Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1885-06-28


/ hate forced subsection, and ] feel
sure that to let these people out, with
free will to 20 to the Arabs or not,
will be good policy. must say that
| feel Il great compliment when my
councillors say to me, Do what you
think right, irrespective Of our ADVICE
when they know am ignorant of all
that goes on, ignorant OF the Arabic
language; except in my style, ignorant
of the Arab customs, etc., etc. You
win do better than we do is what they
say, and ], poor devil, DO not know
where to turn. Oh! our Government,
our Government what has il not to
answer for; not to me, but these poor
people. declare, IL l thought the
town wished the Mahdi would give it
up, SO much do | respect free will"
GLADsToNE's RIVAL IN sHIRT-coI-
LARS.
"Mr. Gladstone has a rival up here
in shirt-collars. Mohammed Bey Ibra-
him appeared to-day with regular
wings, rather ragged, his collars up to
his ears, regular orthodox patterns. |
must say / hate our diplomatists. i
dwell on the joy Of never seeing Great
Britain again, with its horrid, weari-
some dinner-parties and miseries. How
we can put up with those things passes
nv imagination. IL is perfect bond
age. At those dinner-parties we are.
all in masks, saying what we do not
believe, eating and drinking things we
do not want, and then abusing
one another. l would sooner live
like dervish with the Mahdi than go
out to dinner every night in London.
I hope if any English general comes to
Khartoum he will not ask me TO din
ner. Why men cannot be friends with
out bringing their wretched stomachs
in is astounding. 1t certainly is Gu
rious exemplification Of how very lightly
religions sit on men, and to note the
fearful apostacy of both Mussulmans
and Christians when their lives and
property are menaced. There is scarce
ly one great family of the Soudan fami-
lies, who can trace their pedigree for
five hundred years, who have not ac-
cepted Mahomet Achmet as mahdi,
TO save their property, though they
laugh at the idea afterwards. | am
afraid to say what numbers have been
killed through this present policy
certainly some S0,000-and it is not
yet over. For my part, / hope they
0he Arabs will all run away. We
have in a most effectual way restored
l'the slave trade and slaye-hunting, for
her Majesty's Government cannot keep
the Soudan, and never will Egypt be
able to govern it. The only thing to
be done is to give it to the Sultan.
What an end of the diplomacy of her
Maiesty's Government and it was
so easy when left in January, 1880,
TO have settled it quietly, giving up
Kordofan, Darfur, and Bahr Gazelle
and the equator with decency and quiet.
| want to get out Of the affair, but with
decency. Put yourself in my position.
If you say, Rapid retreat and leave
Sennaur to its fate | will say, No;
would sooner die first, and will re-
sign my commission, for | could not
do it. If you say, Then you are no
longer Governor-General,' then | am
all right, and all the responsibility is
in you.
at may be that all this writing is un-
necessary, and that you have other
views, but it is as well you know my
opinion. am secure against any loss
by the King of the Belgians. If leave
II. NJ. s., therefore, am, so to say,
free of II. NJ. s. If you turn me out
of Governor-General am relieved from
all responsibility as to your action in
Soudan toward the people. ! do not
think am insubordinate in this matter,
nor unreasonable.
"IfIwas Lord Wolseley Iwould make
her Majesty's Government send the
Turks here. There are 2, ITO ordebs in
magazine to-day-six weeks consump-
tion-snd then the sponge must be
thrown up.
HIS PENT-UP WRATH.
81 could write volumes of pent-up
wrath on this subject if | did not be-
lieve things are ordained and all work
for the best.
"There was slight laugh when
Khartoum heard Barring was humping
his way up here-for so we read Tow
fik's telegram--a regular Nemesis. /
am sure we are deprived of treat in
not being able to decipher the long tele-
grams on the preceding page. 1t also is
delicious to find not one civil word from
any official parsonage except Kitchener /;
it relieves me immensely (also, must
except Towfik, who, in his dispatch. was
civil and polite. Evidently, | am in dis
grace. How fearful!
"If Barring does bump his way up
here as British commissioner | shall
consider he has expiated his faults and
shall forgive him. We seldom realize our
position. In ten or twelve years time
Barring, Lord Wolseley, myself, Evelyn
Wood, etc., will have no teeth and will
be deaf; some Of us will be quite passe !;
no one will come and count us new
Earrings and new Lord Wolseleys will
have arisen who will call us blocks >
and 'twaddlers.' '0h, for goodness
sake, come away, there is that dread
full bore coming. If once he gets along
side you, you are in for half an hour,
will be the remark Of some young cap
tain Of the present time on seeing you
enter the club. We have now been
months blocksded, and things are criti-
cal; yet not one of my subordinates,
except the chief clerk and his subor-
dinate, appear to-day. / had to send
for them and wait till they
came, perhaps an hour. Patience
10 almost exhausted with this continu-
Gus, apparently never-ending trial.
| There is not one department which |
have not to superintend as closely as if
| was its direct head. Nearly every
order, except when it is for their inte-
rest, has to be repeated two and even
three times. | may truly say. | am