New-York tribune., 1885-02-06
KHARTOUM IN REBEL HANDS
(Ccufinued frem Firse Pare,


tho following day as Governor-General of the
soudan. with plenary powers. and then went out
into the DESERT almost alone, armed only with
moral force and walking stiok" BE not afraid.
! am coming" was the message he sent In advance
to the beleaguered garrison Of Khartoum, and he
| arrived there safely on February 49, Meantime
matters elsewhere went from bad to worse. On
February General Baker was defeated with terri
BILE loss at Tokar. A,week later the rebels took
Sinkat. On February 81 TOkar fell into Osman
Digma's hands Then camo tho operations Of Gen.
eral Graham and Admiral Hcwett at and near
suakim resulting In the defeat of the rebels and
these for time distracted attention from the de-
| fender Of Khartoum
Gordon went to Khartoum on o peaceful mission.
to withdraw the Egyptian forces and restore the
country to the various petty sutans who had been
| overthrown, in 1919, by Mohemet Ali. He was
given however, large discretionary power. 1t
stupendous task. There numerous scattered
gaIrisons to be drawn In to Khartoum, which was
To Dc the last place evacuated aud there were tens
| OF thousands of persons with property worth
| millions of dollars who wished to leave tho place
when the troops did and who demanded protection
| in their light. Then not only were the various
towns and provinces to be restored to the heirs of
their ancient rulers, but the powerful insurrecton
of FL Mahdi-aganst both the Egyptian Govern
| hcHI DOuuan SultaD5-Wa5 W Do uctit
with. On tho day of his arrival at Khartoum Gen
eral Gordon wrote to Sir Evelyn Barring, "To
| withdraw without being able to place a successor
in my seat would be the sgnal for general anarchy.
This nomination Of my successor must be
| direct from Her Majesty's Government AS for the
man, Government should select above all others.
| namely, Zebcbr He alone has tho ability to rule
| the Soudan, and would be universally accepted"
This Zcbehr had been the principal ruler Of the
SOudan, and had aspred to independent royalty;
| for which the Khedive had recalled him and
holding him in scmmprsonrnent at Cairo. Tho
question OF sending him to Gordon was much dis.
cussed. and ii said that he would not go if ap-
pointed or that IL he did he would betray Gordon.
who hld put his to death for melting revolt IN
! the SOudan. The result of it all was that Zebehr
| was not cent, and Gordon left to consummate
| the evacuation alone.
| Finding Zebehr was not TO be sent to him. and
| that March Ii the troops of FL Mahdi had com
! pletely surrounded khartOum. Gordon became dis
heartened and almost desperate His proclamation
allowing the Soudanese to rc-establish the slave
| trade-to issue which had been his first important
act on reaching khartoum-had bettered the situa
| tion only slightly. Ayan and again he asked for
| Zebehr for troops for money; bat the British Gov
| crnment disregarded the appeals. On April Cor
| don telcgraphed TO Sir Evelyn Barring: Il do not
see the fun of being caught here to walk about the
streets with sandaled feet as q dcryish; not that
| ID. w. | will ever he taken alive" Eight days later
came this telegram TO the Government:
As far ~ can understand. the situation Ia this: you
state your intention Of not sending any reie up here or
10 lierber aud you refuse mo Zeoear e2,Iasr my m
here ~ long as can and II cnn suppress he rcpeoh
5 shlIa a. So s"a a. asanSon,ne The arr
OF SEMINAR. kRssala Berber and Dongoa with the
certainty that you will eventually be forced to smash p
| he Mali
peace III Egypt
At the same timc Gordon said he was quite
hemmed in aud had provisions for about five
| months; aud In his desperation he proposed to ap
peal 10 the millionnares Of America for a fund OF
81. 900 900. rhe careless attitude OF the British
Government toward him may bo seen In Lord Gran
WILLIE, dispatch of April -: "Gordon should be In
formed at once that We do not propose To supply
him withTurkish other force Add doxprossions both
OF respect and gratitude for his gallant and self
r cling conduct and for the good ho has achieved"
on June 10 word came that Berber had been
captured and the inhabitants massacred by tho
surgcnts khartOum was closely besieged through
the summer aud the Government did nothing until
August 5 when the House OF Commons was asked
for a vote OF credit of 81 100000 to begin opera
tons for GordOn's relief. fow days later the
Mndir OF Dongola received n lettor from Gordon.
asking how many troops were coming to his relief.
was at Dongoa. Colonel Colvile at Senneh. and Sir
Evelyn Wotd on his way to Assouan aud Wady
Halfa where IA considerable Eg. ptan force had
been gathered Much wrangiing followed. rs to the
best route TO follow to reach khartoun. and at last
the Nile route was decided upon and an expedition
fitted out under General Lord Wolseley, with
corps OF Canadian boatmen to pass the Nile rapids
n camel CORPS for service on the desert etc. Lord
Wolse!ey left England to lead this expedition on
August 81.
Meantime Gordon had been making the best OF his
position at Khartoum. FL Mahdi having rejected
his offer 20 recognize hun rs sultan OF kordoIan.
Gordon took tho field against him. In his hrst
battle he was unsuccessful. owing to the treachery
of two pachas whom he immediately sentenced 10
death lie issued bills. which the merchants took
upon his personal guarantee. and in this way had
money for soldiers and for supplies. lie raised an
army by promising freedom To negroes lie pro
tected that army from tho assaults OF n superior
force by planting torpedoes in front OF his lines lie
converted river steamers INTO marine i0rtresses by
plating them with iron and building towers on
them. In various ways no waged war so energetic
ally that the siege raised after three months
Descending the river he set fire to Berber ana sent
Colonel Stewart In a steamer to open coininuhica
tions with CAIRO. His messenger was reacherousiy
murdered by a shekh before ho could reach Don
september q saw the Mudir of Dongola triumphant
over the rebels of kortl. News was received from
Gordon occasionally during September and OctoDer
Then rumors of the fail OF khartourn ana contra
dictory counter -rumors began to come IN. ana wheh
the British Parliament met on October - the out-
look was gloomy. Lord Wolsrley lett Wady halia
for Sarras October .. having IN ALL oOoo men.
On November 8 he reached Dongola Two aayS
later came word that Gordon. replying TO III
Mahdi's summons to surrender. had dehantiy de-
clarcd his ability to hold khartouni AGAINST all
oomers for a dozen years More encouraging news
came the next week. that III Mnhdi was beng