In the first five extracts, Father Ohrwalder, from an initial mistake in forgetting or being unaware of the presence in Khartoum of the thousands of widows and orphans of the soldiers of Hicks’ army, flounders on until, as I have said, he is credited with opinions which he should be the last to give utterance to. It is passing strange that any missionary should place limits to the humanitarian views and forbearance of a military commander in time of war, who may invariably be |314| depended upon to err on the wrong side from the biblical point of view. Gordon, in keeping in mind the Sermon on the Mount, and acting up to its precepts as far as the exigencies of a state of war permitted, performed no act derogatory to him as a military commander. Gordon was no worse a Christian than he was a soldier—and the world never saw a better soldier. And whatever Gordon’s paramount duty may have been, it certainly was _not_ his paramount duty to weaken his little garrison by sending an expedition into Kordofan to rescue, say, a dozen people who, as far as Gordon and every one else in Khartoum knew, had disavowed the Christian religion and adopted that of the Mahdi. There is another aspect to the case. Gordon’s troops were Muslims. The “Christians” had adopted the “true faith” and become Muslims also. Why, then, should Muslim lives be sacrificed to “rescue” them from Islam and bring them back to Christianity? And it must not be forgotten that Slatin, so far from denying his conversion, excused himself on the ground that his religious education had been neglected at home. Gordon is not to be blamed for having believed that the “Christians” had sincerely adopted Islam, for apart from the mere adoption of the religion, people sworn to celibacy and chastity had entered the matrimonial state, which was considered a further evidence of their conversion. While the gardener of the Khartoum Mission was bewailing the money he had sent to the “apostates,” Consul Hansal wrote, asking that the matter be kept secret, to the Austrian |315| Consul-General in Cairo, informing him of what had occurred. Had there been any “Christians” to rescue from the Mahdi, doubtless Gordon’s paramount duty would have exhibited itself in some action. Nor is there any evidence that the Mahdi’s “fanatical fury” was in any single instance especially directed against the “Christians,” but there is a great deal of evidence to the contrary. With the exception of putting Slatin in chains, when he believed that he was playing him false, I know of no case of wanton cruelty practised by the Mahdi towards the “Christians,” and I am not sure whether “clemency” would not be the proper word to use in Slatin’s case, when it is remembered what happens to prisoners of war who break their parole, for Slatin and the others had sworn the oath of allegiance.