Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1885-01-25
The Situation in the Soudan.

tucic has DVth bVV" "S"' VI tNS'~
criticism about the slowncss Of the Bri-
fish expedition for the relief of Cor
DON. Any one. however, who will take
the trouble to post himself must see that
those who have INDUCED in such criti-
cism can know but little Of the dis
lance that was before the relief army,
the country through which its route lay,
and the other obstacles it has had to
overcome, and that are still to be en-
countered. All things considered,
WoLsELEy has made most excellent
progress. The expedition started
in August last. The distance
from Cairo to Khartoum is some
thing like 1900 as the Nile flows.
For the first 500 miles above Cairo the
Nile is very straight. 1t then makes
sort of double loop in the shape of
the letter s. Korti, the headquarters
of WOLsELEY, is situated in say the
cencaye of the first curve Of our letter
S about 1000 miles from Cairo. From
Korti the river makes the second bend
of the S in long sweep to the east,
this bend ending at Shendy, which
is on the east bank of the Nile
and opposite to Metemneh. The
distance from Metemneh to Khartoum is |
about ninety-fve miles as the Nile flows,
and GORDON commands the river be-
tween these two points. The distance |
from Korti to Shendy, or rather Me-
temneh, along the Nile. is about four |
hundred miles, while the distance across
the desert ria Gakdul is one hun
bred and sixty miles. AS we under
stand our kilograms, when WOLsELEY |
reached Korti one column was sent ria |
the river to occupy Berber, which is |
above Shendy, and is, so to speak,
the western terminus Of the route |
from Suakim, on the Red Sea.
This column is expected to punish the
Arabs that massacred Colonel STEW
ARTS party. Another column, that
under General STEWART, was ordered |
to dash across the desert by the 100
mile route and meet GoRDON's boats at
Metemneh. II was this column that |
engaged the Mahdi twenty-thrce miles
from Metcmneh on Saturday last. The
river column, it is presumed, will form
a junction with a column which, it is
stated, has started from Suakim to open
the way to Berber through 0sMAN
DIGNA's territory.
The march of General STEWART
across the desert and the progress of
the Nile column from Korti eastward to
the points at which they were last heard
from were both made in the face of OBJ
stacles that were almost appalling. AT
this writing there are various rumors
regarding the fate Of General STEW
ARTS column, and predictions are rife
that WoLsELEY will be caught in trap.
SO far, however, WOLsELEY has given
no sign that he fears any disaster. On
the contrary, the meagrc dispatches
that have been received from him
indicate that he knows exactly what
he is doing, and that he is con-
fident of bringing the campaign
to successful issue at date not very
far from the time he specified. The dis
position of his columns and the manner
in which he seems to be guarding all |
avenues of retreat and sources of sup
ply would appear to demonstrate that |
entrapping him is about the last thing |
to be expected. If disaster comes, it |
will be by crushing him out by sheer
weight Of numbers and as he knows |
the temper of his troops and the tenn
per of his enemy better than do his
critics, it is reasonable to suppose that
this is not possible. Even should Gene
raj STEWARDS column be annihilated,
WoLsELEY still has pretty good
sized army, speaking relatively, which
could hold its own until reinforcements
were hurried up from lower Egypt.