THE SLAUGHTER IN THE SOUDAN.

Auckland Star, Volume XXI, Issue 4193, 24 November 1883, Page 2

THE SLAUGHTER IN THE SOUDAN.

Hicks Pasha and Ton Thousand Men sailed.

Escape of a Newspaper Correspondent,

[uruter's cablegrams.]

Alexandria, November 22. The intelligence of the defeat and annihilation of tho Egyptian army in the Soudan is now fully confirmed. The accounts received this evening show that General

Hicks had concentrated his entire force, consisting of 10,000 men and 10 British officers, when the attack was made by the enemy under El Mahdi, the False Prophet, whose followers are said to have numbered 300,000. On the approach of the rebels, Hicks Pasha termed his troops into a hollow square, and in this position withstood the attack for three days, during which time the fighting was continuous and most desperato on both sides. At the end of the third day the square was broken, and a general rout ensued. The enemy fell on the defeated army, and the slaughter was terrible, the whole force of 10,000 men, including General Hicks and the British officers, being killed. The intelligence caused intense excitement in Cairo, and it is expected that the proposed evacuation of that city by the British forces now stationed there will be postponed

London, November 22.

Tho news of the complete annihilation of tho troops under General Hicks Pasha is now confirmed. The number of Egyptian troops is estimated at 10,000, while those undor the False Prophet Mahdi are stated to have been 300,000. Mahdi sent forward to the enemy dervishes, declaring jthat he would vanquish them by Divine aid. Tho small force of Egyptians fought hard for three days, when their square was broken, and the whole of them, with the exception of a German artist and Mr O'Donovan, a newspaper correspondent, were annihilated. Eleven English officers wore among those killed. The British suggest that the Soudan should bo abandoned as far as the White Nile or White River. London, November 23.

A captain of tho Egyptian forces, in the disguise of a dervish, has arrived at Khartoum, and reports that on the battlefield he saw 150 wounded survivors of Hicks Pasha's army, including an artist named Power. The Egyptians are quite paralysed at the result ofihe conflict, and the Government is consulting with Sir Evelyn Wood, who is in command of the British troops in Egypt, as to the means of quelling tho rebellion.