The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-09-04

IOEIuoO camp OF hAne1-clM-BnliUs H0Non htl8H Il
north Of 0mdurman and two miles south Of
Kerrerl. and that they will fall back from there
to make their final effort behind the de6onoes
NJ 1mdurman. The town stretches along |
WIS left bank OF the Nile some Eve mtbI
long and two miles broHd-a labyrin
Of narrow lance and mud houses. To the not
Of the town a great khor or marsh runs inlR
for several miles at right angles to the nvi !
and IL altogether impossible, at hiGh Nile. +
land and to the west Ii rising androcky ground.
from which the Anglo-EgyptiHn batteries will
probably shell the town. All along the north
ern froht Of omdurman. along the river front.
on Tut Island, and before Khartoum. which
now. save for the doekyards. is q heap OF ruins.
the DerviBhes have built q chain OF forts,
mounting one or two guns apiece and con-
nected In many places by trenches. There is
further the great wall Of mud and stone. vary
ing from II feet to 80 feet high and from Z feet
to II feet broad. which inclosep the inner Dor
ton Of the town. Here Ia the great mosque.
the Mahdi's tomb. and the Khalifa's treasure,
amassed for the last eighteen years and prob
ably amounting at the present time TO a very
considerable sum.
There seems to be very little doubt that there
will be heavy i~ghting-that the Khallfp intends
to stand. and that the greater part of his army
will fight and fall with him how many they
may be it Ia difficult to estimate. but probably
/ AtVA ON"SSh ~ 1855 w
The Khalifa Is an ignorant man Of consider
able ability and great self-confdence. He is
~sanRuine that he may be able to check the
British advance. and he would appear to be
we'll prepared for It. The Sirdar will have un-
der his command a force of some 10000. of
which u war correspondent writes: " It IN the
finest and best army ever seen upon
the Upper Niie-an armad force III TO go any
where and to do anything. The heart Of Africa
is his 1.-THE Sirdar'sl to loose or to bind. That
tho Khalifa will be overthrown. however stoutfy
the Dervishcs make their last stand. goes al
most without saying. They may attempt mad
rushcs aud fierce night attacks. but in tho end
they must be beaten. and Mahdism become n
bylsonc calamity"
And the Khulifa will have more than the Sir
Gar's army to contend with. though that alone.
composed as 10 is OF picked men. equipped to
the last details, Rontgen rays and all, should
be SUI ficicnt. The correspondent OF the Times
says:
Even wore the Khahfa with some portion Of
his army to esenpe from 0mdurman he would
be powerlcss, an outlaw against whom every
hand would ,turn. Darfur and Kordofan have
ulren,Iy shown anxiety to make their peace
with Egypt. and the Jaalin and Rivcrine Arabs
are vowiug vengeance against the B0RGarn.
and the Khaiifu with the terror al his Govern
mcnt brokeH wouId find 10 refuge 10 which he
could fly.
"Fanatieism is already dead. and the mis-
government of the Egyptian and Turkish Of
ffciats. which was 80 largely responsible for
.o,,on T., ,Io ornss tvr,nnv of the EhaIifa."
~. this ray i, ho wond.rad at Cor
ananaan,a hava henn snndinc homo accounts
nv $500 n'hioh tha odvnnco ia
being made. Once fourishing villages are
now weed-growm heaps Of rubbish. The land
has gone ont Of cultivation. and only showsan
1900, ,ror ~ Tho hic,tcbad honos ~ men
~n1 r.aas.e ,rha roru,at,on, has Neon slain or
ams,.vaI n, ,ne Kha,ifa Bpt hta dnv ia surely
~ h"rd.irhe ,1oe. No. meet his fate Mt Omdur.
- ~ Khar.o,,n, ha will onIv no able 10 nut
~ Ar ar;I dav by n littIe for then he would
Sau II, ,ha bon1 ~ some native. perhnps one OF
his o,vn s,Tlowe,s
A 7 nave so;d II il somewhat premature
,,st now ~ ,~onsi,Icr what will be the result OF
,ho fan ~ om,Inrman Bnt n Is Well to bear
In mind that Rriti.I, prnboa,s will then have
.ho w.y onen y, rn.bn,Ia which fact NAV lead
i, pri,tsb Governmcnt 10 interfere, II only dip
lomoticolIv with French and Abyssinian ac-
.Sa;.r e. ~. hos;r ~ the Irnper Nile Britiah
Basin as a British preserve. France has not
recognized it as such. The aim OF the advanced
colonial party In France is TO establish q port
at Fashoda, or some other point on the river:
and last autumn the Liotard-M archand expe-
dition had two gunboats launched in the Bahr-
el-Ghazal with this aim in view. Major Mac
donald with the British expedition should have
been at Fashoda months ago from Uganda. but
the mutiny OF the Soudanese troops held him
back. Now he has once more started for the
North.
As to Abysslnia, Menelek Is theoretically
pushing his way westward into the Egyptian
Soudan. He wishes to extend his boundaries to
the White Nile on the west and beyond Lake
Rudolph on the south. He can put some 2OO.-
600 men in the field. and II once he established
himself on the Upper Nile. it would probably
need something more than moral suasion to
persuade him to retire. 1t cannot be doubted.
then. that IL the advanced British policy is to
be continued. there will be some difficult. not
to say dangerous. questions to be settled in the