296 The Battle of Omdurman [1898 



" gth September. — On Monday the 6th news came of the defeat of 

 the Khalifa and the taking of Omdurman, and with it of Hubert 

 Howard's death, my only friend there and almost the only one on our 

 side to lose his life. The slaughter of the Dervishes seems to havg 

 been premeditated and ruthlessly carried out. When I was at Brambei 

 the other day Button told me that ' a heavy butcher's bill ' had been 

 ordered, as it was intended to make the avenging of Gordon a chief 

 feature of the business. Telegraphic communication with England was 

 on this account stopped (the excuse being that the wires had been 

 broken by a storm) lest any order of moderation should come, and as 

 far as I can read the despatches since received, there must have been a 

 wholesale massacre of the wounded and fugitives. The figures given 

 to-day are ten thousand counted corpses, sixteen thousand wounded, 

 who have crawled away to the river or the desert, and three hundred 

 or four hundred more killed in the town of Omdurman after the fight, 

 and only three thousand to four thousand prisoners ! ! ! As Button told 

 me, ' the performances of Tommy Atkins in the way of killing at At- 

 bara (a few days before the fight at Omdurman), passed everything 

 ever heard of. He was like a raging wild beast.' One may be pretty 

 sure that orders were given to spare none. 



" All this has moved my bile to the point that I have written in pro- 

 test to the ' Times,' but I doubt if they will print my letter. The whole 

 country, if one may judge by the Press, has gone mad with the lust of 

 fighting glory, and there is no moral sense left in England to which to 

 appeal. It is hideous but unmistakable. 



" Hubert's death is pitiful. There was nothing in the world to take 

 him there, for he was not in the army, nothing but a boyish whim. He 

 dined with Anne and Judith in London almost the night before he 

 started, and told them he was determined to fight. He was a delightful 

 boy, with a ringing, merry laugh it did one good to hear, and he had 

 considerable abilities, and the best of hearts, and he ends in a blind alley 

 of Omdurman a paid servant of the ' Times.' 



" 10th September. — My letter to the ' Times ' is printed, which is 

 more than I expected. I am curious to see whether it raises an echo 

 anywhere, but as yet no voice has spoken in any London paper, except 

 that Miss Gordon protests in her brother's name against his being 

 ' revenged.' A queer Christian country ours ! On the other hand 

 there has been an outbreak in Crete, a Moslem mob has risen against a 

 party of English marines sent by the Admiral to raise the custom dues, 

 and some have been killed, and the British Vice-Consulate has been 

 burnt, and Cretan Christians massacred, Edhem Pasha and the Turkish 

 garrison looking on." 



One characteristic letter was written to me at this time, apparently 

 by a parson ; it says, " By a curious coincidence an answer to your let- 



