WARS OF THE NINETIES. 112 sent up for the attack on Omdurman, and it was urged that it would be well,while leaving to Sir Herbert the command of the Khedive's troops,toplace overhim asCommander-in-Chief of the united army some officer of higher standing and longer service. General Sir Francis Grenfell, who had succeeded Sir Evelyn Wood, andimmediatelyprecededSirHerbertKitchener, as Sirdar of the Egyptian army, had been sent out to Egypt as Commander-in-Chief of the British armvof occupation. While in command of the Khedive's army he had won the brilliant victory at Toski in 1889 which put an end to the Mahdist schemes for the invasion of Egypt, and thereis very little doubt that, when he was sent to Cairo in 1897, it was with theintention that he should command in the march on Omdurman and Khartoum. But after the triumph of the Atbara, Grenfell himself gave the authorities to understand that he wishedto remain inCairo and leave to the young Sirdar theconduct of the final campaign. Sir Herbert had beenhis chief of thestaff, and he hadfrom the first a high idea of his military capacity. This act of Grenfell's deserves to be put on record. It was an act of noble self-abnegation only to be compared to Outram's chivalrous refusal to take the command out of the hands of his junior,Havelock,inthe advance onLucknow. Grenfellmight have commanded on the Upper Nilein the summer of 1898 hadhe but said the word, andhis name would have gone down to history as the conqueror of Khartoum. Be preferred to leave the glory to Kitchener, as the fitting rewardof the threecampaigns which had opened the way for the crowning success of many years of waiting and working for the downfall of Mahdism.

GENERAL SIR FRANCIS GRENFELL.

(Photo:Elliott&Fry.)