GORDON'S MISSION.
We now arrive at the period when the abandonment of the Soudan having
been decided upon, the British Government confided to General Gordon the
task of extricating the Egyptian garrisons scattered throughout the
country. In dealing with this part of the subject the space available in
the present work will not admit of more than a concise summary of
events. The subject has, however, been so exhaustively dealt with by
other writers, that the abbreviated account given in the following pages
will probably be found sufficient for the general reader.
Charles George Gordon was born on the 28th January, 1833. Gazetted to
the Royal Engineers in 1852, he took part in all the operations in the
Crimea, including the first assault of the Redan. In 1860 he went to
China, where he shared in the advance on Pekin. In the spring of 1862 he
was summoned to Shanghai to check the advance of the Taepings, and in
March, 1863, was appointed to the command of "the ever victorious army."
Of Gordon's exploits in the Chinese service it is unnecessary
to dwell at any length. The Emperor bestowed on him the post of
Commander-in-Chief, with the decoration of the yellow jacket and
peacock's feather. The British Government promoted him to the rank of
Colonel, made him a C.B., and in 1865 he returned to England.
In 1874, as already stated, Colonel Gordon succeeded Sir Samuel Baker in
the Soudan. Offered £10,000 a-year salary, Gordon would only accept
£2,000. Landing at Souakim, he crossed the desert to Berber, paid his
first visit to Khartoum, and pushed up the Nile to Gondokoro, in
September. He began by conciliating the natives and by breaking up the
slave-stations. He continued Governor-General for a period of eighteen
months, during which time he accomplished miracles.
When he arrived, there was a fort at Gondokoro, and one at Fatiko, 200
miles to the south, miserably garrisoned by soldiers, who dared not
venture out half a mile for fear of being slaughtered by the natives.
When he left he had established a chain of stations from the Soudan up
to the Albert Nyanza, and rendered the communication between them
perfectly safe. He had, moreover, succeeded in restoring peace to the
tribes of the Nile Valley, who now freely brought their produce to these
stations for sale. He had checked the slave trade on the White Nile, and
secured a revenue to the Khedive's exchequer, without having recourse to
oppression. He had been the means of establishing satisfactory relations
with King M'tesa, the powerful ruler of Uganda, had mapped out the White
Nile from Khartoum almost up to the Victoria Nyanza, and had opened
water communication between Gondokoro and the lakes.
In October, 1876, Gordon, judging that he had done enough for the
Soudan, started northward, halted at Cairo to request Cherif Pasha to
inform the Khedive that he intended quitting his service, and on the
24th December reached London.
Egypt, however, had not yet done with him. Gordon remained only a short
time in retirement before he was again called to Egypt. In February,
1877, Ismail Pasha made him not only Governor-General of the Soudan, but
also of Darfur and the Equatorial Provinces, a country 1,640 miles long
and 660 miles broad.
Gordon hastened to Khartoum, the seat of his new government. It was
time. The Soudan had been drained of Egyptian troops for the support of
the Sultan in his war with Russia. Darfur was in revolt, and its
garrisons were beleaguered.
Arrived at Khartoum, he at once set to work to overthrow every tradition
of Oriental rule. In less than a month he revolutionized the whole
administration, abolished the courbash, checked bribery, arranged for a
water-supply to the city, and commenced the disbandment of the Turks and
Bashi-Bazouks, who, instead of acting as a frontier guard, favoured the
passage of slave-caravans.
In February, 1878, he was summoned by telegraph to the Egyptian capital
to lend his aid in arranging the finances of the country, which had
fallen into hopeless confusion. Reaching Cairo on the 7th March, he was
received with every honour, and placed at table on the Khedive's right
hand. He now fell into disfavour with the Egyptian Government. He was
too much in earnest and spoke out too openly, and within a month started
off in quasi-disgrace to inspect the south-eastern provinces of his
government. After dismissing an old enemy, Reouf Pasha, from the
governorship of Harrar, he made his way back to Khartoum by Souakim and
Berber, and for months remained engaged in settling questions of finance
and the affairs of the province.
In July, 1879, Gordon received the news of the Khedive Ismail's
deposition, and started at once for Cairo. He told Tewfik, the new
Khedive, that he did not intend to go back to the Soudan, but he
nevertheless accepted a mission to Abyssinia to settle matters with King
Johannes. Physically worn out by his exertions, he came to England for a
time, visiting on his way thither the ex-Khedive at Naples.
On the appointment in May, 1880, of Lord Ripon to the
Governor-Generalship of India, Gordon accepted the post of private
secretary to the Marquis, but resigned it on the 3rd of June, feeling,
as he expressed it, "the hopelessness of doing anything to the purpose."
On the invitation of the Chinese authorities he soon afterwards left
India for China, between which country and Russia differences had
arisen, and after successfully exerting his influence in the maintenance
of peace, left China the following August.
In the spring of 1881 Gordon went to the Mauritius as Commandant of the
Royal Engineers, remaining for a year, when he was made Major-General.
In the following May he proceeded to the Cape to aid the Colonial
authorities in solving the Basuto difficulty.
Shortly after his return to England he left for Palestine, where he
spent a year in retirement outside Jerusalem, devoting much time to
proving, to the horror of pious tourists, that the commonly received
"holy places" were not the right ones after all, and working out the
scheme for a Jordan Canal.
He then undertook a mission to the Congo River for the King of the
Belgians, and only relinquished his post on the British Government
requiring his services in the Soudan.
Opinions in Egypt were much divided on the subject of Gordon's mission
and his chances of success. His courage, energy, and disinterestedness
were beyond all doubt. There were, however, uncertainties, not to say
eccentricities, in his character, which led many persons to question
whether he was a fit person for the task to which he was called. That he
had formerly an immense influence over the tribes of the Soudan was
unquestionable. But people remembered that years had passed away since
that period, and argued that Gordon, returning to the Soudan with
half-a-dozen followers, would not be the Gordon of Ismail's time, backed
by his prestige and at the head of a powerful armed force. The
difficulty, however, was to find any one else. It was Gordon or nobody,
and the critics were compelled to shake their heads and hope all would
be for the best.
Gordon's original instructions were dated the 18th January, 1884. He was
to proceed at once to Egypt, to report on the military situation in the
Soudan, and on the measures which it might be advisable to take for the
security of the Egyptian garrisons and for the safety of the European
population in Khartoum. He was to consider and report upon the best mode
of effecting the evacuation of the interior of the Soudan, and upon the
manner in which the safety and the good administration by the Egyptian
Government of the ports on the sea-coast could best be secured. He was
also to give especial consideration to the question of the steps that
might usefully be taken to counteract the stimulus which it was feared
might be given to the slave trade by the insurrectionary movement and by
the withdrawal of Egyptian authority from the interior. He was to
perform such other duties as the Egyptian Government might desire to
intrust to him. He was to be accompanied by Colonel Stewart.
Gordon received new and more extended instructions from Sir Evelyn
Baring, at Cairo, on January 25th. The following are their salient
passages:--
"It is believed that the number of Europeans at Khartoum is very
small, but it has been estimated by the local authorities that
some 10,000 to 15,000 people will wish to go northward from
Khartoum only, when the Egyptian garrison is withdrawn. These
people are native Christians, Egyptian employés, their wives and
children, &c. The Government of His Highness the Khedive is
earnestly solicitous that no effort should be spared to insure
the retreat both of these people and of the Egyptian garrison
without loss of life. As regards the most opportune time, and
the best method for effecting the retreat, whether of the
garrison or of the civil populations, it is neither necessary
nor desirable that you should receive detailed instructions.
"You will bear in mind that the main end to be pursued is the
evacuation of the Soudan. This policy was adopted, after very
full discussion, by the Egyptian Government, on the advice of
Her Majesty's Government. It meets with the full approval of
His Highness the Khedive and of the present Egyptian Ministry.
"You are of opinion that the 'restoration of the country should
be made to the different petty Sultans who existed at the time
of Mehemet Ali's conquest, and whose families still exist;' and
that an endeavour should be made to form a confederation of
those Sultans. In this view the Egyptian Government entirely
concurs.
"A credit of £100,000 has been opened for you at the Finance
Department, and further sums will be supplied to you on your
requisition when this sum is exhausted."
Gordon's final instructions were given him by the Egyptian Government in
a firman appointing him Governor-General. By this firman he was
empowered to carry into execution the evacuation of the respective
territories and the withdrawal of the troops, civil officials, and such
of the inhabitants as wished to leave for Egypt. He was, if possible,
after completing the evacuation, to take steps for establishing an
organized government in the different provinces.
The significance of the alteration in Gordon's instructions will be
perceived from Lord Granville's remark at the close of his summary of
Gordon's new duties, in a despatch of March 28th, that "Her Majesty's
Government, bearing in mind the exigencies of the occasion, concurred in
these instructions," which virtually altered General Gordon's mission
from one of advising and reporting to that of directing the evacuation
not only of Khartoum, but of the whole Soudan, and also of establishing
an organized government.
Gordon left Cairo on January 26th, 1884, and arrived at Khartoum on the
18th February. He held a levée at the Mudirieh, the entire population
being admitted. On his way between the Mudirieh and the Palace about
1,000 persons pressed forward, kissing his hands and feet, and calling
him "Sultan," "Father," and "Saviour of Kordofan." General Gordon and
Colonel Stewart at once opened offices in the Palace, granting
admittance to every one with a grievance and giving all a careful
hearing. The Government books, recording from time immemorial the
outstanding debts of the overtaxed people, were publicly burned in front
of the Palace. The courbashes, whips, and implements for administering
the bastinado, were all placed on the blazing pile. Gordon created a
native council of the local notables. Then he visited the hospital and
arsenal. With Colonels Stewart and De Cöetlogon and the English Consul
he visited the prison, and found it to be a perfect den of misery. Two
hundred beings loaded with chains lay there. They were of all ages, boys
and old men, some having never been tried, some having been proved
innocent, but left in prison, some arrested on suspicion and detained
there more than three years, others merely prisoners of war. Gordon at
once commenced to demolish this Bastille. Before it was dark scores of
prisoners had had their chains struck off. In the evening the town was
in a blaze of illumination, the bazaar being hung with cloth and
coloured lamps and the private houses decorated. There was also a
display of fireworks by the population, who indulged in rejoicings till
after midnight.
Gordon's next act was to issue a proclamation repealing the existing
laws against slavery. As a good deal of indignation has been expressed
at this step, it is only fair to give his explanation.
Gordon in his "Diary" says, "Was it not announced that the Soudan was
going to be abandoned, and consequently that the Soudanese were going to
be allowed to follow their own devices (which are decidedly
slave-huntingly inclined)? What possible influence could my saying that
that feeble Treaty of 1877 was not going to be enforced have on people
who were going to be abandoned?"