gave fresh life and hope to the
inhabitants. Great were the rejoicings, and a magnificent reception was
prepared for the long-expected deliverer. This reception took place on
the 18th of February, 1884, and must have greatly encouraged General
Gordon in his undertaking; but it was not Gordon's individual presence
which so greatly inspired the people. What could Gordon do alone,
against the now universally worshipped Mahdi? The nature of the revolt
was not political; the Sudanese had no intention of establishing an
empire under the Mahdi's rule, and, even had this been the case, it is
very improbable that Gordon's mediation would have been of any avail.

[Illustration: THE GOLD MEDAL STRUCK BY GORDON TO COMMEMORATE THE SIEGE
OF KHARTUM.]

The movement was a religious movement, and was not limited to the Sudan
alone; the Mahdi's intention was to subdue the world. He was a prophet,
and in his own and the estimation of his followers he was a greater man
than the Prophet Mohammed. The world was to come to an end in his time.
Had Gordon only known beforehand how boundless was the wild fanaticism,
and how completely the Mahdi's followers were intoxicated by it, he
would never have accepted the mission. As it appeared to us in Kordofan,
and to the Mahdi himself, Gordon's undertaking was very strange; it was
just as if a man were attempting to put out an enormous fire with a drop
of water. Gordon's name alone could not suppress the revolt, and it was
not on account of his name that the Khartum people rejoiced at his
arrival; it was because they looked on Gordon as an English
representative, and that he was only the precursor of an English
expedition sent to take possession of the Sudan for England. That is
what made the people glad, and caused them to put aside all idea of
departure. Had they not been certain that an English expedition was
coming, not a soul would have remained in Khartum, and I have no
hesitation in saying that had the Egyptian Government not sent Gordon,
then undoubtedly the evacuation originally ordered could have been
carried out without difficulty.

Those who escaped massacre in Khartum have often told me that they were
perfectly ready to leave, and it was only Gordon's arrival that kept
them back; but Gordon's arrival without troops had rather disappointed
them. Had he been accompanied by five hundred British bayonets, his
reputation in the Sudan might have been maintained, and probably the
Mahdi would