=Source.=--Holland's _Life of the Duke of Devonshire_, vol. i., p.
472 _et seq._ (Longmans.)
On 29th July Lord Hartington circulated to the Cabinet his
own final memorandum on the subject. He said: "I wish before
Parliament is prorogued, and it becomes absolutely impossible to do
anything for the relief of General Gordon, to bring the subject
once more under the consideration of the Cabinet. On the last
occasion when it was discussed, although an opinion was expressed
that the balance of probability was that no expedition would be
required to enable General Gordon and those dependent on him to
leave Khartoum, I gathered that a considerable majority were in
favour of making some preparations, and taking some steps which
would make a relief expedition to Khartoum possible. I believe
that I have already stated the grounds on which I think that if
anything is now attempted it must be by the Valley of the Nile,
and not by the Suakin-Berber line. The delay which has taken place
makes it impossible that the railway should be constructed for
any considerable distance on that line during the next autumn
and winter, the period during which military operations would be
practicable without great suffering and loss of life to the troops.
The renewed concentration of the tribes under Osman Digna, near
Suakin, and the fall of Berber, makes it inevitable that severe
fighting would have to be done at both ends of the march, and,
in consequence of the necessity of crossing the desert in small
detachments, the engagement near Berber would be fought under
great disadvantages. On the other hand, we have for the defence
of the Nile itself been compelled to send a considerable force of
British and Egyptian troops up the Nile; and the positions which
are now occupied by those troops are so many stages on the advance
by the Nile Valley.... The proposal which I make is that a brigade
should be ordered to advance as soon as possible to Dongola by
the Nile.... I have not entered into the question whether it is
or is not probable that General Gordon can leave Khartoum without
assistance. As we know absolutely nothing, any opinion on this
subject can only be guess-work. But I do not see how it is possible
to redeem the pledges which we have given, if the necessity should
be proved to exist, without some such preparations and measures as
those which I now suggest...." Mr. Chamberlain minuted that he was
"against what is called an expedition, or the preparations for an
expedition." He did not think that the information was sufficient
to justify it. He thought that more information should first be
obtained.... Mr. Gladstone minuted (July 31): "I confess it to be
my strong conviction that to send an expedition either to Dongola
or Khartoum at the present time would be to act in the teeth of
evidence as to Gordon which, however imperfect, is far from being
trivial, and would be a grave and dangerous error." Mr. Gladstone
at the same time wrote to Lord Granville a letter, which the latter
forwarded to Lord Hartington. He said: "I had intended to give much
time to-day to collecting the sum of the evidence as to Gordon's
position, which appears to me to be strangely underrated by
some.... Undoubtedly I can be no party to the proposed despatch, as
a first step, of a brigade to Dongola. I do not think the evidence
as to Gordon's position requires or justifies, in itself, military
preparations for the contingency of a military expedition. There
are, however, preparations, perhaps, of various kinds which might
be made, and which are matters simply of cost, and do not include
necessary consequences in point of policy. To these I have never
offered an insuperable objection, and the adoption of them might
be, at the worst, a smaller evil than the evils with which we are
threatened in other forms. This on what I may call my side. On
the other hand, I hope I may presume that, while we are looking
into the matters I have just indicated, nothing will be done to
accelerate a Gordon crisis until we see, in the early days of next
week, what the Conference crisis is to produce."