340 KHARTOUM CAMPAIGN.

cesses of British arms.- The dervishes in their day had no homes. Nay, they made honest profession that their mission was to destroy other people's, and do without carking domesticity, as that detracted from the merit of preparation for paradise. As I have elsewhere said, one of the ‘‘fads” of the day is to hold that liberalism of mind is always characterised by being a friend to every country and race but your own.

Exact truth is as illusive to discovery by that as other pernicious methods, That there may have been one or two instances of cruelty practised on the battlefield is possible. Something of the kind always takes place in warfare as in everyday life. But only the amateur would magnify a few instances into a catalogue of charges. Alas! you cannot eliminate from armies, any more than from ordinary communities, the foolish, insane, and criminal.

THE AUTHOR. : Lonpon, february 1899.