Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-03-29
A WITHDRAWAL FROM EGYPT.
Reports That the Government Will
Cap Its Blunders by Giving Up the
Fight.


Cap It's BIunders by Giving Up the
Fight.
LONDON, March 2s.-A deserter from
Osman Digna's camp states that 10000
men are entrenched at Tamai.
DIGNA's LOSSES 1900 MEN.
Gen. Sir Gerald Graham and the whole
British army of advance arrived to-day at
Gen. McNeilPs zereba. This advance IN
cludes all the troops except 90 men from
each regiment who were left behind to
garrison Suakin. A violent sand storm
delayed the movement considerably. Os-
man Digna's losses during all the engage
ments of the past week are estimated at
1900 men.
GRAHAM'S ADVANCE.
Gen. Graham telegraphs from STakin
that he expects to be able to have COM
pleted tomorrow sufficient water stores
to enable his army to advance to TamaI.
He says that he has ordered all the avail
able men from the seven war ships an
chored in the Red sea of Suakin to gar
rison duty in the town, so that the whole
regular force at Suakin could be used in
the advance against Osman Digna. The
censorship over all kilograms sent from
Suakin to the press has been made re-
Gently much stricter than ever.
BUT LITTLE PROGRESS MADE.
Cablegrams received here from Suez,
between which place and Suakin there is
good communication, show that Gen.
Graham is making very little progress in
his expedition to Berber, after the much
/ heraldeG advance. to make which two
weeks have been consumed and several
hundred lives lost. The camp is to-day
located just II miles nearer to Berber than
Suakin is. The camp is connected
with Suakin by tram railway.
Nothing has yet been done in the
way of constructing the projected Berber
railway. The transport service is very
defective. For want OF better transport
service the whole army is suffering, men,
mules and camels being compelled to
carry otherwise unnecessary burdens in
the tOrrid heat. Typhoid fever and dysen-
! terry are quite prevalent among the
troops, although in official dispatches to
/ London the health of the soldiers is de-
! scribed as excellent. At Gen. McNeilPs
zereba there have been many cases of
! fatal as well as disabling sunstrOke.
SEVERE CRITICISMS.
Military papers severely criticise Gen.
! Graham's conduct of the Suakin-Berber
campaign. The Army and Ndrg Gazette
/ SAYS that at the rate at which Gen. Gra-
( ham is making progress, it is safe to cal
! culate that Christmas, 1885, will see him
half way to Berber.
From DOngOIa comes intelligence that
the dread khamsin wind began TO blow
last Wednesday. The heat is excessive,
but it is said that the health
of the men with Gen. WOlseley
remains good. The Arabs friendly
to Ell Mahdi, instead of abandoning
the Prophets cause, seem to become daily
more hostile to the British in SOudan.
White men find it worth their lives to
stray from the British camp beyond the
Nff ftan crrfF On A oh
beh and Tamai lately no man attached to
the British cause has succeeded in going
beyond the OutpOsts without being gross
IL insulted or attacked. Several men who
/ recently strayed from the camps at both
places have not returned and have I'M
dOubtedly been killed.
RAILROAD CONSTRUCTION ABANDONED.
Nearly all the infantry and cavalry es
cOrting the convoy have arrived safely at
the zeTeba on the Tamai road. The
/ number of sunstrOkes among the troops is
daily increasing. The troops are greatly
| OverwOrked, escOrting the conveys dur
ing the day and doing sentry duty at
night. The building of the Berber rail-
way has been suspended outside of Sua-
kin, owing to the inability of the army to
afford protection along the line beyond the
camp. 1t has been decided that the
/ forces necessary for such protection can
pending battle at Tamai, which is eX-
/ pected to be decisive, shall have been
fought. The labOrers engaged tor rail
road construction will be employed in the
meantime in the much needed work of
! improving the wharfage accommodations
/ at Suakin.
/ RUMORS OF A GOVERNMENT BACKDOWN.
The Federals of the Liberal AssOcia-
/ tiOn. which wields great influence upon
/ the Liberal votes, has decided to actively
oppose a continuance of the war in Sou
dan. 1t is believed that the government
is not unwilling to admit to party cOer-
ciOn. The opinion prevails that it will
I abandon the intention of a march to
Khartoum, and that alter the defeat of
/ Osman Digna has been accomplished it
will erdeavor to open negotia tiOns with
/ Ell Mahdi.
! Forty per cent. of the marines from the
4 fleet here are sick. Many are also suffer-
/ ing from opthalmIa and other ailments If
! the eyes. The troops will advance next
! Monday from the advance Zereba and con-
stTuct another Zereba near Tamai. Gen.
/ Graham is anxious to get the troops
into a permanent summer camp
/ as soon as possible, because he fears that
there may he frightful mortality among
them il they are much longer exposed to
the terrible heat and malarial influences
of their present quarters.
There is no confirmation of the report
that Osman Digna has asked to negotiate
terms Of surrender with Gen. Graham.