459. The date upon which Lord Wolseley ordered the River column to retire, was the 20th of February. See ante, chap. xvi., p. 391.

460. Colvile, Official Account , part ii. p. 181. The full text of this despatch from the Secretary of State to Sir G. Graham is given in that work.

461. Ibid. , ii. 195.

462. It is worthy of remark that this was not a light railway, as had been originally proposed; but a line of the ordinary gauge, such as is constructed in England, for general traffic. See Map No. 8, p. 360.

463. Captain Dalrymple was succeeded as Brigade-Major by Captain Stopford.

464. The New South Wales Battalion formed part of this force, having reached Suakin on March 29th.

465. With the dispersal of the force collected at T'Hakul, the political question of the Eastern Sudan may be said to have been solved for the time being; large numbers of the natives placed themselves unconditionally at the disposal of Sir G. Graham, and a decided movement was set on foot against Osman Digna, even among those who were considered to be his closest adherents. It may be remarked that, though Osman Digna appears as our principal opponent, he was not a military leader likely to give much trouble once his followers had been defeated; the fact being, that he himself never appeared on or near the scene of conflict, but was content to urge on his men from some safe position or inaccessible fastness. (Colvile, Official Account, part ii., pp. 217, 323.)

466. Colvile, Official Account , part ii. p. 212.

467. Colvile, Official Account , ii. 167.

468. Colvile, Official Account , ii. 169.

470. See Major Wingate, R.A., Ten Years' Captivity in the Madhi’s Camp, 1882-92, (from original manuscripts of Father J. Ohrwalder, late Priest of the Austrian Mission at Delen, in Kordofan), p. 160. (London, 1892.)

469. Colonel Boscawen’s report to the Officers Commanding 1st and 2nd Coldstream Guards, contained the following: “As the various detachments forming the Guards Camel regiment are shortly to return to their several Battalions, I have the honour to report on the general conduct of the Non-commissioned officers and men of the 1st and 2nd Battalions Coldstream Guards, during the period of service on the Nile expedition. The peculiar work which all ranks have been called upon to perform has been trying and arduous, and for the most part quite novel to the men. Nevertheless, it gives me the greatest satisfaction to testify to the cheerful and zealous manner with which these exceptional duties have been throughout accomplished. The behaviour of the men in the field needs no comment from me. The period of inaction, subsequent to the campaign, has been perhaps not the least tedious to soldiers, who lately had seen a good deal of hard work and excitement, but their behaviour has been uniformly unexceptionable.”