Abstract

The Sudan News

The article presents information about the letters of British general Charles Gordon from Khartum that have been published. The letters show that he did not, as was reported, express confidence in his own ability to hold out indefinitely. On November 4, he wrote to general Garnet Wolseley that he could hold out with ease for forty days, or till, say, the end of the year, but that after that it would be difficult. As a matter of fact, he held out nearly twice as long and did not after all succumb to famine. The tone of the letters, if one may judge from the extracts which have reached people, is querulous and, considering that he was in the military service of the government, highly insubordinate. He declines to consider the expedition as sent for his own rescue, but for that of the garrison and this rescue he pronounces unhesitatingly the duty of the government.