THE ABANDONMENT OF THE SOUDAN.

Dunstan Times, Issue 1141, 14 March 1884, Page 3

THE ABANDONMENT OF THE SOUDAN.

Sir Samuel B ike - , writing to the Timex on the determination of 'he Government to abandon the Soudan, says :—“ Accepting this miserable decision as final, the public has a right to determine that the requisite steps shall immediately he tak-n to ensure the safe retreat of the garrisons of Khartoum and other military positions in the Soudan. By this time the news has been transmitted to Khartoum hy those merchants in Cairo who are intere-ted in the slave trade, and within a few days the intelligence will have spread far and wide that the country is to be ahandnnded. Every man’s hand will ho armed to harass the retreat of those humiliated troops, who must thus turn their backs upon ad-fiant rabble. Khartoum will ho pillaged and fired the instant that the garrison shall have crossed the river. The march will then commence. A crowd of women and children, their hom s abandoned, their occupation gone, their prospects ruined—these will have to be protec ed by the ret iring troops, whose fighting powers will he paralysed by the incongruous mass of baggage carried hy the host of fugitives. A grave responsibility will rest upon the Ministry that shall give orders for the evacuation of the Soudan. Unless adequate precautions shall he promptly taken, the dreadful tragedy of General Hinks will be repeated." Ghent Pasha, on being relieved of office, was interviewed by the S'anrlard't corre snondent. Ho said : *• We have thousands of men in the Soudan, and nothing should ever inauee me to allow them to be alien-

dbhed to the miseries of Mabdi rale, I am sure lam right. Time and posterity will jn tge between me and Mr Gladstone in this matter.” Prom the above, conversations, the o irrespnndent remarks, it is clearly eiri dent that the whole comedy of the Egyp tian Ministerial administration is understood hy none better than the Ministers themselves. The only persons who seem to have a right to complain are the Egyptians, who, while knowing that the conn.ry is virtually governed by English officials nominally subordinate, have still to pay the cost of expensive dummy Ministers. The Paris Temps comes to the following conclusion as to the causes of 'he hesitation of the Gladstone Cabinet s—“ Mr Gladstone and the Cabinet over which he presides are perplexe I both by the division of op nion of their own political friends and by their own scruples. The Liberal party is to a g oat extent swayed By a kind of humanitarian, and cosmopolitan Radicalism, which pre occupies itself with the rights of national! tire, the liberties of the people, and is utterly indifferent to the traditions of England’s greatness. It is a party which entertains doubt as to whether the possession of Gibralter and India He legitimate, and which feels the utmost repugnance agai st a policy of conquest. Mr Gladstone himself, l.y every tendency of his mind, by the abstiaccharacter of his conceptions, as well as by the purity and generosity of his soul, belongs to the party whose opinions wo have just described. In addition we are bound to take into account the engagements forced upon him by his virulent denunciations of the conquering tendencies of Lord Beacons* field. Hence a repugnance to entangle himself further in Egyptian affairs. The Bid tish Premier feels that he is acting in contradiction to his own proiessions and principles, and|that he runs the risk of wounding the secret sympathies of a notable portion m his supporters. But, after all, be should have thought of all this before bombarding Alexandria and sending Lord VVolseley to Egypt. Mr G adstone is no longer free to stop in the path on which he has entered, or to retrace his steps. He is bound to organise Egypt even more directly than we have organised Tunis.”