Considerable excitement has been caused by an article in the
Contemporary Review, in which Mr. E. N. Bennett accuses Lord Kitchener's army of gross cruelty after Omdurman. Substantially the charge amounts to this, that the Soudanese and Egyptians murdered the wounded, that shells were fired against a crowd of fugitives which included women and children, and that Omdurman was given up to looting, which was attended with the usual crimes. It is hinted that Lord Kitchener, not wishing for prisoners, did not interfere as be ought to have done. That wounded Baggara were shot seems certain, as also that they provoked their fate by murderous treachery, but officers present on the field, especially Colonel Townshend, who was Commandant in Omdurman, deny the other allegations point by point, and are supported by Mr. Bennet Burleigh, the correspondent of the Lally Telegraph. Lord Kitchener hotly repudiates the libel, and all concerned seem willing to stand investigation. Our own impression from the whole correspondence is that Mr. Bennett, disliking the Birder, who is harsh to correspondents, gave too credulous an ear to stories from native servants, who are entirely untrustworthy. There will always be isolated incidents of cruelty in every battle, many men practically losing their reason ; but Lord Kitchener is the last man to indulge the blood-thirst of troops under his command,—not from humanity so much as from a thorough knowledge that any breaking loose is fatal to die. cipline. The exhumation of the Mandi's body, and the cutting off of its head, which is also alleged, were doubtless sanc- tioned in order to destroy the Dervishes' belief in his divine mission. In Mahommedan belief, the removal of the head will greatly puzzle Azrael when he flies abroad to summon the dead to judgment.
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