GORDON AND THE MAHDI. 85 can, andifIcan suppress the rebellionIshall doso. If IcannotIshallreturn to the Equator andleave you the indelibledisgrace of abandoningthe garrisons of Senaar, Kassala, Berber, and Dongola, with the certainty that you willeventuallybe compelled to smashup theMahdi, under great difficulties,if you would retaiii peace in Egypt."

The plan of retreating to the Congo, which Gordon mentioned in this despatch, was the onlychance now left to the defendersofKhartoumifthey remainedunassisted.

They hadalready been trying to run a steamer through the rebellines to Berber, but the fire was so severe that case with Berber and Korosko, and in the hope of preventing them from falling into the power of the rebels the Egyptian governmentimmediatelydispatched 1400 men to Assouan. Dongola also claimed attention, for onMay 12 the Mudir, Mohammed Hussein Khalifa, Sheikh of the Ababdehand Bisharee tribes, telegraphed that a great panic prevailed among the inhabitants, and that he had only four companiesof troops and 200 Bashi-Bazouks at his disposal. Inreplyto his appeals forhelp, he wasinformedthat no reinforcementswouldbe sent to him,and thatifhis forces didnot admitofhis making a standagainst the rebels, heand hismenhadbetter withdraw from the town. The Mudir, who subsequently figured so prominently in connection with the Gordon relief expedition,pluckily declined to retreat, and again applied for reinforcements, declaring that if his request were granted he would bo able to reconquer all the disaffected provinces. Finally, on May 16, a halfbattalion of Egyptian troops, under the command of Colonel Trotter, and subordinate English officers, was sent by steamboat and barge from Assouan to Wady Haifa in view of supporting the Mudir's forces at Dongola.

the vessel had to return ou April 6. According to Mr. Power, the city had become the centre of a vast rebel camp. The enemy's tents were within sight and their bulletsconstantly struck the palace. Onthe other hand, the plainin front of the fortifications hadbeen mined in view of coping with an advance; and an attack upon Omdurman hadbeen successfully repulsed. Still it was discouraging to learn that the store of Krupp ammunition wasrunningshort.

Not only had a retreat upon Berber now become impracticable, but attention wassoondrawn to the position of Berber itself. HusseinPasha, the Khalifa or governor there, telegraphed on April 20 that the population was assumingathreateningattitude,andthat the townwould shortly be surrounded on all sides by the rebels. A council was thereupon held at the British agency in Cairo, andSir Evelyn Baring, Sir Evelyn Wood, andMr Egerton recommended sending a mixed expeditionary force of EnglishandEgyptian troops to the relief of the threatened town. On April 25, Mr. Cuzzi, the English agent at Berber,reported that the situation there was desperate,and the Khalifadespatched a second telegram describing the approach of the rebels alongboth banks of theNile, amid thelofty palms andumbrageousacacias with whichthe townis embowered. Ithadnow become impossibletosend eithertelegramsorlettersto Khartoum, for all the messengers were obligedto return, finding no means of traversing the rebel lines. On April 28, Mr. Cuzzi reported that he had left Berber for Korosko, and that the Mahdi's partisans were already entering the houses on the south and east of the town. Hussein Pasha Khalifa remained surrounded in the citadel, andit wasrumouredthat the rebels,notcontent with investing Berber, also contemplated a dash upon Assouan, in thehope of findinglootthere. At Korosko, which theywereexpectedtoattackontheir way,the alarm becameso great that thousands ofpeople flednorthward. More fortunate than the refugees fromShendy, who were massacred by the Arabs, when their vessel ran upon a sandbank atElBaala, these Korosko fugitives ultimately reached Assouanin safety.

The critical state of affairs in the Soudan hadby this time roused the British government to some sense of duty. On April 23, Earl Granville telegraphed to Mr. Egertonat Cairo,instructing him to forward a cypher message to General Gordon asking what would "be the force necessary to secure his removal, its amount, character, the route for access to Khartoum,and time of operation." Earlyin May active war preparations were -commenced inEngland,and on the 10th of themonth the military authorities inCairoreceived instructions to prepare for the despatchin October of anexpedition for the relief of the Soudanese capital. Twelve thousand camels wereordered to be purchased and held inreadiness for theforward march.

But if Khartoum, defended by General Gordon, was able to waitfor relief until the autumn, such was notthe MAJOR H. H. KITCHENER,R.E.

A considerable number of menhad now beengathered together at Assouan, and here all themilitary operations were combined. Curiously enough the Cairo authorities exercised but little sway beyond this picturesquely situated town whichrises amid crags and palms on the right bank of the Nile almost infront of the famousIsle of Elephantine, thefurthermostlimit of Egyptunder the Roman dominion. Assouan now became the startingpoint for the reliefof Korosko and Dongola, and a few days after the dispatch of Colonel Trotter and his Egyptians to Wady Haifa, where theyejected the Bashi-Bazouks from the fortress and took possession of all the arms and ammunition,Major H. H. Kitchener set out for Korosko on a reconnoitringjourney.