The San Francisco call., 1898-01-30

eVinced a desire for conquest In
 the Soudan, and, if report be
 correct, have advanced across
 the African continent, regard
 less of the treaty rights of other powers, until they are pretty close to Khartoum itself. If they occupy Khar- toum, the trouble will begin, for Great Britain is not likely to submit tamely to the capture by a foreign power of this most important strategical post.
 Khartoum is the key of the Soudan. the nation holding it controls the Nile. along which all the traffic from the inn mensely rich regions of the Equatorial Soudan must pass. Millions of money and thousands of lives have been law ished on this oasis of the desert. Egypt, to whom the territory nominally be- longs, has proved herself, even with the aid of Great Britain, unable to hold the land against the forces of fanaticism controlled by the Mahdi, and since the annihilation of Hicks Pasha's army in 1883, the whole district has been aban- doned to all the horrors of barbaric Mohammedan rule.
 To-day, just as there is some pros pect of the Egyptian expeditionary force, now on the Nile, breaking down the already weakened power of the Mahdi, the French appear on the scene to complicate matters. No one can fore see the outcome of this international embroglio, but it is probable that the difficulty will be settled in the diplo- matic courts of Europe, rather than on the burning sands of Egypt. Two great nations, such as France and England, are not likely to fight over the Soudan, and even if they did, the scene of war would promptly be shifted nearer home. Great Britain would meet France, not by sending troops to the East, but by pre- venting the French from doing so The first Napoleon's designs upon the British possessions in India were frustrated by the vigor with which Nelson's fleet swept the Mediterranean, his expedi- ton to Egypt was converted into dis astrous failure, and the battle of the Nile left the great general helplessly stranded on foreign shore. The same plan of campaign would certainly be adopted by Great Britain to-day.
 Meanwhile the little French expedi- tionary force in the Soudan is likely tC have enough of desert campaigning be. fore it has finished. One experience ot this kind is sufficient to satisfy ever the most ardent military enthusiast The difficulties attendant upon moving large bodies of men in this arid climate are almost insuperable, the water ques- tion constantly presents itself in new and trying phases and the problem oi transport has never been satisfactorily solved.
 It fell to my lot, by one of those ac- cidents which occur now and again fir every mans life, to play a humble part in one of these African campaigns. The expedition was not long, nor was ii particularly bloodthirsty. and conse- quently the world, by this time, has forgotten all about 1t.
 I happened to be in Australia in the early part of 1885, when the news o1 Khartoum's fall and the tragic deatf of Chinese" Gordon sent a thrill through the civilized world. One of the best and brightest of British soldiers was gone, 1nd his loss was distinctly traceable to the fatal policy of pro- crastination characteristic of Glad stones administration. Gordon might have been saved had the Nile expedf- tion, then almost within reach of Khar- toum, started on it's long and perilous journey but week or two earlier. As it was, Sir c. Wilson with a small force