animals, started
from Suakin at 4.30 A.M., and bivouacked twelve hours later at Tesela
Hill. Next morning an advance was made towards Tamai, and a number of
huts in the Khor Ghob were burned. The force then returned to Suakin.
The railway was now pushed on without interruption, reaching Otao on the
30th. On the night of the 6th of May a combined movement was made from
Suakin and Otao, which resulted in the surprise and break-up of a force
of the enemy under Mahommed Sardun, and the capture of a large number of
sheep and goats. The moral effect of this operation was marked, and
large numbers of tribesmen placed themselves unconditionally at the
disposal of Sir G. Graham. A great native movement could now have been
organized, which would have kept the route to Berber and enabled the
railway to be rapidly pushed forward.

Political and military situation at end of operations.

Meanwhile many communications had passed between the war office and Lord
Wolseley, who at first believed that Berber could be taken before the
summer. In a long despatch of the 6th of March he discussed the general
situation, and pointed out that although the force at his disposal "was
amply sufficient" for raising the siege of Khartum and defeating the
mahdi, the conditions were changed by the fall of the town. It was now
"impossible ... to undertake any offensive operations until about the
end of the summer," when twelve additional British battalions, four
strong squadrons of British cavalry, and two R.H.A. batteries, together
with a large extension of the Wadi Halfa railway, eleven steamers, and
three hundred more whale-boats, would be required. He considered it
necessary to hold Dongola, and he reported that he was "distributing
this army along the left bank of the Nile, on the open reach of water"
between the Hannek cataract and Abu Dom, opposite Merawi. On the 30th of
March Lord Wolseley quitted the army and proceeded to Cairo. A cloud
having arisen on the frontiers of Afghanistan, the withdrawal of the
troops from the Sudan was ordered on the 11th of May. On the formation
of Lord Salisbury's cabinet, the new secretary of state for war, Mr W.
H. Smith, inquired whether the retirement could be arrested, but
Major-General Sir R. Buller reported that the difficulties of
reoccupation would be great, and that if Dongola was to be held, a fresh
expedition would be required. On the 22nd of June, before the British
rearguard had left Dongola, the