GENERAL GORDON'S MISSION TO THE SOUDAN.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 6780, 12 February 1884, Page 3

GENERAL GORDON'S MISSION TO THE SOUDAN.

The London Times of January 20th says : — General (Chinese) Gordon goes straight to Souakim via the canal. He will meet Mr Baring, the British ConsulGeneral, at Suez, and come to an agreement in regard to the co-operation of the English authorities in Egypt as far as may be necessary. Morissa, the chief of the Hadendowa tribe, whose sons General Gordon saved from the death to which they had been condemned by the Egyptian officials for making raids, will be summoned to Souakim, and General Gordon will go with his escort to Khartoum, where he will assemble the heads of the tribes, and announce that he has come on behalf of England to restore their liberty and remove the adventurers who have recourse to the country. He will also inform the chiefs that the slave trade must cease. So soon as he haa finished his task in the Soudan he will go to tho Congo country, and deal with the slave trade in its head-quarters. General Gordon expects to be five months in the Soudan. The King of the Belgians has asked the English Government to send him an English officer to act in General Gordon's place in the Congo country until General Gordon is ready to fulfil his engagement. A despatch from Khartoum, dated January 18th, says that a number of Dervishes have summoned the people to join El Mahdi, and a great army is expected in ten days. It also states that English sovereigns, recently popular in the bazaars, are now refused or only taken at > a discount. This is regarded as ominous,

The bearing of the people has been totally changed, and some very strong influence is at work. A despath from Cairo, dated January 20tb, states that Khartoum still remains open to Cairo, and that the appointment j of Chinese Gordon is generally welcomed.