Te Aroha AND Ohinemuri News THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 1909. LORD KITCHENER.

Te Aroha News, Volume XXVII, Issue 4484, 4 November 1909, Page 2

Te Aroha AND Ohinemuri News

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 4,1909. LORD KITCHENER.

this above all—to thine own eel/be true, And it must follow as the night the day Thou const not then be false to any man Shakespeare.

WE shall soon have the pleasure of a visit by Lord Kitchener, the hero of the Soudan, and the chief of Lord Roberts’ staff in the Boer War. An effort "Will be made to induce Lord Kitchener to visit Te Aroha and see this portion of New Zealand’s wonderland. Few soldiers in the British Army have had a a more successful and distinguished carreer than Lord Kitchener. His last great important work for the Empire was his rearrangement of the defences of India and his reformation of the army there. Natives and British in India vied with each other in testifying to the great soldier’s important work. The public service, by which this eminent soldier will ever be remembered, was his reconquest of the Soudan. In 1882 Arabi Pasha led lower Egjptinto revolt against joint British and. French rule. France shrank from the political responsibility of suppressing the revolt jointly with Britain. The latter power dealt with the rebellion single-handed, and Lord Wolesley overthrew Arabi’s forces in a pitched battle at Telekeber pn 11th July, 1882. Not very long after that battle the tribes under the Mahdi, in upper Egypt rose in rebellion against Egyptian rule. For the early part of the revolt there awaited many reverses and serious losses for the Egyptian forces which were made up of Native levees led by British officers. Every force sent against the Mahdi’s troops was defeated and sometimes very ignominiouslyj Rauf Pasha was defeated at Jebel Gedin Kordofam with a loss of 1400 men, and after the battle Father Orwhalder and some Sisters of Mercy were captured and imprisoned for 14 years. Then Yussee Pasna was defeated with a loss of 400,000 men. The next year Slatin Pasha, an Austrian, was defeated at Wanagat El Obeid, which latter place fell into the Mahdi’s hands and Slatin was taken prisoner. But the climax was reached in September 1883 when General Hicks, a British Officer, leading a force of 10,000 men, accepted battle from the Mahdi and his whole force was cut to pieces. On the advice of Great Britain the Egyptian troops then in the tented field, were concentrated in Lower Egypt. General Gordon was sent in January, 1884, to Khartoum to try to bring away the garrison, but the Mahdi’s troops prevented it, and although Gordon could have escaped he would not do so, but he threw all his efforts into putting the place into a state of defence. A British expedition was sent to relieve Khartoum and to rescue Gordon, but it arrived a little too late and Gordon was killed. For a few years the Soudan was temporarily abandoned by Egypt and Britain, and the Soudan was ruled with a rod of iron by the fanatical Mahdi and after his death by the Khalifa. The poor creatures iu those regions were ! subjected to the most brutal tortures ever inflicted on human beings. Whole tribes were exterminated and others were reduced to semi-starvation and misery. Finally an expedition was sent under Sir H. Kitchener (afterwards Lord Kitchener) and he defeated the Mahdi’s troops at Akasheh, Eirket and Hafir. He then took possession of Dorgola. The next year Kitchener captured Aba Hamed and prepared for the next year’s campaign. His great achievement early in 1898 was his defeat of the Mahdi’s General, Mohmud, in, the bloody battle of Atbana on the Bth April that year. _ Kitchener then with a picked British and Egyptian force marched on Omdurmon. On 2nd September, 1898, the Mahdi’s successor, the Khalifa, attacked Kitchener’s force of 20,000 with about 60,000 brave fanatioal warriors. Eleven thousand of them were killed, sixteen thousand were wounded, and four thousand were taken prisoners. Kitchener lost many men, but victory fell to the British'arms and the conqueror’s flag was planted that night in Khartoum. Kitchener overthrew an awful tyranny ; avenged Gordon’s death ; maintained British honour; secured the key of Egypt and the Suez Canal route to India aftd he secured the Cairo railroad route to the Cape. Such was the work of Lord Jfdchener, and now peace, prosperity, and happiness reign in regions which, until Kitchener went there, were dark places of the earth filled with habitations of cruelty. It is meet and right that New Zealand should give such a man a fitting welcome, and Te Aroha will acquit herself well if tfre great soldier comes here.