Gordon,
however, who was in personal communication with Mr Gladstone, considered
that his brother was in no peril, and for some time disbelieved in the
need for a relief expedition. Meanwhile it was at least necessary to
evolve some plan of action, and on the 8th of April the adjutant-general
addressed a memorandum to the secretary of state for war detailing the
measures required for placing 6500 British troops "in the neighbourhood
of Shendi." The battle of the routes began much earlier, and was
continued for some months. Practically the choice lay between the Nile
and the Suakin-Berber road. The first involved a distance of 1650 m.
from Cairo along a river strewn with cataracts, which obstructed
navigation to all but small boats, except during the period of high
water. So great was this obstruction that the Nile had never been a
regular trade route to the Sudan. The second entailed a desert march of
about 250 m., of which one section, Obak-Bir Mahoba (52 m.), was
waterless, and the rest had an indifferent water supply (except at
Ariab, about half-way to Berber), capable, however, of considerable
development. From Berber the Nile is followed (210 m.) to Khartum. This
was an ancient trade route with the Sudan, and had been used without
difficulty by the reinforcements sent to Hicks Pasha in 1883, which were
accompanied by guns on wheels. The authorities in Egypt, headed by
General Stephenson, subsequently supported by the Admiral Lord John Hay,
who sent a naval officer to examine the river as far as Dongola, were
unanimous in favour of the Suakin-Berber route. From the first
Major-General Sir A. Clarke, then inspector-general of fortifications,
strongly urged this plan, and proposed to begin at once a metre gauge
railway from Suakin, to be constructed by Indian labour under officers
skilled in laying desert lines. Some preliminary arrangements were made,
and on the 14th of June the government sanctioned certain measures of
preparation at Suakin. On the other side were the adjutant-general (Lord
Wolseley) and a small number of officers who had taken part in the Red
River expedition of 1870. The memorandum of the adjutant-general above
referred to was based on the hypothesis that Khartum could not hold out
beyond the 15th of November, and that the expedition should reach Berber
by the 20th of October. Steamers were to be employed in such reaches as
proved practicable, but the force was to be conveyed in special
whale-boat