Page:Suakin, 1885.djvu/14

 of pain was felt by all as the cry was raised throughout the length and breadth of the land—Too late!

In spite of all the months of toil, and all the hardships and privations connected with Lord Wolseley's advance up the Nile; in spite of the hazardous march from Korti to Metemmeh and the shedding of some of England's best blood, a fragment of the expedition had only sighted the walls of Khartoum to find that treachery had been beforehand, and that one of England's greatest heroes had fallen when succour was almost within reach. But this was no time for inaction, the raison d'être of the Nile expedition was no more, the power of the Mahdi was enhanced, and the fall of Khartoum had brought thousands of recruits to his standards.

A perpetual succession of cabinet councils, the closing of the telegraph wires for all messages except those from the government to Lord Wolseley for two or three days, and then the decision was promulgated that a fresh expedition was to be despatched immediately to operate from Suakin.

There was no doubt about the feeling of the country at this time. We had been too late, it was true, but we must strike afresh now, strike