“DEAR MISS GORDON,--_How_ shall I write to you, or how shall I attempt to express _what I feel_! To _think_ of your dear, noble, heroic Brother, who served his country and his Queen so truly, so heroically, with a self-sacrifice so edifying to the world, not having been rescued. That the promises of support were not fulfilled--which I so frequently and constantly pressed on those who asked him to go--is to me _grief inexpressible_!--indeed, it has made me ill! My heart bleeds for you, his Sister, who have gone through so many anxieties on his account, and who loved the dear Brother as he deserved to be. You are all so good and trustful, and have such strong faith, that you will be sustained even now, when real absolute evidence of your dear Brother’s death does not exist--but I fear there cannot be much doubt of it. Some day I hope to see you again to tell you all I cannot express. My daughter Beatrice, who has felt quite as I do, wishes me to express her deepest sympathy with you. I hear so many expressions of sorrow and sympathy from _abroad_; from my eldest daughter, the Crown Princess, and from my Cousin, the King of the Belgians, the very warmest. Would you express to your other Sisters and your elder Brother my true sympathy, and what I do so keenly feel--the _stain_ left upon England for your dear Brother’s cruel, though heroic, fate!--Ever, dear Miss Gordon, yours sincerely and sympathisingly, “V.R.I.”[226] After Gordon’s death public interest in the “sad Soudan” slowly faded. The River Column under General Earle’s skilful guidance had won a brilliant little victory at Kirbekan, where, however, its gallant leader lost his life. He was succeeded by General Brackenbury, who ascended the river steadily to Abu Hamed. Suddenly, however, Lord Wolseley ordered both columns to retreat on Korti, and hold Dongola till his autumn campaign of vengeance against the Mahdi could be undertaken. Meanwhile, General Graham, with 9,000 men, and an Indian and Australian Contingent,[227] was to drive back Osman Digna at Suakin, and lay a railway from that port to Berber. Graham defeated the Arabs in several engagements, though in one of them the skill with which the Arabs surprised a zareba almost reproduced the disaster of Isandhlwana. But the dispute with Russia afforded a plausible excuse for freeing England from the incubus of the Soudan, and in April Lord Wolseley evacuated Dongola and fell back on the line of Wady Halfa. The Suakin railway was abandoned, and when Lord Salisbury’s Government took office they, too, adhered to the policy of evacuation. The Mahdi died. Osman Digna became entangled in hostilities with the Abyssinian Ras Alula, who attempted to raise the siege of Kassala, and for a time it seemed as if all fears of disturbances on the Egyptian frontier were dispelled. Towards the end of the year, however, the Arabs attacked an advanced post beyond Assouan, where they were skilfully repulsed by General Stephenson at the battle of Kosheh.