THE SOUDAN CAMPAIGN.

Timaru Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 3285, 8 April 1885, Page 2

THE SOUDAN CAMPAIGN.

(Per Elecxbic Telegbaph. — Copykjght. ) (Reuteb's Agency.) [Received 2.10 p.m. April 7th. j Souakim, April 6 (morning). The British zareeba has been abandoned, and the stores which were forwarded there have been brought back to Souakim. The Coldstream Guards and colonial troops have formed a zareeba at a point about five miles from Handoub, The works were completed to-day, and a general advauce on Handoub will be made on Wednesday. A report is current that General Wolaeley is coming here from Cairo. GENERAL GORDON'S LAST DAYS. The special correspondent of the Daily Telegraph at Abu Kru sends the following deßpitch, dated February 12th : — "General Gordon's trusted messenger, George, a well-known Khartoum Greek merchant, who for months post has been entrusted with all letters passing from or to the besieged, and who has been living on board one of the steamers sent here, states that nearly all the natives' stories agree that General Gordon, on learning that he was betrayed, made a rush for the magazine in the Catholic mission building. Finding that the enemy were actually in possession of that building by the treachery of Faragh, General Gordon returned to Government House, and was killed while trying to re-enter it. Some say that he was shot ; others that he was stabbed. The Mahdi's people were admitted to Khartoum at ten o'clock on the night of January 26th, George adds that the rebels massacred all the white people, men, women and children, throwing the bodies into the Nile, many of which ccrpses he and others saw while with Sir Charles Wilson's party. The families of all the men on board General Gordon's steamers were also murdered. General Gordon clearly anticipated his fate, for he wrote a number of farewell letters during the month of January. These were sent off in a mail bag on board the steamer, and given to George, who handed them over to Sir Charles Wilson on January 21st. Among the letters were one foi his sister, and others for his brother, for Captain Brocklehurst, Lord Wolseley, and Sir Charles Wilson. There were also five complete monthly diaries of the siege of Khartoum, narrating all the events that had taken place since Colonel Stewart left him. In his letter to Sir Charles Wilson General Gordon wrote that he hoped, by God's Will, the English would arrive in time to save him and others, but feared they would be too bite ; that he knew ho was being betrayed, but was powerless to prevent it. His information was that Khartoum was to be surrendered on January 19th to the Mahdi. He could get away if he wished to run, but refused to go, and would remain to the last. As he would not permit himself to be taken prisoner, there was nothing left but death. Khasm El Mous, the commandant with tho steamers here, who has proved so loyal throughout, states that even had the English got to Khartoum a month earlier they would have been too late to save Gordon, for the two traitors had committed themselves, and would never have awaited our arrival, as they feared that General Gordon would punish them. The people of Khartoum had despaired of ever seeing English soldiers, and tried to make the' best terms they could. After the battle of Abu Klea the Mahdi no doubt promised much." General Gordon, writes a correspondent, hod had a hundred attacks of angina pectoria before ho started a year ago for the Soudan. In a letter last spring he said his " pain " was then less frequent, but that it had been very bad on his arrival at Khartoum, Anxiety, he thought, had then aggravated it. It is often the weakly ones, whose lives hang by a thread, who do the most work in the world. oobdon's paper money. The Daily Chronicle correspondent, writing, from Gubat,. says : — " The Mahdi, when Khartoum fell, secured the whole of General Gordon's papers, together with a large number of bank notes issued by the gallant defender of Khartoum. These, we are informed, he is now taking steps to negotiate, and obtain much-needed ready cash by discounting them; As General Gordon pledged England's word to redeem them, it will require some ingenuity to defeat the Mahdi's object. Indeed, it will be noxt to impossible! to detect the notes which tho Mahdi has seized and those which haTe been circulated bond fide by General Gordon himself, especially as all documents are in the False Prophet's hands. Many of the people from Khartoum who came here in Gordon's steamers hold these notes, which they obtained in a perfectly legitimate manner, and such claims as theirs can scarcely be overlooked. Many natives, moreover, who months ago held friendly and trading relations with Khartoum, have these pieces of paper, md they will certainly look for their redemption. Many of the notes have been bought by the officers here at a far higher rate than their nominal value, as a memento of she hero who is gone. Another relic of the gallant defence of Khartoum, however, is sven more sought after than the bank notes', »nd that is the leaden medals which Genertl Gkrdon ordered to be struck and distributed to every man, woman and child in the beleaguered city, in token of the bravery they had displayed. Several of these medals were in possession of Gordon's men, but they were so eagerly bought up, not only by officers, but by the men too, that they are now at a premium, and at such a premium too, that an offer of their weight in gold fails to induce the luoky owners to port with them."