Stewart's camp — Goobat. Did I ever tell you that this General Stewart is the son of the Rev. — Stewart whom you must have known at Winchester, when you were living in Dome Alley in the Close? The father was a very clever, agreeable man, with a handsome wife. He had a living somewhere near Winchester, and was, I believe, a Canon ^^ of the Cathedral. The son, the present General, must have been quite a boy at that time. I had been thinking of going up the Nile for a fortnight, but recent events have put this quite out of the question; the party I was to have gone with, about seven in all, went without me, and it is quite upon the cards that after all I may find myself back in England without having seen Luxor, Thebes, and the many places of interest in Upper Egypt — it can't be helped. Fremantle has been bombarding Osman Digna's ^ people in a camp they have formed about 9 miles from Suakin, but he found them too strongly posted and too numerous to warrant an attack with the handful of troops at his command, even if he would have been allowed to do so.
To his Brother
Cairo, February 20, 1885. My dear William, —... Events have been going on apace of late and have taken a very important turn. The fall of Khartoum and the death of poor Gordon will be attended with serious results, both moral and material; they will tend to raise the prestige of the Mahdi considerably, and increase the belief in his mission as a prophet. They will rally round him the wavering tribes, and increase considerably his present fighting power, which will be still further augmented by the troops and materials of war which the garrison and stores at Khartoum have now placed at his disposal. Khartoum will now be a difficult place to capture, and will in all probability be placed in a substantial state of defence by the help which the Mahdi is no doubt receiving from foreign adventurers. The advance upon Khartoum
must no doubt be delayed until the autumn. In the meantime we shall probably have to fall upon Korti, abandoning altogether the Bayuda Desert line, and occupy another line instead, from Abou Hamed to Hannek, along the Nile a good distance from the small force at Wolseley's disposal. If Berber could be captured it would be of very great advantage, but I doubt that being possible under present circumstances, and considering the approaching hot season that will probably have to stand over till the autumn. Brackenbury's ^^ column, now on its way to Abou Hamed, will, I imagine, halt there and occupy that point, as the extreme left of the new line to be taken up. In the meanwhile Graham's force will, I hope, be able to advance from Suakin about the third week in March. His operations will commence, I should think, by going straight for Osman Digna and bearding him in his den at Tamai or Tamanite, establishing his force in the cooler and more healthy mountainous district in the neighbourhood, and thence hunting down O. D. from place to place, though I doubt his ever capturing him; the railway after his first success can then be constructed pari passu with his subsequent operations. Possibly he may be able by a combined operation with the Abou Hamed force to attack Berber, but this will, as I said before, have in all probability to be deferred until the autumn. Graham's ^^ first success may be safely reckoned on to alienate many of Osman Digna 's followers. These plans will, of course, be liable to considerable modification from circumstances as they arise.... Poor Earle's death has been a sad blow to us all. It has now been followed by that of Herbert Stewart. These are both of them very serious losses; the two men were firstrate officers and will not be easily replaced....
To Mrs. Giffard
Cairo, March 25, 1885. My dear Ella, —... This will be a very poor and shabby letter, which unfortunately has been the
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