Gordon, the other to collect information. The latter, on his return, stated that he had met a Jaalin Arab, who told him that Kartoum had fallen on the night of the 26th, through the treachery of Farag Pasha and the Mudir of the town, and that General Gordon was dead. He also said that on the 27th the Mahdi had entered Kartoum, prayed in the principal mosque, and then retired to Omdurman, leaving the town to three days' pillage.
"The reasons which led me to the conclusion that Kartoum had fallen were, – the heavy fire brought to bear upon us from Tuti Island; the absence of any fire from Kartoum in our support; the fact that no Egyptian flag was flying from any place in or near the town, though Government and other houses were plainly visible; the presence of a large number of dervishes with their banners on the sandspit B; and the fact that a number of General Gordon's troop-boats and nuggers were lying along the left bank of the White Nile under Omdurman Fort."
On the 29th one of the steamers ran on a rock and foundered. Everything was taken on board the other, which continued the descent of the river till, on the 31st, within about 30 to 40 miles of the camp at Gubat, and a little above a fortified post of the enemy, the remaining steamer grounded, and was beached on a small island, where everything was landed. At dark, Lieutenant Stuart-Wortley, of Wilson's staff, started for Gubat with information of the situation and a request for assistance. He left in a small boat, and running past the battery, reached Gubat early next morning. Here he gave his report of the events he had witnessed to the officer commanding, who forwarded it with a letter of his own to Lord Wolseley the same day (1st Feb.). Lord Wolseley, in his despatch to Lord Hartington, dated 9th Feb., conveying the information of the fall of Kartoum, says: "Lieutenant Stuart-Wortley's report, which is amongst the enclosures of this despatch, describes the attempt made by Colonel Sir Charles Wilson to reach Kartoum for the purpose of communicating with General Gordon." (This is the confirmation of the nature of Wilson's mission which we before alluded to.) And in the same despatch, Lord Wolseley says that if the news of the fall of Kartoum be true, "the mission of this force, which was the relief of Kartoum, falls to the ground. The strength and composition of this little army was calculated for the relief, not the siege and capture, of Kartoum." (The italics are ours.)
Wilson remained on the island till the 3d February, when, just as he was preparing to make his way down the right bank, Lord Charles Beresford in the Safieh came to the rescue, and after a fight with the enemy's battery, in which Wilson took part with his one gun and his riflemen from the opposite bank, all were embarked, and reached Gubat on the evening of the 4th. Wilson then started for Korti, and was there on or before the llth, for his report is dated from that place on that day.
Up to this time, we have seen, there was no question as to the nature of Wilson's mission. But it had now become deeply impressed on Lord Wolseley's mind that the costly, lavishly-supplied expedition, to which the attention of the world had been so pointedly invited, was a lamentable failure. His meditations on this subject seem to have given birth to the idea that the catastrophe might be imputable to Wilson's stay at Gubat; for in his next despatch, dated 15th February, forwarding Wilson's report of the 11th, Wolseley says: –
"My Lord, – I have the honour to enclose a Report by Sir Charles Wil-
