18 General History of the Present-day Mission.

by which he meant that all, with the exception, of course, of Dr. Harpur, were deeply engaged in the study of the difficult language. As the recruits ‘found their feet,’ as it were, the Mission became more aggressive, and both the schools and evangelistic meetings were carried on with increased vigour.

The Question of Advance into the Soudan.

But ever since 1885 the Church Missionary Society had regarded Cairo not only as a missionary station of importance in itself, but also as a base for future advance into the Soudan. During the early days of the Uganda Mission, General, then Colonel, Gordon was in close correspondence with the Society, and while at Khartoum he rendered most kind and generous help to a party of C.M.S. missionaries who were on their way to Uganda vid the Nile. He had strongly sympathized with all endeavours to spread abroad the knowledge of the Saviour, and in 1884, just before he went out to the Soudan for the last time, he called upon Dr. Temple, who was then Bishop of Exeter, and told him that he wished to make the Gospel known to the people who would come under his care, and that he desired to have the Bishop’s authorization to baptize any of them who should be willing to confess the faith of Christ. It was therefore fitting that upon Gordon’s death, in 1885, a memorial fund should be raised by the Society in order that a Mission to the Soudan might be established, with Khartoum, if possible, as the headquarters. A tentative effort, as has been shown, was made at Suakin in 1890 by Dr. Harpur, but as that place did not appear suitable as a base for a Mission to the Soudanese, it became necessary to await the march of events. In 1898 the way seemed to be open for a forward movement. The steady advance of Sir Herbert (now Lord) Kitchener up the Nile, culminating in 1898 in the victory of Omdurman, led the Committee to make preparations to send up a small preliminary party under Dr. Harpur. But Khartoum and the route thither being in military occupation, it was necessary to obtain the permission of Lord Kitchener; and accordingly in December, when he was in England, the President and three other C.M.S. leaders waited on him. ‘They found, however, that he was not prepared at that time to allow of the opening of a Christian Mission among the fanatical Moslems in the Soudan, though he was willing to sanction work among the pagan tribes in the south. Upon