" T>T A^T? MTU} AT? TV POWFU ' I ? FLACE NUBAR IN POWER. 1 J

Gondokoro is 1500 miles from Khartum, and Khartum is 350

only from Wady Haifa. How will you move your 6000 men

from Khartum — to say nothing of other places — and all the Europeans in that city through the desert to Wady Haifa? Where are you going to get the camels to take them away? Will the JMahdi supply them? If they are to escape with their lives, the garrison ^{\\ not be allowed to leave with a coat on their backs.

They will be plundered to the skin, and even then their lives may

not be spared. Whatever you may decide about evacuation, you

cannot evacuate, because your army cannot be moved. You must

either surrender absolutely to the Mahdi or defend Khartum at

all hazards. The latter is the only course which ought to be

entertained. There is no serious difficulty about it. The Mahdi's forces will fall to pieces of themselves; but if in a moment of panic orders are issued for the abandonment of the whole of the Eastern

Soudan a blow will be struck against the security of Egypt and

the peace of the East which may have fatal consequences.

The great evil is not at Khartum, but at Cairo. It is the weakness of Cairo which produces disaster in the Soudan. It is because Hicks was not adequately supported at the first, but was

thrust forward upon an impossible enterprise by the men who had refused him supplies when a decisive blow might have been struck, that the Western Soudan has been sacrificed. The

Eastern Soudan may, however, be saved if there is a firm hand

placed at the helm in Egypt. Everything depends on that.

What, then, you ask, should be done? I reply, Place Nubar in power. Nubar is the one supremely able man among Egyptian ministers. He is proof against foreign intrigue, and he thoroughly understands the situation. Place him in power,

support him through thick and thin, give him a free hand; and

let it be distinctly understood that no intrigues either on the part

of Tewfik or any of Nubar's rivals will be allowed for a moment to interfere with the execution of his plans. You are sure to lind

that the energetic support of Nubar will sooner or later bring you into collision with the khedive; but if that sovereign really

desires, as he says, the welfare of his country, it will be necessary