The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1885-02-12

The recent unfortunate experience
Of the British army at Kartoum. sug-
gests the possibility that this English
pitcher, which has gone so often to
the well, may at last be broken. The.
armed vigilance of Great Britain, in
looking after the interests of that
Government in Egypt, soon led to an
open and armed defiance Of the British
authority. by Ell Mahdi, the False
Prophet, who raised a large army of
fanatical Arabs, and began open hos
tilities.. These Arabs are desperate
fghters-believing that in fighting to
the death against the British troops
they are obeying the requirements of
their religious faith-and rather court
a hand to hand conflict. In the re-
cent battles and skirmishes with the
English soldiers along the Nile, the
Arabs have proven troublesome and
dangerous foe, and all England was
shocked, a few days ago, to receive
tidings that the gallant Gen. Gordon
and his small army were captured at
Kartoum, and the fate of the COM
mander was unknown. The news of
the capture was brought by Col Will
son, who went up the Nile on boats.
attempting to reach the town, which
he found in the possession of the
Arabs, and his boats were repeatedly
fired upon.
Sir Garnet Wellesley. the British
Commander-in-Chief, is in the field
with power to conduct military opera
tions as he deems best, and it is
thought that the first move will be
looking to the recapture of Kartoum.
ReinforcementS are being forward, d
to the Nile country, and it is not alto
gether improbable that the False
Prophet may yet be made to feel the
weight Of England's vengeance In
all the fighting with these Arabs, the
plan of battle adopted by the British
troops has been the hollow-square,
which the Arabs show no hesitancy
in charging, most energetically, even
to degree Of desperation.
The news from the Nile has caused
such excitement in England that
Minister Gladstone's house is guarded
by the police, and there is much con-
j-cture INDUCED in as to whether the
Gladstone ministry will resign
Whatever may he the result of the
present troubles, it is very evident
that Sir Garnet Wellesley has made
the mistake so common among com
manding Generals-and one that wes
more than once made in the late war
in this country-that of fixing. in his
own mind, the plans and numerical
strength of the enemy, without any
regard to what the enemy was doing.
Sir Garnet thought that he had suf-
ficient force to maintain the British
authority, and subjugate this rebel
force In reality he found his troops
greatly outnumbered, by the most
desperate fighters, and it became a
serious question whether the entire
military strength along the Nile would
not be broken up and destroyed. Yet
the gallant fighting of the British
soldiery may blot out any mistakes in
the calculations of commanding offic-
ers, and eventually subdue the desper-
ate Arabs. The situation is at pres
ent, however, such as to cause much
uneasiness on the part of English
statesmen, and English people.
Reaching out in the grasp Of Empire.
the Government may have strained
itself somewhat. There is a possi-
bility that Nation may become too
great for its own security. But We
venture the prediction that the Mahdi
will have some exceedingly hot and
unpleasant work on his hands, in a
very short time.