Then, at the beginning of the new year, alarming
messages
began to arrive from Khartoum. Colonel Coetlogon, who was in
command of
the Egyptian troops, reported a menacing concentration of the
enemy. Day by day,
hour by hour, affairs grew worse. The Egyptians were obviously
outnumbered:
they could not maintain themselves in the field; Khartoum was in
danger; at
any moment, its investment might be complete. And, with Khartoum
once cut off
from communication with Egypt, what might not happen?
Colonel Coetlogon began to calculate how long the city would hold
out. Perhaps it could not resist the Mahdi for a month, perhaps
for more than a month; but he began to talk of the necessity of a
speedy retreat. It was clear that a climax was approaching, and
that measures must be taken to forestall it at once. Accordingly,
Sir Evelyn Baring, on receipt of final orders from England,
presented an ultimatum to the Egyptian Government: the Ministry
must either sanction the evacuation of the Sudan, or it must
resign. The Ministry was obstinate, and, on January 7th, 1884,
it resigned, to be replaced by a more pliable body of Pashas. On
the same day, General Gordon arrived at Southampton. He was over
fifty, and he was still, by the world's measurements, an
unimportant man. In spite of his achievements, in spite of a
certain celebrity-- for 'Chinese Gordon' was still occasionally
spoken of-- he was unrecognised and almost unemployed.
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