diff options
| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 01:24:28 -0700 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 01:24:28 -0700 |
| commit | 67a62722648203cad3dfa13ae071d8f90740059b (patch) | |
| tree | 2ce6886d1980e44c3498af4a2ede4c3c19bb268c /20619-h | |
Diffstat (limited to '20619-h')
| -rw-r--r-- | 20619-h/20619-h.htm | 3722 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 20619-h/images/cover.jpg | bin | 0 -> 43520 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 20619-h/images/p118.jpg | bin | 0 -> 45629 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 20619-h/images/p155.jpg | bin | 0 -> 31843 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 20619-h/images/p17.jpg | bin | 0 -> 23914 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 20619-h/images/p45.jpg | bin | 0 -> 37456 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 20619-h/images/p51.jpg | bin | 0 -> 29101 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 20619-h/images/p6.jpg | bin | 0 -> 22206 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 20619-h/images/p81.jpg | bin | 0 -> 29804 bytes |
9 files changed, 3722 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/20619-h/20619-h.htm b/20619-h/20619-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..68c9b21 --- /dev/null +++ b/20619-h/20619-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,3722 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII" /> +<title>General Gordon</title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + P { margin-top: .75em; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + H1, H2 { + text-align: center; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + } + H3, H4 { + text-align: left; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; + } + BODY{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + TD { vertical-align: top; } + .blkquot {margin-left: 4em; margin-right: 4em;} /* block indent */ + + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + .pagenum {position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + color: gray;} + + .citation {vertical-align: super; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: none;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> +</head> +<body> +<h2> +<a href="#startoftext">General Gordon, by J. Wardle</a> +</h2> +<pre> +The Project Gutenberg eBook, General Gordon, by J. Wardle + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: General Gordon + Saint and Soldier + + +Author: J. Wardle + + + +Release Date: February 19, 2007 [eBook #20619] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GENERAL GORDON*** +</pre> +<p><a name="startoftext"></a></p> +<p>This ebook was transcribed by Les Bowler.</p> +<h1>GENERAL GORDON:<br /> +SAINT AND SOLDIER.</h1> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">By</span><br /> +J. WARDLE, C.C.,<br /> +<span class="smcap">a personal friend</span>.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"><span +class="smcap">nottingham</span>:<br /> +<span class="smcap">Henry B. Saxton</span>, <span +class="smcap">King Street</span>.<br /> +1904.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p6.jpg"> +<img alt="The Author" src="images/p6.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<h2><!-- page 3--><a name="page3"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +3</span>PREFACE.</h2> +<p>Nothing but the greatest possible pressure from my many kind +friends who have heard my lecture on “General Gordon: Saint +and Soldier,” who knew of my intimacy with him, and had +seen some of the letters referred to, would have induced me to +narrate this little story of a noble life. I am greatly +indebted to many friends, authors, and newspapers, for extracts +and incidents, etc., etc.; and to them I beg to offer my best +thanks and humble apology. This book is issued in the hope, +that, with all its imperfections, it may inspire the young men of +our times to imitate the Christ-like spirit and example of our +illustrious and noble hero, C. G. Gordon.</p> +<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">J. +Wardle</span>.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"><!-- page 5--><a +name="page5"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 5</span>THIS BRIEF +STORY<br /> +<span class="smcap">of a</span><br /> +NOBLE, SAINTLY <span class="smcap">and</span> HEROIC LIFE,<br /> +<span class="smcap">I Dedicate with Much Affection</span><br /> +<span class="smcap">To My Son</span>,<br /> +JOSEPH GORDON WARDLE</p> +<blockquote><p><!-- page 7--><a name="page7"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 7</span>“If I am asked, who is the +greatest man? I answer, “the best.” And if I am +requested to say, who is the best, I reply: “he that +deserveth most of his fellow creatures.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>Sir William Jones</i>.</p> +<h2><!-- page 9--><a name="page9"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +9</span>INDEX.</h2> +<p><i>Chapter</i> I.—Introduction—Gordon’s +birth, parentage and school—His first experience of warfare +in the Crimea—His display of exceptional soldierly +qualities—The storming of Sebastopol and its fall.</p> +<p><i>Chapter</i> II.—Gordon assisting to lay down +frontiers in Russia, Turkey and Armenia—Gordon in +China—Burning of the Summer Palace—Chinese rebellion +and its suppression.</p> +<p><i>Chapter</i> III.—Gordon at Manchester—My +experiences with him—Ragged School work—Amongst the +poor, the old, the sick—Some of his letters to me, showing +his deep solicitude for the lads.</p> +<p><i>Chapter</i> IV.—Gordon’s letters—Leaflet, +&c.—His work at Gravesend—Amongst his +“Kings”—His call to foreign service, and leave +taking—The public regret.</p> +<p><i>Chapter</i> V.—His first appointment as Governor +General of the Soudan—His journey to, and his arrival at +Khartoum—His many difficulties—His visit to King John +of Abyssinia, and resignation.</p> +<p><i>Chapter</i> VI.—Gordon’s return to Egypt and +welcome by the Khedive—Home again—A second visit to +China—Soudan very unsettled—The Madhi winning +battles—Hicks Pasha’s army annihilated—Gordon +sent for; agrees again to go to Khartoum.</p> +<p><!-- page 10--><a name="page10"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +10</span><i>Chapter</i> VII.—Gordon’s starting for +Khartoum (2nd appointment)—His arrival and +reception—Khartoum surrounded—Letter from the Madhi +to Gordon—Gordon’s reply—His many and severe +trials in Khartoum.</p> +<p><i>Chapter</i> VIII.—Expedition of Lord Wolseley’s +to relieve Gordon—Terrible marches in the +desert—Battle of Abu-Klea—Colonel Burnaby +killed—Awful scenes—The Arabs break the British +Square—Victory and march to Mettemmeh.</p> +<p><i>Chapter</i> IX.—Gordon’s Boats, manned by Sir +Charles Wilson, fighting up to Khartoum—Khartoum +fallen—Gordon a martyr—Mourning in all +lands—Our Queen’s letter of complaint to +Gladstone—Gladstone’s reply and +vindication—Queen’s letters to Gordon’s +sister—Account of the fall of Khartoum—Acceptance by +the Queen of Gordon’s Bible.</p> +<h2><!-- page 13--><a name="page13"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +13</span>CHAPTER I.</h2> +<blockquote><p>“There is nothing purer than honesty; +nothing sweeter than charity; nothing warmer than love; nothing +richer than wisdom; nothing brighter than virtue; nothing more +steadfast than faith.”—<i>Bacon</i>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>It has been said that the most interesting study for mankind +is man; and surely one of the grandest objects for human +contemplation, is a noble character; a lofty type of a truly +great and good man is humanity’s richest heritage.</p> +<p>The following lines by one of our greatest poets are +true—</p> +<blockquote><p>“Lives of great men all remind us,<br /> + We can make our lives sublime,<br /> +And departing leave behind us,<br /> + Footprints on the sands of time.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>While places and things may have a special or peculiar charm, +and indeed may become very interesting, nothing stirs our hearts, +or rouses our enthusiasm so much as the study of a noble heroic +life, such as that of the uncrowned king, <!-- page 14--><a +name="page14"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 14</span>who is the +subject of our story, and whose career of unsullied splendour +closed in the year 1885 in the beleaguered capital of that dark +sad land, where the White and Blue Nile blend their waters.</p> +<blockquote><p>“Noble he was contemning all things mean,<br +/> +His truth unquestioned and his soul severe,<br /> +At no man’s question was he e’er dismayed,<br /> +Of no man’s presence was he e’er afraid.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>General Gordon was the son of a soldier who proved his +gallantry on many occasions, and who took a pride in his +profession. It was said of him that he was greatly beloved +by all who served under him. He was generous, genial and +kind hearted, and strictly just in all his practices and +aims. He gave to his Queen and country a long life of +devoted service. His wife, we are told, was a woman of +marked liberality; cheerful and loving, always thoughtful of the +wants of others; completely devoid of selfishness.</p> +<p>The fourth son, and third soldier of this happy pair, Charles +George, was born at Woolwich in 1833. He was trained at +Taunton. When about 15 years of age he was <!-- page +15--><a name="page15"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 15</span>sent +to the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich, to prepare for the +army; a profession his father thought most worthy of the +Gordons. While here at school an incident occurred which +served to show that our young hero was no ordinary student. +His tutor, with an air of contempt, rebuked him severely for some +error or failure in his lessons, and told him sneeringly he would +never make a general. This roused the Scotch blood of the +budding soldier, and in a rage he tore the epaulettes from his +shoulders, and threw them at his tutor’s feet—another +proof of the correctness of the old adage, “Never prophesy +unless you know.” By the time he reached the age of +twenty-one, he had become every inch a soldier, and when tested +he proved to have all a soldier’s qualities—bravery, +courage, heroism, patriotism, and fidelity, characteristics of +the best soldiers in our army.</p> +<p>Archibald Forbes, writing of him, says “The character of +General Gordon was unique. As it unfolded in its curiously +varied but never contradictory aspects, you are reminded of +Cromwell, of Havelock, of Livingstone, and of Captain Hedley +Viccars. But Gordon’s <!-- page 16--><a +name="page16"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 16</span>individuality +stood out in its incomparable blending of masterfulness and +tenderness, of strength and sweetness. His high and noble +nature was made more chivalrous by his fervent, deep and real +piety. His absolute trust in God guided him serenely +through the greatest difficulties. Because of that he was +not alone in the deepest solitude. He was not depressed in +the direst extremity. He had learned the happy art of +leaning upon the Omnipotent arm.”</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p17.jpg"> +<img alt="Gordon, the hero" src="images/p17.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>Early in 1884 a leading newspaper said of him, “General +Gordon is without doubt the finest captain of irregular forces +living.” About the same time Mr. Gladstone said of +him, “General Gordon is no common man. It is no +exaggeration to say he is a hero. It is no exaggeration to +say he is a Christian hero.” Mr. W. E. Forster also +remarked of him, “I know no other man living for whom I +have a greater admiration than General Gordon. He is +utterly unselfish. He is regardless of money. He +cares nothing for fame or glory. He cares little for life +or death. He is a deeply religious man. The world to +come, and God’s government over this, are to him the +greatest of life’s realities. <!-- page 17--><a +name="page17"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 17</span>True heroism +has been said to be a sacrifice of self for the benefit of +others. If this is true, Gordon has well won the +appellation, “The Hero of the Soudan.” His +soldierly qualities were first tested in the Crimea, where we +find him in 1854 and 1855. Here for the first time in his +military career he was brought face to face with all the horrors +of actual war, and here for the first time he saw friend and foe +lie locked like brothers in each other’s arms. Here +he got his first baptism of fire; and here he showed the splendid +qualities which in after years made him so famous and so +beloved. An old soldier who served under him during this +terrible campaign says “I shall never forget that +remarkable figure and form, which was an inspiration to all who +knew him, and saw him on the field of carnage and +blood.”</p> +<p>He was utterly unconcerned in the midst of dangers and +death. He would twirl his cane and good humouredly say +“Now boys, don’t fear, I see no danger.” +On one occasion when engaged in the very thick of a most awful +struggle he said, “Now my boys, I’m your officer, I +lead, you follow,” and he walked literally through <!-- +page 18--><a name="page18"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +18</span>a shower of lead and iron with as little concern +apparently, as if he were walking across his own drawing-room; +and he came out of the conflict without a scar.</p> +<p>Sir E. Stanton in his dispatches home, making special +reference to our hero, says—“Young Gordon has +attracted the notice of his superiors out here, not only by his +activity, but by his special aptitude for war, developing itself +amid the trenches before Sebastopol, in a personal knowledge of +the enemy’s movements, such as no officer has +displayed. We have sent him frequently right up to the +Russian entrenchments to find out what new moves they are +making.” Amid all the excitement of war and its +dangers he never omitted writing to his mother; an example I hope +my readers, if boys, or girls, will studiously copy. He +loved his mother with the passion of his great loving +heart. Soldier lads often forget their mother’s +influence, their mother’s prayers, and their mother’s +God. Writing home to his mother he says “We are +giving the Redan shells day and night, in order to prevent the +Russians from repairing it and they repay us by sending amongst +us awful <!-- page 19--><a name="page19"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 19</span>missiles of death and destruction, +and it requires one to be very nimble to keep out of their +way. I have now been thirty-four times, twenty-four hours +in the trenches; that is more than a month without any relief +whatever, and I assure you it gets very tedious. Still one +does not mind if any advance is being made.”</p> +<p>An eye witness of this bloody work in the trenches and the +storming of the Malakof and the Redan, writes:—</p> +<blockquote><p>“On that terrible 8th of September, every +gun and mortar that our people and our noble allies, the French, +could bring to bear upon the enemy’s work, was raining +death and destruction upon them. The stormers had all got +into their places. They consisted of about 1,000 men of the +Old Light and 2nd Division; the supports were formed up as +closely as possible to them, and all appeared in readiness. +History may well say, ‘the storming of a fortress is an +awful task.’ There we stood not a word being spoken; +every one seemed to be full of thought; many a courageous heart, +that was destined to be still in death in one short hour, was now +beating high.”</p> +<p><!-- page 20--><a name="page20"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +20</span>“It was about 11.15 a.m., and our heavy guns were +firing in such a way as I have never heard before. The +batteries fired in volleys or salvoes as fast as they could load +and fire, the balls passing a few feet above our heads, while the +air seemed full of shell. The enemy were not idle; for +round shot, shell, grape and musket balls were bounding and +whizzing all about us, and earth and stones were rattling about +our heads like hail. Our poor fellows fell fast, but still +our sailors and artillery men stuck to it manfully. We knew +well that this could not last long, but many a brave +soldier’s career was cut short long before we advanced to +the attack—strange some of our older hands were smoking and +taking not the slightest notice of this ‘dance of +death.’ Some men were being carried past dead, and +others limping to the rear with mangled limbs, while their +life’s blood was streaming fast away. We looked at +each other with amazement for we were now under a most terrible +fire. We knew well it meant death to many of us. +Several who had gone through the whole campaign shook hands +saying, ‘This is hot,’ ‘Good bye, old +boy,’ ‘Write to the old <!-- page 21--><a +name="page21"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 21</span>folks for me +if I do not return.’ This request was made by many of +us. I was close to one of our Generals, who stood watch in +hand, when suddenly at 12 o’clock mid-day the French drums +and bugles sounded the charge, and with a shout, ‘Vive +l’Empereur’ repeated over and over again by some +50,000 men, a shout that was enough to strike terror into the +enemy. The French, headed by the Zouaves, sprang forward at +the Malakof like a lot of cats. On they went like a lot of +bees, or rather like the dashing of the waves of the sea against +a rock. We had a splendid view of their operations, it was +grand but terrible; the deafening shouts of the advancing hosts +told us they were carrying all before them.”</p> +<p>“They were now completely enveloped in smoke and fire, +but column after column kept advancing, pouring volley after +volley into the breasts of the defenders. They (the French) +meant to have it, let the cost be what it might. At 12.15 +up went the proud flag of France, with a shout that drowned for a +time the roar of both cannon and musketry. And now came our +turn. As soon as the French were seen upon the <!-- page +22--><a name="page22"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +22</span>Malakof our stormers sprang forward, led by Colonel +Windham—the old Light Division consisting of 300 men of the +90th, about the same number of the 97th, and about 400 of the 2nd +Battalion Rifle Brigade, and with various detachments of the 2nd +and Light Divisions, and a number of blue jackets, carrying +scaling ladders. Our men advanced splendidly, with a +ringing British cheer, although the enemy poured a terrible fire +of grape, canister and musketry into them, which swept down whole +companies at a time. We, the supports, moved forward to +back up our comrades. We advanced as quickly as we could +until we came to the foremost trench, when we leaped the parapet, +then made a rush at the blood stained walls of the Redan. +We had had a clear run of over 200 yards under that murderous +fire of grape, canister and musketry. How any ever lived to +pass that 200 yards seemed a miracle; for our poor fellows fell +one on the top of another; but nothing could stop us but +death. On we went shouting until we reached the +redoubt. The fighting inside these works was of the most +desperate character, butt and <!-- page 23--><a +name="page23"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 23</span>bayonet, foot +and fist; the enemy’s guns were quickly spiked: this +struggle lasted about an hour and a half. It was an awful +time, about 3,000 of our brave soldiers were slain in this short +period.” Our hero Gordon, tells us that on the +evening of this 8th of September—</p> +<p>“I heard most terrific explosions, the earth seemed to +be shaken to its very centre;—It was afterwards discovered +the enemy’s position was no longer tenable, so they had +fired some 300 tons of gunpowder, which had blown up all their +vast forts and magazines. O! what a night: many of our poor +fellows had been nearly buried in the <i>debris</i>, and burning +mass: the whole of Sebastopol was in flames. The Russians +were leaving it helter-skelter—a complete rout, and a heavy +but gloriously-won victory.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>For his acknowledged ability, his fine heroism, and his true +loyalty to his superiors during this most trying campaign, he +received the well-earned decoration of the Legion of Honour from +the French Government, a mark of distinction very rarely +conferred upon so young an officer.</p> +<blockquote><p><!-- page 24--><a name="page24"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 24</span>“God gives us men, a time like +that demands.<br /> +Strong minds, great hearts, true faith and ready hands;<br /> +Men whom the lusts of office cannot kill,<br /> +Men whom the spoils of office cannot buy,<br /> +Men who possess opinions and a will,<br /> +Men who have honour, men who never lie.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>We must not leave this part of our story without a brief +notice of one whose name will live in song and story, when this +generation shall have passed away. Many noble English +ladies bravely went out to nurse the suffering soldiers; but in +this noble band was one whose name remains a synonym for kindly +sympathy, tenderness and peace—Miss Florence +Nightingale.</p> +<p>The following lines were written in her praise—</p> +<blockquote><p>“Britain has welcomed home with open hand<br +/> +Her gallant soldiers to their native land;<br /> +But one alone the Nation’s thanks did shun,<br /> +Though Europe rings with all that she hath done;<br /> +For when will shadow on the wall e’er fail,<br /> +To picture forth fair Florence Nightingale:<br /> +Her deeds are blazoned on the scroll of fame,<br /> +And England well may prize her deathless name.”</p> +</blockquote> +<h2><!-- page 25--><a name="page25"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +25</span>CHAPTER II.</h2> +<blockquote><p>“The greatness of a nation depends upon the +men it can breed and rear.—<i>Froude</i>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>The war over and peace duly established, Lieutenant Gordon +(for so he was then) accompanied General Sir Lintorn Simmons to +Galatz, where, as assistant commissioner, he was engaged in +fixing the new frontiers of Russia, Turkey and Roumania. In +1857, when his duties here were finished, he went with the same +officer to Armenia; there, in the same capacity, he was engaged +in laying down the Asiatic frontiers of Russia and Turkey. +When this work was completed he returned home and was quartered +at Chatham, and employed for a time as Field Work Instructor and +Adjutant. In 1860, now holding the rank of Captain, he +joined the Army in China, and was present at the surrender of +Pekin; and for his services he was promoted to the rank of +Major.</p> +<h3><!-- page 26--><a name="page26"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +26</span>THE BURNING OF THE SUMMER PALACE.</h3> +<p>“On the eleventh of October,” Gordon relates, +“we were sent down in a hurry to throw up earth works +against the City; as the Chinese refused to give up the gate we +demanded their surrender before we could treat with them. +They were also required to give up the prisoners. You will +be sorry to hear the treatment they have suffered has been very +bad. Poor De Norman, who was with me in Asia, is one of the +victims. It appears they were tied so tight by the wrists +that the flesh mortified, and they died in the greatest +torture. Up to the time that elapsed before they arrived at +the Summer Palace, they were well treated, but then the +ill-treatment began. The Emperor is supposed to have been +there at the time.</p> +<p>But to go back to the work, the Chinese were given until +twelve on the 13th, to give up the <!-- page 27--><a +name="page27"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 27</span>gate. +We made a lot of batteries, and everything was ready for assault +of the wall, which is a battlement, forty feet high, but of +inferior masonry; at 11.30 p.m., however, the gate was opened, +and we took possession; so our work was of no avail. The +Chinese had then, until the 23rd, to think over our terms of +treaty, and to pay up ten thousand pounds (£10,000) for +each Englishman, and five hundred pounds (£500) for each +native soldier who had died during their captivity. This +they did, and the money was paid, and the treaty signed +yesterday. I could not witness it, as all officers +commanding companies were obliged to remain in camp, owing to the +ill-treatment the prisoners experienced at the Summer +Palace. The General ordered this to be destroyed, and stuck +up proclamations to say why it was ordered. We accordingly +went out, and after pillaging it, burned the whole magnificent +palace, and destroyed most valuable property, which could not be +replaced for millions of pounds.</p> +<p>“This Palace” (wrote the author of <i>Our Own +Times</i>), “covered an area of many miles. The +Palace of Adrian, at Tivoli, might have been <!-- page 28--><a +name="page28"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 28</span>hidden in one +of its courts. Gardens, temples, small lodges and pagodas, +groves, grottoes, lakes, bridges, terraces, artificial hills, +diversified the vast space. All the artistic treasures, all +the curiosities, archæological and other, that Chinese +wealth and taste, such as it was, could bring +together.” Gordon notes, “This palace, with its +surrounding buildings, over two hundred in number, covered an +area eight by ten miles in extent.” He says, +“it makes one’s heart burn to see such beauty +destroyed; it was as if Windsor Palace, South Kensington Museum, +and British Museum, all in one, were in flames: you can scarcely +imagine the beauty and magnificence of the things we were bound +to destroy.”</p> +<p>“These palaces were so large, and we were so pressed for +time, that we could not plunder them carefully. Quantities +of gold ornaments were burned, considered as brass. It was +wretchedly demoralizing for an army: everybody was wild for +plunder . . . The throne and room were lined with ebony, +carved in a wonderful manner. There were huge mirrors of +all shapes and sizes, clocks, watches, musical boxes with puppets +<!-- page 29--><a name="page29"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +29</span>on them, magnificent china of every description, heaps +and heaps of silks of all colours, coral screens, large amounts +of treasures, etc. The French have smashed up everything in +a most shameful way. It was a scene of utter destruction +which passes my description.” This was not much in +Gordon’s line.</p> +<p>In the following year he made a tour on horseback to the outer +wall of China at Kalgan, accompanied by Lieutenant Cardew. +A Chinese lad of the age of fourteen, who knew a little English, +acted as their servant and interpreter, while their personal +luggage was conveyed in the Chinese carts. In the course of +this tour we are told they passed through districts which had +never before been visited by any European. At Kalgan the +great wall was seen, with its parapet about twenty-two feet high, +and sixteen feet broad. Both sides were solid brick, each +being three times the size of our English bricks. Gordon +writes: “It is wonderful to see the long line of wall +stretching over the hills as far as the eye can +reach.” From Kalgan they travelled westwards to +Taitong; here they saw huge caravans of camels laden with tea +going towards <!-- page 30--><a name="page30"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 30</span>Russia. Here they were forced +to have the axle trees of their carts widened, for they had come +into a great part of the country where the wheels were set wider +than in the provinces whence they came. Their carts, +therefore, no longer fitted into the deep ruts which had been +worn into the terribly bad roads. The main object of their +journey was to find out if there was in the Inner Wall any pass +besides the Tchatiaou which on that side of the country led from +the Russian territory to Pekin. It was not until they +reached Taiyuen that they struck the road that led to Pekin or +Tientsin.</p> +<p>Their first bit of trouble on this somewhat venturesome tour +occurred at Taiyneu; when the bill was brought for their +night’s entertainment, they found it was most +exorbitant. They saw they were likely to have trouble, so +they sent on the carts with luggage and waited at this strange +hostelry till they believed they had got well out of the +way. Then they offered what they believed was a reasonable +amount in payment of their bill. It was refused. They +then tried to mount their horses but the people at the Inn +stopped them. Major Gordon hereupon <!-- page 31--><a +name="page31"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 31</span>drew his +revolver more for show than for use, for he allowed them to take +it from him. He then said, “Let us go to the +Mandarin’s house.” To this consent was given, +and the two wide-awake English officers walked alongside their +horses. On the way Gordon said to his companion “are +you ready to mount?” “Yes” he +replied. So they mounted quietly, and went on with the +people. When they reached the Mandarin’s, they turned +their horses and galloped off after their carts as fast as they +could, having paid what they believed a reasonable amount for +expenses. The people yelled and rushed after them, but it +was too late. Some distance from the place where they had +spent the night they came upon the pass over the mountains which +led down into the country, drained by the great Peiho +river. “The descent” says Gordon, “was +terrible, and the cold so intense that raw eggs were frozen as +hard as if they had been boiled half an hour.” To add +to their troubles, the carts they had sent on in front had been +attacked by robbers. They, however, with many difficulties +managed to reach Tientsin in safety; their leave of absence <!-- +page 32--><a name="page32"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +32</span>had been exceeded by about fourteen days. In 1862 +Major Gordon left for Shanghai under the orders of Sir Charles +Staveley who had been appointed to the command of the English +forces in China. At the very time that England and France +were at war with China, a terrible and far reaching rebellion was +laying waste whole provinces. An article in our London +<i>Daily News</i> about this date said, “But for Gordon the +whole Continent of China might have been a scene of utter and +hopeless ruin and devastation.” At the date he took +charge of the “ever victorious army,” China was in a +state of widespread anarchy and confusion.</p> +<p>This rebellion which Gordon was here authorized to suppress +was called “The Tai-ping rebellion.” Its rise +was brought about by a strange mixture of incredulity and +fanaticism, caused by some European Christian giving away his +literature. A village demagogue named Hung-tsne-Shuen +caught the idea, after reading the papers referred to, that he +was inspired; that he was God, King, Emperor, and that he ought +to rule; so, puffed up with pride and insatiable ambition, he +began raising an army; and <!-- page 33--><a +name="page33"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 33</span>aimed at +nothing less than the usurpation of the “Dragon +Throne.” Some thought him mad; but he gathered about +him some 20,000 men whom he had influenced to believe in him as +the “Second Celestial Brother,” and gave out he was a +seer of visions, a prophet of vengeance and freedom; a champion +of the poor and oppressed; and many were mad enough to believe +him, and thus he raised an army which grew in strength until it +reached some hundreds of thousands strong; he then proclaimed +himself the Heavenly King, The Emperor of the great place; and +then with five wangs or warrior kings, chosen from amongst his +kinsmen, he marched through China, devastating the country, and +increasing his army in his progress.</p> +<p>The most populous, and until now wealthy provinces were soon +in his hands. The silk factories were silent; the Cities +were falling into utter and hopeless desolation: rebellion, war +and famine, raged and reigned supreme. Gordon made them +pause! His marvellous power of organizing and leading men, +a power derived from an inflexible, determined, fearless, and +deeply religious temperament, influenced the <!-- page 34--><a +name="page34"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 34</span>Chinese +character quickly and powerfully. His very name soon became +a terror to the banded brigands and to all evil doers. An +Englishman in China at the time wrote home and said “The +destiny of China is in the hands of Major Gordon, and if he +remains at his post the question will soon be settled, and peace +and quiet will be restored to this unfortunate, but sorely tried +country.”</p> +<p>In all the strange and trying experiences of this Chinese +Campaign Gordon bore himself with a bravery and courage seldom +equalled, we think never surpassed.</p> +<p>Dr. Guthrie once said, “It is very remarkable, and +highly creditable to the loyalty and bravery of our British +soldiers, that, notwithstanding all the wars in which they have +been engaged, no foreign nation to-day flaunts a British flag as +a trophy of its victory and of our defeat. Nor in the proud +pillar raised by the great Napoleon in commemoration of his many +victories—a pillar made of the cannons taken by him in +battles, is there an ounce of metal that belongs to a British +gun.” The characteristics of the bravest of our +British <!-- page 35--><a name="page35"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 35</span>soldiers were pre-eminently displayed +in Gordon. For—</p> +<blockquote><p>“He holds no party with unmanly fears,<br /> +Where duty points he confidently steers:<br /> +Faces a thousand dangers at her call,<br /> +And trusting in his God surmounts them all.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>His soldierly qualities were very often put to the test in +this strange land. Hung, the leader of this rebellion, had +become so popular and made such marvellous progress that when +Gordon had organized his ever victorious army, Hung had captured +Nanking, one of the principal cities, and made this his capital; +and here, under the very shadow of the Chinese metropolis, he +established himself in royal state. His followers were held +together by the force of his religious tenets; they believed in +him as the Lord from Heaven, who would save the suffering minds +and give them a celestial reward. A missionary who was in +Nanking, Rev. J. L. Holmes, gives his impressions of this warlike +devotee. “At night (he says) we witnessed their +worship. It occurred at the beginning of their sabbath, +midnight on Friday. The place of worship was the +Chung-Wang’s private audience <!-- page 36--><a +name="page36"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 36</span>room. +He was himself seated in the midst of his attendants, no females +were present. They first sang, or rather chanted; after +which a written prayer was read, then burned by an officer; then +they rose and sang again, then separated. The Chung-wang +sent for me before he left his seat, and asked me if I understood +their mode of worship. I replied I had just seen it for the +first time. He explained that the Tien-wang had been to the +celestial world and had seen the Great God and obtained a +revelation! &c. . . . As the day dawned we started for +the Palace of the Tien-wang. The procession was headed by a +number of brilliantly coloured banners, after which followed a +troop of armed soldiers; then came the Chung-wang in a large +sedan, covered with yellow satin and embroidery, and borne by +eight coolies. Music of a peculiar kind added to the scene, +as the curious sightseers lined the streets on either side, who +probably never saw such a sight before. Reaching the +“Morning Palace,” we were presented to the Tsau-wang +and his son with several others including the Tien-wang’s +two brothers, who were seated in a deep recess <!-- page 37--><a +name="page37"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 37</span>over the +entrance of which was written “Illustrious Heavenly +Door.” In another place was “Holy Heavenly +Gate,” from which a boy of about fourteen made his +appearance and took his place with the royal group; then they +proceeded with their religious ceremonies again: this time +kneeling with their faces to the Tien-wang’s seat. +Then they sang in a standing position. A roast pig and the +body of a goat were lying with other articles on tables in the +outer court, and a fire was kept burning on a stone altar in the +front of the Tien-wang’s seat. Afterwards, says the +missionary, I was led through a number of rooms and courts to see +Chung-wang privately. I was brought into one of his private +sitting-rooms, where he sat clothed loosely in white silk, with a +red kerchief round his head, and a jewel in front. He was +seated in an easy chair, and fanned by a pretty slipshod +girl. He asked me to a seat beside him and questioned me +about a map he had seen with parallel lines running each way, +said to have been made by foreigners, asked me to explain what it +was. He also showed me a musical-box and a spy-glass, +asking many <!-- page 38--><a name="page38"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 38</span>questions. From all I could +learn by my visit to this pretender there was nothing in their +religion to elevate, but everything to degrade. With them +to rob and murder were virtuous deeds. “Slay the +imps” was their watchword. Gordon found in this +fanatic a foe of no mean order. But he soon found too that +courage and faith in God had done and would still lead to +victory. In a letter home he says—“I am afraid +you will be much vexed at my having taken the command of the +Sung-kiang force, and that I am now a mandarin. I have +taken the step on consideration. I think that any one who +contributes to putting down this rebellion fulfils a human task, +and also tends a great deal to open China to civilization. +I will not act rashly, and I trust to be able soon to return to +England; at the same time I will remember your and my +father’s wishes, and endeavour to remain as short a time as +possible. I can say that if I had not accepted the command +I believe the force would have been broken up and the rebellion +gone on in its misery for years. I trust this will not now +be the case, and that I may soon be able to comfort you on this +subject. You must not <!-- page 39--><a +name="page39"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 39</span>fret about +me, I think I am doing a good service . . . I keep your +likeness before me, and can assure you and my father that I will +not be rash, and that as soon as I can conveniently, and with due +regard to the object I have in view, I will come home.”</p> +<p>Gordon had hardly yet realized the difficulties and dangers +which beset him. His troops were undisciplined and largely +composed of all nationalities. Men bent on plunder, and +exceedingly numerous; about 120,000 men. Gordon’s +appointment as Chief in Command of the “Ever Victorious +Army” proved to be a wise and good one for China.</p> +<p>Colonel Chesney thus writes:—“If General Staveley +had made a mistake in the operations he personally conducted the +year before, he more than redeemed it by the excellence of his +choice of Gordon. This strange army was made up of French, +Germans, Americans, Spaniards, some of good and some of bad +character, but in their chief they had one whose courage they +were bound to admire, and whose justice they could not help but +admit. The private plundering of vanquished towns and +cities allowed <!-- page 40--><a name="page40"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 40</span>under their former chief, disappeared +under the eye of a leader whose eye was as keen, as his soul was +free from the love of filthy lucre. They, however, learned +to respect and love a general in whose kindness, valour, skill, +and justice they found cause unhesitatingly to confide; who never +spared himself personal exposure when danger was near. In +every engagement, and these numbered more than seventy, he was to +the front and led in person. His somewhat undisciplined +army, had in it many brave men; but even such men were very +reluctant at times to face these desperate odds. Whenever +they showed signs of vacillation he would take one of the men by +the arm, and lead him into the very thick of the fight. He +always went unarmed even when foremost in the breach. He +never saw danger. A shower of bullets was no more to him +than a shower of hailstones; he carried one weapon only, and that +was a little cane, which won for itself the name of +“Gordon’s magic wand.” On one occasion +when leading a storming party his men wavered under a most +withering fire. Gordon coolly turned round and waving his +cane, bade his men follow him. <!-- page 41--><a +name="page41"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 41</span>The soldiers +inspired by his courage, followed with a tremendous rush and +shout, and at once grandly carried the position. After the +capture of one of the Cities, Gordon was firm in not allowing +them to pillage, sack and burn such places; and for this some of +his men showed a spirit of insubordination. His artillery +men refused to fall in when ordered; nay more, they threatened to +turn upon him their guns and blow him and his officers to +pieces. This news was conveyed to him by a written +declaration. His keen eye saw through their scheme at a +glance, and with that quiet determination which was his peculiar +strength, he summoned them into his presence and with a firmness +born of courage and faith in God, he declared that unless the +ringleader of this movement was given up, one out of every five +would be shot! At the same time he stepped to the front and +with his own hand seized one of the most suspicious looking of +the men, dragged him out, and ordered him to be shot on the spot +at once, the order was instantly carried out by an officer. +After this he gave them half an hour to reconsider their position +at the end of which he found them <!-- page 42--><a +name="page42"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 42</span>ready to +carry out any order he might give. It transpired afterwards +that the man who was shot was the ringleader in this +insubordination.”</p> +<p>When Gordon had broken the neck of this far-reaching and +disastrous rebellion, and had restored to the Emperor of China +the principal cities and towns in peace, the London <i>Times</i> +wrote of him:—“Never did a soldier of fortune deport +himself with a nicer sense of military honour, with more +gallantry against the resisting, with more mercy towards the +vanquished, with more disinterested neglect of opportunities of +personal advantage, or with more entire devotion to the objects +and desires of the Government he served, than this officer, who, +after all his splendid victories, has just laid down his +sword.”</p> +<p>Before leaving China he was offered a very large reward in +cash, as it was acknowledged on all hands he had saved the Empire +more than £5,000,000 sterling. All money he refused; +he, however, asked that some of it might be given to the troops, +who had served him on the whole with great loyalty, and this was +granted. A gold medal was struck in honour of his <!-- page +43--><a name="page43"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +43</span>marvellous achievements, and this he accepted and +brought home; but it was soon missing. He thought more of +the starving poor than of any medal; so he sold it, and sent the +cash it realized to the Lancashire Cotton Operatives, who were +then literally starving. The Imperial Decree of China +conferred upon him the rank of “Ti-tu,” the very +highest honour ever conferred upon a Chinese subject. Also +the “Peacock’s feather,” “The Order of +the Star,” and the “Yellow Jacket.” By +these he was constituted one of the “Emperor’s Body +Guard.” In a letter home he says, “I shall +leave China as poor as I entered it, but with the knowledge that +through my weak instrumentality from eighty to one hundred +thousand lives have been saved. Than this I covet no +greater satisfaction.”</p> +<p>Before he left China, as a proof of the estimation in which he +was held, a grand illuminated address was presented to him, +signed by more than sixty of the leading firms of the Empire, and +by most of the bankers and merchants of the cities of Pekin, +Shanghai, and of the principal towns throughout China.</p> +<p><!-- page 44--><a name="page44"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +44</span>It read thus:—“Honoured Sir,—On the +eve of your departure to your native country, we, the +undersigned, mostly fellow-countrymen of your own, but also +representing other nationalities, desire to express to you our +earnest wish for a successful voyage and happy return to your +friends and the land of your birth.</p> +<p>“Your career during your stay amongst us has been, so +far as we know, without a parallel in the history of foreign +nations with China; and we feel that we should be alike wanting +towards you and towards ourselves, were we to pass by this +opportunity without expressing our appreciation and admiration of +the line of conduct which you personally have pursued. In a +position of unequalled difficulty, and surrounded by +complications of every conceivable nature, you have succeeded in +offering to the eyes of the Chinese Empire, no less by your loyal +and thoroughly disinterested line of action than by your +conspicuous gallantry and talent for organization and command, +the example of a foreign officer, serving the government of this +country, with honourable fidelity and undeviating +self-respect.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p45.jpg"> +<img alt="Chinese Gordon" src="images/p45.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p><!-- page 45--><a name="page45"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +45</span>“Once more wishing you a prosperous voyage, and a +long career of usefulness and success.”</p> +<p style="text-align: right">Signed, &c.</p> +<p>There is truth in this as applied to Gordon:—</p> +<blockquote><p>“He strove not for the wealth of fame,<br /> +From heaven the power that moved him came.<br /> +And welcome as the mountain air,<br /> +The voice that bid him do and dare.<br /> +Onward he bore and battled still<br /> +With a most firm enduring will,<br /> +His only hope to win the prize<br /> +Laid up for him beyond the skies.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>The Emperor wished the British Minister to bring before the +notice of Her Majesty the Queen of England his appreciation of +the splendid services which Gordon had rendered. He hoped +that he would be rewarded in England as well as in China for his +heroic achievements.</p> +<p>A subsequent letter in the <i>Times</i> said that Prince Kung, +who was then the Regent of China, had waited upon Sir Frederick +Bruce, and said to him, “You will be astonished to see me +again, but I felt I could not allow you to leave without coming +to see you about Gordon. We do not know what to do. +He will not <!-- page 46--><a name="page46"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 46</span>receive money from us, and we have +already given him every honour which it is in the power of the +Emperor to bestow; but as these are of little value in his eyes, +I have brought you this letter, and I ask you to give it to the +Queen of England that she may bestow on him some reward which +would be more valuable in his eyes.”</p> +<p>Sir Frederick Bruce sent this to London with a letter of his +own:—“I enclose translation of a despatch from Prince +Kung, containing the decree published by the Emperor, +acknowledging the services of Gordon and requesting that Her +Majesty’s Government be pleased to recognise him. +Gordon well deserves the favours of your Majesty for the skill +and courage he has shown, his disinterestedness has elevated our +national character in the eyes of the Chinese. Not only has +he refused any pecuniary reward, but he has spent more than his +pay in contributing to the comforts of the officers who served +under him, and in assuaging the distress of the starving +population whom he relieved from the yoke of their +oppressors.”</p> +<p><!-- page 47--><a name="page47"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +47</span>It does not appear that this letter was ever sent to the +Queen, or noticed by the Government, and so the heroic deeds of a +man of whom any nation might justly be proud, were forgotten.</p> +<h3><!-- page 48--><a name="page48"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +48</span>CHAPTER III.</h3> +<blockquote><p>“We are to relieve the distressed, to put +the wanderer into his way, and to share our bread with the +hungry, which is but the doing good to others.”—<span +class="smcap">Seneca</span>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Our hero having returned to his native land, and to settle for +a little while at the quiet town of Gravesend, refused to be +lionized, and he begged that no publication of his deeds of +daring and devotion in China, should be recorded. His quiet +life here as an engineer was not less remarkable, though of a +different kind, than life in China had been. Here, however, +he spent the energies of his spare time, to the services of the +poor. At this juncture I was privileged to come in contact +with this remarkable man, in the great city of Manchester, where +for a few months, he was employed on some Governmental +Commission. Like his Master Christ—he went about +doing good. My position at this time was an agent, or +scripture <!-- page 49--><a name="page49"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 49</span>reader for “The Manchester City +Mission.” Gordon found his way to the office and saw +the chairman of the mission, and from him got permission to +accompany one of the missioners round his district. He +expressed his desire to go round one of the poorest districts of +the city; as it might afford him an opportunity of seeing for +himself some of the social blots and scars in our national life; +also of giving some practical help to the deserving poor. +My district was such an one as would furnish him with the +opportunities to satisfy him in that particular, and I was +therefore asked to allow Col. Gordon to accompany me to its +squalid scenes, to my Ragged School, cottage and open-air +services, and to the sick and suffering, of which I had many on +my list. This request was gladly complied with; for the +first sight of the stranger made me love and trust him.</p> +<p>And now the hero of so many battles fought for freedom and +liberty, was to witness scenes of warfare of a very different +kind. War, it is true, but not where there are garments +rolled in blood and victims slain; but war with the powers of +darkness, war between good and evil, <!-- page 50--><a +name="page50"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 50</span>truth and +error, light and darkness. We went together into the lowest +slums of the district; walked arm in arm over the ground where +misery tells its sad and awful tale, where poverty shelters its +shivering frame, and where blasphemy howls its curse. We +found out haunts of vice and sin, terrible in their character, +and distressing in their consequences. I found he had not +hitherto been accustomed to this kind of mission. Once on +my entering a den of dangerous characters and lecturing them on +their sinful course and warning them in unmistakable words of the +consequences, he afterwards said: “I could not have found +courage of the kind you show in this work; yet I never was +considered lacking in courage on the field of battle. When +in the Crimea, I was sent frequently and went on hands and knees +through the fall of shells and the whizz of bullets right up to +the Russian walls to watch their movements, and I never felt +afraid; I confess I need courage to warn men of sin and its +dangerous consequences.” He met me, for a time almost +daily, well supplied with tracts, which I noticed he used as a +text for a few words of <!-- page 53--><a name="page53"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 53</span>advice, or comfort, or warning as the +case required, but he invariably left a silver coin between the +leaves; this I think was a proof he was sincere in his efforts to +do good. Along Old Millgate, and around the Cathedral, at +that time, were numerous courts and alleys, obscure, often +filthy, dark and dangerous; down or up these he accompanied me; +up old rickety staircases, into old crumbling ruins of garrets he +followed without hesitation.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p51.jpg"> +<img alt="C. G. Gordon" src="images/p51.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>At the bedside of the dying prodigal or prostitute he would +sit with intense interest, pointing them to Him who casts out +none. In our house to house visitation he would sit down +and read of the Saviour’s love, making special reference to +those that are poor in this world, assuring them it was for the +outcast and the forsaken, and the lost, that Jesus came to +die. He would kneel down for prayer by a broken chair or +the corner of a slop-stone, or by the wash-tub, and with the +simplicity of a child, address in tender and touching petition, +the Great Father of all in Heaven, while tears chased each other +down his sun-tanned face; his great soul going out with his +prayer for Heaven’s blessing on the helpless poor.</p> +<p><!-- page 54--><a name="page54"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +54</span>His sympathy was tender as a child’s, and his +beneficence as liberal as the best of Christian’s can +be. He often came and took tea with me in my quiet home, +where we had many very interesting interviews, and where we +conversed on subjects varied but mostly religious; he rarely +referred to his military achievements; when he did so it was with +the greatest self abnegation and humility. He would say, +“No honour belongs to me, I am only the instrument God uses +to accomplish his purpose.” I introduced him to my +ragged school; this to him was a most interesting scene of work, +and he volunteered to give us some of his time and service; and +to see him with 20 or 30 of these ragged lads about him was to +say the least, full of interest. He, however, had the happy +art of getting at their heart at once; by incidents, stories and +experiences, which compelled attention and confidence. In a +very short time he won the esteem and the love of every lad in +the school. To some of these lads he became specially +attached, and for some time after he left Manchester he kept up +with me, and with several of the lads, also with some of my <!-- +page 55--><a name="page55"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +55</span>colleagues on the mission—a very interesting +correspondence. Happily, I have preserved a good number of +these letters, and they show the spirit and motive of that noble +soul, more than any poor words of mine can do.</p> +<blockquote><p>Letter.</p> +<p style="text-align: right"><span +class="smcap">Gravesend</span>,<br /> +<i>June 19th</i>, <i>1869</i>.</p> +<p>“My Dear Mr. Wardle.—My long silence has not been +because I had forgot you and your kind reception of me; but +because secular work has so completely taken up my time of +late. I was glad to hear of you . . . . and of the Dark +Lane (ragged school) lads. I often wish I could go down +with you and see them; I often think of them. I wish I +could help them, but it is only by prayer that I can now benefit +them. I loved them very much, and look forward to the time +when our weary march, dogged by our great foe will be ended; and +we meet for ever in our Heavenly home. I remember them all, +Jones, Carr, &c., &c., and I often think of their poor +young faces which must soon get deepened into wrinkles with +sorrow and care. Thank God we go like Israel of old, after +a new home; we cannot find our rest here! Day by day we +are, little as we may think it, a day’s march nearer, till +someday we shall perhaps unexpectedly reach it.”</p> +<p style="text-align: right">Good bye, my dear Mr. Wardle,<br /> +Yours sincerely,<br /> +<span class="smcap">C. H. Gordon</span>.</p> +<p> “Kind regards to <i>my</i> +lads.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p><!-- page 56--><a name="page56"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +56</span>Gordon was deeply moved by the sights of poverty and +distress around him; this was shown by the dress and appearance +of the factory hands. He was especially struck by the +clatter of the clogs—the Lancashire cotton +operative’s foot gear.</p> +<p>To his Sister he wrote:—</p> +<blockquote><p style="text-align: right"><span +class="smcap">Manchester</span>,<br /> +<i>September 21st</i>, <i>1867</i>.</p> +<p>“Your heart would bleed to see the poor people, though +they say there is no distress such as there was some time ago; +they are indeed like sheep having no shepherd, but, thank God, +though they look forlorn, they have a watchful and pitying eye +upon them. It does so painfully affect me, and I do trust +will make me think less of self, and more of these poor +people. Little idea have the rich of other countries of the +scenes in these parts. It does so make me long for that +great day when He will come and put all things straight.</p> +<p>How long, O Lord, how long!</p> +<p>I have but little time to write by this post, so will say no +more about that. I have less confidence in the flesh than +ever, thank God, though it is a painful struggle and makes one +long for the time when, this our earthly tabernacle, shall be +dissolved; but may His will be done. If there is sin and +misery, there is One who over-rules all things for good; we must +be patient. The poor scuttlers here, male and <!-- page +57--><a name="page57"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +57</span>female, fill me with sorrow. They wear wooden +clogs, a sort of sabot, and make such a noise. Good-bye, +and may God manifest Himself in all His power to all of you, and +make you to rejoice with joy unspeakable. If we think of +it, the only thing which makes the religion of our Lord Jesus +Christ differ from that of every other religion, or profession, +is this very indwelling of God the Holy Ghost in our bodies; we +can do nothing good; Christ says, “Without me, ye can do +nothing.” You are dead in trespasses and sins, you +are corpses, and must have life put in you, and that life is God +Himself, who dwells in us, and shows us the things of +Christ.”</p> +<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">C. G. +Gordon</span>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Letter. No. 2.</p> +<blockquote><p>“My Dear Mr. Wardle,—I had a nice +letter the other day from one of my lads, Carr, whom I hope you +will look after, as well as all the rest. I have often +thought of you all. Keep the “Tongue of Fire,” +<a name="citation57"></a><a href="#footnote57" +class="citation">[57]</a> before you, and you will have great +joy. I have thought much lately on the subject of God +dwelling in us, and speaking through us. We are only +witnesses, not judges; the Gospel is:—God loves you: +not—Do you love God. The one is a witness, the other +an inquiry which is not to be made by man of his fellow man, for +it is impossible for man to love God unless he first feels and +knows that God loves him. Our fault is, want of Charity one +towards another. We do not go down to the poor lost sinner, +but ask him to do what of himself he cannot do, viz., come up to +us. What ought to be <!-- page 58--><a +name="page58"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 58</span>always +floating in our proud hearts is:—‘Who made thee to +differ.’</p> +<p style="text-align: right">Kind regards to all my friends.<br +/> +Never forgotten, or to be forgotten.<br /> +Yours truly,<br /> +<span class="smcap">C. G. Gordon</span>.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Letter. No. 3.</p> +<blockquote><p>“My Dear Mr. Wardle, I send you ‘Jukes +on Genesis’ and on the ‘Four Gospels.’ I +have to send you his work on ‘The Offerings in +Leviticus,’ and also Macintosh’s ‘Genesis and +Exodus.’ I am sure you will enjoy them. I cut +Genesis up so as to lend it about; I hope you won’t mind my +having used them, and marked some papers. I hope D.V. to +see you Monday evening, and with kind regards.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">Believe me yours sincerely in +Christ,<br /> +<span class="smcap">C. G. Gordon</span>.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Gordon was intensely and deeply religious; it was in him +certainly “as a well of water springing up into everlasting +life.” He could talk of nothing else, in whatever +company, it was the same theme—“Christ in you the +hope of glory.” A favourite text of his was 1. John, +<!-- page 59--><a name="page59"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +59</span>chap. 4, ver. 15—“Whosoever shall confess +that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in +God.” This he took as a text for a little homily +which he printed and circulated by thousands. After the +above head-line, in special type, it ran +thus:—“Reader! Do you confess that Jesus is the +Son of God? Do you believe in your heart that Jesus is the +Son of God? If you do then God dwells in you to-day. +Whatever you are, whatever you have been, or have done,—and +if you ask Him, ‘O Lord, I believe that Jesus is the Son of +God; show me, for His sake, that Thou livest in me.’ +He will make you feel His presence in your hearts, and will make +you feel perfectly happy, which you cannot be in any other +way. Many believe sincerely that Jesus is the Son of God, +but are not happy, because they do not believe <span +class="smcap">that</span> which God tells them—that He +lives in them both in body and soul, transforming the whole man +into the likeness of Jesus Christ, if they confess Jesus to be +His son. Do you believe this statement? If you do, +yet do not feel God’s presence, ask Him to show Himself to +you, and He will surely do so.”</p> +<p><!-- page 60--><a name="page60"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +60</span>After this homily, on the same tract, were the following +passages of Scripture:—</p> +<blockquote><p>Luke, chap. 2, v. 13. “If ye then +being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children; how +much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them +that ask.”</p> +<p>Rom., chap. 10, v. 9. “If thou shall confess with +thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that +God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be +saved.”</p> +<p>I. Cor., chap. 3, v. 16. “Know ye not that ye are +the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in +you.”</p> +<p>I. Cor., chap. 6, v. 19. “Know ye not that your +body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye +have of God, and ye are not your own.”</p> +<p>II. Cor., chap. 6, v. 16. “Ye are the temple of +the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk +in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my +people.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>The tone and spirit of this tract, is the kernel, if I may say +so, of his deepest religious convictions.</p> +<p>He gave me a number of New Testaments for distribution, as he +did also to one or two others of our missioners. The +following letter accompanies the parcel:—</p> +<blockquote><p><!-- page 61--><a name="page61"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 61</span>“My dear Mr. Wardle,—I +have sent thirty Testaments for you and thirty for Mr. +Fielden. Will you kindly oblige by marking in each the +following passages, viz.:—</p> +<p>Matt. chap. 2, V. 28, 29. “Come unto me, all ye +that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you +rest.”</p> +<p>“Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek +and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your +souls.”</p> +<p>Gal. ch. 5, v., 19., 25. “Now the works of the +flesh are manifest, which are these: adultery, fornication, +uncleanliness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, +variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, +21. Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such +like; of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in +time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the +Kingdom of God.” 22. But the fruit of the +Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, +faith, 23. Meekness, temperance; against such there is no +law. 42. And they that are Christ’s have +crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we +live in the spirit, let us walk in the spirit.”</p> +<p>Also I John ch. 4, v. 15. “Whosoever shall +confess, etc.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>He also published a little work entitled “Christ and His +members; or the in-dwelling of God, the root of faith in +Christ.” One or two quotations may be sufficient to +show the nature or scope of the work, a copy now lies before +me.</p> +<p><!-- page 62--><a name="page62"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +62</span>“Belief or faith in Jesus being the Son of God, is +the distinguishing spiritual mark of the members of +Christ’s body; it is a fruit which springs from a root, or +source, from which it is sustained, and increased. This +root is the indwelling of God the Holy Ghost in the soul. +This indwelling gives faith or belief in the fact that even as +the sun gives light, or the fire gives warmth, and as there can +be no warmth without fire, and no light without the sun, neither +can there be any belief in Jesus, without the indwelling of God +in the soul.”</p> +<p>He wrote me from Liverpool as follows:</p> +<blockquote><p>“My dear Mr. Wardle, do not forget to take +the Testaments on Tuesday night. I always carry some with +me, and always regret if I am taken by surprise, and have not +any.</p> +<p>Read and delight in “The tongue of fire,” +especially the first four or five chapters. If a man would +be the instrument of winning souls to his Lord, it is utterly +impossible for him to do so except through and by the Holy +Ghost. He must be loving the praise of God, more than that +of man. He must be humble, mean spirited it is called by +many; even sometimes by his friends: and he can only be mean +spirited by living near God. Let a man live distant from +God, who is light, and he will not think he is so bad, but will +think himself a little better than others, but let him live near +God, and as he lives near Him he will feel himself worse than the +worst; such is the power of the glorious light . . . . +Goodbye; kind regards to all.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">Yours sincerely, <span +class="smcap">C. G. Gordon</span>.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p><!-- page 63--><a name="page63"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +63</span>Another letter from Gravesend.</p> +<blockquote><p style="text-align: right">Nov. 24, 1868.</p> +<p>“My dear Mr. Wardle, I thank you for your kind +note. I send you 500 leaflets, kindly give them to the boys +and girls of Buxton. The servant forgot to pay the +carriage, so I send a small sum which I hope will cover it. +I hear now and then of the Dark Lane Ragged School, from Mr. +James Johnson, who kindly writes now and then. I will write +(D.V.) again shortly. Kind regards.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">Yours sincerely<br /> +<span class="smcap">C. G. Gordon</span>.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Again he writes from Gravesend.</p> +<blockquote><p>“My Dear Mr. Wardle, I hope you have not +forgotten me, for I have not done so to you, but I am sure you +are very busy, and hard worked . . . . Will you thank +Fielden for his kind note and remember me to his wife and +brother. Tell him I was very glad to hear of two of my +boys, English and Hogg.</p> +<p>I often would like to look in and see you and the lads at +<i>Dark Lane</i>, <a name="citation63"></a><a href="#footnote63" +class="citation">[63]</a> and all my poor old sick folk I used to +visit. Remember me to them all.</p> +<p>I do not see my way to come down yet awhile, for we have all +our leave stopped. Excuse me for I have my hands full of +work. Believe me, my dear Mr. Wardle.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">Yours sincerely<br /> +<span class="smcap">C. G. Gordon</span>.”</p> +</blockquote> +<h2><!-- page 64--><a name="page64"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +64</span>CHAPTER IV.</h2> +<blockquote><p>“In the love of a brave and faithful man, +there is always a strain of maternal tenderness; he gives out +again those beams of protecting fondness, which were shed on him +as he lay upon his mother’s knee.”—<span +class="smcap">Geo. Elliott</span>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>A son of one of our missionaries (J. Johnson) says of Gordon +“he was one of the most unassuming and gentle men I ever +met; and I well remember his saintly conversation, as he sat at +tea with us. I also remember, (though only a youth) being +struck with his humility, especially for one of his rank and +profession. He generally had on a well worn greyish +overcoat, the side pockets of which gaped somewhat with constant +usage for into them he would cram a large number of tracts and +sally forth in company with me or another of the missionaries, or +as sometimes happened he went alone, drop a tract here or there +and speak a seasonable word. He <!-- page 65--><a +name="page65"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 65</span>spoke to me +as a youth, as some of our saintly old pastors used to do to the +children of the penniless where they stayed. He wrote me +occasionally. A specimen I herewith append.”</p> +<p>Letter to Mr. Johnson, junr.:</p> +<blockquote><p>“My dear J. . . . since we had a few words +together you have not been out of my mind for any length of time +together, and I was very glad to hear of you to-day from your +father. God acts in mysterious ways and He gave me comfort +concerning you on that evening. Trust Him with all thine +heart. He says (He who cannot lie) He lives in you if you +believe that Jesus is the Son of God. His word is truth +whatever may be our feelings, which change as the clouds. +You are my dear friend, saved not on account of your feelings, +but because our blessed Lord loved you unto death, and has washed +you in His own blood . . . . I will not write more than +express my hope that He who has begun a good work may perfect +it. Yea he surely will, for He says He will perfect that +which concerneth us—make you useful in His service. +May He strengthen you to fight the good fight of faith, and give +you that crown of glory which fadeth not away; I am very sure He +will. May His will be done on this poor sorrowing world, +for the longer we live the more fleeting are its glories. +Good-bye, my dear young friend. Believe me</p> +<p style="text-align: right">Yours sincerely<br /> +<span class="smcap">C. G. Gordon</span>.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p><!-- page 66--><a name="page66"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +66</span>Also a further letter to Mr. Johnson. This was +written during my illness and leave of absence from +duty—</p> +<blockquote><p>“My dear Mr. Johnson, I have received your +letter with many thanks. I am so much obliged for your +letting me know of <span class="smcap">my lads</span>, and have +written to them a few lines. I wish sometimes I was with +you. I like your quiet earnestness; there is little of that +here, and I like the work; I have also said a few words to your +son; the Holy Ghost is the teacher for Him, and will not leave +His work till he is happy.</p> +<p>I hope Mr. Wardle is improving in health. “And he +shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.” +Silver is spoilt if heated too much, therefore the refiner sits +watching; until it is purified when the refiner sees his image +reflected in its surface; so with us, our Lord will see that we +are not too much heated, only just enough to reflect His +image. Will you thank Mr. Fielden for his kind letter, I +quite feel for his trials in that district, but he has a fellow +helper and worker in his kind Lord who feels for him and will +support him through all. Give my kind regard to Spence, +your wife and son, and to all my friends.</p> +<p>And believe me my dear Mr. Johnson,</p> +<p style="text-align: right">Yours sincerely,<br /> +<span class="smcap">C. G. Gordon</span>.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Mr. Johnson writes:—</p> +<blockquote><p>“One evening after I had been observing his +patient endurance and perseverance with one of the reckless, <!-- +page 67--><a name="page67"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +67</span>insolent lads as we left the school, I, in a quiet +pleasant way remarked “I fear Colonel, your Christian work +in Dark Lane Ragged School will never get the fame and applause +from this world that your military achievements in China have +lately secured for you.”</p> +<p>“My dear Sir,” he replied “If I can but be +the means in the hands of God of leading any of these precious +sons to Jesus, I must place that amongst the most glorious +trophies of my life, and to hear the Master at last say +‘Inasmuch as ye have done it to one of the least of these, +ye have done it unto Me,’ will be to me a resplendent +undying glory when so many of earth’s fleeting honours have +tarnished.”</p> +<p>“It is impossible (says Lord Blatchford about General +Gordon) to imagine a man more completely in the presence of God, +or more absolutely careless of his own distinction, comfort, +wealth or life. A man unreservedly devoted to the cause of +the oppressed. One bows before him as before a man of a +superior order of things.” Mr. Boulger says, +“There will never be another Gordon.” Sir +William Butler said of him, “He was unselfish as Sydney; of +courage, dauntless as Wolfe; of honour, stainless as Outram; of +sympathy, wide-reaching as Drummond; of honesty, <!-- page +68--><a name="page68"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +68</span>straightforward as Napier; of faith, as steadfast as +Moore.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>We believe Gordon answered to all these encomiums and well +deserved them.</p> +<p>Edgmont Hake, writing of him says:—“He lived +wholly for others; his home at Gravesend was school, hospital, +church, and almshouse all in one. His work more like that +of a Home missionary than of a military officer. The +troubles of all interested him alike, but he had a warm corner in +his heart for lads.” This will be seen from letters +produced. Many of the lads he rescued from the slums and +gutters; he cleaned them, clothed them, fed them, and gave them +shelter and home, sometimes for weeks and even longer. He +taught in the evenings lessons suitable to their conditions; not +forgetting the moral and spiritual side of his work. And he +did this work without fee or reward, and he did it with all his +heart. He was as enthusiastic about this duty as he was +about his military duties. He called these lads +“<i>His kings</i>.”</p> +<p>Leigh Hunt’s ideal of a king describes very closely +Gordon’s ideal:—</p> +<blockquote><p><!-- page 69--><a name="page69"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 69</span>“’Tis not the wealth that +makes a king<br /> +Nor the purple colouring,<br /> +Nor a brow that’s bound with gold,<br /> +Nor gate on mighty hinges rolled;<br /> +That king is he who void of fear,<br /> +Can look abroad with bosom clear,<br /> +Who can tread ambition down,<br /> +Nor be swayed by smile nor frown,<br /> +Nor for all the treasure cares,<br /> +That mine conceals or harvest wears,<br /> +Or that golden sands deliver,<br /> +Bosomed on a glassy river,<br /> +Safe with wisdom for his crown,<br /> +He looks on all things calmly down,<br /> +He has no fear of earthly thing,<br /> +This is it that makes a king,<br /> +And all of us who e’er we be<br /> +May carve us out such royalty.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>On one occasion a lad in the employ of a Gravesend tradesman +was discovered to have been pilfering on a somewhat serious +scale. When the fact was proved beyond question, the master +declared he would have the boy punished by imprisonment. +The mother of the boy, hearing of this sad affair, was almost +broken-hearted, and at her wit’s end. Someone who had +heard of Gordon’s love for lads, also his <!-- page 70--><a +name="page70"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 70</span>intense +desire to help all in trouble, suggested that she should see him +and explain her case. So, with all a mother’s +earnestness, she went at once to Gordon and told him the whole +story, and begged with tears for his sympathy and help. +After hearing the story his heart was touched, he could not +refuse a mother’s appeal. When a mother pleads, there +is power and pathos difficult for any to withstand, much less +Gordon. So he went to the lad’s late employer, and +after considerable argument, the master undertook not to +prosecute, but only on condition that Gordon would personally +undertake to look after the lad himself, for one year at +least. This Gordon promised, and he took the boy to his own +home, sent him to a good school at his own expense for the year; +then he got him a good situation on board one of Her +Majesty’s vessels. That lad became a man of honour +and respectability, secured good situations, won for himself a +good character, and the mother and the sailor boy in their heart +often blessed Gordon, who saved the boy from prison, ruin and +disgrace, and the mother from a broken heart. His rescue +work amongst boys was work he loved <!-- page 71--><a +name="page71"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 71</span>supremely, in +it he found his highest joys. His pleasures were not +secured where many seek them, viz., at the theatre, at the +gambling-house, at the racecourse, at the public-house, or in +accumulating wealth, or in winning renown and glory—these +were nothing to Gordon. To save a fallen lad, was to him +the highest gratification; in this work he was very +successful.</p> +<p>Many a rescued lad was he able to restore to his home and to +society, and to the world. For many of these lads he was +able to secure situations on board ship. To show his +interest in them when away he had a large map on his study wall, +in this map were pins in very many places. These, he told a +visitor, showed the position of the ships on which his lads were +located; and he moved the pins as the ships moved and prayed for +each boy from day to day. The workhouse and the infirmary +were places he used to visit, and his visits were remembered by +the inmates, as all the fruits and flowers he could grow were +given to these places and to the sick and poor whom he +visited. Very often the dying sent for him in preference to +a clergyman, and he was, if at home, always ready; <!-- page +72--><a name="page72"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 72</span>no +matter what the weather or what the distance. His works +were essentially works of charity, and these were not done to be +seen of men. He was one of the humblest men I ever +met. He would not occupy the chair at a meeting or even go +on to the platform. Once I remember he addressed a +gathering after tea of those who had been rescued and who were +likely to be useful to others, but he would not be lionised or +praised. He would say, “No; I am but the instrument: +the praise belongs to God.” His spirit was the +fruitful cause of all the work he did.</p> +<blockquote><p>“Give me that lowest place,<br /> +Not that I dare ask for that lowest place.<br /> +But Thou hast died that I might share<br /> +Thy glory by Thy side.<br /> +Give me that lowest place, or if for me<br /> +That lowest place too high<br /> +Make one more low, where I may sit<br /> +And see my God; and love Thee so.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>He recognised “that pure religion and undefiled before +God the Father is this, to visit the fatherless, and the widows +in their affliction, and to keep unspotted from the +world.” This <!-- page 73--><a +name="page73"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 73</span>kindled his +enthusiasm, influenced his chivalrous character, and we think had +largely to do with his success. To know him was to know a +Christian, a Christlike man—God’s man.</p> +<p>With Job (ch. 29, verses 11, 12, etc.) he could say +truly—</p> +<blockquote><p>“When the ear heard me, then it blessed me; +when the eye saw me, it gave witness to me. Because I +delivered the poor that cried and the fatherless, and him that +had none to help him. The blessing of him that was ready to +perish came upon me: and I caused the widow’s heart to sing +for joy. I was eyes to the blind and feet was I to the +lame. I was a father to the poor, and the cause which I +knew not I searched out.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>He could truly say</p> +<blockquote><p>“I live for those that love me:<br /> +For those that know me true;<br /> +For the heaven that smiles above me<br /> +And waits my coming too.<br /> +For the cause that needs assistance,<br /> +For the wrong that needs resistance.<br /> +For the future in the distance,<br /> +And for the good that I can do.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Upon his removal from Gravesend in 1873 a local newspaper +writing of his removal, and <!-- page 74--><a +name="page74"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 74</span>deploring his +loss, said—“Our readers will hear with regret of the +departure of Colonel Gordon from the town, in which he has +resided for six years; gaining a name for the most exquisite +charity that will long be remembered. Nor will he be less +missed than remembered, for in the lowest walks of life he has +been so unwearied in well-doing that his departure will be felt +as a terrible calamity. His charity was essential charity, +having its root in deep philanthropic feeling and goodness, and +always shunning the light of publicity.” Many were +the friends who grieved over his departure from Gravesend, for +they ne’er would look upon his like again.</p> +<h2><!-- page 75--><a name="page75"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +75</span>CHAPTER V.</h2> +<blockquote><p>“If a man do not erect in this age his own +tomb e’er he dies, he shall live no longer in monuments +than the bell rings and his widow weeps.”—<span +class="smcap">Shakespeare</span>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>A new chapter now opens in our story of Gordon. Sir +Samuel Baker had resigned the honoured position of Governor +General of the Soudan. Gordon was selected as the man who, +of all others, was most suitable for such an appointment. +Our Government acquiesced in the Khedive’s offer of this +post to Gordon, so he accepted the responsible position.</p> +<p>The Khedive offered him, it is stated, a salary £10,000 +per annum; this, however, he refused to accept. He said +“Your Majesty I cannot accept it, as I should look upon it +as the life’s blood wrung out of those poor people over +whom you wish me to rule.” “Name your own terms +then,” said the Khedive. “Well,” replied +Gordon, “£2,000 per annum I think will keep <!-- page +76--><a name="page76"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 76</span>body +and soul together, what should I require more than this +for.” About the close of the year 1873 he left his +country and loved ones behind him, for that lone sad land, with +its ancient history. We think Gordon played such a part +that his name will be honourably associated with Egypt, and +remembered from generation to generation.</p> +<p>I am indebted to the author of <i>Gordon in Central Africa</i> +for the following abstract of the Khedive’s final +instructions to Col. Gordon, dated Feb. 16th, 1874.</p> +<blockquote><p>“The province which Colonel Gordon has +undertaken to organise and to govern is but little known. +Up to the last few years, it had been in the hands of adventurers +who had thought of nothing but their own lawless gains, and who +had traded in ivory and slaves. They established factories +and governed them with armed men. The neighbouring tribes +were forced to traffic with them whether they liked it or +not. The Egyptian Government, in the hope of putting an end +to this inhuman trade had taken the factories into their own +hands, paying the owners an indemnification.</p> +<p>Some of these men, nevertheless, had been still allowed to +carry on trade in the district, under a promise that they would +not deal in slaves. They had been placed under the control +of the Governor of the Soudan. His authority, <!-- page +77--><a name="page77"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +77</span>however, had scarcely been able to make itself felt in +these remote countries. The Khedive had resolved therefore +to form them into a separate government, and to claim as a +monopoly of the State, the whole of the trade with the outside +world. There was no other way of putting an end to the +slave trade which at present was carried on by force of arms in +defiance of law. When once brigandage had become a thing of +the past, and when once a breach had been made in the lawless +customs of long ages, then trade might be made free to all. +If the men who had been in the pay of adventurers were willing to +enter the service of the Government, Col. Gordon was to make all +the use of them he could. If on the other hand they +attempted to follow their old course of life, whether openly or +secretly, he was to put in force against them to the utmost +severity of martial law. Such men as these must find in the +Governor neither indulgence, nor mercy. The lesson must be +made clear even in those remote parts that a mere difference of +colour does not turn men into wares, and that life and liberty +are sacred things.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Another object of the new Governor should be to establish a +line of posts through all his provinces, so that from one end to +the other they might be brought into direct communication with +Khartoum. Those posts should follow, as far as was +possible, the line of the Nile; but for a distance of seventy +miles the navigation of <!-- page 78--><a name="page78"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 78</span>that river was hindered by +rapids. He was to search out the best way of overcoming +this hindrance, and to make a report thereon to the Khedive.</p> +<p>In dealing with the <i>Chieftains</i> of the tribes which +dwelt on the shores of the lakes, the Governor was above all to +try to win their confidence. He must respect their +territory, and conciliate them by presents, and whatever +influence he gains over them, he must use in the endeavour to +persuade them to put an end to the wars, which they so often make +on each other in the hope of carrying off slaves. Much tact +would be needed, for should he succeed in stopping the slave +trade, while wars were still waged among the chiefs, it might +well come to pass that, for want of a market, the prisoners +would, in such a case, be slaughtered. Should he find it +needful to exercise a real control over any of these tribes, it +will be better to leave to the chieftains the direct +government. Their obedience must be secured by making them +dread his power.</p> +<p>He made the journey to Khartoum without any mishap or serious +difficulty, reaching there <!-- page 79--><a +name="page79"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 79</span>in May, 1874, +and was installed in office on the fifth. A royal salute +from the government house guns was fired in honour of this event; +the new Governor-General was, of course, expected to make a +speech, after the order of his predecessors. But all he +said was, “With the help of God I will hold the balance +level.” This was received with the greatest +enthusiasm, for it evidently pleased the people more than if he +had addressed them for an hour. His attention was soon +directed towards the poverty-stricken and helpless people all +around him. He caused special enquiries to be made; then he +began to distribute his gifts of charity to all who he believed +were really in need; and in three days he had given away one +thousand pounds of his first year’s salary. He had +not been long in the Soudan before he realized the tremendous +responsibilities he had assumed; and with all his strength of +character, and his trust in his Almighty, ever-present Friend, it +is not to be wondered at that when alone in the trackless desert, +with the results of ages of wrong-doing before him, this man of +heroic action and indomitable spirit sometimes gave way to <!-- +page 80--><a name="page80"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +80</span>depression and murmuring; although this was exceedingly +rare. If we remember what he had already done and suffered +for down-trodden humanity. And that now he was doing heroic +work for the true hero’s wages—the love of Christ, +and the good of his fellow-men. He was labouring not for +himself, but as the hand of God in providence, in the faith that +his work was of God’s own appointing. The wonder is +that in the face of perils so dangerous, work so difficult, and +sufferings so intense, that his spirit was not completely crushed +and broken. We must bear in mind, his work there was to +secure peace to a country that appeared to be bent on war; to +suppress slavery amongst a people to whom it was a second nature, +and to whom the trade in human flesh was life, and honour, and +fortune. To make and discipline an army out of the rawest +recruits ever put in the field, to develop and grow a flourishing +trade, and to obtain a fair revenue, amid the wildest anarchy in +the world; the immensity of the undertaking, the infinity of +detail involved in a single step toward this end, the countless +odds to be faced; the many pests, the deadly climate, the nightly +and daily alternations of overpowering heat, and of bitter cold, +to be endured and overcome; the environment of bestial savagery, +and ruthless fanaticism;—all these contributed to make the +achievement unique in human history. <!-- page 83--><a +name="page83"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 83</span>He was face +to face with evil in its worst form, and saw it in all its +appalling effects upon the nation and its people. He seemed +to have everything against him, and to be utterly alone. +There stood in front of him the grim ruined land. He faced +it, however, as a saint and soldier should do; he stood for +right, truth, and for God.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p81.jpg"> +<img alt="Gordon on his favourite camel" src="images/p81.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<blockquote><p>“He would dare to do right. Dare to be +true<br /> +He had a work that no other could do;<br /> +He would do it so wisely, so bravely, so well,<br /> +That angels might hasten the story to tell.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>After some time he writes:—</p> +<blockquote><p>“How the Khedive is towards me I don’t +know, but thank God he prevents me caring for any one’s +favour or disfavour. I honestly say I do not know anyone +who would endure the exile and worries of my position out +here. Some might fear if they were dismissed, that the +world would talk. Thank God! I am screened from that +fear. I know that I have done my best, as far as my +intellect would allow me, for the Khedive, and have tried to be +just to all.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p><!-- page 84--><a name="page84"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +84</span>On contemplating retirement, he writes:—</p> +<blockquote><p>“Now imagine what I lose by coming back, if +God so wills it; a life in a tent, with a cold humid air at +night, to which if, from the heat of the tent you expose +yourself, you will suffer for it, either in liver or +elsewhere. The most ordinary fare. <i>Most</i> +ordinary I can assure you; no vegetables, dry biscuits, a few +bits of broiled meat, and some dry macaroni, boiled in water and +sugar. I forgot some soup; up at dawn and to bed between +eight and nine p.m. No books but one, and that not often +read for long, for I cannot sit down for a study of those +mysteries. All day long, worrying about writing orders, to +be obeyed by others in the degree as they are near or distant +from me: obliged to think of the veriest trifle, even to the +knocking off the white ants from the stores, etc.—that is +one’s life; and, speaking materially, for what gain? +At the end of two years, say £2,000. At the end of +three say £3,500 at the outside. The gain to be +called ‘His Excellency,’ and this money. Yet +his poor ‘Excellency’ has to slave more than any +individual; to pull ropes, to mend this; make a cover to that +(just finished a capital cover to the duck Gun). I often +say, ‘drop the excellency, and do this +instead.’”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Again he writes:—</p> +<blockquote><p>“This country would soon cure a man of his +ambition, I think, and make him content with his lot. The +intense heat, and other stagnation except you have some +disagreeable incident, would tame the most enthusiastic; a thin, +<!-- page 85--><a name="page85"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +85</span>miserable tent under which you sit, with the +perspiration pouring off you. A month of this life, and you +would be dissatisfied with your lot.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Gordon had kept up some very interesting correspondence with +an old friend in China; an old officer in Gordon’s +“Ever victorious Army,” Li Hung Chang. While +Gordon is feeling unwell, and disposed to send his resignation to +the Khedive—he writes in his journal:—</p> +<blockquote><p style="text-align: right">July 21st, 1879.</p> +<p>“I shall (D.V.) leave for Cairo in ten days, and I hope +to see you soon; but I may have to go to Johannis before I go to +Cairo. I am a wreck, like the portion of the +‘Victory’ towed into Gibraltar after Trafalgar; but +God has enabled me, or rather has used me, to do what I wished to +do—that is, break down the slave trade. “Those +that honour me I will honour.” May I be ground to +dust, if He will glorify Himself in me; but give me a humble +heart, for then he dwells there in comfort. I wrote you a +letter about my illness and tore it up. Thank God, I am +pretty well now, but I have passed the grave once lately, and +never thought to see Khartoum. The new Khedive is more +civil, but I no longer distress myself with such things. +God is the sole ruler, and I try to walk sincerely before +Him.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p><!-- page 86--><a name="page86"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +86</span>The letter from Li Hung Chang was to him a source of +great satisfaction and pleasure, as it showed his example had +affected for good this eastern ambassador, who visited this +country only a very few years ago.</p> +<p>The letter ran thus:—</p> +<blockquote><p style="text-align: right"><span +class="smcap">Tientsin</span>,<br /> +<i>March 22nd</i>, <i>1879</i>.</p> +<p>“To His Excellency Colonel C. G. Gordon,<br /> +Khartoum, Egypt.</p> +<p>“Dear Sir.—I am instructed by his Excellency the +Grand Secretary, Li, to answer your esteemed favour, dated the +27th October, 1878, from Khartoum, which was duly received. +I am right glad to hear from you. It is now fourteen years +since we parted from each other. Although I have not +written to you, I often speak of you, and remember you with very +great interest. The benefit you have conferred on China +does not appear with your person, but is felt throughout the +regions in which you played so important and active a part. +All those people bless you for the blessings of peace and +prosperity which they now enjoy.</p> +<p>Your achievements in Egypt are well known throughout the +civilized world. I see often in the papers of your noble +works on the Upper Nile. You are a man of ample <!-- page +87--><a name="page87"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +87</span>resources, with which you suit yourself to any +emergency. My hope is that you may long be spared to +improve the conditions of the people amongst whom your lot is +cast. I am striving hard to advance my people to a higher +state of development, and to unite both this and all other +nations within the ‘Four seas’ under one common +brotherhood.</p> +<p>I wish you all manner of happiness and prosperity. With +my highest regards,</p> +<p style="text-align: right">I remain,<br /> +Yours truly,<br /> +<span class="smcap">Li Hung Chang</span>.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>In all, and through all these various trying vicissitudes he +remained true to his innate religious convictions, and looked +upon it all as the filling in of a plan, which was divine. +His hours for prayer were maintained with as great a regularity +as were those of another eastern official servant, Daniel, who +“three times a day kneeled on his knees and prayed and gave +thanks to God.” Gordon, when at prayer, placed +outside his tent a white handkerchief, this was the sign the +Governor was at his devotions, and no servant or messenger must +disturb him. He kept closely in touch with God, so to +speak. His outer life might be ruffled by storms and +tempests, but within he had the perfect peace.</p> +<p><!-- page 88--><a name="page88"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +88</span>While Gordon was hoping to get away from the trying +climate and yet more trying circumstances around him, a message +(not unexpected) reached him, giving him instructions to proceed +to Abyssinia, and see if he could settle the dispute or +misunderstanding that had arisen between Johannis the King and +the Khedive. He proceeded on that very risky mission as he +states in his letters; the journey was “indescribable in +its solitary grandeur. These interminable deserts, and arid +mountain passes fill the heart with far different thoughts than +civilized lands do.” With few attendants, he +writes:—“We are still slowly crawling over the +world’s crust. Reaching the dominions of the King of +Abyssinia, we camped near Ras Alonla, and the priests used to +gather at 3 a.m. in knots of two and three and chant for an hour +in a wild melodious manner the Psalms of David. Awakened at +this unearthly hour no one could help being impressed. Some +of them had children who chanted.” Again he +writes:—“We have just passed a famous convent. +The great high priest, who only comes out to meet the King, and +who is supposed to be the King’s <!-- page 89--><a +name="page89"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 89</span>right hand in +religious questions, came out to meet us. I had some +splendid silk brocade, which I gave him. He held a gold +cross in his hand, and spoke of the love of Christ. He +seemed to be a deeply religious man.”</p> +<p>Father Soho says of Abyssinia:—</p> +<blockquote><p>“No country in the world is so full of +churches, monasteries, and ecclesiastics, as Abyssinia. It +is hardly possible to sing in one church, or monastery, without +being heard in another, and perhaps by several. They sing +the Psalms of David, of which they have a very exact translation +in their own language. They begin their concert by stamping +their feet on the ground, and playing gently on their +instruments; but when have become warm by degrees, they leave off +drumming, and fall to leaping, dancing, shouting and clapping +hands, till their is neither tune nor pause, but rather a +religious riot. For this manner of religious worship, they +quote the Psalm—“O clap your hands, all ye +nations.” Gordon says, “I could not but like +this poor simple-minded peasantry.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Again he writes:—</p> +<blockquote><p>“We are about a days march from the river +Taczzi, which joins the Nile at Berber. Nearing the Palace, +if so I may call it, I was met by the King’s body +guard. I was of course wearing the Crest and Field +Marshal’s uniform; the soldiers were sitting on their heels +and never <!-- page 90--><a name="page90"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 90</span>got up. Passing through them I +found my mule so tired that I got down and walked. On +arrival at the Palace, I was admitted to the King, who sat upon a +raised däis, with the Itagè, or Chief Priest on the +ground at his left hand. Then guns were fired, and the King +said, “That is in your honour, and you can retire,” +which I did, to see him again shortly. Again Gordon visited +the Royal personage, and was granted permission to present his +case, but Gordon considered himself unduly humbled as he was +ordered to stand afar off; a stool at length was placed for him +to sit upon. This humble position Gordon would at other +times have accepted and tolerated, but not here and now; he must +show his dignity as the representative of a Foreign, powerful +monarch; he seized the stool and carried it up to near where the +King sat, and placed it by his side, saying, “Though in +your hands I may be a prisoner, I am a man as much as you are, +and can only meet you as an equal.” His +sable Majesty was greatly annoyed at Gordon’s audacious +conduct, and remarking said, “Gordon Pasha don’t you +know I am the King, and could kill you if I wished.” +“I am perfectly aware of that,” said Gordon, +“Do so at once if it is your Royal pleasure, I am +ready.” “What,” said the King, +“Ready to be killed?” “Certainly,” +said Gordon, “I am always ready to die, and so far from +fearing you putting me to death, you would confer a favour on me +by so doing, for you would be doing for me that which I am +precluded by my religious convictions from doing for +myself. You would relieve me from all the troubles the +future may have in store for me.” “Then my +power has <!-- page 91--><a name="page91"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 91</span>no terror for you, +Gordon!” “None whatever,” he +replied. So Gordon proved more than a match for this +half-civilized Abyssinian King. His visit, however, could +not be considered successful as his Majesty was unreasonable in +all his demands, and so put out of the power of Gordon to reach +any settlement. So he left the King without effecting what +he came to do. How to get away now was to him a source of +anxiety. As he surmised, they were not likely to allow him +to carry back the valuables he had in his possession. It +required all his tact and wit and discretion in this perilous +position. He, however, at the cost of about £1,400 in +bribes and gifts, managed to get away. Then he had to find +his way back alone. This was a severe ordeal. Over +mountains covered with snow, and through defiles of rocky places, +now meeting with wild hordes of the dog-faced baboons, then with +the uncivilized tribes of the human species none the less +dangerous. He, however, by the care of an ever watchful +Providence, had escaped serious harm and reached Khartoum in +safety.”</p> +</blockquote> +<h2><!-- page 92--><a name="page92"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +92</span>CHAPTER VI.</h2> +<blockquote><p>“There is no death, what seems so is +transition.<br /> +This life of mortal breath is but the suburb of the life +Elysian,<br /> + Whose portals we call +Death.”—<span class="smcap">Longfellow</span>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Gordon had felt for some time uneasy in his position, as the +under officials looked upon him as a religious fanatic, and too +strict to govern; they tried to annoy him, and they succeeded: so +he sent in his resignation to the Khedive, and as soon as he +could conveniently, he turned his face homeward.</p> +<p>First of course he visited the Khedive, and he received from +him a princely welcome, being addressed by him in these words: +“I am glad to see you Gordon Pasha again amongst us, and +have great pleasure in once more personally acknowledging the +loyalty with which you always served my country, and my +government. I should very much like you to remain in my +<!-- page 93--><a name="page93"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +93</span>service, but if you must retire from us, as you say you +must, then I am reluctantly compelled to accept your +resignation. I regret, my dear Gordon, to lose so valued a +counsellor and friend, and the hearty co-operation of so useful a +servant: and in parting from you, I desire to express my sincere +thanks to you; assuring you that my remembrance of you and of +your services to this country will never be forgotten.”</p> +<p>Gordon was greatly in need of the rest he now seemed to have +secured by his resignation. His over sensitive nature could +not have borne up much longer; a frame of iron must have gone +under in such circumstances; for on his own individual shoulders +he carried each man’s burden, causing him days of anxiety +and nights of unrest. At Alexandria he was examined by Dr. +MacKie the surgeon to the British Consulate, who certified that +he was “suffering from symptoms of nervous +exhaustion. I have recommended him (the Dr. adds) to retire +for several months for complete rest, and quiet—and that he +may be able to enjoy fresh and wholesome food, as I consider much +of this illness is the result of continued bodily fatigue, +anxiety and <!-- page 94--><a name="page94"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 94</span>indigestible food. I have +strongly insisted on his abstaining from all exciting +work—especially such as implies business or political +excitement.” Splendid advice, but would Gordon follow +it? Could his active life be suppressed even for so short a +time? None find it harder to rest than those who need it +most. Gordon had often thought of what pleasure in rest he +would find when his retirement was an accomplished fact. He +would lie in bed until dinner. He would take short walks +after dinner. He would undertake no long journeys, either +driving or by railway. He would not be tempted to go to +dinner parties. He would really have a quiet time; it was, +however, only for a short period.</p> +<p>The private secretaryship to Lord Ripon was vacant, and it was +offered to Gordon; he accepted it, but on landing at Bombay he +found the position would not be to his liking. He says of +Lord Ripon, “we parted perfect friends.” After +Gordon left Egypt someone there wrote to our press saying, +“The name of Gordon whenever and wherever mentioned sends a +thrill of admiration and love throughout the vast Soudan +territory. For a hand so strong, yet <!-- page 95--><a +name="page95"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 95</span>withal so +beneficent, has never before ruled the peoples of this unhappy +country.” Gordon left the Soudan peaceful, prosperous +and happy, comparatively. After his resignation of the +position of private secretary to Lord Ripon, he was invited to +visit China again by Mr. Hart, Chinese Commissioner of Customs at +Pekin, who said to Gordon, “I am directed to invite you +here (that is to say China). Please come and see for +yourself. This opportunity for doing really useful work on +a large scale ought not to be lost: work, position, conditions +can all be arranged with yourself here to your +satisfaction. Do take six months leave and +come.” It was characteristic of Gordon that he +replied as follows:—“Inform Hart, Gordon will leave +for Shanghai first opportunity; as for the conditions, Gordon is +indifferent.”</p> +<p>He applied to our Government for leave of absence on the +grounds that he was invited to go to China. They asked him +to state more particularly what for, and what position he was +intending to fill. “I am ignorant” was his +reply. This was not considered satisfactory and leave was +refused. He, <!-- page 96--><a name="page96"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 96</span>however, sent his resignation to the +War Office, and proceeded to China. Reaching the flowery +land, once more he proceeded from Shanghai to Tientsin and there +he had an interview with his old friend and companion in arms, Li +Hung Chang. From him he learned the condition in which +national and political matters stood. His stay in China was +not very prolonged, but his influence was felt in the Councils of +the Empire; and when he left he knew that peace prevailed, and +that the war between Russia and China had been averted. In +the meantime things in the Soudan began to give trouble, the +cloud on the horizon gathered in blackness. Almost +immediately Gordon left the Soudan the Turkish Pashas began their +plundering, robbing and ill-treating the poor Soudanese so much +that we cannot wonder at the rising of the natives in favour of +the Madhi, for the latter was promising them deliverance from +this cruel oppression. The rule of the Pashas and +Bashi-Ba-Zoucks, the Duke of Argyle declared to be “cruel, +intolerant, and unbearable.”</p> +<p>Colonel Stewart, in his report, stated that “he believed +not one half of the taxes wrung from <!-- page 97--><a +name="page97"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 97</span>these poor +people ever found their money go into the treasury of the +Khedive.” They were taxed and levied so unjustly and +unmercifully that whole districts were reduced to absolute +destitution. The general rising of the natives against this +dire oppression, threw them into the arms of the Madhi. He +very soon had a most powerful following, and he quickly mobilized +an army that in 1882 was believed to number not less than 200,000 +fighting men. In July of that year this boastful usurper +pushed his forces into conflict with the Egyptians, when the +latter were worsted with terrible loss. About 6,000 of +their bravest men were either killed in battle or left wounded on +the field and the remainder were routed. Shortly after +another great battle followed. This also went in favour of +the usurper, and a loss of 10,000 men inflicted. One +engagement followed another and all went to show that the Madhi +had won the sympathy and support of the masses of the people, and +it appeared likely he would soon have undisputed sway over the +entire Soudan. Still another effort was to be made to hurl +back this powerful and persistent foe. Hicks Pasha, <!-- +page 98--><a name="page98"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +98</span>“a brave leader,” “a noble +general,” with an army of 10,000 men, with 6,000 camels, a +large number of pack horses and mules, was sent to arrest the +advance of this desperate foe. For some time no news +reached us, as he was shut out from all means of communication +with the outer world. At length the appalling news came, +not only of his defeat, but of his utter destruction. One +man only was known to have escaped to tell the tale. He +states, “We were led by a treacherous guide into a mountain +pass or defile, and there shut in by rocks; we were confronted +and surrounded by probably 100,000 of the enemy. For three +days and nights the battle raged; the few British officers fought +like lions against these overwhelming odds, until, so completely +cut up by sword, bullet and spear, that he feared he was the only +man who managed to escape.” This large army was +literally annihilated—1,200 officers perished in this one +battle. The Madhi took 17,000 Remington rifles, 7 Krupp +guns, 6 Nordenfelts, 29 brass mounted cannon, and a very large +amount of ammunition. So that he appeared to be master of +the situation. “What next for the Soudan?” was +being <!-- page 99--><a name="page99"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 99</span>everywhere asked in Egypt and in the +Soudan. “Oh that Gordon was here,” was the cry +of many of the poor down-trodden Soudanese. They believed +him to be the only man who could bring peace to their desolate +and unhappy country.</p> +<p>Gordon was at that time taking a quiet rest near Jaffa, in the +Holy Land, and making investigations into places specially spoken +of in the Scriptures. He thought he could locate the place +where Samuel took Agag and hewed him to pieces. Also the +well, called “Jacob’s Well,” and other places +of interest. It is said at this juncture, things in the +Soudan had become hopeless. A gentleman sent to one of the +papers at Cairo the following message: “Would to God that +an angel would stand at the elbow of Lord Granville in London, +and say, And now send men to Joppa, and call for one Gordon, and +he shall tell thee what thou oughtest to do.” Strange +to say, about this time, Gordon was sent for to London, where he +had interviews with Lord Hartington, Secretary of State for War, +Lord Granville, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Lord Northbrook, +First Lord of <!-- page 100--><a name="page100"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 100</span>the Admiralty, and Sir Charles +Dilke, President of the Local Government Board, at the War +Office, and in a very short space of time, the question, which +was destined to have far reaching results, was settled, and +Gordon declared his willingness to go to Khartoum at the earliest +possible date. Indeed he said, “At once,” and +to go alone.</p> +<p>Something like the following conversation is said to have +taken place between Gordon and one of his very intimate friends: +“Well, General, have you got your kit ready?” +His reply was, “I have got what I always have: this hat is +good enough, so are these clothes, my boots I think are strong +enough.” “And how are you off for +cash?” “Ah! I was nearly forgetting that. +I had to borrow £25 from the King of the Belgians to bring +me home from Palestine; this I must repay, and I shall of course +need a little more for common daily use.” “How +much do you think, two or three thousand pounds?” +“Oh dear no! One hundred pounds apiece for myself and +Stewart, will be enough; what on earth should we want so much +money for.” And so the gallant general, with his +faithful <!-- page 101--><a name="page101"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 101</span>companion—the late lamented +Colonel Stewart, started.</p> +<p>We are told they were accompanied to Charing Cross railway +station by H. R. H. the Duke of Cambridge, who took their tickets +for them; also by Lord Wolseley (who would insist on carrying +Gordon’s portmanteau), Colonel Brackenbury, and Lord +Hartington’s private secretary, who bade them good-bye, and +God speed on their mission, from which they were never to +return. We think history will never record a more heroic +example of patriotism, than that of this God-fearing officer, +riding forth upon his swift footed camel, with only one English +friend and companion, the Colonel Stewart, and a few Arab +attendants, to confront and settle the wild and barbarous hordes +of the Madhi.</p> +<p>One of our papers published the following appropriate +lines:—</p> +<blockquote><p>“Not with an army at command,<br /> +Not fenced about with guns and swords,<br /> +But trusting to their single hands,<br /> +Amid a host of savage hordes,<br /> +The hero Gordon wends in haste,<br /> +Across the desert’s arid waste,<br /> +<!-- page 102--><a name="page102"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +102</span>Beset with perils lies his way,<br /> +Yet fear he knows not: Nelson like,<br /> +His life would be an easy prey,<br /> +If but the Arab dare to strike.<br /> +But over him there hangs a spell,<br /> +The Soudan people know full well:<br /> +Oft he had taught the Eastern mind<br /> +The grace of noble-hearted deeds;<br /> +Oft cast abuses to the wind,<br /> +And succoured men in direst needs;<br /> +Nor shall the charm that all allow<br /> +Is grandly his, forsake him now:<br /> +Oh! should the power of his name<br /> +Bend the false prophet to its thrall<br /> +And make him deem the hero came,<br /> +To pay him just a friendly call,<br /> +The ruthless carnage soon might cease,<br /> +And Egypt be again at peace.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>The subject of Gordon’s mission came up several times in +the British House of Commons as might be expected. Sir +Stafford Northcote on one occasion said—“There is one +point upon which all our minds are fixed—I mean the mission +of General Gordon. On that point I was anxious to say +little or nothing. General Gordon is now engaged in an +attempt of the most gallant and dangerous kind. No one can +speak with too much admiration of his courage and self-devotion: +no one can fail, in <!-- page 103--><a name="page103"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 103</span>this country to sympathise with him, +and earnestly desire his safety and success.”</p> +<p>Reaching Cairo, Gordon received his plans and instructions +from the Khedive, and here we think arose some of the +complications and misunderstandings as to his actual +position. Was he in the employ of the Khedive, or was he +still responsible to the Home Government? The Khedive +expressed himself to Gordon in a letter dated Jan. 26, 1884.</p> +<p>“Excellency,—You are aware that the object of your +arrival here, and of your mission to the Soudan is to carry into +execution the evacuation of those territories, and to withdraw +our troops, civil officials, and such of the inhabitants, +together with their belongings, as may wish to leave for +Egypt. We trust that your Excellency will adopt the most +effective measures for the accomplishment of your mission in this +respect, and that, after completing the evacuation, you will take +the necessary steps for establishing an organized Government in +the different provinces of the Soudan, for the maintenance of +order, and the cessation of disasters, and incitement to +revolt. We have full confidence <!-- page 104--><a +name="page104"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 104</span>in your +tried abilities and tact, and are convinced that you will +accomplish your mission according to your desire.”</p> +<p>This was hardly in harmony with a telegram from Lord Granville +who said that “<i>undertaking military expeditions was +beyond the scope of the Commission he held</i>, <i>and at +variance with the pacific policy which was the purpose of his +mission to the Soudan</i>.” Between the +Khedive’s instructions and commission to Gordon, and his +holding commission as an officer of the Crown, Gordon was in a +very difficult position, and those who have blamed Mr. Gladstone, +for what they may have been pleased to call “desertion of +Gordon,” should acquaint themselves with all the +circumstances of the case before doing so, and when all is known, +such blame will be withheld.</p> +<p>Gordon, without lingering in Cairo, hastened to cross the +desert and get to Khartoum as quickly as possible. Thus our +hero went forth with a gallantry never surpassed, if ever +equalled. He rode his camel across that land of storm and +drought, trusting only in Him, who had so often “covered +his defenceless head, beneath the shadow of His wing.”</p> +<h2><!-- page 105--><a name="page105"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 105</span>CHAPTER VII.</h2> +<blockquote><p>“Not all who seem to fail have failed +indeed,<br /> +Not all who fail have therefore worked in vain;<br /> +There is no failure for the good and wise;<br /> +What though the seed should fall by the way-side,<br /> +And the birds snatch it; yet the birds are fed,<br /> +Or they may bear it far across the tide<br /> +To give rich harvests after thou art dead.”</p> +<p style="text-align: right"><span +class="smcap">Kingsley</span>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Sir E. Baring wired to Lord Granville, “The interview +between Gordon and the Khedive was very +satisfactory.” Again—“Gordon leaves Cairo +in good spirits.”</p> +<p>His arrival at Khartoum, it is stated, was marked by wonderful +demonstrations of welcome by the people; thousands of them +pressing towards him to kiss his feet: calling him the +“Sultan of the Soudan.” His first speech was +received with the wildest enthusiasm. He said, “I +come not with soldiers but with God on my <!-- page 106--><a +name="page106"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 106</span>side, to +redress the wrongs of the Soudan.” The day after he +held a levee at the palace, when vast multitudes thronged around +him, kissing the ground on which he walked, calling him +“Father,” “Sultan,” +“Saviour.” He appreciated highly their apparent +loyalty and devotion, and he had offices opened at once where +everyone who had a grievance might bring it, have it heard and +judged.</p> +<p>The Government books recording the outstanding debts of the +over-taxed people, <i>were publicly burned in the presence of +thousands of onlookers; the kourbasher</i>, <i>whips</i>, <i>and +implements of torture were thrown down upon the blazing pile</i>: +thus the evidence of debts, and the emblems of oppression +perished together in the presence of an almost frenzied +people! Next Gordon visited the prisons; there he found +dreadful dens of misery; over two hundred poor starving emaciated +beings were confined therein; some bound with chains: some mere +boys, some old men and women. Many of them were there +simply on suspicion, and had never had a hearing. The cases +were quickly and carefully enquired into, and before sunset that +day, most <!-- page 107--><a name="page107"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 107</span>of the unhappy wretches had their +chains struck off and their freedom given them.</p> +<p>For many days, the markets and shops, and bazaars were finely +illuminated; and the rejoicing for Gordon’s presence and +deeds was general and universal. Alas, however, the cloud +which had so long hung over the Soudan began to thicken. +The Madhi was not to be cheated of what he thought his rightful +authority and dominion. The following letter recorded in +Gordon’s journal was received by him from the +Madhi:—</p> +<blockquote><p>“In the name of God the merciful and +compassionate;<br /> +Praise be to God, the bountiful ruler, and blessing<br /> +on our Lord Mahomet and peace. From the servant who<br /> +trusts in God—Mahomet, the son of Abdallah.</p> +<p>To Gordon Pasha of Khartoum,—May God guide him into the +path of virtue, Amen! Know that your small steamer, named +‘Abbas’ which you sent with the intention of +forwarding your news to Cairo, by the way of Dongola, the persons +sent being your representative, Stewart Pasha, and the two +Consuls, French and English, with other persons, has been +captured by <!-- page 108--><a name="page108"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 108</span>the will of God. Those who +believed in us as the Madhi and surrendered, have been delivered; +and those who did not have been destroyed. As your +representative afore-named, with the Consuls and the +rest—whose souls God has condemned to the fire and to +eternal misery: That steamer and all that was in it have fallen a +prey to the Moslems, and we have taken knowledge of all the +letters and telegrams which were in it, in Arabic and in Frankish +(languages) and of the maps, which were opened to us (translated) +by those on whom God has bestowed his gifts, and has enlightened +their hearts with faith, and the benefits of willing +submission. Also we have found therein the letters sent +from you to the Mudir of Dongola, with the letters, &c., +accompanying to be forwarded to Egypt and to European +countries. All have been seized, and the contents are +known. It should all have been returned to you, not being +wanted here; but as it was originally sent from you, and is known +to you, we prefer to send you part of the contents, and mention +the property therein, so that you may be certified: and in order +that the truth may make a lasting impression on <!-- page +109--><a name="page109"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 109</span>my +mind—in the hope that God may guide thee to the faith of +Islam, and to surrender to him and to us, that so you and they +may obtain everlasting good and happiness. Now, first among +the documents seized is the cipher dated September 22, 1884, +‘to the Mudir of Dongola.’ . . . On the back of +which is your telegram to the Khedive of Egypt . . . We +have also taken knowledge of your journal (daily record) of the +provision in the granary . . . Also your letters written in +European all about the size of Khartoum; and all about the +arranging of the steamers, with the number of troops in them and +their arms, and the cannon, and about the movements of the +troops, and the defeat of your people, and your request for +reinforcements, even if only a single regiment, and all about how +your agent Cuzzi turned Moslem. Also many letters which had +come to you from your lieutenants and what they contained of +advice, also stating the number of Europeans at Khartoum . . . +. Also the diary (registry) of the arms, ammunition, guns +and soldiers . . . . We have also noted the telegrams of +the officials and of the <!-- page 110--><a +name="page110"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 110</span>presidents +of Courts, and of the Kadi and the Muftis, and Ulema, numbering +34, sent to the Mohurdâr of the Khedive in Egypt, dated +Aug. 28th, 1884, in which they ask for succour from the Egyptian +Government . . . Also your cipher telegrams to the +Mohurdâr of the Khedive in which you explain that on your +arrival at Khartoum the impossibility had become clear to you of +withdrawing the troops and the employés, and sending them +to Egypt, on account of the rebellions in the country, and on the +closing of the roads; for which reason you ask for reinforcements +which did not come . . . Also about your coming to Khartoum +with seven men after the annihilation of Hicks’ army; and +your requesting a telegram to be sent to you in Arabic, in plain +language, about the Soudan to show to the people of +Khartoum—as the telegrams in European cipher do not explain +enough . . . Also your letter to the Khedive of Egypt, +without date, in which you ask to have English soldiers sent . . +. And your letter to the President of the Council and the +English Minister at Cairo, in which you speak of your appointing +three steamers to go and <!-- page 111--><a +name="page111"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 111</span>inquire as +to the state of Sennaar, and that you will send soldiers to +Berber by the steamers to recapture it, sending with them Stewart +and the Consuls, whom the Most High God has destroyed. Also +we have seen the two seals engraved with our name to imitate our +seals . . . . Tricks in making ciphers, and using so many +languages, are of no avail. From the Most High God, to whom +be praise, no secrets can be hidden. As to your expecting +reinforcements, reliance for succour on others than God, that +will bring you nothing but destruction, and cause you to fall +into utmost danger in this world and the next. For God Most +High has dispersed sedition through our manifestation, and has +vanquished the wicked and obstinate people, and has guided those +who have understanding in the way of righteousness. And +there is no refuge but in God, and in obedience to His command, +and that of His prophet and of His Madhi. No doubt you have +heard what has happened to your brethren from whom you expected +help, at Suakin and elsewhere, whom God has destroyed, and +dispersed and abandoned. Notwithstanding all this, as we +have <!-- page 112--><a name="page112"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 112</span>arrived at a days journey from +Omdurman and are coming please God, to your place, if you return +to the most High God and become a Moslem and surrender to His +Order and that of His prophet, and believe in us as the Madhi, +send us a message from thee, and from those with thee, after +laying down your arms and giving up the thought of fighting, so +that I may send you one with safe conduct, by which you will +obtain assurance of benefits of the blessings of this world and +the next. Otherwise, and if you do not act thus, you will +have to encounter war from God and His prophet. And know +that the Most High God is mighty for thy destruction, as He has +destroyed others before thee, who were much stronger than thee, +and more numerous. And you, and your children and your +property, will be for a prey to the monsters, and you will repent +when repentance will not avail . . . And there is no +succourer or strength but in God, and peace be upon those who +have followed the Madhi. (<i>Guidance</i>.)</p> +<p><span class="smcap">Postscript</span>.—“In one of +your cipher-telegrams sent to Bahkri and seized, you mention that +the troops present in Bahr Gazelle and the Equator and elsewhere +<!-- page 113--><a name="page113"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +113</span>number 30,000 soldiers whom you cannot leave behind, +even though you should die. And know that Bahr Gazelle and +the Equator are both of them under our power and both have +followed us as Madhi, and that they and their chiefs and all +their officers are now among the auxiliaries of the Madhi. +And they have joined our lieutenants in that part, and letters +from them are constantly coming and going without hinderence or +diminution of numbers. . . . By this thou wilt see and +understand that it is not under thy command as thou +thinkest. And for thy better information and our compassion +for thee we have added this postscript.</p> +<p style="text-align: center">(<i>Seal</i>.)</p> +<p>There is no God but Allah.<br /> +Mahomet is the prophet Allah.<br /> +Mahomet the Madhi, son of Abd Allah.”</p> +<p style="text-align: right">Year 1292.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Gordon’s reply was just what we should expect from an +officer of his temperament and experience. It is true +things looked anything but cheering and our hero needed all his +force of character and confidence in the God of Israel. +This he had and kept brightly burning. To the Madhi he +replied—</p> +<blockquote><p>“Sheikh Mahomed Achmed has sent us a letter +to inform us that Lupton Bey, Mudir of ‘Bahr Gazelle’ +has <!-- page 114--><a name="page114"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 114</span>surrendered to him, and that the +small steamer in which was Stewart Pasha, has been captured by +him, together with what was therein. But to me it is all +one whether Lupton Bey has surrendered or has not +surrendered. And whether he has captured twenty thousand +steamers like the ‘Abbas’ or twenty thousand officers +like Stuart Pasha or not; it is all one to me. I am here +like iron, and hope to see the newly arrived English; and if +Mahomed Achmed says that the English die, it is all the same to +me. And you must take a copy of this and give it to the +messenger from Slatin, and send him out early in the morning, +that he may go to him. It is impossible for me to have any +more words with Mahomed Achmed, only lead; and if Mahomed Achmed +is willing to fight he had better, instead of going to Omdurman, +go to the white hill by the moat.”</p> +<p style="text-align: right">(Signed) <span class="smcap">C. G. +Gordon</span>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Gordon, though borne up by a sense of the Divine presence, yet +he occasionally at least, felt as if he was leading a forlorn +hope. We know not, nor can we ever know all the deeds of +heroism he did for that down trodden people.</p> +<blockquote><p>“A life long year unsuccoured and alone<br +/> +He stemmed the fury of fanatic strife,<br /> +Till all lands claimed the hero as their own,<br /> +And wondering would he there lay down his life.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p><!-- page 115--><a name="page115"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +115</span>It is a mystery, and one that will never be solved, how +he supported his vast family in Khartoum; for food had to be +distributed to each individual member for months. It is +also a sad but remarkable fact, that through the last ten months +he had to depend upon the most unreliable and worthless of +troops. And for four of those weary months, he had been +without the cheering presence of his companion in arms, Colonel +Stewart. Yet he held out bravely, courageously, and in hope +of English help. At this juncture a poetess +wrote—</p> +<blockquote><p>“A message from one who went in haste<br /> +Came flashing across the sea,<br /> +It told not of weakness, but trust in God,<br /> +When it asked us—pray for me.<br /> +And since from Churches, and English homes,<br /> +In the day or the twilight dim,<br /> +A chorus of prayers went up to God—<br /> +Bless and take care of him:<br /> +A lonely man to those strange far lands,<br /> +He has gone with a word of peace;<br /> +And a million hearts are questioning<br /> +With a pain that cannot cease:<br /> +Is Gordon safe? Is there news of him?<br /> +What will the tidings be?<br /> +<!-- page 116--><a name="page116"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +116</span>There is little to do but trust and wait;<br /> +Yet utterly safe is he.<br /> +Was he not safe when the Chinese shots,<br /> +Were flying about his head,<br /> +When trouble thickened with every day,<br /> +And he was sore bestead;<br /> +Was he not safe in his dreary rides,<br /> +Over the desert sands;<br /> +Safe with the Abyssinian King;<br /> +Safe with the robber bands;<br /> +We know not the dangers around him now,<br /> +But this we surely know—<br /> +He has with him in his hour of need,<br /> +His Protector of long ago;<br /> +He is not alone, but a Friend is by<br /> +Who answers to every need;<br /> +God is his refuge and strength at hand,<br /> +Gordon is safe indeed:<br /> +Safe in living, in dying safe, where is the need of pain;<br /> +We may pray—God give the hero long life,<br /> +But death would be infinite gain.</p> +</blockquote> +<h2><!-- page 117--><a name="page117"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 117</span>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> +<blockquote><p>“There is a better thing on earth than +wealth, a better thing than life itself, and that is to have done +something before you die, for which good men may honour you, and +God your Father smile upon your work.”</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<span class="smcap">Geo. +Macdonald</span>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>The last Arab messenger that came from Khartoum before it +fell, said, “Gordon goes every morning at sunrise to the +top of his Palace wall, and with his large field glass, sweeps +the horizon as far as possible, and notes as clearly as may be +the position of the Madhi’s forces, which now surrounded +the City. As night falls, he visits the men at their +various stations, to give them advice, or encouragement, as the +case might be deemed necessary. In the daytime he studies +his maps and reads his Bible, and a work on “Holy +living,” by Thomas à Kempis, and preserves such a +faith in God as inspired all around him with a courage akin to +his own.</p> +<blockquote><p><!-- page 118--><a name="page118"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 118</span>“He held the city, he so +long<br /> +Faithful mid falterers, mid much weakness strong,<br /> +Upon those ramparts now he fought, he planned,<br /> +That Citadel was by one true man well manned.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>A letter from Kitchener reached Gordon, which raised his hopes +and considerably brightened his prospects for the time +being. It ran thus:—</p> +<blockquote><p>“Dear General Gordon.—Mr. Edgerton has +asked me to send you the following:—‘August +30th. Tell Gordon steamers are being passed over the Second +Cataracts, and that we wish to be informed through Dongola +exactly when he expects to be in difficulties as to provision and +ammunition.’ Message ends—“Lord Wolseley +is coming out to command; the 35th regiment is now being sent +from Halfa to Dongola. Sir E. Wood is at Halfa, General +Earle, Dormer, Buller, and Freemantle are coming up the Nile with +troops. I think an expedition will be sent across from here +to Khartoum, while another goes with steamers to Berber. A +few words about what you wish to be done would be +acceptable.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p118.jpg"> +<img alt="Gordon’s last slumber" src="images/p118.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>In Gordon’s journal he says:—“My view is +this as to the operations of British forces. I will put +three steamers each with two guns on them, and an armed force of +infantry at <!-- page 119--><a name="page119"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 119</span>the disposal of any British +authority; will send these steamers to either Methemma opposite +Shendy, or to the cataract below Berber to meet there any British +force which may come across country to the Nile. . . . I +cannot too much impress upon you that this expedition will not +encounter any enemy worth the name in a European sense of the +word; the struggle is with the climate and destitution of the +country. It is one of time and patience, and of small +parties of determined men backed by native allies, which are to +be got by policy and money. . . . It is the country of the +irregular, not of the regular. If you move in mass you will +find no end of difficulties; whereas if you let detached parties +dash out here and there, you will spread dismay in the Arab +camps. The time to attack is the dawn, or rather before it, +but sixty men would put the Arabs to flight just before dawn, +while one thousand would not accomplish in daylight. The +reason is that the strength of the Arabs is in their horsemen, +who do not dare to act in the dark. I do hope that you will +not drag on the artillery, it will only cause delay and do no +good.”</p> +<p><!-- page 120--><a name="page120"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +120</span>To his sister he writes:—</p> +<blockquote><p style="text-align: right"><i>November 5th</i>, +<i>1884</i>.</p> +<p>“Your kind letter, August 7th, came yesterday. We +have the Madhi close to us, but the Arabs are very quiet. . . . +. Terrible news—I hear the steamer I sent down with +Stewart, Power, and Herbin (French Consul) has been captured and +all are killed. I cannot understand it—whether an act +of treachery by someone, or struck on a rock, it is to me +unaccountable, for she was well armed and had a gun with her; if +she is lost, so is the journal of events from Jan. 3rd, 1884, to +Sept. 10th, 1884. A huge volume illustrated and full of +interest. I have put my steamers at Metemma to wait for the +troops. I am very well but very gray, with the continual +strain upon my nerves. I have been putting the +Sheikh-el-Islam and Cadi in prison; they were suspected of +writing to the Madhi. I let them out yesterday. I am +very grieved for the relatives of Stewart, Power, and +Herbin.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Again he writes:—</p> +<blockquote><p style="text-align: right"><i>Dec. 14th</i>, +<i>1884</i>.</p> +<p>“This may be the last letter you will receive from me, +for we are on our last legs, owing to the delay of the +expedition. However, God rules all, and I know He will rule +to His glory and our welfare. I fear that, owing to +circumstances, my affairs pecuniarily are not over bright.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">Your affectionate brother,<br /> +<span class="smcap">C. G. Gordon</span>.”</p> +<p>P.S.—“I am very happy, thank God, and, like +Lawrence, ‘I have tried to do my duty.’”</p> +</blockquote> +<p><!-- page 121--><a name="page121"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +121</span>Meanwhile, Gordon is thus hemmed in. General +Wolseley and his noble band are on their way to his relief. +Many and peculiar are the difficulties of both climate, country, +and foes; yet they face them like brave, true Englishmen. +The journey from Cairo to Ambukol, a distance of more than one +thousand miles, had been traversed without serious +opposition. From here, however, as they near Khartoum, now +about two hundred and fifty miles, taking the nearest desert +route. Lord Wolseley seems here to halt and hesitate, +whether it is best to go by the Nile, which, as shown on a map, +takes a bend, forming the shape of a letter ‘S’ +nearly; or whether to take the shortest cut and risk the +opposition that may be expected. He eventually decides that +the Camel Corps and a portion of the Infantry shall take the +short cut; the desert route to Metemmeh: the rest to go by the +Nile. It is evidently Wolseley’s wish to punish the +tribes who murdered Stewart, and his companions; so he orders the +South Staffordshire, 38th, and the Royal Sussex, 35th, and the +Black Watch, 42nd, to advance to Abu Hamed, which lies at the +northern bend of the ‘S,’ <!-- page 122--><a +name="page122"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 122</span>which the +Nile makes between Dongola and Metemmeh.</p> +<p>The Camel Corps are ordered to make a dash across the desert +to the same place. Little did our force dream of the +difficulties, dangers and deaths that lay before them as they +entered upon that desert march. We only indicate some of +them. On their march we are told that having nearly reached +Abu Klea “we were turning into our zareba, when it was +noticed that a group of some two hundred Arabs were on the hills, +not far from us. Two shells were sent amongst them, which +caused them to retire, but we soon found their sharpshooters had +crept to within 1,200 yards of our right flank. Also they +began to drop bullets into our midst, which were annoying and +destructive. Half a company of Mounted Infantry were told +off to drive them away. All officers were to see that the +men were at their posts, with bayonets fixed, ready to jump to +their feet at the very first alarm. With their overcoats on +and their blankets wrapped around them, men lay down on that +memorable night. All lights put out, all talking and +smoking strictly prohibited. A deadly stillness, <!-- page +123--><a name="page123"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +123</span>disturbed only by the whizzing or thud of the shot from +the enemy’s guns. Colonel Burnaby, who had managed +somehow to find a place in the Expedition, expressed his great +delight in having arrived in time to engage in what he now saw to +be the prospect of a terrible struggle.</p> +<p>He stated, “that he had arrived at that time of life +when the two things that interested him most were war and +politics; and was just as happy in the desert fighting the Arabs, +as he was at home slating an unworthy politician. Here, +however, he was, and must face the conflict.” +January, 16th, 1885. About 10 p.m. The sentries came +rushing into the lines. The officers called out, +“stand to your arms men.” The alarm, however, +was false—only a feint on the part of the enemy. +Still (says the writer), they kept harassing us by a continual +dropping of shot from their long rangers. About 7.30 a.m., +General Stewart prepared to send out an attacking column, with +the object of driving them from the wells, which were now only +four or five miles distant. The troops marched +out—Mounted Infantry, Royal Artillery with three guns, +Guards (this was the Front Face); Right Face—Guards, Royal +<!-- page 124--><a name="page124"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +124</span>Sussex; Left Face—Mounted Infantry, Heavy Cavalry +Regiment. The 19th Hussars, under Colonel Barrow, numbering +90 sabres, were sent to left flank to advance along the spur of +land on the north of the wady. Their duty was to move +forward on a line paralleled with the Square, and prevent the +enemy on our left from gaining the high ground across the little +wady. A squadron of the 19th, thirty sabres strong, +followed the Square, marching by the front right to assist the +skirmishers. The Heavies were in charge of Colonel Talbot; +the Guards by Colonel Boscowen; the Mounted Infantry by Major +Barrow; the Naval Brigade by Lord Charles Beresford; the Royal +Sussex by Major Sunderland; the Royal Artillery by Captain +Norton; and the Royal Engineers by Major Dorwood. So they +marched slowly forward. The progress was like that of some +ponderous machine, slow, regular, compact, despite the hail of +bullets that came from front, left and right, and ultimately from +the rear. Some ten or twelve thousand Arabs it was seen had +surrounded the Zareba. There was no retreat; it was +“do or die!” About 9.50 a.m., about 5000 of the +enemy were seen on the <!-- page 125--><a +name="page125"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 125</span>opposite +side of the square, 400 or 500 yards distant, and seemed as if +they would make a dash for our square. Dervishes on +horseback, and some on foot, marshalled them, standing a few +paces in front of the frantic host. With banners +fluttering, tom-toms clamouring, and shouts of Allah, they began +to move towards our square. The skirmisher’s fire +seemed to have no effect; though a few of them fell, they +ultimately made a run towards us like the roll of a black +surf. Lord Charles Beresford’s superintendence was +moved to the left face, rear corner, to be brought into action; +for here they seemed to press the attack. Unhappily, before +many rounds had been fired, the cartridges stuck and the weapon +was useless. Still down came the Arab wave. One +terrible rush of swordsmen and spearmen—scarcely any +carrying guns—their rifle fire had practically +ceased. In wild excitement, their white teeth glistening +and the sheen of their brandished weapons flashing like thousands +of mirrors; onward they came against us.”</p> +<p>The writer says:—“A volley of shot was sent into +them at 150 yards; at least one hundred <!-- page 126--><a +name="page126"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 126</span>Arabs fell, +and their force wavered, as a man stops to get his breath; but +the forces behind them came leaping over their falling brethren, +and came charging straight into our ranks. I was at that +instant inside the square, when I noticed our men shuffling +backwards. Some say Colonel Burnaby issued an order for the +men to fall back, but I did not hear it. Burnaby rode out +apparently to assist our skirmishers, who were running in, hard +pressed: all but one succeeding in getting inside the square: +Burnaby went, sword in hand, on his borrowed nag, for his own had +been shot under him that morning—he put himself in the way +of a Sheik who was charging down on horseback. Ere the Arab +closed with him a bullet from some in our ranks brought the Sheik +headlong to the ground. The enemy’s spearmen were +close behind, and one of them clashed at Colonel Burnaby, +pointing the long blade of his spear at his throat. Burnaby +leant forward in his saddle and parried the Moslem’s +thrusts; but the length of the weapon (8 feet or more) made it +difficult to deal a blow as desired. Once or twice the +Colonel managed to touch him. This only made him <!-- page +127--><a name="page127"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +127</span>the more alert. Burnaby fenced smartly, just as +if he was playing in an assault-at-arms, and there was a smile on +his features as he drove off the man’s awkward +points. With that lightning instinct which I have seen the +desert warrior display in battle, whilst coming to +another’s aid, an Arab who had been pursuing a soldier, +passed five paces to Burnaby’s right and rear, and, turning +with a sudden spring, this second Arab ran his spear point into +the Colonel’s right shoulder! It was but a slight +wound, enough though to cause Burnaby to twist round in his +saddle to defend himself from this unexpected attack. One +of our soldiers saw the situation, and ran and drove his sword +bayonet through this second assailant. As the soldier +withdrew his steel the ferocious Arab wriggled round and tried to +reach him. This he could not do, for he reeled and fell +over. Brief as was Burnaby’s glance at this second +assailant, it was long enough for the first Arab to deliver his +spear-point thrust full in the brave officer’s +throat. The blow brought Burnaby out of his saddle; but it +required some seconds before he let go of the bridle-reins, and +tumbled <!-- page 128--><a name="page128"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 128</span>upon the ground. Half-a-dozen +Arabs were now about him. With the blood gushing in streams +from his gashed throat the dauntless Burnaby leaped to his feet, +sword in hand, and slashed at the ferocious group. They +were the wild shrieks of a proud man dying hard, and he was +quickly overborne, and left helpless and dying! The heroic +soldier who sprang to his rescue, was, I fear, also slain in the +meleé, for though I watched for him, I never saw him get +back to his place in the +ranks. +But the square had been broken. The Arabs were driving +their spears at our men’s breasts. Happily, however, +the enemy’s ranks had been badly decimated by our bullets; +yet they fought desperately, until bullet or bayonet stopped +their career. Then from another quarter came a great onrush +with spears poised and swords uplifted straight into our rear +corner, the Arab horse struck like a tempest. The Heavies +were thrown into confusion, for the enemy were right among them, +killing and wounding with demoniacal fury. General Stewart +himself rode into their midst to assist, but his horse was killed +under him, and he was saved from the Arab spearmen <!-- page +129--><a name="page129"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +129</span>with great difficulty: Lord Airlie received two slight +spear wounds, and so did Lord C. Beresford. The Dervishes +made terrible havoc for a few minutes. It was an awful +scene, for many of the wounded and dying perished by the hands of +the merciless Arabs, infuriated by their Sheiks, whose wild +hoarse cries rent the air, whilst the black spearmen ran hither +and thither thirsting for blood. Lord St. Vincent had a +most providential escape. So great was the peril that the +officers in the Guards and Mounted Infantry placed their men back +to back to make one last effort to save the situation. +“To me,” says the writer, who was outside on the +right face: “they appeared to spin round a large mound like +a whirlpool of human beings.”</p> +<p>Soon the enemy showed signs of wavering, for the fire of our +English lads was fierce and withering. A young officer +rallied a number of men on the rear; and these delivered a most +telling fire into the enemy’s ranks; the strained tension +of the situation had been most severe, when at last the Arabs, +two or three at first, then twenties and fifties, trotted off the +field and in a very few minutes there was not an enemy to <!-- +page 130--><a name="page130"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +130</span>be seen. With cheer upon cheer, shouting until we +were hoarse, we celebrated this dearly won victory. +“Thus ended one of several terrible conflicts the men of +the Expedition had to go through on their way to the beleaguered +city.” These lines of poetry, were written shortly +after the news of this fierce engagement reached +England:—</p> +<blockquote><p>“They were gathered on the desert,<br /> +Like pebbles on the shore,<br /> +And they rushed upon the Christian<br /> +With a shout like cannon’s roar;<br /> +Like the dashing of the torrent,<br /> +Like the sweeping of the storm,<br /> +Like the raging of the tempest,<br /> +Came down the dusky swarm.<br /> +From the scant and struggling brush-wood,<br /> +From the waste of burning sand,<br /> +Sped the warriors of the desert,<br /> +Like the locusts of the land:<br /> +They would crush the bold invader,<br /> +Who had dared to cross their path;<br /> +They were fighting for their prophet,<br /> +In the might of Islam’s wrath,<br /> +They were savage in their fury,<br /> +They were lordly in their pride;<br /> +There was glory for the victor,<br /> +<!-- page 131--><a name="page131"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +131</span>And heaven for him who died.<br /> +They were mustered close together,<br /> +That small devoted band;<br /> +They knew the strife that day would rage<br /> +In combat hand to hand.<br /> +And wild and weird the battle-cry<br /> +Was sounding through the air,<br /> +As the foe sprang from his ambush,<br /> +Like the tiger from his lair.<br /> +They knew the distant flashing<br /> +Of the bright Arabian spear,<br /> +As, spurring madly onward,<br /> +They saw the host appear<br /> +In numbers overwhelming,<br /> +In numbers ten to one;<br /> +They knew the conflict must be waged<br /> +Beneath the scorching sun;<br /> +They knew the British soldiers grave<br /> +Might lie beneath their feet;<br /> +But they never knew dishonour,<br /> +And they would not know defeat.<br /> +And swifter, ever swifter<br /> +Swept on the savage horde,<br /> +And from the serried British ranks<br /> +A murderous fire was poured;<br /> +And like the leaves in autumn<br /> +Fell Arab warriors slain,<br /> +And like the leaves in spring-time<br /> +They seemed to live again.<br /> +<!-- page 132--><a name="page132"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +132</span>Midst the rattle of the bullets,<br /> +Midst the flashing of the steel,<br /> +They pressed to the encounter<br /> +With fierce fanatic zeal.<br /> +One moment swayed the phalanx,<br /> +One moment and no more;<br /> +Then British valour stemmed the tide,<br /> +As oft in days of yore.<br /> +At length the foe was vanquished,<br /> +And at length the field was won,<br /> +For the longest day had ended,<br /> +And the fiercest course was run.<br /> +Ye smiling plains of Albion!<br /> +Ye mountains of the north!<br /> +Now up and greet your heroes with<br /> +The honours they are worth.<br /> +Then pause and let a nation’s tears<br /> +Fall gently on the sod<br /> +Where thy gallant sons are sleeping,<br /> +Whose souls are with their God.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Mr. Burleigh tells us that “History records no military +events of a more stirring character, or situation more thrilling +and dramatic than those through which Sir Herbert Stewart’s +flying column passed on this dreadful march. Through those +terrible struggles with the followers of the Madhi, many a brave +soldier fell <!-- page 133--><a name="page133"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 133</span>and his body lies in the grave of +the African desert. It did, however, seem as if through all +the difficulties of the relieving forces, that Lord Wolseley +would soon give the gallant defender of Khartoum succour and +relief. The splendid victories won at Abu Klea Wells, and +other places, and their march to join the Nile forces, clearly +showed that they were terribly in earnest, and that they had the +true British sympathetic heart.</p> +<p>Finding some of Gordon’s steamers on the Nile, it was +their first impulse to man them and force their way up to +Khartoum at once. This was on January 21st, 1885. The +General in Command learned that the steamers needed some repairs, +and he (Sir Charles Wilson) deemed it necessary for the safety of +his troops to make a reconnaissance down the river towards Berber +before starting up to Khartoum. He took the steamers, +which, though small as the Thames pleasure boats, had been made +bullet-proof by the ingenuity and industry of the hero in +distress; and with a small British force and two hundred and +forty Soudanese (they also had in tow a nugger laden with dhura), +they proceeded <!-- page 134--><a name="page134"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 134</span>towards Berber some distance, and +then, returning for their important work of relief, they pressed +on to Khartoum in the face of the greatest dangers from the +numerous fanatical Arabs, until they could see the city, and +found to their horror and disappointment that Gordon’s flag +was torn down. The city had surrendered to the forces of +the Madhi, and it could be seen to swarm with his +followers! Treachery had been at work, as Gordon feared; +and the brave defender of Khartoum sealed his fidelity with his +own blood. We never doubted but he would “die at his +post.”</p> +<p>The Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone was on a visit to Holker Hall +to see the Duke of Devonshire, when the sad tale was told of +Gordon’s betrayal and death. To add to the grief, the +Queen, whose inmost soul had been stirred by the terrible news, +sent to Mr. Gladstone and Lord Hartington a telegram couched in +terms of anger and of blame, and this, not in cypher as was her +wont, but plain and open.</p> +<p>Mr. Gladstone addressed to Her Majesty by return, in the most +courteous manner possible, what may be considered a vindication +of his <!-- page 135--><a name="page135"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 135</span>actions in the matter and also that +of his Cabinet:—</p> +<blockquote><p style="text-align: right">“To the +Queen,—</p> +<p>“Mr. Gladstone has had the honour this day to receive +your Majesty’s telegram, <i>en clair</i>, relating to the +deplorable intelligence received this day from Lord Wolseley, and +stating that it is too fearful to consider that the fall of +Khartoum might have been prevented and many precious lives saved +by earlier action. Mr. Gladstone does not presume to +estimate the means of judgment possessed by your Majesty, but so +far as his information and recollection at the moment go, he is +not altogether able to follow the conclusion which your Majesty +has been pleased thus to announce. Mr. Gladstone is under +the impression that Lord Wolseley’s force might have been +sufficiently advanced to save Khartoum, had not a large portion +of it been detached by a circuitous route along the river, upon +the express application of General Gordon, to occupy Berber on +the way to the final destination. He speaks, however, with +submission on a point of this kind. There is, indeed, in +some quarters, a belief that the river <!-- page 136--><a +name="page136"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 136</span>route ought +to have been chosen at an earlier period, and had the navigation +of the Nile, in its upper region, been as well known as that of +the Thames, this might have been a just ground of reproach. +But when, on the first symptoms that the position of General +Gordon in Khartoum was not secure, your Majesty’s advisers +at once sought from the most competent persons the best +information they could obtain respecting the Nile route, the +balance of testimony and authority was decidedly against it, and +the idea of the Suakin and Berber route, with all its formidable +difficulties, was entertained in preference; nor was it till a +much later period that the weight of opinion and information +warranted the definite choice of the Nile route. Your +Majesty’s Ministers were well aware that climate and +distance were far more formidable than the sword of the enemy, +and they deemed it right, while providing adequate military +means, never to lose from view what might have proved to be the +destruction of the gallant army in the Soudan. It is +probable that abundant wrath and indignation will on this +occasion be poured <!-- page 137--><a name="page137"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 137</span>out upon them. Nor will they +complain if so it should be; but a partial consolation may be +found on reflecting that neither aggressive policy, nor military +disaster, nor any gross error in the application of means to +ends, has marked this series of difficult proceedings, which, +indeed, have greatly redounded to the honour of your +Majesty’s forces of all ranks and arms. In these +remarks, which Mr. Gladstone submits with his humble devotion, he +has taken it for granted that Khartoum has fallen through the +exhaustion of its means of defence. But your Majesty may +observe from the telegram that this is uncertain. Both the +correspondent’s account and that of Major Wortley refer to +the delivery of the town by treachery, a contingency which on +some previous occasions General Gordon has treated as far from +improbable; and which, if the notice existed, was likely to +operate quite independently of the particular time at which a +relieving force might arrive. The presence of the enemy in +force would naturally suggest the occasion or perhaps even the +apprehension of the approach of the British army. In +pointing to these considerations, Mr. Gladstone is far <!-- page +138--><a name="page138"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +138</span>from assuming that they are conclusive upon the whole +case; in dealing with which the government has hardly ever at any +of its stages been furnished sufficiently with those means of +judgment which rational men usually require. It may be +that, on a retrospect, many errors will appear to have been +committed. There are many reproaches, from the most +opposite quarters, to which it might be difficult to supply a +conclusive answer. Among them, and perhaps amongst the most +difficult, as far as Mr. Gladstone can judge, would be the +reproach of those who might argue that our proper business was +the protection of Egypt, that it never was in military danger +from the Madhi, and that the most prudent course would have been +to provide it with adequate frontier defences, and to assume no +responsibility for the lands beyond the desert.”</p> +<p>“Heroes have fought, and warriors bled,<br /> +For home, and love, and glory;<br /> +Your life and mine will soon be sped,<br /> +Then what will be the story?”</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<span class="smcap">J. +Rushton</span>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>The agonizing suspense in which our nation had been kept for +weeks, was now at an end, and <!-- page 139--><a +name="page139"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 139</span>we learned +the worst. The news fell like a thunderbolt upon our +country! Within forty-eight hours of the time when Gordon +would have heard the triumph ranting of English cheers, and once +more clasped the faithful hands of British brother soldiers; +treachery had done its worst. Thus ended this unique +life’s drama of one of the noblest hearts that ever beat in +soldier’s bosom, and one of the truest to his Queen, to his +country, and to his God. The heart that had caused him to +share his home with the homeless, and his bread with the hungry, +that had led him to kneel in prayer by the dying; the heart that +had so often throbbed for the misery of slavery, and the slave +trade, as to risk his life as of no value to stop that cursed +practice and traffic; that heart was pierced by the treacherous +hands (in all probability) of the very man Gordon had made the +greatest sacrifice to save. Such terrible news threw our +land into universal mourning, and thousands wept for the hero +that would never return.</p> +<p>The military correspondent of the “Daily News” at +Dongola, writes: “Two men arrived <!-- page 140--><a +name="page140"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 140</span>here +yesterday, April 11th, 1885, whose story throws some light on the +capture of Khartoum. They were soldiers in Gordon’s +army, taken at the time and sold as slaves, but who ultimately +escaped. Their names are Said Abdullah and Jacoob +Mahomet. I will let them tell their own +history.” “After stating they were first taken +at Omdurman, subsequently to the capture of Khartoum; were then +stolen by arabs and sold to two Kabbabish merchants, and +afterwards escaped from Aboudom to Debbah, from which place they +had reached Dongola; they went on to relate the doings of Farig +Pasha previously to the taking of Khartoum. I have given +you some account of the story by telegraph, and it has been +partly made familiar substantially through other channels. +They continued: “That night Khartoum was delivered into the +hands of the rebels. It fell through the treachery of the +accursed Farig Pasha, the Circassian, who opened the gate. +May he never reach Paradise! May Shaytan take possession of +his soul! But it was Kismet. The gate was called +Bouri’; it was on the Blue Nile. We were on guard +near, but did not see what was going on. We were <!-- page +141--><a name="page141"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +141</span>attacked and fought desperately at the gate. +Twelve of our staff were killed, and twenty-two of us retreated +to a high room, where we were taken prisoners, and now came the +ending. The red Flag with the crescent was destined no more +to wave over the Palace; nor would the strains of the hymns of +His Excellency be heard any more at eventide in Khartoum. +Blood was to flow in her streets, in her dwellings, in her very +mosque, and on the Kenniseh of the Narsira. A cry arose, +“To the Palace! to the Palace!” A wild and +furious band rushed towards it, but they were resisted by the +black troops, who fought desperately. They knew there was +no mercy for them, and that even were their lives spared, they +would be enslaved, and the state of the slave, the perpetual +bondage with hard taskmasters, is worse than death. Slaves +are not treated well, as you think; heavy chains are round their +ankles and middle, and they are lashed for the least offence +until blood flows. We had fought for the Christian Pasha +and for the Turks, and we knew that we should receive no +mercy. The house was set on fire: the fight raged and the +slaughter continued till the <!-- page 142--><a +name="page142"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 142</span>streets +were slippery with blood. The rebels rushed onward to the +Palace. We saw a mass rolling to and fro, but did not see +Gordon Pasha killed. He met his fate, we believe, as he was +leaving the Palace, near the large tree which stands on the +esplanade. The Palace is not a stone’s throw, or at +any rate a gun shot distance from the Austrian Consul’s +house. He was going in that direction, to the magazine on +the Kenniseh, a long way off. We did not hear what became +of his body, nor did we hear that his head was cut off; but we +saw the head of the traitor Farig Pasha, who met with his +deserts. We have heard it was the blacks that ran away; and +that the Egyptian soldiers fought well; that is not true, they +were craven. Had it not been for them, in spite of the +treachery of many within the town, the Arabs would not have got +in, for we watched the traitors. And now fearful scenes +took place in every house and building, in the large Market +Place, in the small bazaars; men were slain crying for mercy, but +mercy was not in the hearts of those savage enemies. Women +and children were robbed of their jewels of silver, of their +bracelets, necklaces of precious <!-- page 143--><a +name="page143"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 143</span>stones, and +carried off to be sold to the Bishareen merchants as +slaves. Yes, and white women too, mother and daughter alike +were carried off from their homes of comfort. Wives and +children of Egyptian merchants, formerly rich, owning ships and +mills; these were sold afterwards, some for 340 thaleries or +more, some for 25, according to age and good looks. And the +poor black women already slaves, and their children, 70 or 80 +thaleries. Their husbands and masters were slain before +their eyes . . . . this fighting and spilling of blood continued +till noon, till the sun rode high in the sky. There was +riot, wrangling, hubbub and cursing, till the hour of evening +prayer. But the Muezzin was not called, neither were any +prayers offered up at the Moslem Mosque on that dark day in the +annals of Khartoum. Meanwhile the screeching devils +bespattered with gore, swarming about in droves and bands, found +very little plunder, so were disappointed, and sought out Farig +Pasha, and found him with the Dervishes. ‘Where is +the hidden treasure?’ they at once demanded of him. +‘We know that you are acquainted with the hiding +place. Where is the <!-- page 144--><a +name="page144"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 144</span>money and +riches of the city and its merchants? We know that those +who left Khartoum did not take away their valuables, and you know +where it is hid.’ The Dervishes seeing the tumult +questioned him sharply, and addressed him thus: “The long +expected one our Lord, desires to know where the English Pasha +hid his wealth. We know he was very rich, and every day +paid large sums of money; that has not been concealed from our +Lord. Now therefore let us know that we may bear him word +where all the money is hidden. Let him be bound in the +inner chamber and examined; and the gates closed against the +Arabs.” Farig was then questioned, but he +“swore by Allah and by the souls of his fathers back to +three generations, that Gordon had no money, and that he knew of +no hidden treasure.” “You lie (cried the +Dervishes); you wish after a while to come and dig it out +yourself. Listen to what we are going to say to you. +We are sure you know where the money is hidden. We are not +careful of your life, for you have betrayed the man whose salt +you had eaten; you have been the servant of the infidel, and you +have betrayed even him. <!-- page 145--><a +name="page145"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 145</span>Unless you +unfold this secret of the buried treasure, you will surely +die.” Farig with proud bearing said, “I care +not for your threats. I have told you the truth, Allah +knows. There is no money, neither is there treasure. +You are fools to suppose there is. I have done a great +deed, I have delivered to your lord and master (the Madhi), the +city which you never could have taken without my help. I +tell you again there is no treasure, and you will rue the day if +you kill me.”</p> +<p>One of the Dervishes then stepped forward and struck him, +bound as he was, in the mouth; then another rushed at him with +his two-edged sword, struck him behind the neck so that with this +one blow his head fell from his shoulders; (so perished the arch +traitor); may his soul be afflicted! But as for Gordon +Pasha the magnanimous, may his soul have peace!” The +story of these men may, or may not be true, but it seems on the +face of it trustworthy.</p> +<p>It is, however, out of harmony with the description given of +Gordon’s death by Slatin Pasha, who was taken a prisoner at +the time of the fall of Khartoum, and had been kept for <!-- page +146--><a name="page146"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +146</span>eleven years in captivity, but eventually made his +escape. He was in attendance at the International +Geographical Congress held at the Imperial Institute, and devoted +to African affairs, when he told the story of his escape from +Khartoum. He says “The City of Khartoum fell on the +16th Jan., 1885, and Gordon was killed on the highest step of the +staircase of his Palace. His head was cut off and exhibited +to Slatin whilst the latter was in chains, with expressions of +derision and contempt.”</p> +<p>We have no doubt now as to the fact that Gordon Pasha, the +illustrious, the saintly, the brave defender, died doing his +duty. In all civilized lands there are still men who tell +of Gordon Pasha’s unbounded benevolence; of his mighty +faith, of his heroism and self-sacrifice, and they mourn with us +the loss of one of the most saintly souls our world has ever +known.</p> +<blockquote><p>“Warrior of God, man’s friend, not +laid below,<br /> + But somewhere dead far in the waste Soudan,<br /> +Thou livest in all hearts, for all men know<br /> + This earth hath borne no simpler, nobler +man.”</p> +<p style="text-align: right"><span +class="smcap">Tennyson</span>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><!-- page 147--><a name="page147"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +147</span>A most interesting and exquisitely touching letter was +forwarded to the bereaved and stricken sister of our hero from +the Khedive of Egypt, written from</p> +<blockquote><p style="text-align: right">“<span +class="smcap">Abdui Palace</span>,<br /> +“<span class="smcap">Cairo</span>,<br /> +“<span class="smcap">Feb.</span> 24, 1885.</p> +<p>“<span class="smcap">Madam</span>,—</p> +<p>“Altho’ I do not wish to intrude upon the great +sorrow which has fallen upon you in the death of your +distinguished brother, the late General Gordon Pasha, yet as +Egypt and myself have so much reason to deplore his loss, I +desire to convey to you my heart-felt sympathy in the terrible +bereavement it has been God’s will you should suffer. +I cannot find words to express to you the respect and admiration +with which your brother’s simple faith and heroic courage +have inspired me: the whole world resounds with the name of the +Englishman whose chivalrous nature afforded it for many years its +brightest and most powerful example,—an example which I +believe will influence thousands of persons for good through all +time. To a man of Gordon’s character the +disappointment of hopes he deemed so near fruition, and the +sudden manner of his death were of little importance. In +his own words, he left weariness for perfect rest. Our +mourning for him is true and real; as is also our loss, but we +have a sure hope that a life and death such as his are not +extinguished by what <!-- page 148--><a name="page148"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 148</span>we call death. I beg to renew +to you, Madam, the assurance of my sincere sympathy and +respectful condolence.</p> +</blockquote> +<p style="text-align: right">“<span class="smcap">Mehemit +Tewfik</span>.”</p> +<p>Also from the Queen, a letter full of womanly and queenly +sympathy is here recorded from <i>The Daily News</i>:</p> +<blockquote><p>“<span class="smcap">Dear Miss +Gordon</span>,—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 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 from abroad; from my eldest daughter The Crown Princess, +and from my cousin the King of the Belgians—<!-- page +149--><a name="page149"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +149</span>the very warmest. Would you express to your other +sister, 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 sympathizingly,</p> +<p style="text-align: right">V.R.I.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>A second letter from Her Majesty the Queen to acknowledge Miss +Gordon’s gift of her brother’s Bible. The very +Bible he used when with me in Manchester. His companion at +Gravesend, and during his sojourn in the Soudan (first +time). “It was so worn out (says Miss Gordon) that he +gave it to me. Hearing that the Queen would like to see it, +I forwarded it to Windsor Castle.” And this Bible is +now placed in an enamel and crystal case called “The St. +George’s Casket,” where it now lies open on a white +satin cushion, with a marble bust of General Gordon on a pedestal +beside it.</p> +<p>Her Majesty writes:—</p> +<blockquote><p style="text-align: right">“<span +class="smcap">Windsor Castle</span>,<br /> +“<span class="smcap">March</span> 16<span +class="smcap">th</span>, 1885.</p> +<p>“<span class="smcap">Dear Miss Gordon</span>,—It +is most kind and good of you to give me this precious Bible, and +I only hope that you are not depriving yourself and family of +such a <!-- page 150--><a name="page150"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 150</span>treasure, if you have no +other. May I ask you, during how many years your dear, +heroic brother had it with him? I shall have a case made +for it with an inscription, and place it in the library here, +with your letter and the touching extract from his last to +you. I have ordered, as you know, a Marble Bust of your +Dear Brother to be placed in the corridor here, where so many +busts and pictures of our greatest Generals, and Statesmen are, +and hope that you will see it before it is finished, to give your +opinion as to the likeness.—Believe me always yours very +sincerely,</p> +<p style="text-align: right">“<span +class="smcap">Victoria</span> R.I.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>A most touching and I think true epitaph has been written in +Greek and translated by Professor Jebb, of the University of +Glasgow touching the death of General Gordon:—</p> +<blockquote><p>“Leaving a perpetual remembrance, thou art +gone; in thy death thou wert even such as in thy life; wealth to +the poor, hope to the desponding, support to the weak. Thou +couldst meet desperate troubles with a spirit that knew not +despair, and breathe might into the trembling. The Lord of +China owes thee thanks for thy benefits; the throne of his +ancient kingdom hath not been cast down. And where the Nile +unites the divided strength of his streams, a city saw thee +long-suffering. A multitude dwelt therein, but thine alone +was the valour that guarded it through all that year, when by day +and by night thou didst keep watch <!-- page 151--><a +name="page151"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 151</span>against the +host of the Arabians, who went around it to devour it, with +spears thirsting for blood. Thy death was not wrought by +the God of war, but by the frailties of thy friends. For +thy country and for all men God blessed the work of thy +hand. Hail, stainless warrior! hail, thrice victorious +hero! Thou livest and shalt teach aftertimes to reverence +the council of the Everlasting Father.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Should he have been spared to return to our land—</p> +<blockquote><p>“We had the laurels ready<br /> +That patient brow to crown,<br /> +But the traitors steel was swift and sharp<br /> +To strike our honours down.<br /> +God His own victor crowneth,<br /> +He counts not gain nor loss,<br /> +For the dauntless heart that battles<br /> +’Neath the shadow of the Cross.<br /> +Rest for the gallant soldier,<br /> +Where’er he lieth low,<br /> +His rest is still and deep to-day,<br /> +’Mid clash of friend and foe.<br /> +He stands amid the light he loved,<br /> +Whence all the clouds depart,<br /> +But there’s a gap within our ranks,<br /> +And a void within our hearts.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Great men are usually measured by their character, not by +their successes; but measured <!-- page 152--><a +name="page152"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 152</span>by either +standard Gordon must be considered a <i>great</i> man. In +him were incarnated all the highest characteristics of the heroes +of our land, and other lands, and of the illustrious servants of +God in all ages. His life was swayed by a noble purpose, +and by this he was borne onward and upward in a career of noble +doing and daring. He had courage of the very highest +quality, and by this he carved his way into the very front rank +of our heroes, and won remarkable distinctions in life’s +fiercest battles. His crowning characteristics were, I +think, his genuineness, and unfailing trust in God. These, +especially the latter, were the inspiration of his life; and +these alone offer the truest explanation of his heroic +deeds. Even in Spain his name had a fragrance that was +attractive and beautiful. One of the papers <i>The El +Dia</i>, of Madrid, wrote: “Where even the greatest events +which occur abroad hardly attract the attention of the general +public, the daring enterprises of General Gordon had excited the +greatest interest. This was partly because of the immense +importance of the drama which was being played in the Soudan, and +because of the extraordinary development <!-- page 153--><a +name="page153"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 153</span>of the +drama; but it was chiefly due to the sympathy of the people with +the heroic champion of light and civilization; for his spotless +honesty; for his valour, tried times without number; for his +British tenacity; for his faith in his religion and country; for +his keen insight; for his heroic unselfishness, and for all his +other fine qualities. Gordon has become recognised in Spain +as an original character, grand and complete, whom future +generations will idealize, and whom history will call by the name +of genius.”</p> +<p>But Gordon, the great soldier and loveable Saint is dead; and +he himself could wish no nobler ending of an unselfish life, +after such a life of adventure, of heroism, and of humble trust +in God.</p> +<p>A combination of strange, rare qualities helped to make him +one of the most remarkable men our country has ever seen. +As a Christian of rarest purity and consecration, and as a hero +whose fame has filled two hemispheres, “His name shall be +had in everlasting remembrance.” He has added new +chapters to the glorious stories of British pluck and heroism, +and has left a name to which our young men will look back <!-- +page 154--><a name="page154"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +154</span>upon with pride; and the best of us will reverence, so +long as truth, faith, self-devotion, and lofty sense of duty stir +the admiration of men who are worthy to be called his +fellow-countrymen. Our British nation thrills with a proud +joy as it reflects upon the splendid achievements of that +stainless life, now crowned with the laurels of martyrdom, and of +an Empire’s love.</p> +<p>The memorial in St. Paul’s Cathedral most beautifully +sets forth the leading traits in his character:—</p> +<blockquote><p>“Major General Charles George Gordon, C.B., +who at all times and everywhere, gave his strength to the weak, +his substance to the poor, his sympathy to the suffering, his +heart to God.</p> +<p>“Born at Woolwich, 28th Jan., 1838.</p> +<p>“Slain at Khartoum, 26th Jan., 1885.</p> +<p>“He saved an Empire by his warlike genius, he ruled vast +provinces with justice, wisdom, power. And lastly, obedient +to his Sovereign’s command, he died in the heroic attempt +to save men, women and children from imminent and deadly +peril. ‘Greater love hath no man than this, that a +man lay down his life for his friends.’—St. John, xv. +ch., v. 13.</p> +</blockquote> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p155.jpg"> +<img alt="The Memorial in St. Paul’s Cathedral" +src="images/p155.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<blockquote><p><!-- page 157--><a name="page157"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 157</span>“This monument is erected by +his only surviving brother, whose eldest son also perished in the +service of his country, as Midshipman in H.M.S. +‘Captain,’ and is commemorated with others in the +adjoining recess.”</p> +<p> “Gordon! thou lost ideal of our +time,<br /> +While men believe not, and belief grows pale,<br /> +Before the daring doubters that assail;<br /> +We need thy child-like faith, thy gaze sublime,<br /> + That pierced the nearer gloom,<br /> + And still onward strode<br /> +Through death and darkness, seeing only God.”</p> +<p>“Servant of Christ, well done,<br /> + Praise be thy new employ;<br /> +And while eternal ages run,<br /> + Rest in thy Saviour’s joy.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p style="text-align: center">FINIS.</p> +<h2>Footnotes.</h2> +<p><a name="footnote57"></a><a href="#citation57" +class="footnote">[57]</a> A work by the Rev. Wm. Arthur, +which Gordon presented to me.</p> +<p><a name="footnote63"></a><a href="#citation63" +class="footnote">[63]</a> The name of our Ragged +School.</p> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GENERAL GORDON***</p> +<pre> + + +***** This file should be named 20619-h.htm or 20619-h.zip****** + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/0/6/1/20619 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://www.gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://www.gutenberg.org/about/contact + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: +http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + +</pre></body> +</html> diff --git a/20619-h/images/cover.jpg b/20619-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2b9cf0c --- /dev/null +++ b/20619-h/images/cover.jpg diff --git a/20619-h/images/p118.jpg b/20619-h/images/p118.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2357d1d --- /dev/null +++ b/20619-h/images/p118.jpg diff --git a/20619-h/images/p155.jpg b/20619-h/images/p155.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..39d3739 --- /dev/null +++ b/20619-h/images/p155.jpg diff --git a/20619-h/images/p17.jpg b/20619-h/images/p17.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..577d232 --- /dev/null +++ b/20619-h/images/p17.jpg diff --git a/20619-h/images/p45.jpg b/20619-h/images/p45.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..deb73b1 --- /dev/null +++ b/20619-h/images/p45.jpg diff --git a/20619-h/images/p51.jpg b/20619-h/images/p51.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..674eeb5 --- /dev/null +++ b/20619-h/images/p51.jpg diff --git a/20619-h/images/p6.jpg b/20619-h/images/p6.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..fcbaa8b --- /dev/null +++ b/20619-h/images/p6.jpg diff --git a/20619-h/images/p81.jpg b/20619-h/images/p81.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..0438e56 --- /dev/null +++ b/20619-h/images/p81.jpg |
