The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-11-05
KHARToUM AND GENERAL GORDON.

Should the news be fully confirmed that
General Gordon has been killed, and that
Khartoum has fallen, these disasters will Gre
ate profound sensation in England and prob
ably lead to the overthrow of the Gladstone
Ministry. However, General Wolseley claims
to have information that Gordon is sill in
Khartoum, and it is fair to presume that if
such an important event as the taking of
Khartoum and the death of General Gordon
had really occurred, the British War Office
would have the information as soon as any
body.
The. popular voice in England designated
General Gordon as the chief best qualified to
restore order in the Soudan and insure
therein the supremacy of the Egyptian
government. The British govern
ment yielded to the public demand
and sent him to Egypt with almost unlimited
authority to establish peace in the Soudan by
such means as he saw fit. He appears to have
relied on the prestige which he acquired form
erly as governor of the country, and his
friendliness for the rebel chiefs. He intended,
also, to win over the distGrbers by gifts, well
knowing the African greed for gold. He set
out from Alexandria last January, with a
small escort, made a daring ride across the
desert, and arrived safely at Khartoum Feb
ruary II. The rebels, nothing daunted,
pressed the siege. He tried to dislodge them
by a gallant sortie, on March 16, but failed
because some of his Egyptian troops deserted
him. Two traitorous pashas were subsequent
ly tried by court-martial and shot. Since
that time Gordon has been engaged in almost
incessant conflict with the rebels
who invested the city. The False
Prophet dispatched troops in large
number to the aid of his followers, so that
there were lately 100, 900 men before Khar-
toum, a place of the highest strategic import
ance.
There was never a good. understanding be-
tween Gordon and the British government,
and there are many things that require ex-
PLANTATION. General Wolseley, who is now ad-
v%ancing with $500 troops to the relief of
Khartoum, was sent out only because the Brit
ish people would tolerate Mr.. Gladstone's tar
diness no longer. The fall of KhartoQm, if it
be true, may compel the General to retreat in
haste, for his mastery military skill will hard
ly make UP for the disparity of his forces.
Gordon's fate, if he has fallen, may well -ex-
cite the sympathy of all brave men. His ca
reer has been like that of the knights-errant of
old, rather than that of the modern soldier. He
served in the Crimean campaign and was
wounded in the trenches. He took part in
the British advance against Pekin and in
1868 entered the Chinese service as the com
mander of the "ever victorious army" He
helped to subdue the great Tai-Ping rebellion
'by the power of his arms, and afterward still
more rapidly by the terror Of his name" He
undertook an expedition into the interior of
Africa in 1873, under the auspices of the Khe-
dive of Egypt, who subsequently made him
pasha and appointed him governor of the whole
of the Soudan. AS such he destroyed the force
Of the slave dealers and suppressed a for
midable revolt in Darfur. He retired
from the governorship of the soudan in 1880,
and subsequently held important positions in
the Mauritius and the Cape of Good Hope.
General Gordon is a brave soldier, of infexible
will and high moral character. He is a prac-
teal Christian, and an unrelenting foe to
slavery and the slave trade. His death at this
critical time would be a national calamity to
Great Britain, and would increase still more
the perplexities of the Egyptian conflict.