[192] i.e., collected them from the different offices and officials in Kartoum. They have not been given over by the Government.— Ed.
Note.—On the opposite page is an extract from Lord Lytton’s speech, cut from one of the papers: “Ask General Gordon, if he ever comes safely home to us, what he and his still unrescued garrison have learned to think of the high sense of national honour, the chivalrous courage, the unflinching good faith of Mr. Gladstone and his Radical Cabinet.” (Three cheers were given for Gordon.)—Ed.
[193] Appendix Y.
[194] That is to say, the men were depressed by the apparent remoteness of their chance of escape.—Ed.
[195] Egypt, ‘84, No. 22.
[196] On the page opposite the one which contains this paragraph General Gordon has pasted cuttings from the paper to which he alludes. One of these cuttings says, “An official telegram received here from Wady Halfa states that, owing to the unprecedented lowness of the Nile, no confidence is felt in the practicability of hauling boats over the cataracts till the end of September.” General Gordon’s comment written against this is, “It was not a low Nile—it was an average Nile, only you were too late.”— Ed.
[197] See ‘Ismailia,’ vol. i., p. 31.—Ed.
[198] General Gordon has already fully explained wherein the responsibility of Her Majesty’s Government towards the Soudan lies.—Ed.
[199] Colonel Harrison, C.B., C.M.G., R.E.—Ed.
[200] At this point General Gordon refers to the newspaper cuttings he has made and pasted in on the opposite page. The first reference is a comment on a telegram in the Standard, dated Suakin, August 30th, which runs as follows: “The Jaffariyeh overtook not far to the south of Suakin the three dhows recently captured by the rebels. The latter on being overtaken ran the boats aground, and escaped inland. The crew of the Jaffariyeh subsequently burned the dhows.” The italics are General Gordon’s. (b) refers to a further telegram headed “Rebellion in Arabia,” and dated Constantinople, Sunday night: “Fighting still going on in the Hedjaz between the Ottoman troops and the Arab tribes which have revolted against the authority of the Sultan’s Government. Matters must be considered somewhat serious by the Porte, for the Government have decided to despatch to the seat of disturbance further reinforcements of Imperial troops to the extent of some two thousand, &c.” In an account in a London paper of the departure of Lords Northbrook and Wolseley, General Gordon has marked certain penny-a-line passages, and in all cases where “Gordon Relief Expedition” occurs, he has drawn his pen through this and all expressions indicating that the Expeditionary Force comes to his relief.—Ed.