FL4618284

(22)
Lord Granville, beginning to entertain fears for his own position,
authorized (17th May) Mr. Egerton to pay money to Zebehr (!)
for sending a message to General Gordon, and £400 more if he
could obtain Gordon's reply. For a Gordon to employ Zebehr to
save more than 25,000 lives was not to be endured; but it was
tolerable for a Granville to use him in a ministerial crisis.* Too
truly had Mr. Cowen augured as to the nobility of Gordon and the
meanness of the Ministry.

On the 17th May, Lord Granville sent a dispatch (Egypt, No. 22,
1884) enjoinig " Gordon "to consider and report upon, or if
feasible , to adopt measures for his own removal, and for that of
the Egyptians," &c., "having especial regard for his own safety and
that of the other British subjects." The beleaguered General,
whom many dispatches never reached, was to be "at liberty to assign sums" in payment for successful escapes. But in June,
the noble Earl, who thus instructed generals, learned that Berber
(to which he had once glibly ordered Gordon to march with the
Egyptians) had been sacked.

It was feared that public opinion might be sensitive as to the
treatment of Gordon. It was stated that Mr. Gladstone's incon-stant mind was exercised for many weeks in debating whether an
expedition should be sent by the Nile Valley, or from Suakim via
Berber.

Vainly had Lord Wolseley provided details in the first week in
April for men who would not decide until 26th August whether
they would adopt the Nie route. Nevertheless, Gladstone himself,
when Gordon was dead, made merry with the question, and was
not ashamed. "No doubt" (he said in the House in Feb. 1885)
"much time was spent in the examination of the question. Are
hon. gentlemen ready to say that too much time was spent upon
it? I think I may say for some months the balance of evidence
seemed to be in favour of the Suakim route, difficult as it was.
... In the meantime, we had no reason to believe that Khar-
toum was in immediate danger."

This he had the effrontery to tell the House, while Blue-Books
gave evidence to the contrary, and his own colleague, speaking in
May 1884, had stated that the provisions in Khartoum would be
exhausted early in September.

Doubtless Gordon had eked out his supplies by occasional cap-

* Zebehr sent letters by a messenger who was reverently received by the Mahdi's Emir
commanding at Berber. The messenger travelled safely to Shendy, but was there stopped
by the beseigers of Khartoum, and he returned to Cairo in October. (Blue-Book, 1885,
Egypt, No. 1, p. 64) The respect paid to Zebehr at Berber after it was in the Mahdi's
hands is strong evidence that Gordon might have saved the garrisons if Zebehr had
been allowed to go to him.