Chapter XI: The Last Nile Mission (3)

"My children and all my family join themselves to me, and pay you
their best respects.

"Further, I beg to inform you that the messenger who had been
previously sent through me, carrying Government correspondence to
your brother, Gordon Pasha, has reached him, and remitted the
letter he had in his own hands, and without the interference of
any other person. The details of his history are mentioned in the
enclosed report, which I hope you will kindly read.--Believe me,
honourable Lady, to remain yours most faithfully,

ZEBEHR RAHAMAH."

REPORT ENCLOSED.

"When I came to Cairo and resided in it as I was before, I kept
myself aside of all political questions connected with the Soudan
or others, according to the orders given me by the Government to
that effect. But as a great rumour was spread over by the high
Government officials who arrived from the Soudan, and were with
H.E. General Gordon Pasha at Khartoum before and after it fell,
that all my properties in that country had been looted, and my
relations ill-treated, I have been bound, by a hearty feeling of
compassion, to ask the above said officials what they knew about
it, and whether the messenger sent by me with the despatches
addressed by the Government to General Gordon Pasha had reached
Khartoum and remitted what he had.

"These officials informed me verbally that on the 25th Ramadan
1301 (March 1884), at the time they were sitting at Khartoum with
General Gordon, my messenger, named Fadhalla Kabileblos, arrived
there, and remitted to the General in his proper hands, and
without the interference of anyone, all the despatches he had on
him. After that the General expressed his greatest content for
the receipt of the correspondence, and immediately gave orders to
the artillery to fire twenty-five guns, in sign of rejoicing, and
in order to show to the enemy his satisfaction for the news of
the arrival of British troops. General Gordon then treated my
messenger cordially, and requested the Government to pay him a
sum of £500 on his return to Cairo, as a gratuity for all the
dangers he had run in accomplishing his faithful mission. Besides
that, the General gave him, when he embarked with Colonel
Stewart, £13 to meet his expenses on the journey. A few days
after the arrival of my messenger at Khartoum, H.E. General
Gordon thought it proper to appoint Colonel Stewart for coming to
Cairo on board a man-of-war with a secret mission, and several
letters, written by the General in English and Arabic, were put
in two envelopes, one addressed to the British and the other to
the Egyptian Government, and were handed over to my messenger,
with the order to return to Cairo with Colonel Stewart on board a
special steamer.

"But when Khartoum fell, and the rebels got into it, making all
the inhabitants prisoners, the Government officials above
referred to were informed that my messenger had been arrested,
and all the correspondence that he had on him, addressed by
General Gordon to the Government, was seized; for when the
steamer on board of which they were arrived at Abou Kamar she
went on rocks, and having been broken, the rebels made a massacre
of all those who were on board; and as, on seeing the letters
carried by my messenger, they found amongst them a private letter
addressed to me by H.E. Gordon Pasha, expressing his thanks for
my faithfulness to him, the rebels declared me an infidel, and
decided to seize all my goods and properties, comprising them in
their _Beit-el-Mal_ (that is, Treasury) as it happened in fact.

"Moreover, the members of my family who were in the Soudan were
treated most despotically, and their existence was rendered most
difficult.

"Such a state of things being incompatible with the suspicion
thrown upon me as regards my faithfulness to the Government, I
have requested the high Government officials referred to above to
give me an official certificate to that effect, which they all
gave; and the enclosed copies will make known to those who take
the trouble to read them that I have been honest and faithful in
all what has been entrusted to me. This is the summary of the
information I have obtained from persons I have reason to
believe."

Some further evidence of Zebehr's feelings is given in the following letter from him to Sir Henry Gordon, dated in October 1884:--

"Your favour of 3rd September has been duly received, for which I
thank you. I herewith enclose my photograph, and hope that you
will kindly send me yours.

"The letter that you wished me to send H.E. General Gordon was
sent on the 18th August last, registered. I hope that you will
excuse me in delaying to reply, for when your letter arrived I
was absent, and when I returned I was very sorry that they had
not forwarded the letter to me; otherwise I should have replied
at once.

"I had closed this letter with the photograph when I received
fresh news, to the effect that the messengers we sent to H.E.
Gordon Pasha were on their way back. I therefore kept back the
letter and photograph till they arrived, and I should see what
tidings they brought.... You have told me that Lord Northbrook
knows what has passed between us. I endeavoured and devised to
see His Excellency, but I did not succeed, as he was very busy. I
presented a petition to him that he should help to recover the
property of which I was robbed unjustly, and which H.E. your
brother ordered to be restored, and at the same time to right me
for the oppression I had suffered. I have had no answer up to
this present moment.

"Hoping that H.E. Gordon Pasha will return in safety, accept my
best regards, dear Sir, and present my compliments to your
sister.

"ZEBEHR.
"_28th Oct. 1884._"

To sum up on this important matter. There never was any doubt that the authorities in the Delta took on themselves a grave responsibility when they remained deaf to all Gordon's requests for the co-operation of Zebehr. They would justify themselves by saying that they had a tender regard for Gordon's own safety. At least this was the only point on which they showed it, and they would not like to be deprived of the small credit attached to it; but the evidence I have now adduced renders even this plea of doubtful force. As to the value of Zebehr's co-operation, if Gordon could have obtained it there cannot be two opinions. Gordon did not exaggerate in the least degree when he said that on the approach of Zebehr the star of the Mahdi would at once begin to wane, or, in other words, that he looked to Zebehr's ability and influence as the sure way to make his own mission a success.

On the very night of his interview with Zebehr, and within forty-eight hours of his arrival in Cairo, General Gordon and his English companion, with four Egyptian officers, left by train for Assiout, _en route_ to Khartoum.