The British Government watched therefore
with anxious solicitude the efforts of Egypt to evacuate the Soudan
and bring the garrisons safely home. They utterly declined to assist
with military force, but they were generous with their advice. Everybody
at that time distrusted the capacities of the Egyptians, and it was
thought the evacuation might be accomplished if it were entrusted to
stronger and more honest men than were bred by the banks of the Nile.
The Ministers looked about them, wondering how they could assist the
Egyptian Government without risk or expense to themselves, and in an
evil hour for their fame and fortunes someone whispered the word 'Gordon.'
Forthwith they proceeded to telegraph to Cairo: 'Would General Charles
Gordon be of any use to you or to the Egyptian Government; and, if so,
in what capacity'? The Egyptian Government replied through Sir Evelyn
Baring that as the movement in the Soudan was partly religious they were
'very much averse' from the appointment of a Christian in high command.
The eyes of all those who possessed local knowledge were turned to
a different person. There was one man who might stem the tide of Mahdism,
who might perhaps restore the falling dominion of Egypt, who might at
least save the garrisons of the Soudan. In their necessity and distress
the Khedivial advisers and the British plenipotentiary looked
as a desperate remedy to the man whose liberty they had curtailed,
whose property they had confiscated, and whose son they
had executed--Zubehr Pasha.
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