Omaha daily bee., 1885-02-17
LORD wobsELEYs MISTAKE.
Gen. stone on the Campaign Against
the Mahdi.
New York Times.

NTNaAs ~ 49, f@N
ious drawing room at Flushing, Lon
Island, surrounded by all the comfort
that render cold weather a pleasure. o
the mantelpiece was a handsome bronz
bust Of the unfortunate Khe6ive, Il
mail; on the wall hung an oil pNintir { Q
the same IL fated person, painted by
young Egyptian whom lsmail had sent +
Italy to study the art.
"What do you think viii be the efft c
Of Gen. Gordon's death p
"Well," said Gen. Stone, 'lt is i'm
possible to tell what the effect will be
The primary object OF the campaign il
lost. He was that object. Without know
ing he plans of the British ministry it Ii
impossible to conjecture what may occur
Az far as the Indications go, from the
tone of the English papers, 1t would seen
that they Intend to make a new csmpt ign
and punish the mahdi. That would re.
quire very heavy reinforcements, and
would hardly be safe without more than
they seem to ind cate as intending to
send.
"And a campaign at the approachipg
season of the year would be very difficult.
The Nile will fall steadily from this TIM
until MAY. The river will give but little
| chance of transptr alton, aud navigation
will be more difficult day by dag. And
they have not provided what they should
have done in my opinion very great
number of clmels to effect hat trans,
portal on. Then the heat is al so increas.
ing at this time of the year. The Euro
pesn troops even at the best SEASONS will
suffer greatly from debility ana from the
fevers of tae country. 1t they take the
Suakim route to Berber to reinforce Gen.
Lord Wolseley they must either move in
very small bodies, and therefore subject
themselves to constant attacks, or they
must have at least three camels to ey cry
man to carry not only the men, but the
provisions, the ammunition, and nearly
all the water to be used.
81 regard 1t as utterly impracticable,"
said Gen. St,ne slowly, 'to march
European troops on foot over that route
In the season which is now coming.
From the observation of my own officers,
very car, fully made, the heat will be at
an average OF 100 to 105 degrees In The
shade every afternoon. If they take the
Nile route to reinforce Lord Wolseley,'
said Gen. Stone, spreading out a map Of
the country on his knees, "the march
would be immensely longer and much
slowsr, unless they used vast numbers Of
camels. There is therefore little hope
of Lord Wo!ssley receiving any large
reinforcements before the middle of April.
Even that would require such activity,
energy, and good administrator as has
been rare'y seen in any army"
"Do you consider Lord Wolseleys
situation critical"
"He is in q country where it is ex-
ceedipgly difficult to obtain supplies
said the general. "He is between the
deserts, having only a narrow strip Of
cultivated land along the Nile. The
rich country near Bsrber is in the hands
of the enemy and has been already
heavily foraged by the large forces of the
Mahdi, The rich country TO the south
east Is In the hands of the Mahdi also.
From them he can draw no supplies. He
must get them either by the Nile or they
must be brought to him by a strong forcs
from Saukin after he shall have occupied
Berber."
Gen. Stone drew a sketch of the posi-
tions of the various towns playing roles
In the campaign. ''It Lord Wolseley had
intelligent men fer enemies" he said,
she would be badly off. If tho Mahdi
were to send a force to Dsbbi, through
which all Lord Wolseley's supplies must
of necessity be sent, the game would be
up. He would simply go In for a dec
perate fight. The only things no c.uld
fall back upon would be his camels. He
would have to eat them"
"Do you think there was any particu-
lar error in this campaign?"
81 dislike very much to criticise," said
Gen. Stone. 81 tell you think that un-
der all the circumstances Lord Wolseley
chose the best route to accomplish the
declared purposes OF the government
But he chose the wrcng means Of trans
portat!ol. He held to his idea of small
boats, whers | think he should have de-
pended almost entirely upon camels.
Had he assembled at Wady Haifay 80, 200
or more clmels ! think his concentration
on the Upper Nile would have been much
more rapIo. | think he could have con-
centrated in less than half the time.
That was a great fault"
"What do you think of o second cam
pa'gu!'
"The question u.s. said Gen. Stone,
''can he make n second campaign and be
successful. OF course it can be made,
Is there any otfics of corresponding inter
est now to the che which a,tusted this
campaign? That i. for British statesmen
TO decide. Do you know that | always
supposed that Gen. Gordon would hold
cut to the very last with a few men, and
il he found at last that that things were
at their worst blow himself and his men
up rather than surrender. That was al,
ways my ioea. 1 never thought Gen.
Gordon would he taken alive" And
Gen. Stone sighed IS he glanced at the
portrait harglng on the wall.
Col. G, @. Long, who was Gen. Cor
don's chief of ttaff from 1874 to 1877,
while the latter commanded the Egyptian
forces at Khartoum, said last night that
he I, garled the news of Gen. Gcrdon's
death as lacking confirmation, and that if
the London papsrs had not accepted 1t as
true, he should bs inclined to oisbelieve
it altogether. He could only believe it
On the superstition that Gen. Gordon had
lost his head, and from his intimate &C
quaint .nce with him he did not think that
probable. Gen. rdon," continued
Col. Long, "being an able soldier, and
thoroughly acquainted with the people
with whom he had to deal, would na.ur.
ally be on his guard a%gainst trsschery and
prepared to circumvent it. With
four stenmers at his command,