d, and he is
asked why he continues at Khartoum, as if he could have left his duty
unperformed with honour to himself, or credit to his country.

Gordon was anxious to evacuate the country as quickly as possible; in
this he was quite at one with his employers; but, on the spot, and
knowing all the difficulties of the situation, he saw what they in the
distance could not see, that the evacuation was a practical
impossibility. The most distant garrison held by Egyptians was at
Senaar, and if Gordon could have got to that place, a feat which it is
more than doubtful if even he could have performed, it is perfectly
certain that with the wretched troops he would have had to command he
could not have safely escorted the host of the Egyptian employes thence
to Khartoum, while the whole intermediate country was in the hands of
the fanatical hordes owning allegiance to the Mahdi.

The commencement of his march from Senaar to Khartoum would have been
the signal for a repetition of the horrors of the march of our
retreating army from Cabul to Jellalabad in 1842, the sole survivor of
which has been immortalised in Miss Elizabeth Thompson's (Lady Butler)
celebrated picture, the only difference being that the heat and sand of
the Soudan would have been substituted for the cold and snow of
Afghanistan. The Mahdi's forces would have at once occupied Senaar, and
spread reports to the effect that they had driven out the Egyptians,
while Gordon's party with very limited provisions would have been
exposed to incessant attacks during the whole of their journey. A
retreating army has always plenty of enemies; and it is doubtful if a
single survivor would have reached Khartoum.

On the other hand, if either of Gordon's suggestions had been accepted
and the country handed over to the Turks or to Zebehr, the towns at
both ends would have been held in force, and a suitable escort could
have been provided for the Egyptian employes. Gordon states his
position very fairly in the following brief telegram to Sir Evelyn
Baring:--

"You ask me to state cause and intentions in staying at Khartoum,
knowing Government means to abandon Soudan, and in answer I say, I
stay at Khartoum because Arabs have shut us up, and will not let us
out. I also add that if the road was opened the people would not
let me go, unless I gave them some government or took them with me,
which I could not do. No one would leave more willingly than I