Gordon and the Soudan.

Thames Star, Volume XV, Issue 4815, 14 June 1884, Page 1

Gordon and the Soudan.

Mail bows to May 2 contain the follow* ing :—The indignation of the British public against the Government for what is universally described as their desert ion of General Gordon, is steadily rising. The " Times,'' the " Morning Post," and the " Daily Telegraph," have received cheques amounting to many thousands of pounds for the orsanisation of a voluntary expedition to relieve Khartoum. A cheque has been received from one English lady, who offers £5,000 with that object. All of the cheques have been returned to the donors, the papers declaring the impossibility to relieve the Government from its responsibility towards General Gordon. A sum of £7,000 has already been subscribed to the fund for the relief expedition. A Blue Book on the Egyptian question, which was published yesterday, contains thedespatcb.es up to April 23, on .which, date Earl Granville telegraphed to Mr Egerton that he could not sanction the despatch to Berber of English troops or Egyptian troops alone. The Liberal .organ (the Pall Mali Gazette) regards the story set forth in the Blue Book as a story of shame and, summing up the whole correspondence, points out that the Government, after virtually altering General Gordon's mission from one of advice to one of executing or at least directing the evacuatioa not only of Khartoum, but the whole of the Soudan, have now determined that the work must bo done on peace society principles or not at all. The correspondence shows that that is the feeling of General Gordon himself as Sir Evelyn Baring telegraphed to Earl Granville that General Gordon evidently thinks that he is abandoned, and is very indignant. The latest news from El Obeid, dated April 2, states that the Mahdi has 30,000 or • 40,000 regular followers encamped there, and that he can rely upon the co> operation of some 80 tribes between the* desert and the equatorial provinces. These allies can furnish between 200,000 and 300,000 fighting men, About 40,000 Eemington rifles, 60 guns and an enormous supply of military stores have fallen into the Mahdi's hands through the defeats which he inflicted on the Egyptian Army.