Two more soldiers came in this morning from the Sheikh el Obeyed. They say he intends coming to the old Dem off the north front, where they were before. They say he is not on the best of terms with Waled a Goun. I hope sincerely he will not come opposite to us.
Sent out two men separately to Debbeh, with notification of the arrival of his holiness the Mahdi at Omdurman.
Connected the Fort of Halfeyeh by telegraph to river bank, 1500 yards.
Moussa Bey put in charge of the Bordeen and Ismailia, and Omdurman and Mogrim.
Ferratch Pasha is made a Ferile (General of Division). I am more generous than Her Majesty’s Government (when a colonel, I used to make Generals of Division. The Khedive used to tear his hair over it). It may be that Ferratch Pasha may be sold for 2¼$ in a fortnight, if the town is taken, and be carrying water for one of the Mahdi’s Ameers. I must say I am against doctors. If a man is suffering intense pain, and is in a more or less desperate condition, I would give as much morphine as would still that pain. It was the custom of the ancients to give to those who were to be crucified a numbing potion, which is that mentioned in Matt. xxvii. 34, Mark xv. 23. Our Lord would not abate, by mortal means, the slightest pang of His passion, and He would not taste it. But in our Lord’s case He knew the object of giving Him this potion, whereas a patient need not know it. Our doctors give a composing draught to produce sleep, and I cannot see why they stop at that and do not give a draught to produce insensibility to pain—but I suppose they have rules we know not of. Napoleon at Jaffa asked the principal medical officer a question—whether, with respect to the plague patients (whom he could not take with him in his retreat to Egypt, and they would have had their throats cut had they stayed) it would not be justifiable to give them composing draughts. The principal medical officer answered, “his business was to cure, not to kill.” Now Napoleon did not say “do so,” but he merely asked the question, inasmuch as it was certain that the throats of those patients would be cut by the Turks if they were left behind. History disputes whether Napoleon did not get another doctor to give the composing draughts, but it is certain that the plague-stricken patients were killed by the Turks (whether under the influence of composing draughts or not it does not much signify). To my mind the principal medical officer was a snob, and took advantage of Napoleon’s question to make himself a hero. Napoleon alluded to it afterwards at St. Helena, and I am inclined to believe his version, viz. that he only put the alternative question to the principal medical officer, and did not order the giving of the composing draught. I shall now conclude this Volume III. I have sent 200 men to Omdurman, and am prepared to evacuate Halfeyeh and place its garrison at Goba, if the Sheikh el Obeyed moves to the north of this place.
C. G. Gordon.
12/10/84.
BOOK IV.