6. Will you negotiate with the Mahdi (no use, I expect) in re the deliverance of the prisoners (European) he has with him?
7. Would you object to aiding the black troops to go to Sennaar and to fight out the question, with the view of saving Sennaar and Kassala garrisons?
Two soldiers and one slave came in from Arabs at Omdurman; they say the Mahdi will not attack directly, that Slatin is in chains for writing to Kartoum; also Saleh Pasha. The Arabs fired two rounds from their guns towards the lines near the White Nile this evening. They fell short.
Supposing Kartoum evacuated, then Sennaar and Kassala fall. The Arabs now fire on the lines at Suakin, and capture dhows in the Red Sea, and there is a revolt in the Hedjaz. What is to prevent the Mahdi’s adherents gaining Mecca, where there are not 2,000 men. Once at Mecca, we may look out for squalls in Turkey, &c.
If decision is taken on the Rapid Retreat proceeding, the consuls should be warned on your arrival.
If the British Government had only given us Zubair Pasha in March, when I asked for him, we would not have lost Berber, and would never have wanted an expedition. We would have beaten the Mahdi without any exterior help; it is sad, when the Mahdi is moribund that we should by evacuation of Kartoum, raise him again. The defect I laboured under has been that I presented no rallying point to the people, not being of their nation or creed.[206]
The Arabs began musketry fire on Bourré at 1 p.m., and before this morning. It was quite like old times, when it used to go on for months. I never got accustomed to it, for I knew what troops we had, and it always murdered sleep.
November 8.—It must be obvious that if Zubair was with you, and installed as Governor-General, with a semi-independent position and a subsidy, in the present decaying position of the Mahdi, and your temporary presence, he would rally around him a huge following, who are now disgusted with the Mahdi and his dervishes, but who will be obliged to hold to him, because you evacuate; even those people with us, we per force oblige to join the Mahdi. Zubair’s installation would save you all the bother of the Sennaar evacuation. You would have only to stay up here a couple of months, and perhaps have to keep a detachment at Berber and Dongola (in order that Zubair might get up more munitions) for a time. You have now boats fitted for the communication by the Nile, via Abou Hamed, and Zubair could soon put them along the Nile in a chain. As for the slave trade,[207] the Mahdi will be ten times worse than Zubair, and you could make the payment of the subsidy (to Zubair) contingent on his not doing it on any vast scale. The Zubair solution is the sort of half-way house between rapid retreat and continued occupation, either by Turks or yourself.
The Mahdi could never get the people to rise against Zubair; it will be only because they are presented with no rallying point, and per force they will join him if you leave. They never would have joined the Mahdi if Zubair had come up. It is only because Zubair was not here that Berber fell.
6.30 a.m.—Arabs streaming across from the White Nile to Bourré. Some Arabs on the right bank of the Blue Nile look as if they are coming down that bank to the North Fort. I have ordered up the steamers Ismailia and Husseinyeh. The Arabs have found our weak point, i.e. prolongation of our lines at Bourré, but the steamers will drive them out.