Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1885-02-24
THE WAR IN THE SOUDAN.
THE SITUATION CRITICAL.

THE ofTUdIION Ch!IfCdLs
a flveiy skirmish- British ssrntesr -Css-
atesins Rsperss- Ensissd's war.spiris
Aroused.
A Korti special Of the ed says A
dispatch from Abu Klea says " Gene
raj Butler, who arrived here on the 10Th
instant from Gubat, at noon on the lIth
commenced systematic Smelling OF the
Arab lines. Two well-directed shots
did the enemy great damage, one ex-
ploding amidst group Of men engaged
in placing howitzer on the sum
nit of hill east Of our sailors
fort, and the other removing the
wheel Of a gun-carriage. Lord
Charles Beresford also did the enemy
great injury with the Gardner guns.
The honors Of the day fell to Major
Wardrop. who. with thirteen men, stole
cautiously round the enemy's right,
and found they had only few hundred
riflemen on the hills and no reserve
spearmen. Major Wardrop and his
men, keeping out Of sight, sent volleys
at a range Of eight hundred yards on
the cnemy's flank. Leaving one man
at this point TO continue the firing, he
took the twelve others, and as quickly as
possible pursued the same tactics at
three successive hills, giving the Arabs
the impression that fresh bodies ofBritish
troops we're arriving. The Mahdfs
forces became panic-stricken. ceased
firing, and decamped toward Metemneh,
taking their guns and dead and wound
ed with them. A few Arab scouts only
were left three miles off to watch our
movements. There has been no sign Of
the enemy since. General Butler will
advance TO Gakdul as soon as reinforce
ments arrive from Korti. The British
loss during the engagement was four
killed and twenty-five wounded"
A London telegram Of the 22d says :;
Another account OF the skirmish at Abu
Klea on the 18th says; "BefOre the
rebels fell back there was some very
active fighting, but it was confined to
the sharpshsOters on both sides, as the
Arabs did not come near enough to
General Buffers entertainments to make
yolley firing effective. For the same
reason, and also on account Of the
scarcity of ammunition, the machine
guns were not brought into action. The
49, II 81 10 tlr.a l. ,t1oH
and twenty-one wounded. General
Wolseley thinks that General Butler
will be able to make his way back to
Gakdul Wells without serious diff
Guilty."
General Graham will have eight
thousand troops in Suakim by the 9th
Of March. These will include the In
dian contingent.
Florence Nightingale Lady Rose
berry, Lady Rothschild, Mrs. Glad
stone, and other wcll-known ladies
have formed a committee to raise funds
with which to provide assistance and
comfort for sick and wounded soldiers
in the Soudan.
A London telegram of the Odd says /:
The newspaper correspondents with
General Buffers force at Abu Klea
telegraph accounts of the successful
skirmish on the 18th instant, which the
London papers magnify into British
victory. As Lord Wolseley has sent no
report ofthe affair, it is probably re-
gardcd by him as insignificant. The
withdrawal of the SOudancse to Me-
temneh is attributed to want of
water and other supplies. Dispatches
from Korti say it is expected there that
the attacks on General Butler will be
renewed. The Soudanese around Abu
Klea wore the Mahdi's uniform, show
ing that contingent has arrived from
Khartoum. General Butler will be UNI
able to resume his retreat until he OBJ
tains additional means of transportation.
The second convoy with camels. which
is taking General Buffers ammunition,
left Gakdul Friday morning.
DEPARTURE OF THE SCOTS GUARDS.
The departure Of the Scots Guards
from the capital was marked with the
same popular enthusiasm which charac-
terized the departure of the Coldstream
and Grenadier guards. At Westminster
Bridge the Guards found the Prince of
Wales, accompanied by his daughters,
waiting to bid them Godspecd. The
prince signalizcd the event by APP
pearing in the uniform of the
Guards. lie addressed them brief
ly, encouraging them to high en-
deayor, and expressing the hope that
the necessity of their absence from
England might be Of brief duration.
The royal party remained while the
Guards embarked upon the steamer to
take them to Gravcsend.
The Cunard Steamship Company has
offered the Government the use Of the
0regon'for transporting troops to Egypt
in case Of an emergency, without stipu-
lating terms.
Northumberland Sir Gerald Ora
ham, who was recently appointed to the
command Of the expedition to open up
the Suakim- Berber route and to CO.
operate with General Lord Wolseley's
force in the Soudan, intends, from pres
ent indications, to use artillery pretty
freely on the Arab forces under Osman
Digna. Orders were sent tonight to
the Chatham naval depot to ship
to Suakim within two days twenty
thousand shrapnel shells, loaded
and ready for immediate use. The
Woolwich Arsenal is now working
night and day turning out artillery ma
terial for the same destination. General
Graham, before his departure to Sua-
kim, had an interview with lsmail Pa
cha. ex-khedive of Egypt, and Rehib
Pacha, both of whom are in London.
Rehib was formerly Egyptian Minister
of War, at one time served as Cover
nor General of the Soudsn at Ber-
Der, and knows the country tribes per-
fectly. Rehib warned General Graham
that if he undertook to 90 from Sua-
kim in March he would court disaster.
The ksmsin wind, he said, is fatal ia
Europeans. Ii begins in March and
blows for five weeks. lSmail Pacha
advised General Graham TO begin the