NEW EVIDENCE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2325, 22 September 1898, Page 45

NEW EVIDENCE.

THE TRUE STORY OF HOW KHARTOUM FELL. (By J. li., in the Melbourne Argus.) No biography of Gordon has yet told the true story of the fall of Khartoum. It is now known from, the evidence of a British court martial at Cairo. Its certainty is the sworn testimony of the eye-witnesses of every moment of the last four days before that fatal Monday's dawn of the 26th January, in 1885. The testimony is supported by the journals written within Khartoum during the whole of the month of January, and which were produced in courb by the writers. It is confirmed by an Arab of high rank, who was one of the besiegers, an important emir of the Mahdi's camp outside Khartoum. On the death of the Mahdi he had quarrelled with his successor, i and had remained a fugitive for years in Abyssinia. But he is now a respected teacher in the Aghar University of Cairo, and has lived to tell Ms story to the court martial. The court martial was held on a British officer, Hassan Bey Bahnassawi, the colonel commanding the sth Regiment at Khartoum, which had held the line of defence at that point where the Mahdi broke it, and where the Arab enemy entered. Hassen Bey was charged with having treacherously delivered up his post to the enemy, and after many days and much cross-examination of many witnesses he was honourably acquitted. There was no treachery. None on his part. None on the part of any who fell with Gordon at Khartoum. That supposition must be dismissed for ever. The truth is now plain as the light of day, and it is honourable alike to all —to the ,vanquished and to the victors. The evidence at this court martial is remarkable. It pictures in vivid detail the state of matters inside the fortress, and it adds reality to the description of what took place beyond the lines. These are two distinct stories, both demonstrating one conclusion — the devotion of all to the death, and the fall, not by treachery, but by famine. The desertion was in England, not in Khartoum. After clearly sifting the verbatim record of the evidence and the proceedings, the two stories may be presented clearly in their unity. STARVATION AND FIDELITY. The evidence of the court martial reveals a condition of gallant despair and hopeless devotion yet faithful adherence among the staunch little garrison, such as none but Gordon's own selfless constancy could have inspired. Khartoum had been under close siege and blockade for nearly a year. The rebels surrounded it on all sides, and cut off all supplies. Gordon's only remaining hope lay in that vainly-expected relief which never came. The narrative of Abd -el Hamid Bey, an eminent Khartoum merchant, who willingly gave up his large stores of grain to Gordon, vividly paints the horrors of the situation. It does more. It proves how utterly impossible among all that faithful little band was the shadow of treason or betrayal, and this though the garrison had everything to gain by desertion to the Mahdi, for to desert was to be received with open arms, and to stand by Gordon was to starve to-day and run the risk of massacre to-morrow. And yet the troops were staunch. "Gordon Pasha," says the merchant, describing the famine, "ordered me and the Greek Consul, with two adjutants and 40 soldiers, to search the town through and through for corn, and to store everything in the commissariat." This was at the beginning of that last month of January. They found corn buried underground, hidden in stores and in offices; all was taken to the commissariat. Jfivery corn-owner was given a receipt for what was taken. Payment would be made when the English came. They used to search daily for about three hours, until three weeks before Khartoum fell. Nothing was left in the possession of any of its inhabitants. But soon the commissariat was empty. The soldiers and the inhabitants had to eat dogs and donkeys, the skins of animals, and palmiibre. At last there was nothing left but gum. They sucked that. Then famine prevailed. The soldiers stood on the fortifications like pieces of wood. When afterwards, they could not even stand, faithful still they crawled to their posts, and lay in the embrasures. Like the lions on Britain's flag, "passant," but "regardant." Yet' ever again the mirage vanished, the river still flowed silent, the desert gave no Bign. They trusted England. She never came. Gordon's last moments, like his whole life, were given to saying others ; himself he would not cave. But his tension was at its extremity. He knew every day the Englishmen should be up. Every day he held out the same promise to the garrison. Every day his heart bled afresh at his promise broken. Three days before that fatal Sunday came he had made every preparation for savingthe lives of others at the supreme moment. He did everything to keep up hope. "The English must come to-morrow. If not that day, then the next." He issued an order that every day's delay from that date oould county as a year for pay and service. Finally; on Sunday morning, he appealed to his council of war to make a determined stand, for in 24 hours the English mußt arrive. "If we preferred to submit then," says the witness, "he gave the commandant liberty to open the gates and let all join the rebels." But nobody would leave him. He had nothing more to cay, for these are his last recorded words: — "What more can I say. The people will no longer believe me. I have told them over and over again that help would be here : but j it ban never come. If this, my last promise, fails, I can do nothing more. Go, and collect all the people on the lines, and make a good stand. Now, leave me to smoke these cigarettes. "I could see," the witness concludes, "that he was in despair. He spoke in a tone that'l had never heard before. All the anxiety he had undergone had gradually turned hia hair to a snowy white. I left him, and this was the last time I saw him alive." IN THE OAMP OF THE MAHDI. Yet- while €he garrison of Khartoum was thus at its last gasp, the Mahdi outside was on the eve of breaking up his camp. For he knew the English were approaching, and from among the 100,000 Arabs of his beleaguering hordes he l latl picked all his best fighting men, and had sent, them to intercept Lord Wole.eley's advance. These had delivered their famous attack at the wells of Abu Klea, and the news of the crushing defeat they had suffered reached the Mahdi on the Tuesday before the end. There was consternation in the Arab camp. The Mahdi was at last alarmed for his own safety. He had thought to reduce this one solitary invincible Englishman by starvation at last, but now the tables were turned, and he must himself fall into the handa of the

English. In a few short days they would be upon him. His only safety lay in immediate flight. "For," he argued, "if this one solitary Englishman, Gordon, with his handful of Egyptian soldiers, can keep us thus at bay for a whole year, how much more will these thousands of Englishmen, who have slain our bravest men at Abu Klea, be able to crush us and drive us away. We will be overwhelmed. Let us flee." He called a council of war, and on that Tuesday afternoon the fate of Gordon lay in the balance. A single hair turned the scale. The Mahdi told his council he had had a secret vision, where the prophet had bidden him to make his hejira — his flight — that it must be instant, and southward to Kordofan. All his council agreed to this but one — his favourite emir, Mohammed Abd el Kerim. He alone advised that they should first make their last assay. "For," said he, "if we succeed and enter Khartoum, then the English w_ill not dare to come on ; if we fail, we shall still have time to retreat." The advice was accepted. The Mahdi ordered a salute of 101 guns to be fired — the signal of victory. By this he hoped to delude the garrison in Khartoum. They would conclude, he thought, that Abu Kloa was lost, and their last hope gone. Inside > the city the people gazing across the river tried in vain to read the signs before them. A salute for victory ! and yet such crowds of weeping women around the camp. But tho salute did not help the Mahdi much, for in that long siege every trick and stratagem had been exhausted. It was clear to the defenders, however, that a battle had been fought, and Gordon, who never deceived his people, said on Thursday, " The English will be here to-morrow." No English came. On Friday he said, " They must be here to-mor-row." On Saturday the men said, " Gordon himself despairs — for he tells lies." Sunday came and went. The men said, " The Arabs have certainly won Abu Klea, or the English had been here." The last hope had vanished. : Still those desperate yet trusting adherents j stood fast. Life for them had few hours left, j They knew it. Death stared them now close i in the face. By starvation, if not by Arab steel. But of treachery there was none. Only the selfless devotion and adherence of men who were to-morrow to lay down their lives, true to the death, for him who had given his for them. Meanwhile the Mahdi had full information from his scouts of the pause the English were making at Abu Klea. Had Lord Beresford, been permitted to make his dash at once on Tuesday the flight of the Mahdi would have been immediate. Khartoum would not have fallen. But with the news of the delay the panic-stricken fanatics had recovered their zeal. On Sunday morning the news came to them that the English steamers had started on Saturday, and the Mahdi at once determined on the final attack. If that failed, then in the morning he would raise the siege. To all his camp he sent news of a vision. " The prophet had told him that God had given the lives of all the garrison of Khartoum into his hands. His army should fear nothing, for no harm could come to them. The attack should be made in the dead of night, or at very early morn, and in the darkness. They were not to wait for the light. God would be their guide." The race was won, and tho Malidi was first at the goal. Hunger and despair decided the issue. Gordon had no betrayer, unless it were those of his own country, who left him there, unsuccoured and alone, to face the desert doom.