they
may do the same. Nor is it only England that has to face this
danger. The success of the Mahdi has already excited dangerous
fermentation in Arabia and Syria. Placards have been posted in
Damascus calling upon the population to rise and drive out the
Turks. If the whole of the Eastern Soudan is surrendered to the
Mahdi, the Arab tribes on both sides of the Red Sea will take
fire. In self-defence the Turks are bound to do something to cope
with so formidable a danger, for it is quite possible that if
nothing is done the whole of the Eastern Question may be reopened
by the triumph of the Mahdi. I see it is proposed to fortify Wady
Halfa, and prepare there to resist the Mahdi's attack. You might
as well fortify against a fever. Contagion of that kind cannot be
kept out by fortifications and garrisons. But that it is real,
and that it does exist, will be denied by no one cognisant with
Egypt and the East. In self-defence the policy of evacuation
cannot possibly be justified.

"There is another aspect of the question. You have 6000 men in
Khartoum. What are you going to do with them? You have garrisons
in Darfour, in Bahr el Gazelle, and Gondokoro. Are they to be
sacrificed? Their only offence is their loyalty to their
Sovereign. For their fidelity you are going to abandon them to
their fate. You say they are to retire upon Wady Halfa. But
Gondokoro is 1500 miles from Khartoum, and Khartoum is only 350
from Wady Halfa. How will you move your 6000 men from
Khartoum--to say nothing of other places--and all the Europeans
in that city through the desert to Wady Halfa? Where are you
going to get the camels to take them away? Will the Mahdi supply
them? If they are to escape with their lives, the garrison will
not be allowed to leave with a coat on their backs. They will be
plundered to the skin, and even then their lives may not be
spared. Whatever you may decide about evacuation, you cannot
evacuate, because your army cannot be moved. You must either
surrender absolutely to the Mahdi or defend Khartoum at all
hazards. The latter is the only course which ought to be
entertained. There is no serious difficulty about it. The Mahdi's
forces will fall to pieces of themselves; but if in a moment of
panic orders are issued for the abandonment of t