The Egyptian papers presented to Parliament on Thursday show clearly
that the British Government rejected Zebehr as Viceroy or Sultan of the Soudan on the definite ground that he would, if he defeated the Mahdi, be a great danger to Egypt, and that he would be irresistibly tempted either to revive slave. catching or to wink at it. They also show that the dispatch of an English force from Suakim to Berber was carefully con- sidered, and was rejected on the ground of nearly insuperable military difficulties ; while the use of an Indian force was refused as unfair to India, and, from the nature of the service to be under- taken—that is, from the necessity of using Mussulmans against a Mahdi,—involving unknown risks. And they finally show that General Gordon did, on April 8th, telegraph to Sir Evelyn Baring that he had been " abandoned," in words which, Sir Evelyn says, show him to be "very indignant." A month before, on March 11th, he had telegraphed to Cairo his "sincere thanks for the support her Majesty's Government had afforded him since he took up his mission." They do not, however, show that he is in any danger, he having full power to retreat to the South if he pleases, and either reach the Congo or come out by Zanzibar. The Austrian geographer, Baron Hofmann, who knows personally the Equatorial region, says either course is easy.
