energies of the Army by offering a money reward to the first detachment which reached Debbeh, and that by the first week of January, 1885, Lord Wolseley would have about 7,000 men at Ambukol, of whom, perhaps, 2,000 might be ready to dash across the desert to Shendy, from whence the decisive blow at the Mahdi must be struck--beyond these facts and conjectures nothing was known. Dim rumours of Gordon’s futile sorties, of his feeling of disgust at being abandoned, and tidings that could not be doubted of the wreck of the steamer in which he had sent his gallant lieutenant, Colonel Stewart, and the British Consul at Khartoum, Mr. Frank Power, down to Berber, filled the minds of the people with the deepest anxiety. Gordon had sent Stewart to Berber with instructions to appeal to private munificence in the United States and British Colonies for funds with which to organise the relief expedition which he had ceased to beg from England. Stewart and his companions were murdered by natives after their steamer was wrecked. Hence the journals and diaries which Stewart carried were conveyed to the Mahdi, who, finding from them that Gordon was in dire straits, pressed the siege with redoubled energy. After the failure of the Conference to adjust the financial difficulties of Egypt, England “regained her freedom of action.” Lord Northbrook, as we have seen, was sent to Cairo to report on the situation, which in reality was a very simple one. Egypt could not pay the annual interest on her debt, and the Foreign Powers would not, in the interests of the bondholders, submit to have it reduced unless better security were given for the principal. The only course open, therefore, was either repudiation, or the acknowledgment of British responsibility for the financial administration of Egypt, which would have enabled Mr. Gladstone to have cut down, not only the bondholders’ interest, but also the taxes extorted from the Egyptian people. Lord Northbrook’s appointment was caustically criticised by the Tory Opposition, who connected his family name of Baring with a mission undertaken in financial interests. His mission thus did much to destroy the confidence of the populace in the Government, and when he returned, his recommendations, so far as they could be discussed, still further discredited Mr. Gladstone’s Government. For Lord Northbrook had discovered a third course open to him in Egypt. It was to leave the interest of Shylock untouched, but to meet the deficit in the Egyptian Budget, caused by the payment of Shylock’s bond, by transferring from Egypt to England the burden of supporting the Army of Occupation.[194] As for the existing emergency, Lord Northbrook suggested temporary repudiation, and his suggestion was adopted. The Law of Liquidation was suspended, and the creditors of Egypt were asked to be satisfied with less than their due, till matters could be set right. The Queen’s Government early in December attempted to meet the financial