duced the British Government, not
only to decline any military assistance to enable the Egyptian
Government to hold the Soudan, but to insist upon its abandonment by
the khedive. To do this it was necessary to bring away the garrisons
scattered all over the country, and such of the Egyptian
population as might object to remain. To Gordon was intrusted the
withdrawal of the garrisons and the evacuation of the Soudan. At
Cairo his functions were considerably extended. He was appointed,
with the consent of the British Government, governor-general of the
Soudan, and was instructed, not only to effect the evacuation of the
country, but to take steps to leave behind an organized independent
government.

By the month of March, having succeeded in sending some two thousand
five hundred people down the Nile into safety, Gordon found himself
getting hemmed in by the Mahdi and no assistance coming from
without. On April 16, 1884, his last telegram before the wires were
cut complained bitterly of the neglect of the Government. The attack
of Khartoum began on March 12th, and from that time to its fall
Gordon carried on the defence with consummate skill. His resources
were small, his troops few, and his European assistants could be
counted on the fingers of one hand; yet he managed to convert his
river steamers into iron-clads, to build new ones, to make and lay
down land mines, to place wire entanglements, and to execute
frequent sorties, while he kept up the spirits and courage of his
followers by striking medals in honor of their bravery, and baffled
a fanatic and determined foe for over ten months, during the latter
part of which the people who trusted him were perishing from disease
and famine, and the grip of the enemy was tightening.

In April the necessity of a relief expedition was pressed upon the
Government at home, but without avail. In May popular feeling found
vent, not only in public meetings but in the House of Commons, when
a vote of censure on the Government was lost by only twenty-eight
votes. Eventually, proposals were made to send a relief expedition
from Cairo in the autumn, and on August 5th a vote of credit for
L300,000 was taken for "operations for the relief of General Gordon,
should it become necessary, and to make certain preparations in
respect thereof." Even when it was decided that Lord Wolseley should
take command of a relief expedition up the Nile, hesitation
continued to mark the proceedings of th