ole civilised world, for having sent one of her bravest
heroes into the heart of a hostile country in Africa, and then left him
to perish. The blame in the matter is often cast solely upon the
Liberals. Those who are not political partisans must see that this is
not a fair way of stating the truth. The government in office was a
Liberal one, but it cannot be said that it is a part of their programme
to leave English heroes to perish. Lord Palmerston, the old Whig
leader, would have been the first to denounce such a policy. The fact
is, the fault was not due to either party as such, but to the party
form of government that unfortunately prevails in this country. The
opposite party might have fallen into the same mistake, had they been
in the same position. The Government was afraid to split up its
supporters by engaging in another war so soon after the Egyptian and
Suakim campaigns. But, be the cause what it may, the fact remains that
much valuable time was lost, in spite of Lord Wolseley's remonstrances,
who said with truth--

"Remember, we can command many things, but all the gold of England
will not affect the rise and fall of the Nile, or the duration of
the hot and cold seasons in Egypt. Time is a most important element
in this question, and it will be indeed an indelible disgrace if we
allow the most generous, patriotic, and gallant of our public
servants to die of want, or fall into the hands of a cruel enemy,
because we would not hold out our hands to save him."

Public opinion at last grew too strong for the Government, and orders
were given on August 12th to commence making the boats that were to
convey the troops up the river Nile. The official report of the
campaign states that there were only 104 vessels on the Nile that were
able to pass the cataracts on the upper part of the river, so that
boats of some sort had to be taken out. From August 12th till the final
disaster took place no reasonable time was lost, but it takes time to
transport a large army over such obstacles as had to be surmounted. It
has been truly said that the campaign of the Nile was far more a
conflict with Nature than with man. We might, however, have overcome
Nature had we only taken the field earlier in the day.

* * *

When Gordon realised how thoroughly the enemy had invested Khartoum,
and that all supplies from outside were cut off, he wisely decided to
reduce th