Chapter XI: Book V: On outside wrapper (handkerchief) (1)

EVENTS AT KARTOUM.
20th Oct. to 5th Nov., 1884.

GENERAL GORDON’S JOURNAL, VOL. V.

The Chief of the Staff of Expeditionary Force for the
Relief of the Garrisons.

No secrets as far as I am concerned.

C. G. GORDON.

* * * * *

_On cover_:

EVENTS AT KARTOUM.
20th Oct. to 5th Nov., 1884.

GENERAL GORDON’S JOURNAL, VOL. V.

To be pruned down if published.

C. G. GORDON.

* * * * *

_On inside_:

GENERAL GORDON’S JOURNAL,
From 20th October to 5th November, 1884.

EVENTS IN KARTOUM.

The Chief of Staff of Expeditionary Force for Relief of
Garrison.

VOL. V.

To be pruned down if published.

C. G. GORDON.

JOURNAL.

_October 21._—Steamers left this morning for Shendy. To-day is New Year’s Day of the Arabs, 1302. I think the Mahdi speculated on a rising in the town, but that the arrests[137] have put him out in his calculations.

New Year’s gift this morning, in arrival of Mahdi at Omdurman. Not much display. It is reported that he will occupy Kerowé and Halfeyeh at once; so it is as well I got the steamers off before he got his guns down to river bank. They will be safe with you,[138] and very useful.

Two men came in from Saleh Bey of Galabat with the post. They were thirty-two days _en route._ They brought a letter from Mitzakis, the Greek Consul, from _Adowa_, dated 17th August (which told me as much, or more, than Kitchener’s letter of 31st August!).[139] Saleh Bey is all right; he has been attacked. Spies say the small steamer _Mahomet Ali_, captured by the Arabs, is now on the Blue Nile, at Abou Haraz. Sennaar is all right.

Mitzakis writes to the Greek Consul here to say that a treaty has been made between Her Majesty’s Government and Abyssinia, to give Abyssinia Kassala, Galabat, Katarif, and Bogos! and that the King is preparing an army to go and take possession.[140] What an action. These lands (except Bogos) are entirely Mussulman, have held their own, and are in no way threatened, and WE go and send a wild _so-called_ Christian people (who have nothing to do with the quarrel) against these peoples, who have held their own against the Mahdi.

* * * * *

_October 22._—I wonder what Saleh Bey of Galabat will say to this cession, after he has been fighting for me. Also what Seyd Mahomet Osman will say after all his trouble.

I can now see why I was kept in the dark.

In one of Saleh Bey’s letters he says he sends me a letter from King John. This I have not got; it apparently was not sent.

A man came in with letter from Slatin, in which he says the _Abbas_ was captured near Dar Djumna. Stewart killed, with nine men, and all the papers captured.[141]

Three soldiers escaped yesterday from the Arabs. Seven more came in to-day; they had no news. Mahdi and all Europeans are four hours distant. Mahdi has put Saleh Pasha (of Shaggyeh) in chains.

Twenty-six goats came kindly into lines to-day.

I am very anxious about the _Abbas_; it would be terrible, if it is true, that she is captured.

The cut out pages are, or rather were, a tirade against the cession of Kassala,[142] &c., &c., but as they would be no use now I have cut them out.

I believe Government can, now-a-days, get men to do anything by means of money and honours (_not honour_), and I have a shrewd idea of how this affair will end up here. However, it is not my affair, and I have taken my decision.

Kitchener to Chermside. “He is furious about that admirable treaty of Hewitt’s. Fortunate I did not tell him about it. He has the Mahdi alongside now, and can vent his spleen on him. We have got his steamers all but two, and need not care.”[143]

Admirable treaty, let us think—yes, spread of Christianity, regular missionary movement, ancient Christian Church and people...! get me up a _précis_ of this history of Abyssinia, but not that part of Bruce which speaks of ravages committed by the Abyssinian army on the march. Hewitt, charmed with His Majesty, calls the Queen his mother, &c. Now, if we can _only get_ that Mahdi to make a treaty we are safe for six months. Enough for the day is its evil. I declare I am becoming a missionary myself with my quotations and acts.

Graham would be angry if I criticised his despatch, which Slatin sent me. The _Raumer_[144] seems an excellent weapon.

* * * * *

_October 22._—It is suspected that the two men who came with letters from Saleh Bey of Galabat are spies of the Mahdi, into whose hands has fallen the letter King John wrote to me; these men came in a very circuitous way from the direction of the Mahdi’s camp.

Another soldier and a slave came in from the Arabs just now.

King John and the Mahdi both force men to change their religion; both cut off lips of smokers and noses of _snuffers_; both are fanatics and robbers.[145]

If the Mahdi has got King John’s letter to me, he knows all about the famous, or rather infamous, Hewitt Treaty, which is a trouble. Slatin’s letter mentions the ‘Rapport Militaire’; it seems odd he should have known it was on board, unless the _Abbas_ was captured; yet we have two men who declare she passed down. Perhaps the captured Greeks knew of the existence of this famous journal, and told the Arabs of it, or Awaan may have written it; it is odd he (Slatin) says nothing of Power and Herbin.

House of Lords ... in answer to questions put by the ... of ... replied that the noble marquis seemed to take a special delight in asking questions which he knew he ( ... ) could not answer. He could say he had given a deal of time and attention to the affairs of the Soudan, but he frankly acknowledged that the names of places and people were so mixed up, that it was impossible to get a true view of the case (a laugh). The noble marquis asked what the policy of Her Majesty’s Government was? It was as if he asked the policy of a log floating down stream; it was going to the sea, as any one who had an ounce of brains could see. Well, that was the policy of it, only it was a decided policy, and a straightforward one to drift along and take advantage of every circumstance. His lordship deprecated the frequent questioning on subjects which, as his lordship had said, he knew nothing about, and further did not care to know anything about.

... to ... Why, I did my best to keep the Hewitt Treaty secret from him. It is no use blaming me. I knew from his telegram he would make a noise about it, and I told Kitchener not to say a word about it. It is that brute Mitzakis who let the cat out of the bag.

A man came in from the Mahdi’s camp, who left this fourteen days ago with my permission to go to the Arabs. He now comes back to see his family in Kartoum. I have told him,—_once out, there is no return!_ He is a cool fellow.

The Major wounded at Bourré the other day is dead.

The two men who brought letters from Saleh Bey of Galabat do not like going out on the North Front side; they want to go out by the West side, _i.e._ where the Mahdi’s camp is.

I believe that the Hewitt Treaty will be a complete dead letter, for the Greek Consul says the Admiral gave him (King John) no money, so what was the use of the treaty. I expect King John wrote to me to ask me to give him the taxes of the country ceded, quoting the treaty of Hewitt. As for the King or his men ever leaving their hills, it is out of the question. He might have made a move had he been given £100,000, but no chance of his doing so when he has nothing but this paper treaty. The only place the King could possibly occupy is Senheit, and I doubt his doing that permanently. He will drive out the Roman Catholic Mission at once[146] (part of his missionary movement); the occupation of Senheit just cuts off the safe road from Massowah to Kassala. I declare it is amusing to see what shifts Her Majesty’s Government have been put to get out of their mess.

A slave has come in to Omdurman with another letter from the Arabs. I shall stop this fun for the future.

I feel sure King John gave Admiral Hewitt a spear and shield and the Order of Solomon—vanity of vanities—for the treaty, and I feel also sure we shall see no Abyssinian army in the Soudan. The King will write, or has written, a haughty letter, saying that his mother, the Queen, has given him, &c., &c., and he requests I will send in the taxes _at once_, otherwise he will advance. All T.,[147] and we shall hear no more of His Majesty except groans at my perfidy in not sending the taxes. He is a hopeless sort of man, and never is worth considering.[148] Her Majesty’s Government will say: “We made the treaty; it is not our fault His Majesty did not carry it out, on paper; Kassala and all the other places are now under King John, and consequently quite safe.” The treaty is worth as much as any treaty made now giving Kordofan to any one![149]

We need now only a treaty with the Mahdi about the garrisons, and then Her Majesty’s Government will sleep in peace: _their work is done_. I only say I will have no confidence in any such treaty, and shall take my precautions accordingly.[150]

Letters have come in: one says Lupton Bey has surrendered (Appendix U, _a_, _b_, _c_, _d_), and has been appointed Governor of Bahr Gazelle with an adherent of the Mahdi. Another says that he has brought slaves to the Mahdi, and hopes to buy horses with the products of their sale.[151] The Mahdi’s letter is to relate how he captured the post,[152] &c., _Abbas_, &c. My answer[153] was, that I did not care who had surrendered and who had been captured. As for these letters, I cannot make head nor tail of them, so I leave them to the Arabic scholars of the Universities.

* * * * *

_October 23._—(What a fearful scrawl!) Ten soldiers, with six women came in this morning to Omdurman. I have sifted out the Mahdi’s letter[154] respecting the capture of the _Abbas_, and do not believe it; the papers he sent me as being captured in the _Abbas_ were never in the _Abbas_, they were taken from a spy I sent out from here, the same man who brought me the news from Dongola of the British advance. He had a bad eye (ophthalmia), and was caught at Metemma and killed, having, when drunk, let out that he had come from me.

The nuns had to walk all the way from Kordofan. The Mahdi has 15,000 head of cattle with him. The Arabs are dying in great numbers from dysentery. The village of Hogali opposite the palace is levelled. It may not be generally known, but by the Firman which named Towfik, there is an express injunction that no part of the Egyptian territory is to be ceded, except by permission of the Porte. Also by the Treaty of Paris, and also by that of Berlin, the integrity of the Ottoman Dominion is guaranteed by the Powers. What a farce it is to say Egypt ceded Kassala!

The escaped party, I mentioned as having come in, have arrived at the Palace, nine soldiers, eight women, and two slaves, all old friends, also a _baby_! They say the Mahdi started with 40,000 Arabs and 1500 Regulars from Kordofan, that he has not now more than 5000 or 6000 Arabs, and 1000 soldiers (500 ran away), that they have no Dhoora, only 35 boxes (35,000 rds.) Remington cartridges, and 50 shells; they say the other soldiers want to come in, either to-day or to-morrow. The Mahdi says he will go against the English and will not stop at Kartoum. The whole gang were shown themselves in the mirrors. Such a display of ivories was never seen. The baby danced with delight, at seeing itself, _for the first time_, it was like a black slug. The _mother_ was, of course, delighted.

The Arab horsemen cut the telegraph which goes out of the lines at Bourré to the North Fort. I declined to allow its repair since I had lost a major and had six men wounded when last we went out of the lines, and besides which I had another cable to the north side. No sentries at the North Fort or Bourré, or on the Mudirat; these people are enough to break any one’s heart. Fortunately, from the roof of the Palace one watches all these things, and can bully them into obeying orders, but it is (as Hansall says[155]) a _vie abrutissante_, to be always snarling and growling. The _Ismailia_ and _Husseinyeh_ went down the river, and saw no Arabs on either bank. If these Arabs (one’s servants) are not _eating_, they are _saying_ their _prayers_; if not _saying their prayers_, they are _sleeping_; if not _sleeping_, they are _sick_. One snatches at them at intervals. Now figure to yourself the position; you cannot do anything with them while in these fortresses _eating_, _saying prayers_, _sleeping_, or _sick_, and they know it. You would be a brute if you did (which I fear I often am). You want to send an immediate order, and there is your servant bobbing up and down, and you cannot disturb him. It is a beautiful country for trying experiments with your patience.

It is very curious, but if I am in a bad temper, which I fear is often the case, my servants will be always at their prayers, and thus religious practices follow the scale of my temper; they are pagans if all goes well.

I must say I hate our diplomatists. I think with few exceptions they are arrant humbugs, and I expect they know it. I include the Colvin class. The Rothschilds are, I feel assured, giving Her Majesty’s Government a lot of bother about the Finance Question. If you had asked ... at Balaklava the price of a cheese, he would have said £5 5_s._ If you asked him now you would offend him.

* * * * *

_October 24._—Arab church parade. Mahomet Achmet and Faki Mustapha, few in number, at Waled a Goun, the Arabs have divided their camp, putting the regulars near the river, in camp apart from theirs, to act as buffers if any attack is made on them.

The Arabs have got a nuggar at Giraffe. A man of Zubair’s old force has come in from the Arabs. To-morrow expires the six months for which the notes were issued. We have been boxed up 226 days (seven and a half months); siege of Troy.

The man who came in (Zubair’s old soldier) was one of Lupton’s men from the Bahr Gazelle; he left five months ago (Bahr Gazelle). He says Lupton is at Shaka, and is Sheikh Abdullah, so he has changed his religion.[156] I wonder what has become of the garrison of the Equator. Another man has come in.

All that bloodshed in fighting the slave dealers in the Bahr Gazelle has gone, apparently, for nothing![157] There are great doubts if the Mahdi is really near, no one appears to have seen him.

Since the escape of the lot yesterday, the Arabs have taken the rifles of the regulars from them: at the Mahdi’s camp, the Arabs have a ferry under our nose, across the White Nile; but I do not like to send up the steamers, for the captains are so heedless.

I calculated that the advance force of troops arrived at Wady Halfa on 22nd September,[158] that they took twenty days from there to Debbeh, so that on 12th October they were at Debbeh (Stewart (_D.V._) arrived at Debbeh on 28th September), and I calculate they could not be at Metemma—Shendy—before 10th November, which will give them twenty-nine days for 150 miles, thence it is five days here for a steamer, so that 15th November ought to see them or their advance guard.

Extracts from Appendix R.

_La Route de Souakim à Berber._

Avant que la bataille de Tamai eut été livrée et gagnée, le Général Herbert Stewart, sinon les généraux Graham et Buller, avaient étudié avec soin la question de savoir si les troupes, ou une partie des troupes, pouvaient marcher jusqu’à Berber _pour aider Gordon à réprimer les partisans du Mahdi dans la région du Nil_. Cette proposition semblait alors si convenable que l’état des troupes les mieux adaptées à une semblable expédition, les dispositions pour les approvisionnements, l’équipement, les chevaux disponibles, etc., avaient été l’objet de l’étude journalière des officiers. On se souviendra qu’après Tamai, la cavalerie se transporta aux puits d’Handouk, à huit milles de Souakim. On croyait généralement, alors, que cette marche en avant n’était que la première étape d’un mouvement sur Berber d’une force montée. Pour empêcher toute souffrance provenant d’une disette d’eau, l’effectif ne devait pas être de plus de 500 hommes de cavalerie; aucune infanterie ne devait faire partie de l’expédition. Il était en outre entendu, qu’en cas de nécessité, un semblable effectif pourrait suivre un jour ou deux après et trouverait également, dans les puits, de l’eau en abondance. Le fait est que les généraux Graham, Buller, Stewart, les colonels Clery, Taylor, et d’autres, semblaient ne pas mettre en doute, si l’ordre en était donné, qu’une succession de détachements, forts chacun de 500 hommes, pourrait être rapidement poussée sur Berber. Le bruit de ce qui se passait parvint rapidement aux oreilles de nos hommes qui étaient à la Zariba d’Handouk, et la plupart des troupiers manifestèrent un désir intense de prendre part à l’expédition. On savait que le Général Stewart avait soumis ses plans pour la marche en avant au Général Graham, et que ce dernier, ainsi que l’Amiral Hewett, les avait recommandés au gouvernement. _Les jours se succédèrent, mais l’ordre du départ n’arrivait pas: quelque empressés de partir que fussent beaucoup d’hommes, si nous avions connu alors la position exacte de Gordon, on eût manifesté beaucoup plus d’anxiété pour l’ordre du départ._ Lorsque cette question était discutée, question qui au moment occupait pleinement nos pensées, entre officiers supérieurs, ils exprimaient l’étonnement que l’ordre fut tant retardé, et que le Gouvernement hésitât davantage. _On n’arrivait qu’à une seule conclusion, c’était que la position du Général Gordon était telle qu’il n’avait pas besoin d’aide de troupes britanniques venant de Souakim._ Quoi qu’en ait pu penser, après réflexion, le Général Graham, de la possibilité d’envoyer une troupe de cavalerie forte de 500 hommes, en mars dernier, de Souakim à Berber, je suis certain que lui et la plupart des officiers sous ses ordres croyaient alors que c’était une chose sage et guerrière à entreprendre. Nous nous apercevons tous trop tard, que cette simple expédition eût sauvé Berber, Khartoum et Gordon au vrai cœur.

If they do not come before 30th November the game is up, and Rule Britannia. In this calculation I have given every latitude for difficulties of transport, making forts, &c., and on the 15th November I ought to see Her Majesty’s uniform. I suppose a part of the force will go to attack Berber on the 10th November (when I calculate they will be at Metemma—Shendy), and that a small party will come on here; so we have now 7 days in October and 15 days in November to wait = 22 days—three weeks to add to the 226 days we have already passed, owing to Baring (who I shall remember) and his peace manœuvres. One of the papers Slatin sent to me, says that Graham was willing to send men to Berber, and could have done it; but Evelyn would not give the order. I asked only for 200 men to be sent there (vide my telegram in Stewart’s Journal). I take Slatin’s paper out of Appendix R, and put it on the other side.[159] I do not know the date, but I declare that, if my telegrams to Baring are made known, it will be proved Baring knew up to the 12th March the exact position of affairs up here; and therefore, if there was an impression abroad that I did not say, “Send troops (200) to Berber,[160] or you will lose it,” he must have suppressed my telegrams.

I dwell on the joy of never seeing Great Britain again, with its horrid, wearisome _dinner_ parties and miseries. How we can put up with those things passes my imagination! It is a perfect bondage. At those dinner parties we are all in masks, saying what we do not believe, eating and drinking things we do not want, and then abusing one another. I would sooner live like a Dervish with the Mahdi, than go out to dinner every night in London. I hope, if any English general comes to Kartoum, he will not ask me to dinner. Why men cannot be friends without bringing the wretched stomachs in, is astounding.

_October 25._—Three men came in from Waled a Goun; one I sent out again, as I think he is a spy, the other reports that the small captured steamer _Mahomet Ali_ will be down at Giraffe with twelve boat loads of grain, either to-day or to-morrow. I do not even attempt to stop it; for if the expeditionary force arrives, we will capture it; I cannot risk steamers against land guns.

Two soldiers came in from the Arabs at Omdurman with their rifles.

A lot of people are moving from the right bank of Nile, towards the Sheikh el Obeyed’s (the _man_ not the _city_). Are they leaving on account of the advance of the troops? or is it for offensive purposes? or is it a raid which is returning from pillage? We sent up the steamers and stopped the Arab ferry near the lines. The Arabs are retaliating by putting a gun or two in the old place near the large tree (el Sheddarah). The Arabs fired four shells at the steamers. Soldiers at Omdurman captured two cows, and killed two others. Another slave came in at Omdurman. Yesterday some cows were captured near the South Lines.

What would be the best plan of attacking the Arabs? The object is to give them such a crushing defeat as will put an end to the fighting, and prevent them rallying on Kordofan. The position is thus:—

1. I would attack Waled a Goun at A, and I would cut off his retreat by the sending up steamers to Duem with a small force; the Mahdi’s force and Sheikh el Obeyed’s force would look on.

2. At the same time I would attack the post at Giraffe. Both operations on the same day with the following troops.

_Operations on White Nile._—To proceed up the White Nile by boats, 2000 B. infantry to point X. To proceed along the White Nile, right bank, the cavalry you may have to point X. To occupy with two guns and 1500 men simultaneously the two villages outside the lines, with the Soudan troops, the troops not to advance, only to threaten, houses loop-holed, &c. Three steamers to accompany the force.

_Operations on Blue Nile._—To proceed up the Blue Nile or along the bank, 1000 B. infantry, accompanied by steamers and boats, with the Shaggyeh horsemen, some 80, and 1000 men of Soudan troops to Giraffe.

If these operations are successful, then 800 men with four steamers to pursue up the river to Duem.

_Expedition towards Sennaar._—The Sheikh el Obeyed will probably surrender at once, then a force of 500 B. I. and 1000 Soudan infantry should go up river to Wad el Medinet, and open the route to Sennaar (while men are sent up to buy corn with them). There appear to be no Arabs in arms between Wad el Medinet and Sennaar, or south of Sennaar. (The Mahdi will at once retreat to Obeyed, _the city_.) This expedition will probably be met at Abou Haraz by the surrender of Katarif and all that district, and thus the route to Katarif and Kassala will be opened.

These operations will entail the very smallest amount of marching on the troops, and would be completed in three weeks or less.

It must be remembered that in all these engagements in the Soudan no quarter on either side has been given, so it must not be expected that the Soudan troops will give it now if you come; also with respect to the wounded Arabs, if you go and help them, they will (like the Afghans) try and kill your men who make the effort; they are very treacherous, and, worked up by religious frenzy, they think—1. That you only pretend to help them, in order to kill them afterwards; 2. That, being desperate, they think to enter Paradise if they kill an infidel. It seems rather cold-blooded to write this, but it is the character of those whom you are to fight. For my part, I hope they will all run away, for they are only dupes ninety-nine out of every hundred; it is the leaders who are the prime movers. I would give the lives to the leaders if they ask pardon; but I would send them all to Mecca to study Mahdism under the Orthodox. No information as yet as to the meaning of the caravan, &c., which left the Nile to go towards the Sheikh el Obeyed. One of our boats, which was collecting grass down below Halfeyeh, must needs land its crew and try and take some cattle of the caravan. The Arabs turned on them, and killed the Reis. Crew says they killed a lot of Arabs (?). I think these people do really love fighting, if there is the least chance of plunder.

King John (according to the Greek consul) is to be allowed to import arms at Massowah. He will never do it, for he has not money to buy them.

If the Mahdi has got the Bahr Gazelle, and we evacuate the Soudan in his favour, the Anti-Slavery Society may as well close their office as to the suppression of the slave-trade in these parts, especially if we leave him the steamers.[161]

Special Commission, House of Lords.... under examination, Q. 2389. Did your Lordship know, when in Cairo, that the Fellaheen were being dragged in chains, from their houses, to go and fight the Mahdi, under Hicks, and what steps did you take to prevent it?[162] Did you inform Her Majesty’s Government of the facts, and what was their answer?

The Mahdi has moved his ferry higher up river since our steamers went up this morning.

It is a great question of doubt to me, if Public Officials ought to so sink their personality, as to allow themselves to overlook facts, which must strike them, as being not only evil, but also detrimental to our national interests, merely because such facts are likely to be disagreeable to our Government in requiring them to decide on difficult questions. ... did know of this forced conscription, and so did.... Did they not see that, to allow such conscripts to go up to the Soudan, was not only cruel, but also politically unwise, for it could not be expected that they would have any heart in the matter? If they had stopped it, Hicks would have never left Kartoum, and his army would not have been annihilated; for it is the defeat of Hicks which gave the Mahdi his great prestige. He had annihilated detachments _before that: after that_ he had crushed a huge army. See what it has led to! There are times when men like ... ought to obey, and there are times when they ought to disobey or else resign. Now, if ... had only hinted his resignation, the Governments were so placed as to be obliged to listen to him. I have a strong suspicion ... did know how to act. It was ... and a wish to be agreeable to Her Majesty’s Government which prevented him acting according to his own ideas. Sometimes it is the height of unkindness to be too kind and amiable, and this is one of those cases. History may be misty about it (will not know the thimble the pea is under, for the cards are well shuffled), but there is no doubt that ... had the destinies of Egypt and of the Soudan in his hands, _far more than Her Majesty’s Government_, and he did not succeed. His amiability did for him. It is _not insubordinate_ to resign, if you do not agree to a policy, or feel you cannot carry it out with a whole heart. In military affairs it is different; one is ordered to go here and there, and one obeys (even if one thinks it is unwise, having represented it), but in Diplomacy there is no such call, and certainly there was none in the case of ... who is only an amateur in the Foreign Office Service, an outsider. Had ... when he came to Egypt cut down the rate of interest by a swoop of his pen to 3½ per cent., who would have said a word; but now it is the difficulty. There would have been a fearful howl from the bondholders, but that would have been all. He dismissed the Control (under the _cover_ of Towfik), and could have reduced the interest, and he would have gained the sympathy of all the people. Hicks (who, by the way, never wanted to go to the Soudan) would have held his own at Kartoum, and have worn out the Mahdi, and we would have had none of this late work. I am afraid to say what numbers have been killed through this present policy, certainly some 80,000; and it is not yet over. For my part, I hope they will all run away. We have in a most effectual way restored the slave-trade and slave-hunting, for Her Majesty’s Government cannot keep the Soudan, and never will Egypt be able to govern it. The only thing to be done, is to give it to the Sultan. What an end to diplomacy of Her Majesty’s Government: and it was so easy when I left in January, 1880, to have settled it quietly, _giving up Kordofan, Darfur_, and _Bahr Gazelle_, and _Equator_, with decency and quiet.

I declare I do not see how we will get out of it (the Soudan) even now; allow that you come to Kartoum, that you drive off the Arabs, open the road to Sennaar. What are you going to do? You will say, “Take out those who wish to leave.” Well, you begin with Sennaar, and of course will have to fight all the way down. It will take three months. During those three months, how are you to feed Kartoum? for the moment you leave Sennaar you leave your granary. You get to Kartoum, you are face to face with 30,000 people who will not leave, and who are hedging with the Mahdi; and with 3000 Shaggyeh, all armed. You fight your way to Berber; another three months, you have no food at Berber; then it will need another two months to get to Dongola, which (seeing your policy) will be hostile. It is indeed a terrible problem, and I wish I could see my way out of it.

Then you come into the hot months, and low Nile. This time _next year_ will not see you out of the Soudan, with decency. Of course you can go back now, but what was the use of coming? _I will not allow that you came for_ ME. _You came for the garrisons of the Soudan._ Now, by the Turkish arrangement, if you act promptly, you can get away quietly in January, 1885. It will not cost anything like what it will cost you to keep your troops here for a year, as I fear you must do if you persevere in trying a “_rapid retreat_.”

I can have no object in this advice. I want to get out of the affair, but with decency. I regret the necessity of an expedition, but if once you come to Berber, and communicate with Kartoum, if you stick to the “_rapid retreat_.” you will not be able to accomplish it, and you are in for a year’s stay. While, on the other hand, the giving of country to Turks enables you to get away with credit. Let Her Majesty’s Government _find excuses_ for it, it will not be difficult for _them_. Put yourself in my position if you say “_rapid retreat, and leave Sennaar to its fate_.” I will say “_No, I would sooner die first_,” and will resign my commission, for I could not do it. If you say, “_Then you are no longer_ Governor-General,” then I am all right, and all the responsibility is on you (for I could not be supposed, if you turn me out of Governor-General, to be obliged to aid such a movement, which I think is disgraceful). You will then be face to face with the people. I do not say but that Abdel Kader might not aid in the “_rapid retreat_” better than I could, even if I agreed to it (of this you can judge for yourself, at any rate I shall be out of it, and of my engagement to the people).

It may be that all this writing is unnecessary, and that you have other views, but it is as well you know my opinions. _I am secure against any loss, by the King of the Belgians, if I leave H.M.S., therefore I am, so to say, free of H.M.S. If you turn me out of Governor-General I am relieved from all responsibility, as to your action in Soudan, towards the people._ I do not think I am insubordinate in this matter, nor unreasonable. I do not say I would not give _all my services in a subordinate position_ to aid you, but it would be against my grain and be very distasteful, and must NOT be in POSITION of GOVERNOR-GENERAL, that must be a _sine quâ non_, and it must be known that I disapprove of the “_rapid retreat_.”[163] I would not say this if I was not convinced that the “_rapid retreat_” is an operation of such difficulty as to make every Englishman akin, and bound to aid one another. If I was Lord Wolseley _I would make_ Her Majesty’s Government send the Turks here.

I do not advocate the keeping of the Soudan by us, it is a useless possession, and we could not govern it, neither can Egypt (after the late events). I am only discussing how _to get out of it_ in _honour and in the cheapest way_ (we must remember we caused its troubles), and that way is, either by some sort of provisional Government under Zubair, or by giving it to the Turks; it is simply a question of GETTING OUT OF IT with decency. Zubair would square the Shaggyeh and townspeople and arrange with the Mahdi, and you could get away. He might hold his own if you gave the Mahdi a good defeat ere you left; at any rate it is only by Zubair or the Turks you will get out of the Soudan before November 1885!!!!!

The Turks are the best solution, though most expensive. _They would keep the Soudan_: give them £2,000,000. The next best is Zubair with £500,000, and £100,000 a year for two years; he will keep the Soudan _for a time_. (In both cases slave trade will flourish), thus you will be quiet in Egypt, and will be able to _retreat to Egypt in January, 1885. If you do not do this_, then be prepared for a _deal of worry and danger_, and your campaign will be _entirely unprofitable and devoid of prestige_,[164] for the day after you leave Kartoum the Mahdi will walk in and say he drove you out, which is not pleasant in India or elsewhere.

In discussing this question I have entirely put my own peculiar views out of the question: to give up countries which are to some degree civilised, which, if properly governed, are quiet and orderly, to the Turks or to Zubair, and to allow of the slave trade to flourish again in tenfold intensity, is not a very high _rôle_, but _quoi faire_? We have not the men to govern these lands, we cannot afford the money; consequently, I advise what I have said. When I left the Soudan it was quiet and covered its expenses, and there was no bother to have continued to have governed it. Now it is different, and would need an outlay which our Government will not give. (It is because the cloth is short I recommend the shape of coat to be such.)

It would be nobler to keep the Soudan, but it is too much to expect our taxpayers to agree to (and besides which, ‘Plutarch’s Lives’ are no longer in vogue, and “_you must pay me well ere I go to the Soudan_” is the idea). The Soudan could (if cut off from excrescences) be made to pay its expenses, but it would need a _dictator_, and I would not take the post if offered to me.

* * * * *

_October 26._—Three women came in from Waled a Goun. The idea is gaining ground that the Mahdi is dead, and that his Vakeel is acting his part. The Arabs are thinking of placing a station at Kerowé.

Yesterday week was the anniversary of Hicks’s defeat, 1st November, 1883, though I believe it went on for three days, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd November.

The Arabs have brought a gun nearer Bourré to-day, probably emboldened by absence of the steamers. Two lieutenants, one sergeant-major, two serjeants, one soldier, and one slave came into Omdurman from the Arab camp. They say the Mahdi is alive; with him are Saleh Pasha, in chains, Hussein Pasha Khalifa, Elias Pasha, and all the Europeans. They heard a report (now some days old) that the Expeditionary Force was two days distant from Berber. The two lieutenants were with Hicks; they say the army died of thirst, and scarcely fought at all. With the Mahdi are 5000 men, of which 1000 are black troops, 150 are Egyptian troops. What little weight do engineers place on the existence of populations in fortresses, yet this existence is all-important; more so than the works. Malta and Gibraltar are weak, because of their civil population.

The Arabs have a big tent at Giraffe this evening. The lieutenants who came in say the Mahdi will try and place a station in the place we drove them out of—on the North Front—in August last, just before our defeat at El foun. Goba, with the exception of Mahomed Seyd Osman’s house and the Mosque, is destroyed. Salaam Pasha’s is nearly so.

8 P.M.—Two slaves have come into Omdurman. They say “_the regulars_ in the camp of Mahomet Achmet, _the Mahdi, went this afternoon_ to the Dem, or camp of _Faki Mustapha_, and looted it, firing on the soldiers of Faki Mustapha, who resisted the plundering.” I fear it is all fudge.

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_October 27._—One sergeant-major and two slaves came into Omdurman this morning. Sent out two spies towards Shendy.

One thing which (although spiteful) would cause me intense pleasure if the “_rapid retreat_” is carried out, is that the English would just walk into those Shaggyeh and Bashi Bazouks, and bundle them all out, and thus pay them out for the worry they have given me, and for their meanness.

If the Turks come here, you would have scarcely anyone to send down, and you would hand over the Shaggyeh and Bashi Bazouks to the Turks, and all the Divans, &c. Nothing then could be better for you than to get the Turks here. You would get off all responsibility of Kassala and Sennaar, and you would let the Turks and the King of Abyssinia settle about the _Hewitt Treaty_. You would also get off the bother of the Equator and Bahr Gazelle, if it has not fallen.

You would know exactly what sum you had to pay, and save no end of expense and time and vexation with regard to the settlement of claims. Remember that Baring authorised me to draw more than £100,000; indeed, he said, “Such sum as you need.” So you are responsible for paper-money issued.

You would make up with the Sultan, and, as for giving up Suakin and Massowah to the Turks it is nothing; for those ports are useless, except as ports of the Soudan, and would be a bother to you to keep, if the Mahdi has the Soudan. You would be always in strict blockade on land side.[165]

The more I think of it the more the Turk solution appears Hobson’s choice. I can see no option, unless, ere you arrived at Kartoum, Kartoum fell, and then, even, it would not look well to go back from Berber, while that even would be dangerous to some degree; for the Dongola people would see you meant to evacuate, and would be hostile. You have gone so far and spent so much that I cannot see anything for it but to go on. And the Turks are the only solution which affords the certainty of being able to stop. I get out of all my troubles if the Turks come, for I shunt them on the Turks, and so do you. The idea is that when the English come here the Arabs will bolt.

Stewart’s servant, Macktar, must needs go and marry another wife. How they can go on like this, marrying and giving in marriage, when one can never say, that to-morrow is our own, is wonderful. Tangi has taken two wives up here!

The Government shall not get out of the desertion of Kassala (if they take cover under the Hewitt Treaty and say, “we arranged with the King of Abyssinia to look after that country”), if they do desert it, for the King will never move, and all who have ever known anything of Abyssinia must know he can never move. There is a report in town that Slatin has been put in chains. I should not be at all surprised.

The sergeant-major, soldiers, and two men, Shaggyeh, who came in to-day, say that Slatin is not a prisoner. The sergeant-major states that one of our soldiers escaped from Omdurman three days ago. On inquiry, I find that it is true, and the officer in command never reported it. The sergeant-major says the Arabs meditate an attack on Omdurman, in consequence of what the deserter told them. This is the _fourth_ desertion since March that I know of, and it is the _first_ desertion among the soldiers (with saving clause) that I know of. Arabs fired on the Santels[166] at the end of the lines on the White Nile, and struck one. The Arabs fired fourteen times with Krupp guns; they retired when we fired twice on them; they fired from their old battery near the Tree “el Sheddarah.” Some time ago I gave Ferratch Pasha £100 a month, and I afterwards made him a Ferile, or General of Division, for political reasons. He had the cheek to ask me to give him £150 a month (the sum I used to give the Seraskier or Commander-in-Chief in the Soudan in old times, but which was £50 beyond regulation). He put in an application a few days ago for the £150, and forage for eight horses! Quite ignoring the state of the Dhoora exchequer, I said, “Wait.” He was foolish enough to renew the application, which I tore up. He may go to the Arabs if he likes. The Arabs appear to be passing the Blue Nile at Giraffe, they may be going to place a post at Halfeyeh, the Sheikh el Obeyed refusing to send his men there, we shall see to-morrow. It is not from any feeling of respect to the people up here that I urge their relief, but it is because they are such a weak selfish lot, and because their qualities do not affect the question of our duties to them. The Redemption would never have taken place if it had depended on our merits.

I must say I rather revel at the thought of the dismay which will attend the reduction of salaries to quarter their present rate, they have been so very selfish about these things. I believe if the Mahdi would only give them half the present rate, they would go to the Mahdi, but the Mahdi’s service is _gratuitous_, so there is no fear of that. I go out, a black Bashi Bazouk addresses me on the inadequacy of his pay and rations. I whisper to him, “_Go to Sheikh el Obeyed_,” he grins and evaporates. I do not care a bit now. We must either be relieved, or fall, before the end of November, or at the end of November. I am meditating the sending down of “_Husseinyeh_” with this post; if the Arabs come to Halfeyeh I then cut off all hopes of our escape, for the _Ismailia_ steamer would not be fit to go down to Berber. The financial affairs up here will be a precious job.

It amuses me to find people here holding on to the delusion that the old state of affairs is likely to come back as to the Government, and saying, “You are going to stay with us as Governor-General, and things are to be as of old.” I answer, “I would not take you again at any price after your meanness.” They say, “Oh, yes, the people are not well behaved, &c., &c., but you will stay _for the glory of God_” (_i.e._ our interests). They are an amusing lot: Allah on lips, self interest at heart, and such self interest, as is _positively naked_, and they even laugh at it.

A soldier and a slave came in to-night to Omdurman. They say the Mahdi is undecided what to do. The regulars with the Mahdi have been robbing the Arabs, so the Mahdi has taken away their arms.

Spy in from Sennaar fifteen days ago with letters,[167] which say Sennaar is all right. This was in answer to a letter I sent to Sennaar saying, “Expedition was on its way to relieve the _garrisons, so Sennaar depends on me to see after it_.”

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_October 28._—The man who came from Sennaar says the Mahdi has ordered all the Arabs to congregate at Kartoum from all parts. Sheikh el Obeyed has made a station close to Giraffe, on right bank of Blue Nile. They have two boats plying across the river, taking corn from Sheikh el Obeyed to Waled a Goun. Arabs had a reconnoitring party in the ruins of Omdurman village this morning.

One lieutenant, one sergeant-major, four soldiers, and one boatman came in this morning from the Arabs at Omdurman. Rumour says the steamers have been looting Shendy (I hope that it will be remembered none of the Egyptian soldiers, officers, or Pashas are to come up here again). The boatman left Berber six days ago. He says the Arabs at Berber have sent the captured money, &c., of Berber into the desert; that Seyd Mahomet Osman, with a mixed force, were two days’ march from El Damer; that the five steamers have brought Shendy, &c., into subjection; that the road from here to Shendy is free of Arabs, who have gone into the desert; that only in a certain district _near_, but _higher up_ than Shoboloha, there are marauding Arabs, but no great number; that the _Abbas_ passed down safely; that the two boats which had wood in them alone were captured, being abandoned on being emptied; that at Dar Djumna a sheikh pretended to be friendly, and tried to capture the steamer, which fired on the Arabs, and killed a lot; that three spies from Seyd Mahomet Osman were captured trying to communicate with Dongola, and were executed; that _a man went with a camel from Berber to Dar Djumna, and came back in one day_; that the expeditionary force is at Dar Djumna. The officer reports the Mahdi most undecided, one hour disarming the regulars, and at another hour arming them; the Arabs deserting, and others joining the Mahdi day after day.

A mine was exploded by a man on the North side, and I hear he is dangerously wounded, if not dead. On questioning the boatman again he explained the _Dar Djumna_ is not the cataract, but is a place (near the cataract, just below Berber) one-and-a-half days from Berber. They, the expeditionary force, had eight steamers (one, the old screw boat of Dongola, I had towed up from Wady Halfa in 1878). The man said the _Abbas_ went on to Dongola (why was it not sent up with the others?). I have given half month’s pay to all ranks below sergeant-major. I only owe them now half month’s pay.

If the General of the expeditionary force has sent up a force, _by Nile to Berber, to take Berber_, and _then_ if he marches across with _bulk of force_ from Merowé, in my humble opinion he has done the right thing.

If Berber had not been taken it would have been a picnic. Baring!! Baring!![168]

The force going up Nile from Merowé to Berber would have pretty well quieted the banks of the Nile, for the _triangle_ contained by _Merowé_, _Abou Hamed_, and _Berber_, so that the bulk of the force, moving from Merowé to the captured Berber, would only be exposed to attacks from the south flank, where there are few people. My experience is that whenever you can possibly do so, never expose yourself to be attacked on all points of the compass; at any rate secure yourself on _one flank_. The force advancing up the Nile were protected on one flank, the Nile; that going across from Merowé to Berber, will be protected on the north flank by the subjugated triangle. Arabs this evening appear not to intend to come to Halfeyeh. They have a station at Giraffe, and another at Kokoo, which is nearly opposite Giraffe, on right bank of Blue Nile. (End of this _blotting paper_!)[169]

Ferratch Pasha tried again in a roundabout way to get the £150 a month, forage (_i.e._ Dhoora) for four horses, and rations for ten men; he utterly failed, and had to content himself with £100 a month: they are a mean lot. (_Do not let any of those Egyptians_ in the steamers _come back here_ is my earnest prayer.) (Floyer will be furious at this misuse of telegraph forms.)[170] I am truly delighted that the _Abbas_ did not leave the Greeks behind, and only abandoned the boats carrying wood. I hope in fourteen days to have another sister steamer to _Abbas_ and _Husseinyeh_ completed. I have told them to rivet her only six inches above water line, and to put holdfast rivets for the upper portion which is above water, and which does not require to be watertight.

They say that the _Fascher_[171] steamer had a gun on her; she went aground near Abou Shourim (the Father of the Truth), and got delayed in her pursuit of the _Abbas_. The man wounded by the mine is wounded in the head, chest, and legs; there is not much hope of his recovery.

Awaan (Stewart’s friend, the secretary of Arabi) is behaving very badly in prison; he was put in chains by mistake and released, but it has had no effect: he abuses the soldiers. I expect he wrote to the Mahdi and told him of Stewart’s departure and of the “Journal.” His arrest is said to have been of great effect in the town; he is said to have preached for a long time in favour of the Mahdi.

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