The Major wounded at Bourré the other day is dead.
The two men who brought letters from Saleh Bey of Galabat do not like going out on the North Front side; they want to go out by the West side, i.e. where the Mahdi’s camp is.
I believe that the Hewitt Treaty will be a complete dead letter, for the Greek Consul says the Admiral gave him (King John) no money, so what was the use of the treaty. I expect King John wrote to me to ask me to give him the taxes of the country ceded, quoting the treaty of Hewitt. As for the King or his men ever leaving their hills, it is out of the question. He might have made a move had he been given £100,000, but no chance of his doing so when he has nothing but this paper treaty. The only place the King could possibly occupy is Senheit, and I doubt his doing that permanently. He will drive out the Roman Catholic Mission at once[146] (part of his missionary movement); the occupation of Senheit just cuts off the safe road from Massowah to Kassala. I declare it is amusing to see what shifts Her Majesty’s Government have been put to get out of their mess.
A slave has come in to Omdurman with another letter from the Arabs. I shall stop this fun for the future.
I feel sure King John gave Admiral Hewitt a spear and shield and the Order of Solomon—vanity of vanities—for the treaty, and I feel also sure we shall see no Abyssinian army in the Soudan. The King will write, or has written, a haughty letter, saying that his mother, the Queen, has given him, &c., &c., and he requests I will send in the taxes at once, otherwise he will advance. All T.,[147] and we shall hear no more of His Majesty except groans at my perfidy in not sending the taxes. He is a hopeless sort of man, and never is worth considering.[148] Her Majesty’s Government will say: “We made the treaty; it is not our fault His Majesty did not carry it out, on paper; Kassala and all the other places are now under King John, and consequently quite safe.” The treaty is worth as much as any treaty made now giving Kordofan to any one![149]
We need now only a treaty with the Mahdi about the garrisons, and then Her Majesty’s Government will sleep in peace: their work is done. I only say I will have no confidence in any such treaty, and shall take my precautions accordingly.[150]
Letters have come in: one says Lupton Bey has surrendered (Appendix U, a, b, c, d), and has been appointed Governor of Bahr Gazelle with an adherent of the Mahdi. Another says that he has brought slaves to the Mahdi, and hopes to buy horses with the products of their sale.[151] The Mahdi’s letter is to relate how he captured the post,[152] &c., Abbas, &c. My answer[153] was, that I did not care who had surrendered and who had been captured. As for these letters, I cannot make head nor tail of them, so I leave them to the Arabic scholars of the Universities.
October 23.—(What a fearful scrawl!) Ten soldiers, with six women came in this morning to Omdurman. I have sifted out the Mahdi’s letter[154] respecting the capture of the Abbas, and do not believe it; the papers he sent me as being captured in the Abbas were never in the Abbas, they were taken from a spy I sent out from here, the same man who brought me the news from Dongola of the British advance. He had a bad eye (ophthalmia), and was caught at Metemma and killed, having, when drunk, let out that he had come from me.
The nuns had to walk all the way from Kordofan. The Mahdi has 15,000 head of cattle with him. The Arabs are dying in great numbers from dysentery. The village of Hogali opposite the palace is levelled. It may not be generally known, but by the Firman which named Towfik, there is an express injunction that no part of the Egyptian territory is to be ceded, except by permission of the Porte. Also by the Treaty of Paris, and also by that of Berlin, the integrity of the Ottoman Dominion is guaranteed by the Powers. What a farce it is to say Egypt ceded Kassala!
The escaped party, I mentioned as having come in, have arrived at the Palace, nine soldiers, eight women, and two slaves, all old friends, also a baby! They say the Mahdi started with 40,000 Arabs and 1500 Regulars from Kordofan, that he has not now more than 5000 or 6000 Arabs, and 1000 soldiers (500 ran away), that they have no Dhoora, only 35 boxes (35,000 rds.) Remington cartridges, and 50 shells; they say the other soldiers want to come in, either to-day or to-morrow. The Mahdi says he will go against the English and will not stop at Kartoum. The whole gang were shown themselves in the mirrors. Such a display of ivories was never seen. The baby danced with delight, at seeing itself, for the first time, it was like a black slug. The mother was, of course, delighted.