Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1884-09-06
TO THE RESCUE OF GORDON

who has long been known as one of
the ablest officers in the British
army, has been selected to command
the column of eight thousand British
troops which is to ascend the Nile
to Khartoum for the purpose of res
cuing Gordon. The task before him
is beset with almost insuperable diff
ficulties, but the success of his over
land march in 1876 from Toronto,
Canada, to Fort Garry, in Manitoba,
to suppress the insurrectioDary
government set up by Rel and 9TH
ers on the Red River of the North,
and his subsequent march from the
Gold Coast, in West Africa, through
pestilent .jungles to Coomassie, the
capital of Ashantee, have gwen him
confidence in his ability to lead his
troops 20 Khartoum beneath the
torrid sun of Egypt. Military Off
GERS of great experience doubt
whether it spossible. Among these
is the English General Stephenson,
now in command in Egypt, and who
was to have been Wolseley's second
in command in the expedition to
Khartoum. His disapproyal of the
plan of the Nile campaign is so
strong that he has declined the
position to which he was assigned,
and Gen. Earle has been appointed
in his place. Another officer of far
larger experience is Gen. Colston,
who left the United States after our
civil war, and with other American
offiders took service under the Khe-
dive. Gen. Colston commanded two
military and scientific expeditions in
the Soudon, lived for two years
among the Bedouin tribes now in
Instruction, and his knowledge of
the country was acquired Shy six
thousand miles of travel on camel's
back over the theatre of the Mahdi's
war;" In paper published in the
Century Magazine he describes and
analyses the three routes that
are the highways of trade between
Cairo and Khartoum.
The first route is up the Red sea,
from Suez to Suakim, nine hundred
miles; thence across mountains and
desert to Berber, two hundred and
forty miles, and from Berber, by
water or land, up the Nile to Khar
toum, two hundred and twenty five
miles. The total length of route is,
therefore, fourteen hundred and
twenty-five miles. The objections
to this route, after leaving Suakim
until Berber is reached, are that it
is almost waterless, that the wells
are at distance Of five days march
apart, and that if they were not des.
troyed by the Bedouins lowering all
the time along the line of march, at
lacking in the mountain defiles, as
they did Hicks, whose entire army
they annihilated, and as they did
Baker, half of whose army they cut
to pieces. Assuming the wells I'M.
touched, "taere is not a group OF
wells" says General Colston, son
the whole line sufficient to water six
hundred men and their animals.
With eight thousand men, ifthe enc
my could cut them off from the wells
for three days, the whole of them
would perish"
/ The second route is by the Nile
from Cairo in boats to Korosko, six
hundred and ten miles. From Kor-
oskO over the desert to Abou Ham
med. two hundred and thirty miles
thence marching along the banks OF
the Nile to Berber, 100 miles, and
from Berber to Khartoum by waite,
or land 225 miles, in all 1,125 miles
"This," says General Colston, lis
the great commercial caravan route
} and it trayerses the most frightful
desert in the Soudan. There is less
water on it than on the Suakin route
and the track, when he passed over
it, was marked by the skeletons Of
camels and cattle, averaging sixty
to the mile on the best parts of the
trail and four hundred to the worst.
The third route is that which Gen
eral Wolseley has selected. 1t as
cends the Nile to the second cataract
seven hundred miles. The whole
. distance to this point may be made
by water. From the second cataract
to Berber is seven hundred more
miles by land or water, following
the course of the Nile, and froIn Der
: Der to Khartoum two huHd.ed and
twenty-five miles, making the tota
distance sixteen hundred and twenty
FIVE miles. On this route the inesti
mable advantage is, that as it fol
lows the Nile for the whole of it:
length, there is water in abundance
, but, in the opinion Of General Col
ston, ait would require for an army
four or five months to reach Khar
, toum.n The plan of Gen. Wolseley
is to pass over the whole distance
by water. with the exception ofshorr
portages. For this purpose he i.
supplied with nine hundred and fifty
strong light river boats drawing bu
little water, such as he used in his
: Red river expedition, to surmouDt
the thirty three cataracts he encoun
+ tered on his way, employing to mar
them 800 Kroomen, $500 Egyptians
and 400 Canadian voyageurs.
His force is to be composed OF S,OOt
British and $500 Egyptian troops
, Whether bis plan with respect to tht
Nile cataracts is practical remains
to be demonstrated. Gen. Colstor
clearly thinks that it is doubtful
The British Gen. Stephenson
| obviously agrees with him. "The fac
! is,n says Gen. Colston, . 1t is alnos
, impossible for any European arm,
to penetrate iato the Soudan.r Blu
Gen. Walseley is man of indomi
table perseverance,, and has thus ia
been so fortunate in all his undertak
, ines that he NAV he able TO over