The Story Of His Life Of Suffering And
Adventure, Written By Himself, Is Widely Known, And He Is Thought By
Those Who Have Read It To Be A Man Of Feeling And Of Honour.
By those
who enjoy his personal acquaintance this belief is unhesitatingly
confirmed.
He had, however, committed an act which deprived him of
Gordon's sympathy and respect. During the fighting in Darfur, after
several defeats, his Mohammedan soldiers were discouraged and attributed
their evil fortune to the fact that their commander was an infidel under
the curse of the Almighty. Slatin therefore proclaimed himself a follower
of the Prophet, and outwardly at least adopted the faith of Islam.
The troops, delighted at his conversion and cheered by the hope of
success, renewed their efforts, and the resistance of the Governor of
Darfur was prolonged. The end, however, was deferred, not averted.
After the destruction of General Hicks's army Slatin was compelled to
surrender to the Dervishes. The religion he had assumed to secure victory
he observed to escape death. The Arab leaders, who admired his courage,
treated him at first with respect and kindness, and he was conducted to
the Mahdi in his encampment before Khartoum. There during the siege he
remained, closely watched but not imprisoned. Thence he wrote letters
to Gordon explaining his surrender, excusing his apostacy, and begging
that he might be allowed - not even assisted - to escape to Khartoum.
The letters are extant, and scarcely anyone who reads them, reflecting
on the twelve years of danger and degradation that lay before this man,
will refuse their compassion.
Gordon was inflexible. Before the arrival of the letters his allusions
to Slatin are contemptuous: 'One cannot help being amused at the Mahdi
carrying all the Europeans about with him - nuns, priests, Greeks,
Austrian officers - what a medley, a regular Etat-Major!' [JOURNALS AT
KHARTOUM.] He is suspicious of the circumstances of his surrender.
'The Greek. . . says Slatin had 4,000 ardebs of dura, 1,500 cows, and
plenty of ammunition: he has been given eight horses by the Mahdi.'
He will not vouch for such a man; but he adds, with characteristic
justice, 'all this information must be taken with reserve.'
At length the letters came. At the peril of his life, when ordered to
write and demand the surrender of the town, Slatin substituted an appeal
to Gordon to countenance his escape. This is the uncompromising minute
in the Journals: 'Oct. 16. The letters of Slatin have arrived. I have
no remarks to make on them, and cannot make out why he wrote them.'
In the afternoon, indeed, he betrays some pity; but it is the pity of
a man for a mouse. 'He is evidently not a Spartan. . . he will want some
quarantine . . . one feels sorry for him.' The next day he is again
inexorable, and gives his reasons clearly. 'I shall have nothing to do
with Slatin's coming here to stay, unless he has the Mahdi's positive
leave, which he is not likely to get; his doing so would be the breaking
of his parole which should be as sacred when given to the Mahdi as to any
other power, and it would jeopardise the safety of all these Europeans,
prisoners with Mahdi.'
Slatin's position, it should be observed, was not that of an officer
released on parole, but of a prisoner of war in durance in the enemy's
camp.
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