[96] It must be borne in mind that when Gordon wrote this he expected the expedition to reach Kartoum before the middle of November and not towards the end of January. The strength of the rebels had materially increased during December and January.—Ed.
[97] General Sir Lintorn Simmons, G.C.B.—Ed.
[98] “I have ascertained within the last few weeks that the principal agent in the surrender of the city was not Ferratch Pasha, as originally stated, but a certain civilian exile from Egypt who had acted at one time under Arabi as Secretary of the Ministry of Marine. I know the history of this man well, and can vouch for its accuracy, as I often heard it at Cairo when I was there. Four years or so ago Awaan was an honest and zealous employé in the Cadastral Survey under Sir Auckland Colvin—a service which of all others under the Control was the most inefficient, and is now acknowledged to have been so. Awaan, provoked at the waste and mismanagement, one day had the temerity to draw up a memorandum of what he knew and to send it to his chief. The answer was his dismissal. He then appealed to the native press—for there was some liberty in those days—and his grievance made him a hero; and when Arabi came to power he gave him this place as secretary, which he held at Alexandria down to the bombardment. I never heard of his taking any prominent part in the politics of that eventful time, but on Sir Auckland Colvin’s landing he was among the first persons arrested. Lord Charles Beresford tried him by one of his courts-martial and found him guilty of exciting to rebellion, or some such charge. He was handed over to the Circassian tender mercies, and, after seventy-four days in irons in the terrible Borgho prison, he was exiled to Kartoum. He was clearly a political prisoner if ever there was one; and when Lord Dufferin promised us the amnesty at the compromise of Arabi’s trial, I wrote to him recommending Awaan’s case to his special attention, and I have his answer, with a memorandum, curiously enough, by the very Sir Charles Wilson who was afterwards to reap such bitter disappointment at his hands. But Lord Dufferin declined to interfere, and Awaan was left at Kartoum to his revenge. On January 26 it was he who, with the English again at his gates, negotiated its surrender to its Arab deliverer.”—Mr. Wilfred Blunt in a letter to the ‘Times’ of May 4, 1884.—Ed.
[99] “One of the most painful parts of this business is the constant and continual reports one hears of the intended treachery of this or that influential man. I have, though greatly tired, kept my faith in all men, and have resisted any of those measures which never benefit and which throw widespread alarm throughout the town. Men who belonged to the beleaguered Shaggyeh and who had been shut up with them escaped here without arms, saying that the Shaggyeh had gone over to the enemy, while others would come from them beseeching for aid. I am glad to say that without exception the people of the town and the troops have behaved themselves in a most kind and proper way. This binds me not to leave them until I can do so under Government which would give them some hope of peace.”—General Gordon’s telegram to Sir E. Baring, received at Cairo end of March, 1884. Egypt, No. 12, No. 287.—Ed.
[100] To strike with a slipper during a dispute is with Moslems the greatest insult one man can offer another.—Ed.
[101] On Feb. 11th, 1884, General Gordon telegraphed from Berber to Sir Evelyn Baring: “I would not, if I were supreme, try again any Egyptian forces at Suakin, but would engage 3000 Turkish troops in British pay. That would settle the affair. It would be sufficient for the Padishah’s troops to appear to cause a collapse of all fanatical feeling.”—Ed.
[102] “Several telegrams have been sent from press asking about what I said respecting slaves. The question asked me was this: Did I insist on the liberation of slaves in 1889 as per Treaty 1877? I answered that the Treaty would not be enforced in 1889 by me, which, considering the determination of Her Majesty’s Government respecting Soudan, was a self-evident fact. The question is one of slave-holding, not of slave-hunting, and, in my opinion, that Treaty of 1877 will never be carried out in Cairo as to slave-holding.”—General Gordon’s telegram to Sir E. Baring, received at Cairo Feb. 21, 1884, Egypt 12, No. 132.—Ed.
“Let it be known to you all that I have been appointed, in concert between the Khedive’s Government and the Government of Great Britain, Governor-General of the whole Soudan; and the Soudan has now become an independent State, to govern itself without the intervention of the Egyptian Government in any way whatever.”—General Gordon’s Proclamation to All the Notables and Inhabitants in the Soudan, Feb. 13, 1884.—Ed.
[103] General Gordon is here probably quoting the views of Herbin, the French Consul.—Ed.
[104] Though, as shown in a previous note, General Gordon was right in assuming no expedition would have been sent had he not been in Kartoum with Stewart, he is also right in saying, “The expedition comes up to deliver the garrisons,” for the avowed policy declared in the instructions of Her Majesty’s Government to Lord Wolseley was that steps were to be taken to insure the safe retreat of the Egyptian troops and civil employés.—Ed.