Lord Cromer contributed to Thursday's Times a very interesting letter
on a point raised in Lord Edmond Fitz. maurice's recent Life of Lord Granville. In that work it was stated that Gordon originally was sent to the Soudan with a purely advisory commission, but that after a consultation with Nubar Pasha and Sir Evelyn Baring this was trans- formed into an executive commission with the consent of the Home Government. Lord Cromer gives the true story of the incident. Gordon came out to Egypt with instructions, practically drafted by himself, to report on the best means of evacuating the Soudan. But he had left behind him certain further suggestions, giving him executive authority as Governor-General of the Soudan, which Lord Granville instructed Sir Evelyn Baring by telegraph to discuss with Gordon when he arrived, and, if thought desirable, to act upon. The initiative, therefore, in changing the character of Gordon's instructions came, not from Egypt, as has been hitherto supposed, but from the Cabinet at home. Lord Granville's telegram is conclusive evidence that he and his colleagues did not merely concur in, but promoted the alteration. The point is of some importance in apportioning the responsibility for the tragic issue.
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