4-EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

railway, which had been talked about so long before, been completed between these two points, the conditions might have been very different; but as it turned out, everything tended towards the isolation of Khartum, which alone was not worth preserving even if its preservation had been possible, with the whole of the surrounding provinces in arms and their chiefs so far committed to the revolt that they were determined to stand the hazard.

On the 25th of November Colonel Coetlogon telegraphed to Sir Evelyn Wood, " Khartum and Sennar cannot be held in two months' time. There will be no food. All supplies are cut off to save what remains of the army of the Soudan. A retreat on Berber should be made at once, and by a combined movement from Berber and Suakim that route should be opened. Reinforcements arriving could not reach Khartum except by land, and for that a very large force is necessary, and no supplies for them if they did arrive. The river route cannot be relied upon, as it can be stopped any day where mountains overhang the river, which at that point is narrow and shallow. We have only two steamers that could do towing work. Both are small, of no powrer, and old. To carry a force by river would be very difficult in a month's time even if unattacked. The troops that are left are the refuse of the army, mostly old and blind. Again I say the only way of saving what remains is to attempt a general retreat on Berber. This is the real state of affairs here, and I beg of you to impress it on his highness the khedive."

At this very time, or at least the next day, two telegrams were sent to Earl Granville from Sir E. Baring, who had succeeded Sir E. Malet as governor-general at Cairo: one was to assure his lordship that the Egyptian government fully understood that the whole responsibility of any operations in the Soudan must rest on them, and that they must rely wholly on their own resources; and the other that intelligence from Suakim had arrived, that fears were entertained for the garrisons of Tokar and Sinkat, as the troops refused to go to their relief. There was small hope, therefore, of organizing a movement towards Berber with Egyptian troops, and the army of Sir Evelyn Wood had been, as we have