The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1885-07-04 00:00:00

GORDON'S JOURNAL AT KHARTOUM.

No publication has been awaited with more eager
interest than this, which Messrs. Regan Paul,
Trench, and Co., of Paternoster-square, have lost no
time in giving to the world since the manuscript
materials, .sent home by the British military authori-
ties in the Soudan, were placedn the hands of
General Gordon's family. The chosen editor was Mr.
A. Egmont Hake, a nephew of General Gordon and
a literary man of some experience, who had already
produced acceptable memoirs of that romantic and
illustrious career which will certainly be of classic
celebrity among the British Worthies of every genera-
tion. It was known that Gordon had written a
journal during the siege of Khartoum; but whether
this would be permitted to see the light seemed for
some time to be uncertain, and several questions were
asked in Parliament about its disposal. Six volumes
or parts of the Diary, kept by Gordon from Sept. 10
to Dec. 14, were sent by him from Khartoum to
Metammeh, when his steam-boats went down, and
were delivered on Jan. 22 to Sir Charles Wilson, then
commanding the advanced British force after Sir
Herbert Stewart was wounded. A preceding Diary,
kept by Colonel J. D. Stewart from March 1 to
Sept. 9, is unfortunately lost, or is now in the posses-
sion of the Mandt, having been taken by the Arabs
who murdered Stewart on Sept. 18 between Berber
and Abou Rained. Gordon's journal was sent to Eng-
land by Lord Wolseley ; and, having been examined
by our Government, was handed over to -Sir Henry
Gordon, the writer's brother, who arranged with
Messrs. Kegan Paul and Co. for its publication. Sir
Henry tells us, in one of the prefatory notes, that only
six or seven pages, containing no matter of public
interest, have been omitted; but it was General
Gordon's express wish that his Diary should be
"pruned down," and we perceive that some names
of persons are left blank, though it is not difficult to
guess who is meant in the censures of British
Ministers, diplomatists, and other well-known official
folk.

The Jonrnal now printed, filling nearly 400 pages
(exchsive of lengthy documents in the appendices) is
highly characteristic of Gordon, and abounds with
his original comments and remarks, as well as with
anecdotes and incidents of his situation at Khartoum.
It begins on Sept. 10, the day when Colonel Stewart,
with Mr. Frank Power and M. Herbin, left Khar-
toum for Berber, by steamboat, on their way to Don-
gola. At that time, the Mandi with his army was at
Rahad, about 200 miles from Khartoum. The city,
in which there were 34,000 people, was blockaded and
deprived of supplies by gathering bands of hostile
tribes. Gordon says, "I do not call our enemy rebels,
but Arabs; for it is a vexed question whether we are
not rebels, seeing I hold the firman restoring the
Soudan to its chiefs." He observes, further: "There
is scarcely one great family of the Soudan, families
who can trace their pedigree for 500 years, who have
not accepted Mahomet Achmet as Mandi, to save
their property." The people of Khartoum, he states,
had every possible facility to leave the city, but they
persisted in clinging to it. The problem to be solved
was the safe removal of the Egyptian garrisons of
Khartoum and Sennaar, and of the refugees, net
belonging to the country. It was for this purpose
that Gordon determined to await the attack of the
Mandi at Khartoum, hoping to defeat him there, after
which he thought the only way to deal with the
country was "to let the Turks come in," or to send
up Zebehr Pasha, giving him a subsidy of £lOO,OOO
a year.
When General Gordon was informed of Lord
Wolseley's expedition, he resented with great indigna-
tion the idea that it was sent out for his own personal
deliverance. He insists, over and over again, in this
journal, that it should undertake the safe return of
the garrisons and refugees. Not to execute this pur-
pose, to which he felt pledged in honour, seems to him
the "meanest and shabbiest " conduct, and he ex-
presses the strongest contzmpt for everybody in office
who does not think as he does.

It is unnecessary to quote the many severe and
angry reflections in which this brave man relieved his
vexed spirit during the painful crisis of affairs at
Khartoum, when he had no care or thought of danger
to himself. The Mandi did not arrive to lay close
siege to Khartoum until the middle of October, after
which period the situation of Gordon became more
threatening. He makes a note on the 13th of that
month, "fl. is of course on the earls that Khartoum
is taken under the nose of the expeditionary force,
which will be
,lust too late;" a prophecy too well
verified by the result. But he had a garrison of more
than eight thousand fighting men, twelve guns,
eleven steamers, 21,000 rounds of artillery, ammuni-
tion, and above two million rounds for the rifles, with
stores of grain and biscuit for several months;
but very little money, except in paper. He
expected the advance force of the British army to
reach Khartoum about the 15th of November. For
his own part, he was longing to get out of the Soudan,
to retire from the British service; and not to live in
England, but to devote the remainder of his life to
the work for which he had engaged on the Congo.
His recommendation for the future settlement of the
Soudan was either to transfer it to the Sultan of
Turkey, with a subsidy of two millions sterling, or to
appoint Zebehr Pasha as Governor, with half a
million paid down and a largl yearly allowance. "In
both cases," he observes, the slave trade will
flourish." He was utterly opposed to establishing
British rule in the Soudan, and equally to its con-
tinuing a province of Egypt; and, in the event of
Khartoum being taken by the Mandi, he thought it
would be useless to retake it, or to waste life and
money in carrying on the campaign.
The final siege of the city does not appear to have
been fairly begun until November, as the Mandi was
extremely slow in his operations. There had been
much desultory fighting in the previous months, and
nearly a thousand of the garrison, altogether, had been
killed • but Khartoum had never been in immediate
peril of capture by force. "We have had a truly
wearisome time for 241 days." writes Gordon on Nov.
8; but he records again the same determination,
"that I will not leave here until everyone who wants
to go down is given the chance.to do so." The first
serious conflict with the Mandi's proper army was on
the 12th, when Gordon's steamers and forts were
opposed to a large force of the enemy supported by
artillery at Omdurman. Ho was led, by their style of
fighting, to suspect that some of them were
the former Egyptian regular troops captured in
Kordofan and 'Darfur. The repeated engagements
on the White Nile became a matter of anxiety,
since the Mandi's army, with his guns and shells
was very different from the mere horde of savages
which had gathered in May on the other side of
Khartoum. They had boats to cross the river, and
Gordon became anxious for his little steamers, which
now and then got aground. The daily narrative from
this time has greater military interest, and the
attempts to save Omdurman Forts, on the further
bank of the Nile, the capture of which by the Mandi
proved ultimately fatal, continue to the latest date in
the Journal. The Mandi's army was estimated at
25,000 men, part of them regular troops, under
skilled officers, of whom several were Europeans.
General Gordon had now not so much leisure to write
lengthy disquisitions on the conduct of Government,
and on the inconsistency and irrationality of English
public opinion, or to adorn his pages with caricature
portraits of the diplomatic agents at Cairo. His great
ability as a soldier, his amazing personal energy and
industry, and his genius for command were now called
into perpetual activity; and the last two months of
the siege, by all accounts, witnessed marvellous efforts
of defensive warfare.

It would Appear, from all that we read in this
Journal or that we have learnt elsewhere, likely
enough that Gordon might have prolonged the defence
successfully till the full relieving force under Lord
Wolseley could have reached Khartoum but for the
treachery of his subordinate officers, and, the disaffec-
tion of the black Soudanese troops. These were
the best fighting soldiers of the garrison; the
Cairo Bashi-bazouks, the Egyptian fellaheen, and
the Shaggiyeh Arabs being of a very cowardly
temper. Gordon could not rely upon any of his
officers after the departure of Colonel Stewart; he
stood alone as an Englishman and Christian, the few
remaining Europeans in Khartoum being persons
from whom he could seek no assistance. To the
latest date in his Jourxol. December 14, there seems
to have been very little direct mischief done in Khar-
toum by the incessant fire of the enemy; and the
fortifications, if properly defended, could scarcely
have been taken by assault. The rapid decrease of
the store of food was the most alarming circumstance
in Gordon's apparent position; and he writes on that
day, "Now, mark this, if the expeditionary force does
not come in n days, the town may fall, and I have
done my best for the honour of our country. Good-
bye.—C. G. GORDON." He had not the slightest fear
of death, on his own account, and he felt worried and
disgusted with the miscarriage of his generous enter-
prise, and with the perverseness and baseness of
many people he had had to deal with. Some of his
judgments may appear to us mistaken, and his senti-
ments upon some occasions much overstrained; but
his was a very peculiar mind. This volume will be
perused with deep interest, and will probably draw
forth renewed comment upon the topics which are
fresh in public recollection. The mission of General
Gordon to Khartoum last year was ill advised from
its beginning, as neither he, nor the Ministers in
London, nor the Ministers at Cairo, had a decided
plan of action. It was left to his own discretion
what he should do at Khartoum. Ere was a real hero,
whose memory will, be cherished in the esteem of his
countrymen and of mankind.

Eulaha : Why, dear, are bangs coming in fashion
again? Eudora: I don't know. I am going to wear
mine, anyhow; they certainly are becoming. Oh, that's
not the reason. You know I'm engaged to the Rev.
Algernon de Good, the new minister. Yes, dear,
but what has that got to do with it? Why, he's so
modest; it's the only way I can prevent him from
kis-ing my forehead instead of my lips.
At a recent meeting of the Lime Kiln Club, the
secretary announced a communication from Liverpool,
England, asking if the club had ever openly favoured
the annexation of Canada to the United States. If
so, on what grounds? "I doan' remember dat de
subjick has eve" arose in our midst," said the presi-
dent. "I doan, reckon dat any of us hey eber bad de
headache pu4zlile ober de queshum. It might be a
good thing Canada to annex the -United States.
I reckon we am sort o' newtral on de subjick, but if
we see Any periickler reason, later on, why de two
kentries should sleep under de same bed quilt well
Jst.this-public know it."

, .

THE NEW NINISTRY:
PRIVY COUNCIL AT WINDSOR.

The final appointments to all the subordinate-offices
:in the new Ministry have not all been made ; but the
progress of arrangements for the reassembling of
Parliament next week is daily pushed forward. The
following is from the Court Circular:
WINDSOR CASTLE, tine 27.

The Queen held a Council to-day at three o'clock,
at which were present : Viscount Cranbrook (Lord
President of the Council), the Duke of Richmond and
Gordon, K.G. (President of the Board of Trade), and
Lord Geo- ge Hamilton (First Lord of the Admiralty).
_ . _ _

The MW.rquis of Waterford, K.P., the Earl of
Cadogan, Viscount Lewisham, Viscount Folkestone,
and Lord Arthur Hill were introduced and sworn in
Privy Councillors.
The Duke of Richmond and Gordon, K.G., had an
audience of her Majesty, and kissed hands on his
appoiritment as President of the Board of Trade.
Previous to the Council the following great officers
of State and other officers of her Majesty's House-
hold were introduced to her Majesty's presence and
took leave, and delivered up to the Queen their wands
and insignia of office: Earl Sydney, G.C.B. (Lord
Steward), the Earl of Kenmare, K.P. (Lord Chamber-
lain), the Duke of Westminster, K.G. (Master of the
Horse), the Earl of Breadalbane (Treasurer of the
Household), Lord Kensington (Comptroller of the
Household), Lord Charles Bruce (Vice-Chamb-rlain),
Lord Carrington (Captain of the Corps of Gentlemen-
at-Arms), Lord Monson (Captain of the Yeomen of
the Guard), and the Earl of Cork, K.P. (Master of
the Buckhounds).
The following great officers of State and other
officers of her Majesty's Household were then intro-
duced, and received from the Queen their wands and
insignia of office, and kissed hands on appointment: The
Earl of Mount Edgcumbe (Lord Steward), the Earl
of Lathoru (Lord Chamberlain), the Earl of Brad-
ford (Master of the Horse), Viscount Folkestone
(Treasurer of the Household), Lord Arthur Hill
(Comptroller of the Household), Yis?,ount Lewisham
(N ice Chamberlain), Viscount Barrington (Captain of
the Yeomen of the Guard), and the Marquis of
Waterford, K.P. (Master of the Buckhounds).
Viscount Cranbrook and Lord George Hamilton
had an audience of her Majesty.

The following then took the oaths of office in the
presence of the Lord President of the Council : The
puke of Richmond and Gordon, K.G., as President
of the Board of Trade; the Earl of Mount-Edg-
curnbe, as Lord Steward; the Earl of Lathom, as
Lord Chamberlain; and the Earl of Bradford as
Master of the Horse.

Mr. Charles Lennox Peel, C. 8., was in attendance
as Clerk of the Council.

General Viscount Bridport and Admiral Lord
Frederick Kerr were in attendance as Lord and Groom
in Waiting to her Majesty.

Thera ire no fewer than 100 "orders of the day"
set down for next Monday, on which day the House
of Commons is to re-assemble. The only ones, how-
ever, which the Government mean to move are three
—namely, the Committee of Supply, Committee of
Ways and Means, and the Report of Supply gralited
on the 4th June,