A woman came in from the Arabs. She says yesterday morning a man came to the Arab camp on the north side who said that the Expedition had captured Berber, and that four steamers were on their way here; that the Arabs sent out men to see if this was true, and that it is my own soldiers who are now fighting against us.
If the news that Berber is captured is true, the steamers will be towing up boats (fifty of which are at Berber) and will not be here for some days. 2 p.m. I think the Arabs are making an embrasure at Goba, with the view of bombarding the Palace. I can see this with my glass. If they do this, it will not hurt us, and it will take their men and guns from off the river, where their gun-fire is alone dangerous to the steamers. It is rather amusing to see the personality[255] of this Arab battery. The range is 2,200 yards from here, but as we never hit anything we fire at, at that distance, I think I shall be safe in the Palace from the Arab fire. The mountain shell will not penetrate the walls at that distance, as we know from a shell which struck the North Fort some time ago. I expect they will begin to-morrow morning at daybreak. I have fired eight or ten rounds at them; which brought them out to look, but it is quite a chance if the Remington reaches them at that range. There was a time when one would have been anxious for the Palace, but that has gone by. It will not be the first time I have been fired on by my own soldiers, for in China two men of the 31st Regiment were on the breach of Taitsan and one was killed. The other with a shell splinter, was taken prisoner. “Mr. Gordon! Mr. Gordon, you will not let me be killed.” “Take him down to the river and shoot him;” and aside, “put him in my boat: let the doctor attend him, and send him to Shanghai.” He was sent down to Shanghai, and got three or six months’ imprisonment by court-martial for deserting, and I daresay he exists at present. His name was Hargreaves. I do not know his regimental number.
Baring to Egerton—“Metemma! at last, after the most fearful sufferings, every bone in my body dislocated with those beastly camels. Found here his journal, from which it appears that that duffer, the Mahdi, has at last roused himself, but I fear it is too late. As to the tone of the journal, it is simply deplorable, and (do not mention it, please) he has actually made a sketch (brace yourself up to bear it) of our high priest. Excuse more, for what with the bumping of the camel and the depravity shown by this scoffer, I am more dead than alive.” A Bashi Bazouk (no loss), a bugler, and two musicians (of our terrible band) deserted to Arabs yesterday, as ... says it is “incorrigible.” This is owing to the robbery of the rations by the officers.
November 29.—Omdurman Fort all right, but three men deserted to the Arabs. Truly this life is almost insupportable: the officers have been robbing the men of their rations, and the storekeeper has been giving them short weight. One feels utterly powerless to contend with these affairs, and unless the Expedition comes soon the place will fall from the venality of these people.[256] They know I cannot possibly find out their misdeeds, and chuckle over it. The Arabs are working away at their battery at Goba.
It is odd that among the despised Egyptian fellaheen soldiers this robbery of rations does not take place. It is only among the officers, &c., of the black troops. 1 p.m. I hear that the soldiers waylay the women, to whom I have given biscuit, and rob them!
I have a strong conviction that neither Baring or Lord W. have taken the precaution of bringing a firman from Towfik Pasha, giving them a legal status superior to mine in the Soudan. If this conviction is the case (and the fiction of Towfik being supreme ruler is kept up), then it is for me to name the Governor-General, and I feel strongly disposed to print off proclamations to be issued on arrival of Expedition (if ever it does arrive), by which I relinquish the government in favour of the officer commanding the Expedition. Of course, if a firman is brought, then the situation is different; but if not brought, and the fiction is going to be kept up, I have a perfect right to vacate the government, and to appoint whomsoever I like, subject to the ultimate approval of Towfik Pasha. It may be that the officer commanding the Expedition may demur to his appointment, but his doing so will not absolve him of the responsibility thus officially placed on him if the town falls.
The great question, “Is any officer, civil or military, of the Expedition possessed of a firman of Towfik?” If not, there is not the least doubt that the de jure power is with me to name whom I like (except in the case of a civil or military officer announcing to the people that the British Government has annexed Egypt). There can be no question of military discipline in this, for what has a foreign Power to do with the civil functionaries of Towfik, unless they usurp his (Towfik’s) functions?
Two more soldiers deserted to-day. 8 p.m. The Arabs came down to the ruins of village opposite, and fired on the Palace. I sent the buglers up to the roof of the Palace, who by their own accounts killed thousands, and the Arabs retired. I have got so accustomed to the sound of the firing, that I can tell when the report of firing is from Arabs on Tuti or Palace, or our men from Tuti or North Fort. Also if it is the Arabs firing on Mogrim or Bourré, or our men firing on them, from these places. According to the directions of the muzzles of the rifles, so are the sounds. I think I would like to be in a real siege, with no civil population or robbers of officers to bully me. To-night a sortie with fifty men would give the Arabs a dose which they would not forget; but it is no use, we are not up to it. The buglers say they killed thirty (!!!) between them.