diff options
| -rw-r--r-- | old/mnvct10.zip | bin | 233303 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/old-2025-03-09/2447.txt | 9719 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/old-2025-03-09/2447.zip | bin | 233610 -> 0 bytes |
3 files changed, 0 insertions, 9719 deletions
diff --git a/old/mnvct10.zip b/old/mnvct10.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 33fdfe0..0000000 --- a/old/mnvct10.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/old-2025-03-09/2447.txt b/old/old-2025-03-09/2447.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 930798d..0000000 --- a/old/old-2025-03-09/2447.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,9719 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Eminent Victorians, by Lytton Strachey - -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: Eminent Victorians - -Author: Lytton Strachey - -Posting Date: February 21, 2012 [EBook #2447] -Release Date: December, 2000 -[Last updated: August 19, 2012] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EMINENT VICTORIANS *** - - - - -Produced by E-Text prepared by Martin Adamson; -martin@grassmarket.freeserve.co.uk - - - - - - - - -EMINENT VICTORIANS - -by Lytton Strachey - - - - -Preface - -THE history of the Victorian Age will never be written; we know too much -about it. For ignorance is the first requisite of the historian--ignorance, -which simplifies and clarifies, which selects and omits, with a placid -perfection unattainable by the highest art. Concerning the Age which has -just passed, our fathers and our grandfathers have poured forth and -accumulated so vast a quantity of information that the industry of a -Ranke would be submerged by it, and the perspicacity of a Gibbon would -quail before it. It is not by the direct method of a scrupulous -narration that the explorer of the past can hope to depict that singular -epoch. If he is wise, he will adopt a subtler strategy. He will attack -his subject in unexpected places; he will fall upon the flank, or the -rear; he will shoot a sudden, revealing searchlight into obscure -recesses, hitherto undivined. He will row out over that great ocean of -material, and lower down into it, here and there, a little bucket, which -will bring up to the light of day some characteristic specimen, from -those far depths, to be examined with a careful curiosity. Guided by -these considerations, I have written the ensuing studies. I have -attempted, through the medium of biography, to present some Victorian -visions to the modern eye. They are, in one sense, haphazard -visions--that is to say, my choice of subjects has been determined by no -desire to construct a system or to prove a theory, but by simple motives -of convenience and of art. It has been my purpose to illustrate rather -than to explain. It would have been futile to hope to tell even a precis -of the truth about the Victorian age, for the shortest precis must fill -innumerable volumes. But, in the lives of an ecclesiastic, an -educational authority, a woman of action, and a man of adventure, I have -sought to examine and elucidate certain fragments of the truth which -took my fancy and lay to my hand. - -I hope, however, that the following pages may prove to be of interest -from the strictly biographical, no less than from the historical point -of view. Human beings are too important to be treated as mere symptoms -of the past. They have a value which is independent of any temporal -processes--which is eternal, and must be felt for its own sake. The art -of biography seems to have fallen on evil times in England. We have had, -it is true, a few masterpieces, but we have never had, like the French, -a great biographical tradition; we have had no Fontenelles and -Condorcets, with their incomparable eloges, compressing into a few -shining pages the manifold existences of men. With us, the most delicate -and humane of all the branches of the art of writing has been relegated -to the journeymen of letters; we do not reflect that it is perhaps as -difficult to write a good life as to live one. Those two fat volumes, -with which it is our custom to commemorate the dead--who does not know -them, with their ill-digested masses of material, their slipshod style, -their tone of tedious panegyric, their lamentable lack of selection, of -detachment, of design? They are as familiar as the cortege of the -undertaker, and wear the same air of slow, funereal barbarism. One is -tempted to suppose, of some of them, that they were composed by that -functionary as the final item of his job. The studies in this book are -indebted, in more ways than one, to such works--works which certainly -deserve the name of Standard Biographies. For they have provided me not -only with much indispensable information, but with something even more -precious--an example. How many lessons are to be learned from them! But -it is hardly necessary to particularise. To preserve, for instance, a -becoming brevity--a brevity which excludes everything that is redundant -and nothing that is significant--that, surely, is the first duty of the -biographer. The second, no less surely, is to maintain his own freedom -of spirit. It is not his business to be complimentary; it is his -business to lay bare the facts of the case, as he understands them. That -is what I have aimed at in this book--to lay bare the facts of some -cases, as I understand them, dispassionately, impartially, and without -ulterior intentions. To quote the words of a Master--'Je n'impose rien; -je ne propose rien: j'expose.' - -L.S. - -A list of the principal sources from which I have drawn is appended to -each Biography. I would indicate, as an honourable exception to the -current commodity, Sir Edward Cook's excellent Life of Florence -Nightingale, without which my own study, though composed on a very -different scale and from a decidedly different angle, could not have -been written. - - - -Cardinal Manning - - -HENRY EDWARD MANNING was born in 1807 and died in 1892. His life was -extraordinary in many ways, but its interest for the modern inquirer -depends mainly upon two considerations--the light which his career -throws upon the spirit of his age, and the psychological problems -suggested by his inner history. He belonged to that class of eminent -ecclesiastics--and it is by no means a small class--who have been -distinguished less for saintliness and learning than for practical -ability. Had he lived in the Middle Ages he would certainly have been -neither a Francis nor an Aquinas, but he might have been an Innocent. As -it was, born in the England of the nineteenth century, growing up in the -very seed-time of modern progress, coming to maturity with the first -onrush of Liberalism, and living long enough to witness the victories of -Science and Democracy, he yet, by a strange concatenation of -circumstances, seemed almost to revive in his own person that long line -of diplomatic and administrative clerics which, one would have thought, -had come to an end for ever with Cardinal Wolsey. - -In Manning, so it appeared, the Middle Ages lived again. The tall gaunt -figure, with the face of smiling asceticism, the robes, and the biretta, -as it passed in triumph from High Mass at the Oratory to philanthropic -gatherings at Exeter Hall, from Strike Committees at the Docks to -Mayfair drawing-rooms where fashionable ladies knelt to the Prince of -the Church, certainly bore witness to a singular condition of affairs. -What had happened? Had a dominating character imposed itself upon a -hostile environment? Or was the nineteenth century, after all, not so -hostile? Was there something in it, scientific and progressive as it -was, which went out to welcome the representative of ancient tradition -and uncompromising faith? Had it, perhaps, a place in its heart for such -as Manning--a soft place, one might almost say? Or, on the other hand, -was it he who had been supple and yielding? He who had won by art what -he would never have won by force, and who had managed, so to speak, to -be one of the leaders of the procession less through merit than through -a superior faculty for gliding adroitly to the front rank? And, in any -case, by what odd chances, what shifts and struggles, what combinations -of circumstance and character, had this old man come to be where he was? -Such questions are easier to ask than to answer; but it may be -instructive, and even amusing, to look a little more closely into the -complexities of so curious a story. - - -I - -UNDOUBTEDLY, what is most obviously striking in the history of Manning's -career is the persistent strength of his innate characteristics. Through -all the changes of his fortunes the powerful spirit of the man worked on -undismayed. It was as if the Fates had laid a wager that they would -daunt him; and in the end they lost their bet. - -His father was a rich West Indian merchant, a governor of the Bank of -England, a Member of Parliament, who drove into town every day from his -country seat in a coach and four, and was content with nothing short of -a bishop for the christening of his children. Little Henry, like the -rest, had his bishop; but he was obliged to wait for him--for as long as -eighteen months. In those days, and even a generation later, as Keble -bears witness, there was great laxity in regard to the early baptism of -children. The delay has been noted by Manning's biographer as the first -stumbling-block in the spiritual life of the future Cardinal; but he -surmounted it with success. - -His father was more careful in other ways. - -'His refinement and delicacy of mind were such,' wrote Manning long -afterwards, 'that I never heard out of his mouth a word which might not -have been spoken in the presence of the most pure and sensitive--except,' -he adds, 'on one occasion. He was then forced by others to repeat a -negro story which, though free from all evil de sexu, was indelicate. He -did it with great resistance. His example gave me a hatred of all such -talk.' - -The family lived in an atmosphere of Evangelical piety. One day the -little boy came in from the farmyard, and his mother asked him whether -he had seen the peacock. 'I said yes, and the nurse said no, and my -mother made me kneel down and beg God to forgive me for not speaking the -truth.' At the age of four the child was told by a cousin of the age of -six that 'God had a book in which He wrote down everything we did wrong. -This so terrified me for days that I remember being found by my mother -sitting under a kind of writing-table in great fear. I never forgot this -at any time in my life,' the Cardinal tells us, 'and it has been a great -grace to me.' When he was nine years old he 'devoured the Apocalypse; -and I never all through my life forgot the "lake that burneth with fire -and brimstone". That verse has kept me like an audible voice through all -my life, and through worlds of danger in my youth.' - -At Harrow the worlds of danger were already around him; but yet he -listened to the audible voice. 'At school and college I never failed to -say my prayers, so far as memory serves me, even for a day.' And he -underwent another religious experience: he read Paley's Evidences. 'I -took in the whole argument,' wrote Manning, when he was over seventy, -'and I thank God that nothing has ever shaken it.' Yet on the whole he -led the unspiritual life of an ordinary schoolboy. We have glimpses of -him as a handsome lad, playing cricket, or strutting about in tasselled -Hessian top-boots. And on one occasion at least he gave proof of a -certain dexterity of conduct which deserved to be remembered. He went -out of bounds, and a master, riding by and seeing him on the other side -of a field, tied his horse to a gate, and ran after him. The astute -youth outran the master, fetched a circle, reached the gate, jumped on -to the horse's back and rode off. For this he was very properly -chastised; but, of what use was chastisement? No whipping, however -severe, could have eradicated from little Henry's mind a quality at -least as firmly planted in it as his fear of Hell and his belief in the -arguments of Paley. - -It had been his father's wish that Manning should go into the Church; -but the thought disgusted him; and when he reached Oxford, his tastes, -his ambitions, his successes at the Union, all seemed to mark him out -for a political career. He was a year junior to Samuel Wilberforce, and -a year senior to Gladstone. In those days the Union was the -recruiting-ground for young politicians; Ministers came down from London -to listen to the debates; and a few years later the Duke of Newcastle -gave Gladstone a pocket borough on the strength of his speech at the -Union against the Reform Bill. To those three young men, indeed, the -whole world lay open. Were they not rich, well-connected, and endowed -with an infinite capacity for making speeches? The event justified the -highest expectations of their friends; for the least distinguished of -the three died a bishop. The only danger lay in another direction. - -'Watch, my dear Samuel,' wrote the elder Wilberforce to his son, 'watch -with jealousy whether you find yourself unduly solicitous about -acquitting yourself; whether you are too much chagrined when you fail, -or are puffed up by your success. Undue solicitude about popular -estimation is a weakness against which all real Christians must guard -with the utmost jealous watchfulness. The more you can retain the -impression of your being surrounded by a cloud of witnesses of the -invisible world, to use the scripture phrase, the more you will be armed -against this besetting sin.' - -But suddenly it seemed as if such a warning could, after all, have very -little relevance to Manning; for, on his leaving Oxford, the brimming -cup was dashed from his lips. He was already beginning to dream of -himself in the House of Commons, the solitary advocate of some great -cause whose triumph was to be eventually brought about by his -extraordinary efforts, when his father was declared a bankrupt, and all -his hopes of a political career came to an end forever. - -It was at this time that Manning became intimate with a pious lady, the -sister of one of his College friends, whom he used to describe as his -Spiritual Mother. He made her his confidante; and one day, as they -walked together in the shrubbery, he revealed the bitterness of the -disappointment into which his father's failure had plunged him. She -tried to cheer him, and then she added that there were higher aims open -to him which he had not considered. 'What do you mean?' he asked. 'The -kingdom of Heaven,' she answered; 'heavenly ambitions are not closed -against you.' The young man listened, was silent, and said at last that -he did not know but she was right. She suggested reading the Bible -together; and they accordingly did so during the whole of that Vacation, -every morning after breakfast. Yet, in spite of these devotional -exercises, and in spite of a voluminous correspondence on religious -subjects with his Spiritual Mother, Manning still continued to indulge -in secular hopes. He entered the Colonial Office as a supernumerary -clerk, and it was only when the offer of a Merton Fellowship seemed to -depend upon his taking orders that his heavenly ambitions began to -assume a definite shape. Just then he fell in love with Miss Deffell, -whose father would have nothing to say to a young man without prospects, -and forbade him the house. It was only too true; what WERE the prospects -of a supernumerary clerk in the Colonial Office? Manning went to Oxford -and took orders. He was elected to the Merton Fellowship, and obtained -through the influence of the Wilberforces a curacy in Sussex. At the -last moment he almost drew back. 'I think the whole step has been too -precipitate,' he wrote to his brother-in-law. 'I have rather allowed the -instance of my friends, and the allurements of an agreeable curacy in -many respects, to get the better of my sober judgment.' His vast -ambitions, his dreams of public service, of honours, and of power, was -all this to end in a little country curacy 'agreeable in many respects'? -But there was nothing for it; the deed was done; and the Fates had -apparently succeeded very effectively in getting rid of Manning. All he -could do was to make the best of a bad business. - -Accordingly, in the first place, he decided that he had received a call -from God 'ad veritatem et ad seipsum'; and, in the second, forgetting -Miss Deffell, he married his rector's daughter. Within a few months the -rector died, and Manning stepped into his shoes; and at least it could -be said that the shoes were not uncomfortable. For the next seven years -he fulfilled the functions of a country clergyman. He was energetic and -devout; he was polite and handsome; his fame grew in the diocese. At -last he began to be spoken of as the probable successor to the old -Archdeacon of Chichester. When Mrs. Manning prematurely died, he was at -first inconsolable, but he found relief in the distraction of redoubled -work. How could he have guessed that one day he would come to number -that loss among 'God's special mercies? Yet so it was to be. In after -years, the memory of his wife seemed to be blotted from his mind; he -never spoke of her; every letter, every record, of his married life he -destroyed; and when word was sent to him that her grave was falling into -ruin: 'It is best so,' the Cardinal answered, 'let it be. Time effaces -all things.' But, when the grave was yet fresh, the young Rector would -sit beside it, day after day, writing his sermons. - - -II - -IN the meantime, a series of events was taking place in another part of -England, which was to have a no less profound effect upon Manning's -history than the merciful removal of his wife. In the same year in which -he took up his Sussex curacy, the Tracts for the Times had begun to -appear at Oxford. The 'Oxford Movement', in fact, had started on its -course. The phrase is still familiar; but its meaning has become -somewhat obscured both by the lapse of time and the intrinsic ambiguity -of the subjects connected with it. Let us borrow for a moment the wings -of Historic Imagination, and, hovering lightly over the Oxford of the -thirties, take a rapid bird's-eye view. - -For many generations the Church of England had slept the sleep of the -...comfortable. The sullen murmurings of dissent, the loud battle-cry of -Revolution, had hardly disturbed her slumbers. Portly divines subscribed -with a sigh or a smile to the Thirty-nine Articles, sank quietly into -easy living, rode gaily to hounds of a morning as gentlemen should, and, -as gentlemen should, carried their two bottles of an evening. To be in -the Church was in fact simply to pursue one of those professions which -Nature and Society had decided were proper to gentlemen and gentlemen -alone. The fervours of piety, the zeal of Apostolic charity, the -enthusiasm of self-renunciation--these things were all very well in -their way and in their place; but their place was certainly not the -Church of England. Gentlemen were neither fervid nor zealous, and above -all they were not enthusiastic. There were, it was true, occasionally to -be found within the Church some strait-laced parsons of the high Tory -school who looked back with regret to the days of Laud or talked of the -Apostolical Succession; and there were groups of square-toed -Evangelicals who were earnest over the Atonement, confessed to a -personal love of Jesus Christ, and seemed to have arranged the whole of -their lives, down to the minutest details of act and speech, with -reference to Eternity. But such extremes were the rare exceptions. The -great bulk of the clergy walked calmly along the smooth road of ordinary -duty. They kept an eye on the poor of the parish, and they conducted the -Sunday Services in a becoming manner; for the rest, they differed -neither outwardly nor inwardly from the great bulk of the laity, to whom -the Church was a useful organisation for the maintenance of Religion, as -by law established. - -The awakening came at last, however, and it was a rude one. The liberal -principles of the French Revolution, checked at first in the terrors of -reaction, began to make their way into England. Rationalists lifted up -their heads; Bentham and the Mills propounded Utilitarianism; the Reform -Bill was passed; and there were rumours abroad of disestablishment. Even -Churchmen seemed to have caught the infection. Dr. Whately was so bold -as to assert that, in the interpretation of Scripture, different -opinions might be permitted upon matters of doubt; and, Dr. Arnold drew -up a disquieting scheme for allowing Dissenters into the Church, though -it is true that he did not go quite so far as to contemplate the -admission of Unitarians. - -At this time, there was living in a country parish, a young clergyman of -the name of John Keble. He had gone to Oxford at the age of fifteen, -where, after a successful academic career, he had been made a Fellow of -Oriel. He had then returned to his father's parish and taken up the -duties of a curate. He had a thorough knowledge of the contents of the -Prayer-book, the ways of a Common Room, the conjugations of the Greek -Irregular Verbs, and the small jests of a country parsonage; and the -defects of his experience in other directions were replaced by a zeal -and a piety which were soon to prove themselves equal, and more than -equal, to whatever calls might be made upon them. The superabundance of -his piety overflowed into verse; and the holy simplicity of the -Christian Year carried his name into the remotest lodging-houses of -England. - -As for his zeal, however, it needed another outlet. Looking forth upon -the doings of his fellow-men through his rectory windows in -Gloucestershire, Keble felt his whole soul shaken with loathing, anger, -and dread. Infidelity was stalking through the land; authority was -laughed at; the hideous doctrines of Democracy were being openly -preached. Worse still, if possible, the Church herself was ignorant and -lukewarm; she had forgotten the mysteries of the sacraments, she had -lost faith in the Apostolical Succession; she was no longer interested -in the Early Fathers; and she submitted herself to the control of a -secular legislature, the members of which were not even bound to profess -belief in the Atonement. In the face of such enormities what could Keble -do? He was ready to do anything, but he was a simple and an unambitious -man, and his wrath would in all probability have consumed itself -unappeased within him had he not chanced to come into contact, at the -critical moment, with a spirit more excitable and daring than his own. - -Hurrell Froude, one of Keble's pupils, was a clever young man to whom -had fallen a rather larger share of self-assurance and intolerance than -even clever young men usually possess. What was singular about him, -however, was not so much his temper as his tastes. The sort of ardour -which impels more normal youths to haunt Music Halls and fall in love -with actresses took the form, in Froude's case, of a romantic devotion -to the Deity and an intense interest in the state of his own soul. He -was obsessed by the ideals of saintliness, and convinced of the supreme -importance of not eating too much. He kept a diary in which he recorded -his delinquencies, and they were many. 'I cannot say much for myself -today,' he writes on September 29th, 1826 (he was twenty-three years -old). 'I did not read the Psalms and Second Lesson after breakfast, -which I had neglected to do before, though I had plenty of time on my -hands. Would have liked to be thought adventurous for a scramble I had -at the Devil's Bridge. Looked with greediness to see if there was a -goose on the table for dinner; and though what I ate was of the plainest -sort, and I took no variety, yet even this was partly the effect of -accident, and I certainly rather exceeded in quantity, as I was fuzzy -and sleepy after dinner.' 'I allowed myself to be disgusted, with--'s -pomposity,' he writes a little later, 'also smiled at an allusion in the -Lessons to abstemiousness in eating. I hope not from pride or vanity, -but mistrust; it certainly was unintentional.' And again, 'As to my -meals, I can say that I was always careful to see that no one else would -take a thing before I served myself; and I believe as to the kind of my -food, a bit of cold endings of a dab at breakfast, and a scrap of -mackerel at dinner, are the only things that diverged from the strict -rule of simplicity.' 'I am obliged to confess,' he notes, 'that in my -intercourse with the Supreme Being, I am be come more and more -sluggish.' And then he exclaims: 'Thine eye trieth my inward parts, and -knoweth my thoughts ... Oh that my ways were made so direct that I might -keep Thy statutes. I will walk in Thy Commandments when Thou hast set my -heart at liberty.' - -Such were the preoccupations of this young man. Perhaps they would have -been different, if he had had a little less of what Newman describes as -his 'high severe idea of the intrinsic excellence of Virginity'; but it -is useless to speculate. - -Naturally enough the fierce and burning zeal of Keble had a profound -effect upon his mind. The two became intimate friends, and Froude, -eagerly seizing upon the doctrines of the elder man, saw to it that they -had as full a measure of controversial notoriety as an Oxford common -room could afford. He plunged the metaphysical mysteries of the Holy -Catholic Church into the atmosphere of party politics. Surprised Doctors -of Divinity found themselves suddenly faced with strange questions which -had never entered their heads before. Was the Church of England, or was -it not, a part of the Church Catholic? If it was, were not the Reformers -of the sixteenth century renegades? Was not the participation of the -Body and Blood of Christ essential to the maintenance of Christian life -and hope in each individual? Were Timothy and Titus Bishops? Or were -they not? If they were, did it not follow that the power of -administering the Holy Eucharist was the attribute of a sacred order -founded by Christ Himself? Did not the Fathers refer to the tradition of -the Church as to something independent of the written word, and -sufficient to refute heresy, even alone? Was it not, therefore, God's -unwritten word? And did it not demand the same reverence from us as the -Scriptures, and for exactly the same reason--BECAUSE IT WAS HIS WORD? -The Doctors of Divinity were aghast at such questions, which seemed to -lead they hardly knew whither; and they found it difficult to think of -very apposite answers. But Hurrell Froude supplied the answers himself -readily enough. All Oxford, all England, should know the truth. The time -was out of joint, and he was only too delighted to have been born to set -it right. - -But, after all, something more was needed than even the excitement of -Froude combined with the conviction of Keble to ruffle seriously the -vast calm waters of Christian thought; and it so happened that that -thing was not wanting: it was the genius of John Henry Newman. If Newman -had never lived, or if his father, when the gig came round on the fatal -morning, still undecided between the two Universities, had chanced to -turn the horse's head in the direction of Cambridge, who can doubt that -the Oxford Movement would have flickered out its little flame unobserved -in the Common Room of Oriel? And how different, too, would have been the -fate of Newman himself! He was a child of the Romantic Revival, a -creature of emotion and of memory, a dreamer whose secret spirit dwelt -apart in delectable mountains, an artist whose subtle senses caught, -like a shower in the sunshine, the impalpable rainbow of the immaterial -world. In other times, under other skies, his days would have been more -fortunate. He might have helped to weave the garland of Meleager, or to -mix the lapis lazuli of Fra Angelico, or to chase the delicate truth in -the shade of an Athenian palaestra, or his hands might have fashioned -those ethereal faces that smile in the niches of Chartres. Even in his -own age he might, at Cambridge, whose cloisters have ever been -consecrated to poetry and common sense, have followed quietly in Gray's -footsteps and brought into flower those seeds of inspiration which now -lie embedded amid the faded devotion of the Lyra Apostolica. - -At Oxford, he was doomed. He could not withstand the last enchantment of -the Middle Age. It was in vain that he plunged into the pages of Gibbon -or communed for long hours with Beethoven over his beloved violin. The -air was thick with clerical sanctity, heavy with the odours of tradition -and the soft warmth of spiritual authority; his friendship with Hurrell -Froude did the rest. All that was weakest in him hurried him onward, and -all that was strongest in him too. His curious and vaulting imagination -began to construct vast philosophical fabrics out of the writings of -ancient monks, and to dally with visions of angelic visitations and the -efficacy of the oil of St Walburga; his emotional nature became absorbed -in the partisan passions of a University clique; and his subtle -intellect concerned itself more and more exclusively with the -dialectical splitting of dogmatical hairs. His future course was marked -out for him all too clearly; and yet by a singular chance the true -nature of the man was to emerge triumphant in the end. If Newman had -died at the age of sixty, today he would have been already forgotten, -save by a few ecclesiastical historians; but he lived to write his -Apologia, and to reach immortality, neither as a thinker nor as a -theologian, but as an artist who has embalmed the poignant history of an -intensely human spirit in the magical spices of words. - -When Froude succeeded in impregnating Newman with the ideas of Keble, -the Oxford Movement began. The original and remarkable characteristic of -these three men was that they took the Christian Religion au pied de la -lettre. This had not been done in England for centuries. When they -declared every Sunday that they believed in the Holy Catholic Church, -they meant it. When they repeated the Athanasian Creed, they meant it. -Even, when they subscribed to the Thirty-nine Articles, they meant it-or -at least they thought they did. Now such a state of mind was -dangerous--more dangerous indeed--than they at first realised. They had -started with the innocent assumption that the Christian Religion was -contained in the doctrines of the Church of England; but, the more they -examined this matter, the more difficult and dubious it became. The -Church of England bore everywhere upon it the signs of human -imperfection; it was the outcome of revolution and of compromise, of the -exigencies of politicians and the caprices of princes, of the prejudices -of theologians and the necessities of the State. How had it happened -that this piece of patchwork had become the receptacle for the august -and infinite mysteries of the Christian Faith? This was the problem with -which Newman and his friends found themselves confronted. Other men -might, and apparently did, see nothing very strange in such a situation; -but other men saw in Christianity itself scarcely more than a convenient -and respectable appendage to existence, by which a sound system of -morals was inculcated, and through which one might hope to attain to -everlasting bliss. - -To Newman and Keble it was otherwise. They saw a transcendent -manifestation of Divine power flowing down elaborate and immense through -the ages; a consecrated priesthood, stretching back, through the mystic -symbol of the laying on of hands, to the very Godhead; a whole universe -of spiritual beings brought into communion with the Eternal by means of -wafers; a great mass of metaphysical doctrines, at once incomprehensible -and of incalculable import, laid down with infinite certitude; they saw -the supernatural everywhere and at all times, a living force, floating -invisible in angels, inspiring saints, and investing with miraculous -properties the commonest material things. No wonder that they found such -a spectacle hard to bring into line with the institution which had been -evolved from the divorce of Henry VIII, the intrigues of Elizabethan -parliaments, and the Revolution of 1688. They did, no doubt, soon -satisfy themselves that they had succeeded in this apparently hopeless -task; but, the conclusions which they came to in order to do so were -decidedly startling. - -The Church of England, they declared, was indeed the one true Church, -but she had been under an eclipse since the Reformation; in fact, since -she had begun to exist. She had, it is true, escaped the corruptions of -Rome; but she had become enslaved by the secular power, and degraded by -the false doctrines of Protestantism. The Christian Religion was still -preserved intact by the English priesthood, but it was preserved, as it -were, unconsciously--a priceless deposit, handed down blindly from -generation to generation, and subsisting less by the will of man than -through the ordinance of God as expressed in the mysterious virtue of -the Sacraments. Christianity, in short, had become entangled in a series -of unfortunate circumstances from which it was the plain duty of Newman -and his friends to rescue it forthwith. What was curious was that this -task had been reserved, in so marked a manner, for them. Some of the -divines of the seventeenth century had, perhaps, been vouchsafed -glimpses of the truth; but they were glimpses and nothing more. No, the -waters of the true Faith had dived underground at the Reformation, and -they were waiting for the wand of Newman to strike the rock before they -should burst forth once more into the light of day. The whole matter, no -doubt, was Providential--what other explanation could there be? - -The first step, it was clear, was to purge the Church of her shames and -her errors. The Reformers must be exposed; the yoke of the secular power -must be thrown off; dogma must be reinstated in its old pre-eminence; -and Christians must be reminded of what they had apparently -forgotten--the presence of the supernatural in daily life. 'It would be -a gain to this country,' Keble observed, 'were it vastly more -superstitious, more bigoted, more gloomy, more fierce in its religion, -than at present it shows itself to be.' 'The only good I know of -Cranmer,' said Hurrell Froude, 'was that he burned well.' Newman -preached, and soon the new views began to spread. Among the earliest of -the converts was Dr Pusey, a man of wealth and learning, a professor, a -canon of Christ Church, who had, it was rumoured, been to Germany. Then -the Tracts for the Times were started under Newman's editorship, and the -Movement was launched upon the world. - -The Tracts were written 'with the hope of rousing members of our Church -to comprehend her alarming position ... as a man might give notice of a -fire or inundation, to startle all who heard him'. They may be said to -have succeeded in their objective, for the sensation which they caused -among clergymen throughout the country was extreme. They dealt with a -great variety of questions, but the underlying intention of all of them -was to attack the accepted doctrines and practices of the Church of -England. Dr. Pusey wrote learnedly on Baptismal Regeneration; he also -wrote on Fasting. His treatment of the latter subject met with -considerable disapproval, which surprised the Doctor. 'I was not -prepared,' he said, 'for people questioning, even in the abstract, the -duty of fasting; I thought serious-minded persons at least supposed they -practised fasting in some way or other. I assumed the duty to be -acknowledged and thought it only undervalued.' We live and learn, even -though we have been to Germany. - -Other tracts discussed the Holy Catholic Church, the Clergy, and the -Liturgy. One treated of the question 'whether a clergyman of the Church -of England be now bound to have morning and evening prayers daily in his -parish church?' Another pointed out the 'Indications of a superintending -Providence in the preservation of the Prayer-book and in the changes -which it has undergone'. Another consisted of a collection of 'Advent -Sermons on Antichrist'. Keble wrote a long and elaborate tract 'On the -Mysticism attributed to the Early Fathers of the Church', in which he -expressed his opinions upon a large number of curious matters. - -'According to men's usual way of talking,' he wrote, 'it would be called -an accidental circumstance that there were five loaves, not more nor -less, in the store of Our Lord and His disciples wherewith to provide -the miraculous feast. But the ancient interpreters treat it as designed -and providential, in this surely not erring: and their conjecture is -that it represents the sacrifice of the whole world of sense, and -especially of the Old Dispensation, which, being outward and visible, -might be called the dispensation of the senses, to the FATHER of our -LORD JESUS CHRIST, to be a pledge and means of communion with Him -according to the terms of the new or evangelical law. - -They arrived at this idea by considering the number five, the number of -the senses, as the mystical opponent of the visible and sensible -universe--ta aistheta, as distinguished from ta noita. Origen lays down -the rule in express terms. '"The number five,"' he says, '"frequently, -nay almost always, is taken for the five senses."' In another passage, -Keble deals with an even more recondite question. He quotes the teaching -of St. Barnabas that 'Abraham, who first gave men circumcision, did -thereby perform a spiritual and typical action, looking forward to the -Son'. St. Barnabas's argument is as follows: Abraham circumcised of his -house men to the number of 318. Why 318? Observe first the 18, then the -300. Of the two letters which stand for 18, 10 is represented by 1, 8 by -H. 'Thou hast here,' says St. Barnabas, 'the word of Jesus.' As for the -300, 'the Cross is represented by Tau, and the letter Tau represents -that number'. - -Unfortunately, however, St. Barnabas's premise was of doubtful validity, -as the Rev. Mr. Maitland pointed out, in a pamphlet impugning the -conclusions of the Tract. 'The simple fact is,' he wrote, 'that when -Abraham pursued Chedorlaomer "he armed his trained servants, BORN IN HIS -OWN HOUSE, three hundred and eighteen". When, more than thirteen -(according to the common chronology, fifteen) years after, he -circumcised "all the men of his house, BORN IN THE HOUSE, AND BOUGHT -WITH MONEY OF THE STRANGER", and, in fact, every male who was as much as -eight days old, we are not told what the number amounted to. Shall we -suppose (just for the sake of the interpretation) that Abraham's family -had so dwindled in the interval as that now all the males of his -household, trained men, slaves, and children, equalled only and exactly -the number of his warriors fifteen years before?' - -The question seems difficult to answer, but Keble had, as a matter of -fact, forestalled the argument in the following passage, which had -apparently escaped the notice of the Rev. Mr. Maitland: - -'Now whether the facts were really so or not (if it were, it was surely -by special providence), that Abraham's household at the time of the -circumcision was exactly the same number as before; still the argument -of St. Barnabas will stand. As thus: circumcision had from the -beginning, a reference to our SAVIOUR, as in other respects, so in this; -that the mystical number, which is the cipher of Jesus crucified, was -the number of the first circumcised household in the strength of which -Abraham prevailed against the powers of the world. So St. Clement of -Alexandria, as cited by Fell.' - -And Keble supports his contention through ten pages of close print, with -references to Aristeas, St. Augustine, St. Jerome, and Dr. Whitby. - -Writings of this kind could not fail in their effect. Pious youths in -Oxford were carried away by them, and began to flock around the standard -of Newman. Newman himself became a party chief--encouraging, organising, -persuading. His long black figure, swiftly passing through the streets, -was pointed at with awe; crowds flocked to his sermons; his words were -repeated from mouth to mouth; 'Credo in Newmannum' became a common -catchword. Jokes were made about the Church of England, and practices, -unknown for centuries, began to be revived. Young men fasted and did -penance, recited the hours of the Roman Breviary, and confessed their -sins to Dr. Pusey. Nor was the movement confined to Oxford; it spread in -widening circles through the parishes of England; the dormant devotion -of the country was suddenly aroused. The new strange notion of taking -Christianity literally was delightful to earnest minds; but it was also -alarming. Really to mean every word you said, when you repeated the -Athanasian Creed! How wonderful! And what enticing and mysterious vistas -burst upon the view! But then, those vistas, where were they leading? -Supposing--oh heavens!--supposing after all they were to lead to--! - - -III - -IN due course, the Tracts made their appearance at the remote rectory in -Sussex. Manning was some years younger than Newman, and the two men had -only met occasionally at the University; but now, through common -friends, a closer relationship began to grow up between them. It was -only to be expected that Newman should be anxious to enroll the rising -young Rector among his followers; and, on Manning's side, there were -many causes which impelled him to accept the overtures from Oxford. - -He was a man of a serious and vigorous temperament, to whom it was -inevitable that the bold high principles of the Movement should strongly -appeal. There was also an element in his mind that element which had -terrified him in his childhood with Apocalyptic visions, and urged him -in his youth to Bible readings after breakfast--which now brought him -under the spell of the Oxford theories of sacramental mysticism. And -besides, the Movement offered another attraction: it imputed an -extraordinary, transcendent merit to the profession which Manning -himself pursued. The cleric was not as his lay brethren; he was a -creature apart, chosen by Divine will and sanctified by Divine -mysteries. It was a relief to find, when one had supposed that one was -nothing but a clergyman, that one might, after all, be something -else--one might be a priest. - -Accordingly, Manning shook off his early Evangelical convictions, -started an active correspondence with Newman, and was soon working for -the new cause. He collected quotations, and began to translate the works -of Optatus for Dr. Pusey. He wrote an article on Justin for the British -Critic, "Newman's Magazine". He published a sermon on Faith, with notes -and appendices, which was condemned by an evangelical bishop, and -fiercely attacked by no less a person than the celebrated Mr. Bowdler. -'The sermon,' said Mr Bowdler, in a book which he devoted to the -subject, 'was bad enough, but the appendix was abominable.' At the same -time he was busy asserting the independence of the Church of England, -opposing secular education, and bringing out pamphlets against the -Ecclesiastical Commission, which had been appointed by Parliament to -report on Church Property. Then we find him in the role of a spiritual -director of souls. Ladies met him by stealth in his church, and made -their confessions. Over one case--that of a lady, who found herself -drifting towards Rome--he consulted Newman. Newman advised him to -'enlarge upon the doctrine of I Cor. vii'; - -'also, I think you must press on her the prospect of benefiting the poor -Church, through which she has her baptism, by stopping in it. Does she -not care for the souls of all around her, steeped and stifled in -Protestantism? How will she best care for them by indulging her own -feelings in the communion of Rome, or in denying herself, and staying in -sackcloth and ashes to do them good?' - -Whether these arguments were successful does not appear. - -For several years after his wife's death, Manning was occupied with -these new activities, while his relations with Newman developed into -what was apparently a warm friendship. 'And now vive valeque, my dear -Manning', we find Newman writing in a letter dated 'in festo S. Car. -1838', 'as wishes and prays yours affectionately, John H. Newman'. But, -as time went on, the situation became more complicated. Tractarianism -began to arouse the hostility, not only of the evangelical, but of the -moderate churchmen, who could not help perceiving in the ever-deepening, -'catholicism' of the Oxford party, the dread approaches of Rome. The -"Record" newspaper an influential Evangelical journal--took up the -matter and sniffed Popery in every direction; it spoke of certain -clergymen as 'tainted'; and after that, preferment seemed to pass those -clergymen by. The fact that Manning found it wise to conduct his -confessional ministrations in secret was in itself highly significant. -It was necessary to be careful, and Manning was very careful indeed. The -neighbouring Archdeacon, Mr. Hare, was a low churchman; Manning made -friends with him, as warmly, it seemed, as he had made friends with -Newman. He corresponded with him, asked his advice about the books he -should read, and discussed questions of Theology--'As to Gal. vi 15, we -cannot differ.... With a man who reads and reasons I can have no -controversy; and you do both.' Archdeacon Hare was pleased, but soon a -rumour reached him, which was, to say the least of it, upsetting. -Manning had been removing the high pews from a church in Brighton, and -putting in open benches in their place. Everyone knew what that meant; -everyone knew that a high pew was one of the bulwarks of Protestantism, -and that an open bench had upon it the taint of Rome. But Manning -hastened to explain: - -'My dear friend,' he wrote, 'I did not exchange pews for open benches, -but got the pews (the same in number) moved from the nave of the church -to the walls of the side aisles, so that the whole church has a regular -arrangement of open benches, which (irregularly) existed before ... I am -not today quite well, so farewell, with much regard--Yours ever, H. E. -M.' - -Archdeacon Hare was reassured. - -It was important that he should be, for the Archdeacon of Chichester was -growing very old, and Hare's influence might be exceedingly useful when -a vacancy occurred. So, indeed, it fell out. A new bishop, Dr. -Shuttleworth, was appointed to the See, and the old Archdeacon took the -opportunity of retiring. Manning was obviously marked out as his -successor, but the new bishop happened to be a low churchman, an -aggressive low churchman, who went so far as to parody the Tractarian -fashion of using Saints' days for the dating of letters by writing 'The -Palace, washing-day', at the beginning of his. And--what was equally -serious--his views were shared by Mrs. Shuttleworth, who had already -decided that the pushing young Rector was 'tainted'. But at the critical -moment Archdeacon Hare came to the rescue; he persuaded the Bishop that -Manning was safe; and the appointment was accordingly made--behind Mrs. -Shuttleworth's back. She was furious, but it was too late; Manning was -an Archdeacon. All the lady could do, to indicate her disapprobation, -was to put a copy of Mr. Bowdler's book in a conspicuous position on the -drawing-room table, when he came to pay his respects at the Palace. - -Among the letters of congratulation which Manning received, was one from -Mr Gladstone, with whom he had remained on terms of close friendship -since their days together at Oxford. - -'I rejoice,' Mr Gladstone wrote, 'on your account personally; but more -for the sake of the Church. All my brothers-in-law are here and scarcely -less delighted than I am. With great glee am I about to write your new -address; but, the occasion really calls for higher sentiments; and sure -am I that you are one of the men to whom it is specially given to -develop the solution of that great problem--how all our minor -distractions are to be either abandoned, absorbed, or harmonised through -the might of the great principle of communion in the body of Christ.' - -Manning was an Archdeacon; but he was not yet out of the woods. His -relations with the Tractarians had leaked out, and the Record was -beginning to be suspicious. If Mrs. Shuttleworth's opinion of him were -to become general, it would certainly be a grave matter. Nobody could -wish to live and die a mere Archdeacon. And then, at that very moment, -an event occurred which made it imperative to take a definite step, one -way or the other. That event was the publication of Tract No. 90. - -For some time it had been obvious to every impartial onlooker that -Newman was slipping down an inclined plane at the bottom of which lay -one thing, and one thing only--the Roman Catholic Church. What was -surprising was the length of time which he was taking to reach the -inevitable destination. Years passed before he came to realise that his -grandiose edifice of a Church Universal would crumble to pieces if one -of its foundation stones was to be an amatory intrigue of Henry VIII. -But, at last he began to see that terrible monarch glowering at him -wherever he turned his eyes. First he tried to exorcise the spectre with -the rolling periods of the Caroline divines; but it only strutted the -more truculently. Then in despair he plunged into the writings of the -early Fathers, and sought to discover some way out of his difficulties -in the complicated labyrinth of ecclesiastical history. After months -spent in the study of the Monophysite heresy, the alarming conclusion -began to force itself upon him that the Church of England was perhaps in -schism. Eventually he read an article by a Roman Catholic on St. -Augustine and the Donatists, which seemed to put the matter beyond -doubt. St. Augustine, in the fifth century, had pointed out that the -Donatists were heretics because the Bishop of Rome had said so. The -argument was crushing; it rang in Newman's ears for days and nights; -and, though he continued to linger on in agony for six years more, he -never could discover any reply to it. All he could hope to do was to -persuade himself and anyone else who liked to listen to him that the -holding of Anglican orders was not inconsistent with a belief in the -whole cycle of Roman doctrine as laid down at the Council of Trent. In -this way he supposed that he could at once avoid the deadly sin of -heresy and conscientiously remain a clergyman in the Church of England; -and with this end in view, he composed Tract No. 90. - -The object of the Tract was to prove that there was nothing in the -Thirty-nine Articles incompatible with the creed of the Roman Church. -Newman pointed out, for instance, that it was generally supposed that -the Articles condemned the doctrine of Purgatory; but they did not; they -merely condemned the Romish doctrine of Purgatory--and Romish, clearly, -was not the same thing as Roman. Hence it followed that believers in the -Roman doctrine of Purgatory might subscribe the Articles with a good -conscience. Similarly, the Articles condemned 'the sacrifices of -masses', but they did not condemn 'the sacrifice of the Mass'. Thus, the -Mass might be lawfully celebrated in English Churches. Newman took the -trouble to examine the Articles in detail from this point of view, and -the conclusion he came to in every case supported his contention in a -singular manner. - -The Tract produced an immense sensation, for it seemed to be a deadly -and treacherous blow aimed at the very heart of the Church of England. -Deadly it certainly was, but it was not so treacherous as it appeared at -first sight. The members of the English Church had ingenuously imagined -up to that moment that it was possible to contain, in a frame of words, -the subtle essence of their complicated doctrinal system, involving the -mysteries of the Eternal and the Infinite on the one hand, and the -elaborate adjustments of temporal government on the other. They did not -understand that verbal definitions in such a case will only perform -their functions so long as there is no dispute about the matters which -they are intended to define: that is to say, so long as there is no need -for them. For generations this had been the case with the Thirty-nine -Articles. Their drift was clear enough; and nobody bothered over their -exact meaning. But directly someone found it important to give them a -new and untraditional interpretation, it appeared that they were a mass -of ambiguity, and might be twisted into meaning very nearly anything -that anybody liked. Steady-going churchmen were appalled and outraged -when they saw Newman, in Tract No. 90, performing this operation. But, -after all, he was only taking the Church of England at its word. And -indeed, since Newman showed the way, the operation has become so -exceedingly common that the most steady-going churchman hardly raises an -eyebrow at it now. - -At the time, however, Newman's treatment of the Articles seemed to -display not only a perverted supersubtlety of intellect, but a temper of -mind that was fundamentally dishonest. It was then that he first began -to be assailed by those charges of untruthfulness which reached their -culmination more than twenty years later in the celebrated controversy -with Charles Kingsley, which led to the writing of the Apologia. The -controversy was not a very fruitful one, chiefly because Kingsley could -no more understand the nature of Newman's intelligence than a subaltern -in a line regiment can understand a Brahmin of Benares. Kingsley was a -stout Protestant, whose hatred of Popery was, at bottom, simply -ethical--an honest, instinctive horror of the practices of priestcraft -and the habits of superstition; and it was only natural that he should -see in those innumerable delicate distinctions which Newman was -perpetually drawing, and which he himself had not only never thought of, -but could not even grasp, simply another manifestation of the inherent -falsehood of Rome. But, in reality, no one, in one sense of the word, -was more truthful than Newman. The idea of deceit would have been -abhorrent to him; and indeed it was owing to his very desire to explain -what he had in his mind exactly and completely, with all the refinements -of which his subtle brain was capable, that persons such as Kingsley -were puzzled into thinking him dishonest. Unfortunately, however, the -possibilities of truth and falsehood depend upon other things besides -sincerity. A man may be of a scrupulous and impeccable honesty, and yet -his respect for the truth--it cannot be denied--may be insufficient. He -may be, like the lunatic, the lover, and the poet, 'of imagination all -compact'; he may be blessed, or cursed, with one of those 'seething -brains', one of those 'shaping fanatasies' that 'apprehend more than -cool reason ever comprehends'; he may be by nature incapable of sifting -evidence, or by predilection simply indisposed to do so. 'When we were -there,' wrote Newman in a letter to a friend after his conversion, -describing a visit to Naples, and the miraculous circumstances connected -with the liquefaction of St. Januarius's blood, - -'the feast of St. Gennaro was coming on, and the Jesuits were eager for -us to stop--they have the utmost confidence in the miracle--and were the -more eager because many Catholics, till they have seen it, doubt it. Our -father director here tells us that before he went to Naples he did not -believe it. That is, they have vague ideas of natural means, -exaggeration, etc., not of course imputing fraud. They say conversions -often take place in consequence. It is exposed for the Octave, and the -miracle continues--it is not simple liquefaction, but sometimes it -swells, sometimes boils, sometimes melts--no one can tell what is going -to take place. They say it is quite overcoming-and people cannot help -crying to see it. I understand that Sir H. Davy attended everyday, and -it was this extreme variety of the phenomenon which convinced him that -nothing physical would account for it. Yet there is this remarkable fact -that liquefactions of blood are common at Naples--and, unless it is -irreverent to the Great Author of Miracles to be obstinate in the -inquiry, the question certainly rises whether there is something in the -air. (Mind, I don't believe there is--and, speaking humbly, and without -having seen it, think it a true miracle--but I am arguing.) We saw the -blood of St Patrizia, half liquid; i.e. liquefying, on her feast day. St -John Baptist's blood sometimes liquefies on the 29th of August, and did -when we were at Naples, but we had not time to go to the church. We saw -the liquid blood of an Oratorian Father; a good man, but not a saint, -who died two centuries ago, I think; and we saw the liquid blood of Da -Ponte, the great and holy Jesuit, who, I suppose, was almost a saint. -But these instances do not account for liquefaction on certain days, if -this is the case. But the most strange phenomenon is what happens at -Ravello, a village or town above Amalfi. There is the blood of St. -Pantaleon. It is in a vessel amid the stonework of the Altar-it is not -touched but on his feast in June it liquefies. And more, there is an -excommunication against those who bring portions of the True Cross into -the Church. Why? Because the blood liquefies, whenever it is brought. A -person I know, not knowing the prohibition, brought in a portion, and -the Priest suddenly said, who showed the blood, "Who has got the Holy -Cross about him?" I tell you what was told me by a grave and religious -man. It is a curious coincidence that in telling this to our Father -Director here, he said, "Why, we have a portion of St. Pantaleon's blood -at the Chiesa Nuova, and it is always liquid."' - -After leaving Naples, Newman visited Loreto, and inspected the house of -the Holy Family, which, as is known to the faithful, was transported -thither, in three hops, from Palestine. - -'I went to Loreto,' he wrote, 'with a simple faith, believing what I -still more believed when I saw it. I have no doubt now. If you ask me -why I believe it, it is because everyone believes it at Rome; cautious -as they are and sceptical about some other things. I have no antecedent -difficulty in the matter. He who floated the Ark on the surges of a -world-wide sea, and enclosed in it all living things, who has hidden the -terrestrial paradise, who said that faith might move mountains, who -sustained thousands for forty years in a sterile wilderness, who -transported Elias and keeps him hidden till the end, could do this -wonder also.' - -Here, whatever else there may be, there is certainly no trace of a -desire to deceive. Could a state of mind, in fact, be revealed with more -absolute transparency? - -When Newman was a child he 'wished that he could believe the Arabian -Nights were true'. When he came to be a man, his wish seems to have been -granted. - -Tract No. 90 was officially condemned by the authorities at Oxford, and -in the hubbub that followed, the contending parties closed their ranks; -henceforward, any compromise between the friends and the enemies of the -Movement was impossible. Archdeacon Manning was in too conspicuous a -position to be able to remain silent; he was obliged to declare himself, -and he did not hesitate. In an archidiaconal charge, delivered within a -few months of his appointment, he firmly repudiated the Tractarians. But -the repudiation was not deemed sufficient, and a year later he repeated -it with greater emphasis. Still, however, the horrid rumours were -afloat. The "Record" began to investigate matters, and its vigilance was -soon rewarded by an alarming discovery: the sacrament had been -administered in Chichester Cathedral on a weekday, and 'Archdeacon -Manning, one of the most noted and determined of the Tractarians, had -acted a conspicuous part on the occasion'. It was clear that the only -way of silencing these malevolent whispers was by some public -demonstration whose import nobody could doubt. The annual sermon -preached on Guy Fawkes Day before the University of Oxford seemed to -offer the very opportunity that Manning required. He seized it; got -himself appointed preacher; and delivered from the pulpit of St. Mary's -a virulently Protestant harangue. This time there could indeed be no -doubt about the matter: Manning had shouted 'No Popery!' in the very -citadel of the Movement, and every one, including Newman, recognised -that he had finally cut himself off from his old friends. Everyone, that -is to say, except the Archdeacon himself. On the day after the sermon, -Manning walked out to the neighbouring village of Littlemore, where -Newman was now living in retirement with a few chosen disciples, in the -hope of being able to give a satisfactory explanation of what he had -done. But he was disappointed; for when, after an awkward interval, one -of the disciples appeared at the door, he was informed that Mr. Newman -was not at home. - -With his retirement to Littlemore, Newman had entered upon the final -period of his Anglican career. Even he could no longer help perceiving -that the end was now only a matter of time. His progress was hastened in -an agitating manner by the indiscreet activity of one of his proselytes, -W. G. Ward. a young man who combined an extraordinary aptitude for a -priori reasoning with a passionate devotion to Opera Bouffe. It was -difficult, in fact, to decide whether the inner nature of Ward was more -truly expressing itself when he was firing off some train of scholastic -paradoxes on the Eucharist or when he was trilling the airs of Figaro -and plunging through the hilarious roulades of the Largo al Factotum. -Even Dr. Pusey could not be quite sure, though he was Ward's spiritual -director. On one occasion his young penitent came to him, and confessed -that a vow which he had taken to abstain from music during Lent was -beginning to affect his health. Could Dr. Pusey see his way to releasing -him from the vow? The Doctor decided that a little sacred music would -not be amiss. Ward was all gratitude, and that night a party was -arranged in a friend's rooms. The concert began with the solemn -harmonies of Handel, which were followed by the holy strains of the 'Oh -Salutaris' of Cherubini. Then came the elevation and the pomp of -'Possenti Numi' from the Magic Flute. But, alas! there lies much danger -in Mozart. The page was turned and there was the delicious duet between -Papageno and Papagena. Flesh and blood could not resist that; then song -followed song, the music waxed faster and lighter, until, at last Ward -burst into the intoxicating merriment of the Largo al Factotum. When it -was over, a faint but persistent knocking made itself heard upon the -wall; and it was only then that the company remembered that the rooms -next door were Dr. Pusey's. - -The same entrainment which carried Ward away when he sat down to a piano -possessed him whenever he embarked on a religious discussion. 'The thing -that was utterly abhorrent to him,' said one of his friends, 'was to -stop short.' Given the premises, he would follow out their implications -with the mercilessness of a medieval monk, and when he had reached the -last limits of argument, be ready to maintain whatever propositions he -might find there with his dying breath. He had the extreme innocence of -a child and a mathematician. Captivated by the glittering eye of Newman, -he swallowed whole the supernatural conception of the universe which -Newman had evolved, accepted it as a fundamental premise, and 'began at -once to deduce from it whatsoever there might be to be deduced.' His -very first deductions included irrefutable proofs of (I) God's -particular providence for individuals; (2) the real efficacy of -intercessory prayer; (3) the reality of our communion with the saints -departed; (4) the constant presence and assistance of the angels of God. -Later on he explained mathematically the importance of the Ember Days: -'Who can tell,' he added, 'the degree of blessing lost to us in this -land by neglecting, as we alone of Christian Churches do neglect, these -holy days?' He then proceeded to convict the Reformers, not only of -rebellion, but'--for my own part I see not how we can avoid adding--of -perjury.' Every day his arguments became more extreme, more rigorously -exact, and more distressing to his master. Newman was in the position of -a cautious commander-in-chief being hurried into an engagement against -his will by a dashing cavalry officer. Ward forced him forward step by -step towards-no! he could not bear it; he shuddered and drew back. But -it was of no avail. In vain did Keble and Pusey wring their hands and -stretch forth their pleading arms to their now vanishing brother. The -fatal moment was fast approaching. Ward at last published a devastating -book in which he proved conclusively, by a series of syllogisms, that -the only proper course for the Church of England was to repent in -sackcloth and ashes her separation from the Communion of Rome. The -reckless author was deprived of his degree by an outraged University, -and a few weeks later was received into the Catholic Church. - -Newman, in a kind of despair, had flung himself into the labours of -historical compilation. His views of history had changed since the days -when, as an undergraduate, he had feasted on the worldly pages of -Gibbon. - -'Revealed religion,' he now thought, 'furnishes facts to other sciences, -which those sciences, left to themselves, would never reach. Thus, in -the science of history, the preservation of our race in Noah's Ark is an -historical fact, which history never would arrive at without -revelation.' - -With these principles to guide him, he plunged with his disciples into a -prolonged study of the English Saints. Biographies soon appeared of St. -Bega, St. Adamnan, St. Gundleus, St. Guthlake, Brother Drithelm, St. -Amphibalus, St. Wuistan, St. Ebba, St. Neot, St. Ninian, and Cunibert -the Hermit. Their austerities, their virginity, and their miraculous -powers were described in detail. The public learned with astonishment -that St Ninian had turned a staff into a tree; that St. German had -stopped a cock from crowing, and that a child had been raised from the -dead to convert St. Helier. The series has subsequently been continued -by a more modern writer whose relation of the history of the blessed St. -Mael contains, perhaps, even more matter for edification than Newman's -biographies. - -At the time, indeed, those works caused considerable scandal. Clergymen -denounced them in pamphlets. St. Cuthbert was described by his -biographer as having 'carried the jealousy of women, characteristic of -all the saints, to an extraordinary pitch'. An example was given, -whenever he held a spiritual conversation with St Ebba, he was careful -to spend the ensuing ours of darkness 'in prayer, up to his neck in -water'. 'Persons who invent such tales,' wrote one indignant -commentator, 'cast very grave and just suspicions on the purity of their -own minds. And young persons, who talk and think in this way, are in -extreme danger of falling into sinful habits. As to the volumes before -us, the authors have, in their fanatical panegyrics of virginity, made -use of language downright profane.' - -One of the disciples at Littlemore was James Anthony Froude, the younger -brother of Hurrell, and it fell to his lot to be responsible for the -biography of St. Neot. While he was composing it, he began to feel some -qualms. Saints who lighted fires with icicles, changed bandits into -wolves, and floated across the Irish Channel on altar-stones, produced a -disturbing effect on his historical conscience. But he had promised his -services to Newman, and he determined to carry through the work in the -spirit in which he had begun it. He did so; but he thought it proper to -add the following sentence by way of conclusion: 'This is all, and -indeed rather more than all, that is known to men of the blessed St. -Neot; but not more than is known to the angels in heaven.' - -Meanwhile, the English Roman Catholics were growing impatient; was the -great conversion never coming, for which they had prayed so fervently -and so long? Dr. Wiseman, at the head of them, was watching and waiting -with special eagerness. His hand was held out under the ripening fruit; -the delicious morsel seemed to be trembling on its stalk; and yet it did -not fall. At last, unable to bear the suspense any longer, he dispatched -to Littlemore Father Smith, an old pupil of Newman's, who had lately -joined the Roman communion, with instructions that he should do his -best, under cover of a simple visit of friendship, to discover how the -land lay. Father Smith was received somewhat coldly, and the -conversation ran entirely on topics which had nothing to do with -religion. When the company separated before dinner, he was beginning to -think that his errand had been useless; but, on their reassembling, he -suddenly noticed that Newman had changed his trousers, and that the -colour of the pair which he was now wearing was grey. At the earliest -moment, the emissary rushed back post-haste to Dr. Wiseman. 'All is -well,' he exclaimed; 'Newman no longer considers that he is in Anglican -orders." Praise be to God!' answered Dr Wiseman. 'But how do you know?' -Father Smith described what he had seen. 'Oh, is that all? My dear -father, how can you be so foolish?' But Father Smith was not to be -shaken. 'I know the man,' he said, and I know what it means. 'Newman will -come, and he will come soon.' - -And Father Smith was right. A few weeks later, Newman suddenly slipped -off to a priest, and all was over. Perhaps he would have hesitated -longer still, if he could have foreseen how he was to pass the next -thirty years of his unfortunate existence; but the future was hidden, -and all that was certain was that the past had gone forever, and that -his eyes would rest no more upon the snapdragons of Trinity. - -The Oxford Movement was now ended. The University breathed such a sigh -of relief as usually follows the difficult expulsion of a hard piece of -matter from a living organism, and actually began to attend to -education. As for the Church of England, she had tasted blood, and it -was clear that she would never again be content with a vegetable diet. -Her clergy, however, maintained their reputation for judicious -compromise, for they followed Newman up to the very point beyond which -his conclusions were logical, and, while they intoned, confessed, swung -incense, and burned candles with the exhilaration of converts, they yet -managed to do so with a subtle nuance which showed that they had nothing -to do with Rome. Various individuals underwent more violent changes. -Several had preceded Newman into the Roman fold; among others an unhappy -Mr. Sibthorpe, who subsequently changed his mind, and returned to the -Church of his fathers, and then--perhaps it was only natural--changed -his mind again. Many more followed Newman, and Dr. Wiseman was -particularly pleased by the conversion of a Mr. Morris, who, as he said, -was 'the author of the essay, which won the prize on the best method of -proving Christianity to the Hindus'. Hurrell Froude had died before -Newman had read the fatal article on St. Augustine; but his brother, -James Anthony, together with Arthur Clough, the poet, went through an -experience which was more distressing in those days than it has since -become; they lost their faith. With this difference, however, that while -in Froude's case the loss of his faith turned out to be rather like the -loss of a heavy portmanteau, which one afterwards discovers to have been -full of old rags and brickbats, Clough was made so uneasy by the loss of -his that he went on looking for it everywhere as long as he lived; but -somehow he never could find it. On the other hand, Keble and Pusey -continued for the rest of their lives to dance in an exemplary manner -upon the tight-rope of High Anglicanism; in such an exemplary manner, -indeed, that the tight-rope has its dancers still. - - -IV - -MANNING was now thirty-eight, and it was clear that he was the rising -man in the Church of England. He had many powerful connections: he was -the brother-in-law of Samuel Wilberforce, who had been lately made a -bishop; he was a close friend of Mr. Gladstone, who was a Cabinet -Minister; and he was becoming well known in the influential circles of -society in London. His talent for affairs was recognised not only in the -Church, but in the world at large, and he busied himself with matters of -such varied scope as National Education, the administration of the Poor -Law, and the Employment of Women. Mr. Gladstone kept up an intimate -correspondence with him on these and on other subjects, mingling in his -letters the details of practical statesmanship with the speculations of -a religious thinker. 'Sir James Graham,' he wrote, in a discussion of -the bastardy clauses of the Poor Law, 'is much pleased with the tone of -your two communications. He is disposed, without putting an end to the -application of the workhouse test against the mother, to make the remedy -against the putative father "real and effective" for expenses incurred -in the workhouse. I am not enough acquainted to know whether it would be -advisable to go further. You have not proposed it; and I am disposed to -believe that only with a revived and improved discipline in the Church -can we hope for any generally effective check upon lawless lust.' 'I -agree with you EMINENTLY,' he writes, in a later letter, 'in your -doctrine of FILTRATION. But it sometimes occurs to me, though the -question may seem a strange one, how far was the Reformation, but -especially the Continental Reformation, designed by God, in the region -of final causes, for that purification of the Roman Church which it has -actually realised?' - -In his archdeaconry, Manning lived to the full the active life of a -country clergyman. His slim, athletic figure was seen everywhere in the -streets of Chichester, or on the lawns of the neighbouring rectories, or -galloping over the downs in breeches and gaiters, or cutting brilliant -figures on the ice. He was an excellent judge of horse-flesh, and the -pair of greys which drew his hooded phaeton so swiftly through the lanes -were the admiration of the county. His features were already beginning -to assume their ascetic cast, but the spirit of youth had not yet fled -from them, so that he seemed to combine the attractions of dignity and -grace. He was a good talker, a sympathetic listener, a man who -understood the difficult art of preserving all the vigour of a manly -character and yet never giving offence. No wonder that his sermons drew -crowds, no wonder that his spiritual advice was sought for eagerly by an -ever-growing group of penitents; no wonder that men would say, when his -name was mentioned, 'Oh, Manning! No power on earth can keep HIM from a -bishopric!' - -Such was the fair outward seeming of the Archdeacon's life; but, the -inward reality was different. The more active, the more fortunate, the -more full of happy promise his existence became, the more persistently -was his secret imagination haunted by a dreadful vision--the lake that -burneth forever with brimstone and fire. The temptations of the Evil One -are many, Manning knew; and he knew also that, for him at least, the -most subtle and terrible of all temptations was the temptation of -worldly success. He tried to reassure himself, but it was in vain. He -committed his thoughts to a diary, weighing scrupulously his every -motive, examining with relentless searchings into the depths of his -heart. Perhaps, after all, his longings for preferment were merely -legitimatehopes for 'an elevation into a sphere of higher usefulness'. -But no, there was something more than that. 'I do feel pleasure,' he -noted, 'in honour, precedence, elevation, the society of great people, -and all this is very shameful and mean.' - -After Newman's conversion, he almost convinced himself that his 'visions -of an ecclesiastical future' were justified by the role that he would -play as a 'healer of the breach in the Church of England'. Mr. Gladstone -agreed with him; but there was One higher than Mr. Gladstone, and did He -agree? - -'I am pierced by anxious thoughts. God knows what my desires have been -and are, and why they are crossed.... I am flattering myself with a -fancy about depth and reality.... The great question is: Is God enough -for you now? And if you are as now even to the end of life, will it -suffice you?... Certainly I would rather choose to be stayed on God, -than to be in the thrones of the world and the Church. Nothing else will -go into Eternity.' - -In a moment of ambition, he had applied for the Readership of Lincoln's -Inn, but, owing chiefly to the hostile influence of the Record, the -appointment had gone elsewhere. A little later, a more important -position was offered to him--the office of sub-almoner to the Queen, -which had just been vacated by the Archbishop of York, and was almost -certain to lead to a mitre. The offer threw Manning into an agony of -self-examination. He drew up elaborate tables, after the manner of -Robinson Crusoe, with the reasons for and against his acceptance of the -post: - - FOR AGAINST - - 1. That it comes unsought. 1. Not therefore to be accepted. Such - things are trials as well as leadings. - - 2. That it is honourable. 2. Being what I am, ought I - not therefore to decline it-- - (1) as humiliation; - (2) as revenge on myself - for Lincoln's Inn; - - (3) as a testimony? - -And so on. He found in the end ten 'negative reasons', with no -affirmative ones to balance them, and, after a week's deliberation, he -rejected the offer. - -But peace of mind was as far off from him as ever. First the bitter -thought came to him that 'in all this Satan tells me I am doing it to be -thought mortified and holy'; and then he was obsessed by the still -bitterer feelings of ineradicable disappointment and regret. He had lost -a great opportunity, and it brought him small comfort to consider that -'in the region of counsels, self-chastisement, humiliation, -self-discipline, penance, and of the Cross', he had perhaps done right. - -The crisis passed, but it was succeeded by a fiercer one. Manning was -taken seriously ill, and became convinced that he might die at any -moment. The entries in his Diary grew more elaborate than ever; his -remorse for the past, his resolutions for the future, his protestations -of submission to the will of God, filled page after page of parallel -columns, headings and sub-headings, numbered clauses, and analytical -tables. 'How do I feel about Death?' he wrote. - - 'Certainly great fear: - - 1. Because of the uncertainty of our state before God. - 2. Because of the consciousness-- - (1) of great sins past, - (2) of great sinfulness, - (3) of most shallow repentance. - - What shall I do?' - -He decided to mortify himself, to read St Thomas Aquinas, and to make -his 'night prayers forty instead of thirty minutes'. He determined -during Lent 'to use no pleasant bread (except on Sundays and feasts) -such as cake and sweetmeat'; but he added the proviso 'I do not include -plain biscuits'. Opposite this entry appears the word 'KEPT'. And yet -his back-slidings were many. Looking back over a single week, he was -obliged to register 'petulance twice' and 'complacent visions'. He heard -his curate being commended for bringing so many souls to God during -Lent, and he 'could not bear it'; but the remorse was terrible: 'I -abhorred myself on the spot, and looked upward for help.' He made out -list upon list of the Almighty's special mercies towards him, and they -included his creation, his regeneration, and (No. 5) 'the preservation -of my life six times to my knowledge: - - (1) In illness at the age of nine. - (2) In the water. - (3) By a runaway horse at Oxford. - (4) By the same. - (5) By falling nearly through the ceiling of a church. - (6) Again by a fall of a horse. And I know not - how often in shooting, riding, etc.' - -At last he became convalescent; but the spiritual experiences of those -agitated weeks left an indelible mark upon his mind, and prepared the -way for the great change which was to follow. - -For he had other doubts besides those which held him in torment as to -his own salvation; he was in doubt about the whole framework of his -faith. Newman's conversion, he found, had meant something more to him -than he had first realised. It had seemed to come as a call to the -redoubling of his Anglican activities; but supposing, in reality, it -were a call towards something very different--towards an abandonment of -those activities altogether? It might be 'a trial', or again it might be -a 'leading'; how was he to judge? Already, before his illness, these -doubts had begun to take possession of his mind. - -'I am conscious to myself,' he wrote in his Diary, 'of an extensively -changed feeling towards the Church of Rome ... The Church of England -seems to me to be diseased: 1. ORGANICALLY (six sub-headings). 2. -FUNCTIONALLY (seven sub-headings) ... Wherever it seems healthy, it -approximates the system of Rome.' - -Then thoughts of the Virgin Mary suddenly began to assail him: - - (1) If John the Baptist were sanctified from the womb, - how much more the B.V.! - - (2) If Enoch and Elijah were exempted from death, - why not the B.V. from sin? - - (3) It is a strange way of loving the Son to slight - the mother!' - -The arguments seemed irresistible, and a few weeks later the following -entry occurs--'Strange thoughts have visited me: - - (1) I have felt that the Episcopate of the Church of England is - secularised and bound down beyond hope.... - - (2) I feel as if a light had fallen upon me. My feeling about the - Roman Church is not intellectual. I have intellectual - difficulties, but the great moral difficulties seem melting. - - (3) Something keeps rising and saying, "You will end in the Roman - Church". - -He noted altogether twenty-five of these 'strange thoughts'. His mind -hovered anxiously round-- - - (1) The Incarnation, - (2) The Real Presence, - i. Regeneration, - ii. Eucharist, and - (3) The Exaltation of S. M. and Saints. - -His twenty-second strange thought was as follows: 'How do I know where I -may be two years hence? Where was Newman five years ago?' - -It was significant, but hardly surprising, that, after his illness, -Manning should have chosen to recuperate in Rome. He spent several -months there, and his Diary during the whole of that period is concerned -entirely with detailed descriptions of churches, ceremonies, and relics, -and with minute accounts of conversations with priests and nuns. There -is not a single reference either to the objects of art or to the -antiquities of the place; but another omission was still more -remarkable. Manning had a long interview with Pius IX, and his only -record of it is contained in the bald statement: 'Audience today at the -Vatican'. Precisely what passed on that occasion never transpired; all -that is known is that His Holiness expressed considerable surprise on -learning from the Archdeacon that the chalice was used in the Anglican -Church in the administration of Communion. 'What!' he exclaimed, is the -same chalice made use of by everyone?' 'I remember the pain I felt,' -said Manning, long afterwards, 'at seeing how unknown we were to the -Vicar of Jesus Christ. It made me feel our isolation.' - -On his return to England, he took up once more the work in his -Archdeaconry with what appetite he might. Ravaged by doubt, distracted -by speculation, he yet managed to maintain an outward presence of -unshaken calm. His only confidant was Robert Wilberforce, to whom, for -the next two years, he poured forth in a series of letters, headed -'UNDER THE SEAL' to indicate that they contained the secrets of the -confessional--the whole history of his spiritual perturbations. The -irony of his position was singular; for, during the whole of this time, -Manning was himself holding back from the Church of Rome a host of -hesitating penitents by means of arguments which he was at the very -moment denouncing as fallacious to his own confessor. But what else -could he do? When he received, for instance, a letter such as the -following from an agitated lady, what was he to say? - -'MY DEAR FATHER IN CHRIST, - -' ... I am sure you would pity me and like to help me, if you knew the -unhappy, unsettled state my mind is in, and the misery of being -ENTIRELY, WHEREVER I AM, with those who look upon joining the Church of -Rome as the most awful "fall" conceivable to any one, and are devoid of -the smallest comprehension of how any enlightened person can do it.... -My old Evangelical friends, with all my deep, deep love for them, do not -succeed in shaking me in the least.... - -'My brother has just published a book called "Regeneration", which all -my friends are reading and highly extolling; it has a very contrary -effect to what he would desire on my mind. I can read and understand it -all in an altogether different sense, and the facts which he quotes -about the articles as drawn up in 1536, and again in 1552, and of the -Irish articles of 1615 and 1634, STARTLE and SHAKE me about the Reformed -Church in England far more than anything else, and have done so ever -since I first saw them in Mr. Maskell's pamphlet (as quoted from Mr -Dodsworth's). - -'I do hope you have some time and thought to pray for me still. Mr. -Galton's letters long ago grew into short formal notes, which hurt me -and annoyed me particularly, and I never answered his last, so, -literally, I have no one to say things to and get help from, which in -one sense is a comfort when my convictions seem to be leading me on and -on, and gaining strength in spite of all the dreariness of my lot. - -'Do you know I can't help being very anxious and unhappy about poor -Sister Harriet. I am afraid of her GOING OUT OF HER MIND. She comforts -herself by an occasional outpouring of everything to me, and I had a -letter this morning.... She says Sister May has promised the Vicar never -to talk to her or allow her to talk on the subject with her, and I doubt -whether this can be good for her, because though she has lost her faith, -she says, in the Church of England, yet she never thinks of what she -could have faith in, and resolutely without inquiring into the question -determines not to be a Roman Catholic, so that really, you see, she is -allowing her mind to run adrift and yet perfectly powerless. - -'Forgive my troubling you with this letter, and believe me to be always -your faithful, grateful and affectionate daughter, - -'EMMA RYLE. - -'P.S. I wish I could see you once more so very much.' - -How was Manning, a director of souls, and a clergyman of the Church of -England, to reply that in sober truth there was very little to choose -between the state of mind of Sister Emma, or even of Sister Harriet, and -his own? The dilemma was a grievous one: when a soldier finds himself -fighting for a cause in which he has lost faith, it is treachery to -stop, and it is treachery to go on. - -At last, in the seclusion of his library, Manning turned in agony to -those old writings which had provided Newman with so much instruction -and assistance; perhaps the Fathers would do something for him as well. -He ransacked the pages of St. Cyprian and St. Cyril; he went through the -complete works of St. Optatus and St. Leo; he explored the vast -treatises of Tertullian and Justin Martyr. He had a lamp put into his -phaeton, so that he might lose no time during his long winter drives. -There he sat, searching St. Chrysostom for some mitigation of his -anguish, while he sped along between the hedges to distant sufferers, to -whom he duly administered the sacraments according to the rites of the -English Church. He hurried back to commit to his Diary the analysis of -his reflections, and to describe, under the mystic formula of secrecy, -the intricate workings of his conscience to Robert Wilberforce. But, -alas! he was no Newman; and even the fourteen folios of St. Augustine -himself, strange to say, gave him very little help. - -The final propulsion was to come from an entirely different quarter. In -November, 1847, the Reverend Mr. Gorham was presented by the Lord -Chancellor to the living of Bramford Speke in the diocese of Exeter. The -Bishop, Dr. Phillpotts, was a High Churchman, and he had reason to -believe that Mr. Gorham held evangelical opinions; he therefore -subjected him to an examination on doctrine, which took the form partly -of a verbal interrogatory, lasting thirty-eight hours, and partly of a -series of one hundred and forty-nine written questions. At the end of -the examination he came to the conclusion that Mr. Gorham held heretical -views on the subject of Baptismal Regeneration, and he therefore refused -to institute. Mr. Gorham, thereupon, took proceedings against the Bishop -in the Court of Arches. He lost his case; and he then appealed to the -judicial Committee of the Privy Council. - -The questions at issue were taken very seriously by a large number of -persons. In the first place, there was the question of Baptismal -Regeneration itself. This is by no means an easy one to disentangle; but -it may be noted that the doctrine of Baptism includes: (1) God's -intention, that is to say, His purpose in electing certain persons to -eternal life--an abstruse and greatly controverted subject, upon which -the Church of England abstains from strict definition; (2) God's action, -whether by means of sacraments or otherwise--concerning which the Church -of England maintains the efficacy of sacraments,' but does not formally -deny that grace may be given by other means, repentance and faith being -present; and (3) the question whether sacramental grace is given -instrumentally, by and at the moment of the act of baptism, or in -consequence of an act of prevenient grace rendering the receiver -worthy--that is to say, whether sacramental grace in baptism is given -absolutely or conditionally. - -It was over this last question that the dispute raged hottest in the -Gorham Case. The High Church party, represented by Dr. Phillpotts, -asserted that the mere act of baptism conferred regeneration upon the -recipient and washed away his original sin. To this the Evangelicals, -headed by Mr. Gorham, replied that, according to the Articles, -regeneration would not follow unless baptism was RIGHTLY received. What, -then, was the meaning of 'rightly'? Clearly it implied not merely lawful -administration, but worthy reception; worthiness, therefore, is the -essence of the sacrament; and worthiness means faith and repentance. -Now, two propositions were accepted by both parties--that all infants -are born in original sin, and that original sin could be washed away by -baptism. But how could both these propositions be true, argued Mr. -Gorham, if it was also true that faith and repentance were necessary -before baptism could come into operation at all? How could an infant in -arms be said to be in a state of faith and repentance? How, therefore, -could its original sin be washed away by baptism? And yet, as every one -agreed, washed away it was. - -The only solution of the difficulty lay in the doctrine of prevenient -grace; and Mr. Gorham maintained that unless God performed an act of -prevenient grace by which the infant was endowed with faith and -repentance, no act of baptism could be effectual; though to whom, and -under what conditions, prevenient grace was given, Mr. Gorham confessed -himself unable to decide. The light thrown by the Bible upon the whole -matter seemed somewhat dubious, for whereas the baptism of St. Peter's -disciples at Jerusalem and St. Philip's at Samaria was followed by the -gift of the Spirit, in the case of Cornelius the sacrament succeeded the -gift. St. Paul also was baptised; and as for the language of St. John -iii 5; Rom. vi 3, 4; I Peter iii 21, it admits of more than one -interpretation. There could, however, be no doubt that the Church of -England assented to Dr. Phillpotts' opinion; the question was whether or -not she excluded Mr. Gorham's. If it was decided that she did, it was -clear that henceforward, there would be very little peace for -Evangelicals within her fold. - -But there was another issue, even more fundamental than that of -Baptismal Regeneration itself, involved in the Gorham trial. An Act -passed in 1833 had constituted the Judicial Committee of the Privy -Council the supreme court of appeal for such cases; and this Committee -was a body composed entirely of laymen. It was thus obvious that the -Royal Supremacy was still a fact, and that a collection of lawyers -appointed by the Crown had the legal right to formulate the religious -doctrine of the Church of England. In 1850 their judgment was delivered; -they reversed the decision of the Court of Arches, and upheld the -position of Mr. Gorham. Whether his views were theologically correct or -not, they said, was not their business; it was their business to decide -whether the opinions under consideration were contrary or repugnant to -the doctrine of the Church of England as enjoined upon the clergy by its -Articles, Formularies, and Rubrics; and they had come to the conclusion -that they were not. The judgement still holds good; and to this day, a -clergyman of the Church of England is quite at liberty to believe that -Regeneration does not invariably take place when an infant is baptised. - -The blow fell upon no one with greater violence than upon Manning. Not -only was the supreme efficacy of the sign of the cross upon a baby's -forehead one of his favourite doctrines, but up to that moment he had -been convinced that the Royal Supremacy was a mere accident--a temporary -usurpation which left the spiritual dominion of the Church essentially -untouched. But now the horrid reality rose up before him, crowned and -triumphant; it was all too clear that an Act of Parliament, passed by -Jews, Roman Catholics, and Dissenters, was the ultimate authority which -decided upon the momentous niceties of the Anglican faith. Mr. Gladstone -also, was deeply perturbed. It was absolutely necessary, he wrote, to -'rescue and defend the conscience of the Church from the present hideous -system'. An agitation was set on foot, and several influential -Anglicans, with Manning at their head, drew up and signed a formal -protest against the Gorham judgment. Mr. Gladstone however, proposed -another method of procedure: precipitate action, he declared, must be -avoided at all costs, and he elaborated a scheme for securing -procrastination, by which a covenant was to bind all those who believed -that an article of the creed had been abolished by Act of Parliament to -take no steps in any direction, nor to announce their intention of doing -so, until a given space of time had elapsed. Mr. Gladstone was hopeful -that some good might come of this--though indeed he could not be sure. -'Among others,' he wrote to Manning, 'I have consulted Robert -Wilberforce and Wegg-Prosser, and they seemed inclined to favour my -proposal. It might, perhaps, have kept back Lord Feilding. But he is -like a cork.' - -The proposal was certainly not favoured by Manning. Protests and -procrastinations, approving Wegg-Prossers and cork-like Lord -Feildings--all this was feeding the wind and folly; the time for action -had come. - -'I can no longer continue,' he wrote to Robert Wilberforce, 'under oath -and subscription binding me to the Royal Supremacy in Ecclesiastical -causes, being convinced: - - (1) That it is a violation of the Divine Office of the Church. - - (2) That it has involved the Church of England in a separation - from the Universal Church, which separation I cannot clear of the - character of schism. - - (3) That it has thereby suspended and prevented the functions of - the Church of England.' - -It was in vain that Robert Wilberforce pleaded, in vain that Mr. -Gladstone urged upon his mind the significance of John iii 8. ['The wind -bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst -not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth; so is everyone that is -born of the Spirit.'] - -'I admit,' Mr. Gladstone wrote, 'that the words might in some way be -satisfied by supposing our Lord simply to mean "the facts of nature are -unintelligible, therefore, be not afraid if revealed truths be likewise -beyond the compass of the understanding"; but this seems to me a meagre -meaning.' - -Such considerations could hold him no longer, and Manning executed the -resignation of his office and benefice before a public notary. Soon -afterwards, in the little Chapel off Buckingham Palace Road, kneeling -beside Mr. Gladstone, he worshipped for the last time as an Anglican. -Thirty years later the Cardinal told how, just before the Communion -service commenced, he turned to his friends with the words: - -'I can no longer take the Communion in the Church of England.' 'I rose -up, and laying my hand on Mr. Gladstone's shoulder, said "Come". It was -the parting of the ways. Mr. Gladstone remained; and I went my way. Mr. -Gladstone still remains where I left him.' - -On April 6th, 1851, the final step was taken: Manning was received into -the Roman Catholic Church. Now at last, after the long struggle, his -mind was at rest. - -'I know what you mean,' he wrote to Robert Wilberforce, 'by saying that -one sometimes feels as if all this might turn out to be only another -"Land of Shadows". I have felt it in time past, but not now. The -theologia from Nice to St. Thomas Aquinas, and the undivided unity -suffused throughout the world, of which the Cathedra Petri is the -centre, is now 1800 years old, and mightier in every power now than -ever--in intellect, in science, in separation from the world; and purer -too, refined by 300 years of conflict with the modern infidel -civilisation--all of this is a fact more solid than the earth.' - - -V. - -WHEN Manning joined the Church of Rome, he acted under the combined -impulse of the two dominating forces in his nature. His preoccupation -with the supernatural might, alone, have been satisfied within the fold -of the Anglican communion; and so might his preoccupation with -himself--the one might have found vent in the elaborations of High -Church ritual, and the other in the activities of a bishopric. But the -two together could not be quieted so easily. The Church of England is a -commodious institution; she is very anxious to please, but somehow or -other, she has never managed to supply a happy home to superstitious -egotists. 'What an escape for my poor soul!' Manning is said to have -exclaimed when, shortly after his conversion, a mitre was going -a-begging. But, in truth, Manning's 'poor soul' had scented nobler -quarry. To one of his temperament, how was it possible, when once the -choice was plainly put, to hesitate for a moment between the respectable -dignity of an English bishop, harnessed by the secular power, with the -Gorham judgment as a bit between his teeth, and the illimitable -pretensions of the humblest priest of Rome? - -For the moment, however, it seemed as if the Fates had at last been -successful in their little game of shunting Manning. The splendid career -which he had so laboriously built up from the small beginnings of his -Sussex curacy was shattered--and shattered by the inevitable operation -of his own essential needs. He was over forty, and he had been put back -once more to the very bottom rung of the ladder--a middle-aged neophyte -with, so far as could be seen, no special claim to the attention of his -new superiors. The example of Newman, a far more illustrious convert, -was hardly reassuring: he had been relegated to a complete obscurity, in -which he was to remain until extreme old age. Why should there be -anything better in store for Manning? Yet it so happened that within -fourteen years of his conversion Manning was Archbishop of Westminster -and the supreme ruler of the Roman Catholic community in England. This -time the Fates gave up the unequal struggle; they paid over their stakes -in despair, and retired from the game. - -Nevertheless it is difficult to feel quite sure that Manning's plunge -was as hazardous as it appeared. Certainly he was not a man who was -likely to forget to look before he leaped, nor one who, if he happened -to know that there was a mattress spread to receive him, would leap with -less conviction. In the light of after-events, one would be glad to know -what precisely passed at that mysterious interview of his with the Pope, -three years before his conversion. It is at least possible that the -authorities in Rome had their eye on Manning; the may well have felt -that the Archdeacon of Chichester would be a great catch. What did Pio -Nono say? It is easy to imagine the persuasive innocence of his Italian -voice. 'Ah, dear Signor Manning, why don't you come over to us? Do you -suppose that we should not look after you?' - -At any rate, when he did go over, Manning was looked after very -thoroughly. There was, it is true, a momentary embarrassment at the -outset: it was only with the greatest difficulty that he could bring -himself to abandon his faith in the validity of Anglican Orders, in -which he believed 'with consciousness stronger than all reasoning'. He -was convinced that he was still a priest. When the Rev. Mr. Tierney, who -had received him into the Roman Catholic communion, assured him that -this was not the case, he was filled with dismay and mortification. -After a five hour discussion, he started to his feet in a rage. 'Then, -Mr. Tierney,' he exclaimed, 'you think me insincere.' - -The bitter draught was swallowed at last, and, after that, all went -smoothly. Manning hastened to Rome, and was immediately placed by the -Pope in the highly select Accademia Ecclesiastica, commonly known as the -'Nursery of Cardinals', for the purpose of completing his theological -studies. When the course was finished, he continued, by the Pope's -special request, to spend six months of every year in Rome, where he -preached to the English visitors, became acquainted with the great -personages of the Papal court, and enjoyed the privilege of constant -interviews with the Holy Father. At the same time, he was able to make -himself useful in London, where Cardinal Wiseman, the newly created -Archbishop of Westminster, was seeking to reanimate the Roman Catholic -community. Manning was not only extremely popular in the pulpit and in -the confessional; he was not only highly efficient as a gleaner of -souls--and of souls who moved in the best society; he also possessed a -familiarity with official persons and official ways, which was -invaluable. When the question arose of the appointment of Catholic -chaplains in the Crimea during the war, it was Manning who approached -the Minister, interviewed the Permanent Secretary, and finally succeeded -in obtaining all that was required. When a special Reformatory for -Catholic children was proposed, Manning carried through the negotiation -with the Government. When an attempt was made to remove Catholic -children from the Workhouses, Manning was again indispensable. No wonder -Cardinal Wiseman soon determined to find some occupation of special -importance for the energetic convert. He had long wished to establish a -congregation of secular priests in London particularly devoted to his -service, and the opportunity for the experiment had clearly now arisen. -The order of the Oblates of St. Charles was founded in Bayswater, and -Manning was put at its head. Unfortunately, no portion of the body of -St. Charles could be obtained for the new community, but two relics of -his blood were brought over to Bayswater from Milan. Almost at the same -time the Pope signified his appreciation of Manning's efforts by -appointing him Provost of the Chapter of Westminster--a position which -placed him at the head of the Canons of the diocese. - -This double promotion was the signal for the outbreak of an -extraordinary internal struggle, which raged without intermission for -the next seven years, and was to end only with the accession of Manning -to the Archbishopric. The condition of the Roman Catholic community in -England was at that time a singular one. On the one hand the old -repressive laws of the seventeenth century had been repealed by liberal -legislation, and on the other a large new body of distinguished converts -had entered the Roman Church as a result of the Oxford Movement. It was -evident that there was a 'boom' in English Catholicism, and, in 1850, -Pius IX recognised the fact by dividing up the whole of England into -dioceses, and placing Wiseman at the head of them as Archbishop of -Westminster. Wiseman's encyclical, dated 'from without the Flaminian -Gate', in which he announced the new departure, was greeted in England -by a storm of indignation, culminating in the famous and furibund letter -of Lord John Russell, then Prime Minister, against the insolence of the -'Papal Aggression'. Though the particular point against which the outcry -was raised--the English territorial titles of the new Roman bishops--was -an insignificant one, the instinct of Lord John and of the English -people was in reality sound enough. Wiseman's installation did mean, in -fact, a new move in the Papal game; it meant an advance, if not an -aggression--a quickening in England of the long-dormant energies of the -Roman Church. That Church has never had the reputation of being an -institution to be trifled with; and, in those days, the Pope was still -ruling as a temporal Prince over the fairest provinces of Italy. Surely, -if the images of Guy Fawkes had not been garnished, on that fifth of -November, with triple crowns, it would have been a very poor compliment -to His Holiness. - -But it was not only the honest Protestants of England who had cause to -dread the arrival of the new Cardinal Archbishop; there was a party -among the Catholics themselves who viewed his installation with alarm -and disgust. The families in which the Catholic tradition had been -handed down uninterruptedly since the days of Elizabeth, which had known -the pains of exile and of martyrdom, and which clung together an alien -and isolated group in the midst of English society, now began to feel -that they were, after all, of small moment in the counsels of Rome. They -had laboured through the heat of the day, but now it seemed as if the -harvest was to be gathered in by a crowd of converts who were -proclaiming on every side as something new and wonderful the truths -which the Old Catholics, as they came to be called, had not only known, -but for which they had suffered for generations. Cardinal Wiseman, it is -true, was no convert; he belonged to one of the oldest of the Catholic -families; but he had spent most of his life in Rome, he was out of touch -with English traditions, and his sympathy with Newman and his followers -was only too apparent. One of his first acts as Archbishop was to -appoint the convert W. G. Ward, who was not even in holy orders, to be -Professor of Theology at St. Edmund's College--the chief seminary for -young priests, in which the ancient traditions of Douay were still -flourishing. Ward was an ardent Papalist and his appointment indicated -clearly enough that in Wiseman's opinion there was too little of the -Italian spirit in the English community. The uneasiness of the Old -Catholics was becoming intense, when they were reassured by Wiseman's -appointing as his co-adjutor and successor his intimate friend, Dr. -Errington, who was created on the occasion Archbishop of Trebizond in -partibus infidelium. Not only was Dr. Errington an Old Catholic of the -most rigid type, he was a man of extreme energy, whose influence was -certain to be great; and, in any case, Wiseman was growing old, so that -before very long it seemed inevitable that the policy of the diocese -would be in proper hands. Such was the position of affairs when, two -years after Errington's appointment, Manning became head of the Oblates -of St. Charles and Provost of the Chapter of Westminster. - -The Archbishop of Trebizond had been for some time growing more and more -suspicious of Manning's influence, and this sudden elevation appeared to -justify his worst fears. But his alarm was turned to fury when he -learned that St. Edmund's College, from which he had just succeeded in -removing the obnoxious W. G. Ward, was to be placed under the control of -the Oblates of St. Charles. The Oblates did not attempt to conceal the -fact that one of their principal aims was to introduce the customs of a -Roman Seminary into England. A grim perspective of espionage and -tale-bearing, foreign habits, and Italian devotions opened out before -the dismayed eyes of the Old Catholics; they determined to resist to the -utmost; and it was upon the question of the control of St. Edmund's that -the first battle in the long campaign between Errington and Manning was -fought. - -Cardinal Wiseman was now obviously declining towards the grave. A man of -vast physique--'your immense', an Irish servant used respectfully to -call him--of sanguine temperament, of genial disposition, of versatile -capacity, he seemed to have engrafted upon the robustness of his English -nature the facile, child-like, and expansive qualities of the South. So -far from being a Bishop Blougram (as the rumour went) he was, in fact, -the very antithesis of that subtle and worldly-wise ecclesiastic. He had -innocently looked forward all his life to the reunion of England to the -See of Peter, and eventually had come to believe that, in God's hand, he -was the instrument destined to bring about this miraculous consummation. -Was not the Oxford Movement, with its flood of converts, a clear sign of -the Divine will? Had he not himself been the author of that momentous -article on St. Augustine and the Donatists, which had finally convinced -Newman that the Church of England was in schism? And then, had he not -been able to set afoot a Crusade of Prayer throughout Catholic Europe -for the conversion of England? - -He awaited the result with eager expectation, and in the meantime he set -himself to smooth away the hostility of his countrymen by delivering -courses of popular lectures on literature and archaeology. He devoted -much time and attention to the ceremonial details of his princely -office. His knowledge of rubric and ritual, and of the symbolical -significations of vestments, has rarely been equalled, and he took a -profound delight in the ordering and the performance of elaborate -processions. During one of these functions, an unexpected difficulty -arose: the Master of Ceremonies suddenly gave the word for a halt, and, -on being asked the reason, replied that he had been instructed that -moment by special revelation to stop the procession. The Cardinal, -however, was not at a loss. 'You may let the procession go on,' he -smilingly replied. 'I have just obtained permission, by special -revelation, to proceed with it.' His leisure hours he spent in the -writing of edifying novels, the composition of acrostics in Latin Verse, -and in playing battledore and shuttlecock with his little nieces. There -was, indeed, only one point in which he resembled Bishop Blougram--his -love of a good table. Some of Newman's disciples were astonished and -grieved to find that he sat down to four courses of fish during Lent. 'I -am sorry to say,' remarked one of them afterwards, 'that there is a -lobster salad side to the Cardinal.' - -It was a melancholy fate which ordained that the last years of this -comfortable, easygoing, innocent old man should be distracted and -embittered by the fury of opposing principles and the venom of personal -animosities. But so it was. He had fallen into the hands of one who -cared very little for the gentle pleasures of repose. Left to himself, -Wiseman might have compromised with the Old Catholics and Dr. Errington; -but when Manning had once appeared upon the scene, all compromise became -impossible. The late Archdeacon of Chichester, who had understood so -well and practised with such careful skill the precept of the golden -mean so dear to the heart of the Church of England, now, as Provost of -Westminster, flung himself into the fray with that unyielding intensity -of fervour, that passion for the extreme and the absolute, which is the -very lifeblood of the Church of Rome. Even the redoubtable Dr. -Errington, short, thickset, determined, with his `hawk-like expression -of face', as a contemporary described him, 'as he looked at you through -his blue spectacles', had been known to quail in the presence of his, -antagonist, with his tall and graceful figure, his pale ascetic -features, his compressed and icy lips, his calm and penetrating gaze. As -for the poor Cardinal, he was helpless indeed. - -Henceforward, there was to be no paltering with that dangerous spirit of -independence--was it not almost Gallicanism which possessed the Old -Catholic families of England? The supremacy of the Vicar of Christ must -be maintained at all hazards. Compared with such an object, what were -the claims of personal affection and domestic peace? The Cardinal -pleaded in vain; his lifelong friendship with Dr. Errington was plucked -up by the roots, and the harmony of his private life was utterly -destroyed. His own household was turned against him. His favourite -nephew, whom he had placed among the Oblates under Manning's special -care, left the congregation and openly joined the party of Dr. -Errington. His secretary followed suit; but saddest of all was the case -of Monsignor Searle. Monsignor Searle, in the capacity of confidential -man of affairs, had dominated over the Cardinal in private for years -with the autocratic fidelity of a servant who has grown indispensable. -His devotion, in fact, seemed to have taken the form of physical -imitation, for he was hardly less gigantic than his master. The two were -inseparable; their huge figures loomed together like neighbouring -mountains; and on one occasion, meeting them in the street, a gentleman -congratulated Wiseman on 'your Eminence's fine son'. Yet now even this -companionship was broken up. The relentless Provost here too brought a -sword. There were explosions and recriminations. Monsignor Searle, -finding that his power was slipping from him, made scenes and protests, -and at last was foolish enough to accuse Manning of peculation to his -face; after that it was clear that his day was over; he was forced to -slink snarling into the background, while the Cardinal shuddered through -all his immensity, and wished many times that he were already dead. - -Yet, he was not altogether without his consolations; Manning took care -to see to that. His piercing eye had detected the secret way into the -recesses of the Cardinal's heart--had discerned the core of simple faith -which underlay that jovial manner and that facile talk. Others were -content to laugh and chatter and transact their business; Manning was -more artistic. He watched his opportunity, and then, when the moment -came, touched with a deft finger the chord of the Conversion of England. -There was an immediate response, and he struck the same chord again, and -yet again. He became the repository of the Cardinal's most intimate -aspirations. He alone sympathised and understood. 'If God gives me -strength to undertake a great wrestling-match with infidelity,' Wiseman -wrote, 'I shall owe it to him.' - -But what he really found himself undertaking was a wrestling-match with -Dr. Errington. The struggle over St. Edmund's College grew more and more -acute. There were high words in the Chapter, where Monsignor Searle led -the assault against the Provost, and carried a resolution declaring that -the Oblates of St. Charles had intruded themselves illegally into the -Seminary. The Cardinal quashed the proceedings of the Chapter; -whereupon, the Chapter appealed to Rome. Dr. Errington, carried away by -the fury of the controversy, then appeared as the avowed opponent of the -Provost and the Cardinal. With his own hand he drew up a document -justifying the appeal of the Chapter to Rome by Canon Law and the -decrees of the Council of Trent. Wiseman was deeply pained: 'My own -co-adjutor,' he exclaimed, 'is acting as solicitor against me in a -lawsuit.' There was a rush to Rome, where, for several ensuing years, -the hostile English parties were to wage a furious battle in the -antechambers of the Vatican. But the dispute over the Oblates now sank -into insignificance beside the rage of contention which centred round a -new and far more deadly question; for the position of Dr. Errington -himself was at stake. The Cardinal, in spite of illness, indolence, and -the ties of friendship, had been brought at last to an extraordinary -step--he was petitioning the Pope for nothing less than the deprivation -and removal of the Archbishop of Trebizond. - -The precise details of what followed are doubtful. It is only possible -to discern with clearness, amid a vast cloud of official documents and -unofficial correspondences in English, Italian, and Latin, of Papal -decrees and voluminous scritture, of confidential reports of episcopal -whispers and the secret agitations of Cardinals, the form of Manning, -restless and indomitable, scouring like a stormy petrel the angry ocean -of debate. Wiseman, dilatory, unbusinesslike, and infirm, was ready -enough to leave the conduct of affairs in his hands. Nor was it long -before Manning saw where the key of the whole position lay. As in the -old days, at Chichester, he had secured the goodwill of Bishop -Shuttleworth by cultivating the friendship of Archdeacon Hare, so now, -on this vaster scale of operations, his sagacity led him swiftly and -unerringly up the little winding staircase in the Vatican and through -the humble door which opened into the cabinet of Monsignor Talbot, the -private secretary of the Pope. Monsignor Talbot was a priest who -embodied in a singular manner, if not the highest, at least the most -persistent traditions of the Roman Curia. He was a master of various -arts which the practice of ages has brought to perfection under the -friendly shadow of the triple tiara. He could mingle together astuteness -and holiness without any difficulty; he could make innuendoes as -naturally as an ordinary man makes statements of fact; he could apply -flattery with so unsparing a hand that even Princes of the Church found -it sufficient; and, on occasion, he could ring the changes of torture on -a human soul with a tact which called forth universal approbation. With -such accomplishments, it could hardly be expected that Monsignor Talbot -should be remarkable either for a delicate sense of conscientiousness or -for an extreme refinement of feeling, but then it was not for those -qualities that Manning was in search when he went up the winding stair. -He was looking for the man who had the ear of Pio Nono; and, on the -other side of the low-arched door, he found him. Then he put forth all -his efforts; his success was complete; and an alliance began which was -destined to have the profoundest effect upon Manning's career, and was -only dissolved when, many years later, Monsignor Talbot was -unfortunately obliged to exchange his apartment in the Vatican for a -private lunatic asylum at Passy. - -It was determined that the coalition should be ratified by the ruin of -Dr. Errington. When the moment of crisis was seen to be approaching, -Wiseman was summoned to Rome, where he began to draw up an immense -scrittura containing his statement of the case. For months past, the -redoubtable energies of the Archbishop of Trebizond had been absorbed in -a similar task. Folio was being piled upon folio, when a sudden blow -threatened to put an end to the whole proceeding in a summary manner. -The Cardinal was seized by violent illness, and appeared to be upon his -deathbed. Manning thought for a moment that his labours had been in vain -and that all was lost. But the Cardinal recovered; Monsignor Talbot used -his influence as he alone knew how; and a papal decree was issued by -which Dr. Errington was 'liberated' from the Coadjutorship of -Westminster, together with the right of succession to the See. - -It was a supreme act of authority--a 'colpo di stato di Dominiddio', as -the Pope himself said--and the blow to the Old Catholics was -correspondingly severe. They found themselves deprived at one fell swoop -both of the influence of their most energetic supporter and of the -certainty of coming into power at Wiseman's death. And in the meantime, -Manning was redoubling his energies at Bayswater. Though his Oblates had -been checked over St. Edmund's, there was still no lack of work for them -to do. There were missions to be carried on, schools to be managed, -funds to be collected. Several new churches were built; a community of -most edifying nuns of the Third Order of St. Francis was established; -and L30,000, raised from Manning's private resources and from those of -his friends, was spent in three years. 'I hate that man,' one of the Old -Catholics exclaimed, 'he is such a forward piece.' The words were -reported to Manning, who shrugged his shoulders. - -'Poor man,' he said, 'what is he made of? Does he suppose, in his -foolishness, that after working day and night for twenty years in heresy -and schism, on becoming a Catholic, I should sit in an easy-chair and -fold my hands all the rest of my life?' - -But his secret thoughts were of a different caste. - -'I am conscious of a desire,' he wrote in his Diary, 'to be in such a -position: (I) as I had in times past; (2) as my present circumstances -imply; (3) as my friends think me fit for; and (4) as I feel my own -faculties tend to. - -'But, God being my helper, I will not seek it by the lifting of a finger -or the speaking, of a word.' - -So Manning wrote, and thought, and prayed; but what are words, and -thoughts, and even prayers, to the mysterious and relentless powers of -circumstance and character? Cardinal Wiseman was slowly dying; the -tiller of the Church was slipping from his feeble hand; and Manning was -beside him, the one man with the energy, the ability, the courage, and -the conviction to steer the ship upon her course. More than that; there -was the sinister figure of a Dr. Errington crouching close at hand, -ready to seize the helm and make straight--who could doubt it?--for the -rocks. In such a situation the voice of self-abnegation must needs grow -still and small indeed. Yet it spoke on, for it was one of the paradoxes -in Manning's soul that that voice was never silent. Whatever else he -was, he was not unscrupulous. Rather, his scruples deepened with his -desires; and he could satisfy his most exorbitant ambitions in a -profundity of self-abasement. And so now he vowed to Heaven that he -would SEEK nothing--no, not by the lifting of a finger or the speaking -of a word. But, if something came to him--? He had vowed not to seek; he -had not vowed not to take. Might it not be his plain duty to take? Might -it not be the will of God? - -Something, of course, did come to him, though it seemed for a moment -that it would elude his grasp. Wiseman died, and there ensued in Rome a -crisis of extraordinary intensity. 'Since the creation of the -hierarchy,' Monsignor Talbot wrote, it is the greatest moment for the -Church that I have yet seen.' It was the duty of the Chapter of -Westminster to nominate three candidates for succession to the -Archbishopric; they made one last effort, and had the temerity to place -upon the list, besides the names of two Old Catholic bishops, that of -Dr. Errington. It was a fatal blunder. Pius IX was furious; the Chapter -had committed an 'insulta al Papa', he exclaimed, striking his breast -three times in his rage. 'It was the Chapter that did it,' said Manning, -afterwards; but even after the Chapter's indiscretion, the fatal -decision hung in the balance for weeks. - -'The great point of anxiety with me, wrote Monsignor Talbot to Manning, -'is whether a Congregation will be held, or whether the Holy Father will -perform a Pontifical act. He himself is doubting. I therefore say mass -and pray every morning that he may have the courage to choose for -himself, instead of submitting the matter to a Congregation. Although -the Cardinals are determined to reject Dr. Errington, nevertheless I am -afraid that they should select one of the others. You know very well -that Congregations are guided by the documents that are placed before -them; it is for this reason that I should prefer the Pope's acting -himself.' - -But the Holy Father himself was doubting. In his indecision, he ordered -a month of prayers and masses. The suspense grew and grew. Everything -seemed against Manning. The whole English episcopate was opposed to him; -he had quarrelled with the Chapter; he was a convert of but few years' -standing; even the congregated Cardinals did not venture to suggest the -appointment of such a man. But suddenly, the Holy Father's doubts came -to an end. He heard a voice--a mysterious inward voice--whispering -something in his ear. 'Mettetelo li! Mettetelo li!' the voice repeated, -over and over again. Mettetelo li! It was an inspiration; and Pius IX, -brushing aside the recommendations of the Chapter and the deliberations -of the Cardinals, made Manning, by a Pontifical act, Archbishop of -Westminster. - -Monsignor Talbot's felicity was complete; and he took occasion in -conveying his congratulations to his friend, to make some illuminating -reflections upon the great event. - -'MY policy throughout,' he wrote, 'was never to propose you DIRECTLY to -the Pope, but, to make others do so, so that both you and I can always -say that it was not I who induced the Holy Father to name you--which -would lessen the weight of your appointment. This I say, because many -have said that your being named was all my doing. I do not say that the -Pope did not know that I thought you the only man eligible--as I took -care to tell him over and over again what was against all the other -candidates--and in consequence, he was almost driven into naming you. -After he had named you, the Holy Father said to me, "What a diplomatist -you are, to make what you wished come to pass!" - -'Nevertheless,' concluded Monsignor Talbot, 'I believe your appointment -was specially directed by the Holy Ghost.' - -Manning himself was apparently of the same opinion. - -'My dear Child,' he wrote to a lady penitent, 'I have in these last -three weeks felt as if our Lord had called me by name. Everything else -has passed out of my mind. The firm belief that I have long had that the -Holy Father is the most supernatural person I have ever seen has given -me this feeling more deeply. 'Still, I feel as if I had been brought, -contrary to all human wills, by the Divine Will, into an immediate -relation to our Divine Lord.' - -'If indeed,' he wrote to Lady Herbert, 'it were the will of our Divine -Lord to lay upon me this heavy burden, He could have done it in no way -more strengthening and consoling to me. To receive it from the hands of -His Vicar, and from Pius IX, and after long invocation of the Holy -Ghost, and not only without human influences, but in spite of manifold -aria powerful human opposition, gives me the last strength for such a -cross.' - - -VI - -MANNING'S appointment filled his opponents with alarm. Wrath and -vengeance seemed to be hanging over them; what might not be expected -from the formidable enemy against whom they had struggled for so long, -and who now stood among them armed with archiepiscopal powers and -invested with the special confidence of Rome? Great was their amazement, -great was their relief, when they found that their dreaded master -breathed nothing but kindness, gentleness, and conciliation. The old -scores, they found, were not to be paid off, but to be wiped out. The -new archbishop poured forth upon every side all the tact, all the -courtesy, all the dignified graces of a Christian magnanimity. It was -impossible to withstand such treatment. Bishops who had spent years in -thwarting him became his devoted adherents; even the Chapter of -Westminster forgot its hatred. Monsignor Talbot was extremely surprised. -'Your greatest enemies have entirely come round,' he wrote. 'I received -the other day a panegyric of you from Searle. This change of feeling I -cannot attribute to anything but the Holy Ghost.' Monsignor Talbot was -very fond of the Holy Ghost; but, so far, at any rate as Searle was -concerned, there was another explanation. Manning, instead of dismissing -Searle from his position of 'oeconomus' in the episcopal household, had -kept him on--at an increased salary; and the poor man, who had not -scrupled in the days of his pride to call Manning a thief, was now duly -grateful. - -As to Dr. Errington, he gave an example of humility and submission by at -once withdrawing into a complete obscurity. For years the Archbishop of -Trebizond, the ejected heir to the See of Westminster, laboured as a -parish priest in the Isle of Man. He nursed no resentment in his heart, -and, after a long and edifying life of peace and silence, he died in -1886, a professor of theology at Clifton. - -It might be supposed that Manning could now feel that his triumph was -complete. His position was secure; his power was absolute; his prestige -was daily growing. Yet there was something that irked him still. As he -cast his eyes over the Roman Catholic community in England, he was aware -of one figure which, by virtue of a peculiar eminence, seemed to -challenge the supremacy of his own. That figure was Newman's. - -Since his conversion, Newman's life had been a long series of -misfortunes and disappointments. When he had left the Church of England, -he was its most distinguished, its most revered member, whose words, -however strange, were listened to with profound attention, and whose -opinions, however dubious, were followed in all their fluctuations with -an eager and indeed a trembling respect. He entered the Church of Rome, -and found himself forthwith an unimportant man. He was received at the -Papal Court with a politeness which only faintly concealed a total lack -of interest and understanding. His delicate mind, with its refinements, -its hesitations, its complexities--his soft, spectacled, Oxford manner, -with its half-effeminate diffidence-such things were ill calculated to -impress a throng of busy Cardinals and Bishops, whose days were spent -amid the practical details of ecclesiastical organisation, the -long-drawn involutions of papal diplomacy, and the delicious bickerings -of personal intrigue. And when, at last, he did succeed in making some -impression upon these surroundings, it was no better; it was worse. An -uneasy suspicion gradually arose; it began to dawn upon the Roman -authorities that Dr. Newman was a man of ideas. Was it possible that Dr. -Newman did not understand that ideas in Rome were, to say the least of -it, out of place? Apparently, he did not--nor was that all; not content -with having ideas, he positively seemed anxious to spread them. When -that was known, the politeness in high places was seen to be wearing -decidedly thin. His Holiness, who on Newman's arrival had graciously -expressed the wish to see him 'again and again', now, apparently, was -constantly engaged. At first Newman supposed that the growing coolness -was the result of misapprehension; his Italian was faulty, Latin was not -spoken at Rome, his writings had only appeared in garbled translations. -And even Englishmen had sometimes found his arguments difficult to -follow. He therefore determined to take the utmost care to make his -views quite clear; his opinions upon religious probability, his -distinction between demonstrative and circumstantial evidence, his -theory of the development of doctrine and the aspects of ideas--these -and many other matters, upon which he had written so much, he would now -explain in the simplest language. He would show that there was nothing -dangerous in what he held, that there was a passage in De Lugo which -supported him--that Perrone, by maintaining that the Immaculate -Conception could be defined, had implicitly admitted one of his main -positions, and that his language about Faith had been confused, quite -erroneously, with the fideism of M. Bautain. - -Cardinal Barnabo, Cardinal Reisach, Cardinal Antonelli, looked at him -with their shrewd eyes and hard faces, while he poured into their ears -which, as he had already noticed with distress, were large and not too -clean--his careful disquisitions; but, it was all in vain--they had -clearly never read De Lugo or Perrone, and as for M. Bautain, they had -never heard of him. Newman, in despair, fell back upon St. Thomas -Aquinas; but, to his horror, he observed that St. Thomas himself did not -mean very much to the Cardinals. With a sinking heart, he realised at -last the painful truth: it was not the nature of his views, it was his -having views at all, that was objectionable. He had hoped to devote the -rest of his life to the teaching of Theology; but what sort of Theology -could he teach which would be acceptable to such superiors? He left -Rome, and settled down in Birmingham as the head of a small community of -Oratorians. He did not complain; it was God's will; it was better so. He -would watch and pray. - -But God's will was not quite so simple as that. Was it right, after all, -that a man with Newman's intellectual gifts, his devoted ardour, his -personal celebrity, should sink away out of sight and use in the dim -recesses of the Oratory at Birmingham? If the call were to come to him -to take his talent out of the napkin, how could he refuse? And the call -did come. A Catholic University was being started in Ireland and Dr. -Cullen, the Archbishop of Armagh, begged Newman to become the Rector. At -first he hesitated, but when he learned that it was the Holy Father's -wish that he should take up the work, he could doubt no longer; the -offer was sent from Heaven. The difficulties before him were very great; -not only had a new University to be called up out of the void, but the -position was complicated by the presence of a rival institution--the -undenominational Queen's Colleges, founded by Peel a few years earlier -with the object of giving Irish Catholics facilities for University -education on the same terms as their fellow-countrymen. Yet Newman had -the highest hopes. He dreamt of something greater than a merely Irish -University--of a noble and flourishing centre of learning for the -Catholics of Ireland and England alike. And why should not his dream -come true? 'In the midst of our difficulties, he said, 'I have one -ground of hope, just one stay, but, as I think, a sufficient one, which -serves me in the stead of all other argument whatever. It is the -decision of the Holy See; St. Peter has spoken.' - -The years that followed showed to what extent it was safe to depend upon -St. Peter. Unforeseen obstacles cropped up on every side. Newman's -energies were untiring, but so was the inertia of the Irish authorities. -On his appointment, he wrote to Dr. Cullen asking that arrangements -might be made for his reception in Dublin. Dr. Cullen did not reply. -Newman wrote again, but still there was no answer. Weeks passed, months -passed, years passed, and not a word, not a sign, came from Dr. Cullen. -At last, after dangling for more than two years in the uncertainties and -perplexities of so strange a situation, Newman was summoned to Dublin. -There he found nothing but disorder and discouragement. The laity took -no interest in the scheme; the clergy actively disliked it; Newman's -authority was disregarded. He appealed to Cardinal Wiseman, and then at -last a ray of hope dawned. The cardinal suggested that a bishopric -should be conferred upon him, to give him a status suitable to his -position; Dr. Cullen acquiesced, and Pius IX was all compliance. -'Manderemo a Newman la crocetta,' he said to Wiseman, smilingly drawing -his hands down each side of his neck to his breast, 'lo faremo vescovo -di Porfirio, o qualche luogo.' The news spread among Newman's friends, -and congratulations began to come in. But the official intimation seemed -to be unaccountably delayed; no crocetta came from Rome, and Cardinal -Wiseman never again referred to the matter. Newman was left to gather -that the secret representations of Dr. Cullen had brought about a change -of counsel in high quarters. His pride did not allow him to inquire -further; but one of his lady penitents, Miss Giberne, was less discreet. -'Holy Father,' she suddenly said to the Pope in an audience one day, -'why don't you make Father Newman a bishop?' Upon which the Holy Father -looked much confused and took a great deal of snuff. - -For the next five years Newman, unaided and ignored, struggled -desperately, like a man in a bog, with the overmastering difficulties of -his task. His mind, whose native haunt was among the far aerial -boundaries of fancy and philosophy, was now clamped down under the -fetters of petty detail and fed upon the mean diet of compromise and -routine. He had to force himself to scrape together money, to write -articles for the students' Gazette, to make plans for medical -laboratories, to be ingratiating with the City Council; he was obliged -to spend months travelling through the remote regions of Ireland in the -company of extraordinary ecclesiastics and barbarous squireens. He was a -thoroughbred harnessed to a four-wheeled cab--and he knew it. -Eventually, he realised something else: he saw that the whole project of -a Catholic University had been evolved as a political and ecclesiastical -weapon against the Queen's Colleges of Peel, and that was all. As an -instrument of education, it was simply laughed at; and he himself had -been called in because his name would be a valuable asset in a party -game. When he understood that, he resigned his rectorship and returned -to the Oratory. - -But, his tribulations were not yet over. It seemed to be God's will that -he should take part in a whole succession of schemes, which, no less -than the project of the Irish University, were to end in disillusionment -and failure. He was persuaded by Cardinal Wiseman to undertake the -editorship of a new English version of the Scriptures, which was to be a -monument of Catholic scholarship and an everlasting glory to Mother -Church. He made elaborate preparations; he collected subscriptions, -engaged contributors, and composed a long and learned prolegomena to the -work. It was all useless; Cardinal Wiseman began to think of other -things; and the scheme faded imperceptibly into thin air. Then a new -task was suggested to him: "The Rambler", a Catholic periodical, had -fallen on evil days; would Dr Newman come to the rescue, and accept the -editorship? This time he hesitated rather longer than usual; he had -burned his fingers so often--he must be specially careful now. 'I did -all I could to ascertain God's Will,' he said, and he came to the -conclusion that it was his duty to undertake the work. He did so, and -after two numbers had appeared, Dr. Ullathorne, the Bishop of -Birmingham, called upon him, and gently hinted that he had better leave -the paper alone. Its tone was not liked at Rome; it had contained an -article criticising St. Pius V, and, most serious of all, the orthodoxy -of one of Newman's own essays had appeared to be doubtful. He resigned, -and in the anguish of his heart, determined never to write again. One of -his friends asked him why he was publishing nothing. 'Hannibal's -elephants,' he replied, 'never could learn the goose-step.' - -Newman was now an old man--he was sixty-three years of age. What had he -to look forward to? A few last years of insignificance and silence. What -had he to look back upon? A long chronicle of wasted efforts, -disappointed hopes, neglected possibilities, unappreciated powers. And -now all his labours had ended by his being accused at Rome of lack of -orthodoxy. He could no longer restrain his indignation, and in a letter -to one of his lady penitents, he gave vent to the bitterness of his -soul. When his Rambler article had been complained of, he said, there -had been some talk of calling him to Rome. - -'Call me to Rome,' he burst out--'what does that mean? It means to sever -an old man from his home, to subject him to intercourse with persons -whose languages are strange to him--to food and to fashions which are -almost starvation on the one hand, and involve restless days and nights -on the other--it means to oblige him to dance attendance on Propaganda -week after week and month after month--it means his death. (It was the -punishment on Dr. Baines, 1840-1, to keep him at the door of Propaganda -for a year.) - -'This is the prospect which I cannot but feel probable, did I say -anything which one Bishop in England chose to speak against and report. -Others have been killed before me. Lucas went of his own accord -indeed--but when he got there, oh!' How much did he, as loyal a son of -the Church and the Holy See as ever was, what did he suffer because Dr. -Cullen was against him? He wandered (as Dr. Cullen said in a letter he -published in a sort of triumph), he wandered from Church to Church -without a friend, and hardly got an audience from the Pope. 'And I too -should go from St. Philip to Our Lady, and to St. Peter and St. Paul, -and to St. Laurence and to St. Cecilia, and, if it happened to me as to -Lucas, should come back to die.' - -Yet, in spite of all, in spite of these exasperations of the flesh, -these agitations of the spirit, what was there to regret? Had he not a -mysterious consolation which outweighed every grief? Surely, surely, he -had. - - 'Unveil, O Lord, and on us shine, - In glory and in grace,' - -he exclaims in a poem written at this time, called 'The Two Worlds': - - 'This gaudy world grows pale before - The beauty of Thy face. - - 'Till Thou art seen it seems to he - A sort of fairy ground, - Where suns unsetting light the sky, - And flowers and fruit abound. - - 'But when Thy keener, purer beam - Is poured upon our sight, - It loses all its power to charm, - And what was day is night ... - - 'And thus, when we renounce for Thee - Its restless aims and fears, - The tender memories of the past, - The hopes of coming years, - - 'Poor is our sacrifice, whose eyes - Are lighted from above; - We offer what we cannot keep, - What we have ceased to love.' - -Such were Newman's thoughts when an unexpected event occurred which -produced a profound effect upon his life: Charles Kingsley attacked his -good faith, and the good faith of Catholics in general, in a magazine -article. Newman protested, and Kingsley rejoined in an irate pamphlet. -Newman's reply was the Apologia pro Vita Sua, which he wrote in seven -weeks, sometimes working twenty-two hours at a stretch, 'constantly in -tears, and constantly crying out with distress'. The success of the -book, with its transparent candour, its controversial brilliance, the -sweep and passion of its rhetoric, the depth of its personal feeling, -was immediate and overwhelming; it was recognised at once as a classic, -not only by Catholics, but by the whole English world. From every side -expressions of admiration, gratitude, and devotion poured in. It was -impossible for one so sensitive as Newman to the opinions of other -people to resist the happy influence of such an unlooked-for, such an -enormous triumph. The cloud of his dejection began to lift; et l'espoir -malgre lui s'est glisse dans son coeur. - -It was only natural that at such a moment his thoughts should return to -Oxford. For some years past proposals had been on foot for establishing -there a Hall, under Newman's leadership, for Catholic undergraduates. -The scheme had been looked upon with disfavour in Rome, and it had been -abandoned; but now a new opportunity presented itself--some land in a -suitable position came into the market. Newman, with his reviving -spirits, felt that he could not let this chance go by, and bought the -land. It was his intention to build there not a Hall, but a Church, and -to set on foot a 'House of the Oratory'. What possible objection could -there be to such a scheme? He approached the Bishop of Birmingham, who -gave his approval; in Rome itself there was no hostile sign. The laity -were enthusiastic and subscriptions began to flow in. Was it possible -that all was well at last? Was it conceivable that the strange and weary -pilgrimage of so many years should end at length in quietude, if not in -happiness, where it had begun? - -It so happened that it was at this very time that Manning was appointed -to the See of Westminster. The destinies of the two men, which had run -parallel to one another in so strange a fashion and for so many years, -were now for a moment suddenly to converge. Newly clothed with all the -attributes of ecclesiastical supremacy, Manning found himself face to -face with Newman, upon whose brows were glittering the fresh laurels of -spiritual victory--the crown of an apostolical life. It was the meeting -of the eagle and the dove. What followed showed, more clearly perhaps -than any other incident in his career, the stuff that Manning was made -of. Power had come to him at last; and he seized it with all the avidity -of a born autocrat, whose appetite for supreme dominion had been whetted -by long years of enforced abstinence and the hated simulations of -submission. He was the ruler of Roman Catholic England, and he would -rule. The nature of Newman's influence it was impossible for him to -understand, but he saw that it existed; for twenty years he had been -unable to escape the unwelcome iterations of that singular, that alien, -that rival renown; and now it stood in his path, alone and inexplicable, -like a defiant ghost. 'It is remarkably interesting,' he observed -coldly, when somebody asked him what he thought of the Apologia: 'it is -like listening to the voice of one from the dead.' And such voices, with -their sepulchral echoes, are apt to be more dangerous than living ones; -they attract too much attention; they must be silenced at all costs. It -was the meeting of the eagle and the dove; there was a hovering, a -swoop, and then the quick beak and the relentless talons did their work. - -Even before his accession to the Archbishopric, Manning had scented a -peculiar peril in Newman's Oxford scheme, and so soon as he came into -power, he privately determined that the author of the Apologia should -never be allowed to return to his old University. Nor was there any lack -of excellent reasons for such a decision. Oxford was by this time a nest -of liberalism; it was no fit place for Catholic youths, and they would -inevitably be attracted there by the presence of Father Newman. And -then, had not Father Newman's orthodoxy been impugned? Had he not been -heard to express opinions of most doubtful propriety upon the question -of the Temporal Power? Was it not known that he might almost be said to -have an independent mind? An influence? Yes, he had an influence no -doubt; but what a fatal kind of influence to which to subject the rising -generation of Catholic Englishmen! - -Such were the reflections which Manning was careful to pour into the -receptive car of Monsignor Talbot. That useful priest, at his post of -vantage in the Vatican, was more than ever the devoted servant of the -new Archbishop. A league, offensive and defensive, had been established -between the two friends. - -'I daresay I shall have many opportunities to serve you in Rome,' wrote -Monsignor Talbot modestly, 'and I do not think any support will be -useless to you, especially on account of the peculiar character of the -Pope, and the spirit which pervades Propaganda; therefore, I wish you to -understand that a compact exists between us; if you help me, I shall -help you.' And a little later he added, 'I am glad you accept the -league. As I have already done for years, I shall support you, and I -have a hundred ways of doing so. A word dropped at the proper occasion -works wonders.' - -Perhaps it was hardly necessary to remind his correspondent of that. - -So far as Newman was concerned, it so fell out that Monsignor Talbot -needed no prompting. During the sensation caused by the appearance of -the Apologia, it had occurred to him that it would be an excellent plan -to secure Newman as a preacher during Lent for the fashionable -congregation which attended his church in the Piazza del Popolo; and, he -had accordingly written to invite him to Rome. His letter was -unfortunately not a tactful one. He assured Newman that he would find in -the Piazza del Popolo 'an audience of Protestants more educated than -could ever be the case in England', and 'I think myself,' he had added -by way of extra inducement, 'that you will derive great benefit from -visiting Rome, and showing yourself to the Ecclesiastical Authorities.' -Newman smiled grimly at this; he declared to a friend that the letter -was 'insolent'; and he could not resist the temptation of using his -sharp pen. - -'Dear Monsignor Talbot,' he wrote in reply, 'I have received your -letter, inviting me to preach in your Church at Rome to an audience of -Protestants more educated than could ever be the case in England. - -'However, Birmingham people have souls; and I have neither taste nor -talent for the sort of work which you cut out for me. And I beg to -decline your offer. - -I am, yours truly, - -JOHN H. NEWMAN.' - -Such words were not the words of wisdom. It is easy to imagine the -feelings of Monsignor Talbot. 'Newman's work none here can understand,' -he burst out to his friend. 'Poor man, by living almost ever since he -has been a Catholic, surrounded by a set of inferior men who idolise -him, I do not think he has ever acquired the Catholic instincts.' As for -his views on the Temporal Power--'well, people said that he had actually -sent a subscription to Garibaldi. Yes, the man was incomprehensible, -heretical, dangerous; he was "uncatholic and unchristian."' Monsignor -Talbot even trembled for the position of Manning in England. - -'I am afraid that the old school of Catholics will rally round Newman in -opposition to you and Rome. Stand firm, do not yield a bit in the line -you have taken. As I have promised, I shall stand by you. You will have -battles to fight because every Englishman is naturally anti-Roman. To be -Roman is an effort to an Englishman an effort. Dr. Newman is more English than -the English. His spirit must be crushed.' - -His spirit must be crushed! Certainly there could be no doubt of that. - -'What you write about Dr Newman,' Manning replied, 'is true. Whether he -knows it or not, he has become the centre of those who hold low views -about the Holy See, are anti-Roman, cold and silent, to say no more, -about the Temporal Power; national, English, critical of Catholic -devotions, and always on the lower side.... You will take care,' he -concluded, 'that things are correctly known and understood where you -are.' - -The confederates matured their plans. While Newman was making his -arrangements for the Oxford Oratory, Cardinal Reisach visited London. -'Cardinal Reisach has just left,' wrote Manning to Monsignor Talbot: 'he -has seen and understands all that is going on in England.' But Newman -had no suspicions. It was true that persistent rumours of his -unorthodoxy and his anti-Roman leanings had begun to float about, and -these rumours had been traced to Rome. But what were rumours? Then, too, -Newman found out that Cardinal Reisach had been to Oxford without his -knowledge, and had inspected the land for the Oratory. That seemed odd; -but all doubts were set at rest by the arrival from Propaganda of an -official ratification of his scheme. There would be nothing but plain -sailing now. Newman was almost happy; radiant visions came into his mind -of a wonderful future in Oxford, the gradual growth of Catholic -principles, the decay of liberalism, the inauguration of a second Oxford -Movement, the conversion--who knows?--of Mark Pattison, the triumph of -the Church.... 'Earlier failures do not matter now,' he exclaimed to a -friend. 'I see that I have been reserved by God for this.' - -Just then a long blue envelope was brought into the room. Newman opened -it. 'All is over,' he said, 'I am not allowed to go.' The envelope -contained a letter from the Bishop announcing that, together with the -formal permission for an Oratory at Oxford, Propaganda had issued a -secret instruction to the effect that Newman himself was by no means to -reside there. If he showed signs of doing so, he was blandly and suavely -('blande suaviterque' were the words of the Latin instrument) to be -prevented. And now the secret instruction had come into -operation--blande suaviterque: Dr. Newman's spirit had been crushed. - -His friends made some gallant efforts to retrieve the situation; but, it -was in vain. Father St. John hurried to Rome and the indignant laity of -England, headed by Lord Edward Howard, the guardian of the young Duke of -Norfolk, seized the opportunity of a particularly virulent anonymous -attack upon Newman, to send him an address in which they expressed their -feeling that 'every blow that touches you inflicts a wound upon the -Catholic Church in this country'. The only result was an outburst of -redoubled fury upon the part of Monsignor Talbot. The address, he -declared, was an insult to the Holy See. 'What is the province of the -laity?' he interjected. 'To hunt, to shoot, to entertain. These matters -they understand, but to meddle with ecclesiastical matters they have no -right at all.' Once more he warned Manning to be careful. - -'Dr. Newman is the most dangerous man in England, and you will see that -he will make use of the laity against your Grace. You must not be afraid -of him. It will require much prudence, but you must be firm. The Holy -Father still places his confidence in you; but if you yield and do not -fight the battle of the Holy See against the detestable spirit growing -up in England, he will begin to regret Cardinal Wiseman, who knew how to -keep the laity in order.' Manning had no thought of 'yielding'; but, he -pointed out to his agitated friend that an open conflict between himself -and Newman would be 'as great a scandal to the Church in England, and as -great a victory to the Anglicans, as could be'. He would act quietly, -and there would be no more difficulty. The Bishops were united, and the -Church was sound. - -On this, Monsignor Talbot hurried to Father St. John's lodgings in Rome -to express his regret at the misunderstanding that had arisen, to wonder -how it could possibly have occurred, and to hope that Dr. Newman might -consent to be made a Protonotary Apostolic. That was all the -satisfaction that Father St. John was to obtain from his visit to Rome. -A few weeks later, the scheme of the Oxford Oratory was finally quashed. - -When all was over, Manning thought that the time had come for a -reconciliation. He made advances through a common friend; what had he -done, he asked, to offend Dr. Newman? Letters passed, and, naturally -enough, they only widened the breach. Newman was not the man to be -polite. - -'I can only repeat,' he wrote at last, 'what I said when you last heard -from me. I do not know whether I am on my head or my heels when I have -active relations with you. In spite of my friendly feelings, this is the -judgment of my intellect.' 'Meanwhile,' he concluded, 'I propose to say -seven masses for your intention amid the difficulties and anxieties of -your ecclesiastical duties.' - -And Manning could only return the compliment. - -At about this time, the Curate of Littlemore had a singular experience. -As he was passing by the Church he noticed an old man, very poorly -dressed in an old grey coat with the collar turned up, leaning over the -lych gate, in floods of tears. He was apparently in great trouble, and -his hat was pulled down over his eyes as if he wished to hide his -features. For a moment, however, he turned towards the Curate, who was -suddenly struck by something familiar in the face. Could it be--? A -photograph hung over the Curate's mantelpiece of the man who had made -Littlemore famous by his sojourn there more than twenty years ago--he -had never seen the original; but now, was it possible--? He looked -again, and he could doubt no longer. It was Dr. Newman. He sprang -forward, with proffers of assistance. Could he be of any use? 'Oh no, -no!' was the reply. 'Oh no, no!' But the Curate felt that he could not -run away and leave so eminent a character in such distress. 'Was it not -Dr. Newman he had the honour of addressing?' he asked, with all the -respect and sympathy at his command. 'Was there nothing that could be -done?' But the old man hardly seemed to understand what was being said -to him. 'Oh no, no!' he repeated, with the tears streaming down his -face, 'Oh no, no!' - - -VII - -MEANWHILE, a remarkable problem was absorbing the attention of the -Catholic Church. Once more, for a moment, the eyes of all Christendom -were fixed upon Rome. The temporal Power of the Pope had now almost -vanished; but, as his worldly dominions steadily diminished, the -spiritual pretensions of the Holy Father no less steadily increased. For -seven centuries the immaculate conception of the Virgin had been highly -problematical; Pio Nono spoke, and the doctrine became an article of -faith. A few years later, the Court of Rome took another step: a -Syllabus Errorum was issued, in which all the favourite beliefs of the -modern world--the rights of democracies, the claims of science, the -sanctity of free speech, the principles of toleration--were -categorically denounced, and their supporters abandoned to the Divine -wrath. - -Yet it was observed that the modern world proceeded as before. Something -more drastic appeared to be necessary--some bold and striking measure -which should concentrate the forces of the faithful, and confound their -enemies. The tremendous doctrine of Papal Infallibility, beloved of all -good Catholics, seemed to offer just the opening that was required. Let -that doctrine be proclaimed, with the assent of the whole Church, an -article of faith, and, in the face of such an affirmation, let the -modern world do its worst! Accordingly, a General Council--the first to -be held since the Council of Trent more than 300 years before--was -summoned to the Vatican, for the purpose, so it was announced, of -providing 'an adequate remedy to the disorders, intellectual and moral, -of Christendom'. The programme might seem a large one, even for a -General Council; but everyone knew what it meant. - -Everyone, however, was not quite of one mind. There were those to whom -even the mysteries of infallibility caused some searchings of heart. It -was true, no doubt, that Our Lord, by saying to Peter, 'Thou art Cephas, -which is by interpretation a stone', thereby endowed that Apostle with -the supreme and full primacy and principality over the Universal -Catholic Church; it was equally certain that Peter afterwards became the -Bishop of Rome; nor could it be doubted that the Roman Pontiff was his -successor. Thus it followed directly that the Roman Pontiff was the -head, heart, mind, and tongue of the Catholic Church; and moreover, it -was plain that when Our Lord prayed for Peter that his faith should not -fail, that prayer implied the doctrine of Papal Infallibility. All these -things were obvious, and yet--and yet--might not the formal declaration -of such truths in the year of his grace 1870 be, to say the least of it, -inopportune? Might it not come as an offence, as a scandal even, to -those unacquainted with the niceties of Catholic dogma? Such were the -uneasy reflections of grave and learned ecclesiastics and theologians in -England, France, and Germany. Newman was more than usually upset; -Monseigneur Dupanloup was disgusted; and Dr. Dollinger prepared himself -for resistance. It was clear that there would be a disaffected minority -at the Council. - -Catholic apologists have often argued that the Pope's claim to -infallibility implies no more than the necessary claim of every ruler, -of every government, to the right of supreme command. In England, for -instance, the Estates of the Realm exercise an absolute authority in -secular matters; no one questions this authority, no one suggests that -it is absurd or exorbitant; in other words, by general consent the -Estates of the Realm are, within their sphere, infallible. Why, -therefore, should the Pope, within his sphere--the sphere of the -Catholic Church--be denied a similar infallibility? If there is nothing -monstrous in an Act of Parliament laying down what all men shall do, why -should there be anything monstrous in a Papal Encyclical laying down -what all men shall believe? The argument is simple; in fact, it is too -simple; for it takes for granted the very question which is in dispute. -Is there indeed no radical and essential distinction between supremacy -and infallibility? Between the right of a Borough Council to regulate -the traffic and the right of the Vicar of Christ to decide upon the -qualifications for Everlasting Bliss? - -There is one distinction, at any rate, which is palpable: the decisions -of a supreme authority can be altered; those of an infallible authority -cannot. A Borough Council may change its traffic regulations at the next -meeting; but the Vicar of Christ, when in certain circumstances and with -certain precautions, he has once spoken, has expressed, for all the -ages, a part of the immutable, absolute, and eternal Truth. It is this -that makes the papal pretensions so extraordinary and so enormous. It is -also this that gives them their charm. Catholic apologists, when they -try to tone down those pretensions and to explain them away, forget that -it is in their very exorbitance that their fascination lies. If the Pope -were indeed nothing more than a magnified Borough Councillor, we should -hardly have heard so much of him. It is not because he satisfies the -reason, but because he astounds it, that men abase themselves before the -Vicar of Christ. - -And certainly the doctrine of Papal Infallibility presents to the reason -a sufficiency of stumbling-blocks. In the fourteenth century, for -instance, the following case arose. John XXII asserted in his bull 'Cum -inter nonnullos' that the doctrine of the poverty of Christ was -heretical. Now, according to the light of reason, one of two things must -follow from this--either John XXII was himself a heretic, or he was no -Pope. For his predecessor, Nicholas III, had asserted in his bull 'Exiit -qui seminat' that the doctrine of the poverty of Christ was the true -doctrine, the denial of which was heresy. Thus if John XXII was right, -Nicholas III was a heretic, and in that case Nicholas's nominations of -Cardinals were void, and the conclave which elected John was illegal--so -that John was no Pope, his nominations of Cardinals were void, and the -whole Papal succession vitiated. On the other hand, if John was -wrong--well, he was a heretic; and the same inconvenient results -followed. And, in either case, what becomes of Papal Infallibility? - -But such crude and fundamental questions as these were not likely to -trouble the Council. The discordant minority took another line. -Infallibility they admitted readily enough, the infallibility, that is -to say, of the Church; what they shrank from was the pronouncement that -this infallibility was concentrated in the Bishop of Rome. They would -not actually deny that, as a matter of fact, it was so concentrated; but -to declare that it was, to make the belief that it was an article of -faith--what could be more--it was their favourite expression--more -inopportune? In truth, the Gallican spirit still lingered among them. At -heart, they hated the autocracy of Rome--the domination of the -centralised Italian organisation over the whole vast body of the Church. -They secretly hankered, even at this late hour, after some form of -constitutional government, and they knew that the last faint vestige of -such a dream would vanish utterly with the declaration of the -infallibility of the Pope. It did not occur to them, apparently, that a -constitutional Catholicism might be a contradiction in terms, and that -the Catholic Church, without the absolute dominion of the Pope, might -resemble the play of Hamlet without the Prince of Denmark. - -Pius IX himself was troubled by doubts. 'Before I was Pope,' he -observed, 'I believed in Papal Infallibility, now I feel it.' As for -Manning, his certainty was no less complete than his master's. Apart -from the Holy Ghost, his appointment to the See of Westminster had been -due to Pio Nono's shrewd appreciation of the fact that he was the one -man in England upon whose fidelity the Roman Government could absolutely -rely. The voice which kept repeating 'Mettetelo li, mettetelo li' in his -Holiness's ear, whether or not it was inspired by God, was certainly -inspired by political sagacity. For now Manning was to show that he was -not unworthy of the trust which had been reposed in him. He flew to Rome -in a whirlwind of Papal enthusiasm. On the way, in Paris, he stopped for -a moment to interview those two great props of French respectability, M. -Guizot and M. Thiers. Both were careful not to commit themselves, but -both were exceedingly polite. 'I am awaiting your Council,' said M. -Guizot, 'with great anxiety. It is the last great moral power and may -restore the peace of Europe.' M. Thiers delivered a brief harangue in -favour of the principles of the Revolution, which, he declared, were the -very marrow of all Frenchmen; yet, he added, he had always supported the -Temporal Power of the Pope. 'Mais, M. Thiers,' said Manning, 'vous etes -effectivement croyant.' 'En Dieu,' replied M. Thiers. - -The Rome which Manning reached towards the close of 1869 was still the -Rome which, for so many centuries, had been the proud and visible apex, -the palpitating heart, the sacred sanctuary, of the most extraordinary -mingling of spiritual and earthly powers that the world has ever known. -The Pope now, it is true, ruled over little more than the City -itself--the Patrimony of St. Peter--and he ruled there less by the Grace -of God than by the goodwill of Napoleon III; yet he was still a -sovereign Prince, and Rome was still the capital of the Papal State; she -was not yet the capital of Italy. The last hour of this strange dominion -had almost struck. As if she knew that her doom was upon her, the -Eternal City arrayed herself to meet it in all her glory. - -The whole world seemed to be gathered together within her walls. Her -streets were filled with crowned heads and Princes of the Church, great -ladies and great theologians, artists and friars, diplomats and -newspaper reporters. Seven hundred bishops were there from all the -corners of Christendom, and in all the varieties of ecclesiastical -magnificence in falling lace and sweeping purple and flowing violet -veils. Zouaves stood in the colonnade of St Peter's, and Papal troops -were on the Quirinal. Cardinals passed, hatted and robed, in their -enormous carriage of state, like mysterious painted idols. Then there -was a sudden hush: the crowd grew thicker and expectation filled, the -air. Yes! it was he! He was coming! The Holy Father! But first there -appeared, mounted on a white mule and clothed in a magenta mantle, a -grave dignitary bearing aloft a silver cross. The golden coach followed, -drawn by six horses gorgeously caparisoned, and within, the smiling -white-haired Pio Nono, scattering his benedictions, while the multitude -fell upon its knees as one man. Such were the daily spectacles of -coloured pomp and of antique solemnity, which so long as the sun was -shining, at any rate--dazzled the onlooker into a happy forgetfulness of -the reverse side of the Papal dispensation--the nauseating filth of the -highways, the cattle stabled in the palaces of the great, and the fever -flitting through the ghastly tenements of the poor. - -In St. Peter's, the North Transept had been screened off; rows of wooden -seats had been erected covered with Brussels carpet; and upon these -seats sat each crowned with a white mitre, the 700 Bishops in Council. -Here all day long rolled forth, in sonorous Latin, the interminable -periods of episcopal oratory; but it was not here that the issue of the -Council was determined. The assembled Fathers might talk till the -marbles of St. Peter's themselves grew weary of the reverberations; the -fate of the Church was decided in a very different manner--by little -knots of influential persons meeting quietly of a morning in the back -room of some inconspicuous lodging-house, by a sunset rendezvous in the -Borghese Gardens between a Cardinal and a Diplomatist by a whispered -conference in an alcove at a Princess's evening party, with the gay -world chattering all about. And, of course, on such momentous occasions -as these, Manning was in his element. None knew those difficult ropes -better than he; none used them with a more serviceable and yet discreet -alacrity. In every juncture he had the right word, or the right silence; -his influence ramified in all directions, from the Pope's audience -chamber to the English Cabinet. 'Il Diavolo del Concilio' his enemies -called him; and he gloried in the name. - -The real crux of the position was less ecclesiastical than diplomatic. -The Papal Court, with its huge majority of Italian Bishops, could make -sure enough, when it came to the point, of carrying its wishes through -the Council; what was far more dubious was the attitude of the foreign -Governments--especially those of France and England. The French -Government dreaded a schism among its Catholic subjects; it disliked the -prospect of an extension of the influence of the Pope over the mass of -the population of France; and, since the very existence of the last -remnant of the Pope's Temporal Power depended upon the French army, it -was able to apply considerable pressure upon the Vatican. The interests -of England were less directly involved, but it happened that at this -moment Mr. Gladstone was Prime Minister, and Mr. Gladstone entertained -strong views upon the Infallibility of the Pope. His opinions upon the -subject were in part the outcome of his friendship with Lord Acton, a -historian to whom learning and judgment had not been granted in equal -proportions, and who, after years of incredible and indeed well-nigh -mythical research, had come to the conclusion that the Pope could err. -In this Mr. Gladstone entirely concurred, though he did not share the -rest of his friend's theological opinions; for Lord Acton, while -straining at the gnat of Infallibility, had swallowed the camel of the -Roman Catholic Faith. 'Que diable allait-il faire dans cette galere?' -one cannot help asking, as one watched that laborious and scrupulous -scholar, that lifelong enthusiast for liberty, that almost hysterical -reviler of priesthood and persecution, trailing his learning so -discrepantly along the dusty Roman way. But, there are some who know how -to wear their Rome with a difference; and Lord Acton was one of these. - -He was now engaged in fluttering like a moth round the Council and in -writing long letters to Mr. Gladstone, impressing upon him the gravity -of the situation, and urging him to bring his influence to bear. If the -Dogma were carried--he declared, no man who accepted it could remain a -loyal subject and Catholics would everywhere become 'irredeemable -enemies of civil and religious liberty'. In these circumstances, was it -not plainly incumbent upon the English Government, involved as it was -with the powerful Roman Catholic forces in Ireland, to intervene? Mr. -Gladstone allowed himself to become convinced, and Lord Acton began to -hope that his efforts would be successful. But, he had forgotten one -element in the situation; he had reckoned without the Archbishop of -Westminster. The sharp nose of Manning sniffed out the whole intrigue. -Though he despised Lord Acton almost as much as he disliked him--'such -men,' he said, 'are all vanity: they have the inflation of German -professors, and the ruthless talk of undergraduates'--yet he realised -clearly enough the danger of his correspondence with the Prime Minister, -and immediately took steps to counteract it. There was a semi-official -agent of the English Government in Rome, Mr. Odo Russell, and around him -Manning set to work to spin his spider's web of delicate and clinging -diplomacy. Preliminary politenesses were followed by long walks upon the -Pincio, and the gradual interchange of more and more important and -confidential communications. Soon poor Mr. Russell was little better -than a fly buzzing in gossamer. And Manning was careful to see that he -buzzed on the right note. In his dispatches to the Foreign Secretary, -Lord Clarendon, Mr. Russell explained in detail the true nature of the -Council, that it was merely a meeting of a few Roman Catholic prelates -to discuss some internal matters of Church discipline, that it had no -political significance whatever, that the question of Infallibility, -about which there had been so much random talk, was a purely theological -question, and that, whatever decision might be come to on the subject, -the position of Roman Catholics throughout the world would remain -unchanged. - -Whether the effect of these affirmations upon Lord Clarendon was as -great as Manning supposed is somewhat doubtful; but it is at any rate -certain that Mr. Gladstone failed to carry the Cabinet with him; and, -when at last a proposal was definitely made that the English Government -should invite the Powers of Europe to intervene at the Vatican, it was -rejected. Manning always believed that this was the direct result of Mr. -Russell's dispatches, which had acted as an antidote to the poison of -Lord Acton's letters, and thus carried the day. If that was so, the -discretion of biographers has not yet entirely lifted the veil from -these proceedings Manning had assuredly performed no small service for -his cause. Yet his modesty would not allow him to assume for himself a -credit which, after all, was due elsewhere; and when he told the story -of those days, he would add, with more than wonted seriousness, 'It was -by the Divine Will that the designs of His enemies were frustrated'. - -Meanwhile, in the North Transept of St. Peter's a certain amount of -preliminary business had been carried through. Various miscellaneous -points in Christian doctrine had been satisfactorily determined. Among -others, the following Canons were laid down by the Fathers: 'If anyone -does not accept for sacred and canonical the whole and every part of the -Books of Holy Scripture, or deny that they are divinely inspired, let -him be anathema.' 'If anyone says that miracles cannot be, and -therefore, the accounts of them, even those in Holy Scriptures must be -assigned a place among fables and myths, or that the divine origin of -the Christian religion cannot rightly be proved from them, let him be -anathema.' 'If anyone says that the doctrines of the Church can ever -receive a sense in accordance with the progress of science, other than -that sense which the Church has understood and still understands, let -him be anathema.' 'If anyone says that it is not possible, by the -natural light of human reason, to acquire a certain knowledge of the One -and True God, let him be anathema.' In other words, it became an article -of Faith that Faith was not necessary for a true knowledge of God. -Having disposed of these minor matters, the Fathers found themselves at -last approaching the great question of Infallibility. - -Two main issues, it soon appeared, were before them: the. Pope's -infallibility was admitted, ostensibly at least, by all; what remained -to be determined was: (1) whether the definition of the Pope's -Infallibility was opportune, and (2) what the definition of the Pope's -Infallibility was. - -(1) It soon became clear that the sense of the Council was -overwhelmingly in favour of a definition. The Inopportunists were a -small minority; they were outvoted, and they were obliged to give way. -It only remained, therefore, to come to a decision upon the second -question--what the definition should actually be. - -(2) It now became the object of the Inopportunists to limit the scope of -the definition as much as possible, while the Infallibilists were no -less eager to extend it. Now everyone, or nearly everyone, was ready to -limit the Papal Infallibility to pronouncements ex cathedra--that is to -say, to those made by the Pope in his capacity of Universal Doctor; but -this only served to raise the ulterior, the portentous, and indeed the -really crucial question--to WHICH of the Papal pronouncements ex -cathedra did Infallibility adhere? - -The discussions which followed were, naturally enough, numerous, -complicated, and embittered, and in all of them Manning played a -conspicuous part. For two months the Fathers deliberated; through fifty -sessions they sought the guidance of the Holy Ghost. The wooden seats, -covered though they were with Brussels carpet, grew harder and harder; -and still the mitred Councillors sat on. The Pope himself began to grow -impatient; for one thing, he declared, he was being ruined by the mere -expense of lodging and keeping the multitude of his adherents. 'Questi -infallibilisti mi faranno fallire', said his Holiness. At length it -appeared that the Inopportunists were dragging out the proceedings in -the hope of obtaining an indefinite postponement. Then the authorities -began to act; a bishop was shouted down, and the closure was brought -into operation. At this point the French Government, after long -hesitation, finally decided to intervene, and Cardinal Antonelli was -informed that if the Definition was proceeded with, the French troops -would be withdrawn from Rome. But the astute Cardinal judged that he -could safely ignore the threat. He saw that Napoleon III was tottering -to his fall and would never risk an open rupture with the Vatican. -Accordingly, it was determined to bring the proceedings to a close by a -final vote. Already the Inopportunists, seeing that the game was up, had -shaken the dust of Rome from their feet. On July 18th, 1870, the Council -met for the last time. As the first of the Fathers stepped forward to -declare his vote, a storm of thunder and lightning suddenly burst over -St. Peter's. All through the morning the voting continued, and every -vote was accompanied by a flash and a roar from heaven. Both sides, with -equal justice, claimed the portent as a manifestation of the Divine -Opinion. When the votes were examined, it was found that 533 were in -favour of the proposed definition and two against it. Next day, war was -declared between France and Germany, and a few weeks later the French -troops were withdrawn from Rome. Almost in the same moment, the -successor of St. Peter had lost his Temporal Power, and gained -Infallibility. - -What the Council had done was merely to assent to a definition of the -dogma of the Infallibility of the Roman Pontiff which Pius IX had -issued, proprio motu, a few days before. The definition itself was -perhaps somewhat less extreme than might have been expected. The Pope, -it declared, is possessed, when he speaks ex cathedra, of 'that -infallibility with which the Redeemer willed that His Church should be -endowed for defining doctrine regarding faith or morals'. Thus it became -a dogma of faith that a Papal definition regarding faith or morals is -infallible; but beyond that, both the Holy Father and the Council -maintained a judicious reserve. Over what OTHER matters besides faith -and morals the Papal infallibility might or might not extend still -remained in doubt. And there were further questions, no less serious, to -which no decisive answer was then, or ever has been since, provided. - -How was it to be determined, for instance, which particular Papal -decisions did in fact come within the scope of the definition? Who was -to decide what was or was not a matter of faith or morals? Or precisely -WHEN the Roman Pontiff was speaking ex cathedra? Was the famous Syllabus -Errorum, for example, issued ex cathedra or not? Grave theologians have -never been able to make up their minds. Yet to admit doubts in such -matters as these is surely dangerous. 'In duty to our supreme pastoral -office,' proclaimed the Sovereign Pontiff, 'by the bowels of Christ we -earnestly entreat all Christ's faithful people, and we also command them -by the authority of God and our Saviour, that they study and labour to -expel and eliminate errors and display the light of the purest faith.' -Well might the faithful study and labour to such ends! For, while the -offence remained ambiguous, there was no ambiguity about the penalty. -One hair's-breadth from the unknown path of truth, one shadow of -impurity in the mysterious light of faith, and there shall be anathema! -anathema! anathema! When the framers of such edicts called upon the -bowels of Christ to justify them, might they not have done well to have -paused a little, and to have called to mind the counsel of another -sovereign ruler, though a heretic--Oliver Cromwell? 'Bethink ye, bethink -ye, in the bowels of Christ, that ye may be mistaken!' - -One of the secondary results of the Council was the excommunication of -Dr. Dollinger, and a few more of the most uncompromising of the -Inopportunists. Among these, however, Lord Acton was not included. -Nobody ever discovered why. Was it because he was too important for the -Holy See to care to interfere with him? Or was it because he was not -important enough? - -Another ulterior consequence was the appearance of a pamphlet by Mr. -Gladstone, entitled 'Vaticanism', in which the awful implications -involved in the declaration of Infallibility were laid before the -British Public. How was it possible, Mr. Gladstone asked, with all the -fulminating accompaniments of his most agitated rhetoric, to depend -henceforward upon the civil allegiance of Roman Catholics? To this -question the words of Cardinal Antonelli to the Austrian Ambassador -might have seemed a sufficient reply. 'There is a great difference,' -said his Eminence, between theory and practice. No one will ever prevent -the Church from proclaiming the great principles upon which its Divine -fabric is based; but, as regards the application of those sacred laws, -the Church, imitating the example of its Divine Founder, is inclined to -take into consideration the natural weaknesses of mankind.' And, in any -case, it was hard to see how the system of Faith, which had enabled Pope -Gregory XIII to effect, by the hands of English Catholics, a whole -series of attempts to murder Queen Elizabeth, can have been rendered a -much more dangerous engine of disloyalty by the Definition of 1870. But -such considerations failed to reassure Mr. Gladstone; the British Public -was of a like mind; and 145,000 copies of the pamphlet were sold within -two months. Various replies appeared, and Manning was not behindhand. -His share in the controversy led to a curious personal encounter. - -His conversion had come as a great shock to Mr. Gladstone. Manning had -breathed no word of its approach to his old and intimate friend, and -when the news reached him, it seemed almost an act of personal injury. -'I felt,' Mr. Gladstone said, 'as if Manning had murdered my mother by -mistake.' For twelve years the two men did not meet, after which they -occasionally saw each other and renewed their correspondence. This was -the condition of affairs when Mr. Gladstone published his pamphlet. As -soon as it appeared, Manning wrote a letter to the New York Herald, -contradicting its conclusions and declaring that its publication was -'the first event that has overcast a friendship of forty-five years'. -Mr. Gladstone replied to this letter in a second pamphlet. At the close -of his theological arguments, he added the following passage: - -'I feel it necessary, in concluding this answer, to state that -Archbishop Manning has fallen into most serious inaccuracy in his letter -of November 10th, wherein he describes 'my Expostulation as the first -event which has overcast a friendship of forty-five years. I allude to -the subject with regret; and without entering into details.' - -Manning replied in a private letter: - -'My dear Gladstone,' he wrote, 'you say that I am in error in stating -that your former pamphlet is the first act which has overcast our -friendship. - -'If you refer to my act in 1851 in submitting to the Catholic Church, by -which we were separated for some twelve years, I can understand it. - -'If you refer to any other act either on your part or mine I am not -conscious of it, and would desire to know what it may be. - -'My act in 1851 may have overcast your friendship for me. It did not -overcast my friendship for you, as I think the last years have shown. - -'You will not, I hope, think me over-sensitive in asking for this -explanation. Believe me, yours affectionately, - -'H. E. M.' - -'My dear Archbishop Manning,' Mr. Gladstone answered, 'it did, I -confess, seem to me an astonishing error to state in public that a -friendship had not been overcast for forty-five years until now, which -your letter declares has been suspended as to all action for twelve ... - -'I wonder, too, at your forgetting that during the forty-five years I -had been charged by you with doing the work of the Antichrist in regard -to the Temporal Power of the Pope. - -'Our differences, my dear Archbishop, are indeed profound. We refer -them, I suppose, in humble silence to a Higher Power ... You assured me -once of your prayers at all and at the most solemn time. I received that -assurance with gratitude, and still cherish it. As and when they move -upwards, there is a meeting-point for those whom a chasm separates -below. I remain always, affectionately yours, - -'W. E. GLADSTONE.' - -Speaking of this correspondence in after years, Cardinal Manning said: -'From the way in which Mr. Gladstone alluded to the overcasting of our -friendship, people might have thought that I had picked his pocket.' - - -VIII - -IN 1875, Manning's labours received their final reward: he was made a -Cardinal. His long and strange career, with its high hopes, its bitter -disappointments, its struggles, its renunciations, had come at last to -fruition in a Princedom of the Church. - -'Ask in faith and in perfect confidence,' he himself once wrote, and God -will give us what we ask. You may say, "But do you mean that He will -give us the very thing?" That, God has not said. God has said that He -will give you whatsoever you ask; but the form in which it will come, -and the time in which He will give it, He keeps in His own power. -Sometimes our prayers are answered in the very things which we put from -us; sometimes it may be a chastisement, or a loss, or a visitation -against which our hearts rise, and we seem to see that God has not only -forgotten us, but has begun to deal with us in severity. Those very -things are the answers to our prayers. He knows what we desire, and He -gives us the things for which we ask; but in the form which His own -Divine Wisdom sees to be best.' - -There was one to whom Manning's elevation would no doubt have given a -peculiar satisfaction--his old friend Monsignor Talbot. But this was not -to be. That industrious worker in the cause of Rome had been removed -some years previously to a sequestered home at Passy, whose padded walls -were impervious to the rumours of the outer world. Pius IX had been much -afflicted by this unfortunate event; he had not been able to resign -himself to the loss of his secretary, and he had given orders that -Monsignor Talbot's apartment in the Vatican should be preserved -precisely as he had left it, in case of his return. But Monsignor Talbot -never returned. Manning's feelings upon the subject appear to have been -less tender than the Pope's. In all his letters, in all his papers, in -all his biographical memoranda, not a word of allusion is to be found to -the misfortune, nor to the death, of the most loyal of his adherents. -Monsignor Talbot's name disappears suddenly and for ever--like a stone -cast into the waters. - -Manning was now an old man, and his outward form had assumed that -appearance of austere asceticism which is, perhaps, the one thing -immediately suggested by his name to the ordinary Englishman. The spare -and stately form, the head--massive, emaciated, terrible--with the great -nose, the glittering eyes, and the mouth drawn back and compressed into -the grim rigidities of age, self-mortification, and authority--such is -the vision that still lingers in the public mind--the vision which, -actual and palpable like some embodied memory of the Middle Ages, used -to pass and repass, less than a generation since, through the streets of -London. For the activities of this extraordinary figure were great and -varied. He ruled his diocese with the despotic zeal of a born -administrator. He threw himself into social work of every kind; he -organised charities, he lectured on temperance; he delivered innumerable -sermons; he produced an unending series of devotional books. And he -brooked no brother near the throne: Newman languished in Birmingham; and -even the Jesuits trembled and obeyed. - -Nor was it only among his own community that his energy and his -experience found scope. He gradually came to play an important part in -public affairs, upon questions of labour, poverty, and education. He sat -on Royal Commissions and corresponded with Cabinet Ministers. At last, -no philanthropic meeting at the Guildhall was considered complete -without the presence of Cardinal Manning. A special degree of precedence -was accorded to him. Though the rank of a Cardinal-Archbishop is -officially unknown in England, his name appeared in public documents--as -a token, it must be supposed, of personal consideration--above the names -of peers and bishops, and immediately below that of the Prince of Wales. - -In his private life he was secluded. The ambiguities of his social -position, and his desire to maintain intact the peculiar eminence of his -office, combined to hold him aloof from the ordinary gatherings of -society, though on the rare occasions of his appearance among -fashionable and exalted persons, he carried all before him. His -favourite haunt was the Athenaeum Club, where he sat scanning the -newspapers, or conversing with the old friends of former days. He was a -member, too, of that distinguished body, the Metaphysical Society, which -met once a month during the palmy years of the seventies to discuss, in -strict privacy, the fundamental problems of the destiny of man. - -After a comfortable dinner at the Grosvenor Hotel, the Society, which -included Professor Huxley and Professor Tyndall, Mr. John Morley and Sir -James Stephen, the Duke of Argyll, Lord Tennyson, and Dean Church, would -gather around to hear and discuss a paper read by one of the members -upon such questions as: 'What is death?' 'Is God unknowable?' or 'The -nature of the Moral Principle'. Sometimes, however, the speculations of -the Society ranged in other directions. - -'I think the paper that interested me most of all that were ever read at -our meetings,' says Sir Mountstuart Elphinstone Grant-Duff, 'was one on -"Wherein consists the special beauty of imperfection and decay?" in -which were propounded the questions "Are not ruins recognised and felt -to be more beautiful than perfect structures? Why are they so? Ought -they to be so?' - -'Unfortunately, however, the answers given to these questions by the -Metaphysical Society have not been recorded for the instruction of -mankind. - -Manning read several papers, and Professor Huxley and Mr. John Morley -listened with attention while he expressed his views upon 'The Soul -before and after Death', or explained why it is 'That legitimate -Authority is an Evidence of Truth'. Yet, somehow or other, his Eminence -never felt quite at ease in these assemblies; he was more at home with -audiences of a different kind; and we must look in other directions for -the free and full manifestation of his speculative gifts. - -In a series of lectures, for instance, delivered in 1861--it was the -first year of the unification of Italy--upon 'The Present Crisis of the -Holy See, tested by prophecy', we catch some glimpses of the kind of -problems which were truly congenial to his mind. - -'In the following pages,' he said, 'I have endeavoured, but for so great -a subject most insufficiently, to show that what is passing in our times -is the prelude of the antichristian period of the final dethronement of -Christendom, and of the restoration of society without God in the -world.' 'My intention is,' he continued, 'to examine the present -relation of the Church to the civil powers of the world by the light of -a prophecy recorded by St Paul.' - -This prophecy (2 Thess. ii 3 to 11) is concerned with the coming of the -Antichrist, and the greater part of the lectures is devoted to a minute -examination of this subject. There is no passage in Scripture, Manning -pointed out, relating to the coming of Christ more explicit and express -than those foretelling Antichrist; it therefore behoved the faithful to -consider the matter more fully than they are wont to do. In the first -place, Antichrist is a person. 'To deny the personality of Antichrist is -to deny the plain testimony of Holy Scripture.' And we must remember -that 'it is a law of Holy Scripture that when persons are prophesied of, -persons appear'. - -Again, there was every reason to believe that Antichrist, when he did -appear, would turn out to be a Jew. - -'Such was the opinion of St. Irenaeus, St. Jerome, and of the author of -the work De Consummatione Mundi, ascribed to St. Hippolytus, and of a -writer of a Commentary on the Epistle to the Thessalonians, ascribed to -St. Ambrose, of many others, who said that he will be of the tribe of -Dan: as, for instance, St. Gregory the Great, Theodoret, Aretas of -Caesarea, and many more. Such also is the opinion of Bellarmine, who -calls it certain. Lessius affirms that the Fathers, with unanimous -consent, teach as undoubted that Antichrist will be a Jew. Ribera -repeats the same opinion, and adds that Aretas, St. Bede, Haymo, St. -Anselm, and Rupert affirm that for this reason the tribe of Dan is not -numbered among those who are sealed in the Apocalypse ... Now, I think -no one can consider the dispersion and providential preservation of the -Jews among all the nations of the world and the indestructible vitality -of their race without believing that they are reserved for some future -action of His judgment and Grace. And this is foretold again and again -in the New Testament.' - -'Our Lord,' continued Manning, widening the sweep of his speculations, -'has said of these latter times: "There shall arise false Christs and -false prophets, insomuch as to deceive even the elect"; that is, they -shall not be deceived; but those who have lost faith in the Incarnation, -such as humanitarians, rationalists, and pantheists, may well be -deceived by any person of great political power and success, who should -restore the Jews to their own land, and people Jerusalem once more with -the sons of the Patriarchs. And, there is nothing in the political -aspect of the world which renders such a combination impossible; indeed, -the state of Syria, and the tide of European diplomacy, which 'is -continually moving eastward, render such an event within a reasonable -probability.' - -Then Manning threw out a bold suggestion. 'A successful medium,' he -said, 'might well pass himself off by his preternatural endowments as -the promised Messiahs.' - -Manning went on to discuss the course of events which would lead to the -final catastrophe. But this subject, he confessed, - -'deals with agencies so transcendent and mysterious, that all I shall -venture to do will be to sketch in outline what the broad and luminous -prophecies, especially of the Book of Daniel and the Apocalypse, set -forth without attempting to enter into minute details, which can only be -interpreted by the event'. - -While applauding his modesty, we need follow Manning no further in his -commentary upon those broad and luminous works; except to observe that -'the apostasy of the City of Rome from the Vicar of Christ and its -destruction by the Antichrist' was, in his opinion, certain. Nor was he -without authority for this belief. For it was held by 'Malvenda, who -writes expressly on the subject', and who, besides, 'states as the -opinion of Ribera, Gaspar Melus, Viegas, Suarez, Bellarmine, and Bosius -that Rome shall apostatise from the faith'. - - -IX - -THE death of Pius IX brought to Manning a last flattering testimony of -the confidence with which he was regarded at the Court of Rome. In one -of the private consultations preceding the Conclave, a Cardinal -suggested that Manning should succeed to the Papacy. He replied that he -was unfit for the position, because it was essential for the interests -of the Holy See that the next Pope should be an Italian. The suggestion -was pressed, but Manning held firm. Thus it happened that the Triple -Tiara seemed to come, for a moment, within the grasp of the late -Archdeacon of Chichester; and the cautious hand refrained. - -Leo XIII was elected, and there was a great change in the policy of the -Vatican. Liberalism became the order of the day. And now at last the -opportunity seemed ripe for an act which, in the opinion of the majority -of English Catholics, had long been due--the bestowal of some mark of -recognition from the Holy See upon the labours and the sanctity of -Father Newman. It was felt that a Cardinal's hat was the one fitting -reward for such a life, and accordingly the Duke of Norfolk, -representing the Catholic laity of England, visited Manning, and -suggested that he should forward the proposal to the Vatican. Manning -agreed, and then there followed a curious series of incidents--the last -encounter in the jarring lives of those two men. A letter was drawn up -by Manning for the eye of the Pope, embodying the Duke of Norfolk's -proposal; but there was an unaccountable delay in the transmission of -this letter; months passed, and it had not reached the Holy Father. The -whole matter would, perhaps, have dropped out of sight and been -forgotten, in a way which had become customary when honours for Newman -were concerned, had not the Duke of Norfolk himself, when he was next in -Rome, ventured to recommend to Leo XIII that Dr. Newman should be made a -Cardinal. His Holiness welcomed the proposal; but, he said, he could do -nothing until he knew the views of Cardinal Manning. Thereupon, the Duke -of Norfolk wrote to Manning, explaining what had occurred; shortly -afterwards, Manning's letter of recommendation, after a delay of six -months, reached the Pope, and the offer of a Cardinalate was immediately -dispatched to Newman. - -But the affair was not yet over. The offer had been made; would it be -accepted? There was one difficulty in the way. Newman was now an infirm -old man of seventy-eight; and it is a rule that all Cardinals who are -not also diocesan Bishops or Archbishops reside, as a matter of course, -at Rome. The change would have been impossible for one of his years--for -one, too, whose whole life was now bound up with the Oratory at -Birmingham. But, of course, there was nothing to prevent His Holiness -from making an exception in Newman's case, and allowing him to end his -days in England. Yet how was Newman himself to suggest this? The offer -of the Hat had come to him as an almost miraculous token of renewed -confidence, of ultimate reconciliation. The old, long, bitter -estrangement was ended at last. 'The cloud is lifted from me for ever!' -he exclaimed when the news reached him. It would be melancholy indeed if -the cup were now to be once more dashed from his lips and he was obliged -to refuse the signal honour. In his perplexity he went to the Bishop of -Birmingham and explained the whole situation. The Bishop assured him -that all would be well; that he himself would communicate with the -authorities, and put the facts of the case before them. Accordingly, -while Newman wrote formally refusing the Hat, on the ground of his -unwillingness to leave the Oratory, the Bishop wrote two letters to -Manning, one official and one private, in which the following passages -occurred: - -'Dr. Newman has far too humble and delicate a mind to dream of thinking -or saying anything which would look like hinting at any kind of terms -with the Sovereign Pontiff.... I think, however, that I ought to express -my own sense of what Dr. Newman's dispositions are, and that it will be -expected of me ... I am thoroughly confident that nothing stands in the -way of his most grateful acceptance, except what he tells me greatly -distresses him--namely, the having to leave the Oratory at a critical -period of its existence, and the impossibility of his beginning a new -life at his advanced age.' - -And in his private letter the Bishop said: - -'Dr. Newman is very much aged, and softened with age and the trials he -has had, especially the loss of his two brethren, St. John and Caswall; -he can never refer to these losses without weeping and becoming -speechless for a time. He is very much affected by the Pope's kindness -and would, I know, like to receive the great honour offered him, but -feels the whole difficulty at his age of changing his life or having to -leave the Oratory--which I am sure he could not do. If the Holy Father -thinks well to confer on him the dignity, leaving him where he is, I -know how immensely he would be gratified, and you will know how -generally the conferring on him the Cardinalate will be applauded.' - -These two letters, together with Newman's refusal, reached Manning as he -was on the point of starting for Rome. After he had left England, the -following statement appeared in "The Times": - -'Pope Leo XIII has intimated his desire to raise Dr. Newman to the rank -of Cardinal, but with expressions of deep respect for the Holy See, Dr. -Newman has excused himself from accepting the Purple.' - -When Newman's eyes fell upon the announcement, he realised at once that -a secret and powerful force was working against him. He trembled, as he -had so often trembled before; and certainly the danger was not -imaginary. In the ordinary course of things, how could such a paragraph -have been inserted without his authority? And consequently, did it not -convey to the world, not only an absolute refusal which he had never -intended, but a wish on his part to emphasise publicly his rejection of -the proffered honour? Did it not imply that he had lightly declined a -proposal for which in reality he was deeply thankful? And when the fatal -paragraph was read in Rome, might it not actually lead to the offer of -the Cardinalate being finally withheld? - -In great agitation, Newman appealed to the Duke of Norfolk. - -'As to the statement,' he wrote, 'of my refusing a Cardinal's Hat, which -is in the papers, you must not believe it, for this reason: - -'Of course, it implies that an offer has been made me, and I have sent -an answer to it. Now I have ever understood that it is a point of -propriety and honour to consider such communications sacred. This -statement, therefore, cannot come from me. Nor could it come from Rome, -for it was made public before my answer got to Rome. - -'It could only come, then, from someone who not only read my letter, -but, instead of leaving to the Pope to interpret it, took upon himself -to put an interpretation upon it, and published that interpretation to -the world. - -'A private letter, addressed to Roman Authorities, is interpreted on its -way and published in the English papers. How is it possible that anyone -can have done this?' - -The crushing indictment pointed straight at Manning. And it was true. -Manning had done the impossible deed. Knowing what he did, with the -Bishop of Birmingham's two letters in his pocket, he had put it about -that Newman had refused the Hat. But a change had come over the spirit -of the Holy See. Things were not as they had once been: Monsignor Talbot -was at Passy, and Pio Nono was--where? The Duke of Norfolk intervened -once again; Manning was profuse in his apologies for having -misunderstood Newman's intentions, and hurried to the Pope to rectify -the error. Without hesitation, the Sovereign Pontiff relaxed the rule of -Roman residence, and Newman became a Cardinal. - -He lived to enjoy his glory for more than ten years. Since he rarely -left the Oratory, and since Manning never visited Birmingham, the two -Cardinals met only once or twice. After one of these occasions, on -returning to the Oratory, Cardinal Newman said, 'What do you think -Cardinal Manning did to me? He kissed me!' - -On Newman's death, Manning delivered a funeral oration, which opened -thus: - -'We have lost our greatest witness for the Faith, and we are all poorer -and lower by the loss. - -'When these tidings came to me, my first thought was this, in what way -can I, once more, show my love and veneration for my brother and friend -of more than sixty years?' - -In private, however, the surviving Cardinal's tone was apt to be more -... direct. 'Poor Newman!' he once exclaimed in a moment of genial -expansion. 'Poor Newman! He was a great hater!' - - -X - -IN that gaunt and gloomy building--more like a barracks than an -Episcopal palace--Archbishop's House, Westminster, Manning's existence -stretched itself out into an extreme old age. As his years increased, -his activities, if that were possible, increased too. Meetings, -missions, lectures, sermons, articles, interviews, letters--such things -came upon him in redoubled multitudes, and were dispatched with an -unrelenting zeal. But this was not all; with age, he seemed to acquire -what was almost a new fervour, an unaccustomed, unexpected, freeing of -the spirit, filling him with preoccupations which he had hardly felt -before. 'They say I am ambitious,' he noted in his Diary, 'but do I rest -in my ambition?' - -No, assuredly he did not rest; but he worked now with no arriere pensee -for the greater glory of God. A kind of frenzy fell upon him. Poverty, -drunkenness, vice, all the horrors and terrors of our civilisation -seized upon his mind, and urged him forward to new fields of action and -new fields of thought. The temper of his soul assumed almost a -revolutionary cast. 'I am a Mosaic Radical,' he exclaimed; and, indeed, -in the exaltation of his energies, the incoherence of his conceptions, -the democratic urgency of his desires, combined with his awe-inspiring -aspect and his venerable age, it was easy enough to trace the mingled -qualities of the patriarch, the prophet, and the demagogue. As, in his -soiled and shabby garments, the old man harangued the crowds of -Bermondsey or Peckham upon the virtues of Temperance, assuring them, -with all the passion of conviction, as a final argument, that the -majority of the Apostles were total abstainers, this Prince of the -Church might have passed as a leader of the Salvation Army. His -popularity was immense, reaching its height during the great Dock -Strikes of 1889, when, after the victory of the men was assured, Manning -was able, by his persuasive eloquence and the weight of his character, -to prevent its being carried to excess. After other conciliators--among -whom was the Bishop of London--had given up the task in disgust, the -octogenarian Cardinal worked on with indefatigable resolution. At last, -late at night, in the schools in Kirby Street, Bermondsey, he rose to -address the strikers. An enthusiastic eye-witness has described the -scene: - -'Unaccustomed tears glistened in the eyes of his rough and work-stained -hearers as the Cardinal raised his hand and solemnly urged them not to -prolong one moment more than they could help the perilous uncertainty -and the sufferings of their wives and children. Just above his uplifted -hand was a figure of the Madonna and Child; and some among the men tell -how a sudden light seemed to swim around it as the speaker pleaded for -the women and children. When he sat down all in the room knew that he -had won the day, and that, so far as the Strike Committee was concerned, -the matter was at an end.' - -In those days, there were strange visitors at the Archbishop's House. -Careful priests and conscientious secretaries wondered what the world -was coming to when they saw labour leaders like Mr. John Burns and Mr. -Ben Tillett, and land-reformers like Mr. Henry George, being ushered -into the presence of his Eminence. Even the notorious Mr. Stead -appeared, and his scandalous paper with its unspeakable revelations lay -upon the Cardinal's table. This proved too much for one of the faithful -tonsured dependents of the place, and he ventured to expostulate with -his master. But he never did so again. - -When the guests were gone, and the great room was empty, the old man -would draw himself nearer to the enormous fire, and review once more, -for the thousandth time, the long adventure of his life. He would bring -out his diaries and his memoranda, he would rearrange his notes, he -would turn over again the yellow leaves of faded correspondences; -seizing his pen, he would pour out his comments and reflections, and -fill, with an extraordinary solicitude, page after page with -elucidations, explanations, justifications, of the vanished incidents of -a remote past. He would snip with scissors the pages of ancient -journals, and with delicate ecclesiastical fingers, drop unknown -mysteries into the flames. - -Sometimes he would turn to the four red folio scrapbooks with their -collection of newspaper cuttings, concerning himself, over a period of -thirty years. Then the pale cheeks would flush and the close-drawn lips -would grow even more menacing than before. 'Stupid, mulish malice,' he -would note. 'Pure lying--conscious, deliberate and designed.' -'Suggestive lying. Personal animosity is at the bottom of this.' - -And then he would suddenly begin to doubt. After all, where was he? What -had he accomplished? Had any of it been worthwhile? Had he not been out -of the world all his life! Out of the world! - -'Croker's "Life and Letters", and Hayward's "Letters",' he notes, 'are -so full of politics, literature, action, events, collision of mind with -mind, and that with such a multitude of men in every state of life, that -when I look back, it seems as if I had been simply useless.' - -And again, 'The complete isolation and exclusion from the official life -of England in which I have lived, makes me feel as if I had done -nothing'. He struggled to console himself with the reflexion that all -this was only 'the natural order'. 'If the natural order is moved by the -supernatural order, then I may not have done nothing. Fifty years of -witness for God and His Truth, I hope, has not been in vain.' But the -same thoughts recurred. 'In reading Macaulay's life I had a haunting -feeling that his had been a life of public utility and mine a vita -umbratilis, a life in the shade.' Ah! it was God's will. 'Mine has been -a life of fifty years out of the world as Gladstone's has been in it. -The work of his life in this world is manifest. I hope mine may be in -the next. I suppose our Lord called me out of the world because He saw -that I should lose my soul in it.' Clearly, that was the explanation. - -And yet he remained sufficiently in the world to discharge with absolute -efficiency the complex government of his diocese almost up to the last -moment of his existence. Though his bodily strength gradually ebbed, the -vigour of his mind was undismayed. At last, supported by cushions, he -continued, by means of a dictated correspondence, to exert his -accustomed rule. Only occasionally would he lay aside his work to plunge -into the yet more necessary duties of devotion. Never again would he -preach; never again would he put into practice those three salutary -rules of his in choosing a subject for a sermon: '(1) asking God to -guide the choice; (2) applying the matter to myself; (3) making the sign -of the cross on my head and heart and lips in honour of the Sacred -Mouth;' but he could still pray; he could turn especially to the Holy -Ghost. - -'A very simple but devout person,' he wrote in one of his latest -memoranda, 'asked me why in my first volume of sermons I said so little -about the Holy Ghost. I was not aware of it; but I found it to be true. -I at once resolved that I would make a reparation every day of my life -to the Holy Ghost. This I have never failed to do to this day. To this I -owe the light and faith which brought me into the truefold. I bought all -the books I could about the Holy Ghost. I worked out the truths about -His personality, His presence, and His office. This made me understand -the last paragraph in the Apostles' Creed, and made me a Catholic -Christian.' - -So, though Death came slowly, struggling step by step with that bold and -tenacious spirit, when he did come at last the Cardinal was ready. Robed -in his archiepiscopal vestments, his rochet, his girdle, and his -mozzetta, with the scarlet biretta on his head, and the pectoral cross -upon his breast, he made his solemn Profession of Faith in the Holy -Roman Church. A crowd of lesser dignitaries, each in the garments of his -office, attended the ceremonial. The Bishop of Salford held up the -Pontificale and the Bishop of Amycla bore the wax taper. The provost of -Westminster, on his knees, read aloud the Profession of Faith, -surrounded by the Canons of the Diocese. Towards those who gathered -about him, the dying man was still able to show some signs of -recognition, and even, perhaps, of affection; yet it seemed that his -chief preoccupation, up to the very end, was with his obedience to the -rules prescribed by the Divine Authority. 'I am glad to have been able -to do everything in due order', were among his last words. 'Si fort -qu'on soit,' says one of the profoundest of the observers of the human -heart, 'on peut eprouver le besoin de s'incliner devant quelqu'un ou -quelque chose. S'incliner devant Dieu, c'est toujours le moins -humiliant.' - -Manning died on January 14th, 1892, in the eighty-fifth year of his age. -A few days later Mr. Gladstone took occasion, in a letter to a friend, -to refer to his relations with the late Cardinal. Manning's conversion -was, he said, - -'altogether the severest blow that ever befell me. In a late letter the -Cardinal termed it a quarrel, but in my reply I told him it was not a -quarrel, but a death; and that was the truth. Since then there have been -vicissitudes. But I am quite certain that to the last his personal -feelings never changed; and I believe also that he kept a promise made -in 1851, to remember me before God at the most solemn moments; a promise -which I greatly valued. The whole subject is to me at once of extreme -interest and of considerable restraint.' - -'His reluctance to die,' concluded Mr. Gladstone, 'may be explained by -an intense anxiety to complete unfulfilled service.' - -The funeral was the occasion of a popular demonstration such as has -rarely been witnessed in the streets of London. The route of the -procession was lined by vast crowds of working people, whose -imaginations, in some instinctive manner, had been touched. Many who had -hardly seen him declared that in Cardinal Manning they had lost their -best friend. Was it the magnetic vigour of the dead man's spirit that -moved them? Or was it his valiant disregard of common custom and those -conventional reserves and poor punctilios which are wont to hem about -the great? Or was it something untameable in his glances and in his -gestures? Or was it, perhaps, the mysterious glamour lingering about -him, of the antique organisation of Rome? For whatever cause, the mind -of the people had been impressed; and yet, after all, the impression was -more acute than lasting. The Cardinal's memory is a dim thing today. And -he who descends into the crypt of that Cathedral which Manning never -lived to see, will observe, in the quiet niche with the sepulchral -monument, that the dust lies thick on the strange, the incongruous, the -almost impossible object which, with its elaborations of dependent -tassels, hangs down from the dim vault like some forlorn and forgotten -trophy--the Hat. - - BIBLIOGRAPHY - - E. S. Purcell. Life of Cardinal Manning. - A. W. Hutton. Cardinal Manning. - J. E. C. Bodley. Cardinal Manning and Other Essays. - F. W. Cornish. The English Church in the Nineteenth Century. - Dean Church. The Oxford Movement. - Sir J. T. Coleridge. Memoir of the Rev. John Keble. - Hurrell Froude. Remains. - Cardinal Newman. Letters and Correspondence in the English - Church. - Apologia pro Vita Sua. - Wilfrid Ward. Life of Cardinal Newman. W. G. Ward and the Oxford - Movement. W. G. Ward and the Catholic Revival. Life of Cardinal - Wiseman. - H. P. Liddon. Life of E. B. Pusey. - Tracts for the Times, by Members of the University of Oxford. - Lord Morley. Life of Gladstone. - Lives of the Saints, edited by J. H. Newman. - Herbert Paul. Life of J.A. Froude. - Mark Pattison. Autobiography. - T. Mozley. Letters from Rome on the Occasion of the Oecumenical - Council. - Lord Acton. Letters. - H. L. Smith and V. Nash. The Story of the Dockers' Strike. - - - - -Florence Nightingale - - -EVERY one knows the popular conception of Florence Nightingale. The -saintly, self-sacrificing woman, the delicate maiden of high degree who -threw aside the pleasures of a life of ease to succour the afflicted; -the Lady with the Lamp, gliding through the horrors of the hospital at -Scutari, and consecrating with the radiance of her goodness the dying -soldier's couch. The vision is familiar to all--but the truth was -different. The Miss Nightingale of fact was not as facile as fancy -painted her. She worked in another fashion and towards another end; she -moved under the stress of an impetus which finds no place in the popular -imagination. A Demon possessed her. Now demons, whatever else they may -be, are full of interest. And so it happens that in the real Miss -Nightingale there was more that was interesting than in the legendary -one; there was also less that was agreeable. - -Her family was extremely well-to-do, and connected by marriage with a -spreading circle of other well-to-do families. There was a large country -house in Derbyshire; there was another in the New Forest; there were -Mayfair rooms for the London season and all its finest parties; there -were tours on the Continent with even more than the usual number of -Italian operas and of glimpses at the celebrities of Paris. Brought up -among such advantages, it was only natural to suppose that Florence -would show a proper appreciation of them by doing her duty in that state -of life unto which it had pleased God to call her--in other words, by -marrying, after a fitting number of dances and dinner-parties, an -eligible gentleman, and living happily ever afterwards. Her sister, her -cousins, all the young ladies of her acquaintance, were either getting -ready to do this or had already done it. - -It was inconceivable that Florence should dream of anything else; yet -dream she did. Ah! To do her duty in that state of life unto which it -had pleased God to call her! Assuredly, she would not be behindhand in -doing her duty; but unto what state of life HAD it pleased God to call -her? That was the question. God's calls are many, and they are strange. -Unto what state of life had it pleased Him to call Charlotte Corday, or -Elizabeth of Hungary? What was that secret voice in her ear, if it was -not a call? Why had she felt, from her earliest years, those mysterious -promptings towards ... she hardly knew what, but certainly towards -something very different from anything around her? Why, as a child in -the nursery, when her sister had shown a healthy pleasure in tearing her -dolls to pieces, had SHE shown an almost morbid one in sewing them up -again? Why was she driven now to minister to the poor in their cottages, -to watch by sick-beds, to put her dog's wounded paw into elaborate -splints as if it was a human being? Why was her head filled with queer -imaginations of the country house at Embley turned, by some enchantment, -into a hospital, with herself as matron moving about among the beds? Why -was even her vision of heaven itself filled with suffering patients to -whom she was being useful? So she dreamed and wondered, and, taking out -her diary, she poured into it the agitations of her soul. And then the -bell rang, and it was time to go and dress for dinner. - -As the years passed, a restlessness began to grow upon her. She was -unhappy, and at last she knew it. Mrs. Nightingale, too, began to notice -that there was something wrong. It was very odd--what could be the -matter with dear Flo? Mr. Nightingale suggested that a husband might be -advisable; but the curious thing was that she seemed to take no interest -in husbands. And with her attractions, and her accomplishments, too! -There was nothing in the world to prevent her making a really brilliant -match. But no! She would think of nothing but how to satisfy that -singular craving of hers to be DOING something. As if there was not -plenty to do in any case, in the ordinary way, at home. There was the -china to look after, and there was her father to be read to after -dinner. Mrs. Nightingale could not understand it; and then one day her -perplexity was changed to consternation and alarm. Florence announced an -extreme desire to go to Salisbury Hospital for several months as a -nurse; and she confessed to some visionary plan of eventually setting up -in a house of her own in a neighbouring village, and there founding -'something like a Protestant Sisterhood, without vows, for women of -educated feelings'. The whole scheme was summarily brushed aside as -preposterous; and Mrs. Nightingale, after the first shock of terror, was -able to settle down again more or less comfortably to her embroidery. -But Florence, who was now twenty-five and felt that the dream of her -life had been shattered, came near to desperation. - -And, indeed, the difficulties in her path were great. For not only was -it an almost unimaginable thing in those days for a woman of means to -make her own way in the world and to live in independence, but the -particular profession for which Florence was clearly marked out both by -her instincts and her capacities was at that time a peculiarly -disreputable one. A 'nurse' meant then a coarse old woman, always -ignorant, usually dirty, often brutal, a Mrs. Gamp, in bunched-up sordid -garments, tippling at the brandy bottle or indulging in worse -irregularities. The nurses in the hospitals were especially notorious -for immoral conduct; sobriety was almost unknown among them; and they -could hardly be trusted to carry out the simplest medical duties. - -Certainly, things HAVE changed since those days; and that they have -changed is due, far more than to any other human being, to Miss -Nightingale herself. It is not to be wondered at that her parents should -have shuddered at the notion of their daughter devoting her life to such -an occupation. 'It was as if,' she herself said afterwards, 'I had -wanted to be a kitchen-maid.' Yet the want, absurd and impracticable as -it was, not only remained fixed immovably in her heart, but grew in -intensity day by day. Her wretchedness deepened into a morbid -melancholy. Everything about her was vile, and she herself, it was -clear, to have deserved such misery, was even viler than her -surroundings. Yes, she had sinned--'standing before God's judgment -seat'. 'No one,' she declared, 'has so grieved the Holy Spirit'; of that -she was quite certain. It was in vain that she prayed to be delivered -from vanity and hypocrisy, and she could not bear to smile or to be gay, -'because she hated God to hear her laugh, as if she had not repented of -her sin'. - -A weaker spirit would have been overwhelmed by the load of such -distresses--would have yielded or snapped. But this extraordinary young -woman held firm, and fought her way to victory. With an amazing -persistency, during the eight years that followed her rebuff over -Salisbury Hospital, she struggled and worked and planned. While -superficially she was carrying on the life of a brilliant girl in high -society, while internally she was a prey to the tortures of regret and -of remorse, she yet possessed the energy to collect the knowledge and to -undergo the experience which alone could enable her to do what she had -determined she would do in the end. In secret she devoured the reports -of medical commissions, the pamphlets of sanitary authorities, the -histories of hospitals and homes. She spent the intervals of the London -season in ragged schools and workhouses. When she went abroad with her -family, she used her spare time so well that there was hardly a great -hospital in Europe with which she was not acquainted; hardly a great -city whose slums she had not passed through. She managed to spend some -days in a convent school in Rome, and some weeks as a 'Soeur de Charite' -in Paris. Then, while her mother and sister were taking the waters at -Carlsbad, she succeeded in slipping off to a nursing institution at -Kaiserswerth, where she remained for more than three months. This was -the critical event of her life. The experience which she gained as a -nurse at Kaiserswerth formed the foundation of all her future action and -finally fixed her in her career. - -But one other trial awaited her. The allurements of the world she had -brushed aside with disdain and loathing; she had resisted the subtler -temptation which, in her weariness, had sometimes come upon her, of -devoting her baffled energies to art or literature; the last ordeal -appeared in the shape of a desirable young man. Hitherto, her lovers had -been nothing to her but an added burden and a mockery; but now--for a -moment--she wavered. A new feeling swept over her--a feeling which she -had never known before--which she was never to know again. The most -powerful and the profoundest of all the instincts of humanity laid claim -upon her. But it rose before her, that instinct, arrayed--how could it -be otherwise?--in the inevitable habiliments of a Victorian marriage; -and she had the strength to stamp it underfoot. - -'I have an intellectual nature which requires satisfaction,' she noted, -'and that would find it in him. I have a passionate nature which -requires satisfaction, and that would find it in him. I have a moral, an -active nature which requires satisfaction, and that would not find it in -his life. Sometimes I think that I will satisfy my passionate nature at -all events....' - -But no, she knew in her heart that it could not be. 'To be nailed to a -continuation and exaggeration of my present life ... to put it out of my -power ever to be able to seize the chance of forming for myself a true -and rich life'--that would be a suicide. She made her choice, and -refused what was at least a certain happiness for a visionary good which -might never come to her at all. And so she returned to her old life of -waiting and bitterness. - -'The thoughts and feelings that I have now,' she wrote, 'I can remember -since I was six years old. A profession, a trade, a necessary -occupation, something to fill and employ all my faculties, I have always -felt essential to me, I have always longed for. The first thought I can -remember, and the last, was nursing work; and in the absence of this, -education work, but more the education of the bad than of the young ... -Everything has been tried--foreign travel, kind friends, everything. My -God! What is to become of me?' - -A desirable young man? Dust and ashes! What was there desirable in such -a thing as that? 'In my thirty-first year,' she noted in her diary, 'I -see nothing desirable but death.' - -Three more years passed, and then at last the pressure of time told; her -family seemed to realise that she was old enough and strong enough to -have her way; and she became the superintendent of a charitable nursing -home in Harley Street. She had gained her independence, though it was in -a meagre sphere enough; and her mother was still not quite resigned: -surely Florence might at least spend the summer in the country. At -times, indeed, among her intimates, Mrs. Nightingale almost wept. 'We -are ducks,' she said with tears in her eyes, 'who have hatched a wild -swan.' But the poor lady was wrong; it was not a swan that they had -hatched, it was an eagle. - - -II - -Miss NIGHTINGALE had been a year in her nursing-home in Harley Street, -when Fate knocked at the door. The Crimean War broke out; the battle of -the Alma was fought; and the terrible condition of our military -hospitals at Scutari began to be known in England. It sometimes happens -that the plans of Providence are a little difficult to follow, but on -this occasion all was plain; there was a perfect coordination of events. -For years Miss Nightingale had been getting ready; at last she was -prepared--experienced, free, mature, yet still young (she was -thirty-four)--desirous to serve, accustomed to command: at that precise -moment the desperate need of a great nation came, and she was there to -satisfy it. If the war had fallen a few years earlier, she would have -lacked the knowledge, perhaps even the power, for such a work; a few -years later and she would, no doubt, have been fixed in the routine of -some absorbing task, and moreover, she would have been growing old. - -Nor was it only the coincidence of time that was remarkable. It so fell -out that Sidney Herbert was at the War Office and in the Cabinet; and -Sidney Herbert was an intimate friend of Miss Nightingale's, convinced, -from personal experience in charitable work, of her supreme capacity. -After such premises, it seems hardly more than a matter of course that -her letter, in which she offered her services for the East, and Sidney -Herbert's letter, in which he asked for them, should actually have -crossed in the post. Thus it all happened, without a hitch. The -appointment was made and even Mrs. Nightingale, overawed by the -magnitude of the venture, could only approve. A pair of faithful friends -offered themselves as personal attendants; thirty-eight nurses were -collected; and within a week of the crossing of the letters Miss -Nightingale, amid a great burst of popular enthusiasm, left for -Constantinople. - -Among the numerous letters which she received on her departure was one -from Dr. Manning, who at that time was working in comparative obscurity -as a Catholic priest in Bayswater. 'God will keep you,' he wrote, 'and -my prayer for you will be that your one object of worship, Pattern of -Imitation, and source of consolation and strength, may be the Sacred -Heart of our Divine Lord.' - -To what extent Dr. Manning's prayer was answered must remain a matter of -doubt; but this much is certain: that if ever a prayer was needed, it -was needed then for Florence Nightingale. For dark as had been the -picture of the state of affairs at Scutari, revealed to the English -public in the dispatches of "The Times Correspondent", and in a -multitude of private letters, yet the reality turned out to be darker -still. What had occurred was, in brief, the complete breakdown of our -medical arrangements at the seat of war. The origins of this awful -failure were complex and manifold; they stretched back through long -years of peace and carelessness in England; they could be traced through -endless ramifications of administrative incapacity--from the inherent -faults of confused systems, to the petty bunglings of minor officials, -from the inevitable ignorance of Cabinet Ministers, to the fatal -exactitudes of narrow routine. - -In the inquiries which followed, it was clearly shown that the evil was -in reality that worst of all evils--one which has been caused by nothing -in particular and for which no one in particular is to blame. The whole -organisation of the war machine was incompetent and out of date. The old -Duke had sat for a generation at the Horse Guards repressing innovations -with an iron hand. There was an extraordinary overlapping of authorities -and an almost incredible shifting of responsibilities to and fro. As for -such a notion as the creation and the maintenance of a really adequate -medical service for the army--in that atmosphere of aged chaos, how -could it have entered anybody's head? Before the war, the easygoing -officials at Westminster were naturally persuaded that all was well--or -at least as well as could be expected; when someone, for instance, -actually had the temerity to suggest the formation of a corps of Army -nurses, he was at once laughed out of court. When the war had begun, the -gallant British officers in control of affairs had other things to think -about than the petty details of medical organisation. Who had bothered -with such trifles in the Peninsula? And surely, on that occasion, we had -done pretty well. Thus, the most obvious precautions were neglected, and -the most necessary preparations were put off from day to day. The -principal medical officer of the Army, Dr. Hall, was summoned from India -at a moment's notice, and was unable to visit England before taking up -his duties at the front. And it was not until after the battle of the -Alma, when we had been at war for many months, that we acquired hospital -accommodations at Scutari for more than a thousand men. Errors, follies, -and vices on the part of individuals there doubtless were; but, in the -general reckoning, they were of small account--insignificant symptoms of -the deep disease of the body politic--to the enormous calamity of -administrative collapse. - -Miss Nightingale arrived at Scutari--a suburb of Constantinople, on the -Asiatic side of the Bosphorus--on November 4th, 1854; it was ten days -after the battle of Balaclava, and the day before the battle of -Inkerman. The organisation of the hospitals, which had already given way -under the stress of the battle of the Alma, was now to be subjected to -the further pressure which these two desperate and bloody engagements -implied. Great detachments of wounded were already beginning to pour in. -The men, after receiving such summary treatment as could be given them -at the smaller hospitals in the Crimea itself, were forthwith shipped in -batches of 200 across the Black Sea to Scutari. This voyage was in -normal times one of four days and a half; but the times were no longer -normal, and now the transit often lasted for a fortnight or three weeks. -It received, not without reason, the name of the 'middle passage'. -Between, and sometimes on the decks, the wounded, the sick, and the -dying were crowded--men who had just undergone the amputation of limbs, -men in the clutches of fever or of frostbite, men in the last stages of -dysentry and cholera--without beds, sometimes without blankets, often -hardly clothed. The one or two surgeons on board did what they could; -but medical stores were lacking, and the only form of nursing available -was that provided by a handful of invalid soldiers who were usually -themselves prostrate by the end of the voyage. There was no other food -beside the ordinary salt rations of ship diet; and even the water was -sometimes so stored that it was out of reach of the weak. For many -months, the average of deaths during these voyages was seventy-four in -1,000; the corpses were shot out into the waters; and who shall say that -they were the most unfortunate? At Scutari, the landing-stage, -constructed with all the perverseness of Oriental ingenuity, could only -be approached with great difficulty, and, in rough weather, not at all. -When it was reached, what remained of the men in the ships had first to -be disembarked, and then conveyed up a steep slope of a quarter of a -mile to the nearest of the hospitals. The most serious cases might be -put upon stretchers--for there were far too few for all; the rest were -carried or dragged up the hill by such convalescent soldiers as could be -got together, who were not too obviously infirm for the work. At last -the journey was accomplished; slowly, one by one, living or dying, the -wounded were carried up into the hospital. And in the hospital what did -they find? - -Lasciate ogni speranza, voi ch'entrate: the delusive doors bore no such -inscription; and yet behind them Hell yawned. Want, neglect, confusion, -misery--in every shape and in every degree of intensity--filled the -endless corridors and the vast apartments of the gigantic barrack-house, -which, without forethought or preparation, had been hurriedly set aside -as the chief shelter for the victims of the war. The very building -itself was radically defective. Huge sewers underlay it, and cesspools -loaded with filth wafted their poison into the upper rooms. The floors -were in so rotten a condition that many of them could not be scrubbed; -the walls were thick with dirt; incredible multitudes of vermin swarmed -everywhere. And, enormous as the building was, it was yet too small. It -contained four miles of beds, crushed together so close that there was -but just room to pass between them. Under such conditions, the most -elaborate system of ventilation might well have been at fault; but here -there was no ventilation. The stench was indescribable. 'I have been -well acquainted,' said Miss Nightingale, 'with the dwellings of the -worst parts of most of the great cities in Europe, but have never been -in any atmosphere which I could compare with that of the Barrack -Hospital at night.' The structural defects were equalled by the -deficiencies in the commonest objects of hospital use. There were not -enough bedsteads; the sheets were of canvas, and so coarse that the -wounded men recoiled from them, begging to be left in their blankets; -there was no bedroom furniture of any kind, and empty beer bottles were -used for candlesticks. There were no basins, no towels, no soap, no -brooms, no mops, no trays, no plates; there were neither slippers nor -scissors, neither shoe-brushes nor blacking; there were no knives or -forks or spoons. The supply of fuel was constantly deficient. The -cooking arrangements were preposterously inadequate, and the laundry was -a farce. As for purely medical materials, the tale was no better. -Stretchers, splints, bandages--all were lacking; and so were the most -ordinary drugs. - -To replace such wants, to struggle against such difficulties, there was -a handful of men overburdened by the strain of ceaseless work, bound -down by the traditions of official routine, and enfeebled either by old -age or inexperience or sheer incompetence. They had proved utterly -unequal to their task. The principal doctor was lost in the imbecilities -of a senile optimism. The wretched official whose business it was to -provide for the wants of the hospital was tied fast hand and foot by red -tape. A few of the younger doctors struggled valiantly, but what could -they do? Unprepared, disorganised, with such help only as they could -find among the miserable band of convalescent soldiers drafted off to -tend their sick comrades, they were faced with disease, mutilation, and -death in all their most appalling forms, crowded multitudinously about -them in an ever-increasing mass. They were like men in a shipwreck, -fighting, not for safety, but for the next moment's bare existence--to -gain, by yet another frenzied effort, some brief respite from the waters -of destruction. - -In these surroundings, those who had been long inured to scenes of human -suffering--surgeons with a world-wide knowledge of agonies, soldiers -familiar with fields of carnage, missionaries with remembrances of -famine and of plague--yet found a depth of horror which they had never -known before. There were moments, there were places, in the Barrack -Hospital at Scutari, where the strongest hand was struck with trembling, -and the boldest eye would turn away its gaze. - -Miss Nightingale came, and she, at any rate, in that inferno, did not -abandon hope. For one thing, she brought material succour. Before she -left London she had consulted Dr. Andrew Smith, the head of the Army -Medical Board, as to whether it would be useful to take out stores of -any kind to Scutari; and Dr. Andrew Smith had told her that 'nothing was -needed'. Even Sidney Herbert had given her similar assurances; possibly, -owing to an oversight, there might have been some delay in the delivery -of the medical stores, which, he said, had been sent out from England -'in profusion', but 'four days would have remedied this'. She preferred -to trust her own instincts, and at Marseilles purchased a large quantity -of miscellaneous provisions, which were of the utmost use at Scutari. -She came, too, amply provided with money--in all, during her stay in the -East, about L7,000 reached her from private sources; and, in addition, -she was able to avail herself of another valuable means of help. At the -same time as herself, Mr. Macdonald, of The Times, had arrived at -Scutari, charged with the duty of administering the large sums of money -collected through the agency of that newspaper in aid of the sick and -wounded; and Mr. Macdonald had the sense to see that the best use he -could make of The Times Fund was to put it at the disposal of Miss -Nightingale. - -'I cannot conceive,' wrote an eye-witness, 'as I now calmly look back on -the first three weeks after the arrival of the wounded from Inkerman, -how it could have been possible to have avoided a state of things too -disastrous to contemplate, had not Miss Nightingale been there, with the -means placed at her disposal by Mr. Macdonald.' - -But the official view was different. What! Was the public service to -admit, by accepting outside charity, that it was unable to discharge its -own duties without the assistance of private and irregular benevolence? -Never! And accordingly when Lord Stratford de Redcliffe, our ambassador -at Constantinople, was asked by Mr. Macdonald to indicate how The Times -Fund could best be employed, he answered that there was indeed one -object to which it might very well be devoted--the building of an -English Protestant Church at Pera. - -Mr. Macdonald did not waste further time with Lord Stratford, and -immediately joined forces with Miss Nightingale. But, with such a frame -of mind in the highest quarters, it is easy to imagine the kind of -disgust and alarm with which the sudden intrusion of a band of amateurs -and females must have filled the minds of the ordinary officer and the -ordinary military surgeon. They could not understand it--what had women -to do with war? Honest Colonels relieved their spleen by the cracking of -heavy jokes about 'the Bird'; while poor Dr. Hall, a rough terrier of a -man, who had worried his way to the top of his profession, was struck -speechless with astonishment, and at last observed that Miss -Nightingale's appointment was extremely droll. - -Her position was, indeed, an official one, but it was hardly the easier -for that. In the hospitals it was her duty to provide the services of -herself and her nurses when they were asked for by the doctors, and not -until then. At first some of the surgeons would have nothing to say to -her, and, though she was welcomed by others, the majority were hostile -and suspicious. But gradually she gained ground. Her good will could not -be denied, and her capacity could not be disregarded. With consummate -tact, with all the gentleness of supreme strength, she managed at last -to impose her personality upon the susceptible, overwrought, -discouraged, and helpless group of men in authority who surrounded her. -She stood firm; she was a rock in the angry ocean; with her alone was -safety, comfort, life. And so it was that hope dawned at Scutari. The -reign of chaos and old night began to dwindle; order came upon the -scene, and common sense, and forethought, and decision, radiating out -from the little room off the great gallery in the Barrack Hospital -where, day and night, the Lady Superintendent was at her task. Progress -might be slow, but it was sure. - -The first sign of a great change came with the appearance of some of -those necessary objects with which the hospitals had been unprovided for -months. The sick men began to enjoy the use of towels and soap, knives -and forks, combs and tooth-brushes. Dr. Hall might snort when he heard -of it, asking, with a growl, what a soldier wanted with a tooth-brush; -but the good work went on. Eventually the whole business of purveying to -the hospitals was, in effect, carried out by Miss Nightingale. She -alone, it seemed, whatever the contingency, knew where to lay her hands -on what was wanted; she alone could dispense her stores with readiness; -above all, she alone possessed the art of circumventing the pernicious -influences of official etiquette. This was her greatest enemy, and -sometimes even she was baffled by it. On one occasion 27,000 shirts, -sent out at her instance by the Home Government, arrived, were landed, -and were only waiting to be unpacked. But the official 'Purveyor' -intervened; 'he could not unpack them,' he said, 'with out a Board.' -Miss Nightingale pleaded in vain; the sick and wounded lay half-naked -shivering for want of clothing; and three weeks elapsed before the Board -released the shirts. A little later, however, on a similar occasion, -Miss Nightingale felt that she could assert her own authority. She -ordered a Government consignment to be forcibly opened while the -miserable 'Purveyor' stood by, wringing his hands in departmental agony. - -Vast quantities of valuable stores sent from England lay, she found, -engulfed in the bottomless abyss of the Turkish Customs House. Other -ship-loads, buried beneath munitions of war destined for Balaclava, -passed Scutari without a sign, and thus hospital materials were -sometimes carried to and fro three times over the Black Sea, before they -reached their destination. The whole system was clearly at fault, and -Miss Nightingale suggested to the home authorities that a Government -Store House should be instituted at Scutari for the reception and -distribution of the consignments. Six months after her arrival this was -done. - -In the meantime, she had reorganised the kitchens and the laundries in -the hospitals. The ill-cooked hunks of meat, vilely served at irregular -intervals, which had hitherto been the only diet for the sick men, were -replaced by punctual meals, well-prepared and appetising, while -strengthening extra foods--soups and wines and jellies ('preposterous -luxuries', snarled Dr. Hall)--were distributed to those who needed them. -One thing, however, she could not effect. The separation of the bones -from the meat was no part of official cookery: the rule was that the -food must be divided into equal portions, and if some of the portions -were all bone--well, every man must take his chance. The rule, perhaps, -was not a very good one; but there it was. 'It would require a new -Regulation of the Service,' she was told, 'to bone the meat.' As for the -washing arrangements, they were revolutionised. Up to the time of Miss -Nightingale's arrival, the number of shirts the authorities had -succeeded in washing was seven. The hospital bedding, she found, was -'washed' in cold water. She took a Turkish house, had boilers installed, -and employed soldiers' wives to do the laundry work. The expenses were -defrayed from her own funds and that of The Times; and henceforward, the -sick and wounded had the comfort of clean linen. - -Then she turned her attention to their clothing. Owing to military -exigencies, the greater number of the men had abandoned their kit; their -knapsacks were lost forever; they possessed nothing but what was on -their persons, and that was usually only fit for speedy destruction. The -'Purveyor', of course, pointed out that, according to the regulations, -all soldiers should bring with them into hospital an adequate supply of -clothing, and he declared that it was no business of his to make good -their deficiencies. Apparently, it was the business of Miss Nightingale. -She procured socks, boots, and shirts in enormous quantities; she had -trousers made, she rigged up dressing-gowns. 'The fact is,' she told -Sidney Herbert, I am now clothing the British Army.' - -All at once, word came from the Crimea that a great new contingent of -sick and wounded might shortly be expected. Where were they to go? Every -available inch in the wards was occupied; the affair was serious and -pressing, and the authorities stood aghast. There were some dilapidated -rooms in the Barrack Hospital, unfit for human habitation, but Miss -Nightingale believed that if measures were promptly taken they might be -made capable of accommodating several hundred beds. One of the doctors -agreed with her; the rest of the officials were irresolute--it would be -a very expensive job, they said; it would involve building; and who -could take the responsibility? The proper course was that a -representation should be made to the Director-General of the Army -Medical Department in London; then the Director-General would apply to -the Horse Guards, the Horse Guards would move the Ordnance, the Ordnance -would lay the matter before the Treasury, and, if the Treasury gave its -consent, the work might be correctly carried through, several months -after the necessity for it had disappeared. Miss Nightingale, however, -had made up her mind, and she persuaded Lord Stratford--or thought she -had persuaded him--to give his sanction to the required expenditure. One -hundred and twenty-five workmen were immediately engaged, and the work -was begun. The workmen struck; whereupon Lord Stratford washed his hands -of the whole business. Miss Nightingale engaged 200 other workmen on her -own authority, and paid the bill out of her own resources. The wards -were ready by the required date; 500 sick men were received in them; and -all the utensils, including knives, forks, spoons, cans and towels, were -supplied by Miss Nightingale. - -This remarkable woman was in truth performing the function of an -administrative chief. How had this come about? Was she not in reality -merely a nurse? Was it not her duty simply to tend the sick? And indeed, -was it not as a ministering angel, a gentle 'lady with a lamp', that she -actually impressed the minds of her contemporaries? No doubt that was -so; and yet it is no less certain that, as she herself said, the -specific business of nursing was 'the least important of the functions -into which she had been forced'. It was clear that in the state of -disorganisation into which the hospitals at Scutari had fallen, the most -pressing, the really vital, need was for something more than nursing; it -was for the necessary elements of civilised life--the commonest material -objects, the most ordinary cleanliness, the rudimentary habits of order -and authority. 'Oh, dear Miss Nightingale,' said one of her party as -they were approaching Constantinople, 'when we land, let there be no -delays, let us get straight to nursing the poor fellows!' 'The strongest -will be wanted at the wash-tub,' was Miss Nightingale's answer. And it -was upon the wash-tub, and all that the wash-tub stood for, that she -expended her greatest energies. Yet to say that, is perhaps to say too -much. For to those who watched her at work among the sick, moving day -and night from bed to bed, with that unflinching courage, with that -indefatigable vigilance, it seemed as if the concentrated force of an -undivided and unparalleled devotion could hardly suffice for that -portion of her task alone. - -Wherever, in those vast wards, suffering was at its worst and the need -for help was greatest, there, as if by magic, was Miss Nightingale. Her -superhuman equanimity would, at the moment of some ghastly operation, -nerve the victim to endure, and almost to hope. Her sympathy would -assuage the pangs of dying and bring back to those still living -something of the forgotten charm of life. Over and over again her -untiring efforts rescued those whom the surgeons had abandoned as beyond -the possibility of cure. Her mere presence brought with it a strange -influence. A passionate idolatry spread among the men--they kissed her -shadow as it passed. They did more. 'Before she came,' said a soldier, -'there was cussin' and swearin' but after that it was as 'oly as a -church.' The most cherished privilege of the fighting man was abandoned -for the sake of Miss Nightingale. In those 'lowest sinks of human -misery', as she herself put it, she never heard the use of one -expression 'which could distress a gentlewoman'. - -She was heroic; and these were the humble tributes paid by those of -grosser mould to that high quality. Certainly, she was heroic. Yet her -heroism was not of that simple sort so dear to the readers of novels and -the compilers of hagiologies--the romantic sentimental heroism with -which mankind loves to invest its chosen darlings: it was made of -sterner stuff. To the wounded soldier on his couch of agony, she might -well appear in the guise of a gracious angel of mercy; but the military -surgeons, and the orderlies, and her own nurses, and the 'Purveyor', and -Dr. Hall, and, even Lord Stratford himself, could tell a different -story. It was not by gentle sweetness and womanly self-abnegation that -she had brought order out of chaos in the Scutari hospitals, that, from -her own resources, she had clothed the British Army, that she had spread -her dominion over the serried and reluctant powers of the official -world; it was by strict method, by stern discipline, by rigid attention -to detail, by ceaseless labour, and by the fixed determination of an -indomitable will. - -Beneath her cool and calm demeanour lurked fierce and passionate fires. -As she passed through the wards in her plain dress, so quiet, so -unassuming, she struck the casual observer simply as the pattern of a -perfect lady; but the keener eye perceived something more than that--the -serenity of high deliberation in the scope of the capacious brow, the -sign of power in the dominating curve of the thin nose, and the traces -of a harsh and dangerous temper--something peevish, something mocking, -and yet something precise--in the small and delicate mouth. There was -humour in the face; but the curious watcher might wonder whether it was -humour of a very pleasant kind; might ask himself, even as he heard the -laughter and marked the jokes with which she cheered the spirits of her -patients, what sort of sardonic merriment this same lady might not give -vent to, in the privacy of her chamber. As for her voice, it was true of -it, even more than of her countenance, that it 'had that in it one must -fain call master'. Those clear tones were in no need of emphasis: 'I -never heard her raise her voice', said one of her companions. 'Only when -she had spoken, it seemed as if nothing could follow but obedience.' -Once, when she had given some direction, a doctor ventured to remark -that the thing could not be done. 'But it must be done,' said Miss -Nightingale. A chance bystander, who heard the words, never forgot -through all his life the irresistible authority of them. And they were -spoken quietly--very quietly indeed. - -Late at night, when the long miles of beds lay wrapped in darkness, Miss -Nightingale would sit at work in her little room, over her -correspondence. It was one of the most formidable of all her duties. -There were hundreds of letters to be written to the friends and -relations of soldiers; there was the enormous mass of official documents -to be dealt with; there were her own private letters to be answered; -and, most important of all, there was the composition of her long and -confidential reports to Sidney Herbert. These were by no means official -communications. Her soul, pent up all day in the restraint and reserve -of a vast responsibility, now at last poured itself out in these letters -with all its natural vehemence, like a swollen torrent through an open -sluice. Here, at least, she did not mince matters. Here she painted in -her darkest colours the hideous scenes which surrounded her; here she -tore away remorselessly the last veils still shrouding the abominable -truth. Then she would fill pages with recommendations and suggestions, -with criticisms of the minutest details of organisation, with elaborate -calculations of contingencies, with exhaustive analyses and statistical -statements piled up in breathless eagerness one on the top of the other. -And then her pen, in the virulence of its volubility, would rush on to -the discussion of individuals, to the denunciation of an incompetent -surgeon or the ridicule of a self-sufficient nurse. Her sarcasm searched -the ranks of the officials with the deadly and unsparing precision of a -machine-gun. Her nicknames were terrible. She respected no one: Lord -Stratford, Lord Raglan, Lady Stratford, Dr. Andrew Smith, Dr. Hall, the -Commissary-General, the Purveyor--she fulminated against them all. The -intolerable futility of mankind obsessed her like a nightmare, and she -gnashed her teeth against it. 'I do well to be angry,' was the burden of -her cry. 'How many just men were there at Scutari? How many who cared at -all for the sick, or had done anything for their relief? Were there ten? -Were there five? Was there even one?' She could not be sure. - -At one time, during several weeks, her vituperations descended upon the -head of Sidney Herbert himself. He had misinterpreted her wishes, he had -traversed her positive instructions, and it was not until he had -admitted his error and apologised in abject terms that he was allowed -again into favour. While this misunderstanding was at its height, an -aristocratic young gentleman arrived at Scutari with a recommendation -from the Minister. He had come out from England filled with a romantic -desire to render homage to the angelic heroine of his dreams. He had, he -said, cast aside his life of ease and luxury; he would devote his days -and nights to the service of that gentle lady; he would perform the most -menial offices, he would 'fag' for her, he would be her footman--and -feel requited by a single smile. A single smile, indeed, he had, but it -was of an unexpected kind. Miss Nightingale at first refused to see him, -and then, when she consented, believing that he was an emissary sent by -Sidney Herbert to put her in the wrong over their dispute, she took -notes of her conversation with him, and insisted on his signing them at -the end of it. The young gentleman returned to England by the next ship. - -This quarrel with Sidney Herbert was, however, an exceptional incident. -Alike by him, and by Lord Panmure, his successor at the War Office, she -was firmly supported; and the fact that during the whole of her stay at -Scutari she had the Home Government at her back, was her trump card in -her dealings with the hospital authorities. Nor was it only the -Government that was behind her: public opinion in England early -recognised the high importance of her mission, and its enthusiastic -appreciation of her work soon reached an extraordinary height. The Queen -herself was deeply moved. She made repeated inquiries as to the welfare -of Miss Nightingale; she asked to see her accounts of the wounded, and -made her the intermediary between the throne and the troops. - -'Let Mrs. Herbert know,' she wrote to the War Minister, 'that I wish -Miss Nightingale and the ladies would tell these poor noble, wounded, -and sick men that NO ONE takes a warmer interest or feels MORE for their -sufferings or admires their courage and heroism MORE than their Queen. -Day and night she thinks of her beloved troops. So does the Prince. Beg -Mrs. Herbert to communicate these my words to those ladies, as I know -that our sympathy is much valued by these noble fellows.' - -The letter was read aloud in the wards by the Chaplain. 'It is a very -feeling letter,' said the men. - -And so the months passed, and that fell winter which had begun with -Inkerman and had dragged itself out through the long agony of the -investment of Sebastopol, at last was over. In May, 1855, after six -months of labour, Miss Nightingale could look with something like -satisfaction at the condition of the Scutari hospitals. Had they done -nothing more than survive the terrible strain which had been put upon -them, it would have been a matter for congratulation; but they had done -much more than that--they had marvellously improved. The confusion and -the pressure in the wards had come to an end; order reigned in them, and -cleanliness; the supplies were bountiful and prompt; important sanitary -works had been carried out. One simple comparison of figures was enough -to reveal the extraordinary change: the rate of mortality among the -cases treated had fallen from forty-two percent to twenty-two per 1,000. -But still, the indefatigable lady was not satisfied. The main problem -had been solved--the physical needs of the men had been provided for; -their mental and spiritual needs remained. She set up and furnished -reading-rooms and recreation rooms. She started classes and lectures. -Officers were amazed to see her treating their men as if they were human -beings, and assured her that she would only end by 'spoiling the -brutes'. But that was not Miss Nightingale's opinion, and she was -justified. The private soldier began to drink less and even--though that -seemed impossible--to save his pay. Miss Nightingale became a banker for -the Army, receiving and sending home large sums of money every month. At -last, reluctantly, the Government followed suit, and established -machinery of its own for the remission of money. Lord Panmure, however, -remained sceptical; 'it will do no good,' he pronounced; 'the British -soldier is not a remitting animal.' But, in fact during the next six -months L71,000 was sent home. - -Amid all these activities, Miss Nightingale took up the further task of -inspecting the hospitals in the Crimea itself. The labour was extreme, -and the conditions of life were almost intolerable. She spent whole days -in the saddle, or was driven over those bleak and rocky heights in a -baggage cart. Sometimes she stood for hours in the heavily failing snow, -and would only reach her hut at dead of night after walking for miles -through perilous ravines. Her powers of resistance seemed incredible, -but at last they were exhausted. She was attacked by fever, and for a -moment came very near to death. Yet she worked on; if she could not -move, she could at least write, and write she did until her mind had -left her; and after it had left her, in what seemed the delirious trance -of death itself, she still wrote. When, after many weeks, she was strong -enough to travel, she was implored to return to England, but she utterly -refused. She would not go back, she said, before the last of the -soldiers had left Scutari. - -This happy moment had almost arrived, when suddenly the smouldering -hostilities of the medical authorities burst out into a flame. Dr. -Hall's labours had been rewarded by a K.C.B--letters which, as Miss -Nightingale told Sidney Herbert, she could only suppose to mean 'Knight -of the Crimean Burial-Grounds'--and the honour had turned his head. He -was Sir John, and he would be thwarted no longer. Disputes had lately -arisen between Miss Nightingale and some of the nurses in the Crimean -hospitals. The situation had been embittered by rumours of religious -dissensions, while the Crimean nurses were Roman Catholics, many of -those at Scutari were suspected of a regrettable propensity towards the -tenets of Dr. Pusey. Miss Nightingale was by no means disturbed by these -sectarian differences, but any suggestion that her supreme authority -over all the nurses with the Army was, no doubt, enough to rouse her to -fury; and it appeared that Mrs. Bridgeman, the Reverend Mother in the -Crimea, had ventured to call that authority in question. Sir John Hall -thought that his opportunity had come, and strongly supported Mrs. -Bridgeman--or, as Miss Nightingale preferred to call her, the 'Reverend -Brickbat'. - -There was a violent struggle; Miss Nightingale's rage was terrible. Dr. -Hall, she declared, was doing his best to 'root her out of the Crimea'. -She would bear it no longer; the War Office was playing her false; there -was only one thing to be done--Sidney Herbert must move for the -production of papers in the House of Commons, so that the public might -be able to judge between her and her enemies. Sidney Herbert, with great -difficulty, calmed her down. Orders were immediately dispatched putting -her supremacy beyond doubt, and the Reverend Brickbat withdrew from the -scene. Sir John, however, was more tenacious. A few weeks later, Miss -Nightingale and her nurses visited the Crimea for the last time, and the -brilliant idea occurred to him that he could crush her by a very simple -expedient--he would starve her into submission; and he actually ordered -that no rations of any kind should be supplied to her. He had already -tried this plan with great effect upon an unfortunate medical man whose -presence in the Crimea he had considered an intrusion; but he was now to -learn that such tricks were thrown away upon Miss Nightingale. With -extraordinary foresight, she had brought with her a great supply of -food; she succeeded in obtaining more at her own expense and by her own -exertions; and thus for ten days, in that inhospitable country, she was -able to feed herself and twenty-four nurses. Eventually, the military -authorities intervened in her favour, and Sir John had to confess that -he was beaten. - -It was not until July, 1856--four months after the Declaration of -Peace--that Miss Nightingale left Scutari for England. Her reputation -was now enormous, and the enthusiasm of the public was unbounded. The -royal approbation was expressed by the gift of a brooch, accompanied by -a private letter. - -'You are, I know, well aware,' wrote Her Majesty, 'of the high sense I -entertain of the Christian devotion which you have displayed during this -great and bloody war, and I need hardly repeat to you how warm my -admiration is for your services, which are fully equal to those of my -dear and brave soldiers, whose sufferings you have had the privilege of -alleviating in so merciful a manner. I am, however, anxious of marking -my feelings in a manner which I trust will be agreeable to you, and -therefore, send you with this letter a brooch, the form and emblems of -which commemorate your great and blessed work, and which I hope you will -wear as a mark of the high approbation of your Sovereign! - -'It will be a very great satisfaction to me,' Her Majesty added, 'to -make the acquaintance of one who has set so bright an example to our -sex.' - -The brooch, which was designed by the Prince Consort, bore a St. -George's cross in red enamel, and the Royal cipher surmounted by -diamonds. The whole was encircled by the inscription 'Blessed are the -Merciful'. - - -III - -THE name of Florence Nightingale lives in the memory of the world by -virtue of the lurid and heroic adventure of the Crimea. Had she died--as -she nearly did--upon her return to England, her reputation would hardly -have been different; her legend would have come down to us almost as we -know it today--that gentle vision of female virtue which first took -shape before the adoring eyes of the sick soldiers at Scutari. Yet, as a -matter of fact, she lived for more than half a century after the Crimean -War; and during the greater part of that long period, all the energy and -all the devotion of her extraordinary nature were working at their -highest pitch. What she accomplished in those years of unknown labour -could, indeed, hardly have been more glorious than her Crimean triumphs, -but it was certainly more important. The true history was far stranger -even than the myth. In Miss Nightingale's own eyes the adventure of the -Crimea was a mere incident--scarcely more than a useful stepping-stone -in her career. It was the fulcrum with which she hoped to move the -world; but it was only the fulcrum. For more than a generation she was -to sit in secret, working her lever: and her real "life" began at the -very moment when, in the popular imagination, it had ended. - -She arrived in England in a shattered state of health. The hardships and -the ceaseless effort of the last two years had undermined her nervous -system; her heart was pronounced to be affected; she suffered constantly -from fainting-fits and terrible attacks of utter physical prostration. -The doctors declared that one thing alone would save her--a complete and -prolonged rest. But that was also the one thing with which she would -have nothing to do. She had never been in the habit of resting; why -should she begin now? Now, when her opportunity had come at last; now, -when the iron was hot, and it was time to strike? No; she had work to -do; and, come what might, she would do it. The doctors protested in -vain; in vain her family lamented and entreated; in vain her friends -pointed out to her the madness of such a course. Madness? -Mad--possessed--perhaps she was. A demoniac frenzy had seized upon her. -As she lay upon her sofa, gasping, she devoured blue-books, dictated -letters, and, in the intervals of her palpitations, cracked her febrile -jokes. For months at a stretch she never left her bed. For years she was -in daily expectation of death. But she would not rest. At this rate, the -doctors assured her, even if she did not die, she would, become an -invalid for life. She could not help that; there was the work to be -done; and, as for rest, very likely she might rest ... when she had done -it. - -Wherever she went, in London or in the country, in the hills of -Derbyshire, or among the rhododendrons at Embley, she was haunted by a -ghost. It was the spectre of Scutari--the hideous vision of the -organisation of a military hospital. She would lay that phantom, or she -would perish. The whole system of the Army Medical Department, the -education of the Medical Officer, the regulations of hospital procedure -... REST? How could she rest while these things were as they were, -while, if the like necessity were to arise again, the like results would -follow? And, even in peace and at home, what was the sanitary condition -of the Army? The mortality in the barracks was, she found, nearly double -the mortality in civil life. 'You might as well take 1,100 men every -year out upon Salisbury Plain and shoot them,' she said. After -inspecting the hospitals at Chatham, she smiled grimly. 'Yes, this is -one more symptom of the system which, in the Crimea, put to death 16,000 -men.' Scutari had given her knowledge; and it had given her power too: -her enormous reputation was at her back--an incalculable force. Other -work, other duties, might lie before her; but the most urgent, the most -obvious of all, was to look to the health of the Army. - -One of her very first steps was to take advantage of the invitation -which Queen Victoria had sent her to the Crimea, together with the -commemorative brooch. Within a few weeks of her return she visited -Balmoral, and had several interviews with both the Queen and the Prince, -Consort. 'She put before us,' wrote the Prince in his diary, 'all the -defects of our present military hospital system, and the reforms that -are needed.' She related 'the whole story' of her experiences in the -East; and, in addition, she managed to have some long and confidential -talks with His Royal Highness on metaphysics and religion. The -impression which she created was excellent. 'Sie gefallt uns sehr,' -noted the Prince, 'ist sehr bescheiden.' Her Majesty's comment was -different--'Such a HEAD! I wish we had her at the War Office.' - -But Miss Nightingale was not at the War Office, and for a very simple -reason: she was a woman. Lord Panmure, however, was (though indeed the -reason for that was not quite so simple); and it was upon Lord Panmure -that the issue of Miss Nightingale's efforts for reform must primarily -depend. That burly Scottish nobleman had not, in spite of his most -earnest endeavours, had a very easy time of it as Secretary of State for -War. He had come into office in the middle of the Sebastopol Campaign, -and had felt himself very well fitted for the position, since he had -acquired in former days an inside knowledge of the Army--as a Captain of -Hussars. It was this inside knowledge which had enabled him to inform -Miss Nightingale with such authority that 'the British soldier is not a -remitting animal'. And perhaps it was this same consciousness of a -command of his subject which had impelled him to write a dispatch to -Lord Raglan, blandly informing the Commander-in-Chief in the Field just -how he was neglecting his duties, and pointing out to him that if he -would only try he really might do a little better next time. - -Lord Raglan's reply, calculated as it was to make its recipient sink -into the earth, did not quite have that effect upon Lord Panmure, who, -whatever might have been his faults, had never been accused of being -supersensitive. However, he allowed the matter to drop; and a little -later Lord Raglan died--worn out, some people said, by work and anxiety. -He was succeeded by an excellent red-nosed old gentleman, General -Simpson, whom nobody has ever heard of, and who took Sebastopol. But -Lord Panmure's relations with him were hardly more satisfactory than his -relations with Lord Raglan; for, while Lord Raglan had been too -independent, poor General Simpson erred in the opposite direction, -perpetually asked advice, suffered from lumbago, doubted (his nose -growingredder and redder daily) whether he was fit for his post, and, by -alternate mails, sent in and withdrew his resignation. Then, too, both -the General and the Minister suffered acutely from that distressingly -useful new invention, the electric telegraph. On one occasion General -Simpson felt obliged actually to expostulate. 'I think, my Lord,' he -wrote, 'that some telegraphic messages reach us that cannot be sent -under due authority, and are perhaps unknown to you, although under the -protection of your Lordship's name. - -For instance, I was called up last night, a dragoon having come express -with a telegraphic message in these words, "Lord Panmure to General -Simpson--Captain Jarvis has been bitten by a centipede. How is he now?"' -General Simpson might have put up with this, though to be sure it did -seem 'rather too trifling an affair to call for a dragoon to ride a -couple of miles in the dark that he may knock up the Commander of the -Army out of the very small allowance of sleep permitted; but what was -really more than he could bear was to find 'upon sending in the morning -another mounted dragoon to inquire after Captain Jarvis, four miles off, -that he never has been bitten at all, but has had a boil, from which he -is fast recovering'. But Lord Panmure had troubles of his own. His -favourite nephew, Captain Dowbiggin, was at the front, and to one of his -telegrams to the Commander-in-Chief the Minister had taken occasion to -append the following carefully qualified sentence--'I recommend -Dowbiggin to your notice, should you have a vacancy, and if he is fit'. -Unfortunately, in those early days, it was left to the discretion of the -telegraphist to compress the messages which passed through his hands; so -that the result was that Lord Panmure's delicate appeal reached its -destination in the laconic form of 'Look after Dowb'. The Headquarters -Staff were at first extremely puzzled; they were at last extremely -amused. The story spread; and 'Look after Dowb' remained for many years -the familiar formula for describing official hints in favour of -deserving nephews. - -And now that all this was over, now that Sebastopol had been, somehow or -another, taken; now that peace was, somehow or another, made; now that -the troubles of office might surely be expected to be at an end at -last--here was Miss Nightingale breaking in upon the scene with her talk -about the state of the hospitals and the necessity for sanitary reform. -It was most irksome; and Lord Panmure almost began to wish that he was -engaged upon some more congenial occupation--discussing, perhaps, the -constitution of the Free Church of Scotland--a question in which he was -profoundly interested. But no; duty was paramount; and he set himself, -with a sigh of resignation, to the task of doing as little of it as he -possibly could. - -'The Bison' his friends called him; and the name fitted both his -physical demeanour and his habit of mind. That large low head seemed to -have been created for butting rather than for anything else. There he -stood, four-square and menacing in the doorway of reform; and it -remained to be seen whether, the bulky mass, upon whose solid hide even -the barbed arrows of Lord Raglan's scorn had made no mark, would prove -amenable to the pressure of Miss Nightingale. Nor was he alone in the -doorway. There loomed behind him the whole phalanx of professional -conservatism, the stubborn supporters of the out-of-date, the -worshippers and the victims of War Office routine. Among these it was -only natural that Dr. Andrew Smith, the head of the Army Medical -Department, should have been pre-eminent--Dr. Andrew Smith, who had -assured Miss Nightingale before she left England that 'nothing was -wanted at Scutari'. Such were her opponents; but she too was not without -allies. She had gained the ear of Royalty--which was something; at any -moment that she pleased she could gain the ear of the public--which was -a great deal. She had a host of admirers and friends; and--to say -nothing of her personal qualities--her knowledge, her tenacity, her -tact--she possessed, too, one advantage which then, far more even than -now, carried an immense weight--she belonged to the highest circle of -society. She moved naturally among Peers and Cabinet Ministers--she was -one of their own set; and in those days their set was a very narrow one. -What kind of attention would such persons have paid to some middle-class -woman with whom they were not acquainted, who possessed great experience -of Army nursing and had decided views upon hospital reform? They would -have politely ignored her; but it was impossible to ignore Flo -Nightingale. When she spoke, they were obliged to listen; and, when they -had once begun to do that--what might not follow? She knew her power, -and she used it. She supported her weightiest minutes with familiar -witty little notes. The Bison began to look grave. It might be -difficult--it might be damned difficult--to put down one's head against -the white hand of a lady ... - -Of Miss Nightingale's friends, the most important was Sidney Herbert. He -was a man upon whom the good fairies seemed to have showered, as he lay -in his cradle, all their most enviable goods. Well born, handsome, rich, -the master of Wilton--one of those great country-houses, clothed with -the glamour of a historic past, which are the peculiar glory of -England--he possessed--besides all these advantages: so charming, so -lively, so gentle a disposition that no one who had once come near him -could ever be his enemy. - -He was, in fact, a man of whom it was difficult not to say that he was a -perfect English gentleman. For his virtues were equal even to his good -fortune. He was religious, deeply religious. 'I am more and more -convinced every day,' he wrote, when he had been for some years a -Cabinet Minister, 'that in politics, as in everything else, nothing can -be right which is not in accordance with the spirit of the Gospel.' No -one was more unselfish; he was charitable and benevolent to a remarkable -degree; and he devoted the whole of his life, with an unwavering -conscientiousness, to the public service. With such a character, with -such opportunities, what high hopes must have danced before him, what -radiant visions of accomplished duties, of ever-increasing usefulness, -of beneficent power, of the consciousness of disinterested success! Some -of those hopes and visions were, indeed, realised; but, in the end, the -career of Sidney Herbert seemed to show that, with all their generosity, -there was some gift or other--what was it?--some essential gift--which -the good fairies had withheld, and that even the qualities of a perfect -English gentleman may be no safeguard against anguish, humiliation, and -defeat. - -That career would certainly have been very different if he had never -known Miss Nightingale. The alliance between them which had begun with -her appointment to Scutari, which had grown closer and closer while the -war lasted, developed, after her return, into one of the most -extraordinary friendships. It was the friendship of a man and a woman -intimately bound together by their devotion to a public cause; mutual -affection, of course, played a part in it, but it was an incidental -part; the whole soul of the relationship was a community of work. -Perhaps out of England such an intimacy could hardly have existed--an -intimacy so utterly untinctured not only by passion itself but by the -suspicion of it. For years Sidney Herbert saw Miss Nightingale almost -daily, for long hours together, corresponding with her incessantly when -they were apart; and the tongue of scandal was silent; and one of the -most devoted of her admirers was his wife. But what made the connection -still more remarkable was the way in which the parts that were played in -it were divided between the two. The man who acts, decides, and -achieves; the woman who encourages, applauds, and--from a -distance--inspires: the combination is common enough; but Miss -Nightingale was neither an Aspasia nor an Egeria. In her case it is -almost true to say that the roles were reversed; the qualities of -pliancy and sympathy fell to the man, those of command and initiative to -the woman. - -There was one thing only which Miss Nightingale lacked in her equipment -for public life; she had not--she never could have--the public power and -authority which belonged to the successful politician. That power and -authority Sidney Herbert possessed; that fact was obvious, and the -conclusions no less so: it was through the man that the woman must work -her will. She took hold of him, taught him, shaped him, absorbed him, -dominated him through and through. He did not resist--he did not wish to -resist; his natural inclination lay along the same path as hers; only -that terrific personality swept him forward at her own fierce pace and -with her own relentless stride. Swept him--where to? Ah! Why had he ever -known Miss Nightingale? If Lord Panmure was a bison, Sidney Herbert, no -doubt, was a stag--a comely, gallant creature springing through the -forest; but the forest is a dangerous place. One has the image of those -wide eyes fascinated suddenly by something feline, something strong; -there is a pause; and then the tigress has her claws in the quivering -haunches; and then--! - -Besides Sidney Herbert, she had other friends who, in a more restricted -sphere, were hardly less essential to her. If, in her condition of -bodily collapse, she were to accomplish what she was determined that she -should accomplish, the attentions and the services of others would be -absolutely indispensable. Helpers and servers she must have; and -accordingly there was soon formed about her a little group of devoted -disciples upon whose affections and energies she could implicitly rely. -Devoted, indeed, these disciples were, in no ordinary sense of the term; -for certainly she was no light taskmistress, and he who set out to be of -use to Miss Nightingale was apt to find, before he had gone very far, -that he was in truth being made use of in good earnest to the very limit -of his endurance and his capacity. Perhaps, even beyond those limits; -why not? Was she asking of others more than she was giving herself? Let -them look at her lying there pale and breathless on the couch; could it -be said that she spared herself? Why, then, should she spare others? And -it was not for her own sake that she made these claims. For her own -sake, indeed! No! They all knew it! it was for the sake of the work. And -so the little band, bound body and soul in that strange servitude, -laboured on ungrudgingly. - -Among the most faithful was her 'Aunt Mai', her father's sister, who -from the earliest days had stood beside her, who had helped her to -escape from the thraldom of family life, who had been with her at -Scutari, and who now acted almost the part of a mother to her, watching -over her with infinite care in all the movements and uncertainties which -her state of health involved. Another constant attendant was her -brother-in-law, Sir Harry Verney, whom she found particularly valuable -in parliamentary affairs. Arthur Clough, the poet, also a connection by -marriage, she used in other ways. Ever since he had lost his faith at -the time of the Oxford Movement, Clough had passed his life in a -condition of considerable uneasiness, which was increased rather than -diminished by the practice of poetry. Unable to decide upon the purpose -of an existence whose savour had fled together with his belief in the -Resurrection, his spirits lowered still further by ill-health, and his -income not all that it should be, he had determined to seek the solution -of his difficulties in the United States of America. But, even there, -the solution was not forthcoming; and, when, a little later, he was -offered a post in a government department at home, he accepted it, came -to live in London, and immediately fell under the influence of Miss -Nightingale. Though the purpose of existence might be still uncertain -and its nature still unsavoury, here, at any rate, under the eye of this -inspired woman, was something real, something earnest: his only doubt -was--could he be of any use? Certainly he could. There were a great -number of miscellaneous little jobs which there was nobody handy to do. -For instance, when Miss Nightingale was travelling, there were the -railway-tickets to be taken; and there were proof-sheets to be -corrected; and then there were parcels to be done up in brown paper, and -carried to the post. Certainly he could be useful. And so, upon such -occupations as these, Arthur Clough was set to work. 'This that I see, -is not all,' he comforted himself by reflecting, 'and this that I do is -but little; nevertheless it is good, though there is better than it.' As -time went on, her 'Cabinet', as she called it, grew larger. Officials -with whom her work brought her into touch and who sympathised with her -objects, were pressed into her service; and old friends of the Crimean -days gathered around her when they returned to England. Among these the -most indefatigable was Dr. Sutherland, a sanitary expert, who for more -than thirty years acted as her confidential private secretary, and -surrendered to her purposes literally the whole of his life. Thus -sustained and assisted, thus slaved for and adored, she prepared to -beard the Bison. - -Two facts soon emerged, and all that followed turned upon them. It -became clear, in the first place, that that imposing mass was not -immovable, and, in the second, that its movement, when it did move, -would be exceeding slow. The Bison was no match for the Lady. It was in -vain that he put down his head and planted his feet in the earth; he -could not withstand her; the white hand forced him back. But the process -was an extraordinarily gradual one. Dr. Andrew Smith and all his War -Office phalanx stood behind, blocking the way; the poor Bison groaned -inwardly, and cast a wistful eye towards the happy pastures of the Free -Church of Scotland; then slowly, with infinite reluctance, step by step, -he retreated, disputing every inch of the ground. - -The first great measure, which, supported as it was by the Queen, the -Cabinet, and the united opinion of the country, it was impossible to -resist, was the appointment of a Royal Commission to report upon the -health of the Army. The question of the composition of the Commission -then immediately arose; and it was over this matter that the first -hand-to-hand encounter between Lord Panmure and Miss Nightingale took -place. They met, and Miss Nightingale was victorious; Sidney Herbert was -appointed Chairman; and, in the end, the only member of the Commission -opposed to her views was Dr. Andrew Smith. During the interview, Miss -Nightingale made an important discovery: she found that 'the Bison was -bullyable'--the hide was the hide of a Mexican buffalo, but the spirit -was the spirit of an Alderney calf. And there was one thing above all -others which the huge creature dreaded--an appeal to public opinion. The -faintest hint of such a terrible eventuality made his heart dissolve -within him; he would agree to anything he would cut short his -grouse-shooting--he would make a speech in the House of Lords, he would -even overrule Dr. Andrew Smith--rather than that. Miss Nightingale held -the fearful threat in reserve--she would speak out what she knew; she -would publish the truth to the whole world, and let the whole world -judge between them. With supreme skill, she kept this sword of Damocles -poised above the Bison's head, and more than once she was actually on -the point of really dropping it--for his recalcitrancy grew and grew. - -The personnel of the Commission once determined upon, there was a -struggle, which lasted for six months, over the nature of its powers. -Was it to be an efficient body, armed with the right of full inquiry and -wide examination, or was it to be a polite official contrivance for -exonerating Dr. Andrew Smith? The War Office phalanx closed its ranks, -and fought tooth and nail; but it was defeated: the Bison was bullyable. -'Three months from this day,' Miss Nightingale had written at last, 'I -publish my experience of the Crimean Campaign, and my suggestions for -improvement, unless there has been a fair and tangible pledge by that -time for reform.' - -Who could face that? - -And, if the need came, she meant to be as good as her word. For she had -now determined, whatever might be the fate of the Commission, to draw up -her own report upon the questions at issue. The labour involved was -enormous; her health was almost desperate; but she did not flinch, and -after six months of incredible industry she had put together and written -with her own hand her Notes affecting the Health, Efficiency, and -Hospital Administration of the British Army. This extraordinary -composition, filling more than 800 closely printed pages, laying down -vast principles of far-reaching reform, discussing the minutest details -of a multitude of controversial subjects, containing an enormous mass of -information of the most varied kinds--military, statistical, sanitary, -architectural--was never given to the public, for the need never came; -but it formed the basis of the Report of the Royal Commission; and it -remains to this day the leading authority on the medical administration -of armies. - -Before it had been completed, the struggle over the powers of the -Commission had been brought to a victorious close. Lord Panmure had -given way once more; he had immediately hurried to the Queen to obtain -her consent; and only then, when Her Majesty's initials had been -irrevocably affixed to the fatal document, did he dare to tell Dr. -Andrew Smith what he had done. The Commission met, and another immense -load fell upon Miss Nightingale's shoulders. Today she would, of course, -have been one of the Commission herself; but at that time the idea of a -woman appearing in such a capacity was unheard of; and no one even -suggested the possibility of Miss Nightingale's doing so. The result was -that she was obliged to remain behind the scenes throughout, to coach -Sidney Herbert in private at every important juncture, and to convey to -him and to her other friends upon the Commission the vast funds of her -expert knowledge--so essential in the examination of witnesses--by means -of innumerable consultations, letters, and memoranda. It was even -doubtful whether the proprieties would admit of her giving evidence; and -at last, as a compromise, her modesty only allowed her to do so in the -form of written answers to written questions. At length, the grand -affair was finished. The Commission's Report, embodying almost word for -word the suggestions of Miss Nightingale, was drawn up by Sidney -Herbert. Only one question remained to be answered--would anything, -after all, be done? Or would the Royal Commission, like so many other -Royal Commissions before and since, turn out to have achieved nothing -but the concoction of a very fat bluebook on a very high shelf? - -And so the last and the deadliest struggle with the Bison began. Six -months had been spent in coercing him into granting the Commission -effective powers; six more months were occupied by the work of the -Commission; and now yet another six were to pass in extorting from him -the means whereby the recommendations of the Commission might be -actually carried out. But, in the end, the thing was done. Miss -Nightingale seemed, indeed, during these months, to be upon the very -brink of death. Accompanied by the faithful Aunt Mai, she moved from -place to place--to Hampstead, to Highgate, to Derbyshire, to Malvern--in -what appeared to be a last desperate effort to find health somewhere; -but she carried that with her which made health impossible. Her desire -for work could now scarcely be distinguished from mania. At one moment -she was writing a 'last letter' to Sidney Herbert; at the next she was -offering to go out to India to nurse the sufferers in the Mutiny. When -Dr. Sutherland wrote, imploring her to take a holiday, she raved. -Rest!-- - -'I am lying without my head, without my claws, and you all peck at me. -It is de rigueur, d'obligation, like the saying something to one's hat, -when one goes into church, to say to me all that has been said to me 110 -times a day during the last three months. It is the obbligato on the -violin, and the twelve violins all practise it together, like the clocks -striking twelve o'clock at night all over London, till I say like Xavier -de Maistre, Assez, je sais, je ne le sais que trop. I am not a penitent; -but you are like the R.C. confessor, who says what is de rigueur....' - -Her wits began to turn, and there was no holding her. She worked like a -slave in a mine. She began to believe, as she had begun to believe at -Scutari, that none of her fellow-workers had their hearts in the -business; if they had, why did they not work as she did? She could only -see slackness and stupidity around her. Dr. Sutherland, of course, was -grotesquely muddle-headed; and Arthur Clough incurably lazy. Even Sidney -Herbert ... oh yes, he had simplicity and candour and quickness of -perception, no doubt; but he was an eclectic; and what could one hope -for from a man who went away to fish in Ireland just when the Bison most -needed bullying? As for the Bison himself, he had fled to Scotland where -he remained buried for many months. The fate of the vital recommendation -in the Commission's Report--the appointment of four Sub-Commissions -charged with the duty of determining upon the details of the proposed -reforms and of putting them into execution--still hung in the balance. -The Bison consented to everything; and then, on a flying visit to -London, withdrew his consent and hastily returned to Scotland. Then for -many weeks all business was suspended; he had gout--gout in the -hands--so that he could not write. 'His gout was always handy,' remarked -Miss Nightingale. But eventually it was clear even to the Bison that the -game was up, and the inevitable surrender came. - -There was, however, one point in which he triumphed over Miss -Nightingale: the building of Netley Hospital had been begun under his -orders, before her return to England. Soon after her arrival she -examined the plans, and found that they reproduced all the worst faults -of an out-of-date and mischievous system of hospital construction. She -therefore urged that the matter should be reconsidered, and in the -meantime the building stopped. But the Bison was obdurate; it would be -very expensive, and in any case it was too late. Unable to make any -impression on him, and convinced of the extreme importance of the -question, she determined to appeal to a higher authority. Lord -Palmerston was Prime Minister; she had known him from her childhood; he -was a near neighbour of her father's in the New Forest. She went down to -the New Forest, armed with the plan of the proposed hospital and all the -relevant information, stayed the night at Lord Palmerston's house, and -convinced him of the necessity of rebuilding Netley. - -'It seems to me,' Lord Palmerston wrote to Lord Panmure, 'that at Netley -all consideration of what would best tend to the comfort and recovery of -the patients has been sacrificed to the vanity of the architect, whose -sole object has been to make a building which should cut a dash when -looked at from the Southampton river ... Pray, therefore, stop all -further progress in the work until the matter can be duly considered.' -But the Bison was not to be moved by one peremptory letter, even if it -was from the Prime Minister. He put forth all his powers of -procrastination, Lord Palmerston lost interest in the subject, and so -the chief military hospital in England was triumphantly completed on -insanitary principles, with unventilated rooms, and with all the -patients' windows facing northeast. - -But now the time had come when the Bison was to trouble and to be -troubled no more. A vote in the House of Commons brought about the fall -of Lord Palmerston's Government, and, Lord Panmure found himself at -liberty to devote the rest of his life to the Free Church of Scotland. -After a brief interval, Sidney Herbert became Secretary of State for -War. Great was the jubilation in the Nightingale Cabinet: the day of -achievement had dawned at last. The next two and a half years (1859-61) -saw the introduction of the whole system of reforms for which Miss -Nightingale had been struggling so fiercely--reforms which make Sidney -Herbert's tenure of power at the War Office an important epoch in the -history of the British Army. The four Sub-Commissions, firmly -established under the immediate control of the Minister, and urged -forward by the relentless perseverance of Miss Nightingale, set to work -with a will. The barracks and the hospitals were remodelled; they were -properly ventilated and warmed and lighted for the first time; they were -given a water supply which actually supplied water, and kitchens where, -strange to say, it was possible to cook. Then the great question of the -Purveyor--that portentous functionary whose powers and whose lack of -powers had weighed like a nightmare upon Scutari--was taken in hand, and -new regulations were laid down, accurately defining his responsibilities -and his duties. One Sub-Commission reorganised the medical statistics of -the Army; another established in spite of the last convulsive efforts of -the Department an Army Medical School. Finally, the Army Medical -Department itself was completely reorganised; an administrative code was -drawn up; and the great and novel principle was established that it was -as much a part of the duty of the authorities to look after the -soldier's health as to look after his sickness. Besides this, it was at -last officially admitted that he had a moral and intellectual side. -Coffee-rooms and reading-rooms, gymnasiums and workshops were -instituted. A new era did in truth appear to have begun. Already by 1861 -the mortality in the Army had decreased by one-half since the days of -the Crimea. It was no wonder that even vaster possibilities began now to -open out before Miss Nightingale. One thing was still needed to complete -and to assure her triumphs. The Army Medical Department was indeed -reorganised; but the great central machine was still untouched. The War -Office itself--! If she could remould that nearer to her heart's -desire--there indeed would be a victory! And until that final act was -accomplished, how could she be certain that all the rest of her -achievements might not, by some capricious turn of Fortune's wheel--a -change of Ministry, perhaps, replacing Sidney Herbert by some puppet of -the permanent official gang--be swept to limbo in a moment? - -Meanwhile, still ravenous for yet more and more work, her activities had -branched out into new directions. The Army in India claimed her -attention. A Sanitary Commission, appointed at her suggestion, and -working under her auspices, did for our troops there what the four -Sub-Commissions were doing for those at home. At the same time, these -very years which saw her laying the foundations of the whole modern -system of medical work in the Army, saw her also beginning to bring her -knowledge, her influence, and her activity into the service of the -country at large. Her "Notes on Hospitals" (1859) revolutionised the -theory of hospital construction and hospital management. She was -immediately recognised as the leading expert upon all the questions -involved; her advice flowed unceasingly and in all directions, so that -there is no great hospital today which does not bear upon it the impress -of her mind. Nor was this all. With the opening of the Nightingale -Training School for Nurses at St. Thomas's Hospital (1860), she became -the founder of modern nursing. - -But a terrible crisis was now fast approaching. Sidney Herbert had -consented to undertake the root and branch reform of the War Office. He -had sallied forth into that tropical jungle of festooned -obstructiveness, of intertwisted irresponsibilities, of crouching -prejudices, of abuses grown stiff and rigid with antiquity, which for so -many years to come was destined to lure reforming Ministers to their -doom. - -'The War Office,' said Miss Nightingale, 'is a very slow office, an -enormously expensive office, and one in which the Minister's intentions -can be entirely negated by all his sub-departments, and those of each of -the sub-departments by every other.' - -It was true; and of course, at the, first rumour of a change, the old -phalanx of reaction was bristling with its accustomed spears. At its -head stood no longer Dr. Andrew Smith, who, some time since, had -followed the Bison into outer darkness, but a yet more formidable -figure, the Permanent Under-Secretary himself, Sir Benjamin Hawes--Ben -Hawes the Nightingale Cabinet irreverently dubbed him 'a man remarkable -even among civil servants for adroitness in baffling inconvenient -inquiries, resource in raising false issues, and, in, short, a -consummate command of all the arts of officially sticking in the mud'. - -'Our scheme will probably result in Ben Hawes's resignation,' Miss -Nightingale said; 'and that is another of its advantages.' Ben Hawes -himself, however, did not quite see it in that light. He set himself to -resist the wishes of the Minister by every means in his power. The -struggle was long, and desperate; and, as it proceeded, it gradually -became evident to Miss Nightingale that something was the matter with -Sidney Herbert. What was it? His health, never very strong, was, he -said, in danger of collapsing under the strain of his work. But, after -all, what is illness, when there is a War Office to be reorganised? Then -he began to talk of retiring altogether from public life. The doctors -were consulted, and declared that, above all things, what was necessary -was rest. Rest! She grew seriously alarmed. Was it possible that, at the -last moment, the crowning wreath of victory was to be snatched from her -grasp? She was not to be put aside by doctors; they were talking -nonsense; the necessary thing was not rest, but the reform of the War -Office; and, besides, she knew very well from her own case what one -could do even when one was on the point of death. - -She expostulated vehemently, passionately; the goal was so near, so very -near; he could not turn back now! At any rate, he could not resist Miss -Nightingale. A compromise was arranged. Very reluctantly, he exchanged -the turmoil of the House of Commons for the dignity of the House of -Lords, and he remained at the War Office. She was delighted. 'One fight -more, the best and the last,' she said. - -For several more months the fight did indeed go on. But the strain upon -him was greater even than she perhaps could realise. Besides the -intestine war in his office, he had to face a constant battle in the -Cabinet with Mr. Gladstone--a more redoubtable antagonist even than Ben -Hawes--over the estimates. His health grew worse and worse. He was -attacked by fainting-fits; and there were some days when he could only -just keep himself going by gulps of brandy. Miss Nightingale spurred him -forward with her encouragements and her admonitions, her zeal and her -example. But at last his spirit began to sink as well as his body. He -could no longer hope; he could no longer desire; it was useless, all -useless; it was utterly impossible. He had failed. The dreadful moment -came when the truth was forced upon him: he would never be able to -reform the War Office. But a yet more dreadful moment lay behind; he -must go to Miss Nightingale and tell her that he was a failure, a beaten -man. - -'Blessed are the merciful!' What strange ironic prescience had led -Prince Albert, in the simplicity of his heart, to choose that motto for -the Crimean brooch? The words hold a double lesson; and, alas! when she -brought herself to realise at length what was indeed the fact and what -there was no helping, it was not in mercy that she turned upon her old -friend. - -'Beaten!' she exclaimed. 'Can't you see that you've simply thrown away -the game? And with all the winning cards in your hands! And so noble a -game! Sidney Herbert beaten! And beaten by Ben Hawes! It is a worse -disgrace ...' her full rage burst out at last, '... a worse disgrace -than the hospitals at Scutari.' - -He dragged himself away from her, dragged himself to Spa, hoping vainly -for a return to health, and then, despairing, back again to England, to -Wilton, to the majestic house standing there resplendent in the summer -sunshine, among the great cedars which had lent their shade to Sir -Philip Sidney, and all those familiar, darling haunts of beauty which he -loved, each one of them, 'as if they were persons'; and at, Wilton he -died. After having received the Eucharist, he had become perfectly calm; -then, almost unconscious, his lips were seen to be moving. Those about -him bent down. 'Poor Florence! Poor Florence!' they just caught.' ... -Our joint work ... unfinished ... tried to do ...' and they could hear -no more. - -When the onward rush of a powerful spirit sweeps a weaker one to its -destruction, the commonplaces of the moral judgment are better left -unmade. If Miss Nightingale had been less ruthless, Sidney Herbert would -not have perished; but then, she would not have been Miss Nightingale. -The force that created was the force that destroyed. It was her Demon -that was responsible. When the fatal news reached her, she was overcome -by agony. In the revulsion of her feelings, she made a worship of the -dead man's memory; and the facile instrument which had broken in her -hand she spoke of forever after as her 'Master'. Then, almost at the -same moment, another blow fell on her. Arthur Clough, worn out by -labours very different from those of Sidney Herbert, died too: never -more would he tie up her parcels. And yet a third disaster followed. The -faithful Aunt Mai did not, to be sure, die; no, she did something almost -worse: she left Miss Nightingale. She was growing old, and she felt that -she had closer and more imperative duties with her own family. Her niece -could hardly forgive her. She poured out, in one of her enormous -letters, a passionate diatribe upon the faithlessness, the lack of -sympathy, the stupidity, the ineptitude of women. Her doctrines had -taken no hold among them; she had never known one who had appris a -apprendre; she could not even get a woman secretary; 'they don't know -the names of the Cabinet Ministers--they don't know which of the -Churches has Bishops and which not'. As for the spirit of -self-sacrifice, well--Sidney Herbert and Arthur Clough were men, and -they indeed had shown their devotion; but women--! She would mount three -widow's caps 'for a sign'. The first two would be for Clough and for her -Master; but the third--'the biggest widow's cap of all'--would be for -Aunt Mai. She did well to be angry; she was deserted in her hour of -need; and after all, could she be sure that even the male sex was so -impeccable? There was Dr. Sutherland, bungling as usual. Perhaps even he -intended to go off one of these days, too? She gave him a look, and he -shivered in his shoes. No!--she grinned sardonically; she would always -have Dr. Sutherland. And then she reflected that there was one thing -more that she would always have--her work. - - -IV - -SIDNEY HERBERT'S death finally put an end to Miss Nightingale's dream of -a reformed War Office. For a moment, indeed, in the first agony of her -disappointment, she had wildly clutched at a straw; she had written to -M. Gladstone to beg him to take up the burden of Sidney Herbert's work. -And Mr. Gladstone had replied with a sympathetic account of the funeral. - -Succeeding Secretaries of State managed between them to undo a good deal -of what had been accomplished, but they could not undo it all; and for -ten years more (1862-72) Miss Nightingale remained a potent influence at -the War Office. After that, her direct connection with the Army came to -an end, and her energies began to turn more and more completely towards -more general objects. Her work upon hospital reform assumed enormous -proportions; she was able to improve the conditions in infirmaries and -workhouses; and one of her most remarkable papers forestalls the -recommendations of the Poor Law Commission of 1909. Her training, school -for nurses, with all that it involved in initiative, control, -responsibillity, and combat, would have been enough in itself to have -absorbed the whole efforts of at least two lives of ordinary vigour. And -at the same time her work in connection with India, which had begun with -the Sanitary Commission on the Indian Army, spread and ramified in a -multitude of directions. Her tentacles reached the India Office and -succeeded in establishing a hold even upon those slippery high places. -For many years it was de rigueur for the newly appointed Viceroy, before -he left England, to pay a visit to Miss Nightingale. - -After much hesitation, she had settled down in a small house in South -Street, where she remained for the rest of her life. That life was a -very long one; the dying woman reached her ninety-first year. Her ill -health gradually diminished; the crises of extreme danger became less -frequent, and at last altogether ceased; she remained an invalid, but an -invalid of a curious character--an invalid who was too weak to walk -downstairs and who worked far harder than most Cabinet Ministers. Her -illness, whatever it may have been, was certainly not inconvenient. It -involved seclusion; and an extraordinary, an unparalleled seclusion was, -it might almost have been said, the mainspring of Miss Nightingale's -life. Lying on her sofa in the little upper room in South Street, she -combined the intense vitality of a dominating woman of the world with -the mysterious and romantic quality of a myth. She was a legend in her -lifetime, and she knew it. She tasted the joys of power, like those -Eastern Emperors whose autocratic rule was based upon invisibility, with -the mingled satisfactions of obscurity and fame. - -And she found the machinery of illness hardly less effective as a -barrier against the eyes of men than the ceremonial of a palace. Great -statesmen and renowned generals were obliged to beg for audiences; -admiring princesses from foreign countries found that they must see her -at her own time, or not at all; and the ordinary mortal had no hope of -ever getting beyond the downstairs sitting-room and Dr. Sutherland. For -that indefatigable disciple did, indeed, never desert her. He might be -impatient, he might be restless, but he remained. His 'incurable -looseness of thought', for so she termed it, continued at her service to -the end. Once, it is true, he had actually ventured to take a holiday; -but he was recalled, and he did not repeat the experiment. He was wanted -downstairs. There he sat, transacting business answering correspondence, -interviewing callers, and exchanging innumerable notes with the unseen -power above. Sometimes word came down that Miss Nightingale was just -well enough to see one of her visitors. The fortunate man was led up, -was ushered, trembling, into the shaded chamber, and, of course, could -never afterwards forget the interview. Very rarely, indeed, once or -twice a year, perhaps, but nobody could be quite certain, in deadly -secrecy, Miss Nightingale went out for a drive in the Park. -Unrecognised, the living legend flitted for a moment before the common -gaze. And the precaution was necessary; for there were times when, at -some public function, the rumour of her presence was spread abroad; and -ladies, mistaken by the crowd for Miss Nightingale, were followed, -pressed upon, vehemently supplicated 'Let me touch your shawl'; 'Let me -stroke your arm'; such was the strange adoration in the hearts of the -people. That vast reserve of force lay there behind her; she could use -it, if she could. But she preferred never to use it. On occasions, she -might hint or threaten, she might balance the sword of Damocles over the -head of the Bison; she might, by a word, by a glance, remind some -refractory Minister, some unpersuadable Viceroy, sitting in audience -with her in the little upper room, that she was something more than a -mere sick woman, that she had only, so to speak, to go to the window and -wave her handkerchief, for ... dreadful things to follow. But that was -enough; they understood; the myth was there--obvious, portentous, -impalpable; and so it remained to the last. - -With statesmen and governors at her beck and call, with her hands on a -hundred strings, with mighty provinces at her feet, with foreign -governments agog for her counsel, building hospitals, training -nurses--she still felt that she had not enough to do. She sighed for -more worlds to conquer--more, and yet more. - -She looked about her--what was left? Of course! Philosophy! After the -world of action, the world of thought. Having set right the health of -the British Army, she would now do the same good service for the -religious convictions of mankind. She had long noticed--with regret--the -growing tendency towards free-thinking among artisans. With regret, but -not altogether with surprise, the current teaching of Christianity was -sadly to seek; nay, Christianity itself was not without its defects. She -would rectify these errors. She would correct the mistakes of the -Churches; she would point out just where Christianity was wrong; and she -would explain to the artisans what the facts of the case really were. -Before her departure for the Crimea, she had begun this work; and now, -in the intervals of her other labours, she completed it. Her -'Suggestions for Thought to the Searchers After Truth Among the Artisans -of England' (1860), unravels, in the course of three portly volumes, the -difficulties hitherto, curiously enough, unsolved--connected with such -matters as Belief in God, the Plan of Creation, the Origin of Evil, the -Future Life, Necessity and Free Will, Law, and the Nature of Morality. - -The Origin of Evil, in particular, held no perplexities for Miss -Nightingale. 'We cannot conceive,' she remarks, 'that Omnipotent -Righteousness would find satisfaction in solitary existence.' This -being, so, the only question remaining to be asked is: 'What beings -should we then conceive that God would create?' Now, He cannot create -perfect beings, 'since, essentially, perfection is one'; if He did so, -He would only be adding to Himself. Thus the conclusion is obvious: He -must create imperfect ones. Omnipotent Righteousness, faced by the -intolerable impasse of a solitary existence, finds itself bound by the -very nature of the cause, to create the hospitals at Scutari. Whether -this argument would have satisfied the artisans was never discovered, -for only a very few copies of the book were printed for private -circulation. One copy was sent to Mr. Mill, who acknowledged it in an -extremely polite letter. He felt himself obliged, however, to confess -that he had not been altogether convinced by Miss Nightingale's proof of -the existence of God. Miss Nightingale was surprised and mortified; she -had thought better of Mr. Mill; for surely her proof of the existence of -God could hardly be improved upon. 'A law,' she had pointed out, -'implies a law-giver.' Now the Universe is full of laws--the law of -gravitation, the law of the excluded middle, and many others; hence it -follows that the Universe has a law-giver--and what would Mr. Mill be -satisfied with, if he was not satisfied with that? - -Perhaps Mr. Mill might have asked why the argument had not been pushed -to its logical conclusion. Clearly, if we are to trust the analogy of -human institutions, we must remember that laws are, as a matter of fact, -not dispensed by lawgivers, but passed by Act of Parliament. Miss -Nightingale, however, with all her experience of public life, never -stopped to consider the question whether God might not be a Limited -Monarchy. Yet her conception of God was certainly not orthodox. She felt -towards Him as she might have felt towards a glorified sanitary -engineer; and in some of her speculations she seems hardly to -distinguish between the Deity and the Drains. As one turns over these -singular pages, one has the impression that Miss Nightingale has got the -Almighty too into her clutches, and that, if He is not careful, she will -kill Him with overwork. - -Then, suddenly, in the very midst of the ramifying generalities of her -metaphysical disquisitions, there is an unexpected turn and the reader -is plunged all at once into something particular, something personal, -something impregnated with intense experience--a virulent invective upon -the position of women in the upper ranks of society. Forgetful alike of -her high argument and of the artisans, the bitter creature rails through -a hundred pages of close print at the falsities of family life, the -ineptitudes of marriage, the emptinesses of convention, in the spirit of -an Ibsen or a Samuel Butler. Her fierce pen, shaking with intimate -anger, depicts in biting sentences the fearful fate of an unmarried girl -in a wealthy household. It is a cri du coeur; and then, as suddenly, she -returns once more to instruct the artisans upon the nature of Omnipotent -Righteousness. - -Her mind was, indeed, better qualified to dissect the concrete and -distasteful fruits of actual life than to construct a coherent system of -abstract philosophy. In spite of her respect for Law, she was never at -home with a generalisation. Thus, though the great achievement of her -life lay in the immense impetus which she gave to the scientific -treatment of sickness, a true comprehension of the scientific method -itself was alien to her spirit. Like most great men of action--perhaps -like all--she was simply an empiricist. She believed in what she saw, -and she acted accordingly; beyond that she would not go. She had found -in Scutari that fresh air and light played an effective part in the -prevention of the maladies with which she had to deal; and that was -enough for her; she would not inquire further; what were the general -principles underlying that fact--or even whether there were any--she -refused to consider. Years after the discoveries of Pasteur and Lister, -she laughed at what she called the 'germ-fetish'. There was no such -thing as 'infection'; she had never seen it, therefore it did not exist. -But she had seen the good effects of fresh air; therefore, there could -be no doubt about them; and therefore, it was essential that the -bedrooms of patients should be well ventilated. Such was her doctrine; -and in those days of hermetically scaled windows it was a very valuable -one. But it was a purely empirical doctrine, and thus it led to some -unfortunate results. When, for instance, her influence in India was at -its height, she issued orders that all hospital windows should be -invariably kept open. The authorities, who knew what an open window in -the hot weather meant, protested, but in vain; Miss Nightingale was -incredulous. She knew nothing of the hot weather, but she did know the -value of fresh air--from personal experience; the authorities were -talking nonsense; and the windows must be kept open all the year round. -There was a great outcry from all the doctors in India, but she was -firm; and for a moment it seemed possible that her terrible commands -would have to be put into execution. Lord Lawrence, however, was -Viceroy, and he was able to intimate to Miss Nightingale, with -sufficient authority, that himself had decided upon the question, and -that his decision must stand, even against her own. Upon that she gave -way, but reluctantly and quite unconvinced; she was only puzzled by the -unexpected weakness of Lord Lawrence. No doubt, if she had lived today, -and if her experience had lain, not among cholera cases at Scutari, but -among yellow-fever cases in Panama, she would have declared fresh air a -fetish, and would have maintained to her dying day that the only really -effective way of dealing with disease was by the destruction of -mosquitoes. - -Yet her mind, so positive, so realistic, so ultra-practical, had its -singular revulsions, its mysterious moods of mysticism and of doubt. At -times, lying sleepless in the early hours, she fell into long, strange, -agonised meditations, and then, seizing a pencil, she would commit to -paper the confessions of her soul. The morbid longings of her -pre-Crimean days came over her once more; she filled page after page -with self-examination, self-criticism, self-surrender. 'Oh Father,' she -wrote, 'I submit, I resign myself, I accept with all my heart, this -stretching out of Thy hand to save me.... Oh how vain it is, the vanity -of vanities, to live in men's thoughts instead of God's!' - -She was lonely, she was miserable. 'Thou knowest that through all these -horrible twenty years, I have been supported by the belief that I was -working with Thee who would bring everyone, even our poor nurses, to -perfection'--and yet, after all, what was the result? Had not even she -been an unprofitable servant? One night, waking suddenly, she saw, in -the dim light of the night-lamp, tenebrous shapes upon the wall. The -past rushed back upon her. 'Am I she who once stood on that Crimean -height?' she wildly asked--'The Lady with a lamp shall stand.... The lamp -shows me only my utter shipwreck.' - -She sought consolation in the writings of the Mystics and in a -correspondence with Mr. Jowett. For many years the Master of Balliol -acted as her spiritual adviser. He discussed with her in a series of -enormous letters the problems of religion and philosophy; he criticised -her writings on those subjects with the tactful sympathy of a cleric who -was also a man of the world; and he even ventured to attempt at times to -instil into her rebellious nature some of his own peculiar suavity. 'I -sometimes think,' he told her, 'that you ought seriously to consider how -your work may be carried on, not with less energy, but in a calmer -spirit. I am not blaming the past ... But I want the peace of God to -settle on the future.' He recommended her to spend her time no longer in -'conflicts with Government offices', and to take up some literary work. -He urged her to 'work out her notion of Divine Perfection', in a series -of essays for Frazer's Magazine. She did so; and the result was -submitted to Mr. Froude, who pronounced the second essay to be 'even -more pregnant than the first. I cannot tell,' he said, 'how sanitary, -with disordered intellects, the effects of such papers will be.' - -Mr. Carlyle, indeed, used different language, and some remarks of his -about a lost lamb bleating on the mountains, having been unfortunately -repeated to Miss Nightingale, required all Mr. Jowett's suavity to keep -the peace. In a letter of fourteen sheets, he turned her attention from -this painful topic towards a discussion of Quietism. 'I don't see why,' -said the Master of Balliol, 'active life might not become a sort of -passive life too.' And then, he added, 'I sometimes fancy there are -possibilities of human character much greater than have been realised.' -She found such sentiments helpful, underlining them in blue pencil; and, -in return, she assisted her friend with a long series of elaborate -comments upon the Dialogues of Plato, most of which he embodied in the -second edition of his translation. Gradually her interest became more -personal; she told him never to work again after midnight, and he obeyed -her. Then she helped him to draw up a special form of daily service for -the College Chapel, with selections from the Psalms under the heads of -'God the Lord, God the judge, God the Father, and God the -Friend'--though, indeed, this project was never realised; for the Bishop -of Oxford disallowed the alterations, exercising his legal powers, on -the advice of Sir Travers Twiss. - -Their relations became intimate. 'The spirit of the Twenty-third Psalm -and the spirit of the Nineteenth Psalm should be united in our lives,' -Mr. Jowett said. Eventually, she asked him to do her a singular favour. -Would he, knowing what he did of her religious views, come to London and -administer to her the Holy Sacrament? He did not hesitate, and -afterwards declared that he would always regard the occasion as a solemn -event in his life. He was devoted to her--though the precise nature of -his feelings towards her never quite transpired. Her feelings towards -him were more mixed. At first, he was 'that great and good man'--'that -true saint, Mr. Jowett'; but, as time went on, some gall was mingled -with the balm; the acrimony of her nature asserted itself. She felt that -she gave more sympathy than she received; she was exhausted, and she was -annoyed by his conversation. Her tongue, one day, could not refrain from -shooting out at him: 'He comes to me, and he talks to me,' she said, 'as -if I were someone else.' - - -V - -AT one time she had almost decided to end her life in retirement as a -patient at St. Thomas's Hospital. But partly owing to the persuasions of -Mr. Jowett, she changed her mind; for forty-five years she remained in -South Street; and in South Street she died. As old age approached, -though her influence with the official world gradually diminished, her -activities seemed to remain as intense and widespread as before. When -hospitals were to be built, when schemes of sanitary reform were in -agitation, when wars broke out, she was still the adviser of all Europe. -Still, with a characteristic self-assurance, she watched from her -Mayfair bedroom over the welfare of India. Still, with an indefatigable -enthusiasm, she pushed forward the work, which, perhaps, was nearer to -her heart, more completely her own, than all the rest--the training of -nurses. In her moments of deepest depression, when her greatest -achievements seemed to lose their lustre, she thought of her nurses, and -was comforted. The ways of God, she found, were strange indeed. 'How -inefficient I was in the Crimea,' she noted. 'Yet He has raised up from -it trained nursing.' - -At other times, she was better satisfied. Looking back, she was amazed -by the enormous change which, since her early days, had come over the -whole treatment of illness, the whole conception of public and domestic -health--a change in which, she knew, she had played her part. One of her -Indian admirers, the Aga Khan, came to visit her. She expatiated on the -marvellous advances she had lived to see in the management of -hospitals--in drainage, in ventilation, in sanitary work of every kind. -There was a pause; and then, 'Do you think you are improving?' asked the -Aga Khan. She was a little taken aback, and said, 'What do you mean by -"improving"?' He replied, 'Believing more in God.' She saw that he had a -view of God which was different from hers. 'A most interesting man,' she -noted after the interview; 'but you could never teach him sanitation.' - -When old age actually came, something curious happened. Destiny, having -waited very patiently, played a queer trick on Miss Nightingale. The -benevolence and public spirit of that long life had only been equalled -by its acerbity. Her virtue had dwelt in hardness, and she had poured -forth her unstinted usefulness with a bitter smile upon her lips. And -now the sarcastic years brought the proud woman her punishment. She was -not to die as she had lived. The sting was to be taken out of her; she -was to be made soft; she was to be reduced to compliance and -complacency. The change came gradually, but at last it was unmistakable. -The terrible commander who had driven Sidney Herbert to his death, to -whom Mr. Jowett had applied the words of Homer, amoton memaniia--raging -insatiably--now accepted small compliments with gratitude, and indulged -in sentimental friendships with young girls. The author of "Notes on -Nursing"--that classical compendium of the besetting sins of the -sisterhood, drawn up with the detailed acrimony, the vindictive relish, -of a Swift--now spent long hours in composing sympathetic Addresses to -Probationers, whom she petted and wept over in turn. And, at the same -time, there appeared a corresponding alteration in her physical mood. -The thin, angular woman, with her haughty eye and her acrid mouth, had -vanished; and in her place was the rounded, bulky form of a fat old -lady, smiling all day long. Then something else became visible. The -brain which had been steeled at Scutari was indeed, literally, growing -soft. Senility--an ever more and more amiable senility--descended. -Towards the end, consciousness itself grew lost in a roseate haze, and -melted into nothingness. - -It was just then, three years before her death, when she was -eighty-seven years old (1907), that those in authority bethought them -that the opportune moment had come for bestowing a public honour on -Florence Nightingale. She was offered the Order of Merit. That Order, -whose roll contains, among other distinguished names, those of Sir -Lawrence Alma Tadema and Sir Edward Elgar, is remarkable chiefly for the -fact that, as its title indicates, it is bestowed because its recipient -deserves it, and for no other reason. Miss Nightingale's representatives -accepted the honour, and her name, after a lapse of many years, once -more appeared in the Press. Congratulations from all sides came pouring -in. There was a universal burst of enthusiasm--a final revivification of -the ancient myth. Among her other admirers, the German Emperor took this -opportunity of expressing his feelings towards her. 'His Majesty,' wrote -the German Ambassador, 'having just brought to a close a most enjoyable -stay in the beautiful neighbourhood of your old home near Romsey, has -commanded me to present you with some flowers as a token of his esteem.' -Then, by Royal command, the Order of Merit was brought to South Street, -and there was a little ceremony of presentation. Sir Douglas Dawson, -after a short speech, stepped forward, and handed the insignia of the -Order to Miss Nightingale. Propped up by pillows, she dimly recognised -that some compliment was being paid her. 'Too kind--too kind,' she -murmured; and she was not ironical. - - BIBLIOGRAPHY - - Sir E. Cook. Life of Florence Nightingale. - A. W. Kinglake. The Invasion of the Crimea. - Lord Sidney Godolphin Osborne. Scutari and its Hospitals. - S. M. Mitra. Life of Sir John Hall. - Lord Stanmore. Sidney Herbert. - Sir G. Douglas. The Panmure Papers. - Sir H. Maxwell. Life and Letters of the Fourth Earl of Clarendon. - - E. Abbott and L. Campbell. Life and Letters of Benjamin Jowett. - A.H. Clough. Poems and Memoir. - - - - -Dr. Arnold - - -IN 1827 the headmastership of Rugby School fell vacant, and it became -necessary for the twelve trustees, noblemen and gentlemen of -Warwickshire, to appoint a successor to the post. Reform was in the -air--political, social, religious; there was even a feeling abroad that -our great public schools were not quite all that they should be, and -that some change or other--no one precisely knew what--but some change -in the system of their management, was highly desirable. Thus it was -natural that when the twelve noblemen and gentlemen, who had determined -to be guided entirely by the merits of the candidates, found among the -testimonials pouring in upon them a letter from Dr. Hawkins, the Provost -of Oriel, predicting that if they elected Mr. Thomas Arnold he would -'change the face of education all through the public schools of -England', they hesitated no longer; obviously, Mr. Thomas Arnold was -their man. He was elected therefore; received, as was fitting, priest's -orders; became, as was no less fitting, a Doctor of Divinity; and in -August, 1828, took up the duties of his office. - -All that was known of the previous life of Dr. Arnold seemed to justify -the prediction of the Provost of Oriel, and the choice of the Trustees. -The son of a respectable Collector of Customs, he had been educated at -Winchester and at Oxford, where his industry and piety had given him a -conspicuous place among his fellow students. It is true that, as a -schoolboy, a certain pompousness in the style of his letters home -suggested to the more clear-sighted among his relatives the possibility -that young Thomas might grow up into a prig; but, after all, what else -could be expected from a child who, at the age of three, had been -presented by his father, as a reward for proficiency in his studies, -with the twenty-four volumes of Smollett's History of England? - -His career at Oxford had been a distinguished one, winding up with an -Oriel fellowship. It was at about this time that the smooth and -satisfactory progress of his life was for a moment interrupted: he began -to be troubled by religious doubts. These doubts, as we learn from one -of his contemporaries, who afterwards became Mr. Justice Coleridge, - -'were not low nor rationalistic in their tendency, according to the bad -sense of that term; there was no indisposition in him to believe merely -because the article transcended his reason, he doubted the proof and the -interpretation of the textual authority'. - -In his perturbation, Arnold consulted Keble, who was at that time one of -his closest friends, and a Fellow of the same College. - -'The subject of these distressing thoughts,' Keble wrote to Coleridge, -'is that most awful one, on which all very inquisitive reasoning minds -are, I believe, most liable to such temptations--I mean, the doctrine of -the blessed Trinity. Do not start, my dear Coleridge; I do not believe -that Arnold has any serious scruples of the UNDERSTANDING about it, but -it is a defect of his mind that he cannot get rid of a certain feeling -of objections.' What was to be done? Keble's advice was peremptory. -Arnold was 'bid to pause in his inquiries, to pray earnestly for help -and light from above, and turn himself more strongly than ever to the -practical duties of a holy life'. He did so, and the result was all that -could be wished. He soon found himself blessed with perfect peace of -mind, and a settled conviction. - -One other difficulty, and one only, we hear of at this point in his -life. His dislike of early rising amounted, we are told, 'almost to a -constitutional infirmity'. This weakness too he overcame, yet not quite -so successfully as his doubts upon the doctrine of the Trinity. For in -afterlife, the Doctor would often declare 'that early rising continued -to be a daily effort to him and that in this instance he never found the -truth of the usual rule that all things are made easy by custom. - -He married young and settled down in the country as a private tutor for -youths preparing for the Universities. There he remained for ten -years--happy, busy, and sufficiently prosperous. Occupied chiefly with -his pupils, he nevertheless devoted much of his energy to wider -interests. He delivered a series of sermons in the parish church; and he -began to write a History of Rome, in the hope, as he said, that its tone -might be such 'that the strictest of what is called the Evangelical -party would not object to putting it into the hands of their children'. -His views on the religious and political condition of the country began -to crystallise. He was alarmed by the 'want of Christian principle in -the literature of the day', looking forward anxiously to 'the approach -of a greater struggle between good and evil than the world has yet -seen'; and, after a serious conversation with Dr. Whately, began to -conceive the necessity of considerable alterations in the Church -Establishment. - -All who knew him during these years were profoundly impressed by the -earnestness of his religious convictions and feelings, which, as one -observer said, 'were ever bursting forth'. It was impossible to -disregard his 'deep consciousness of the invisible world' and 'the -peculiar feeling of love and adoration which he entertained towards our -Lord Jesus Christ'. 'His manner of awful reverence when speaking of God -or of the Scriptures' was particularly striking. 'No one could know him -even a little,' said another friend, 'and not be struck by his absolute -wrestling with evil, so that like St. Paul, he seemed to be battling -with the wicked one, and yet with a feeling of God's help on his side.' - -Such was the man who, at the age of thirty-three, became headmaster of -Rugby. His outward appearance was the index of his inward character; -everything about him denoted energy, earnestness, and the best -intentions. His legs, perhaps, were shorter than they should have been; -but the sturdy athletic frame, especially when it was swathed (as it -usually was) in the flowing robes of a Doctor of Divinity, was full of -an imposing vigour; and his head, set decisively upon the collar, stock, -and bands of ecclesiastical tradition, clearly belonged to a person of -eminence. The thick, dark clusters of his hair, his bushy eyebrows and -curling whiskers, his straight nose and bulky chin, his firm and -upward-curving lower lip--all these revealed a temperament of ardour and -determination. His eyes were bright and large; they were also obviously -honest. And yet--why was it? Was it in the lines of the mouth or the -frown on the forehead?--it was hard to say, but it was -unmistakable--there was a slightly puzzled look upon the face of Dr. -Arnold. - -And certainly, if he was to fulfil the prophecy of the Provost of Oriel, -the task before him was sufficiently perplexing. The public schools of -those days were still virgin forests, untouched by the hand of reform. -Keate was still reigning at Eton; and we possess, in the records of his -pupils, a picture of the public school education of the early nineteenth -century, in its most characteristic state. It was a system of anarchy -tempered by despotism. Hundreds of boys, herded together in -miscellaneous boarding-houses, or in that grim 'Long Chamber' at whose -name in after years aged statesmen and warriors would turn pale, lived, -badgered and overawed by the furious incursions of an irascible little -old man carrying a bundle of birch-twigs, a life in which licensed -barbarism was mingled with the daily and hourly study of the niceties of -Ovidian verse. It was a life of freedom and terror, of prosody and -rebellion, of interminable floggings and appalling practical jokes. -Keate ruled, unaided--for the undermasters were few and of no -account--by sheer force of character. But there were times when even -that indomitable will was overwhelmed by the flood of lawlessness. Every -Sunday afternoon he attempted to read sermons to the whole school -assembled; and every Sunday afternoon the whole school assembled shouted -him down. The scenes in Chapel were far from edifying; while some -antique Fellow doddered in the pulpit, rats would be let loose to scurry -among the legs of the exploding boys. But next morning the hand of -discipline would reassert itself; and the savage ritual of the -whipping-block would remind a batch of whimpering children that, though -sins against man and God might be forgiven them, a false quantity could -only be expiated in tears and blood. - -From two sides this system of education was beginning to be assailed by -the awakening public opinion of the upper middle classes. On the one -hand, there was a desire for a more liberal curriculum; on the other, -there was a demand for a higher moral tone. The growing utilitarianism -of the age viewed with impatience a course of instruction which excluded -every branch of knowledge except classical philology; while its growing -respectability was shocked by such a spectacle of disorder and brutality -as was afforded by the Eton of Keate. 'The public schools,' said the -Rev. Mr. Bowdler, 'are the very seats and nurseries of vice.' - -Dr. Arnold agreed. He was convinced of the necessity for reform. But it -was only natural that to one of his temperament and education it should -have been the moral rather than the intellectual side of the question -which impressed itself upon his mind. Doubtless it was important to -teach boys something more than the bleak rigidities of the ancient -tongues; but how much more important to instil into them the elements of -character and the principles of conduct! His great object, throughout -his career at Rugby, was, as he repeatedly said, to 'make the school a -place of really Christian education'. To introduce 'a religious -principle into education', was his 'most earnest wish', he wrote to a -friend when he first became headmaster; 'but to do this would be to -succeed beyond all my hopes; it would be a happiness so great, that, I -think, the world would yield me nothing comparable to it'. And he was -constantly impressing these sentiments upon his pupils. 'What I have -often said before,' he told them, 'I repeat now: what we must look for -here is, first, religious and moral principle; secondly, gentlemanly -conduct; and thirdly, intellectual ability.' - -There can be no doubt that Dr. Arnold's point of view was shared by the -great mass of English parents. They cared very little for classical -scholarship; no doubt they would be pleased to find that their sons were -being instructed in history or in French; but their real hopes, their -real wishes, were of a very different kind. 'Shall I tell him to mind -his work, and say he's sent to school to make himself a good scholar?' -meditated old Squire Brown when he was sending off Tom for the first -time to Rugby. - -'Well, but he isn't sent to school for that--at any rate, not for that -mainly. I don't care a straw for Greek particles, or the digamma; no -more does his mother. What is he sent to school for?... If he'll only -turn out a brave, helpful, truth-telling Englishman, and a Christian, -that's all I want.' - -That was all; and it was that that Dr. Arnold set himself to accomplish. -But how was he to achieve his end? Was he to improve the character of -his pupils by gradually spreading around them an atmosphere of -cultivation and intelligence? By bringing them into close and friendly -contact with civilised men, and even, perhaps, with civilised women? By -introducing into the life of his school all that he could of the humane, -enlightened, and progressive elements in the life of the community? On -the whole, he thought not. Such considerations left him cold, and he -preferred to be guided by the general laws of Providence. It only -remained to discover what those general laws were. He consulted the Old -Testament, and could doubt no longer. He would apply to his scholars, as -he himself explained to them in one of his sermons, 'the principle which -seemed to him to have been adopted in the training of the childhood of -the human race itself'. He would treat the boys at Rugby as Jehovah had -treated the Chosen People: he would found a theocracy; and there should -be judges in Israel. - -For this purpose, the system, prevalent in most of the public schools of -the day, by which the elder boys were deputed to keep order in the -class-rooms, lay ready to Dr. Arnold's hand. He found the Praepostor a -mere disciplinary convenience, and he converted him into an organ of -government. Every boy in the Sixth Form became ipso facto a Praepostor, -with powers extending over every department of school life; and the -Sixth Form as a body was erected into an authority responsible to the -headmaster, and to the headmaster alone, for the internal management of -the school. - -This was the means by which Dr. Arnold hoped to turn Rugby into 'a place -of really Christian education'. The boys were to work out their own -salvation, like the human race. He himself, involved in awful grandeur, -ruled remotely, through his chosen instruments, from an inaccessible -heaven. Remotely--and yet with an omnipresent force. As the Israelite of -old knew that his almighty Lawgiver might at any moment thunder to him -from the whirlwind, or appear before his very eyes, the visible -embodiment of power or wrath, so the Rugby schoolboy walked in a holy -dread of some sudden manifestation of the sweeping gown, the majestic -tone, the piercing glance, of Dr. Arnold. Among the lower forms of the -school his appearances were rare and transitory, and upon these young -children 'the chief impression', we are told, 'was of extreme fear'. The -older boys saw more of him, but they did not see much. Outside the Sixth -Form, no part of the school came into close intercourse with him; and it -would often happen that a boy would leave Rugby without having had any -personal communication with him at all. - -Yet the effect which he produced upon the great mass of his pupils was -remarkable. The prestige of his presence and the elevation of his -sentiments were things which it was impossible to forget. In class, -every line of his countenance, every shade of his manner imprinted -themselves indelibly on the minds of the boys who sat under him. One of -these, writing long afterwards, has described, in phrases still -impregnated with awestruck reverence, the familiar details of the scene: -'the glance with which he looked round in the few moments of silence -before the lesson began, and which seemed to speak his sense of his own -position'--'the attitude in which he stood, turning over the pages of -Facciolati's Lexicon, or Pole's synopsis, with his eye fixed upon the -boy who was pausing to give an answer'--'the pleased look and the -cheerful "thank you", which followed upon a successful translation'--'the -fall of his countenance with its deepening severity, the stern elevation -of the eyebrows, the sudden "sit down" which followed upon the -reverse'--and 'the startling earnestness with which he would check in a -moment the slightest approach to levity'. - -To be rebuked, however mildly, by Dr. Arnold was a Potable experience. -One boy could never forget how he drew a distinction between 'mere -amusement' and 'such as encroached on the next day's duties', nor the -tone of voice with which the Doctor added 'and then it immediately -becomes what St. Paul calls REVELLING'. Another remembered to his dying -day his reproof of some boys who had behaved badly during prayers. -'Nowhere,' said Dr. Arnold, 'nowhere is Satan's work more evidently -manifest than in turning holy things to ridicule.' On such occasions, as -another of his pupils described it, it was impossible to avoid 'a -consciousness almost amounting to solemnity' that, 'when his eye was -upon you, he looked into your inmost heart'. - -With the boys in the Sixth Form, and with them alone, the severe -formality of his demeanour was to some degree relaxed. It was his wish, -in his relations with the Praepostors, to allow the Master to be -occasionally merged in the Friend. From time to time, he chatted with -them in a familiar manner; once a term he asked them to dinner; and -during the summer holidays he invited them, in rotation, to stay with -him in Westmorland. - -It was obvious that the primitive methods of discipline which had -reached their apogee under the dominion of Keate were altogether -incompatible with Dr. Arnold's view of the functions of a headmaster and -the proper governance of a public school. Clearly, it was not for such -as he to demean himself by bellowing and cuffing, by losing his temper -once an hour, and by wreaking his vengeance with indiscriminate -flagellations. Order must be kept in other ways. The worst boys were -publicly expelled; many were silently removed; and, when Dr. Arnold -considered that a flogging was necessary, he administered it with -gravity. For he had no theoretical objection to corporal punishment. On -the contrary, he supported it, as was his wont, by an appeal to general -principles. 'There is,' he said, 'an essential inferiority in a boy as -compared with a man'; and hence 'where there is no equality the exercise -of superiority implied in personal chastisement' inevitably followed. - -He was particularly disgusted by the view that 'personal correction', as -he phrased it, was an insult or a degradation to the boy upon whom it -was inflicted; and to accustom young boys to think so appeared to him to -be 'positively mischievous'. - -'At an age,' he wrote, 'when it is almost impossible to find a true, -manly sense of the degradation of guilt or faults, where is the wisdom -of encouraging a fantastic sense of the degradation of personal -correction? What can be more false, or more adverse to the simplicity, -sobriety, and humbleness of mind which are the best ornaments of youth, -and offer the best promise of a noble manhood?' - -One had not to look far, he added, for 'the fruits of such a system'. In -Paris, during the Revolution of 1830, an officer observed a boy of -twelve insulting the soldiers, and - -'though the action was then raging, merely struck him with the flat part -of his sword, as the fit chastisement for boyish impertinence. But the -boy had been taught to consider his person sacred, and that a blow was a -deadly insult; he therefore followed the officer, and having watched his -opportunity, took deliberate aim at him with a pistol and murdered him.' - -Such were the alarming results of insufficient whipping. - -Dr. Arnold did not apply this doctrine to the Praepostors, but the boys -in the lower parts of the school felt its benefits, with a double force. -The Sixth Form was not only excused from chastisement; it was given the -right to chastise. The younger children, scourged both by Dr Arnold and -by the elder children, were given every opportunity of acquiring the -simplicity, sobriety, and humbleness of mind, which are the best -ornaments of youth. - -In the actual sphere of teaching, Dr. Arnold's reforms were tentative -and few. He introduced modern history, modern languages, and mathematics -into the school curriculum; but the results were not encouraging. He -devoted to the teaching of history one hour a week; yet, though he took -care to inculcate in these lessons a wholesome hatred of moral evil, and -to point out from time to time the indications of the providential -government of the world, his pupils never seemed to make much progress -in the subject. Could it have been that the time allotted to it was -insufficient? Dr. Arnold had some suspicions that this might be the -case. With modern languages there was the same difficulty. Here his -hopes were certainly not excessive. 'I assume it,' he wrote, 'as the -foundation of all my view of the case, that boys at a public school -never will learn to speak or pronounce French well, under any -circumstances.' It would be enough if they could 'learn it grammatically -as a dead language. But even this they very seldom managed to do. - -'I know too well, [he was obliged to confess,] that most of the boys -would pass a very poor examination even in French grammar. But so it is -with their mathematics; and so it will be with any branch of knowledge -that is taught but seldom, and is felt to be quite subordinate to the -boys' main study.' - -The boys' main study remained the dead languages of Greece and Rome. -That the classics should form the basis of all teaching was an axiom -with Dr. Arnold. 'The study of language,' he said, 'seems to me as if it -was given for the very purpose of forming the human mind in youth; and -the Greek and Latin languages seem the very instruments by which this is -to be effected.' Certainly, there was something providential about -it--from the point of view of the teacher as well as of the taught. If -Greek and Latin had not been 'given' in that convenient manner, Dr. -Arnold, who had spent his life in acquiring those languages, might have -discovered that he had acquired them in vain. As it was, he could set -the noses of his pupils to the grindstone of syntax and prosody with a -clear conscience. Latin verses and Greek prepositions divided between -them the labours of the week. - -As time went on he became, he declared, 'increasingly convinced that it -is not knowledge, but the means of gaining knowledge which I have to -teach'. The reading of the school was devoted almost entirely to -selected passages from the prose writers of antiquity. 'Boys,' he -remarked, 'do not like poetry.' Perhaps his own poetical taste was a -little dubious; at any rate, it is certain that he considered the Greek -Tragedians greatly overrated, and that he ranked Propertius as 'an -indifferent poet'. As for Aristophanes, owing to his strong moral -disapprobation, he could not bring himself to read him until he was -forty, when, it is true, he was much struck by the 'Clouds'. But -Juvenal, the Doctor could never bring himself to read at all. - -Physical science was not taught at Rugby. Since, in Dr. Arnold's -opinion, it was too great a subject to be studied en parergo, obviously -only two alternatives were possible: it must either take the chief place -in the school curriculum, or it must be left out altogether. Before such -a choice, Dr. Arnold did not hesitate for a moment. - -'Rather than have physical science the principal thing in my son's -mind,' he exclaimed in a letter to a friend, I would gladly have him -think that the sun went around the earth, and that the stars were so -many spangles set in the bright blue firmament. Surely the one thing -needful for a Christian and an English man to study is Christian, moral, -and political philosophy.' - -A Christian and an Englishman! After all, it was not in the classroom, -nor in the boarding-house, that the essential elements of instruction -could be imparted which should qualify the youthful neophyte to deserve -those names. The final, the fundamental lesson could only be taught in -the school chapel; in the school chapel the centre of Dr. Arnold's -system of education was inevitably fixed. There, too, the Doctor himself -appeared in the plenitude of his dignity and his enthusiasm. There, with -the morning sun shining on the freshly scrubbed faces of his 300 pupils, -or, in the dusk of evening, through a glimmer of candles, his stately -form, rapt in devotion or vibrant with exhortation, would dominate the -scene. Every phase of the Church service seemed to receive its supreme -expression in his voice, his attitude, his look. During the Te Deum, his -whole countenance would light up; and he read the Psalms with such -conviction that boys would often declare, after hearing him, that they -understood them now for the first time. - -It was his opinion that the creeds in public worship ought to be used as -triumphant hymns of thanksgiving, and, in accordance with this view, -although unfortunately he possessed no natural gift for music, he -regularly joined in the chanting of the Nicene Creed with a visible -animation and a peculiar fervour, which it was impossible to forget. The -Communion service he regarded as a direct and special counterpoise to -that false communion and false companionship, which, as he often -observed, was a great source of mischief in the school; and he bent -himself down with glistening eyes, and trembling voice, and looks of -paternal solicitude, in the administration of the elements. Nor was it -only the different sections of the liturgy, but the very divisions of -the ecclesiastical year that reflected themselves in his demeanour; the -most careless observer, we are told, 'could not fail to be struck by the -triumphant exultation of his whole manner on Easter Sunday'; though it -needed a more familiar eye to discern the subtleties in his bearing -which were produced by the approach or Advent, and the solemn thoughts -which it awakened of the advance of human life, the progress of the -human race, and the condition of the Church of England. - -At the end of the evening service, the culminating moment of the week -had come: the Doctor delivered his sermon. It was not until then, as all -who had known him agreed, it was not until one had heard and seen him in -the pulpit, that one could fully realise what it was to be face to face -with Dr. Arnold. The whole character of the man--so we are -assured--stood at last revealed. His congregation sat in fixed attention -(with the exception of the younger boys, whose thoughts occasionally -wandered), while he propounded the general principles both of his own -conduct and that of the Almighty, or indicated the bearing of the -incidents of Jewish history in the sixth century B.C. upon the conduct -of English schoolboys in 1830. Then, more than ever, his deep -consciousness of the invisible world became evident; then, more than -ever, he seemed to be battling with the wicked one. For his sermons ran -on the eternal themes of the darkness of evil, the craft of the tempter, -the punishment of obliquity, and he justified the persistence with which -he dwelt upon these painful subjects by an appeal to a general -principle: 'The spirit of Elijah,' he said, 'must ever precede the -spirit of Christ.' - -The impression produced upon the boys was remarkable. It was noticed -that even the most careless would sometimes, during the course of the -week, refer almost involuntarily to the sermon of the past Sunday, as a -condemnation of what they were doing. Others were heard to wonder how it -was that the Doctor's preaching, to which they had attended at the time -so assiduously, seemed, after all, to have such a small effect upon what -they did. An old gentleman, recalling those vanished hours, tried to -recapture in words his state of mind as he sat in the darkened chapel, -while Dr. Arnold's sermons, with their high-toned exhortations, their -grave and sombre messages of incalculable import, clothed, like Dr. -Arnold's body in its gown and bands, in the traditional stiffness of a -formal phraseology, reverberated through his adolescent ears. 'I used,' -he said, 'to listen to those sermons from first to last with a kind of -awe.' - -His success was not limited to his pupils and immediate auditors. The -sermons were collected into five large volumes; they were the first of -their kind; and they were received with admiration by a wide circle of -pious readers. Queen Victoria herself possessed a copy in which several -passages were marked in pencil, by the Royal hand. - -Dr. Arnold's energies were by no means exhausted by his duties at Rugby. -He became known not merely as a headmaster, but as a public man. He held -decided opinions upon a large number of topics; and he enunciated -them--based as they were almost invariably upon general principles--in -pamphlets, in prefaces, and in magazine articles, with an impressive -self-confidence. He was, as he constantly declared, a Liberal. In his -opinion, by the very constitution of human nature, the principles of -progress and reform had been those of wisdom and justice in every age of -the world--except one: that which had preceded the fall of man from -Paradise. Had he lived then, Dr. Arnold would have been a Conservative. -As it was, his Liberalism was tempered by an 'abhorrence of the spirit -of 1789, of the American War, of the French Economistes, and of the -English Whigs of the latter part of the seventeenth century'; and he -always entertained a profound respect for the hereditary peerage. It -might almost be said, in fact, that he was an orthodox Liberal. He -believed in toleration too, within limits; that is to say, in the -toleration of those with whom he agreed. 'I would give James Mill as -much opportunity for advocating his opinion,' he said, 'as is consistent -with a voyage to Botany Bay.' - -He had become convinced of the duty of sympathising with the lower -orders ever since he had made a serious study of the Epistle of St. -James; but he perceived clearly that the lower orders fell into two -classes, and that it was necessary to distinguish between them. There -were the 'good poor'--and there were the others. 'I am glad that you -have made acquaintance with some of the good poor,' he wrote to a -Cambridge undergraduate. 'I quite agree with you that it is most -instructive to visit them.' Dr. Arnold himself occasionally visited -them, in Rugby; and the condescension with which he shook hands with old -men and women of the working classes was long remembered in the -neighbourhood. As for the others, he regarded them with horror and -alarm. 'The disorders in our social state,' he wrote to the Chevalier -Bunsen in 1834, 'appear to me to continue unabated. You have heard, I -doubt not, of the Trades Unions; a fearful engine of mischief, ready to -not or to assassinate; and I see no counteracting power.' - -On the whole, his view of the condition of England was a gloomy one. He -recommended a correspondent to read - -'Isaiah iii, v, xxii; Jeremiah v, xxii, xxx; Amos iv; and Habakkuk ii', -adding, 'you will be struck, I think, with the close resemblance of our -own state with that of the Jews before the second destruction of -Jerusalem'. - -When he was told that the gift of tongues had descended on the -Irvingites at Glasgow, he was not surprised. 'I should take it,' he -said, 'merely as a sign of the coming of the day of the Lord.' And he -was convinced that the day of the Lord was coming--'the termination of -one of the great [Greek: aiones] of the human race'. Of that he had no -doubt whatever; wherever he looked he saw 'calamities, wars, tumults, -pestilences, earthquakes, etc., all marking the time of one of God's -peculiar seasons of visitation'. His only uncertainty was whether this -termination of an [Greek: aion] would turn out to be the absolutely -final one; but that he believed 'no created being knows or can know'. In -any case, he had 'not the slightest expectation of what is commonly -meant by the Millennium'. And his only consolation was that he preferred -the present Ministry, inefficient as it was, to the Tories. - -He had planned a great work on Church and State, in which he intended to -lay bare the causes and to point out the remedies of the evils which -afflicted society. Its theme was to be, not the alliance or union, but -the absolute identity of the Church and the State; and he felt sure that -if only this fundamental truth were fully realised by the public, a -general reformation would follow. Unfortunately, however, as time went -on, the public seemed to realise it less and less. In spite of his -protests, not only were Jews admitted to Parliament, but a Jew was -actually appointed a governor of Christ's Hospital; and Scripture was -not made an obligatory subject at the London University. - -There was one point in his theory which was not quite plain to Dr. -Arnold. If Church and State were absolutely identical, it became -important to decide precisely which classes of persons were to be -excluded, owing to their beliefs, from the community. Jews, for -instance, were decidedly outside the pale; while Dissenters--so Dr. -Arnold argued--were as decidedly within it. But what was the position of -the Unitarians? Were they, or were they not, members of the Church of -Christ? This was one of those puzzling questions which deepened the -frown upon the Doctor's forehead and intensified the pursing of his -lips. He thought long and earnestly upon the subject; he wrote elaborate -letters on it to various correspondents; but his conclusions remained -indefinite. 'My great objection to Unitarianism,' he wrote, 'in its -present form in England, is that it makes Christ virtually dead.' Yet he -expressed 'a fervent hope that if we could get rid of the Athanasian -Creed many good Unitarians would join their fellow Christians in bowing -the knee to Him who is Lord both of the dead and the living'. Amid these -perplexities, it was disquieting to learn that 'Unitarianism is becoming -very prevalent in Boston'. He inquired anxiously as to its 'complexion' -there; but received no very illuminating answer. The whole matter -continued to be wrapped in a painful obscurity, There were, he believed, -Unitarians and Unitarians; and he could say no more. - -In the meantime, pending the completion of his great work, he occupied -himself with putting forward various suggestions of a practical kind. He -advocated the restoration of the Order of Deacons, which, he observed, -had long been 'quoad the reality, dead; for he believed that 'some plan -of this sort might be the small end of the wedge, by which Antichrist -might hereafter be burst asunder like the Dragon of Bel's temple'. But -the Order of Deacons was never restored, and Dr. Arnold turned his -attention elsewhere, urging in a weighty pamphlet the desirabitity of -authorising military officers, in congregations where it was impossible -to procure the presence of clergy, to administer the Eucharist, as well -as Baptism. It was with the object of laying such views as these before -the public--'to tell them plainly', as he said, 'the evils that exist, -and lead them, if I can, to their causes and remedies'--that he started, -in 1831, a weekly newspaper, "The Englishman's Register". The paper was -not a success, in spite of the fact that it set out to improve its -readers morally and, that it preserved, in every article, an avowedly -Christian tone. After a few weeks, and after he had spent upon it more -than L200, it came to an end. - -Altogether, the prospect was decidedly discouraging. After all his -efforts, the absolute identity of Church and State remained as -unrecognised as ever. - -'So deep', he was at last obliged to confess, 'is the distinction -between the Church and the State seated in our laws, our language, and -our very notions, that nothing less than a miraculous interposition of -God's Providence seems capable of eradicating it.' - -Dr. Arnold waited in vain. - -But, he did not wait in idleness. He attacked the same question from -another side: he explored the writings of the Christian Fathers, and -began to compose a commentary on the New Testament. In his view, the -Scriptures were as fit a subject as any other book for free inquiry and -the exercise of the individual judgment, and it was in this spirit that -he set about the interpretation of them. He was not afraid of facing -apparent difficulties, of admitting inconsistencies, or even errors, in -the sacred text. Thus he observed that 'in Chronicles xi, 20 and xiii, -2, there is a decided difference in the parentage of Abijah's -mother;'--'which', he added, 'is curious on any supposition'. And at one -time he had serious doubts as to the authorship of the Epistle to the -Hebrews. But he was able, on various problematical points, to suggest -interesting solutions. - -At first, for instance, he could not but be startled by the cessation of -miracles in the early Church; but upon consideration, he came to the -conclusion that this phenomenon might be 'truly accounted for by the -supposition that none but the Apostles ever conferred miraculous powers, -and that therefore they ceased of course, after one generation'. Nor did -he fail to base his exegesis, whenever possible, upon an appeal to -general principles. One of his admirers points out how Dr. Arnold - -'vindicated God's command to Abraham to sacrifice his son and to the -Jews to exterminate the nations of Canaan', by explaining the principles -on which these commands were given, and their reference to the moral -state of those to whom they were addressed--thereby educing light out of -darkness, unravelling the thread of God's religious education of the -human race, and holding up God's marvellous counsels to the devout -wonder and meditation of the thoughtful believer'. - -There was one of his friends, however, who did not share this admiration -for the Doctor's methods of Scriptural interpretation. W. G. Ward, while -still a young man at Oxford, had come under his influence, and had been -for some time one of his most enthusiastic disciples. But the star of -Newman was rising at the University; Ward soon felt the attraction of -that magnetic power; and his belief in his old teacher began to waver. -It was, in particular, Dr. Arnold's treatment of the Scriptures which -filled Ward's argumentative mind, at first with distrust, and at last -with positive antagonism. To subject the Bible to free inquiry, to -exercise upon it the criticism of the individual judgment--where might -not such methods lead? Who could say that they would not end in -Socinianism?--nay, in Atheism itself? If the text of Scripture was to be -submitted to the searchings of human reason, how could the question of -its inspiration escape the same tribunal? And the proofs of revelation, -and even of the existence of God? What human faculty was capable of -deciding upon such enormous questions? And would not the logical result -be a condition of universal doubt? - -'On a very moderate computation, Ward argued, 'five times the amount of -a man's natural life might qualify a person endowed with extraordinary -genius to have some faint notion (though even this we doubt) on which -side truth lies.' It was not that he had the slightest doubt of Dr. -Arnold's orthodoxy--Dr. Arnold, whose piety was universally -recognised--Dr. Arnold, who had held up to scorn and execration -Strauss's Leben Jesu without reading it. What Ward complained of was the -Doctor's lack of logic, not his lack of faith. Could he not see that if -he really carried out his own principles to a logical conclusion he -would eventually find himself, precisely, in the arms of Strauss? The -young man, whose personal friendship remained unshaken, determined upon -an interview, and went down to Rugby primed with first principles, -syllogisms, and dilemmas. Finding that the headmaster was busy in -school, he spent the afternoon reading novels on the sofa in the -drawing-room. When at last, late in the evening, the Doctor returned, -tired out with his day's work, Ward fell upon him with all his vigour. -The contest was long and furious; it was also entirely inconclusive. -When it was over, Ward, with none of his brilliant arguments disposed -of, and none of his probing questions satisfactorily answered, returned -to the University to plunge headlong into the vortex of the Oxford -Movement; and Dr. Arnold, worried, perplexed, and exhausted, went to -bed, where he remained for the next thirty-six hours. - -The Commentary on the New Testament was never finished, and the great -work on Church and State itself remained a fragment. Dr. Arnold's active -mind was diverted from political and theological speculations to the -study of philology, and to historical composition. His Roman History, -which he regarded as 'the chief monument of his historical fame', was -based partly upon the researches of Niebuhr, and partly upon an aversion -to Gibbon. - -'My highest ambition,' he wrote, 'is to make my history the very reverse -of Gibbon in this respect, that whereas the whole spirit of his work, -from its low morality, is hostile to religion, without speaking directly -against it, so my greatest desire would be, in my History, by its high -morals and its general tone, to be of use to the cause without actually -bringing it forward.' - -These efforts were rewarded, in 1841, by the Professorship of Modern -History at Oxford. Meanwhile, he was engaged in the study of the -Sanskrit and Slavonic languages, bringing out an elaborate edition of -Thucydides, and carrying on a voluminous correspondence upon a multitude -of topics with a large circle of men of learning. At his death, his -published works, composed during such intervals as he could spare from -the management of a great public school, filled, besides a large number -of pamphlets and articles, no less than seventeen volumes. It was no -wonder that Carlyle, after a visit to Rugby, should have characterised -Dr. Arnold as a man of 'unhasting, unresting diligence'. - -Mrs. Arnold, too, no doubt agreed with Carlyle. During the first eight -years of their married life, she bore him six children; and four more -were to follow. In this large and growing domestic circle his hours of -relaxation were spent. There those who had only known him in his -professional capacity were surprised to find him displaying the -tenderness and jocosity of a parent. The dignified and stern headmaster -was actually seen to dandle infants and to caracole upon the hearthrug -on all fours. Yet, we are told, 'the sense of his authority as a father -was never lost in his playfulness as a companion'. On more serious -occasions, the voice of the spiritual teacher sometimes made itself -heard. An intimate friend described how 'on a comparison having been -made in his family circle, which seemed to place St. Paul above St. -John,' the tears rushed to the Doctor's eyes and how, repeating one of -the verses from St. John, he begged that the comparison might never -again be made. The longer holidays were spent in Westmorland, where, -rambling with his offspring among the mountains, gathering wild flowers, -and pointing out the beauties of Nature, Dr. Arnold enjoyed, as he -himself would often say, 'an almost awful happiness'. Music he did not -appreciate, though he occasionally desired his eldest boy, Matthew, to -sing him the Confirmation Hymn of Dr. Hinds, to which he had become -endeared, owing to its use in Rugby Chapel. But his lack of ear was, he -considered, amply recompensed by his love of flowers: 'they are my -music,' he declared. Yet, in such a matter, he was careful to refrain -from an excess of feeling, such as, in his opinion, marked the famous -lines of Wordsworth: - - 'To me the meanest flower that blows can give - Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears.' - -He found the sentiment morbid. 'Life,' he said, 'is not long enough to -take such intense interest in objects in themselves so little.' As for -the animal world, his feelings towards it were of a very different cast. -'The whole subject,' he said, 'of the brute creation is to me one of -such painful mystery, that I dare not approach it.' The Unitarians -themselves were a less distressing thought. - -Once or twice he found time to visit the Continent, and the letters and -journals recording in minute detail his reflections and impressions in -France or Italy show us that Dr. Arnold preserved, in spite of the -distractions of foreign scenes and foreign manners, his accustomed -habits of mind. Taking very little interest in works of art, he was -occasionally moved by the beauty of natural objects; but his principal -preoccupation remained with the moral aspects of things. From this point -of view, he found much to reprehend in the conduct of his own -countrymen. 'I fear,' he wrote, 'that our countrymen who live abroad are -not in the best possible moral state, however much they may do in -science or literature.' And this was unfortunate, because 'a thorough -English gentleman--Christian, manly, and enlightened--is more, I -believe, than Guizot or Sismondi could comprehend; it is a finer -specimen of human nature than any other country, I believe, could -furnish'. Nevertheless, our travellers would imitate foreign customs -without discrimination, 'as in the absurd habit of not eating fish with -a knife, borrowed from the French, who do it because they have no knives -fit for use'. Places, no less than people, aroused similar reflections. -By Pompeii, Dr. Arnold was not particularly impressed. - -'There is only,' he observed, 'the same sort of interest with which one -would see the ruins of Sodom and Gomorrah, but indeed there is less. One -is not authorised to ascribe so solemn a character to the destruction of -Pompeii.' - -The lake of Como moved him more profoundly. As he gazed upon the -overwhelming beauty around him, he thought of 'moral evil', and was -appalled by the contrast. 'May the sense of moral evil', he prayed, 'be -as strong in me as my delight in external beauty, for in a deep sense of -moral evil, more perhaps than in anything else, abides a saving -knowledge of God!' - -His prayer was answered: Dr. Arnold was never in any danger of losing -his sense of moral evil. If the landscapes of Italy only served to -remind him of it, how could he forget it among the boys at Rugby School? -The daily sight of so many young creatures in the hands of the Evil One -filled him with agitated grief. - -'When the spring and activity of youth,' he wrote, 'is altogether -unsanctified by anything pure and elevated in its desires, it becomes a -spectacle that is as dizzying and almost more morally distressing than -the shouts and gambols of a set of lunatics.' - -One thing struck him as particularly strange: 'It is very startling,' he -said, 'to see so much of sin combined with so little of sorrow.' The -naughtiest boys positively seemed to enjoy themselves most. There were -moments when he almost lost faith in his whole system of education, when -he began to doubt whether some far more radical reforms than any he had -attempted might not be necessary, before the multitude of children under -his charge--shouting and gambolling, and yet plunged all the while deep -in moral evil--could ever be transformed into a set of Christian -gentlemen. But then he remembered his general principles, the conduct of -Jehovah with the Chosen People, and the childhood of the human race. No, -it was for him to make himself, as one of his pupils afterwards -described him, in the words of Bacon, 'kin to God in spirit'; he would -rule the school majestically from on high. He would deliver a series of -sermons analysing 'the six vices' by which 'great schools were -corrupted, and changed from the likeness of God's temple to that of a -den of thieves'. He would exhort, he would denounce, he would sweep -through the corridors, he would turn the pages of Facciolati's Lexicon -more imposingly than ever; and the rest he would leave to the -Praepostors in the Sixth Form. - -Upon the boys in the Sixth Form, indeed, a strange burden would seem to -have fallen. Dr. Arnold himself was very well aware of this. 'I cannot -deny,' he told them in a sermon, 'that you have an anxious duty--a duty -which some might suppose was too heavy for your years'; and every term -he pointed out to them, in a short address, the responsibilities of -their position, and impressed upon them 'the enormous influence' they -possessed 'for good or for evil'. Nevertheless most youths of seventeen, -in spite of the warnings of their elders, have a singular trick of -carrying moral burdens lightly. The Doctor might preach and look grave; -but young Brooke was ready enough to preside at a fight behind the -Chapel, though he was in the Sixth, and knew that fighting was against -the rules. At their best, it may be supposed that the Praepostors -administered a kind of barbaric justice; but they were not always at -their best, and the pages of "Tom Brown's Schooldays" show us what was -no doubt the normal condition of affairs under Dr. Arnold, when the boys -in the Sixth Form were weak or brutal, and the blackguard Flashman, in -the intervals of swigging brandy-punch with his boon companions, amused -himself by toasting fags before the fire. - -But there was an exceptional kind of boy, upon whom the high-pitched -exhortations of Dr. Arnold produced a very different effect. A minority -of susceptible and serious youths fell completely under his sway, -responded like wax to the pressure of his influence, and moulded their -whole lives with passionate reverence upon the teaching of their adored -master. Conspicuous among these was Arthur Clough. Having been sent to -Rugby at the age of ten, he quickly entered into every phase of school -life, though, we are told, 'a weakness in his ankles prevented him from -taking a prominent part in the games of the place'. At the age of -sixteen, he was in the Sixth Form, and not merely a Praepostor, but head -of the School House. Never did Dr. Arnold have an apter pupil. This -earnest adolescent, with the weak ankles and the solemn face, lived -entirely with the highest ends in view. He thought of nothing but moral -good, moral evil, moral influence, and moral responsibility. Some of his -early letters have been preserved, and they reveal both the intensity -with which he felt the importance of his own position, and the strange -stress of spirit under which he laboured. 'I have been in one continued -state of excitement for at least the last three years,' he wrote when he -was not yet seventeen, 'and now comes the time of exhaustion.' But he -did not allow himself to rest, and a few months later he was writing to -a schoolfellow as follows: - -'I verily believe my whole being is soaked through with the wishing and -hoping and striving to do the school good, or rather to keep it up and -hinder it from falling in this, I do think, very critical time, so that -my cares and affections and conversations, thoughts, words, and deeds -look to that in voluntarily. I am afraid you will be inclined to think -this "cant" and I am conscious that even one's truest feelings, if very -frequently put out in the light, do make a bad and disagreeable -appearance; but this, however, is true, and even if I am carrying it too -far, I do not think it has made me really forgetful of my personal -friends, such as, in particular, Gell and Burbidge and Walrond, and -yourself, my dear Simpkinson.' - -Perhaps it was not surprising that a young man brought up in such an -atmosphere, should have fallen a prey at Oxford, to the frenzies of -religious controversy; that he should have been driven almost out of his -wits by the ratiocinations of W. G. Ward; that he should have lost his -faith; that he should have spent the rest of his existence lamenting -that loss, both in prose and verse; and that he should have eventually -succumbed, conscientiously doing up brown paper parcels for Florence -Nightingale. - -In the earlier years of his headmastership Dr. Arnold had to face a good -deal of opposition. His advanced religious views were disliked, and -there were many parents to whom his system of school government did not -commend itself. But in time this hostility melted away. Succeeding -generations of favourite pupils began to spread his fame through the -Universities. At Oxford especially, men were profoundly impressed by the -pious aims of the boys from Rugby. It was a new thing to see -undergraduates going to Chapel more often than they were obliged, and -visiting the good poor. Their reverent admiration for Dr. Arnold was no -less remarkable. Whenever two of his old pupils met, they joined in his -praises; and the sight of his picture had been known to call forth, from -one who had not even reached the Sixth, exclamations of rapture lasting -for ten minutes and filling with astonishment the young men from other -schools who happened to be present. - -He became a celebrity; he became at last a great man. Rugby prospered; -its numbers rose higher than ever before; and, after thirteen years as -headmaster, Dr. Arnold began to feel that his work there was -accomplished, and that he might look forward either to other labours or, -perhaps, to a dignified retirement. But it was not to be. - -His father had died suddenly at the age of fifty-three from angina -pectoris; and he himself was haunted by forebodings of an early death. -To be snatched away without a warning, to come in a moment from the -seductions of this World to the presence of Eternity--his most ordinary -actions, the most casual remarks, served to keep him in remembrance of -that dreadful possibility. When one of his little boys clapped his hands -at the thought of the approaching holidays, the Doctor gently checked -him, and repeated the story of his own early childhood; how his own -father had made him read aloud a sermon on the text 'Boast not thyself -of tomorrow"; and how, within the week, his father was dead. On the -title page of his MS. volume of sermons, he was always careful to write -the date of its commencement, leaving a blank for that of its -completion. One of his children asked him the meaning of this. 'It is -one of the most solemn things I do,' he replied, 'to write the beginning -of that sentence, and think that I may perhaps not live to finish it.' - -It was noticed that in the spring of 1842 such thoughts seemed to be -even more frequently in his mind than usual. He was only in his -forty-seventh year, but he dwelt darkly on the fragility of human -existence. Towards the end of May, he began to keep a diary--a private -memorandum of his intimate communings with the Almighty. Here, evening -after evening, in the traditional language of religious devotion, he -humbled himself before God, prayed for strength and purity, and threw -himself upon the mercy of the Most High. - -'Another day and another month succeed', he wrote on May 31st. 'May God -keep my mind and heart fixed on Him, and cleanse me from all sin. I -would wish to keep a watch over my tongue, as to vehement speaking and -censuring of others ...I would desire to remember my latter end to which -I am approaching ... May God keep me in the hour of death, through Jesus -Christ; and preserve me from every fear, as well as from presumption.' - -On June 2nd he wrote, 'Again the day is over and I am going to rest. Oh -Lord, preserve me this night, and strengthen me to bear whatever Thou -shalt see fit to lay on me, whether pain, sickness, danger, or -distress.' On Sunday, June 5th, the reading of the newspaper aroused -'painful and solemn' reflections ... 'So much of sin and so much of -suffering in the world, as are there displayed, and no one seems able to -remedy either. And then the thought of my own private life, so full of -comforts, is very startling.' He was puzzled; but he concluded with a -prayer: 'May I be kept humble and zealous, and may God give me grace to -labour in my generation for the good of my brethren and for His Glory!' - -The end of the term was approaching, and to all appearance the Doctor -was in excellent spirits. On June 11th, after a hard day's work, he -spent the evening with a friend in the discussion of various topics upon -which he often touched in his conversation the comparison of the art of -medicine in barbarous and civilised ages, the philological importance of -provincial vocabularies, and the threatening prospect of the moral -condition of the United States. Left alone, he turned to his diary. - -'The day after tomorrow,' he wrote, 'is my birthday, if I am permitted -to live to see it--my forty-seventh birthday since my birth. How large a -portion of my life on earth is already passed! And then--what is to -follow this life? How visibly my outward work seems contracting and -softening away into the gentler employments of old age. In one sense how -nearly can I now say, "Vivi". And I thank God that, as far as ambition -is concerned, it is, I trust, fully mortified; I have no desire other -than to step back from my present place in the world, and not to rise to -a higher. Still there are works which, with God's permission, I would do -before the night cometh.' - -Dr. Arnold was thinking of his great work on Church and State. - -Early next morning he awoke with a sharp pain in his chest. The pain -increasing, a physician was sent for; and in the meantime Mrs. Arnold -read aloud to her husband the Fifty-first Psalm. Upon one of their boys -coming into the room, - -'My son, thank God for me,' said Dr. Arnold; and as the boy did not at -once catch his meaning, he added, 'Thank God, Tom, for giving me this -pain; I have suffered so little pain in my life that I feel it is very -good for me. Now God has given it to me, and I do so thank Him for it.' - -Then Mrs. Arnold read from the Prayer-book the 'Visitation of the Sick', -her husband listening with deep attention, and assenting with an -emphatic 'Yes' at the end of many of the sentences. When the physician -arrived, he perceived at once the gravity of the case: it was an attack -of angina pectoris. He began to prepare some laudanum, while Mrs. Arnold -went out to fetch the children. All at once, as the medical man was -bending over his glasses, there was a rattle from the bed; a convulsive -struggle followed; and, when the unhappy woman, with the children, and -all the servants, rushed into the room, Dr. Arnold had passed from his -perplexities forever. - -There can be little doubt that what he had achieved justified the -prediction of the Provost of Oriel that he would 'change the face of -education all through the public schools of England'. It is true that, -so far as the actual machinery of education was concerned, Dr. Arnold -not only failed to effect a change, but deliberately adhered to the old -system. The monastic and literary conceptions of education, which had -their roots in the Middle Ages, and had been accepted and strengthened -at the revival of Learning, he adopted almost without hesitation. Under -him, the public school remained, in essentials, a conventional -establishment, devoted to the teaching of Greek and Latin grammar. Had -he set on foot reforms in these directions, it seems probable that he -might have succeeded in carrying the parents of England with him. The -moment was ripe; there was a general desire for educational changes; and -Dr. Arnold's great reputation could hardly have been resisted. As it -was, he threw the whole weight of his influence into the opposite scale, -and the ancient system became more firmly established than ever. - -The changes which he did effect were of a very different nature. By -introducing morals and religion into his scheme of education, he altered -the whole atmosphere of public-school life. Henceforward the old -rough-and-tumble, which was typified by the regime of Keate at Eton, -became impossible. After Dr. Arnold, no public school could venture to -ignore the virtues of respectability. Again, by his introduction of the -prefectorial system, Dr. Arnold produced far-reaching effects--effects -which he himself, perhaps, would have found perplexing. In his day, when -the school hours were over, the boys were free to enjoy themselves as -they liked; to bathe, to fish, to ramble for long afternoons in the -country, collecting eggs or gathering flowers. 'The taste of the boys at -this period,' writes an old Rugbaean who had been under Arnold, 'leaned -strongly towards flowers'. The words have an odd look today. 'The modern -reader of "Tom Brown's Schooldays" searches in vain for any reference to -compulsory games, house colours, or cricket averages. In those days, -when boys played games they played them for pleasure; but in those days -the prefectorial system--the system which hands over the life of a -school to an oligarchy of a dozen youths of seventeen--was still in its -infancy, and had not yet borne its fruit. - -Teachers and prophets have strange after-histories; and that of Dr. -Arnold has been no exception. The earnest enthusiast who strove to make -his pupils Christian gentlemen and who governed his school according to -the principles of the Old Testament, has proved to be the founder of the -worship of athletics and the worship of good form. Upon those two poles -our public schools have turned for so long that we have almost come to -believe that such is their essential nature, and that an English public -schoolboy who wears the wrong clothes and takes no interest in football, -is a contradiction in terms. Yet it was not so before Dr. Arnold; will -it always be so after him? We shall see. - - BIBLIOGRAPHY - - Dean Stanley. Life and Correspondence of Dr Arnold. - Thomas Hughes. Tom Brown's Schooldays. - Sir H. Maxwell-Lyte. History of Eton College. - Wilfrid Ward. W. G. Ward and the Oxford Movement. - H. Clough. Letters. An Old Rugbaean. Recollections of Rugby. - Thomas Arnold. Passages in a Wandering Life. - - - - -The End of General Gordon - - -DURING the year 1883 a solitary English gentleman was to be seen, -wandering, with a thick book under his arm, in the neighbourhood of -Jerusalem. His unassuming figure, short and slight, with its -half-gliding, half-tripping motion, gave him a boyish aspect, which -contrasted, oddly, but not unpleasantly, with the touch of grey on his -hair and whiskers. There was the same contrast--enigmatic and -attractive--between the sunburnt brick-red complexion--the hue of the -seasoned traveller--and the large blue eyes, with their look of almost -childish sincerity. To the friendly inquirer, he would explain, in a -row, soft, and very distinct voice, that he was engaged in elucidating -four questions--the site of the Crucifixion, the line of division -between the tribes of Benjamin and Judah, the identification of Gideon, -and the position of the Garden of Eden. He was also, he would add, most -anxious to discover the spot where the Ark first touched ground, after -the subsidence of the Flood: he believed, indeed, that he had solved -that problem, as a reference to some passages in the book which he was -carrying would show. - -This singular person was General Gordon, and his book was the Holy -Bible. - -In such complete retirement from the world and the ways of men, it might -have seemed that a life of inordinate activity had found at last a -longed-for, final peacefulness. For month after month, for an entire -year, the General lingered by the banks of the Jordan. But then the -enchantment was suddenly broken. Once more adventure claimed him; he -plunged into the whirl of high affairs; his fate was mingled with the -frenzies of Empire and the doom of peoples. And it was not in peace and -rest, but in ruin and horror, that he reached his end. - -The circumstances of that tragic history, so famous, so bitterly -debated, so often and so controversially described, remain full of -suggestion for the curious examiner of the past. There emerges from -those obscure, unhappy records an interest, not merely political and -historical, but human and dramatic. One catches a vision of strange -characters, moved by mysterious impulses, interacting in queer -complication, and hurrying at last--so it almost seems--like creatures -in a puppet show to a predestined catastrophe. The characters, too, have -a charm of their own: they are curiously English. What other nation on -the face of the earth could have produced Mr. Gladstone and Sir Evelyn -Baring and Lord Hartington and General Gordon? Alike in their emphasis -and their lack of emphasis, in their eccentricity and their -conventionality, in their matter-of-factness and their romance, these -four figures seem to embody the mingling contradictions of the English -spirit. As for the mise-en-scene, it is perfectly appropriate. But -first, let us glance at the earlier adventures of the hero of the piece. - -Charles George Gordon was born in 1833. His father, of Highland and -military descent, was himself a Lieutenant-General; his mother came of a -family of merchants, distinguished for their sea voyages into remote -regions of the Globe. As a boy, Charlie was remarkable for his high -spirits, pluck, and love of mischief. Destined for the Artillery, he was -sent to the Academy at Woolwich, where some other characteristics made -their appearance. On one occasion, when the cadets had been forbidden to -leave the dining-room and the senior corporal stood with outstretched -arms in the doorway to prevent their exit, Charlie Gordon put his head -down, and, butting the officer in the pit of the stomach, projected him -down a flight of stairs and through a glass door at the bottom. For this -act of insubordination he was nearly dismissed--while the captain of his -company predicted that he would never make an officer. A little later, -when he was eighteen, it came to the knowledge of the authorities that -bullying was rife at the Academy. The new-comers were questioned, and -one of them said that Charlie Gordon had hit him over the head with a -clothes-brush. He had worked well, and his record was on the whole a -good one; but the authorities took a serious view of the case, and held -back his commission for six months. It was owing to this delay that he -went into the Royal Engineers, instead of the Royal Artillery. - -He was sent to Pembroke, to work at the erection of fortifications; and -at Pembroke those religious convictions, which never afterwards left -him, first gained a hold upon his mind. Under the influence of his -sister Augusta and of a 'very religious captain of the name of Drew', he -began to reflect upon his sins, look up texts, and hope for salvation. -Though he had never been confirmed--he never was confirmed--he took the -sacrament every Sunday; and he eagerly perused the Priceless Diamond, -Scott's Commentaries, and The Remains of the Rev. R. McCheyne. 'No -novels or worldly books,' he wrote to his sister, 'come up to the -Commentaries of Scott.... I, remember well when you used to get them in -numbers, and I used to laugh at them; but, thank God, it is different -with me now. I feel much happier and more contented than I used to do. I -did not like Pembroke, but now I would not wish for any prettier place. -I have got a horse and gig, and Drew and myself drive all about the -country. I hope my dear father and mother think of eternal things ... -Dearest Augusta, pray for me, I beg of you.' - -He was twenty-one; the Crimean War broke out; and before the year was -over, he had managed to get himself transferred to Balaclava. During the -siege of Sebastopol he behaved with conspicuous gallantry. Upon the -declaration of peace, he was sent to Bessarabia to assist in determining -the frontier between Russia and Turkey, in accordance with the Treaty of -Paris; and upon this duty he was occupied for nearly two years. Not long -after his return home, in 1860, war was declared upon China. Captain -Gordon was dispatched to the scene of operations, but the fighting was -over before he arrived. Nevertheless, he was to remain for the next four -years in China, where he was to lay the foundations of extraordinary -renown. - -Though he was too late to take part in the capture of the Taku Forts, he -was in time to witness the destruction of the Summer Palace at -Peking--the act by which Lord Elgin, in the name of European -civilisation, took vengeance upon the barbarism of the East. - -The war was over; but the British Army remained in the country, until -the payment of an indemnity by the Chinese Government was completed. A -camp was formed at Tientsin, and Gordon was occupied in setting up huts -for the troops. While he was thus engaged, he had a slight attack of -smallpox. 'I am glad to say,' he told his sister, 'that this disease has -brought me back to my Saviour, and I trust in future to be a better -Christian than I have been hitherto.' - -Curiously enough a similar circumstance had, more than twenty years -earlier, brought about a singular succession of events which were now -upon the point of opening the way to Gordon's first great adventure. In -1837, a village schoolmaster near Canton had been attacked by illness; -and, as in the case of Gordon, illness had been followed by a religious -revulsion. Hong-Siu-Tsuen--for such was his name--saw visions, went into -ecstasies, and entered into relations with the Deity. Shortly -afterwards, he fell in with a Methodist missionary from America, who -instructed him in the Christian religion. The new doctrine, working upon -the mystical ferment already in Hong's mind, produced a remarkable -result. He was, he declared, the prophet of God; he was more--he was the -Son of God; he was Tien Wang, the Celestial King; he was the younger -brother of Jesus. The times were propitious, and proselytes soon -gathered around him. Having conceived a grudge against the Government, -owing to his failure in an examination, Hong gave a political turn to -his teaching, which soon developed into a propaganda of rebellion -against the rule of the Manchus and the Mandarins. The authorities took -fright, attempted to suppress Hong by force, and failed. The movement -spread. By 1850 the rebels were overrunning the populous and flourishing -delta of the Yangtse Kiang, and had become a formidable force. In 1853 -they captured Nankin, which was henceforth their capital. The Tien Wang, -established himself in a splendid palace, and proclaimed his new -evangel. His theogony included the wife of God, or the celestial Mother, -the wife of Jesus, or the celestial daughter-in-law, and a sister of -Jesus, whom he married to one of his lieutenants, who thus became the -celestial son-in-law; the Holy Ghost, however, was eliminated. - -His mission was to root out Demons and Manchus from the face of the -earth, and to establish Taiping, the reign of eternal peace. In the -meantime, retiring into the depths of his palace, he left the further -conduct of earthly operations to his lieutenants, upon whom he bestowed -the title of 'Wangs' (kings), while he himself, surrounded by thirty -wives and one hundred concubines, devoted his energies to the spiritual -side of his mission. The Taiping Rebellion, as it came to be called, had -now reached its furthest extent. The rebels were even able to occupy, -for more than a year, the semi-European city of Shanghai. But then the -tide turned. The latent forces of the Empire gradually asserted -themselves. The rebels lost ground, their armies were defeated, and in -1859 Nankin itself was besieged, and the Celestial King trembled in his -palace. The end seemed to be at hand, when there was a sudden twist of -Fortune's wheel. The war of 1860, the invasion of China by European -armies, their march into the interior, and their occupation of Peking, -not only saved the rebels from destruction, but allowed them to recover -the greater part of what they had lost. Once more they seized upon the -provinces of the delta, once more they menaced Shanghai. It was clear -that the Imperial army was incompetent, and the Shanghai merchants -determined to provide for their own safety as best they could. They -accordingly got together a body of troops, partly Chinese and partly -European, and under European officers, to which they entrusted the -defence of the town. This small force, which, after a few preliminary -successes, received from the Chinese Government the title of the 'Ever -Victorious Army', was able to hold the rebels at bay, but it could do no -more. For two years Shanghai was in constant danger. The Taipings, -steadily growing in power, were spreading destruction far and wide. The -Ever Victorious Army was the only force capable of opposing them, and -the Ever Victorious Army was defeated more often than not. Its first -European leader had been killed; his successor quarrelled with the -Chinese Governor, Li Hung Chang, and was dismissed. At last it was -determined to ask the General at the head of the British Army of -Occupation for the loan of an officer to command the force. The English, -who had been at first inclined to favour the Taipings, on religious -grounds, were now convinced, on practical grounds, of the necessity of -suppressing them. It was in these circumstances that, early in 1863, the -command of the Ever Victorious Army was offered to Gordon. He accepted -it, received the title of General from the Chinese authorities, and -entered forthwith upon his new task. He was just thirty. - -In eighteen months, he told Li Hung Chang, the business would be -finished; and he was as good as his word. The difficulties before him -were very great. A vast tract of country was in the possession of the -rebels--an area, at the lowest estimate, of 14,000 square miles with a -population of 20,000,000. For centuries this low-lying plain of the -Yangtse delta, rich in silk and tea, fertilised by elaborate irrigation, -and covered with great walled cities, had been one of the most -flourishing districts in China. Though it was now being rapidly ruined -by the depredations of the Taipings, its strategic strength was -obviously enormous. Gordon, however, with the eye of a born general, -perceived that he could convert the very feature of the country which, -on the face of it, most favoured an army on the defence--its complicated -geographical system of interlacing roads and waterways, canals, lakes -and rivers--into a means of offensive warfare. The force at his disposal -was small, but it was mobile. He had a passion for map-making, and had -already, in his leisure hours, made a careful survey of the country -round Shanghai; he was thus able to execute a series of manoeuvres which -proved fatal to the enemy. By swift marches and counter-marches, by -sudden attacks and surprises, above all by the dispatch of armed -steamboats up the circuitous waterways into positions from which they -could fall upon the enemy in reverse, he was able gradually to force -back the rebels, to cut them off piecemeal in the field, and to seize -upon their cities. But, brilliant as these operations were, Gordon's -military genius showed itself no less unmistakably in other directions. -The Ever Victorious Army, recruited from the riff-raff of Shanghai, was -an ill-disciplined, ill-organised body of about three thousand men, -constantly on the verge of mutiny, supporting itself on plunder, and, at -the slightest provocation, melting into thin air. Gordon, by sheer force -of character, established over this incoherent mass of ruffians an -extraordinary ascendancy. He drilled them with rigid severity; he put -them into a uniform, armed them systematically, substituted pay for -loot, and was even able, at last, to introduce regulations of a sanitary -kind. There were some terrible scenes, in which the General, alone, -faced the whole furious army, and quelled it: scenes of rage, desperation, -towering courage, and summary execution. Eventually he attained an -almost magical prestige. Walking at the head of his troops with nothing -but a light cane in his hand, he seemed to pass through every danger -with the scatheless equanimity of a demi-god. The Taipings themselves -were awed into a strange reverence. More than once their leaders, in a -frenzy of fear and admiration, ordered the sharp-shooters not to take -aim at the advancing figure of the faintly smiling Englishman. - -It is significant that Gordon found it easier to win battles and to -crush mutineers than to keep on good terms with the Chinese authorities. -He had to act in cooperation with a large native force; and it was only -natural that the general at the head of it should grow more and more -jealous and angry as the Englishman's successes revealed more and more -clearly his own incompetence. At first, indeed, Gordon could rely upon -the support of the Governor. Li Flung Chang's experience of Europeans -had been hitherto limited to low-class adventurers, and Gordon came as a -revelation. - -'It is a direct blessing from Heaven,' he noted in his diary, 'the -coming of this British Gordon.... He is superior in manner and bearing -to any of the foreigners whom I have come into contact with, and does -not show outwardly that conceit which makes most of them repugnant in my -sight.' - -A few months later, after he had accompanied Gordon on a victorious -expedition, the Mandarin's enthusiasm burst forth. - -'What a sight for tired eyes,' he wrote, 'what an elixir for a heavy -heart--to see this splendid Englishman fight!... If there is anything -that I admire nearly as much as the superb scholarship of Tseng Kuofan, -it is the military qualities of this fine officer. He is a glorious -fellow!' In his emotion, Li Hung Chang addressed Gordon as his brother, -declaring that he 'considered him worthy to fill the place of the -brother who is departed. Could I have said more in all the words of the -world?' Then something happened which impressed and mystified the -sensitive Chinaman. - -'The Englishman's face was first filled with a deep pleasure, and then -he seemed to be thinking of something depressing and sad; for the -smile went from his mouth and there were tears in his eyes when he -thanked me for what I had said. Can it be that he has, or has had, some -great trouble in his life, and that he fights recklessly to forget it, -or that Death has no terrors for him?' - -But, as time went on, Li Hung Chang's attitude began to change. 'General -Gordon,' he notes in July, 'must control his tongue, even if he lets his -mind run loose.' The Englishman had accused him of intriguing with the -Chinese general, and of withholding money due to the Ever Victorious -Army. 'Why does he not accord me the honours that are due to me, as head -of the military and civil authority in these parts?' By September, the -Governor's earlier transports have been replaced by a more judicial -frame of mind. - -'With his many faults, his pride, his temper, and his never-ending -demand for money, (for one is a noble man, and in spite of all I have -said to him or about him) I will ever think most highly of him.... He is -an honest man, but difficult to get on with.' - -Disagreements of this kind might perhaps have been tided over until the -end of the campaign; but an unfortunate incident suddenly led to a more -serious quarrel. Gordon's advance had been fiercely contested, but it -had been constant; he had captured several important towns; and in -October he laid siege to the city of Soo-chow, once one of the most -famous and splendid in China. In December, its fall being obviously -imminent, the Taiping leaders agreed to surrender it on condition that -their lives were spared. Gordon was a party to the agreement, and laid -special stress upon his presence with the Imperial forces as a pledge of -its fulfilment. No sooner, however, was the city surrendered than the -rebel 'Wangs' were assassinated. In his fury, it is said that Gordon -searched everywhere for Li Hung Chang with a loaded pistol in his hand. -He was convinced of the complicity of the Governor, who, on his side, -denied that he was responsible for what had happened. - -'I asked him why I should plot, and go around a mountain, when a mere -order, written with five strokes of the quill, would have accomplished -the same thing. He did not answer, but he insulted me, and said he would -report my treachery, as he called it, to Shanghai and England. Let him -do so; he cannot bring the crazy Wangs back.' - -The agitated Mandarin hoped to placate Gordon by a large gratuity and an -Imperial medal; but the plan was not successful. - -'General Gordon,' he writes, 'called upon me in his angriest mood. He -repeated his former speeches about the Wangs. I did not attempt to argue -with him ... He refused the 10,000 taels, which I had ready for him, -and, with an oath, said that he did not want the Throne's medal. This is -showing the greatest disrespect.' - -Gordon resigned his command; and it was only with the utmost reluctance -that he agreed at last to resume it. An arduous and terrible series of -operations followed; but they were successful, and by June, 1864, the -Ever Victorious Army, having accomplished its task, was disbanded. The -Imperial forces now closed round Nankin; the last hopes of the Tien Wang -had vanished. In the recesses of his seraglio, the Celestial King, -judging that the time had come for the conclusion of his mission, -swallowed gold leaf until he ascended to Heaven. In July, Nankin was -taken, the remaining chiefs were executed, and the rebellion was at an -end. The Chinese Government gave Gordon the highest rank in its military -hierarchy, and invested him with the yellow jacket and the peacock's -feather. He rejected an enormous offer of money; but he could not refuse -a great gold medal, specially struck in his honour by order of the -Emperor. At the end of the year he returned to England, where the -conqueror of the Taipings was made a Companion of the Bath. - -That the English authorities should have seen fit to recognise Gordon's -services by the reward usually reserved for industrious clerks was -typical of their attitude towards him until the very end of his career. -Perhaps if he had been ready to make the most of the wave of popularity -which greeted him on his return--if he had advertised his fame and, amid -high circles, played the part of Chinese Gordon in a becoming -manner--the results would have been different. But he was by nature -farouche; his soul revolted against dinner parties and stiff shirts; and -the presence of ladies--especially of fashionable ladies--filled him -with uneasiness. He had, besides, a deeper dread of the world's -contaminations. And so, when he was appointed to Gravesend to supervise -the erection of a system of forts at the mouth of the Thames, he -remained there quietly for six years, and at last was almost forgotten. -The forts, which were extremely expensive and quite useless, occupied -his working hours; his leisure he devoted to acts of charity and to -religious contemplation. The neighbourhood was a poverty-stricken one, -and the kind Colonel, with his tripping step and simple manner, was soon -a familiar figure in it, chatting with the seamen, taking provisions to -starving families, or visiting some bedridden old woman to light her -fire. He was particularly fond of boys. Ragged street arabs and rough -sailor-lads crowded about him. They were made free of his house and -garden; they visited him in the evenings for lessons and advice; he -helped them, found them employment, corresponded with them when they -went out into the world. They were, he said, his Wangs. It was only by a -singular austerity of living that he was able to afford such a variety -of charitable expenses. The easy luxuries of his class and station were -unknown to him: his clothes verged upon the shabby; and his frugal meals -were eaten at a table with a drawer, into which the loaf and plate were -quickly swept at the approach of his poor visitors. Special occasions -demanded special sacrifices. When, during the Lancashire famine, a -public subscription was opened, finding that he had no ready money, he -remembered his Chinese medal, and, after effacing the inscription, -dispatched it as an anonymous gift. - -Except for his boys and his paupers, he lived alone. In his solitude, he -ruminated upon the mysteries of the universe; and those religious -tendencies, which had already shown themselves, now became a fixed and -dominating factor in his life. His reading was confined almost entirely -to the Bible; but the Bible he read and re-read with an untiring, -unending assiduity. There, he was convinced, all truth was to be found; -and he was equally convinced that he could find it. The doubts of -philosophers, the investigations of commentators, the smiles of men of -the world, the dogmas of Churches--such things meant nothing to the -Colonel. Two facts alone were evident: there was the Bible, and there -was himself; and all that remained to be done was for him to discover -what were the Bible's instructions, and to act accordingly. In order to -make this discovery it was only necessary for him to read the Bible over -and over again; and therefore, for the rest of his life, he did so. - -The faith that he evolved was mystical and fatalistic; it was also -highly unconventional. His creed, based upon the narrow foundations of -Jewish Scripture, eked out occasionally by some English evangelical -manual, was yet wide enough to ignore every doctrinal difference, and -even, at moments, to transcend the bounds of Christianity itself. The -just man was he who submitted to the Will of God, and the Will of God, -inscrutable and absolute, could be served aright only by those who -turned away from earthly desires and temporal temptations, to rest -themselves whole-heartedly upon the in-dwelling Spirit. Human beings -were the transitory embodiments of souls who had existed through an -infinite past, and would continue to exist through an infinite future. -The world was vanity; the flesh was dust and ashes. - -'A man,' Gordon wrote to his sister, 'who knows not the secret, who has -not the in-dwelling of God revealed to him, is like this--[picture of a -circle with Body and Soul written within it]. He takes the promises and -curses as addressed to him as one man, and will not hear of there being -any birth before his natural birth, in any existence except with the -body he is in. The man to whom the secret (the indwelling of God) is -revealed is like this: [picture of a circle with soul and body enclosed -in two separate circles]. - -He applies the promises to one and the curses to the other, if -disobedient, which he must be, except the soul is enabled by God to -rule. He then sees he is not of this world; for when he speaks of -himself he quite disregards the body his soul lives in, which is -earthly.' - -Such conceptions are familiar enough in the history of religious -thought: they are those of the hermit and the fakir; and it might have -been expected that, when once they had taken hold upon his mind, Gordon -would have been content to lay aside the activities of his profession, -and would have relapsed at last into the complete retirement of holy -meditation. But there were other elements in his nature which urged him -towards a very different course. He was no simple quietist. He was an -English gentleman, an officer, a man of energy and action, a lover of -danger and the audacities that defeat danger; a passionate creature, -flowing over with the self-assertiveness of independent judgment and the -arbitrary temper of command. - -Whatever he might find in his pocket-Bible, it was not for such as he to -dream out his days in devout obscurity. But, conveniently enough, he -found nothing in his pocket-Bible indicating that he should. What he did -find was that the Will of God was inscrutable and absolute; that it was -man's duty to follow where God's hand led; and, if God's hand led -towards violent excitements and extraordinary vicissitudes, that it was -not only futile, it was impious to turn another way. Fatalism is always -apt to be a double-edged philosophy; for while, on the one hand, it -reveals the minutest occurrences as the immutable result of a rigid -chain of infinitely predestined causes, on the other, it invests the -wildest incoherences of conduct or of circumstance with the sanctity of -eternal law. And Gordon's fatalism was no exception. The same doctrine -that led him to dally with omens, to search for prophetic texts, and to -append, in brackets, the apotropaic initials D.V. after every statement -in his letters implying futurity, led him also to envisage his moods and -his desires, his passing reckless whims and his deep unconscious -instincts, as the mysterious manifestations of the indwelling God. That -there was danger lurking in such a creed he was very well aware. The -grosser temptations of the world--money and the vulgar attributes of -power--had, indeed, no charms for him; but there were subtler and more -insinuating allurements which it was not so easy to resist. More than -one observer declared that ambition was, in reality, the essential -motive in his life: ambition, neither for wealth nor titles, but for -fame and influence, for the swaying of multitudes, and for that kind of -enlarged and intensified existence 'where breath breathes most even in -the mouths of men'. Was it so? In the depths of Gordon's soul there were -intertwining contradictions--intricate recesses where egoism and -renunciation melted into one another, where the flesh lost itself in the -spirit, and the spirit in the flesh. What was the Will of God? The -question, which first became insistent during his retirement at -Gravesend, never afterwards left him; it might almost be said that he -spent the remainder of his life in searching for the answer to it. In -all his Odysseys, in all his strange and agitated adventures, a day -never passed on which he neglected the voice of eternal wisdom as it -spoke through the words of Paul or Solomon, of Jonah or Habakkuk. He -opened his Bible, he read, and then he noted down his reflections upon -scraps of paper, which, periodically pinned together, he dispatched to -one or other of his religious friends, and particularly his sister -Augusta. The published extracts from these voluminous outpourings lay -bare the inner history of Gordon's spirit, and reveal the pious -visionary of Gravesend in the restless hero of three continents. - -His seclusion came to an end in a distinctly providential manner. In -accordance with a stipulation in the Treaty of Paris, an international -commission had been appointed to improve the navigation of the Danube; -and Gordon, who had acted on a similar body fifteen years earlier, was -sent out to represent Great Britain. At Constantinople, he chanced to -meet the Egyptian minister, Nubar Pasha. The Governorship of the -Equatorial Provinces of the Sudan was about to fall vacant; and Nubar -offered the post to Gordon, who accepted it. - -'For some wise design,' he wrote to his sister, 'God turns events one -way or another, whether man likes it or not, as a man driving a horse -turns it to right or left without consideration as to whether the horse -likes that way or not. To be happy, a man must be like a well-broken, -willing horse, ready for anything. Events will go as God likes.' - -And then followed six years of extraordinary, desperate, unceasing, and -ungrateful labour. The unexplored and pestilential region of Equatoria, -stretching southwards to the Great Lakes and the sources of the Nile, -had been annexed to Egypt by the Khedive Ismail, who, while he -squandered his millions on Parisian ballet-dancers, dreamt strange -dreams of glory and empire. Those dim tracts of swamp and forest in -Central Africa were--so he declared--to be 'opened up'; they were to -receive the blessings of civilisation, they were to become a source of -eternal honour to himself and Egypt. The slave-trade, which flourished -there, was to be put down; the savage inhabitants were to become -acquainted with freedom, justice, and prosperity. Incidentally, a -government monopoly in ivory was to be established, and the place was to -be made a paying concern. Ismail, hopelessly in debt to a horde of -European creditors, looked to Europe to support him in his schemes. -Europe, and, in particular, England, with her passion for extraneous -philanthropy, was not averse. Sir Samuel Baker became the first Governor -of Equatoria, and now Gordon was to carry on the good work. In such -circumstances it was only natural that Gordon should consider himself a -special instrument in God's band. To put his disinterestedness beyond -doubt, he reduced his salary, which had been fixed at L10,000, to -L2,000. He took over his new duties early in 1874, and it was not long -before he had a first hint of disillusionment. On his way up the Nile, -he was received in state at Khartoum by the Egyptian Governor-General of -the Sudan, his immediate official superior. - -The function ended in a prolonged banquet, followed by a mixed ballet of -soldiers and completely naked young women, who danced in a circle, beat -time with their feet, and accompanied their gestures with a curious -sound of clucking. At last the Austrian Consul, overcome by the -exhilaration of the scene, flung himself in a frenzy among the dancers; -the Governor-General, shouting with delight, seemed about to follow -suit, when Gordon abruptly left the room, and the party broke up in -confusion. - -When, 1,500 miles to the southward, Gordon reached the seat of his -government, and the desolation of the Tropics closed over him, the -agonising nature of his task stood fully revealed. For the next three -years he struggled with enormous difficulties--with the confused and -horrible country, the appalling climate, the maddening insects and the -loathsome diseases, the indifference of subordinates and superiors, the -savagery of the slave-traders, and the hatred of the inhabitants. One by -one the small company of his European staff succumbed. With a few -hundred Egyptian soldiers he had to suppress insurrections, make roads, -establish fortified posts, and enforce the government monopoly of ivory. -All this he accomplished; he even succeeded in sending enough money to -Cairo to pay for the expenses of the expedition. But a deep gloom had -fallen upon his spirit. When, after a series of incredible obstacles had -been overcome, a steamer was launched upon the unexplored Albert Nyanza, -he turned his back upon the lake, leaving the glory of its navigation to -his Italian lieutenant, Gessi. 'I wish,' he wrote, 'to give a practical -proof of what I think regarding the inordinate praise which is given to -an explorer.' Among his distresses and self-mortifications, he loathed -the thought of all such honours, and remembered the attentions of -English society with a snarl. - -'When, D.V., I get home, I do not dine out. My reminiscences of these -lands will not be more pleasant to me than the China ones. What I shall -have done, will be what I have done. Men think giving dinners is -conferring a favour on you ... Why not give dinners to those who need -them?' - -No! His heart was set upon a very different object. - -'To each is allotted a distinct work, to each a destined goal; to some -the seat at the right hand or left hand of the Saviour. (It was not His -to give; it was already given--Matthew xx, 23. Again, Judas went to "HIS -OWN PLACE"--Acts i, 25.) It is difficult for the flesh to accept: "Ye -are dead, ye have naught to do with the world". How difficult for anyone -to be circumcised from the world, to be as indifferent to its pleasures, -its sorrows, and its comforts as a corpse is! That is to know the -resurrection.' - -But the Holy Bible was not his only solace. For now, under the parching -African sun, we catch glimpses, for the first time, of Gordon's hand -stretching out towards stimulants of a more material quality. For months -together, we are told, he would drink nothing but pure water; and then -... water that was not so pure. In his fits of melancholy, he would shut -himself up in his tent for days at a time, with a hatchet and a flag -placed at the door to indicate that he was not to be disturbed for any -reason whatever; until at last the cloud would lift, the signals would -be removed, and the Governor would reappear, brisk and cheerful. - -During, one of these retirements, there was grave danger of a native -attack upon the camp. Colonel Long, the Chief of Staff, ventured, after -some hesitation, to ignore the flag and hatchet, and to enter the -forbidden tent. He found Gordon seated at a table, upon which were an -open Bible and an open bottle of brandy. Long explained the -circumstances, but could obtain no answer beyond the abrupt words--'You -are commander of the camp'--and was obliged to retire, nonplussed, to -deal with the situation as best he could. On the following morning, -Gordon, cleanly shaven, and in the full-dress uniform of the Royal -Engineers, entered Long's hut with his usual tripping step, exclaiming -'Old fellow, now don't be angry with me. I was very low last night. -Let's have a good breakfast--a little b. and s. Do you feel up to it?' -And, with these veering moods and dangerous restoratives, there came an -intensification of the queer and violent elements in the temper of the -man. - -His eccentricities grew upon him. He found it more and more -uncomfortable to follow the ordinary course. Official routine was an -agony to him. His caustic and satirical humour expressed itself in a -style that astounded government departments. While he jibed at his -superiors, his subordinates learned to dread the explosions of his -wrath. There were moments when his passion became utterly ungovernable; -and the gentle soldier of God, who had spent the day in quoting texts -for the edification of his sister, would slap the face of his Arab -aide-de-camp in a sudden access of fury, or set upon his Alsatian -servant and kick him until he screamed. - -At the end of three years, Gordon resigned his post in Equatoria, and -prepared to return home. But again Providence intervened: the Khedive -offered him, as an inducement to remain in the Egyptian service, a -position of still higher consequence--the Governor-Generalship of the -whole Sudan; and Gordon once more took up his task. Another three years -were passed in grappling with vast revolting provinces, with the -ineradicable iniquities of the slave-trade, and with all the -complications of weakness and corruption incident to an oriental -administration extending over almost boundless tracts of savage -territory which had never been effectively subdued. His headquarters -were fixed in the palace at Khartoum; but there were various interludes -in his government. Once, when the Khedive's finances had become -peculiarly embroiled, he summoned Gordon to Cairo to preside over a -commission which should set matters to rights. Gordon accepted the post, -but soon found that his situation was untenable. He was between the -devil and the deep sea--between the unscrupulous cunning of the Egyptian -Pashas, and the immeasurable immensity of the Khedive's debts to his -European creditors. The Pashas were anxious to use him as a respectable -mask for their own nefarious dealings; and the representatives of the -European creditors, who looked upon him as an irresponsible intruder, -were anxious simply to get rid of him as soon as they could. One of -these representatives was Sir Evelyn Baring, whom Gordon now met for the -first time. An immediate antagonism flashed out between the two men. But -their hostility had no time to mature; for Gordon, baffled on all sides, -and deserted even by the Khedive, precipitately returned to his -Governor-Generalship. Whatever else Providence might have decreed, it -had certainly not decided that he should be a financier. - -His tastes and his talents were indeed of a very different kind. In his -absence, a rebellion had broken out in Darfur--one of the vast outlying -provinces of his government--where a native chieftain, Zobeir, had -erected, on a basis of slave-traffic, a dangerous military power. Zobeir -himself had been lured to Cairo, where he was detained in a state of -semi-captivity; but his son, Suleiman, ruled in his stead, and was now -defying the Governor-General. Gordon determined upon a hazardous stroke. -He mounted a camel, and rode, alone, in the blazing heat, across -eighty-five miles of desert, to Suleiman's camp. His sudden apparition -dumbfounded the rebels; his imperious bearing overawed them; he -signified to them that in two days they must disarm and disperse; and -the whole host obeyed. Gordon returned to Khartoum in triumph. But he -had not heard the last of Suleiman. Flying southwards from Darfur to the -neighbouring province of Bahr-el-Ghazal, the young man was soon once -more at the head of a formidable force. A prolonged campaign of extreme -difficulty and danger followed. Eventually, Gordon, summoned again to -Cairo, was obliged to leave to Gessi the task of finally crushing the -revolt. After a brilliant campaign, Gessi forced Suleiman to surrender, -and then shot him as a rebel. The deed was to exercise a curious -influence upon Gordon's fate. Though Suleiman had been killed and his -power broken, the slave-trade still flourished in the Sudan. Gordon's -efforts to suppress it resembled the palliatives of an empiric treating -the superficial symptoms of some profound constitutional disease. The -root of the malady lay in the slave-markets of Cairo and Constantinople: -the supply followed the demand. Gordon, after years of labour, might -here and there stop up a spring or divert a tributary, but, somehow or -other the waters would reach the river-bed. In the end, he himself came -to recognise this. 'When you have got the ink that has soaked into -blotting-paper out of it,' he said, 'then slavery will cease in these -lands.' And yet he struggled desperately on; it was not for him to -murmur. 'I feel my own weakness, and look to Him who is Almighty, and I -leave the issue without inordinate care to Him.' - -Relief came at last. The Khedive Ismail was deposed; and Gordon felt at -liberty to send in his resignation. Before he left Egypt, however, he -was to experience yet one more remarkable adventure. At his own request, -he set out on a diplomatic mission to the Negus of Abyssinia. The -mission was a complete failure. The Negus was intractable, and, when his -bribes were refused, furious. Gordon was ignominiously dismissed; every -insult was heaped on him; he was arrested, and obliged to traverse the -Abyssinian Mountains in the depth of winter under the escort of a savage -troop of horse. When, after great hardships and dangers, he reached -Cairo, he found the whole official world up in arms against him. The -Pashas had determined at last that they had no further use for this -honest and peculiar Englishman. It was arranged that one of his -confidential dispatches should be published in the newspapers; -naturally, it contained indiscretions; there was a universal outcry--the -man was insubordinate, and mad. He departed under a storm of obloquy. It -seemed impossible that he should ever return to Egypt. On his way home -he stopped in Paris, saw the English Ambassador, Lord Lyons, and -speedily came into conflict with him over Egyptian affairs. There ensued -a heated correspondence, which was finally closed by a letter from -Gordon, ending as follows: - -'I have some comfort in thinking that in ten or fifteen years' time it -will matter little to either of us. A black box, six feet six by three -feet wide, will then contain all that is left of Ambassador, or Cabinet -Minister, or of your humble and obedient servant.' - -He arrived in England early in 1880 ill and exhausted; and it might have -been supposed that after the terrible activities of his African exile he -would have been ready to rest. But the very opposite was the case; the -next three years were the most momentous of his life. He hurried from -post to post, from enterprise to enterprise, from continent to -continent, with a vertiginous rapidity. He accepted the Private -Secretaryship to Lord Ripon, the new Viceroy of India, and, three days -after his arrival at Bombay, he resigned. He had suddenly realised that -he was not cut out for a Private Secretary, when, on an address being -sent in from some deputation, he was asked to say that the Viceroy had -read it with interest. 'You know perfectly,' he said to Lord William -Beresford, 'that Lord Ripon has never read it, and I can't say that sort -of thing; so I will resign, and you take in my resignation.' He -confessed to Lord William that the world was not big enough for him, -that there was 'no king or country big enough'; and then he added, -hitting him on the shoulder, 'Yes, that is flesh, that is what I hate, -and what makes me wish to die.' - -Two days later, he was off for Pekin. 'Every one will say I am mad,' -were his last words to Lord William Beresford; 'but you say I am not.' -The position in China was critical; war with Russia appeared to be -imminent; and Gordon had been appealed to in order to use his influence -on the side of peace. He was welcomed by many old friends of former -days, among them Li Hung Chang, whose diplomatic views coincided with -his own. Li's diplomatic language, however, was less unconventional. In -an interview with the Ministers, Gordon's expressions were such that the -interpreter shook with terror, upset a cup of tea, and finally refused -to translate the dreadful words; upon which Gordon snatched up a -dictionary, and, with his finger on the word 'idiocy', showed it to the -startled Mandarins. A few weeks later, Li Hung Chang was in power, and -peace was assured. Gordon had spent two and a half days in Pekin, and -was whirling through China, when a telegram arrived from the home -authorities, who viewed his movements with uneasiness, ordering him to -return at once to England. 'It did not produce a twitter in me,' he -wrote to his sister; 'I died long ago, and it will not make any -difference to me; I am prepared to follow the unrolling of the scroll.' -The world, perhaps, was not big enough for him; and yet how clearly he -recognised that he was 'a poor insect!' 'My heart tells me that, and I -am glad of it.' - -On his return to England, he telegraphed to the Government of the Cape -of Good Hope, which had become involved in a war with the Basutos, -offering his services; but his telegram received no reply. Just then, -Sir Howard Elphinstone was appointed to the command of the Royal -Engineers in Mauritius. It was a thankless and insignificant post; and, -rather than accept it, Elphinstone was prepared to retire from the -Army--unless some other officer could be induced, in return for L800, to -act as his substitute. Gordon, who was an old friend, agreed to -undertake the work upon one condition: that he should receive nothing -from Elphinstone; and accordingly, he spent the next year in that remote -and unhealthy island, looking after the barrack repairs and testing the -drains. - -While he was thus engaged, the Cape Government, whose difficulties had -been increasing, changed its mind, and early in 1882, begged for -Gordon's help. Once more he was involved in great affairs: a new field -of action opened before him; and then, in a moment, there was another -shift of the kaleidoscope, and again he was thrown upon the world. -Within a few weeks, after a violent quarrel with the Cape authorities, -his mission had come to an end. What should he do next? To what remote -corner or what enormous stage, to what self-sacrificing drudgeries or -what resounding exploits, would the hand of God lead him now? He waited, -in an odd hesitation. He opened the Bible, but neither the prophecies of -Hosea nor the epistles to Timothy gave him any advice. The King of the -Belgians asked if he would be willing to go to the Congo. He was -perfectly willing; he would go whenever the King of the Belgians sent -for him; his services, however, were not required yet. It was at this -juncture that he betook himself to Palestine. His studies there were -embodied in a correspondence with the Rev. Mr. Barnes, filling over -2,000 pages of manuscript--a correspondence which was only put an end to -when, at last, the summons from the King of the Belgians came. He -hurried back to England; but it was not to the Congo that he was being -led by the hand of God. - -Gordon's last great adventure, like his first, was occasioned by a -religious revolt. At the very moment when, apparently forever, he was -shaking the dust of Egypt from his feet, Mahommed Ahmed was starting -upon his extraordinary career in the Sudan. The time was propitious for -revolutions. The effete Egyptian Empire was hovering upon the verge of -collapse. The enormous territories of the Sudan were seething with -discontent. Gordon's administration had, by its very vigour, only helped -to precipitate the inevitable disaster. His attacks upon the -slave-trade, his establishment of a government monopoly in ivory, his -hostility to the Egyptian officials, had been so many shocks, shaking to -its foundations the whole rickety machine. The result of all his efforts -had been, on the one hand, to fill the most powerful classes in the -community--the dealers in slaves and, ivory--with a hatred of the -government, and on the other to awaken among the mass of the inhabitants -a new perception of the dishonesty and incompetence of their Egyptian -masters. When, after Gordon's removal, the rule of the Pashas once more -asserted itself over the Sudan, a general combustion became inevitable: -the first spark would set off the blaze. Just then it happened that -Mahommed Ahmed, the son of an insignificant priest in Dongola, having -quarrelled with the Sheikh from whom he was receiving religious -instruction, set up as an independent preacher, with his headquarters at -Abba Island, on the Nile, 150 miles above Khartoum. Like Hong-siu-tsuen, -he began as a religious reformer, and ended as a rebel king. It was his -mission, he declared, to purge the true Faith of its worldliness and -corruptions, to lead the followers of the prophet into the paths of -chastity, simplicity, and holiness; with the puritanical zeal of a -Calvin, be denounced junketings and merrymakings, songs and dances, lewd -living and all the delights of the flesh. He fell into trances, he saw -visions, he saw the prophet and Jesus, and the Angel Izrail accompanying -him and watching over him forever. He prophesied and performed miracles, -and his fame spread through the land. - -There is an ancient tradition in the Mohammedan world, telling of a -mysterious being, the last in succession of the twelve holy Imams, who, -untouched by death and withdrawn into the recesses of a mountain, was -destined, at the appointted hour, to come forth again among men. His -title was the Mahdi, the guide; some believed that he would be the -forerunner of the Messiah; others believed that he would be Christ -himself. Already various Mahdis had made their appearance; several had -been highly successful, and two, in medieval times, had founded -dynasties in Egypt. But who could tell whether all these were not -impostors? Might not the twelfth Imam be still waiting, in mystical -concealment, ready to emerge, at any moment, at the bidding of God? -There were signs by which the true Mahdi might be recognised--unmistakable -signs, if one could but read them aright. He must be of the family of -the prophet; he must possess miraculous powers of no common kind; and -his person must be overflowing with a peculiar sanctity. The pious -dwellers beside those distant waters, where holy men by dint of a -constant repetition of one of the ninety-nine names of God, secured the -protection of guardian angels, and where groups of devotees, shaking -their heads with a violence which would unseat the reason of less -athletic worshippers, attained to an extraordinary beatitude, heard with -awe of the young preacher whose saintliness was almost more than mortal -and whose miracles brought amazement to the mind. Was he not also of the -family of the prophet? He himself had said so, and who would disbelieve -the holy man? When he appeared in person, every doubt was swept away. - -There was a strange splendour in his presence, an overpowering passion -in the torrent of his speech. Great was the wickedness of the people, -and great was their punishment! Surely their miseries were a visible -sign of the wrath of the Lord. They had sinned, and the cruel tax -gatherers had come among them, and the corrupt governors, and all the -oppressions of the Egyptians. Yet these things, 'Too, should have an -end. The Lord would raise up his chosen deliverer; the hearts of the -people would be purified, and their enemies would be laid low. The -accursed Egyptian would be driven from the land. Let the faithful take -heart and make ready. How soon might not the long-predestined hour -strike, when the twelfth Imam, the guide, the Mahdi, would reveal -himself to the world?' In that hour, the righteous 'Would triumph and -the guilty be laid low forever.' Such was the teaching of Mohammed -Ahmed. A band of enthusiastic disciples gathered round him, eagerly -waiting for the revelation which would crown their hopes. At last, the -moment came. One evening, at Abba Island, taking aside the foremost of -his followers, the Master whispered the portentous news. He was the -Mahdi. - -The Egyptian Governor-General at Khartoum, hearing that a religious -movement was afoot, grew disquieted, and dispatched an emissary to Abba -Island to summon the impostor to his presence. The emissary was -courteously received. Mohammed Ahmed, he said, must come at once to -Khartoum. 'Must!' exclaimed the Mahdi, starting to his feet, with a -strange look in his eyes. The look was so strange that the emissary -thought it advisable to cut short the interview and to return to -Khartoum empty-handed. Thereupon, the Governor-General sent 200 soldiers -to seize the audacious rebel by force. With his handful of friends, the -Mahdi fell upon the soldiers and cut them to pieces. The news spread -like wild-fire through the country: the Mahdi had arisen, the Egyptians -were destroyed. But it was clear to the little band of enthusiasts at -Abba Island that their position on the river was no longer tenable. The -Mahdi, deciding upon a second Hegira, retreated south-westward, into the -depths of Kordofan. - -The retreat was a triumphal progress. The country, groaning under alien -misgovernment and vibrating with religious excitement, suddenly found in -this rebellious prophet a rallying-point, a hero, a deliverer. And now -another element was added to the forces of insurrection. The Baggara -tribes of Kordofan, cattle-owners and slave-traders, the most warlike -and vigorous of the inhabitants of the Sudan, threw in their lot with -the Mahdi. Their powerful Emirs, still smarting from the blows of -Gordon, saw that the opportunity for revenge had come. A holy war was -proclaimed against the Egyptian misbelievers. The followers of the -Mahdi, dressed, in token of a new austerity of living, in the 'jibbeh', -or white smock of coarse cloth, patched with variously shaped and -coloured patches, were rapidly organised into a formidable army. Several -attacks from Khartoum were repulsed; and at last, the Mahdi felt strong -enough to advance against the enemy. While his lieutenants led -detachments into the vast provinces lying to the west and the -south--Darfur and Bahr-el-Ghazal--he himself marched upon El Obeid, the -capital of Kordofan. It was in vain that reinforcements were hurried -from Khartoum to the assistance of the garrison: there was some severe -fighting; the town was completely cut off; and, after a six months' -siege, it surrendered. A great quantity of guns and ammunition and -L100,000 in spices fell into the hands of the Mahdi. He was master of -Kordofan: he was at the head of a great army; he was rich; he was -worshipped. A dazzling future opened before him. No possibility seemed -too remote, no fortune too magnificent. A vision of universal empire -hovered before his eyes. Allah, whose servant he was, who had led him -thus far, would lead him onward still, to the glorious end. - -For some months he remained at El Obeid, consolidating his dominion. In -a series of circular letters, he described his colloquies with the -Almighty and laid down the rule of living which his followers were to -pursue. The faithful, under pain of severe punishment, were to return to -the ascetic simplicity of ancient times. A criminal code was drawn up, -meting out executions, mutilations, and floggings with a barbaric zeal. -The blasphemer was to be instantly hanged, the adulterer was to be -scourged with whips of rhinoceros hide, the thief was to have his right -hand and his left foot hacked off in the marketplace. No more were -marriages to be celebrated with pomp and feasting, no more was the -youthful warrior to swagger with flowing hair; henceforth, the believer -must banquet on dates and milk, and his head must be kept shaved. Minor -transgressions were punished by confiscation of property or by -imprisonment and chains. But the rhinoceros whip was the favourite -instrument of chastisement. Men were flogged for drinking a glass of -wine, they were flogged for smoking; if they swore, they received eighty -lashes for every expletive; and after eighty lashes it was a common -thing to die. Before long, flogging grew to be so everyday an incident -that the young men made a game of it, as a test of their endurance of -pain. - -With this Spartan ferocity there was mingled the glamour and the mystery -of the East. The Mahdi himself, his four Khalifas, and the principal -Emirs, masters of sudden riches, surrounded themselves with slaves and -women, with trains of horses and asses, with body guards and glittering -arms. There were rumours of debaucheries in high places--of the Mahdi, -forgetful of his own ordinances, revelling in the recesses of his harem, -and quaffing date syrup mixed with ginger out of the silver cups looted -from the church of the Christians. But that imposing figure had only to -show itself for the tongue of scandal to be stilled. The tall, -broad-shouldered, majestic man, with the dark face and black beard and -great eyes--who could doubt that he was the embodiment of a superhuman -power? Fascination dwelt in every movement, every glance. The eyes, -painted with antimony, flashed extraordinary fires; the exquisite smile -revealed, beneath the vigorous lips, white upper teeth with a V-shaped -space between them--the certain sign of fortune. His turban was folded -with faultless art, his jibbeh, speckless, was perfumed with -sandal-wood, musk, and attar of roses. He was at once all courtesy and -all command. Thousands followed him, thousands prostrated themselves -before him; thousands, when he lifted up his voice in solemn worship, -knew that the heavens were opened and that they had come near to God. -Then all at once the onbeia--the elephant's-tusk trumpet--would give out -its enormous sound. The nahas--the brazen wardrums--would summon, with -their weird rolling, the whole host to arms. The green flag and the red -flag and the black flag would rise over the multitude. The great army -would move forward, coloured, glistening, dark, violent, proud, -beautiful. The drunkenness, the madness of religion would blaze on every -face; and the Mahdi, immovable on his charger, would let the scene grow -under his eyes in silence. - -El Obeid fell in January, 1883. Meanwhile, events of the deepest -importance had occurred in Egypt. The rise of Arabi had synchronised -with that of the Mahdi. Both movements were nationalist; both were -directed against alien rulers who had shown themselves unfit to rule. -While the Sudanese were shaking off the yoke of Egypt, the Egyptians -themselves grew impatient of their own masters--the Turkish and -Circassian Pashas who filled with their incompetence all the high -offices of state. The army led by Ahmed Arabi, a Colonel of fellah -origin, mutinied, the Khedive gave way, and it seemed as if a new order -were about to be established. A new order was indeed upon the point of -appearing: but it was of a kind undreamt of in Arabi's philosophy. At -the critical moment, the English Government intervened. An English fleet -bombarded Alexandria, an English army landed under Lord Wolseley, and -defeated Arabi and his supporters at Tel-el-kebir. The rule of the -Pashas was nominally restored; but henceforth, in effect, the English -were masters of Egypt. - -Nevertheless, the English themselves were slow to recognise this fact: -their Government had intervened unwillingly; the occupation of the -country was a merely temporary measure; their army was to be withdrawn -as soon as a tolerable administration had been set up. But a tolerable -administration, presided over by the Pashas, seemed long in coming, and -the English army remained. In the meantime, the Mahdi had entered El -Obeid, and his dominion was rapidly spreading over the greater part of -the Sudan. - -Then a terrible catastrophe took place. The Pashas, happy once more in -Cairo, pulling the old strings and growing fat over the old flesh-pots, -decided to give the world an unmistakable proof of their renewed vigour. -They would tolerate the insurrection in the Sudan no longer; they would -destroy the Mahdi, reduce his followers to submission, and re-establish -their own beneficent rule over the whole country. To this end they -collected together an army of 10,000 men, and placed it under the -command of Colonel Hicks, a retired English officer. He was ordered to -advance and suppress the rebellion. In these proceedings the English -Government refused to take any part. Unable, or unwilling, to realise -that, so long as there was an English army in Egypt they could not avoid -the responsibilities of supreme power, they declared that the domestic -policy of the Egyptian administration was no concern of theirs. It was a -fatal error--an error which they themselves, before many weeks were -over, were to be forced by the hard logic of events to admit. The -Pashas, left to their own devices, mismanaged the Hicks expedition to -their hearts' content. The miserable troops, swept together from the -relics of Arabi's disbanded army, were dispatched to Khartoum in chains. -After a month's drilling, they were pronounced to be fit to attack the -fanatics of the Sudan. Colonel Hicks was a brave man; urged on by the -authorities in Cairo, he shut his eyes to the danger ahead of him, and -marched out from Khartoum in the direction of El Obeid at the beginning -of September, 1883. Abandoning his communications, he was soon deep in -the desolate wastes of Kordofan. As he advanced, his difficulties -increased; the guides were treacherous, the troops grew exhausted, the -supply of water gave out. He pressed on, and at last, on November 5th, -not far from El Obeid, the harassed, fainting, almost desperate army -plunged into a vast forest of gumtrees and mimosa scrub. There was a -sudden, appalling yell; the Mahdi, with 40,000 of his finest men, sprang -from their ambush. The Egyptians were surrounded, and immediately -overpowered. It was not a defeat, but an annihilation. Hicks and his -European staff were slaughtered; the whole army was slaughtered; 300 -wounded wretches crept away into the forest. - -The consequences of this event were felt in every part of the Sudan. To -the westward, in Darfur, the Governor, Slatin Pasha, after a prolonged -and valiant resistance, was forced to surrender, and the whole province -fell into the hands of the rebels. Southwards, in the Bahr-el-Ghazal, -Lupton Bey was shut up in a remote stronghold, while the country was -overrun. The Mahdi's triumphs were beginning to penetrate even into the -tropical regions of Equatoria; the tribes were rising, and Emir Pasha -was preparing to retreat towards the Great Lakes. On the East, Osman -Digna pushed the insurrection right up to the shores of the Red Sea and -laid siege to Suakin. Before the year was over, with the exception of a -few isolated and surrounded garrisons, the Mahdi was absolute lord of a -territory equal to the combined area of Spain, France, and Germany; and -his victorious armies were rapidly closing round Khartoum. - -When the news of the Hicks disaster reached Cairo, the Pashas calmly -announced that they would collect another army of 10,000 men, and again -attack the Mahdi; but the English Government understood at last the -gravity of the case. They saw that a crisis was upon them, and that they -could no longer escape the implications of their position in Egypt. What -were they to do? Were they to allow the Egyptians to become more and -more deeply involved in a ruinous, perhaps ultimately a fatal, war with -the Mahdi? And, if not, what steps were they to take? - -A small minority of the party then in power in England--the Liberal -Party--were anxious to withdraw from Egypt altogether and at once. On -the other hand, another and a more influential minority, with -representatives in the Cabinet, were in favour of a more active -intervention in Egyptian affairs--of the deliberate use of the power of -England to give to Egypt internal stability and external security; they -were ready, if necessary, to take the field against the Mahdi with -English troops. But the great bulk of the party, and the Cabinet, with -Mr. Gladstone at their head, preferred a middle course. Realising the -impracticality of an immediate withdrawal, they were nevertheless -determined to remain in Egypt not a moment longer than was necessary, -and, in the meantime, to interfere as little as possible in Egyptian -affairs. - -From a campaign in the Sudan conducted by an English army they were -altogether averse. If, therefore, the English army was not to be used, -and the Egyptian army was not fit to be used against the Mahdi, it -followed that any attempt to reconquer the Sudan must be abandoned; the -remaining Egyptian troops must be withdrawn, and in future military -operations must be limited to those of a strictly defensive kind. Such -was the decision of the English Government. Their determination was -strengthened by two considerations: in the first place, they saw that -the Mahdi's rebellion was largely a nationalist movement, directed -against an alien power, and, in the second place, the policy of -withdrawal from the Sudan was the policy of their own representative in -Egypt, Sir Evelyn Baring, who had lately been appointed Consul-General -at Cairo. There was only one serious obstacle in the way--the attitude -of the Pashas at the head of the Egyptian Government. The infatuated old -men were convinced that they would have better luck next time, that -another army and another Hicks would certainly destroy the Mahdi, and -that, even if the Mahdi were again victorious, yet another army and yet -another Hicks would no doubt be forthcoming, and that THEY would do the -trick, or, failing that ... but they refused to consider eventualities -any further. In the face of such opposition, the English Government, -unwilling as they were to interfere, saw that there was no choice open -to them but to exercise pressure. They therefore instructed Sir Evelyn -Baring, in the event of the Egyptian Government refusing to withdraw -from the Sudan, to insist upon the Khedive's appointing other Ministers -who would be willing to do so. - -Meanwhile, not only the Government, but the public in England were -beginning to realise the alarming nature of the Egyptian situation. It -was some time before the details of the Hicks expedition were fully -known, but when they were, and when the appalling character of the -disaster was understood, a thrill of horror ran through the country. The -newspapers became full of articles on the Sudan, of personal -descriptions of the Mahdi, of agitated letters from colonels and -clergymen demanding vengeance, and of serious discussions of future -policy in Egypt. Then, at the beginning of the new year, alarming -messages began to arrive from Khartoum. Colonel Coetlogon, who was in -command of the Egyptian troops, reported a menacing concentration of the -enemy. Day by day, hour by hour, affairs grew worse. The Egyptians were -obviously outnumbered: they could not maintain themselves in the field; -Khartoum was in danger; at any moment, its investment might be complete. -And, with Khartoum once cut off from communication with Egypt, what -might not happen? Colonel Coetlogon began to calculate how long the city -would hold out. Perhaps it could not resist the Mahdi for a month, -perhaps for more than a month; but he began to talk of the necessity of -a speedy retreat. It was clear that a climax was approaching, and that -measures must be taken to forestall it at once. Accordingly, Sir Evelyn -Baring, on receipt of final orders from England, presented an ultimatum -to the Egyptian Government: the Ministry must either sanction the -evacuation of the Sudan, or it must resign. The Ministry was obstinate, -and, on January 7th, 1884, it resigned, to be replaced by a more pliable -body of Pashas. On the same day, General Gordon arrived at Southampton. -He was over fifty, and he was still, by the world's measurements, an -unimportant man. In spite of his achievements, in spite of a certain -celebrity--for 'Chinese Gordon' was still occasionally spoken of--he was -unrecognised and almost unemployed. - -He had spent a lifetime in the dubious services of foreign governments, -punctuated by futile drudgeries at home; and now, after a long idleness, -he had been sent for--to do what?--to look after the Congo for the King -of the Belgians. At his age, even if he survived the work and the -climate, he could hardly look forward to any subsequent appointment; he -would return from the Congo, old and worn out, to a red-brick villa and -extinction. Such were General Gordon's prospects on January 7th, 1884. -By January 18th, his name was on every tongue, he was the favourite of -the nation, he had been declared to be the one living man capable of -coping with the perils of the hour; he had been chosen, with unanimous -approval, to perform a great task; and he had left England on a mission -which was to bring him not only a boundless popularity, but an immortal -fame. The circumstances which led to a change so sudden and so -remarkable are less easily explained than might have been wished. An -ambiguity hangs over them--an ambiguity which the discretion of eminent -persons has certainly not diminished. But some of the facts are clear -enough. - -The decision to withdraw from the Sudan had no sooner been taken than it -had become evident that the operation would be a difficult and hazardous -one, and that it would be necessary to send to Khartoum an emissary -armed with special powers and possessed of special ability, to carry it -out. Towards the end of November, somebody at the War Office--it is not -clear who--had suggested that this emissary should be General Gordon. -Lord Granville, the Foreign Secretary, had thereupon telegraphed to Sir -Evelyn Baring asking whether, in his opinion, the presence of General -Gordon would be useful in Egypt; Sir Evelyn Baring had replied that the -Egyptian Government was averse to this proposal, and the matter had -dropped. - -There was no further reference to Gordon in the official dispatches -until after his return to England. Nor, before that date, was any -allusion made to him as a possible unraveller of the Sudan difficulty, -in the Press. In all the discussions which followed the news of the -Hicks disaster, his name is only to be found in occasional and -incidental references to his work "In the Sudan". The "Pall Mall -Gazette", which, more than any other newspaper, interested itself in -Egyptian affairs, alluded to Gordon once or twice as a geographical -expert; but, in an enumeration of the leading authorities on the Sudan, -left him out of account altogether. Yet it was from the "Pall Mall -Gazette" that the impulsion which projected him into a blaze of -publicity finally came. Mr. Stead, its enterprising editor, went down to -Southampton the day after Gordon's arrival there, and obtained an -interview. Now when he was in the mood--after a little b. and s., -especially--no one was more capable than Gordon, with his facile speech -and his free-and-easy manners, of furnishing good copy for a journalist; -and Mr. Stead made the most of his opportunity. The interview, copious -and pointed, was published next day in the most prominent part of the -paper, together with a leading article, demanding that the General -should be immediately dispatched to Khartoum with the widest powers. The -rest of the Press, both in London and in the provinces, at once took up -the cry: General Gordon was a capable and energetic officer, he was a -noble and God-fearing man, he was a national asset, he was a statesman -in the highest sense of the word; the occasion was pressing and -perilous; General Gordon had been for years Governor-General of the -Sudan; General Gordon alone had the knowledge, the courage, the virtue, -which would save the situation; General Gordon must go to Khartoum. So, -for a week, the papers sang in chorus. But already those in high places -had taken a step. Mr. Stead's interview appeared on the afternoon of -January 9th, and on the morning of January 10th Lord Granville -telegraphed to Sir Evelyn Baring, proposing, for a second time, that -Gordon's services should be utilised in Egypt. But Sir Evelyn Baring, -for the second time, rejected the proposal. - -While these messages were flashing to and fro, Gordon himself was paying -a visit to the Rev. Mr. Barnes at the Vicarage of Heavitree, near -Exeter. The conversation ran chiefly on Biblical and spiritual -matters--on the light thrown by the Old Testament upon the geography of -Palestine, and on the relations between man and his Maker; but, there -were moments when topics of a more worldly interest arose. It happened -that Sir Samuel Baker, Gordon's predecessor in Equatoria, lived in the -neighbourhood. A meeting was arranged, and the two ex-Governors, with -Mr. Barnes in attendance, went for a drive together. In the carriage, -Sir Samuel Baker, taking up the tale of the "Pall Mall Gazette", dilated -upon the necessity of his friend's returning to the Sudan as -Governor-General. Gordon was silent; but Mr. Barnes noticed that his -blue eyes flashed, while an eager expression passed over his face. Late -that night, after the Vicar had retired to bed, he was surprised by the -door suddenly opening, and by the appearance of his guest swiftly -tripping into the room. 'You saw me today?' the low voice abruptly -questioned. 'You mean in the carriage?' replied the startled Mr. Barnes. -'Yes,' came the reply; 'you saw ME--that was MYSELF--the self I want to -get rid of.' There was a sliding movement, the door swung to, and the -Vicar found himself alone again. - -It was clear that a disturbing influence had found its way into Gordon's -mind. His thoughts, wandering through Africa, flitted to the Sudan; they -did not linger at the Congo. During the same visit, he took the -opportunity of calling upon Dr. Temple, the Bishop of Exeter, and asking -him, merely as a hypothetical question, whether, in his opinion, -Sudanese converts to Christianity might be permitted to keep three -wives. His Lordship answered that this would be uncanonical. - -A few days later, it appeared that the conversation in the carriage at -Heavitree had borne fruit. Gordon wrote a letter to Sir Samuel Baker, -further elaborating the opinions on the Sudan which he had already -expressed in his interview with Mr. Stead; the letter was clearly -intended for publication, and published it was in "The Times" of January -14th. On the same day, Gordon's name began once more to buzz along the -wires in secret questions and answers to and from the highest quarters. - -'Might it not be advisable,' telegraphed Lord Granville to Mr. -Gladstone, to put a little pressure on Baring, to induce him to accept -the assistance of General Gordon?' Mr. Gladstone replied, also by a -telegram, in the affirmative; and on the 15th, Lord Wolseley telegraphed -to Gordon begging him to come to London immediately. Lord Wolseley, who -was one of Gordon's oldest friends, was at that time Adjutant-General of -the Forces; there was a long interview; and, though the details of the -conversation have never transpired, it is known that, in the course of -it, Lord Wolseley asked Gordon if he would be willing to go to the -Sudan, to which Gordon replied that there was only one objection--his -prior engagement to the King of the Belgians. Before nightfall, Lord -Granville, by private telegram, had 'put a little pressure on Baring'. -'He had,' he said, 'heard indirectly that Gordon was ready to go at once -to the Sudan on the following rather vague terms: His mission to be to -report to Her Majesty's Government on the military situation, and to -return without any further engagement. He would be under you for -instructions and will send letters through you under flying seal ... He -might be of use,' Lord Granville added, in informing you and us of the -situation. It would be popular at home, but there may be countervailing -objections. Tell me,' such was Lord Granville's concluding injunction, -'your real opinion.' It was the third time of asking, and Sir Evelyn -Baring resisted no longer. - -'Gordon,' he telegraphed on the 16th, 'would be the best man if he will -pledge himself to carry out the policy of withdrawing from the Sudan as -quickly as is possible, consistently with saving life. He must also -understand that he must take his instructions from the British -representative in Egypt ... I would rather have him than anyone else, -provided there is a perfectly clear understanding with him as to what -his position is to be and what line of policy he is to carry out. -Otherwise, not ... Whoever goes should be distinctly warned that he will -undertake a service of great difficulty and danger.' - -In the meantime, Gordon, with the Sudan upon his lips, with the Sudan in -his imagination, had hurried to Brussels, to obtain from the King of the -Belgians a reluctant consent to the postponement of his Congo mission. -On the 17th he was recalled to London by a telegram from Lord Wolseley. -On the 18th the final decision was made. 'At noon,' Gordon told the Rev. -Mr. Barnes, Wolseley came to me and took me to the Ministers. He went in -and talked to the Ministers, and came back and said: "Her Majesty's -Government wants you to undertake this. Government is determined to -evacuate the Sudan, for they will not guarantee future government. Will -you go and do it?" I said: "Yes." He said: "Go in." I went in and saw -them. They said: "Did Wolseley tell you your orders?" I said: "Yes." I -said: "You will not guarantee future government of the Sudan, and you -wish me to go up and evacuate now." They said: "Yes", and it was over.' - -Such was the sequence of events which ended in General Gordon's last -appointment. The precise motives of those responsible for these -transactions are less easy to discern. It is difficult to understand -what the reasons could have been which induced the Government, not only -to override the hesitations of Sir Evelyn Baring, but to overlook the -grave and obvious dangers involved in sending such a man as Gordon to -the Sudan. The whole history of his life, the whole bent of his -character, seemed to disqualify him for the task for which he had been -chosen. He was before all things a fighter, an enthusiast, a bold -adventurer; and he was now to be entrusted with the conduct of an -inglorious retreat. He was alien to the subtleties of civilised -statesmanship, he was unamenable to official control, he was incapable -of the skilful management of delicate situations; and he was now to be -placed in a position of great complexity, requiring at once a cool -judgment, a clear perception of fact, and a fixed determination to carry -out a line of policy laid down from above. He had, it is true, been -Governor-General of the Sudan; but he was now to return to the scene of -his greatness as the emissary of a defeated and humbled power; he was to -be a fugitive where he had once been a ruler; the very success of his -mission was to consist in establishing the triumph of those forces which -he had spent years in trampling underfoot. All this should have been -clear to those in authority, after a very little reflection. It was -clear enough to Sir Evelyn Baring, though, with characteristic -reticence, he had abstained from giving expression to his thoughts. But, -even if a general acquaintance with Gordon's life and character were not -sufficient to lead to these conclusions, he himself had taken care to -put their validity beyond reasonable doubt. Both in his interview with -Mr. Stead and in his letter to Sir Samuel Baker, he had indicated -unmistakably his own attitude towards the Sudan situation. The policy -which he advocated, the state of feeling in which he showed himself to -be, was diametrically opposed to the declared intentions of the -Government. He was by no means in favour of withdrawing from the Sudan; -he was in favour, as might have been supposed, of vigorous military -action. It might be necessary to abandon, for the time being, the more -remote garrisons in Darfur and Equatoria; but Khartoum must be held at -all costs. To allow the Mahdi to enter Khartoum would not merely mean -the return of the whole of the Sudan to barbarism; it would be a menace -to the safety of Egypt herself. To attempt to protect Egypt against the -Mahdi by fortifying her southern frontier was preposterous. 'You might -as well fortify against a fever.' Arabia, Syria, the whole Mohammedan -world, would be shaken by the Mahdi's advance. 'In self-defence,' Gordon -declared to Mr. Stead, the policy of evacuation cannot possibly be -justified.' The true policy was obvious. A strong man--Sir Samuel Baker, -perhaps--must be sent to Khartoum, with a large contingent of Indian and -Turkish troops and with two millions of money. He would very soon -overpower the Mahdi, whose forces would 'fall to pieces of themselves'. -For in Gordon's opinion it was 'an entire mistake to regard the Mahdi as -in any sense a religious leader'; he would collapse as soon as he was -face to face with an English general. Then the distant regions of Darfur -and Equatoria could once more be occupied; their original Sultans could -be reinstated; the whole country would be placed under civilised rule; -and the slave-trade would be finally abolished. These were the views -which Gordon publicly expressed on January 9th and on January 14th; and -it certainly seems strange that on January 10th and on January 14th, -Lord Granville should have proposed, without a word of consultation with -Gordon himself, to send him on a mission which involved, not the -reconquest, but the abandonment of the Sudan; Gordon, indeed, when he -was actually approached by Lord Wolseley, had apparently agreed to -become the agent of a policy which was exactly the reverse of his own. -No doubt, too, it is possible for a subordinate to suppress his private -convictions and to carry out loyally, in spite of them, the orders of -his superiors. But how rare are the qualities of self-control and wisdom -which such a subordinate must possess! And how little reason there was -to think that General Gordon possessed them! - -In fact, the conduct of the Government wears so singular an appearance -that it has seemed necessary to account for it by some ulterior -explanation. It has often been asserted that the true cause of Gordon's -appointment was the clamour in the Press. It is said--among others, by -Sir Evelyn Baring himself, who has given something like an official -sanction to this view of the case--that the Government could not resist -the pressure of the newspapers and the feeling in the country which it -indicated; that Ministers, carried off their feet by a wave of 'Gordon -cultus', were obliged to give way to the inevitable. But this suggestion -is hardly supported by an examination of the facts. Already, early in -December, and many weeks before Gordon's name had begun to figure in the -newspapers, Lord Granville had made his first effort to induce Sir -Evelyn Baring to accept Gordon's services. The first newspaper demand -for a Gordon mission appeared in the "Pall Mall Gazette" on the -afternoon of January 9th; and the very next morning, Lord Granville was -making his second telegraphic attack upon Sir Evelyn Baring. The feeling -in the Press did not become general until the 11th, and on the 14th Lord -Granville, in his telegram to Mr. Gladstone, for the third time proposed -the appointment of Gordon. Clearly, on the part of Lord Granville at any -rate, there was no extreme desire to resist the wishes of the Press. Nor -was the Government as a whole by any means incapable of ignoring public -opinion; a few months were to show that, plainly enough. It is difficult -to avoid the conclusion that if Ministers had been opposed to the -appointment of Gordon, he would never have been appointed. As it was, -the newspapers were in fact forestalled, rather than followed, by the -Government. - -How, then, are we to explain the Government's action? Are we to suppose -that its members, like the members of the public at large, were -themselves carried away by a sudden enthusiasm, a sudden conviction that -they had found their saviour; that General Gordon was the man--they did -not quite know why, but that was of no consequence--the one man to get -them out of the whole Sudan difficulty--they did not quite know how, but -that was of no consequence either if only he were sent to Khartoum? -Doubtless even Cabinet Ministers are liable to such impulses; doubtless -it is possible that the Cabinet of that day allowed itself to drift, out -of mere lack of consideration, and judgment, and foresight, along the -rapid stream of popular feeling towards the inevitable cataract. That -may be so; yet there are indications that a more definite influence was -at work. There was a section of the Government which had never become -quite reconciled to the policy of withdrawing from the Sudan. To this -section--we may call it the imperialist section--which was led, inside -the Cabinet, by Lord Hartington, and outside by Lord Wolseley, the -policy which really commended itself was the very policy which had been -outlined by General Gordon in his interview with Mr. Stead and his -letter to Sir Samuel Baker. They saw that it might be necessary to -abandon some of the outlying parts of the Sudan to the Mahdi; but the -prospect of leaving the whole province in his hands was highly -distasteful to them; above all, they dreaded the loss of Khartoum. Now, -supposing that General Gordon, in response to a popular agitation in the -Press, were sent to Khartoum, what would follow? Was it not at least -possible that, once there, with his views and his character, he would, -for some reason or other, refrain from carrying out a policy of pacific -retreat? Was it not possible that in that case he might so involve the -English Government that it would find itself obliged, almost -imperceptibly perhaps, to substitute for its policy of withdrawal a -policy of advance? Was it not possible that General Gordon might get -into difficulties, that he might be surrounded and cut off from Egypt'? -If that were to happen, how could the English Government avoid the -necessity of sending an expedition to rescue him? And, if an English -expedition went to the Sudan, was it conceivable that it would leave the -Mahdi as it found him? In short, would not the dispatch of General -Gordon to Khartoum involve, almost inevitably, the conquest of the Sudan -by British troops, followed by a British occupation? And, behind all -these questions, a still larger question loomed. The position of the -English in Egypt itself was still ambiguous; the future was obscure; how -long, in reality, would an English army remain in Egypt? Was not one -thing, at least, obvious--that if the English were to conquer and occupy -the Sudan, their evacuation of Egypt would become impossible? - -With our present information, it would be rash to affirm that all, or -any, of these considerations were present to the minds of the -imperialist section of the Government. Yet it is difficult to believe -that a man such as Lord Wolseley, for instance, with his knowledge of -affairs and his knowledge of Gordon, could have altogether overlooked -them. Lord Hartington, indeed, may well have failed to realise at once -the implications of General Gordon's appointment--for it took Lord -Hartington some time to realise the implications of anything; but Lord -Hartington was very far from being a fool; and we may well suppose that -he instinctively, perhaps subconsciously, apprehended the elements of a -situation which he never formulated to himself. However that may be, -certain circumstances are significant. It is significant that the -go-between who acted as the Government's agent in its negotiations with -Gordon was an imperialist--Lord Wolseley. It is significant that the -'Ministers' whom Gordon finally interviewed, and who actually determined -his appointment were by no means the whole of the Cabinet, but a small -section of it, presided over by Lord Hartington. It is significant, too, -that Gordon's mission was represented both to Sir Evelyn Baring, who was -opposed to his appointment, and to Mr. Gladstone, who was opposed to an -active policy in the Sudan, as a mission merely 'to report'; while, no -sooner was the mission actually decided upon, than it began to assume a -very different complexion. In his final interview with the 'Ministers', -Gordon we know (though he said nothing about it to the Rev. Mr Barnes) -threw out the suggestion that it might be as well to make him the -Governor-General of the Sudan. The suggestion, for the moment, was not -taken up; but it is obvious that a man does not propose to become a -Governor-General in order to make a report. - -We are in the region of speculations; one other presents itself. Was the -movement in the Press during that second week of January a genuine -movement, expressing a spontaneous wave of popular feeling? Or was it a -cause of that feeling, rather than an effect? The engineering of a -newspaper agitation may not have been an impossibility--even so long ago -as 1884. One would like to know more than one is ever likely to know of -the relations of the imperialist section of the Government with Mr. -Stead. - -But it is time to return to the solidity of fact. Within a few hours of -his interview with the Ministers, Gordon had left England forever. At -eight o'clock in the evening, there was a little gathering of elderly -gentlemen at Victoria Station. Gordon, accompanied by Colonel Stewart, -who was to act as his second-in-command, tripped on to the platform. -Lord Granville bought the necessary tickets; the Duke of Cambridge -opened the railway-carriage door. The General jumped into the train; and -then Lord Wolseley appeared, carrying a leather bag, in which was L200 -in gold, collected from friends at the last moment for the contingencies -of the journey. The bag was handed through the window. The train -started. As it did so, Gordon leaned out and addressed a last whispered -question to Lord Wolseley. Yes, it had been done. Lord Wolseley had seen -to it himself; next morning, every member of the Cabinet would receive a -copy of Dr. Samuel Clarke's Scripture Promises. That was all. The train -rolled out of the station. - -Before the travellers reached Cairo, steps had been taken which finally -put an end to the theory--if it had ever been seriously held--that the -purpose of the mission was simply the making of a report. On the very -day of Gordon's departure, Lord Granville telegraphed to Sir Evelyn -Baring as follows: 'Gordon suggests that it may be announced in Egypt -that he is on his way to Khartoum to arrange for the future settlement -of the Sudan for the best advantage of the people.' Nothing was said of -reporting. A few days later, Gordon himself telegraphed to Lord -Granville suggesting that he should be made Governor-General of the -Sudan, in order to 'accomplish the evacuation', and to 'restore to the -various Sultans of the Sudan their independence'. Lord Granville at once -authorised Sir Evelyn Baring to issue, if he thought fit, a proclamation -to this effect in the name of the Khedive. Thus the mission 'to report' -had already swollen into a Governor-Generalship, with the object, not -merely of effecting the evacuation of the Sudan, but also of setting up -'various Sultans' to take the place of the Egyptian Government. - -In Cairo, in spite of the hostilities of the past, Gordon was received -with every politeness. He was at once proclaimed Governor-General of the -Sudan, with the widest powers. He was on the point of starting off again -on his journey southwards, when a singular and important incident -occurred. Zobeir, the rebel chieftain of Darfur, against whose forces -Gordon had struggled for years, and whose son, Suleiman, had been -captured and executed by Gessi, Gordon's lieutenant, was still detained -at Cairo. It so fell out that he went to pay a visit to one of the -Ministers at the same time as the new Governor-General. The two men met -face to face, and, as he looked into the savage countenance of his old -enemy, an extraordinary shock of inspiration ran through Gordon's brain. -He was seized, as he explained in a State paper, which he drew up -immediately after the meeting, with a 'mystic feeling' that he could -trust Zobeir. It was true that Zobeir was 'the greatest slave-hunter who -ever existed'; it was true that he had a personal hatred of Gordon, -owing to the execution of Suleiman--'and one cannot wonder at it, if one -is a father'; it was true that, only a few days previously, on his way -to Egypt, Gordon himself had been so convinced of the dangerous -character of Zobeir that he had recommended by telegram his removal to -Cyprus. But such considerations were utterly obliterated by that one -moment of electric impact of personal vision; henceforward, there was a -rooted conviction in Gordon's mind that Zobeir was to be trusted, that -Zobeir must join him at Khartoum, that Zobeir's presence would paralyse -the Mahdi, that Zobeir must succeed him in the government of the country -after the evacuation. Did not Sir Evelyn Baring, too, have the mystic -feeling? Sir Evelyn Baring confessed that he had not. He distrusted -mystic feelings. Zobeir, no doubt, might possibly be useful; but, before -deciding upon so important a matter, it was necessary to reflect and to -consult. - -In the meantime, failing Zobeir, something might perhaps be done with -the Emir Abdul Shakur, the heir of the Darfur Sultans. The Emir, who had -been living in domestic retirement in Cairo, was with some difficulty -discovered, given L2,000, an embroidered uniform, together with the -largest decoration that could be found, and informed that he was to -start at once with General Gordon for the Sudan, where it would be his -duty to occupy the province of Darfur, after driving out the forces of -the Mahdi. The poor man begged for a little delay; but no delay could be -granted. He hurried to the railway station in his frockcoat and fez, and -rather the worse for liquor. Several extra carriages for his -twenty-three wives and a large quantity of luggage had then to be -hitched on to the Governor-General's train; and at the last moment some -commotion was caused by the unaccountable disappearance of his -embroidered uniform. It was found, but his troubles were not over. On -the steamer, General Gordon was very rude to him, and he drowned his -chagrin in hot rum and water. At Assuan he disembarked, declaring that -he would go no farther. Eventually, however, he got as far as Dongola, -whence, after a stay of a few months, he returned with his family to -Cairo. - -In spite of this little contretemps, Gordon was in the highest spirits. -At last his capacities had been recognised by his countrymen; at last he -had been entrusted with a task great enough to satisfy even his desires. -He was already famous; he would soon be glorious. Looking out once more -over the familiar desert, he felt the searchings of his conscience -stilled by the manifest certainty that it was for this that Providence -had been reserving him through all these years of labour and of sorrow -for this! What was the Mahdi to stand up against him! A thousand -schemes, a thousand possibilities sprang to life in his pullulating -brain. A new intoxication carried him away. 'Il faut etre toujours ivre. -Tout est la: c'est l'unique question.' Little though he knew it, Gordon -was a disciple of Baudelaire. 'Pour ne pas sentir l'horrible fardeau du -Temps qui brise vos epaules et vous penche vers la terre, il faut vous -enivrer sans treve.' Yes--but how feeble were those gross resources of -the miserable Abdul-Shakur! Rum? Brandy? Oh, he knew all about them; -they were nothing. He tossed off a glass. They were nothing at all. The -true drunkenness lay elsewhere. He seized a paper and pencil, and dashed -down a telegram to Sir Evelyn Baring. Another thought struck him, and -another telegram followed. And another, and yet another. He had made up -his mind; he would visit the Mahdi in person, and alone. He might do -that; or he might retire to the Equator. He would decidedly retire to -the Equator, and hand over the Bahr-el-Ghazal province to the King of -the Belgians. A whole flock of telegrams flew to Cairo from every -stopping-place. Sir Evelyn Baring was patient and discrete; he could be -trusted with such confidences; but unfortunately Gordon's strange -exhilaration found other outlets. At Berber, in the course of a speech -to the assembled chiefs, he revealed the intention of the Egyptian -Government to withdraw from the Sudan. The news was everywhere in a -moment, and the results were disastrous. The tribesmen, whom fear and -interest had still kept loyal, perceived that they need look no more for -help or punishment from Egypt, and began to turn their eyes towards the -rising sun. - -Nevertheless, for the moment, the prospect wore a favourable appearance. -The Governor-General was welcomed at every stage of his journey, and on -February 18th he made a triumphal entry into Khartoum. The feeble -garrison, the panic-stricken inhabitants, hailed him as a deliverer. -Surely they need fear no more, now that the great English Pasha had come -among them. His first acts seemed to show that a new and happy era had -begun. Taxes were remitted, the bonds of the usurers were destroyed, the -victims of Egyptian injustice were set free from the prisons; the -immemorial instruments of torture--the stocks and the whips and the -branding-irons were broken to pieces in the public square. A bolder -measure had been already taken. A proclamation had been issued -sanctioning slavery in the Sudan. Gordon, arguing that he was powerless -to do away with the odious institution, which, as soon as the withdrawal -was carried out, would inevitably become universal, had decided to reap -what benefit he could from the public abandonment of an unpopular -policy. At Khartoum the announcement was received with enthusiasm, but -it caused considerable perturbation in England. The Christian hero, who -had spent so many years of his life in suppressing slavery, was now -suddenly found to be using his high powers to set it up again. The -Anti-Slavery Society made a menacing movement, but the Government showed -a bold front, and the popular belief in Gordon's infallibility carried -the day. - -He himself was still radiant. Nor, amid the jubilation and the devotion -which surrounded him, did he forget higher things. In all this turmoil, -he told his sister, he was 'supported'. He gave injunctions that his -Egyptian troops should have regular morning and evening prayers; 'they -worship one God,' he said, 'Jehovah.' And he ordered an Arabic text, -'God rules the hearts of all men', to be put up over the chair of state -in his audience chamber. As the days went by, he began to feel at home -again in the huge palace which he knew so well. The glare and the heat -of that southern atmosphere, the movement of the crowded city, the -dark-faced populace, the soldiers and the suppliants, the reawakened -consciousness of power, the glamour and the mystery of the whole strange -scene--these things seized upon him, engulfed him, and worked a new -transformation on his intoxicated heart. England, with its complications -and its policies, became an empty vision to him; Sir Evelyn Baring, with -his cautions and sagacities, hardly more than a tiresome name. He was -Gordon Pasha, he was the Governor-General, he was the ruler of the -Sudan. He was among his people--his own people, and it was to them only -that he was responsible--to them, and to God. Was he to let them fall -without a blow into the clutches of a sanguinary impostor? Never! He was -there to prevent that. The distant governments might mutter something -about 'evacuation'; his thoughts were elsewhere. He poured them into his -telegrams, and Sir Evelyn Baring sat aghast. The man who had left London -a month before, with instructions to 'report upon the best means of -effecting the evacuation of the Sudan', was now openly talking of -'smashing up the Mahdi' with the aid of British and Indian troops. Sir -Evelyn Baring counted upon his fingers the various stages of this -extraordinary development in General Gordon's opinions. But he might -have saved himself the trouble, for, in fact, it was less a development -than a reversion. Under the stress of the excitements and the realities -of his situation at Khartoum, the policy which Gordon was now proposing -to carry out had come to tally, in every particular, with the policy -which he had originally advocated with such vigorous conviction in the -pages of the Pall Mall Gazette. - -Nor was the adoption of that policy by the English Government by any -means out of the question. For, in the meantime, events had been taking -place in the Eastern Sudan, in the neighbourhood of the Red Sea port of -Suakin, which were to have a decisive effect upon the prospects of -Khartoum. General Baker, the brother of Sir Samuel Baker, attempting to -relieve the beleaguered garrisons of Sinkat and Tokar, had rashly -attacked the forces of Osman Digna, had been defeated, and obliged to -retire. Sinkat and Tokar had then fallen into the hands of the Mahdi's -general. There was a great outcry in England, and a wave of warlike -feeling passed over the country. Lord Wolseley at once drew up a -memorandum advocating the annexation of the Sudan. In the House of -Commons even Liberals began to demand vengeance and military action, -whereupon the Government dispatched Sir Gerald Graham with a -considerable British force to Suakin. Sir Gerald Graham advanced, and in -the battles of El Teb and Tamai inflicted two bloody defeats upon the -Mahdi's forces. It almost seemed as if the Government was now committed -to a policy of interference and conquest; as if the imperialist section -of the Cabinet were at last to have their way. The dispatch of Sir -Gerald Graham coincided with Gordon's sudden demand for British and -Indian troops with which to 'smash up the Mahdi'. The business, he -assured Sir Evelyn Baring, in a stream of telegrams, could very easily -be done. It made him sick, he said, to see himself held in check and the -people of the Sudan tyrannised over by 'a feeble lot of stinking -Dervishes'. Let Zobeir at once be sent down to him, and all would be -well. - -The original Sultans of the country had unfortunately proved -disappointing. Their place should be taken by Zobeir. After the Mahdi -had been smashed up, Zobeir should rule the Sudan as a subsidised vassal -of England, on a similar footing to that of the Amir of Afghanistan. The -plan was perhaps feasible; but it was clearly incompatible with the -policy of evacuation, as it had been hitherto laid down by the English -Government. Should they reverse that policy? Should they appoint Zobeir, -reinforce Sir Gerald Graham, and smash up the Mahdi? They could not make -up their minds. So far as Zobeir was concerned, there were two -counterbalancing considerations; on the one hand, Evelyn Baring now -declared that he was in favour of the appointment; but, on the other -hand, would English public opinion consent to a man, described by Gordon -himself as 'the greatest slave-hunter who ever existed', being given an -English subsidy and the control of the Sudan? While the Cabinet was -wavering, Gordon took a fatal step. The delay was intolerable, and one -evening, in a rage, he revealed his desire for Zobeir--which had -hitherto been kept a profound official secret--to Mr Power, the English -Consul at Khartoum, and the special correspondent of "The Times." -Perhaps he calculated that the public announcement of his wishes would -oblige the Government to yield to them; if so, he was completely -mistaken, for the result was the very reverse. The country, already -startled by the proclamation in favour of slavery, could not swallow -Zobeir. The Anti-Slavery Society set on foot a violent agitation, -opinion in the House of Commons suddenly stiffened, and the Cabinet, by -a substantial majority, decided that Zobeir should remain in Cairo. The -imperialist wave had risen high, but it had not risen high enough; and -now it was rapidly subsiding. The Government's next action was decisive. -Sir Gerald Graham and his British Army were withdrawn from the Sudan. - -The critical fortnight during which these events took place was the -first fortnight of March. By the close of it, Gordon's position had -undergone a rapid and terrible change. Not only did he find himself -deprived, by the decision of the Government, both of the hope of -Zobeir's assistance and of the prospect of smashing up the Mahdi with -the aid of British troops; the military movements in the Eastern Sudan -produced, at the very same moment, a yet more fatal consequence. The -adherents of the Mahdi had been maddened, they had not been crushed, by -Sir Gerald Graham's victories. When, immediately afterwards, the English -withdrew to Suakin, from which they never again emerged, the inference -seemed obvious; they had been defeated, and their power was at an end. -The warlike tribes to the north and the northeast of Khartoum had long -been wavering. They now hesitated no longer, and joined the Mahdi. From -that moment--it was less than a month from Gordon's arrival at -Khartoum--the situation of the town was desperate. The line of -communications was cut. Though it still might be possible for occasional -native messengers, or for a few individuals on an armed steamer, to win -their way down the river into Egypt, the removal of a large number of -persons--the loyal inhabitants or the Egyptian garrison--was -henceforward an impossibility. The whole scheme of the Gordon mission -had irremediably collapsed; worse still, Gordon himself, so far from -having effected the evacuation of the Sudan, was surrounded by the -enemy. 'The question now is,' Sir Evelyn Baring told Lord Granville, on -March 24th, 'how to get General Gordon and Colonel Stewart away from -Khartoum.' - -The actual condition of the town, however, was not, from a military -point of view, so serious as Colonel Coetlogon, in the first moments of -panic after the Hicks disaster, had supposed. Gordon was of opinion that -it was capable of sustaining a siege of many months. With his usual -vigour, he had already begun to prepare an elaborate system of -earthworks, mines, and wire entanglements. There was a five or six -months' supply of food, there was a great quantity of ammunition, the -garrison numbered about 8,000 men. There were, besides, nine small -paddle-wheel steamers, hitherto used for purposes of communication along -the Nile, which, fitted with guns and protected by metal plates, were of -considerable military value. 'We are all right,' Gordon told his sister -on March 15th. 'We shall, D. V., go on for months.' So far, at any rate, -there was no cause for despair. But the effervescent happiness of three -weeks since had vanished. Gloom, doubt, disillusionment, -self-questioning, had swooped down again upon their victim. - -'Either I must believe He does all things in mercy and love, or else I -disbelieve His existence; there is no half way in the matter. What holes -do I not put myself into! And for what? So mixed are my ideas. I believe -ambition put me here in this ruin.' - -Was not that the explanation of it all? 'Our Lord's promise is not for -the fulfilment of earthly wishes; therefore, if things come to ruin here -He is still faithful, and is carrying out His great work of divine -wisdom.' How could he have forgotten that? But he would not transgress -again. 'I owe all to God, and nothing to myself, for, humanly speaking, -I have done very foolish things. However, if I am humbled, the better -for me.' - -News of the changed circumstances at Khartoum was not slow in reaching -England, and a feeling of anxiety began to spread. Among the first to -realise the gravity of the situation was Queen Victoria. 'It is -alarming,' she telegraphed to Lord Hartington on March 25th. 'General -Gordon is in danger; you are bound to try to save him ... You have -incurred a fearful responsibility.' With an unerring instinct, Her -Majesty forestalled and expressed the popular sentiment. During April, -when it had become clear that the wire between Khartoum and Cairo had -been severed; when, as time passed, no word came northward, save vague -rumours of disaster; when at last a curtain of impenetrable mystery -closed over Khartoum, the growing uneasiness manifested itself in -letters to the newspapers, in leading articles, and in a flood of -subscriptions towards a relief fund. At the beginning of May, the public -alarm reached a climax. It now appeared to be certain, not only that -General Gordon was in imminent danger, but that no steps had yet been -taken by the Government to save him. - -On the 5th, there was a meeting of protest and indignation at St. -James's Hall; on the 9th there was a mass meeting in Hyde Park; on the -11th there was a meeting at Manchester. The Baroness Burdett-Coutts -wrote an agitated letter to "The Times" begging for further -subscriptions. Somebody else proposed that a special fund should be -started with which 'to bribe the tribes to secure the General's personal -safety'. A country vicar made another suggestion. Why should not public -prayers be offered up for General Gordon in every church in the kingdom? -He himself had adopted that course last Sunday. 'Is not this,' he -concluded, 'what the godly man, the true hero, himself would wish to be -done?' It was all of no avail. General Gordon remained in peril; the -Government remained inactive. Finally, a vote of censure was moved in -the House of Commons; but that too proved useless. It was strange; the -same executive which, two months before, had trimmed its sails so -eagerly to the shifting gusts of popular opinion, now, in spite of a -rising hurricane, held on its course. A new spirit, it was clear--a -determined, an intractable spirit--had taken control of the Sudan -situation. What was it? The explanation was simple, and it was ominous. -Mr. Gladstone had intervened. - -The old statesman was now entering upon the penultimate period of his -enormous career. He who had once been the rising hope of the stern and -unbending Tories, had at length emerged, after a lifetime of -transmutations, as the champion of militant democracy. He was at the -apex of his power. His great rival was dead; he stood pre-eminent in the -eye of the nation; he enjoyed the applause, the confidence, the -admiration, the adoration, even, of multitudes. Yet--such was the -peculiar character of the man, and such was the intensity of the -feelings which he called forth--at this very moment, at the height of -his popularity, he was distrusted and loathed; already an unparalleled -animosity was gathering its forces against him. For, indeed, there was -something in his nature which invited--which demanded--the clashing -reactions of passionate extremes. It was easy to worship Mr. Gladstone; -to see in him the perfect model of the upright man--the man of virtue -and of religion--the man whose whole life had been devoted to the -application of high principles to affairs of State; the man, too, whose -sense of right and justice was invigorated and ennobled by an -enthusiastic heart. It was also easy to detest him as a hypocrite, to -despise him as a demagogue, and to dread him as a crafty manipulator of -men and things for the purposes of his own ambition. - -It might have been supposed that one or other of these conflicting -judgments must have been palpably absurd, that nothing short of gross -prejudice or wilful blindness, on one side or the other, could reconcile -such contradictory conceptions of a single human being. But it was not -so; 'the elements' were 'so mixed' in Mr. Gladstone that his bitterest -enemies (and his enemies were never mild) and his warmest friends (and -his friends were never tepid) could justify, with equal plausibility, -their denunciations or their praises. What, then, was the truth? In the -physical universe there are no chimeras. But man is more various than -nature; was Mr. Gladstone, perhaps, a chimera of the spirit? Did his -very essence lie in the confusion of incompatibles? His very essence? It -eludes the hand that seems to grasp it. One is baffled, as his political -opponents were baffled fifty years ago. The soft serpent coils harden -into quick strength that has vanished, leaving only emptiness and -perplexity behind. Speech was the fibre of his being; and, when he -spoke, the ambiguity of ambiguity was revealed. The long, winding, -intricate sentences, with their vast burden of subtle and complicated -qualifications, befogged the mind like clouds, and like clouds, too, -dropped thunder bolts. Could it not then at least be said of him with -certainty that his was a complex character? But here also there was a -contradiction. - -In spite of the involutions of his intellect and the contortions of his -spirit, it is impossible not to perceive a strain of naivete in Mr. -Gladstone. He adhered to some of his principles that of the value of -representative institutions, for instance with a faith which was -singularly literal; his views upon religion were uncritical to -crudeness; he had no sense of humour. Compared with Disraeli's, his -attitude towards life strikes one as that of an ingenuous child. His -very egoism was simple-minded; through all the labyrinth of his passions -there ran a single thread. But the centre of the labyrinth? Ah! the -thread might lead there, through those wandering mazes, at last. Only, -with the last corner turned, the last step taken, the explorer might -find that he was looking down into the gulf of a crater. The flame shot -out on every side, scorching and brilliant; but in the midst, there was -a darkness. - -That Mr. Gladstone's motives and ambitions were not merely those of a -hunter after popularity was never shown more clearly than in that part -of his career which, more than any other, has been emphasised by his -enemies--his conduct towards General Gordon. He had been originally -opposed to Gordon's appointment, but he had consented to it partly, -perhaps, owing to the persuasion that its purpose did not extend beyond -the making of a 'report'. Gordon once gone, events had taken their own -course; the policy of the Government began to slide, automatically, down -a slope at the bottom of which lay the conquest of the Sudan and the -annexation of Egypt. Sir Gerald Graham's bloody victories awoke Mr. -Gladstone to the true condition of affairs; he recognised the road he -was on and its destination; but there was still time to turn back. - -It was he who had insisted upon the withdrawal of the English army from -the Eastern Sudan. The imperialists were sadly disappointed. They had -supposed that the old lion had gone to sleep, and suddenly he had come -out of his lair, and was roaring. All their hopes now centred upon -Khartoum. General Gordon was cut off; he was surrounded, he was in -danger; he must be relieved. A British force must be sent to save him. -But Mr. Gladstone was not to be caught napping a second time. When the -agitation rose, when popular sentiment was deeply stirred, when the -country, the Press, the Sovereign herself, declared that the national -honour was involved with the fate of General Gordon, Mr. Gladstone -remained immovable. Others might picture the triumphant rescue of a -Christian hero from the clutches of heathen savages; before HIS eyes was -the vision of battle, murder, and sudden death, the horrors of defeat -and victory, the slaughter and the anguish of thousands, the violence of -military domination, the enslavement of a people. - -The invasion of the Sudan, he had flashed out in the House of Commons, -would be a war of conquest against a people struggling to be free. 'Yes, -those people are struggling to be free, and they are rightly struggling -to be free.' Mr. Gladstone--it was one of his old-fashioned -simplicities--believed in liberty. If, indeed, it should turn out to be -the fact that General Gordon was in serious danger, then, no doubt, it -would be necessary to send a relief expedition to Khartoum. But, he -could see no sufficient reason to believe that it was the fact. -Communications, it was true, had been interrupted between Khartoum and -Cairo, but no news was not necessarily bad news, and the little -information that had come through from General Gordon seemed to indicate -that he could hold out for months. So his agile mind worked, spinning -its familiar web of possibilities and contingencies and fine -distinctions. General Gordon, he was convinced, might be hemmed in, but -he was not surrounded. Surely, it was the duty of the Government to take -no rash step, but to consider and to inquire, and, when it acted, to act -upon reasonable conviction. And then, there was another question. If it -was true--and he believed it was true--that General Gordon's line of -retreat was open, why did not General Gordon use it? - -Perhaps he might be unable to withdraw the Egyptian garrison, but it was -not for the sake of the Egyptian garrison that the relief expedition was -proposed; it was simply and solely to secure the personal safety of -General Gordon. And General Gordon had it in his power to secure his -personal safety himself; and he refused to do so; he lingered on in -Khartoum, deliberately, wilfully, in defiance of the obvious wishes of -his superiors. Oh! it was perfectly clear what General Gordon was doing: -he was trying to force the hand of the English Government. He was hoping -that if he only remained long enough at Khartoum, he would oblige the -English Government to send an army into the Sudan which should smash up -the Mahdi. That, then, was General Gordon's calculation! Well, General -Gordon would learn that he had made a mistake. Who was he that he should -dare to imagine that he could impose his will upon Mr. Gladstone? The -old man's eyes glared. If it came to a struggle between them--well, they -should see! As the weeks passed, the strange situation grew tenser. It -was like some silent deadly game of bluff. And who knows what was -passing in the obscure depths of that terrifying spirit? What mysterious -mixture of remorse, rage, and jealousy? Who was it that was ultimately -responsible for sending General Gordon to Khartoum? But then, what did -that matter? Why did not the man come back? He was a Christian hero, -wasn't he? Were there no other Christian heroes in the world? A -Christian hero! Let him wait until the Mahdi's ring was really round -him, until the Mahdi's spear was really about to fall! That would be the -test of heroism! If he slipped back then, with his tail between his -legs--! The world would judge. - -One of the last telegrams sent by Gordon before the wire was cut seemed -to support exactly Mr. Gladstone's diagnosis of the case. He told Sir -Evelyn Baring that, since the Government refused to send either an -expedition or Zobeir, he would 'consider himself free to act according -to circumstances.' 'Eventually,' he said, 'you will be forced to smash -up the Mahdi', and he declared that if the Government persisted in its -present line of conduct, it would be branded with an 'indelible -disgrace'. The message was made public, and it happened that Mr. -Gladstone saw it for the first time in a newspaper, during a country -visit. Another of the guests, who was in the room at the moment, thus -describes the scene: 'He took up the paper, his eye instantly fell on -the telegram, and he read it through. As he read, his face hardened and -whitened, the eyes burned as I have seen them once or twice in the House -of Commons when he was angered--burned with a deep fire, as if they -would have consumed the sheet on which Gordon's message was printed, or -as if Gordon's words had burned into his soul, which was looking out in -wrath and flame. He said not a word. For perhaps two or three minutes he -sat still, his face all the while like the face you may read of in -Milton--like none other I ever saw. Then he rose, still without a word, -and was seen no more that morning.' - -It is curious that Gordon himself never understood the part that Mr. -Gladstone was playing in his destiny. His Khartoum journals put this -beyond a doubt. Except for one or two slight and jocular references to -Mr. Gladstone's minor idiosyncrasies--the shape of his collars, and his -passion for felling trees, Gordon leaves him unnoticed while he lavishes -his sardonic humour upon Lord Granville. But in truth Lord Granville was -a nonentity. The error shows how dim the realities of England had grown -to the watcher in Khartoum. When he looked towards home, the figure that -loomed largest upon his vision was--it was only natural that it should -have been so the nearest--it was upon Sir Evelyn Baring that he fixed -his gaze. For him, Sir Evelyn Baring was the embodiment of England--or -rather the embodiment of the English official classes, of English -diplomacy, of the English Government with its hesitations, its -insincerities, its double-faced schemes. Sir Evelyn Baring, he almost -came to think at moments, was the prime mover, the sole contriver, of -the whole Sudan imbroglio. - -In this he was wrong; for Sir Evelyn Baring, of course, was an -intermediary, without final responsibility or final power; but Gordon's -profound antipathy, his instinctive distrust, were not without their -justification. He could never forget that first meeting in Cairo, six -years earlier, when the fundamental hostility between the two men had -leapt to the surface. 'When oil mixes with water,' he said, 'we will mix -together.' Sir Evelyn Baring thought so too; but he did not say so; it -was not his way. When he spoke, he felt no temptation to express -everything that was in his mind. In all he did, he was cautious, -measured, unimpeachably correct. It would be difficult to think of a man -more completely the antithesis of Gordon. His temperament, all in -monochrome, touched in with cold blues and indecisive greys, was -eminently unromantic. He had a steely colourlessness, and a steely -pliability, and a steely strength. Endowed beyond most men with the -capacity of foresight, he was endowed as very few men have ever been -with that staying-power which makes the fruit of foresight attainable. -His views were long, and his patience was even longer. He progressed -imperceptibly; he constantly withdrew; the art of giving way he -practised with the refinement of a virtuoso. But, though the steel -recoiled and recoiled, in the end it would spring forward. His life's -work had in it an element of paradox. It was passed entirely in the -East; and the East meant very little to him; he took no interest in it. -It was something to be looked after. It was also a convenient field for -the talents of Sir Evelyn Baring. Yet it must not be supposed that he -was cynical; perhaps he was not quite great enough for that. He looked -forward to a pleasant retirement--a country place--some literary -recreations. He had been careful to keep up his classics. His ambition -can be stated in a single phrase--it was to become an institution; and -he achieved it. No doubt, too, he deserved it. The greatest of poets, in -a bitter mood, has described the characteristics of a certain class of -persons, whom he did not like. 'They,' he says, - - 'that have power to hurt and will do none, - That do not do the things they most do show, - Who, moving others, are themselves as stone, - Unmoved, cold, and to temptation slow, - They rightly do inherit heaven's graces, - And husband nature's riches from expense; - They are the lords and owners of their faces ...' - -The words might have been written for Sir Evelyn Baring. - -Though, as a rule, he found it easy to despise those with whom he came -into contact, he could not altogether despise General Gordon. If he -could have, he would have disliked him less. He had gone as far as his -caution had allowed him in trying to prevent the fatal appointment; and -then, when it had become clear that the Government was insistent, he had -yielded with a good grace. For a moment, he had imagined that all might -yet be well; that he could impose himself, by the weight of his position -and the force of his sagacity, upon his self-willed subordinate; that he -could hold him in a leash at the end of the telegraph wire to Khartoum. -Very soon he perceived that this was a miscalculation. To his disgust, -he found that the telegraph wire, far from being an instrument of -official discipline, had been converted by the agile strategist at the -other end of it into a means of extending his own personality into the -deliberations at Cairo. Every morning Sir Evelyn Baring would find upon -his table a great pile of telegrams from Khartoum--twenty or thirty at -least; and as the day went on, the pile would grow. When a sufficient -number had accumulated he would read them all through, with the greatest -care. There upon the table, the whole soul of Gordon lay before him--in -its incoherence, its eccentricity, its impulsiveness, its romance; the -jokes, the slang, the appeals to the prophet Isaiah, the whirl of -contradictory policies--Sir Evelyn Baring did not know which exasperated -him most. He would not consider whether, or to what degree, the man was -a maniac; no, he would not. A subacid smile was the only comment he -allowed himself. His position, indeed, was an extremely difficult one, -and all his dexterity would be needed if he was to emerge from it with -credit. - -On one side of him was a veering and vacillating Government; on the -other, a frenzied enthusiast. It was his business to interpret to the -first the wishes, or rather the inspirations, of the second, and to -convey to the second the decisions, or rather the indecisions, of the -first. A weaker man would have floated helplessly on the ebb and flow of -the Cabinet's wavering policies; a rasher man would have plunged -headlong into Gordon's schemes. He did neither; with a singular courage -and a singular caution he progressed along a razor-edge. He devoted all -his energies to the double task of evolving a reasonable policy out of -Gordon's intoxicated telegrams, and of inducing the divided Ministers at -home to give their sanction to what he had evolved. He might have -succeeded, if he had not had to reckon with yet another irreconcilable; -Time was a vital element in the situation, and Time was against him. -When the tribes round Khartoum rose, the last hope of a satisfactory -solution vanished. He was the first to perceive the altered condition of -affairs; long before the Government, long before Gordon himself, he -understood that the only remaining question was that of the extrication -of the Englishmen from Khartoum. He proposed that a small force should -be dispatched at once across the desert from Suakin to Barber, the point -on the Nile nearest to the Red Sea, and thence up the river to Gordon; -but, after considerable hesitation, the military authorities decided -that this was not a practicable plan. Upon that, he foresaw, with -perfect lucidity, the inevitable development of events. Sooner or later, -it would be absolutely necessary to send a relief expedition to -Khartoum; and, from that premise, it followed, without a possibility of -doubt, that it was the duty of the Government to do so at once. This he -saw quite clearly; but he also saw that the position in the Cabinet had -now altered, that Mr. Gladstone had taken the reins into his own hands. -And Mr. Gladstone did not wish to send a relief expedition. What was Sir -Evelyn Baring to do? Was he to pit his strength against Mr. Gladstone's? -To threaten resignation? To stake his whole future upon General Gordon's -fate? For a moment he wavered; he seemed to hint that unless the -Government sent a message to Khartoum promising a relief expedition -before the end of the year, he would be unable to be a party to their -acts. The Government refused to send any such message; and he perceived, -as he tells us, that 'it was evidently useless to continue the -correspondence any further'. After all, what could he do? He was still -only a secondary figure; his resignation would be accepted; he would be -given a colonial governorship and Gordon would be no nearer safety. But -then, could he sit by and witness a horrible catastrophe, without -lifting a hand? Of all the odious dilemmas which that man had put him -into this, he reflected, was the most odious. He slightly shrugged his -shoulders. No; he might have 'power to hurt', but he would 'do none'. He -wrote a dispatch--a long, balanced, guarded, grey dispatch, informing -the Government that he 'ventured to think' that it was 'a question -worthy of consideration whether the naval and military authorities -should not take some preliminary steps in the way of preparing boats, -etc., so as to be able to move, should the necessity arise'. Then, -within a week, before the receipt of the Government's answer, he left -Egypt. From the end of April until the beginning of September--during -the most momentous period of the whole crisis, he was engaged in London -upon a financial conference, while his place was taken in Cairo by a -substitute. With a characteristically convenient unobtrusiveness, Sir -Evelyn Baring had vanished from the scene. - -Meanwhile, far to the southward, over the wide-spreading lands watered -by the Upper Nile and its tributaries, the power and the glory of him -who had once been Mohammed Ahmed were growing still. In the -Bahr-el-Ghazal, the last embers of resistance were stamped out with the -capture of Lupton Bey, and through the whole of that vast province three -times the size of England--every trace of the Egyptian Government was -obliterated. Still farther south the same fate was rapidly overtaking -Equatoria, where Emir Pasha, withdrawing into the unexplored depths of -Central Africa, carried with him the last vestiges of the old order. The -Mahdi himself still lingered in his headquarters at El Obeid; but, on -the rising of the tribes round Khartoum, he had decided that the time -for an offensive movement had come, and had dispatched an arm of 30,000 -men to lay siege to the city. At the same time, in a long and elaborate -proclamation, in which he asserted, with all the elegance of oriental -rhetoric, both the sanctity of his mission and the invincibility of his -troops, he called upon the inhabitants to surrender. Gordon read aloud -the summons to the assembled townspeople; with one voice they declared -that they were ready to resist. This was a false Mahdi, they said; God -would defend the right; they put their trust in the Governor-General. -The most learned Sheikh in the town drew up a theological reply, -pointing out that the Mahdi did not fulfil the requirements of the -ancient prophets. At his appearance, had the Euphrates dried up and -revealed a hill of gold? Had contradiction and difference ceased upon -the earth? And, moreover, did not the faithful know that the true Mahdi -was born in the year of the Prophet 255, from which it surely followed -that he must be now 1,046 years old? And was it not clear to all men -that this pretender was not a tenth of that age? - -These arguments were certainly forcible; but the Mahdi's army was more -forcible still. The besieged sallied out to the attack; they were -defeated; and the rout that followed was so disgraceful that two of the -commanding officers were, by Gordon's orders, executed as traitors. From -that moment the regular investment of Khartoum began. The Arab generals -decided to starve the town into submission. When, after a few weeks of -doubt, it became certain that no British force was on its way from -Suakin to smash up the Mahdi, and when, at the end of May, Berber, the -last connecting link between Khartoum and the outside world, fell into -the hands of the enemy, Gordon set his teeth, and sat down to wait and -to hope, as best he might. With unceasing energy he devoted himself to -the strengthening of his defences and the organisation of his -resources--to the digging of earthworks, the manufacture of ammunition, -the collection and the distribution of food. Every day there were -sallies and skirmishes; every day his little armoured steamboats paddled -up and down the river, scattering death and terror as they went. -Whatever the emergency, he was ready with devices and expedients. When -the earthworks were still uncompleted he procured hundreds of yards of -cotton, which he dyed the colour of earth, and spread out in long, -sloping lines, so as to deceive the Arabs, while the real works were -being prepared farther back. When a lack of money began to make itself -felt, he printed and circulated a paper coinage of his own. To combat -the growing discontent and disaffection of the townspeople, he -instituted a system of orders and medals; the women were not forgotten; -and his popularity redoubled. There was terror in the thought that harm -might come to the Governor-General. Awe and reverence followed him; -wherever he went he was surrounded by a vigilant and jealous guard, like -some precious idol, some mascot of victory. How could he go away? How -could he desert his people? It was impossible. It would be, as he -himself exclaimed in one of his latest telegrams to Sir Evelyn Baring, -'the climax of meanness', even to contemplate such an act. Sir Evelyn -Baring thought differently. In his opinion it was General Gordon's plain -duty to have come away from Khartoum. To stay involved inevitably a -relief expedition--a great expense of treasure and the loss of valuable -lives; to come away would merely mean that the inhabitants of Khartoum -would be 'taken prisoner by the Mahdi'. So Sir Evelyn Baring put it; but -the case was not quite so simple as that. When Berber fell, there had -been a massacre lasting for days--an appalling orgy of loot and lust and -slaughter; when Khartoum itself was captured, what followed was still -more terrible. Decidedly, it was no child's play to be 'taken prisoner -by the Mahdi'. And Gordon was actually there, among those people, in -closest intercourse with them, responsible, beloved. Yes; no doubt. But -was that in truth, his only motive? Did he not wish in reality, by -lingering in Khartoum, to force the hand of the Government? To oblige -them, whether they would or no, to send an army to smash up the Mahdi? -And was that fair? Was THAT his duty? He might protest, with his last -breath, that he had 'tried to do his duty'; Sir Evelyn Baring, at any -rate, would not agree. - -But Sir Evelyn Baring was inaudible, and Gordon now cared very little -for his opinions. Is it possible that, if only for a moment, in his -extraordinary predicament, he may have listened to another and a very -different voice--a voice of singular quality, a voice which--for so one -would fain imagine--may well have wakened some familiar echoes in his -heart? One day, he received a private letter from the Mahdi. The letter -was accompanied by a small bundle of clothes. - -'In the name of God!' wrote the Mahdi, 'herewith a suit of clothes, -consisting of a coat (jibbeh), an overcoat, a turban, a cap, a girdle, -and beads. This is the clothing of those who have given up this world -and its vanities, and who look for the world to come, for everlasting -happiness in Paradise. If you truly desire to come to God and seek to -live a godly life, you must at once wear this suit, and come out to -accept your everlasting good fortune.' - -Did the words bear no meaning to the mystic of Gravesend? But he was an -English gentleman, an English officer. He flung the clothes to the -ground, and trampled on them in the sight of all. Then, alone, he went -up to the roof of his high palace, and turned the telescope once more, -almost mechanically, towards the north. - -But nothing broke the immovability of that hard horizon; and, indeed, -how was it possible that help should come to him now? He seemed to be -utterly abandoned. Sir Evelyn Baring had disappeared into his financial -conference. In England, Mr. Gladstone had held firm, had outfaced the -House of Commons, had ignored the Press. He appeared to have triumphed. -Though it was clear that no preparations of any kind were being made for -the relief of Gordon, the anxiety and agitation of the public, which had -risen so suddenly to such a height of vehemence, had died down. The -dangerous beast had been quelled by the stern eye of its master. Other -questions became more interesting--the Reform Bill, the Russians, the -House of Lords. Gordon, silent in Khartoum, had almost dropped out of -remembrance. And yet, help did come after all. And it came from an -unexpected quarter. Lord Hartington had been for some time convinced -that he was responsible for Gordon's appointment; and his conscience was -beginning to grow uncomfortable. - -Lord Hartington's conscience was of a piece with the rest of him. It was -not, like Mr. Gladstone's, a salamander-conscience--an intangible, -dangerous creature, that loved to live in the fire; nor was it, like -Gordon's, a restless conscience; nor, like Sir Evelyn Baring's, a -diplomatic conscience; it was a commonplace affair. Lord Hartington -himself would have been disgusted by any mention of it. If he had been -obliged, he would have alluded to it distantly; he would have muttered -that it was a bore not to do the proper thing. He was usually bored--for -one reason or another; but this particular form of boredom he found more -intense than all the rest. He would take endless pains to avoid it. Of -course, the whole thing was a nuisance--an obvious nuisance; and -everyone else must feel just as he did about it. And yet people seemed -to have got it into their heads that he had some kind of special faculty -in such matters--that there was some peculiar value in his judgment on a -question of right and wrong. He could not understand why it was; but -whenever there was a dispute about cards in a club, it was brought to -him to settle. It was most odd. But it was trite. In public affairs, no -less than in private, Lord Hartington's decisions carried an -extraordinary weight. The feeling of his idle friends in high society -was shared by the great mass of the English people; here was a man they -could trust. For indeed he was built upon a pattern which was very dear -to his countrymen. It was not simply that he was honest: it was that his -honesty was an English honesty--an honest which naturally belonged to -one who, so it seemed to them, was the living image of what an -Englishman should be. - -In Lord Hartington they saw, embodied and glorified, the very qualities -which were nearest to their hearts--impartiality, solidity, common -sense--the qualities by which they themselves longed to be -distinguished, and by which, in their happier moments, they believed -they were. If ever they began to have misgivings, there, at any rate, -was the example of Lord Hartington to encourage them and guide -them--Lord Hartington who was never self-seeking, who was never excited, -and who had no imagination at all. Everything they knew about him fitted -into the picture, adding to their admiration and respect. His fondness -for field sports gave them a feeling of security; and certainly there -could be no nonsense about a man who confessed to two ambitions--to -become Prime Minister and to win the Derby--and who put the second above -the first. They loved him for his casualness--for his inexactness--for -refusing to make life a cut-and-dried business--for ramming an official -dispatch of high importance into his coat-pocket, and finding it there, -still unopened, at Newmarket, several days later. They loved him for his -hatred of fine sentiments; they were delighted when they heard that at -some function, on a florid speaker's avowing that 'this was the proudest -moment of his life', Lord Hartington had growled in an undertone 'the -proudest moment of my life was when MY pig won the prize at Skipton -Fair'. Above all, they loved him for being dull. It was the greatest -comfort--with Lord Hartington they could always be absolutely certain -that he would never, in any circumstances, be either brilliant, or -subtle, or surprising, or impassioned, or profound. As they sat, -listening to his speeches, in which considerations of stolid plainness -succeeded one another with complete flatness, they felt, involved and -supported by the colossal tedium, that their confidence was finally -assured. They looked up, and took their fill of the sturdy, obvious -presence. The inheritor of a splendid dukedom might almost have passed -for a farm hand. Almost, but not quite. For an air that was difficult to -explain, of preponderating authority, lurked in the solid figure; and -the lordly breeding of the House of Cavendish was visible in the large, -long, bearded, unimpressionable face. - -One other characteristic--the necessary consequence, or, indeed, it -might almost be said, the essential expression, of all the -rest--completes the portrait: Lord Hartington was slow. He was slow in -movement, slow in apprehension, slow in thought and the communication of -thought, slow to decide, and slow to act. More than once this -disposition exercised a profound effect upon his career. A private -individual may, perhaps, be slow with impunity; but a statesman who is -slow--whatever the force of his character and the strength of his -judgment--can hardly escape unhurt from the hurrying of Time's winged -chariot, can hardly hope to avoid some grave disaster or some -irretrievable mistake. The fate of General Gordon, so intricately -interwoven with such a mass of complicated circumstance with the -policies of England and of Egypt, with the fanaticism of the Mahdi, with -the irreproachability of Sir Evelyn Baring, with Mr. Gladstone's -mysterious passions--was finally determined by the fact that Lord -Hartington was slow. If he had been even a very little quicker--if he -had been quicker by two days ... but it could not be. The ponderous -machinery took so long to set itself in motion; the great wheels and -levers, once started, revolved with such a laborious, such a painful -deliberation, that at last their work was accomplished--surely, firmly, -completely, in the best English manner, and too late. - -Seven stages may be discerned in the history of Lord Hartington's -influence upon the fate of General Gordon. At the end of the first -stage, he had become convinced that he was responsible for Gordon's -appointment to Khartoum. At the end of the second, he had perceived that -his conscience would not allow him to remain inactive in the face of -Gordon's danger. At the end of the third, he had made an attempt to -induce the Cabinet to send an expedition to Gordon's relief. At the end -of the fourth, he had realised that the Cabinet had decided to postpone -the relief of Gordon indefinitely. At the end of the fifth, he had come -to the conclusion that he must put pressure upon Mr. Gladstone. At the -end of the sixth, he had attempted to put pressure upon Mr. Gladstone, -and had not succeeded. At the end of the seventh, he had succeeded in -putting pressure upon Mr. Gladstone; the relief expedition had been -ordered; he could do no more. - -The turning-point in this long and extraordinary process occurred -towards the end of April, when the Cabinet, after the receipt of Sir -Evelyn Baring's final dispatch, decided to take no immediate measures -for Gordon's relief. From that moment it was clear that there was only -one course open to Lord Hartington--to tell Mr. Gladstone that he would -resign unless a relief expedition was sent. But it took him more than -three months to come to this conclusion. He always found the proceedings -at Cabinet meetings particularly hard to follow. The interchange of -question and answer, of proposal and counterproposal, the crowded -counsellors, Mr. Gladstone's subtleties, the abrupt and complicated -resolutions--these things invariably left him confused and perplexed. -After the crucial Cabinet at the end of April, he came away in a state -of uncertainty as to what had occurred; he had to write to Lord -Granville to find out; and by that time, of course, the Government's -decision had been telegraphed to Egypt. Three weeks later, in the middle -of May, he had grown so uneasy that he felt himself obliged to address a -circular letter to the Cabinet proposing that preparations for a relief -expedition should be set on foot at once. And then he began to -understand that nothing would ever be done until Mr. Gladstone, by some -means or other, had been forced to give his consent. A singular combat -followed. The slippery old man perpetually eluded the cumbrous grasp of -his antagonist. He delayed, he postponed, he raised interminable -difficulties, he prevaricated, he was silent, he disappeared. Lord -Hartington was dauntless. Gradually, inch by inch, he drove the Prime -Minister into a corner. But in the meantime many weeks had passed. On -July 1st, Lord Hartington was still remarking that he 'really did not -feel that he knew the mind or intention of the Government in respect of -the relief of General Gordon'. The month was spent in a succession of -stubborn efforts to wring from Mr. Gladstone some definite statement -upon the question. It was useless. On July 31st, Lord Hartington did the -deed. He stated that, unless an expedition was sent, he would resign. It -was, he said, 'a question of personal honour and good faith, and I don't -see how I can yield upon it'. His conscience had worked itself to rest -at last. - -When Mr. Gladstone read the words, he realised that the game was over. -Lord Hartington's position in the Liberal Party was second only to his -own; he was the leader of the rich and powerful Whig aristocracy; his -influence with the country was immense. Nor was he the man to make idle -threats of resignation; he had said he would resign, and resign he -would: the collapse of the Government would be the inevitable result. On -August 5th, therefore, Parliament was asked to make a grant of L300,000, -in order 'to enable Her Majesty's Government to undertake operations for -the relief of General Gordon, should they become necessary'. The money -was voted; and even then, at that last hour, Mr. Gladstone made another, -final, desperate twist. Trying to save himself by the proviso which he -had inserted into the resolution, he declared that he was still -unconvinced of the necessity of any operations at all. 'I nearly,' he -wrote to Lord Hartington, 'but not quite, adopt words received today -from Granville. "It is clear, I think, that Gordon has our messages, and -does not choose to answer them."' Nearly, but not quite! The -qualification was masterly; but it was of no avail. This time, the -sinuous creature was held by too firm a grasp. On August 26th, Lord -Wolseley was appointed to command the relief expedition; and on -September 9th, he arrived in Egypt. - -The relief expedition had begun, and at the same moment a new phase -opened at Khartoum. The annual rising of the Nile was now sufficiently -advanced to enable one of Gordon's small steamers to pass over the -cataracts down to Egypt in safety. He determined to seize the -opportunity of laying before the authorities in Cairo and London, and -the English public at large, an exact account of his position. A cargo -of documents, including Colonel Stewart's Diary of the siege and a -personal appeal for assistance addressed by Gordon to all the European -powers, was placed on board the Abbas; four other steamers were to -accompany her until she was out of danger from attacks by the Mahdi's -troops; after which, she was to proceed alone into Egypt. On the evening -of September 9th, just as she was about to start, the English and French -Consuls asked for permission to go with her--a permission which Gordon, -who had long been anxious to provide for their safety, readily granted. -Then Colonel Stewart made the same request; and Gordon consented with -the same alacrity. - -Colonel Stewart was the second-in-command at Khartoum; and it seems -strange that he should have made a proposal which would leave Gordon in -a position of the gravest anxiety without a single European subordinate. -But his motives were to be veiled forever in a tragic obscurity. The -Abbas and her convoy set out. Henceforward the Governor-General was -alone. He had now, definitely and finally, made his decision. Colonel -Stewart and his companions had gone, with every prospect of returning -unharmed to civilisation. Mr. Gladstone's belief was justified; so far -as Gordon's personal safety was concerned, he might still, at this late -hour, have secured it. But he had chosen--he stayed at Khartoum. - -No sooner were the steamers out of sight than he sat down at his -writing-table and began that daily record of his circumstances, his -reflections, and his feelings, which reveals to us, with such an -authentic exactitude, the final period of his extraordinary destiny. His -Journals, sent down the river in batches to await the coming of the -relief expedition, and addressed, first to Colonel Stewart, and later to -the 'Chief of Staff, Sudan Expeditionary Force', were official -documents, intended for publication, though, as Gordon himself was -careful to note on the outer covers, they would 'want pruning out' -before they were printed. He also wrote, on the envelope of the first -section, 'No secrets as far as I am concerned'. A more singular set of -state papers was never compiled. Sitting there, in the solitude of his -palace, with ruin closing round him, with anxieties on every hand, with -doom hanging above his head, he let his pen rush on for hour after hour -in an ecstasy of communication, a tireless unburdening of the spirit, -where the most trivial incidents of the passing day were mingled -pell-mell with philosophical disquisitions; where jests and anger, hopes -and terrors, elaborate justifications and cynical confessions, jostled -one another in reckless confusion. The impulsive, demonstrative man had -nobody to talk to any more, and so he talked instead to the pile of -telegraph forms, which, useless now for perplexing Sir Evelyn Baring, -served very well--for they were large and blank--as the repositories of -his conversation. His tone was not the intimate and religious tone which -he would have used with the Rev. Mr. Barnes or his sister Augusta; it -was such as must have been habitual with him in his intercourse with old -friends or fellow-officers, whose religious views were of a more -ordinary caste than his own, but with whom he was on confidential terms. -He was anxious to put his case to a select and sympathetic audience--to -convince such a man as Lord Wolseley that he was justified in what he -had done; and he was sparing in his allusions to the hand of Providence, -while those mysterious doubts and piercing introspections, which must -have filled him, he almost entirely concealed. He expressed himself, of -course, with eccentric ABANDON--it would have been impossible for him to -do otherwise; but he was content to indicate his deepest feelings with a -fleer. Yet sometimes--as one can imagine happening with him in actual -conversation--his utterance took the form of a half-soliloquy, a copious -outpouring addressed to himself more than to anyone else, for his own -satisfaction. There are passages in the Khartoum Journals which call up -in a flash the light, gliding figure, and the blue eyes with the candour -of childhood still shining in them; one can almost hear the low voice, -the singularly distinct articulation, the persuasive--the -self-persuasive--sentences, following each other so unassumingly between -the puffs of a cigarette. - -As he wrote, two preoccupations principally filled his mind. His -reflections revolved around the immediate past and the impending future. -With an unerring persistency he examined, he excused, he explained, his -share in the complicated events which had led to his present situation. -He rebutted the charges of imaginary enemies; he laid bare the -ineptitude and the faithlessness of the English Government. He poured -out his satire upon officials and diplomatists. He drew caricatures, in -the margin, of Sir Evelyn Baring, with sentences of shocked pomposity -coming out of his mouth. In some passages, which the editor of the -Journals preferred to suppress, he covered Lord Granville with his -raillery, picturing the Foreign Secretary, lounging away his morning at -Walmer Castle, opening The Times and suddenly discovering, to his -horror, that Khartoum was still holding out. 'Why, HE SAID DISTINCTLY he -could ONLY hold out SIX MONTHS, and that was in March (counts the -months). August! why, he ought to have given in! What is to be done? -They'll be howling for an expedition.... It is no laughing matter; THAT -ABOMINABLE MAHDI! Why on earth does he not guard his roads better? WHAT -IS to be done?' Several times in his bitterness he repeats the -suggestion that the authorities at home were secretly hoping that the -fall of Khartoum would relieve them of their difficulties. - -'What that Mahdi is about, Lord Granville is made to exclaim in another -deleted paragraph, 'I cannot make out. Why does he not put all his guns -on the river and stop the route? Eh what? "We will have to go to -Khartoum!" Why, it will cost millions, what a wretched business! What! -Send Zobeir? Our conscience recoils from THAT; it is elastic, but not -equal to that; it is a pact with the Devil.... Do you not think there is -any way of getting hold of H I M, in a quiet way?' - -If a boy at Eton or Harrow, he declared, had acted as the Government had -acted, 'I THINK he would be kicked, and I AM SURE he would deserve it'. -He was the victim of hypocrites and humbugs. There was 'no sort of -parallel to all this in history--except David with Uriah the Hittite'; -but then 'there was an Eve in the case', and he was not aware that the -Government had even that excuse. - -From the past, he turned to the future, and surveyed, with a disturbed -and piercing vision, the possibilities before him. Supposing that the -relief expedition arrived, what would be his position? Upon one thing he -was determined: whatever happened, he would not play the part of 'the -rescued lamb'. He vehemently asserted that the purpose of the expedition -could only be the relief of the Sudan garrisons; it was monstrous to -imagine that it had been undertaken merely to ensure his personal -safety. He refused to believe it. In any case, - -'I declare POSITIVELY,' he wrote, with passionate underlinings. 'AND -ONCE FOR ALL, THAT I WILL NOT LEAVE THE SUDAN UNTIL EVERY ONE WHO WANTS -TO GO DOWN IS GIVEN THE CHANCE TO DO SO, UNLESS a government is -established which relieves me of the charge; therefore, if any emissary -or letter comes up here ordering me to comedown, I WILL NOT OBEY IT, BUT -WILL STAY HERE AND FALL WITH THE TOWN, AND RUN ALL RISKS'. - -This was sheer insubordination, no doubt; but he could not help that; it -was not in his nature to be obedient. 'I know if I was chief, I would -never employ myself, for I am incorrigible.' Decidedly, he was not -afraid to be 'what club men call insubordinate, though, of all -insubordinates, the club men are the worst'. - -As for the government which was to replace him, there were several -alternatives: an Egyptian Pasha might succeed him as Governor-General, -or Zobeir might be appointed after all, or the whole country might be -handed over to the Sultan. His fertile imagination evolved scheme after -scheme; and his visions of his own future were equally various. He would -withdraw to the Equator; he would be delighted to spend Christmas in -Brussels; he would ... at any rate he would never go back to England. -That was certain. - -'I dwell on the joy of never seeing Great Britain again, with its -horrid, wearisome dinner-parties and miseries. How we can put up with -those things, passes my imagination! It is a perfect bondage ... I would -sooner live 'like a Dervish with the Mahdi, than go out to dinner every -night in London. I hope, if any English general comes to Khartoum, he -will not ask me to dinner. Why men cannot be friends without bringing -the wretched stomachs in, is astounding.' - -But would an English general ever have the opportunity of asking him to -dinner in Khartoum? There were moments when terrible misgivings assailed -him. He pieced together his scraps of intelligence with feverish -exactitude; he calculated times, distances, marches. 'If,' he wrote on -October 24th, they do not come before 30th November, the game is up, and -Rule Britannia.' Curious premonitions came into his mind. When he heard -that the Mahdi was approaching in person, it seemed to be the fulfilment -of a destiny, for he had 'always felt we were doomed to come face to -face'. What would be the end of it all? 'It is, of course, on the -cards,' he noted, 'that Khartoum is taken under the nose of the -Expeditionary Force, which will be JUST TOO LATE.' The splendid hawks -that swooped about the palace reminded him of a text in the Bible: 'The -eye that mocketh at his father and despiseth to obey his mother, the -ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat -it.' 'I often wonder,' he wrote, 'whether they are destined to pick my -eyes, for I fear I was not the best of sons.' - -So, sitting late into the night, he filled the empty telegraph forms -with the agitations of his spirit, overflowing ever more hurriedly, more -furiously, with lines of emphasis, and capitals, and exclamation-marks -more and more thickly interspersed, so that the signs of his living -passion are still visible to the inquirer of today on those thin sheets -of mediocre paper and in the torrent of the ink. But he was a man of -elastic temperament; he could not remain forever upon the stretch; he -sought, and he found, relaxation in extraneous matters--in metaphysical -digressions, or in satirical outbursts, or in the small details of his -daily life. It amused him to have the Sudanese soldiers brought in and -shown their 'black pug faces' in the palace looking-glasses. He watched -with a cynical sympathy the impertinence of a turkey-cock that walked in -his courtyard. He made friends with a mouse who, 'judging from her -swelled-out appearance', was a lady, and came and ate out of his plate. -The cranes that flew over Khartoum in their thousands, and with their -curious cry, put him in mind of the poems of Schiller, which few ever -read, but which he admired highly, though he only knew them in Bulwer's -translation. He wrote little disquisitions on Plutarch and purgatory, on -the fear of death and on the sixteenth chapter of the Koran. Then the -turkey-cock, strutting with 'every feather on end, and all the colours -of the rainbow on his neck', attracted him once more, and he filled -several pages with his opinions upon the immortality of animals, -drifting on to a discussion of man's position in the universe, and the -infinite knowledge of God. It was all clear to him. And yet--'what a -contradiction, is life! I hate Her Majesty's Government for their -leaving the Sudan after having caused all its troubles, yet I believe -our Lord rules heaven and earth, so I ought to hate Him, which I -(sincerely) do not.' - -One painful thought obsessed him. He believed that the two Egyptian -officers, who had been put to death after the defeat in March, had been -unjustly executed. He had given way to 'outside influences'; the two -Pashas had been 'judicially murdered'. Again and again he referred to -the incident with a haunting remorse. "The Times", perhaps, would -consider that he had been justified; but what did that matter? 'If The -Times saw this in print, it would say, "Why, then, did you act as you -did?" to which I fear I have no answer.' He determined to make what -reparation he could, and to send the families of the unfortunate Pashas -L1,000 each. - -On a similar, but a less serious, occasion, he put the same principle -into action. He boxed the ears of a careless telegraph clerk--'and then, -as my conscience pricked me, I gave him $5. He said he did not mind if I -killed him--I was his father (a chocolate-coloured youth of twenty).' -His temper, indeed, was growing more and more uncertain, as he himself -was well aware. He observed with horror that men trembled when they came -into his presence--that their hands shook so that they could not hold a -match to a cigarette. - -He trusted no one. Looking into the faces of those who surrounded him, -he saw only the ill-dissimulated signs of treachery and dislike. Of the -40,000 inhabitants of Khartoum he calculated that two-thirds were -willing--were perhaps anxious--to become the subjects of the Mahdi. -'These people are not worth any great sacrifice,' he bitterly observed. -The Egyptian officials were utterly incompetent; the soldiers were -cowards. All his admiration was reserved for his enemies. The meanest of -the Mahdi's followers was, he realised, 'a determined warrior, who could -undergo thirst and privation, who no more cared for pain or death than -if he were stone'. Those were the men whom, if the choice had lain with -him, he would have wished to command. And yet, strangely enough, he -persistently underrated the strength of the forces against him. A -handful of Englishmen--a handful of Turks would, he believed, be enough -to defeat the Mahdi's hosts and destroy his dominion. He knew very -little Arabic, and he depended for his information upon a few ignorant -English-speaking subordinates. The Mahdi himself he viewed with -ambiguous feelings. He jibed at him as a vulgar impostor; but it is easy -to perceive, under his scornful jocularities, the traces of an uneasy -respect. - -He spent long hours upon the palace roof, gazing northwards; but the -veil of mystery and silence was unbroken. In spite of the efforts of -Major Kitchener, the officer in command of the Egyptian Intelligence -Service, hardly any messengers ever reached Khartoum; and when they did, -the information they brought was tormentingly scanty. Major Kitchener -did not escape the attentions of Gordon's pen. When news came at last, -it was terrible: Colonel Stewart and his companions had been killed. The -Abbas, after having passed uninjured through the part of the river -commanded by the Mahdi's troops, had struck upon a rock; Colonel Stewart -had disembarked in safety; and, while he was waiting for camels to -convey the detachment across the desert into Egypt, had accepted the -hospitality of a local Sheikh. Hardly had the Europeans entered the -Sheikh's hut when they were set upon and murdered; their native -followers shared their fate. The treacherous Sheikh was an adherent of -the Mahdi, and to the Mahdi all Colonel Stewart's papers, filled with -information as to the condition of Khartoum, were immediately sent. When -the first rumours of the disaster reached Gordon, he pictured, in a -flash of intuition, the actual details of the catastrophe. 'I feel -somehow convinced,' he wrote, they were captured by treachery ... -Stewart was not a bit suspicious (I am made up of it). I can see in -imagination the whole scene, the Sheikh inviting them to land ... then a -rush of wild Arabs, and all is over!' 'It is very sad,' he added, 'but -being ordained, we must not murmur.' And yet he believed that the true -responsibility lay with him; it was the punishment of his own sins. 'I -look on it,' was his unexpected conclusion, 'as being a Nemesis on the -death of the two Pashas.' - -The workings of his conscience did indeed take on surprising shapes. Of -the three ex-governors of Darfur, Bahr-el-Ghazal, and Equatoria, Emin -Pasha had disappeared, Lupton Bey had died, and Slatin Pasha was held in -captivity by the Mahdi. By birth an Austrian and a Catholic, Slatin, in -the last desperate stages of his resistance, had adopted the expedient -of announcing his conversion to Mohammedanism, in order to win the -confidence of his native troops. On his capture, the fact of his -conversion procured him some degree of consideration; and, though he -occasionally suffered from the caprices of his masters, he had so far -escaped the terrible punishment which had been meted out to some other -of the Mahdi's European prisoners--that of close confinement in the -common gaol. He was now kept prisoner in one of the camps in the -neighbourhood of Khartoum. He managed to smuggle through a letter to -Gordon, asking for assistance, in case he could make his escape. To this -letter Gordon did not reply. Slatin wrote again and again; his piteous -appeals, couched in no less piteous French, made no effect upon the -heart of the Governor-General. - -'Excellence!' he wrote, 'J'ai envoye deux lettres, sans avoir recu une -reponse de votre excellence.... Excellence! j'ai me battu 27 FOIS pour -le gouvernement contre l'ennemi--on m'a feri deux fois, et j'ai rien -fait contre l'honneur--rien de chose qui doit empeche votre excellence -de m'ecrir une reponse que je sais quoi faire. JE VOUS PRIE, Excellence, -de m'honore avec une reponse. P.S. Si votre Excellence ont peutetre -entendu que j'ai fait quelque chose contre l'honneur d'un officier et -cela vous empeche de m'ecrir, je vous prie de me donner l'occasion de me -defendre, et jugez apres la verite.' - -The unfortunate Slatin understood well enough the cause of Gordon's -silence. It was in vain that he explained the motives of his conversion, -in vain that he pointed out that it had been made easier for him since -he had, 'PERHAPS UNHAPPILY, not received a strict religious education at -home'. Gordon was adamant. Slatin had 'denied his Lord', and that was -enough. His communications with Khartoum were discovered and he was put -in chains. When Gordon heard of it, he noted the fact grimly in his -diary, without a comment. - -A more ghastly fate awaited another European who had fallen into the -hands of the Mahdi. Clavier Pain, a French adventurer, who had taken -part in the Commune, and who was now wandering, for reasons which have -never been discovered, in the wastes of the Sudan, was seized by the -Arabs, made prisoner, and hurried from camp to camp. He was attacked by -fever; but mercy was not among the virtues of the savage soldiers who -held him in their power. Hoisted upon the back of a camel, he was being -carried across the desert, when, overcome by weakness, he lost his hold, -and fell to the ground. Time or trouble were not to be wasted upon an -infidel. Orders were given that he should be immediately buried; the -orders were carried out; and in a few moments the cavalcade had left the -little hillock far behind. But some of those who were present believed -that Olivier Pain had been still breathing when his body was covered -with the sand. - -Gordon, on hearing that a Frenchman had been captured by the Mahdi, -became extremely interested. The idea occurred to him that this -mysterious individual was none other than Ernest Renan, 'who,' he wrote, -in his last publication 'takes leave of the world, and is said to have -gone into Africa, not to reappear again'. He had met Renan at the rooms -of the Royal Geographical Society, had noticed that he looked bored--the -result, no doubt, of too much admiration--and had felt an instinct that -he would meet him again. The instinct now seemed to be justified. There -could hardly be any doubt that it WAS Renan; who else could it be? 'If -he comes to the lines,' he decided, 'and it is Renan, I shall go and see -him, for whatever one may think of his unbelief in our Lord, he -certainly dared to say what he thought, and he has not changed his creed -to save his life.' That the mellifluous author of the Vie de Jesus -should have determined to end his days in the depths of Africa, and have -come, in accordance with an intuition, to renew his acquaintance with -General Gordon in the lines of Khartoum, would indeed have been a -strange occurrence; but who shall limit the strangeness of the -possibilities that lie in wait for the sons of men? At that very moment, -in the south-eastern corner of the Sudan, another Frenchman, of a -peculiar eminence, was fulfilling a destiny more extraordinary than the -wildest romance. In the town of Harrar, near the Red Sea, Arthur Rimbaud -surveyed with splenetic impatience the tragedy of Khartoum. - -'C'est justement les Anglais,' he wrote, 'avec leur absurde politique, -qui minent desormais le commerce de toutes ces cotes. Ils ont voulu tout -remanier et ils sont arrives a faire pire que les Egyptiens et les -Turcs, ruines par eux. Leur Gordon est un idiot, leur Wolseley un ane, -et toutes leurs entreprises une suite insensee d'absurdites et de -depredations.' - -So wrote the amazing poet of the Saison d'Enfer amid those futile -turmoils of petty commerce, in which, with an inexplicable deliberation, -he had forgotten the enchantments of an unparalleled adolescence, -forgotten the fogs of London and the streets of Brussels, forgotten -Paris, forgotten the subtleties and the frenzies of inspiration, -forgotten the agonised embraces of Verlaine. - -When the contents of Colonel Stewart's papers had been interpreted to -the Mahdi, he realised the serious condition of Khartoum, and decided -that the time had come to press the siege to a final conclusion. At the -end of October, he himself, at the head of a fresh army, appeared -outside the town. From that moment, the investment assumed a more and -more menacing character. The lack of provisions now for the first time -began to make itself felt. November 30th--the date fixed by Gordon as -the last possible moment of his resistance--came and went; the -Expeditionary Force had made no sign. The fortunate discovery of a large -store of grain, concealed by some merchants for purposes of speculation, -once more postponed the catastrophe. But the attacking army grew daily -more active; the skirmishes around the lines and on the river more -damaging to the besieged; and the Mahdi's guns began an intermittent -bombardment of the palace. By December 10th it was calculated that there -was not fifteen days' food in the town; 'truly I am worn to a shadow -with the food question', Gordon wrote; 'it is one continuous demand'. At -the same time he received the ominous news that five of his soldiers had -deserted to the Mahdi. His predicament was terrible; but he calculated, -from a few dubious messages that had reached him, that the relieving -force could not be very far away. Accordingly, on the 14th, he decided -to send down one of his four remaining steamers, the Bordeen, to meet it -at Metemmah, in order to deliver to the officer in command the latest -information as to the condition of the town. The Bordeen carried down -the last portion of the Journals, and Gordon's final messages to his -friends. Owing to a misunderstanding, he believed that Sir Evelyn Baring -was accompanying the expedition from Egypt, and some of his latest and -most successful satirical fancies played around the vision of the -distressed Consul-General perched for days upon the painful eminence of -a camel's hump. 'There was a slight laugh when Khartoum heard Baring was -bumping his way up here--a regular Nemesis.' But, when Sir Evelyn Baring -actually arrived--in whatever condition--what would happen? Gordon lost -himself in the multitude of his speculations. His own object, he -declared, was, 'of course, to make tracks'. Then in one of his strange -premonitory rhapsodies, he threw out, half in jest and half in earnest, -that the best solution of all the difficulties of the future would be -the appointment of Major Kitchener as Governor-General of the Sudan. The -Journal ended upon a note of menace and disdain: - -'Now MARK THIS, if the Expeditionary Force, and I ask for no more than -200 men, does not come in ten days, the town may fall; and I have done -my best for the honour of our country. Good-bye.--C. G. GORDON. - -'You send me no information, though you have lots of money. C. G. G.' - -To his sister Augusta he was more explicit. - -'I decline to agree,' he told her, 'that the expedition comes for my -relief; it comes for the relief of the garrisons, which I failed to -accomplish. I expect Her Majesty's Government are in a precious rage -with me for holding out and forcing their hand.' - -The admission is significant. And then came the final adieux. - -'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, as He will rule to His glory and our welfare, His will be done. I -fear, owing to circumstances, that my affairs are pecuniarily not over -bright ... your affectionate brother, C. G. GORDON. - -'P.S. I am quite happy, thank God, and, like Lawrence, I have TRIED to -do my duty.' - -The delay of the expedition was even more serious than Gordon had -supposed. Lord Wolseley had made the most elaborate preparations. He had -collected together a picked army of 10,000 of the finest British troops; -he had arranged a system of river transports with infinite care. For it -was his intention to take no risks; he would advance in force up the -Nile; he had determined that the fate of Gordon should not depend upon -the dangerous hazards of a small and hasty exploit. There is no -doubt--in view of the opposition which the relieving force actually met -with--that his decision was a wise one; but unfortunately, he had -miscalculated some of the essential elements in the situation. When his -preparations were at last complete, it was found that the Nile had sunk -so low that the flotillas, over which so much care had been lavished, -and upon which depended the whole success of the campaign, would be -unable to surmount the cataracts. At the same time--it was by then the -middle of November--a message arrived from Gordon indicating that -Khartoum was in serious straits. It was clear that an immediate advance -was necessary; the river route was out of the question; a swift dash -across the desert was the only possible expedient after all. But no -preparations for land transport had been made; weeks elapsed before a -sufficient number of camels could be collected; and more weeks before -those collected were trained for military march. It was not until -December 30th--more than a fortnight after the last entry in Gordon's -Journal--that Sir Herbert Stewart, at the head of 1,100 British troops, -was able to leave Korti on his march towards Metemmah, 170 miles across -the desert. His advance was slow, and it was tenaciously disputed by, -the Mahdi's forces. There was a desperate engagement on January 17th at -the wells of Abu Klea; the British square was broken; for a moment -victory hung in the balance; but the Arabs were repulsed. On the 19th -there was another furiously contested fight, in which Sir Herbert -Stewart was killed. On the 21st, the force, now diminished by over 250 -casualties, reached Metemmah. Three days elapsed in reconnoitering the -country, and strengthening the position of the camp. On the 24th, Sir -Charles Wilson, who had succeeded to the command, embarked on the -Bordeen, and started up the river for Khartoum. On the following -evening, the vessel struck on a rock, causing a further delay of -twenty-four hours. It was not until January 28th that Sir Charles -Wilson, arriving under a heavy fire within sight of Khartoum, saw that -the Egyptian flag was not flying from the roof of the palace. The signs -of ruin and destruction on every hand showed clearly enough that the -town had fallen. The relief expedition was two days late. - -The details of what passed within Khartoum during the last weeks of the -siege are unknown to us. In the diary of Bordeini Bey, a Levantine -merchant, we catch a few glimpses of the final stages of the -catastrophe--of the starving populace, the exhausted garrison, the -fluctuations of despair and hope, the dauntless energy of the -Governor-General. Still he worked on, indefatigably, apportioning -provisions, collecting ammunition, consulting with the townspeople, -encouraging the soldiers. His hair had suddenly turned quite white. Late -one evening, Bordeini Bey went to visit him in the palace, which was -being bombarded by the Mahdi's cannon. The high building, brilliantly -lighted up, afforded an excellent mark. As the shot came whistling -around the windows, the merchant suggested that it would be advisable to -stop them up with boxes full of sand. Upon this, Gordon Pasha became -enraged. - -'He called up the guard, and gave them orders to shoot me if I moved; he -then brought a very large lantern which would hold twenty-four candles. -He and I then put the candles into the sockets, placed the lantern on -the table in front of the window, lit the candles, and then we sat down -at the table. The Pasha then said, "When God was portioning out fear to -all the people in the world, at last it came to my turn, and there was -no fear left to give me. Go, tell all the people in Khartoum that Gordon -fears nothing, for God has created him without fear."' - -On January 5th, Omdurman, a village on the opposite bank of the Nile, -which had hitherto been occupied by the besieged, was taken by the -Arabs. The town was now closely surrounded, and every chance of -obtaining fresh supplies was cut off. The famine became terrible; dogs, -donkeys, skins, gum, palm fibre, were devoured by the desperate -inhabitants. The soldiers stood on the fortifications like pieces of -wood. Hundreds died of hunger daily: their corpses filled the streets; -and the survivors had not the strength to bury the dead. On the 20th, -the news of the battle of Abu Klea reached Khartoum. The English were -coming at last. Hope rose; every morning the Governor-General assured -the townspeople that one day more would see the end of their sufferings; -and night after night his words were proved untrue. - -On the 23rd, a rumour spread that a spy had arrived with letters, and -that the English army was at hand. A merchant found a piece of newspaper -lying in the road, in which it was stated that the strength of the -relieving forces was 15,000 men. For a moment, hope flickered up again, -only to relapse once more. The rumour, the letters, the printed paper, -all had been contrivances of Gordon to inspire the garrison with the -courage to hold out. On the 25th, it was obvious that the Arabs were -preparing an attack, and a deputation of the principal inhabitants -waited upon the Governor-General. But he refused to see them; Bordeini -Bey was alone admitted to his presence. He was sitting on a divan, and, -as Bordeini Bey came into the room, he snatched the fez from his head -and flung it from him. - -'What more can I say?' he exclaimed, in a voice such as the merchant had -never heard before. 'The people will no longer believe me. I have told -them over and over again that help would be here, but it has never come, -and now they must see I tell them lies. I can do nothing more. Go, and -collect all the people you can on the lines, and make a good stand. Now -leave me to smoke these cigarettes.' - -Bordeini Bey knew then, he tells us, that Gordon Pasha was in despair. -He left the room, having looked upon the Governor-General for the last -time. - -When the English force reached Metemmah, the Mahdi, who had originally -intended to reduce Khartoum to surrender through starvation, decided to -attempt its capture by assault. The receding Nile had left one portion -of the town's circumference undefended; as the river withdrew, the -rampart had crumbled; a broad expanse of mud was left between the wall -and the water, and the soldiers, overcome by hunger and the lassitude of -hopelessness, had trusted to the morass to protect them, and neglected -to repair the breach. Early on the morning of the 26th, the Arabs -crossed the river at this point. The mud, partially dried up, presented -no obstacle; nor did the ruined fortification, feebly manned by some -half-dying troops. Resistance was futile, and it was scarcely offered: -the Mahdi's army swarmed into Khartoum. Gordon had long debated with -himself what his action should be at the supreme moment. 'I shall never -(D.V.),' he had told Sir Evelyn Baring, 'be taken alive.' He had had -gunpowder put into the cellars of the palace, so that the whole building -might, at a moment's notice, be blown into the air. But then misgivings -had come upon him; was it not his duty 'to maintain the faith, and, if -necessary, to suffer for it'?--to remain a tortured and humiliated -witness of his Lord in the Mahdi's chains? The blowing up of the palace -would have, he thought, 'more or less the taint of suicide', would be, -in a way, taking things out of God's hands'. He remained undecided; and -meanwhile, to be ready for every contingency, he kept one of his little -armoured vessels close at hand on the river, with steam up, day and -night, to transport him, if so he should decide, southward, through the -enemy, to the recesses of Equatoria. The sudden appearance of the Arabs, -the complete collapse of the defence, saved him the necessity of making -up his mind. He had been on the roof, in his dressing-gown, when the -attack began; and he had only time to hurry to his bedroom, to slip on a -white uniform, and to seize up a sword and a revolver, before the -foremost of the assailants were in the palace. The crowd was led by four -of the fiercest of the Mahdi's followers--tall and swarthy Dervishes, -splendid in their many-coloured jibbehs, their great swords drawn from -their scabbards of brass and velvet, their spears flourishing above -their heads. Gordon met them at the top of the staircase. For a moment, -there was a deathly pause, while he stood in silence, surveying his -antagonists. Then it is said that Taha Shahin, the Dongolawi, cried in a -loud voice, 'Mala' oun el yom yomek!' (O cursed one, your time is come), -and plunged his spear into the Englishman's body. His only reply was a -gesture of contempt. Another spear transfixed him; he fell, and the -swords of the three other Dervishes instantly hacked him to death. Thus, -if we are to believe the official chroniclers, in the dignity of -unresisting disdain, General Gordon met his end. But it is only fitting -that the last moments of one whose whole life was passed in -contradiction should be involved in mystery and doubt. Other witnesses -told a very different story. The man whom they saw die was not a saint -but a warrior. With intrepidity, with skill, with desperation, he flew -at his enemies. When his pistol was exhausted, he fought on with his -sword; he forced his way almost to the bottom of the staircase; and, -among, a heap of corpses, only succumbed at length to the sheer weight -of the multitudes against him. - -That morning, while Slatin Pasha was sitting in his chains in the camp -at Omdurman, he saw a group of Arabs approaching, one of whom was -carrying something wrapped up in a cloth. As the group passed him, they -stopped for a moment, and railed at him in savage mockery. Then the -cloth was lifted, and he saw before him Gordon's head. The trophy was -taken to the Mahdi: at last the two fanatics had indeed met face to -face. The Mahdi ordered the head to be fixed between the branches of a -tree in the public highway, and all who passed threw stones at it. The -hawks of the desert swept and circled about it--those very hawks which -the blue eyes had so often watched. - -The news of the catastrophe reached England, and a great outcry arose. -The public grief vied with the public indignation. The Queen, in a -letter to Miss Gordon, immediately gave vent both to her own sentiments -and those of the nation. - -'HOW shall I write to you,' she exclaimed, '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 ... Would you express to your -other sisters and your elder Brother my true sympathy, and what I do so -keenly feel, the STAIN left upon England, for your dear Brother's cruel, -though heroic, fate!' - -In reply, Miss Gordon presented the Queen with her brother's Bible, -which was placed in one of the corridors at Windsor, open, on a white -satin cushion, and enclosed in a crystal case. In the meanwhile, Gordon -was acclaimed in every newspaper as a national martyr; State services -were held in his honour at Westminster and St Paul's; L20,000 was voted -to his family; and a great sum of money was raised by subscription to -endow a charity in his memory. Wrath and execration fell, in particular, -upon the head of Mr. Gladstone. He was little better than a murderer; he -was a traitor; he was a heartless villain, who had been seen at the play -on the very night when Gordon's death was announced. The storm passed; -but Mr. Gladstone had soon to cope with a still more serious agitation. -The cry was raised on every side that the national honour would be -irreparably tarnished if the Mahdi were left in the peaceful possession -of Khartoum, and that the Expeditionary Force should be at once employed -to chastise the false prophet and to conquer the Sudan. But it was in -vain that the imperialists clamoured; in vain that Lord Wolseley wrote -several dispatches, proving over and over again that to leave the Mahdi -unconquered must involve the ruin of Egypt; in vain that Lord Hartington -at last discovered that he had come to the same conclusion. The old man -stood firm. Just then, a crisis with Russia on the Afghan frontier -supervened; and Mr. Gladstone, pointing out that every available soldier -might be wanted at any moment for a European war, withdrew Lord Wolseley -and his army from Egypt. The Russian crisis disappeared. The Mahdi -remained supreme lord of the Sudan. - -And yet it was not with the Mahdi that the future lay. Before six months -were out, in the plenitude of his power, he died, and the Khalifa -Abdullahi reigned in his stead. The future lay with Major Kitchener and -his Maxim-Nordenfeldt guns. Thirteen years later the Mahdi's empire was -abolished forever in the gigantic hecatomb of Omdurman; after which it -was thought proper that a religious ceremony in honour of General Gordon -should be held at the palace at Khartoum. The service was conducted by -four chaplains--of the Catholic, Anglican, Presbyterian, and Methodist -persuasions--and concluded with a performance of 'Abide with Me'--the -General's favourite hymn--by a select company of Sudanese buglers. Every -one agreed that General Gordon had been avenged at last. Who could doubt -it? General Gordon himself, possibly, fluttering, in some remote -Nirvana, the pages of a phantasmal Bible, might have ventured on a -satirical remark. But General Gordon had always been a contradictious -person--even a little off his head, perhaps, though a hero; and besides, -he was no longer there to contradict ... At any rate, it had all ended -very happily--in a glorious slaughter of 20,000 Arabs, a vast addition -to the British Empire, and a step in the Peerage for Sir Evelyn Baring. - - BIBLIOGRAPHY - - General Gordon. Reflections in Palestine. Letters. Khartoum Journals. - E. Hake. The Story of Chinese Gordon. - H. W. Gordon. Events in the Life of C. G. Gordon. - D. C. Boulger. Life of General Gordon. - Sir W. Butler. General Gordon. - Rev. R. H. Barnes and C. E, Brown. Charles George Gordon: A Sketch. - A. Bioves. Un Grand Aventurier. - Li Hung Chang. Memoirs.* - Colonel Chaille-Long. My Life in Four Continents. - Lord Cromer. Modern Egypt. - Sir R. Wingate. Mahdiism and the Sudan. - Sir R. Slatin. Fire and Sword in the Sudan. - J. Ohrwalder. Ten Years of Captivity in the Mahdi's Camp. - C. Neufeld. A Prisoner of the Khaleefa. - Wilfrid Blunt. A Secret History of the English Occupation of Egypt. - Gordon at Khartoum. - Winston Churchill. The River War. - F. Power. Letters from Khartoum. - Lord Morley. Life of Gladstone. - George W. Smalley. Mr Gladstone. Harper's Magazine, 1898. - B. Holland. Life of the Eighth Duke of Devonshire. - Lord Fitzmaurice. Life of the Second Earl Granville. - S. Gwynn and Gertrude Tuckwell. Life of Sir Charles Dilke. - Arthur Rimbaud. Lettres. - G. F. Steevens. With Kitchener to Khartoum. - -* The authenticity of the Diary contained in this book has been -disputed, notably by Mr. J. 0. P. Bland in his Li Hung Chang. -(Constable, 1917) - - - - - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Eminent Victorians, by Lytton Strachey - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EMINENT VICTORIANS *** - -***** This file should be named 2447.txt or 2447.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/4/2447/ - -Produced by E-Text prepared by Martin Adamson; -martin@grassmarket.freeserve.co.uk - - -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://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, are 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.pglaf.org. - - -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. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at -http://pglaf.org/fundraising. 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://pglaf.org - -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://pglaf.org - -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://pglaf.org/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. diff --git a/old/old-2025-03-09/2447.zip b/old/old-2025-03-09/2447.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 3efe1bd..0000000 --- a/old/old-2025-03-09/2447.zip +++ /dev/null |