GORDON

Osborne, _17th Feb._ 1885.

DEAR MISS GORDON,

_How_ shall I write to you, or how shall I attempt to express _what I feel_! To _think_ of your dear, noble, heroic Brother, who served his Country and his Queen so truly, so heroically, with a self-sacrifice so edifying to the World, not having been rescued. That the promises of support were not fulfilled—which I so frequently and constantly pressed on those who asked him to go—is to me _grief inexpressible_! indeed it has made me ill! My heart bleeds for you his Sister, who have gone through so many anxieties on his account, and who loved the dear Brother as he deserved to be. You are all so good and trustful, and have such strong faith, that you will be sustained even now, when _real_ absolute evidence of your dear Brother’s death does not exist—but I fear there cannot be much doubt of it. Some day I hope to see you again, to tell you all I cannot express. My daughter Beatrice, who has felt quite as I do, wishes me to express her deepest sympathy with you. I hear so many expressions of sorrow and sympathy from _abroad_: from my eldest daughter the Crown Princess, and from my cousin the King of the Belgians—the very warmest. Would you express to your other Sisters and your elder Brother my true sympathy, and what I do so keenly feel, the _stain_ left upon England, for your dear Brother’s cruel, though heroic, fate.

Ever
Dear Miss Gordon,
Yours sincerely and sympathizingly,
V. R. I.

MISS AUGUSTA GORDON TO QUEEN VICTORIA

Rockstone Place, Southampton.

MADAM,

The letter which your Majesty has so graciously honoured me with has deeply touched and gratified me. I am so thankful to know of your sympathy for, and the endeavours you so very kindly made to save my dear Brother, though _others dared_ to prevent your supporting him in his just demands. Never can I cease to be deeply grateful to your Majesty for the great kindness you have shown towards him. I think he received the gracious message you sent him through me as in one of the Volumes of his Diaries he returns a little letter in which I told him of your Majesty’s message. If permitted I should like to bring over the Original Diaries when I have the great honour to wait on your Majesty next month.

I am your Majesty’s devoted subject and servant,
M. AUGUSTA GORDON.

MISS AUGUSTA GORDON TO MR. BLUNT

Rockstone Place, Southampton, _11th September_ 1882.

Will you kindly give me a copy (two if you can spare them) of your letter on Egypt written to Mr. Gladstone and others. I am sending on by the first mail your letters and the 19th Century to my Brother at the Cape. Strange you were not listened to by those in authority. I fancy there are many of your way of thinking and there would be many more if they knew the rights and wrongs done to Egypt.

A. GORDON.

MR. BLUNT TO GENERAL C. G. GORDON

Delhi, _24th January_, 1884.

MY DEAR GENERAL,

I feel obliged to write to you about your mission to the Soudan. I see it announced to-day by telegraph without explanation of its object, but I cannot wait till more definite news arrives, and I desire to warn you. It may be you are going there to make peace between the Mahdi and our troops in Egypt, to acknowledge his sovereignty in the Soudan, and arrange terms for the evacuation of Khartoum. If so, I can only wish you God speed. It is a good work, and you will accomplish it. But if, as I fear it may be, from the tradition of some of those in power, the object of your mission is to divide the tribes with a view to retaining any part of the country for the Khedive, to raise men for him and scatter money, it is bad work, and you will fail. It must be so. Neither your courage, nor your honest purpose, nor the inspiration which has hitherto guided you, will bring you success. I know enough to be able to assure you that every honest Mohammedan in Egypt and North Africa and Arabia sympathizes with the Mahdi’s cause, not necessarily believing him to have a Divine mission, but as representing ideas of liberty and justice and religious government which they acknowledge to be divine. For this reason you will only have the men of Belial on your side, and these will betray you. I beg you be cautious. Do not trust to the old sympathy which united Englishmen with the Arabs. I fear it is a thing of the past, and that even your great name will not protect you with them. Also consider what your death will mean: the certainty of a cry for vengeance in England, and an excuse with those who ask no better than a war of conquest. I wish I could be sure that all those who are sending you on your mission do not foresee this end. Forgive me if I am wrong in my fears; and believe me yours, very gratefully, in memory of last year,

WILFRID SCAWEN BLUNT.

MRS. SURTEES-ALLNATT TO MR. BLUNT

134, St. Owens, Hereford, _Dec._ 27, 1884.

DEAR SIR,

Will you allow me, personally a stranger, to tell you how interested I am in the result of your application to Mr. Gladstone respecting your mediation with the Mahdi.

You will the more readily understand my great interest, when I mention that I was in London for some weeks last spring for the purpose of devising some means for the rescue of General Gordon, and that I was about the first (I believe) to suggest the Volunteer Expedition of which I see by the “Pall Mall Gazette” you had heard.

I saw Captain Brocklehurst, having called upon him though a stranger, but knowing his friendship for General Gordon. My own scheme was in the first place to have raised a “Khartoum Fund,” for which I had many promises, and would have had no difficulty in raising from £80,000 and upwards. My idea was to pay the safe conduct for General Gordon and his garrison (in fact for all his people at Khartoum) from Khartoum to Cairo, a certain sum to be paid to the chief of each tribe, the amount to be in proportion to the extent of territory over which the safe pass would be given. I saw many members of the House of Commons and other influential persons, but after discussion, though my plan was approved by many, it was waived in favour of the Volunteer Expedition, to which I promised to transfer the £100 I should have subscribed to the “safe conduct” scheme.

But the Government negatived decidedly the Volunteer movement, and my plan had fallen through. It was with much regret that I returned here, having after much anxiety and trouble effected nothing of that on which my heart was set.

If I had known you were in London I would have ventured to have called on you. I have a strong personal regard for General Gordon, and with many members of his family I am on terms of friendship. Now, I am perplexed whether to wish you success in your application to the Premier—if it would save General Gordon I would pray for it—but if you should be frustrating plans for his safety I could not. I write to you freely though a stranger, and I hope you will forgive me, but the one great interest which I think we both have in common, General Gordon, will plead my excuse.

Believe me, dear Sir, yours faithfully,
ELIZABETH SURTEES-ALLNATT.

MR. BLUNT TO MRS. ALLNATT

Crabbet Park, _Dec._ 29, 1884.

MY DEAR MADAM,

I am sorry that I did not know of your plans for rescuing General Gordon by peaceful means last year, as your support and that of friends so liberal and sincere in their efforts would have given great weight to my plea with Mr. Gladstone, and might perhaps have turned the scale with him in favour of negociation. This course would, I am convinced, have been an infinitely surer and better one than that of war which our Government have chosen.

My point of view in the matter is of course rather a different one from yours, for you look only to General Gordon’s safety, whereas I look also, and indeed primarily, to the well-being of the Nile populations; but I see no reason that our efforts should not even now be made in common.

From all the accounts I receive, Lord Wolseley’s expedition will meet with determined opposition, and it is quite possible that it may be several months yet on the road—in which case the time will shortly come when necessity will compel the Government, if they would not fail altogether in their object of saving Gordon’s life, to have recourse to our ideas if not to our help. My principal fear indeed is that, going to work through ignorance of the conditions before them in a blundering way, their attempts to treat will be so protracted that Khartoum will in the interval have fallen. I will not, however, be a prophet of evil, only I would urge you not to relax your efforts. Any independent appeal made just now to Mr. Gladstone would, I believe, have at least this good effect, that it would force on his attention the daily increasing gravity of Gordon’s situation.

Very faithfully yours,
WILFRID SCAWEN BLUNT.

MRS. SURTEES-ALLNATT TO MR. BLUNT

134, St. Owens, Hereford, _Febry._ 17, 1885.

MY DEAR SIR,

I thank you for your letter just received. I have given up (as you see) all hope of the precious life having been saved. But how cruel has been the martyrdom of his, during weeks and months, owing to the Government, of which one cannot speak with aught but the greatest contempt and indignation. Knowing the faith of the devoted Christian soldier, I have the hope or rather the consolation of thinking that as he was deserted by man so his God was nearer to him day by day.

I go tomorrow (Wednesday) till Saturday to Mr. Egmont Hake, the Biographer of “Chinese Gordon.” I should like very much to talk over one or two matters with you now, respecting the recovery of his bible and journal, etc., and also of the proposed additional expedition. Is it not madness to send one of the Khedive’s sons as Governor General of the Soudan? I thought the Egyptians were hated by the poor Soudanese.

Unhappy land! What will be the outcome of all this? God, who created the world out of chaos, can bring order out of the Egyptian confusion.

Believe me, My dear Sir, Yrs. sincerely,
ELIZABETH SURTEES-ALLNATT.

MRS. SURTEES-ALLNATT TO MR. BLUNT

38, Montpellier Terrace, Cheltenham, _Feb._ 21, 1885.

MY DEAR SIR,

I am staying here till Wednesday, when I shall D.V. return to Hereford, where I shall anxiously await the result of your kind effort to procure for me the bible of dear General Gordon.

In the train to-day I read in the papers, with dismay, the reply of the Government to the questions respecting the important and precious records of Khartoum kept by its devoted Defender. They decline to say what course they will take regarding them. I have just written to Sir Henry Gordon most earnestly beseeching him, out of regard to his brother’s memory, to apply for the possession of the journal, 6 volumes, on their arrival. One dreads such important and deeply interesting records getting into the hands of men so unscrupulous as those comprising the present Government. The papers would probably be cruelly mutilated before leaving their hands, if there were aught in them that would condemn those who sacrificed their devoted Envoy to paltry party devices.

I am my dear Sir, Yrs. sincerely,
ELIZABETH SURTEES-ALLNATT.

EXTRACT FROM EDITH, LADY LYTTON’S DIARY

_June_ 7, Simla, 1880.—In the evening, while we were at dinner under the Shemiana on the lawn, Lord William [Beresford] arrived, having left Lord Ripon at Umballa and come on very quickly to reach us for our last evening. He says the heat has been tremendous and worse than he has ever felt it, and he and Major White had to put ice on their heads one night, expecting every minute to succumb. But Lord Ripon and party have not complained or been ill. Lord William told us about Colonel Gordon being so odd; he says the world is not big enough for him, and that there is no king or country big enough. He hit Lord William on the shoulder, saying, “Yes, that is flesh, that is what I hate, and what makes me wish to die.” He resigned the Private Secretaryship, to the Viceroy’s great inconvenience, because he was asked to answer an address at Bombay saying that Lord Ripon had read it with interest and would write again at some time, and he said: “You know perfectly that Lord Ripon has never read it, and will not write, and I can’t say those sort of things, so I shall resign, and you take in my resignation.” Colonel Gordon received a telegram from China asking him to go and fight the Russians there, so he has gone off to do so, and his last word to Lord William was, “Everyone will say I am mad, but you say I am not.”

COLONEL LOUIS A. GORDON TO MR. BLUNT

Carpenters, Horsham, Sussex, _Sept._ 4, 1911.

DEAR MR. BLUNT,

I am glad to see that you, in your new book “Gordon at Khartoum,” are undertaking the vindication of my uncle’s memory against an attack on it, which Lord Cromer thought fit to make in his “Modern Egypt” so many years after the death of General Gordon and my father Sir Henry Gordon. I know that nothing that Lord Cromer could write would in the least affect General Gordon’s memory; but the remarks he makes leave a nasty taste in the mouth and it is very desirable that they should be responded to in detail.

In “Modern Egypt,” page 43, Vol. I, I observe a note which affects my father, Sir Henry Gordon; Lord Cromer says: “At the instance however, of General Gordon’s friends and family, a good deal of violent and very foolish abuse of Lord Granville—and if I remember rightly, of others—was omitted. It is in my opinion to be regretted that this was done. The publication of the Journal, as it was originally written, would have enabled the public to judge more accurately of the value of General Gordon’s criticisms, than was possible when only an expurgated edition was issued.” This contains an accusation of tampering with the Journals which the facts do not warrant.

As far as Sir Henry Gordon is concerned, expurgation of the kind referred to by Lord Cromer was certainly not authorised. In his “Description of the Journals,” page lxv, my father says: “I have arranged . . . for their issue in a very nearly entire state, only some 6 or 7 pages being omitted which contain, in my opinion, no matter of public interest; while with regard to names those who are well acquainted with the affairs of Egypt can fill in the blanks without difficulty.” That no fraud has been exercised on the public in the matter, and that the public has not been deprived of the opportunity of reading the Journals in full, is sufficiently plain by the fact that the Journals were deposited by my family in the British Museum plain for all folk to see; so that anyone, caring to do so, can satisfy himself on the subject.

Yrs. sincerely,
L. A. GORDON.