iyO EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

who was then at Wady Haifa, sent two messengers to inquire as to the fate of the party, and learned that the steamer struck on a rock, and that all on board except two natives were killed by order of the treacherous Sheikh Suleiman Wad Gamr, who had come from a small house near the bank and called to Colonel Stewart to land without fear. This sorrowful story belongs, however, to a later page. We must for the moment return to the summer of 1884.

Early in the year — almost at the commencement of the session — Mr. Gladstone, replying to a vote of censure which Sir Stafford Northcote had proposed to be passed upon the government, distinctly refuted the charge of unnecessary delay in the appointment of General Gordon, and showed that Sir Charles Wilson had, months previously, recommended that appointment, but that it could not be made because of the disagreements between Gordon and the Egyptian government. There was no very cordial sentiment between Gordon and the khedive, with whom he had never been on truly confidential terms, and whose service he had quitted with an expression of a feeling not far removed from reproach and disdain. It was not till this difficulty was overcome on both sides that Gordon consented to accept the commission, and then the relations between him and Tewfik and the Egyptian ministry were satisfactory enough. So far from the English ministry having delayed matters, Gordon had no sooner consented to act than his departure for Egypt was reckoned, not by days, but by hours. There had been apparent hesitation in taking further and more effectual steps for the relief of Tokar and Sinkat, and the result had been that we were too late to save either; but this arose from want of the knowledge, which could only be obtained from Gordon himself, who was then on his desert journey and beyond the means of communication. It was feared that the consequence of despatching a British force to relieve these garrisons might have the effect of inciting the tribes around Khartum to attack that place and to massacre the people there, who were so much more numerous than at the two stations