Derek Kelley
Econ 467
2-24-06
Dr. Brian Strow
Scramble for Africa
Chapter 13 – Too Late?
Chapter 13 begins with Gordon Pasha the leader of the siege against the Mahdi who was gaining power daily. Gordon was equipped and in charge of one yacht and several hissing steamboats ready to carry out his mission. The mission of Gordon was specific, Evacuate Egyptian officials and soldiers along with their families. The mission also stated that Gordon was to help evacuate any remaining Garrisons throughout the Sudan. Gordon was taking this mission very seriously and should have considering it was authorized by Gladstone and the entire Cabinet. However, receiving this mission left a burden on Gordon because he had no way to extradite all of the Garrisons; due to this problem it was now time for Gordon Pasha to hand his mission over to someone else, a successor that would have a better shot at moving the Garrisons more efficiently.
By choosing a successor, one right for the job it was sure to cause conflict and that it did. The first choice made by Gordon was Zebehr Pasha a former slave dealer of Sudan, it was odd enough that at one time Gordon had sentenced Zebehr to death but was never carried out by the authorities in Cairo. However, as strange as it was for Gordon to pick such a former enemy parliament felt that it was not a good idea and began to look for alternatives. Before any alternatives could be found the siege had already began, and the outlook for Gordon was apparently a dim road leading out of Khartoum.
Khartoum was the location of Gordon and his fleet, consisting of a yacht and seven paddle boats standing with guns and reinforcements necessary for navigating the Nile. Gordon used these boats to start making attacks and they did so successfully bringing back rifles and bushels of grain to allow survival in Khartoum. Although one attack did not go as planned and ended up costing Gordon several good soldiers and his best general. This provoked Gordon to send his British companions to safety with the added motives to send a message to British Government in which he felt had abandoned him. At this point Gordon’s men and the city of Khartoum were lacking essential resources. The most important resource they were lacking was food; therefore Gordon sent a couple steamers to retrieve food.
When the steamers returned at the end of September, they came with food and hearsay of good news involving a relief mission directed at Khartoum. So with the return of food the men lead by Gordon had a sufficient supply of food able to nourish the troops till the middle of December. However, the news of the relief mission of Wolseley and Kitchener was the best news of all. Gordon was now planning on their arrival within the month, with the soldiers necessary to carry them to victory. As Gordon began to make room for the men with the relief crew he became very solitaire, described as making friends like a prisoner would in a jail cell. The solitaire confinement and lack of friend making could not last long, a young boy came with a message stating that he left the camp of Mahdi four days ago. The Madhi was coming to Khartoum with four thousand men and all of his prisoners;this news did nothing but make Gordon anxious for battle.
On October 22 a letter arrived to Gordon stamped with bright red wax that was imprinted with name Mahdi. The letter was written in Arabic and was hard for Gordon to decipher although it did send various thoughts through the head of Gordon. Initially they were thoughts related to the death of his British companions and then of confidential papers stated to be found in the letter where they never were.
Perhaps if there was one person that would be able to help Gordon it would be inside the camp of Mahdi. It would sound very unlikely but nevertheless, Rudolf Slatin is introduced as a dashing thirty something with close previous ties to Gordon. Slatin was an Austrian who had been appointed by Gordon to govern a western province called Darfur. The province was eventually overtaken by the Mahdi who took a uncharacteristic liking to Slatin and eventually put him up in the house of Khalifa to serve as a deputy to the Mahdi. Slatin was playing the role of deputy but was waiting slowly for the perfect chance to escape from Mahdi. Slatin was perhaps the first person to come along pointing out weaknesses hinting that the Mahdi was not unbeatable and with eagerness to help an old comrade Slatin was determined to make it happen.
It seems that Gordon is now being continuously filled with false hopes of help and rescue. Slatin was eventually caught trying to escape and was heavily chained to three donkeys for the remainder of the trip. A ship did arrive carrying only a message from Wolseley confirming Stewart’s death, Mahdi’s correctness, and Wolseleys own lack of knowledge of the situation. For Gordon to find out that Wolseley was still so far away and that his companion was probably dead must have put a devastating damper on the outlook for Khartoum.
It was very clear that Wolseley had underestimated the Mahdi and did not appear to be trying to make up time. Wolseley did not speed up the movement of the flying column in order to save precious time. It was very clear that time was running out and no one feared the concept more than Gordon. Perhaps the final words of his journal summed up the fear that was instilled in Gordon “The town may fall; but I have done the best for the honour of our country. However, to late was to late the chapter ends with the Mahdi invading Khartoum with relief soldiers only three months away.