1-2 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

The terms of the proposed vote of censure were, " That this house regrets to find the course pursued by her majesty's government has not tended to promote the success of General Gordon's mission, and that even such steps as be necessary to secure his personal safety are delayed;" and Sir M. H. Beach reminded the house of the assurance, originally given by the prime-minister, that General Gordon was to have "a free hand" in the Soudan in order to carry out the government programme of " rescue and retire," and he contrasted this promise with the repeated interference of the government with the general's plans. He contended that while they were urging the use of only pacific measures in one part of the Soudan they were pressing forward warlike movements in another, and by these means effectually neutralized Gordon's pacific intentions. When, after General Graham's victories, the government refused to send the desired troops to Berber, they left full discretion to Gordon to remain at Khartum or to retire by any available route; and this offer was the most disgraceful suggestion ever made by a British government to a British soldier or a Christian gentleman; and he was not surprised at the strong language used by Gordon in his reference to the indelible disgrace which would fall on the British government if the garrisons of Sennar, Kassala, Berber, and Dongola were left to their fate.

The government, he declared, " had not dared to resent this unparalleled language of a subordinate, because the country fully endorsed it."

But the attitude of the opposition was still weak, and while it was easy to denounce the action or the want of action of the government it was by no means easy to proclaim what the Conservative policy would be. In his reply Mr. Gladstone maintained that the suQ-aestion which had been made, involved neither more nor less than the immediate despatch of British troops to Khartum — without any regard to climate, the supply of water, or the state of the river; — and the suppression of the Mahdi, which meant the reconquest of the Soudan. The government had declined to send troops to Wady Haifa and to Berber, but they had acted on military advice, and bearing in mind not