Manawatu Herald. THURSDAY, SEPT. 29, 1898. Gordon Avenged.

Manawatu Herald, 29 September 1898, Page 2

Manawatu Herald. THURSDAY, SEPT. 29, 1898. Gordon Avenged.

+ The Khedive is the title of the ruler of Egy|)t, but he is only retained in his position by the power of England. In July, 1883, Arabi Pasha proclaimed a Jihad or holy war, and whilst British troops were re-establishing order, General Gordon, who had previously been governor of the Soudan, volunteered to proceed to Khartoum to withdraw the garrisons. How he held the town waiting for assistance that never came, and how at last he was murdered standing on the steps of the building with the bible in one hand and his cane in the other, is ancient history. Khartoum was then the chief seat of Mohammedan power, though it has since been transferred to the town, Otndurman, on the opposite side of the Nile, and the death of an infidel, as Gordon was looked upon, was made as brutal and insulting as the fanatics could suggest. Gordon was speared to death, his head was hacked from his body and fixed on a pole to putrefy in the principal public thoroughfare of the town, and his body was flung into the Nile. This was in 1885, and until the other day when the Sirdar of the Egyptian army routed the Mahdists at Omdurman, the Mohammedans have held the Soudan and allowed their cruel lusts full swing. A day of reckoning has come at last. Gordon's nephew has destroyed the tomb and body of the Mahdi. The I story reads like a repetition of the blowing of rebels from the cannon's mouth as in the days of the Indian Mutiny. This punishment while revolting to those not versed in the ways of the dark races has been thought necessary to teach a sharp and enduring lesson. We can picture |the occasion, how a party of the Royal Engineers were detailed to excavate a mine under the tomb, how a shrapnel or some other shell was inserted with fuze attached, duly tamped. The troops would be drawn up and the populace of Khartoum and district invited to witness the act. How, when all was ready, the nephew of the murdered Gordon lit the fuze, when there was a report and the tomb and body was destroyed. This was severe, but sending the skull to the infidel College of Surgeons in London, will in the opinion of the natives exclude the Mahdi from entrance into' Paradise. The allocation of Gordon's nephew to fire the charge under the tomb is a political move to touch the superstitions of the natives. They never perform acts unless certain signs are propitious, and if a native or partyjjof natives set out on a journey, the sight of a certain animal or the chirrup of a certain bird is interpreted as ominous of some impending calamity, and they turn back and await a more favourable opportunity. Therefore the fact of a blood relation ot Gordon having accompained the victorious army -of ! revenge, and executed the destruction of the Mahdi's body would be received as a denouement which had received the direct approval of the Almighty. To drive home in the minds of the natives such a conviction will have a far reaching effect, and augers well for, at least, a lengthened period of peace and prosperity for the Soudan, to say nothing of the additional lustre shed on the prowess and civilising abilities of the British nation.