Three Empires on the Nile

by Dominic Green

  6. Sharif Pasha’s plan: Baring to Granville, No. 43, September 28, 1883 (FO78/3557).

  7. “Very ticklish”: Granville to Gladstone, November 27, 1883, Gladstone, Political Correspondence, II, 117, it. 1153 (BM Add. Ms. 44176, f.10).

  8. “The Egyptian government”: Baring to Granville, No. 559, November 26, 1883 (FO78/3559).

  9. “Khartoum is”: Memo from Wolseley, enclosed in Hartington to Gladstone, November 23, 1883 (PRO 30/29/133).

  10. “We are resting”: Granville to Baring, December 7, 1883 (PRO 30/29/199).

  11. “Hicks’ army”: Colborne, 287.

  12. Survivor reaches Khartoum: December 17, 1883, reported by Frank Power in the Times, December 18, 1883.

  13. “more definite” and “without any”: Baring to Granville, December 10, 1883, cit. Cromer, Modern Egypt, I, 379. “absolutely”: Baring to Granville, No. 597, December 12, 1883 (FO78/3560). Khartoum untenable: “The only way of saving what remains is to attempt a general retreat on Berber; this is the real state of affairs here, and I beg you to impress it on His Highness the Khedive,” Colonel de Coetlegon, another of Hicks’s officers to survive after being invalided back to Khartoum, in Coetlegon to Wood, November 25, 1883, enclosed in Baring to Granville, No. 560, November 26, 1883 (FO78/3559).

  14. “If the whole”: Baring to Granville, November 22, 1883 (PRO 30/29/161).

  15. “the burden,” “of doubtful,” and “abandon”: Granville to Baring, December 13, 1883 (PRO 30/29/199).

  16. “the very strongest”: Baring to Granville, December 17, 1883, PRO 30/29/161. “an increase”; Baring to Granville, No. 615, December 16, 1883 (FO78/3560).

  17. “We have thousands”: Sharif Pasha, The Standard, January 11, 1884.

  18. “He is in very good”: Baring to Granville, January 8, 1882 (PRO 30/29/162).

  19. Nubar’s orders of January 16–18, 1884: Enclosed in Baring to Granville, No. 79, January 19, 1884 (FO78/3665).

  20. “The Egyptian government”: Baring to Granville, No. 44, January 16, 1884 (FO78/3665).

  21. “He has always”: Sir Harry Verney to Granville, November 17, 1882 (PRO 30/29/168).

  22. “His name alone”: (Col. Bevan Edwards) and “If the Mahdi” (Sir Andrew Clarke): To Granville, cit. S. Childers, The Life & Correspondence of the Rt. Hon. Hugh C.E. Childers, 1827–96 (2 vol.; London: John Murray, 1901), I, 176.

  23. “Do you see”: Granville to Gladstone, November 27, 1883, Gladstone Political Correspondence, II, 116, it. 1152 (BM Add. Ms. 44176, f.8).

  24. “I can quite”: Gladstone to Granville, November 29, 1883, ibid., II, 117, it. 1156 (BM Add. Ms. 44547, f.3).

  25. “It is odd”: Gordon to Augusta, Lausanne, March 18, 1880, Letters to his Sister, 206.

  26. “The grandest Englishman”: Caption to Ape cartoon “The Ever-Victorious Army,” Vanity Fair, February 19, 1881. “I nearly burst”: Gordon to Augusta, Bombay, June 19, 1880, Letters, 208. “I strike”: Gordon to Augusta, Port Louis (Mauritius), June 24, 1881, ibid., 227.

  27. “Unrolling of the Scroll”: Twywell, June 24, 1881, ibid., 213. “the Garden of Eden”: Trench, 171–72.

  28. “All events”: Gordon to Augusta, SS Quetta, January 5, 1883, Letters, 285.

  29. “I foresaw”: Jerusalem, February 28, 1883, ibid., 304. “I feel for”: Gordon to Miss Felkin, December 1883 (Gordon Boys’ School Mss., Woking), cit. Trench, 196. “in the suppression”: Gordon to Augusta, Jerusalem, February 28, 1883, Letters, 304. “Tell him”: Gordon, according to his nephew Colonel Louis Gordon, cit. Allen, 167–68.

  30. “at its head”: Gordon to the Anti-Slavery Society, January 5, 1884, cit. Allen, 212.

  31. “I hate the idea”: Wolseley to Gordon, January 4, 1884, BM Add. Ms. 52388, cit. Nutting, 226.

  32. “You have 6,000 men in Khartoum”: Pall Mall Gazette, January 9, 1885.

  33. “We cannot send”: Pall Mall Gazette, January 9, 1885.

  34. “No effort”: Morning Advertiser, January 11, 1885.

  35. “a grave mischief” and “bastinadoed fellahin”: Gladstone to Granville, Hawarden, January 6, 1884, Gladstone Political Correspondence, II, 145, it. 1208. “a few years,” “confidence,” and “The sultan’s whole”: Gladstone to Granville, Hawarden, January 11, 1884, ibid., II, 147, it. 1211. “I care more”: Gladstone to Granville, Hawarden, January 7, 1884, ibid., II, 145, it. 1209.

  36. “inquire into conditions”: Arthur and Maurice, 173–74. “If Gordon says he believes”: Granville to Gladstone, Foreign Office, January 14, 1884, Gladstone, Political Correspondence, II, 149, it. 1214.

  37. “While his opinion on the Soudan”: Gladstone to Granville, Hawarden, January 16, 1884, ibid., II, 150, it. 1216.

  38. “Do you ever tell a lie?”: Holland, I, 417. Allen (228) assumes this was merely Gordon’s reflection on his own experience as an aide. Holland, unsurprisingly, implies intent to fool the ministers.

  39. “want you to understand” to “Yes”: Gordon at the War Office, January 18, 1885, from Gordon to Reverend R. H. Barnes, January 22, 1885 (BM Add. Ms. 51298), cit. R. H. Barnes and C. E. Brown, C.G. Gordon, A Sketch with Facsimile Letters (London: Macmillan, 1885), 102–03, which uses “orders” for “ideas.”

  40. “Does not believe”: Northbrook to Baring, evening of January 18, 1885, cit. Cromer, Modern Egypt, I, 429. Dilke’s account: L. S. Gwynn and G. M. Tuckwell, Life of Sir Charles Dilke, (2 vol.; London: Macmillan, 1917), II, 29.

  41. “report on,” “consider,” “the possible,” and “Colonel Gordon”: Granville to Baring, War Office, January 18, 1885 (FO78/3696).

  42. Hartington’s report: Hartington to Gladstone, January 18 and 19, 1885 (PRO30/29/128). “Northbrook, Harrington” and “very pleasing”: Granville to Gladstone, Foreign Office, January 18, 1884, Gladstone, Political Correspondence, II, 151, it. 1217.

  43. Gladstone’s day: Diaries, XI, 102.

  44. Gordon’s telegrams of the night of January 18: Gordon to Granville, January 19, 1884 (FO78/3696).

  45. “At Last!”: Pall Mall Gazette, January 19, 1885.

  46. “Are you sure we did not commit”: Granville, cit. Trench, 207. “Gordon’s mission”: Gladstone, Diaries, XI, 103.

  47. “would in no time eat up”: Gordon’s memo to Baring, SS Tanjore, January 22, 1884 (FO78/3696). “a mere figurehead” and “to advance”: Lieutenant General Sir G. Graham, Last Words with Gordon (London: Chapman & Hall, 1887), 4.

  48. “trouble”: Baring to Granville, January 19, 1884 (PRO 30/29/162).

  49. “What a curious creature”: Baring to Granville, January 28, 1884 (PRO 30/29/162). “a few months,” “confederation,” and “with the least”: Baring to Gordon, enclosed in Baring to Granville, January 25, 1884 (FO78/3666); see also Cromer, Modern Egypt, I, 444–46.

  50. “mystic” and “The Mahdi’s”: Wingate Mss., SAD 245/3.

  51. “slave for life”: Wingate Mss., SAD 245/3.

  52. “Zubair’s appointment”: Times, December 1, 1883.

  53. “desirable to interfere”: Granville’s minute on a memo from the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, December 4, 1883 (FO78/4194).

  54. “I leave for Sudan tonight”: Gordon to Augusta, January 28, 1884, Letters, 374.

  55. “supported”: Rev. A. H. Sayce, Reminiscences (London: Macmillan), 229–30. “I have always contemplated”: Baring to Granville, March 9, 1884 (FO78/3665).

  56. “deluge”: Last Words, Graham, 28.

  57. “rather wild”: Baring to Granville, February 4, 1884 (PRO 30/29/162).

  58. “As you are aware”: Stewart’s diary, enclosed in Baring to Granville, February 11, 1884 (FO78/3667, No.171).

  59. “violent and protracted,” “prestige,” “evacuation,” and “the only”: Gordon to Baring, No. 225, February 8, enclosed in Baring to Granville, February 25, 1884 (FO78/3667).

  60. “Know, respected sir”: Gordon to the Mahdi, February 11, 1884, cit. Abu-Salim, II, 244–45.

  61. “pondered all night,” “the Pand
ora,” “the divorce,” and “No”: Stewart’s diary, enclosed in Baring to Granville, No. 171, February 11, 1884 (FO78/3667).

  62. “I have come here alone”: Stewart’s diary, enclosed in Baring to Granville, No. 296, March 11, 1884 (FO78/3668).

  63. “the white element”: Stewart, diary enclosed in Baring to Granville, No. 296, March 11, 1884 (FO78/3668).

  64. “I am watching”: Gordon, enclosed in Baring to Granville, No. 237, February 27, 1884 (FO78/3667).

  65. “Pray do not consider”: Gordon to Baring, March 3, 1884, enclosed in Baring to Granville, No. 254, March 3, 1884 (FO78/3667).

  66. “When evacuation”: Gordon to Baring, February 26, 1884, enclosed in Baring to Granville, No. 240, February 28, 1884 (FO78/3667).

  67. “More like”: Granville to Gladstone, February 6, 1884, Gladstone, Political Correspondence, II, 154, it. 1226, n.1.

  68. “more formal”: Kimberley to Granville, February 9, 1884 (PRO 30/29/136). Granville replied, “I do not know how our present hold is to be strengthened.” “must be struck”: Victoria to Gladstone, February 9, 1884, Buckle (ed.), III, 477.

  69. “Another element of trouble”: Gladstone to Granville, February 10, 1884, Political Correspondence, II, 156, it. 1231, Add. Ms. 44176, f.134.

  70. “double purpose” and “a simple service”: Gladstone, February 12, 1884, Hansard’s Parliamentary Debates (IIIrd series; London: Cornelius Buck, 1884), vol. 284, cols. 724 and 726–27.

  71. “a degradation”: C. H. Allen to Granville, March 10, 1884 (FO78/4194). “For generations”: William Forster to the Commons, March 10, 1884, Hansard, III, vol. 285, col. 1073. “Oriental crackers”: Granville’s note on Gladstone to Granville, February 27, 1884 (PRO 30/29/144).

  72. “Public opinion”: Granville to Baring, No. 109, February 23, 1884 (FO78/4194).

  73. “Englishmen”: Newcastle Chronicle, March 7, 1884.

  74. “This may well be the last”: Gordon to Augusta, Khartoum, March 11, 1884, Letters, 381.

  8: Armies of God: 1885

  1. The Ballad of East & West: Ballads & Barrack Room Ballads (London: Macmillan, 1899), 3–11.

  2. The Indissoluble Bond: Al-Urwah al-Wutka, in French Le Lien Indissoluble. “the Root”: Afghani, “The Neicheri [Materialists] in India” (1881), pub. in The Indissoluble Bond, August 28, 1884, trans. Keddie, Islamic Response, 133.

  3. “bales,” “remotest corners,” and “the spirit”: Afghani to Rochefort, cit. H. Rochefort, Les aventures de ma vie (4 vol.; Paris: Paul Dupont, 1896), IV, 346. “England believes”: Ibid., IV, 345.

  4. “somewhat Europeanised”: Blunt, Gordon, 208. “all nations” and “In truth”: Answer of Jamal ed-Din to Ernest Renan, Journal des Debats, May 18, 1883, trans. Keddie, Islamic Response, 182.

  5. “very curious,” “humanitarian,” and “attachment”: Blunt, March 27, 1884, Gordon, 208–09. For several possible reasons, including his unwillingness to explicitly associate Afghani with a modish and mildly ridiculous cult, Blunt does not name the “Russian lady” as Madame Blavatsky. Her companions were Colonel H. S. Alcott, founder of the Theosophical Society, and two Bengali Hindu adepts on their way to study for the Bar at London. Blavatsky and Alcott came to Europe to meet with their London and Paris lodges and to lobby the British Foreign Office for religious rights for Ceylonese Hindus.

  6. “He is the forerunner”: Blunt, Gordon, 208. “a caravan,” “secret letters,” and “my old pupil”: Rochefort, IV, 347.

  7. “the champion of the Mohammedans”: Blunt, March 30, 1884, Gordon, 211. “mediator” and “treaty”: Blunt, April 23, 1884, ibid., 223. “opportunely” and “the pacification”: Blunt to Gladstone, April 23, 1884, ibid., 583–84.

  8. “If all”: Pall Mall Gazette, April 24, 1884.

  9. “a somewhat decayed blood” and “a thousand sportsmen”: Blunt, April 29 and 18, 1884, Gordon, 231 and 221.

  10. “The enemy”: Gordon to Henry Gordon, March 15, 1884, cit. Nutting, 254.

  11. “I am not a trickster”: Ohrwalder, 98; Abu-Salim, II, 254.

  12. “a filthy”: Allen, 320. “I cannot have”: Wingate, 115.

  13. “The town”: Gordon to Baring, March 31, 1884, cit. Allen, 321.

  14. “trumpery”: Gordon to Baring, received April 9, 1884, cit. Cromer, Modern Egypt, I, 549.

  15. “some 500”: Gordon to Baker, April 18, 1884, cit. Nutting, 255.

  16. “I consider”: Gordon to Baring, April 18, 1884 (FO78/3761).

  17. “You know” and “Messieurs”: Frank Power, January 2, 1884, Power, 70.

  18. “General Gordon”: Gladstone, April 3, 1884, Hansard (III), vol. 282, col. 1151.

  19. “I have from the first”: Gladstone to Hamilton, April 9, 1884, cit. Hamilton, II, 566. “one who bore”: Gladstone, memo by Hamilton, BM Add. Ms. 56452.

  20. Cuzzi’s telegrams: Allen, 321. “The question”: Baring to Granville, No. 350, March 24, 1884 (FO78/3669).

  21. “These officers”: Baring to Granville, No. 362, March 26, 1884 (FO78/3669).

  22. “You shot,” “actual,” “plans,” and “wishes”: Granville to Baring, No. 191, March 28, 1884 (PRO 30/29/200).

  23. “Gordon is our officer”: Hartington to Granville, February 6, 1884 (PRO 30/29/134). “The first thing” and “some sort of independent”: Hartington to Granville, April 16, 1884 (PRO 30/ 29/134). Wolseley’s memo to Granville, March 22, 1884, and Wilson’s memo, March 28, 1884, both PRO 30/29/170.

  24. “in the last”: Gladstone to Hartington, April 13, 1884, BM Add. Ms. 44547. “hemmed in,” “surrounded,” “bodies,” and “more or less”: Gladstone to the Commons, April 21, 1884, Hansard (III), vol. 283, col. 138. “If Berber”: Gladstone to the Commons, April 23, 1884, Hansard (III), vol. 283, col. 476.

  25. “more as a man”: Blunt, May 13, 1884; Gordon, 240.

  26. “It meant a war”: vote of censure debate, May 12, 1884, Hansard (III), vol. 288, col. 55.

  27. “You will incur”: Ibid., col. 65.

  28. “What does he mean” and “What is the answer”: Ibid., col. 65.

  29. “solemn covenant,” “reasonable assurance,” and “resources”: Ibid., col. 73. “It may” and “treasure”: Ibid., col. 71. “British and Christian”: Ibid., 70.

  30. “I believe”: Ibid., 216.

  31. “grudge”: Ibid., col. 235.

  32. “aggressive” and “measures”: Granville to Egerton, No. 266, May 17, 1884 (FO78/3663).

  33. “We are all”: Gordon to Baring, July 13, 1884 (received at Cairo August 28, 1884), Cromer, Modern Egypt, I, 578.

  34. “I say”: Gordon to Baring, cit. Cromer, Modern Egypt, I, 578, and Allen, 360. The questionnaire, dispatched from London on April 23, 1884, reached Khartoum on July 29; Gordon’s reply reached Cairo on September 18.

  35. “All hope”: Power to Moberley Bell, July 31, 1884, Power, 111.

  36. “How many”: Gordon to Baring, September 9, 1884, cit. Trench, 262, and Nutting, 271. This did not reach Cairo until November.

  37. “We never”: Mahdi to Gordon, October 22, 1884, cit. Gordon (ed. Habe) Journals at Khartoum, 522–30.

  38. “Poor Gordon”: Wolseley to Baker, July 26, 1884, cit. Sir R. Wingate, “Sir Samuel Baker’s Papers,” in Quarterly Review, CCCV (1967), 295–308, 303.

  39. “My military”: Wolseley to Hartington, July 23, 1884, cit. Holland, I, p. 468.

  40. “share the responsibility”: Gladstone to Hartington, August 19, 1884, BM Add. Ms. 44147. “five minutes” and “I cannot be responsible”: Hartington, memo to Granville, July 15, 1884, BM Add. Ms. 44147, f.87.

  41. “It is a question of personal honour”: Hartington to Granville, July 31, 1884, BM Add. Ms. 44147, f.91.

  42. “a domestic,” “a foreign,” and “a Gordon”: Gladstone to Granville, August 1, 1884, Gladstone, Political Correspondence, II (BM Add. Ms. 44177, f.6). “assured”: Gladstone to Hartington, August 19, 1884, BM Add. Ms. 44147.

  43. “I despair”: Hartington to Gladstone, August 22
, 1884, BM Add. Ms. 44147.

  44. “usual crowd,” “a real old man,” “cordial and affectionate,” and “very Turkish”: Wolseley’s diary, September 9 and 10, 1884, Wolseley, In Relief of Gordon, 11, 13, and 14.

  45. “It is troubles”: Wolseley to Lady Wolseley, November 25, 1884, Letters, 132.

  46. “Gordon inundates”: Wolseley, September 19, 1884, Wolseley, In Relief, 18.

  47. “If they do not”: Gordon, October 23, 1884, Journals, 212. “shake hands”: Wolseley to Lady Louisa, September 13, 1884, Letters, 119.

  48. “One tumbles”: Gordon, November 12, 1884, Journals, 292.

  49. “I judge”: October 5, ibid., 144.

  50. “It is simply,” “in honour,” and “six months”: Ibid., 139. “had deigned to say”: September 19, 1884, ibid., 50.

  51. “I own”: Ibid., 54. “It has come”: September 24, ibid., 86–87.

  52. “I toss”: September 14, 1884, ibid., 28–29.

  53. “It is inexplicable”: December 13, 1884, ibid., 364.

  54. “Now MARK” and “You send”: December 14, 1884, ibid., 365.

  55. “Khartoum”: Gordon to Wolseley, December 14, 1884, in Wolseley to Baring, December 31, 1884, enclosed in Baring to Granville, No. 1, January 1, 1885 (FO78/3799).

  56. “The game is up”: Gordon to Watson, December 14, 1884, enclosed in Baring to Granville, No. 182, February 25, 1885 (FO78/3801).

  57. “a long line”: Wilson, 19–20.

  58. “One poor”: Ibid., 27–28.

  59. “By Jove” and “fine old”: Ibid., 28.

  60. “The men’s”: Ibid., 71.

  61. “Gordon’s steamers”: Allen, 418.

  62. “There is no escape”: Abdullahi to Gordon, December 7 or 8, 1884; Gordon, Journals at Khartoum, App. AB, 476.

  63. The Mahdi wished to trade Gordon for Urabi: Slatin, 344.

  64. “Having seen”: The Mahdi (via Abdel Rahman al-Mahdi) to Gordon, January 12, 1885, cit. Al-Mahdi, A., “Correspondence (inc. Arabic text and trans.) on the Mahdi’s last letter to Gordon,” in SNR XXIV (1941), 231–32.

  65. “We swear”: B. Bedri, Memoirs of Babikr Bedri (2 vol., ed. and trans. Y. Bedri and P. Hogg; London: Ithaca Press, 1969, 1980), 28–29.