MAURITIUS, CAPE, AND PALESTINE
Gordon left China immediately he had saved that country from war,
arriving in England on October 21, 1880. From then till about the end
of the following April he spent on leave. During this month the post of
officer commanding Royal Engineers at the Mauritius fell vacant, and
two officers to whom the command was offered retired rather than go to
Mauritius. Sir Howard Elphinstone was then offered the command, and
would also probably have retired, but Colonel Gordon offered to go for
him, and refused any money on account of the exchange, though usually
L700 or L800 was paid for an exchange of this kind. Yet Gordon was so
poor that he had actually to borrow the money to pay for his passage
when he went from India to China a few months before this! He left
England for the Mauritius on the 2nd May, travelling _via_ the Suez
Canal and Aden.
The voyage opened up to his ever-active fertile brain the whole
question of the advantage to England of the Suez Canal, and of our
proper route to India. This, he maintained most strongly, should, in
the event of war, be _via_ the Cape, and not through the Canal, his
opinion concurring with that of Lord Palmerston, Mr. W. E. Forster, and
many men of ability. The Suez route may save a few days, but the risk
is terrible. In some parts of the Canal only one ship can pass at a
time, and a sunken barge, a little dynamite, or even a severe sandstorm
may block the Canal for days. An enemy could easily bribe the owners of
a few petty craft to sink their vessels, and thus completely to block
up troopships in the Canal. Even without such designs our troopships
are frequently delayed in passing through owing to accidents of all
sorts.
The heads of many Englishmen have been completely turned by the opening
of the Suez Canal, and Gordon was one of the few who stood out against
the idea of considering it as _the_ proper route to India. It has been
said that our trade has increased very largely since the Canal was
opened, and that is true; but then the period in question has been one
of special activity, and probably our trade would have increased no
less had the Canal never been constructed. Moreover, the trade of other
countries has increased even more rapidly. Italy, France, Russia,
Germany, and Austria have gained more in proportion than we have. In
the olden days, when all the trade with the East came to Europe _via_
the Cape, England was the great centre of the world. Everything was
shipped to England, and then despatched to different parts of Europe.
We were the great carriers of the ocean. But the Suez Canal has
disturbed this arrangement, and the European nations can more easily
obtain their supplies direct through the Canal, to the detriment of our
labour market. Gordon recognised that it was too late for the mistake
to be remedied, but he was most anxious that we should attach more
importance to our hold on the Cape, as the natural route to India in
the event of war, and not be deceived by the fictitious advantages of
the Suez Canal, which only offers the saving of a few days at enormous
risk.
He took the opportunity of stopping at Suez to pay a visit to the grave
of his friend and lieutenant, Gessi, who had lost his life and died at
Suez from the hardships through which he passed on the Nile, partly
owing to the blocking of that river by the "sudd," which had re-formed
after Gordon left the Soudan, all precautionary measures having been
neglected, and partly owing to the cruel neglect of the authorities,
who might have taken more prompt measures for his relief. As his master
was to do a few years later, Gessi practically sacrificed his life in
the crusade against slavery. He had been an interpreter in the Crimean
war, and in the Soudan he exhibited such great military skill that he
was given a high independent command, with the result that he was, it
will be remembered, the means of capturing and breaking up Suleiman's
band of slave-dealers.
Colonel Gordon arrived at the Mauritius at the end of May 1881, and he
left in March 1882, so he was only for about ten months on the island.
He went out to command the Royal Engineers, but as the officer
commanding the island was promoted and sent home, he succeeded by
seniority to the chief command. During this period there is not much to
mention beyond the fact that here, as elsewhere, he used every
opportunity to do acts of kindness to others. Two men of the Royal
Artillery had, when the worse for liquor, gone out in a boat, without
oars. For eight days they were drifting about in the currents that
surround the Mauritius. At last they reached the Island of Bourbon, and
in attempting to land, one of them got drowned. The other was sent back
to his battery, and the owner of the lost boat at once demanded
compensation. Thinking that the poor fellow had already suffered enough
for his misdeeds, Colonel Gordon paid for the boat, and took the
receipt to the man's commanding officer, stipulating that he should not
tell the man who had got him out of trouble. He always took the
greatest interest in the men, and also in the agent of the Army
Scripture Readers' Society, who worked among them. He told the officer
who collected funds for that Society to put him down for a subscription
of Rs.40 per annum, and said that if more was wanted he would be
delighted to give it.
* * *
In March 1882 he received a telegram from the Premier of the Cape
Government, asking for his aid in bringing about a termination of the
Basuto war. He had previously in April 1881 offered his services on
L700 per annum for this purpose, but the Government then in office at
the Cape had not even replied to his telegram, either by mail or by
wire, and so Gordon had thought no more about the matter. Troubles had
thickened, and a new Government had come into office. Hence the offer,
accompanied by the statement that they did not expect him to be bound
to the salary formerly proposed. Gordon at once accepted the offer, but
he could not get a ship going to the Cape direct. Fortunately there was
a small coasting vessel called the _Scotia_ bound for the Cape, so
Gordon at once took his passage, and stated that he would arrive on
board at a certain hour. The hour came, but no passenger arrived. The
afternoon wore away, evening came and passed, night arrived, and still
the Colonel did not put in an appearance. At last, about midnight, a
gentleman quietly came on deck, saying that he was Colonel Gordon, and
hastened to explain his reasons for being so late. Some of the officers
and people on the island, hearing that he was going to sail, had
intended to give him an ovation. In order to escape this, he had walked
twelve miles into the interior, returning after dark so that no one
should know where he was. Next day, however, crowds came on board to
wish him "good-bye," among them many children in whom he had as usual
taken an interest. One of these, whom he introduced as his "pet lamb"
to the wife of the captain of the ship, brought him a couple of bottles
of sherry, and other friends gave him a case of champagne. As he was
almost a total abstainer and frequently did not touch stimulants for
days together, he had no use for the wine, but he accepted the gifts in
order to please the givers.
He made himself perfectly at home on board the little ship, and soon
became very friendly with the captain and his wife. He spoke a great
deal about the Seychelles Islands, situated to the north-east of
Madagascar, which he believed to be the site of the Garden of Eden, and
he showed them wood from the coco-de-mer, or nut of the sea, which he
believed to be the veritable tree that produced the forbidden fruit
which our ancestors tasted. The voyage, though not more than three
thousand miles in length, lasted a whole month, and there was some
rough weather, which he felt terribly, for he was not a particularly
good sailor, and the ship was very small. Writing to his sister he
said:--
"You will not care overmuch for my secular history, but will say,
'What did you learn on the passage?' Well, the passage was truly a
fearful trial; dirt prevailed in everything; the bilge-water
literally, when pumped out from decayed sugar, tore up the very
inmost parts of the stomach, and showed me that, if that was wrong,
life was unendurable. I am not generally sick at sea, but I was
nearly dead with it; perhaps it was Mauritius fever coming out.
Salt water had got into the tank and we had to drink it. I was
very, very ill, but through it all I would not have changed one
iota of the voyage....
"I am a _rag_; that voyage in the _Scotia_ has killed me. I went to
Dr. Abercromby, and he told me I was on the verge of an attack of
jaundice. I am certainly better, but feel far from well. Listless,
worried in _body_, not a bit in spirits, and as if I had eaten
copper. I want to get into the position of delighting to accept and
do His will, yet I feel so very much inclined to wish His will
might be my release....
"Earth's joys grow very dim, its glories have faded. My Mauritius
sojourn has quenched to a great degree my desire for anything but
to be with Jesus. Everybody is very kind here and complimentary,
but all compliments are to me but sounds of the wind. If it was
Jesus' will, how delighted I should be to be called away, to be a
nail in His footstool, and how willingly I would have every one to
be higher than me in heaven!"
There was, however, some mitigation to the horrors of this voyage, for,
during it, he heard of his promotion to the rank of major-general,
which gave him very great satisfaction, as he was beginning to fear
that, as the War Office authorities had failed to offer him an
appointment worthy of his merits, they might also see fit to pass him
over in the matter of promotion. Before he had heard the news he had
written:--
"Why am I not in the _Gazette_? I will not move, but it seems odd.
Anyway, if they do not promote me, I shall hope for strength to
bear it. _He_ is ruler, and I love Jesus irrespective of His mighty
rank and power. At Communion this morning I asked Christ to let me
rest, and then He should take the post of COMMANDANT-GENERAL, and
that I should be passive in the matter. Good-bye, my dear Augusta,
_fifteen years more_."
He arrived at the Cape on May 3rd, 1882, and at once made the
acquaintance of the Governor, Sir Hercules Robinson, and the Premier,
Mr. Merriman. He found things in a very unsatisfactory condition, and
nearly decided to have nothing to do with them. The Cape Government
were in an awkward position, the affairs of the Basuto war being in the
hands of Mr. Orpen, in whom the Government had no confidence, but whom,
for party reasons, they did not like to remove. Consequently they could
not entrust matters entirely to General Gordon. He good-naturedly
yielded to pressure, accepted the post of Commandant-General, on L1200
per annum, and undertook to report to the Cape Government his
suggestions for the improvement of the army generally, as well as the
best means for bringing the Basuto trouble to a speedy termination. The
arrangement was a very unsatisfactory one, but, with that public
spiritedness which so characterised him, Gordon threw himself
thoroughly into the business, and, before the end of the month, he drew
up a most able, statesman-like paper on the whole subject. With most it
would have been a piece of presumption for a man during a single month,
much of which was spent in travelling, to attempt such a task, more
especially as some of the questions were extremely difficult. But such
was Gordon's capacity for work, and for grasping complex questions,
that not only was the paper he drew up most exhaustive, but, read in
the light of subsequent events, it shows how well-informed he was, and
what an impartial mind he brought to bear on the subjects before him.
He read very quickly, he could at a glance grasp the salient points of
any question, and, having a wonderfully retentive memory, no important
detail was lost sight of. He wrote both quickly and clearly, and had
the faculty of presenting his points in a lucid manner. Like many
military men, who are, when young, taken from their studies, he did not
always write in the best of English, but he made up for this in the
remarkable manner in which he could marshal facts and arguments, and
the ease with which he carried his reader along. In his letters and
journals he does not do himself justice as a writer, but in his
official despatches and memoranda he shows that, not least among his
accomplishments, was the gift of being able to write well, and to the
point. His memorandum on the reform of the Cape army was very able,
though too long to reproduce here. Briefly stated it showed how an army
of 8000 men could be maintained instead of the 1600 men then under
arms, and at a reduced cost of L7000 per annum! He also pointed out how
unjustly the Basutos had been treated, and suggested as a remedy that
they should be invited to assemble a general council in which to
ventilate their grievances, and that steps should be taken to remove
these grievances. He advocated giving them a semi-independent position,
with power to manage their own affairs, and to administer justice
without the intervention of foreign magistrates, some of whom, in
Gordon's opinion, were very corrupt.
Those who have studied the affairs of South Africa, and the history of
Christian missions there, will not need to be told what an interesting
people the Basutos are. But for others, it may be as well to say that
this branch of the Kaffir race are not only among the most civilised of
all the African races, but a large proportion of them are Christian in
something more than name. The old chieftain Moshesh, who reigned some
fifty years ago, was a man of marked ability, and, though a great
soldier, he hated war. Having heard of the work of the celebrated Dr.
Moffat among the Korannas, he sent to invite this "man of prayer, and
teacher of the Christian religion," to visit him. To cut a long story
short, some French Protestant missionaries responded to the invitation,
and were wonderfully blessed in their work. Hundreds of converts were
received into the Christian Church, and instead of war and bloodshed
prevailing, men were instructed how to cultivate fields and build
houses.
In the Kaffir war of 1852 Sir George Cathcart was informed that Moshesh
was the centre of intrigue, and, ill-advised, he attacked that
chieftain and was defeated. When the attack was about to be renewed, he
received from Moshesh the following message: "O my master, I am still
your servant; I am still the child of the Queen. Sometimes a man beats
his dog, and the dog puts his teeth into his hands, and gives him a
bite: nevertheless the dog loves the master, and the master loves the
dog, and will not kill it. I am vexed at what happened yesterday; let
it be forgotten." Fortunately Sir George Cathcart had sufficient
nobility of character to appreciate this message. Peace was made, and
Sir George afterwards said of Moshesh, "I found him not only to be the
most enlightened, but the most upright chief in South Africa, and one
in whose good faith I put the most perfect confidence, and for whom,
therefore, I have a sincere respect and regard." Moshesh died in 1870,
and the policy he had initiated was carried on by his successor
Masupha.
Unfortunately the Cape Government wanted to deprive the Basutos of
their right to carry arms, and this they resented. Gordon's sympathies
were entirely with them. There were other abuses, such as bad
magistrates, which were even admitted by the Secretary for Native
Affairs, and Gordon came to the conclusion that the Basutos had been
very badly treated. They were loyal to the Queen, but objected to being
put under the Cape Government, disliking the Dutch element which has
such influence at the Cape.
* * *
On the 18th July, 1882, the Cape Government proposed that General
Gordon should visit Basutoland, but he was of opinion that unless the
Government saw their way to grant what he suggested, there was little
use in his going. In August, Mr. Sauer, the Secretary for Native
Affairs, came to King William's Town, and asked Gordon to accompany him
into the Basuto country. Much against his own opinion Gordon yielded,
and went as far as Leribe; but finding that the idea in the mind of Mr.
Sauer was that he might employ one portion of the Basutos to fight
against the other, he remonstrated very strongly. Mr. Sauer then asked
him privately to visit Masupha, but gave him no instructions
officially. Gordon consented to do this much, but he let Mr. Sauer
clearly understand that nothing would induce him to fight the Basutos,
with the object of forcing bad magistrates on them, or treating them
unjustly. Hoping to avert the horrors of war, Gordon, unarmed and
without a flag of truce or any commission, went into the middle of a
hostile people, who had never even heard his name. The charm of manner
which he ever manifested in his dealings with native races gained the
day, and he secured the confidence of these people. In his speech to
them he said:--
"I have come here as a friend of the Basutos. I showed myself a
friend, for when asked to come and fight, I would not. Now, when I
come, I want first to do good for Basutos. The Basutos are of a
good disposition. I say to the chief and people, How can Basutoland
belong to Basutos? I tell all that the Government want to do good
to the people. The Queen does not want the Colony to take land of
Basutos, and what the Colony and the Queen are afraid of is that if
abandoned the Basutos would be eaten up. I like the Boers; they are
brave, and like their own government; and when they fought, they
fought for their own government. England could have beaten the
Boers if they liked, but thought it unjust. Which do Basutos think
Dutch like best--Basutos or land? I think they like land best.
Supposing Colony abandoned this country, by-and-by they have
trouble with Free State; after that begins fighting; then I look
forward ten years, and I see Dutch farms close here. I do not want
that, the Colony does not, and the Queen does not, and no Basuto
either. Then I say, Basutos, make friends with the Government....
"Suppose Boers drive you away, for me it would be all the same, and
not much difference when you are put in the ground. I wish the
Basutos would do what I say. What I want is for all to speak with
one tongue. I cannot make myself black. I cannot make Masupha and
his people do what I want, so I leave it to Jesus, who works
everything. This is all I have to say--Do what you like; think
well; pray to Jesus for advice."
No sooner had General Gordon gone on his peaceful mission than he
discovered that Mr. Sauer had actually induced Lerethodi, a rival
chief, to attack Masupha. This action not only endangered Gordon's
life, but outraged his sense of honour to such an extent, that he
decided forthwith to sever all connection with the Cape Government. It
was, to say the least, extraordinary conduct, to send a messenger of
peace to a rebel chief, and then, without waiting for any reply, to
induce some of his own countrymen to attack and coerce him. It would
perhaps not be fair to hold the whole of the Cape Government
responsible for the action of a single man, but this curious proceeding
confirmed General Gordon in an opinion he held, that white men often
fail to practise towards the despised coloured men that honourable,
upright dealing that might be expected from the leaders of civilised
nations.
Mr. Arthur Pattison, writing to the _Times_ on the 20th August 1885,
after Gordon's death, said of Masupha, "If you trust him
straightforwardly, he is as nice a man as possible, and even kind and
thoughtful; but if you treat him the other way, he is a fiend
incarnate. The late General Gordon divined his character marvellously,
and was the only man Masupha had the slightest regard for." If our
Government had more men of the type of General Gordon, we may rest
assured that we should have fewer of these petty little "nigger wars,"
which, more often than not, are brought on by incapacity and want of
sympathy on the part of our representatives abroad. One great charm
about Gordon's character was his sympathy for the weak and helpless. It
mattered not whether the helpless one were a king or a slave, so long
as he was weak he was sure of having Gordon's sympathies and assistance
in his troubles. Before leaving the Cape, Gordon made a most noble
offer, which was that he should go on L300 per annum and live as a
magistrate among the Basutos, so as to protect them from their enemies,
but the offer was not accepted.
The way in which Gordon regarded his position is shown in the following
passages from two of his letters:--
"KING WILLIAM'S TOWN, _October_ 6, 1882.--The telegrams will show
you that the Cape Colony chapter of my life is over. I am so glad
to be free of all this turmoil. There will be a fearful row, but
these things have not moved me at all. I have thought more of a
scuttler who shed tears when I spoke to him of God's living in him,
than I have of all this affair."
"SS. KINFAUNS CASTLE, _October_ 20, 1882.--I shall, D.V., be in
England when you get this. I shall go by sea to Gravesend, and on
to Southampton at once. Whether men praise you, it does not make
you better, or whether they blame you, it does not make you worse.
God judges by motives, men by actions (Thomas a Kempis). When I
went to the Cape I prayed for glory to God and the welfare of the
people, so I am glad _I_ got no glory out of it."
It may be well to introduce here a few words he wrote of the celebrated
Zulu king whom we deposed and imprisoned at the Cape.
"_May_ 20, 1882.--I went to see Cetewayo, and felt for him, and
tried to cheer him. I gave him a stick with an ivory head--a
beauty--which had been given me by the Sultan of Perak, who was a
prisoner at the Seychelles. When I told Cetewayo that I had always
been interested in him and that he must have hope, with a deep
'_Ah!_' he pointed upwards. He is a fine savage."
General Gordon arrived in England on the 8th November 1882, after the
close of the Egyptian war, little thinking how closely that war would
affect him. After a short stay at Southampton he left on December 28th
for Palestine, and nearly the whole of the year 1883 was spent in
Palestine. Writing from Jerusalem he says:--
"Everything looks small and insignificant, but quite meets the idea
I had of the _worldly_ position of the Jews and of our Lord. In
fact, the Scriptures tell the story without any pretence that
either the country, people, or our Lord were of any great
importance _in the world_. They are expositors of how very low
the position to which He, the Lord of lords, descended. You can
realise the fact as well in England as here, by substituting a
Scripture-reader of dubious birth and humble parents, exposing the
fallacy of a ceremonial church-going religion, and pointing out how
impossible it is to please God by such religious formalities....
"The Temple of Solomon was fine for those days, but, setting aside
its Divine significance, it was only about six times as long as the
room you are in, and not much wider--60 cubits = 90 feet = 30 yards
long, by 20 cubits = 30 feet = 10 yards wide. You could walk round
the city in less than an hour; it is not quite three miles
round....
"The ravines round Jerusalem are full of the dust of men, for over
a million bodies must have been slain there. What a terrific sight
the resurrection there will be! I suppose there is no place in the
world where so many bodies are concentrated....
"It is nice sauntering about, conjuring up scenes of days gone
by--real scenes, actions on the stage of life; all gone! It quiets
ambition!
"I came back from Gaza yesterday, after a ten days' sojourn there,
returning through Askelon, where there are very fine ruins,
enormous columns, marbles, &c, lying in all directions: it is a
wonderful place. Like all the coast, it is most dreary, yet one
sees that all the country was once thickly populated. Sand from the
shore is creeping in steadily, and makes it mournful. Napoleon I.,
Alexander the Great, Sennacherib, Nebuchadnezzar, and a host of
great men passed by this route. Titus came up by Gaza to Jerusalem.
Richard Coeur de Lion was years at Askelon. All gone, 'those old
familiar faces'!"
The supposed sites of the holy places seem to have had peculiar
fascination for his active brain, and he came to the conclusion that
most, if not all, of them were wrong. It would, however, occupy too
much space to give the reasons which led him to this conclusion. Though
we cannot gather it from his own letters, a good deal of his time was
more profitably spent than in hunting up old sites. Dr. Cunningham
Geikie, who was in Jerusalem when Gordon was killed at Khartoum, tells
us:--
"A poor dragoman told me that General Gordon used to come often to
his house in Jerusalem when he and his wife lay ill, and that he
would take a mat, and put it on the floor as a seat, there being no
chairs or furniture, and sit down with his Testament to read and
speak to them about Christ. Ascertaining that a doctor's account
had been incurred, he went off secretly and paid it. He gave away
all he had to the poor in Jerusalem and the villages round, and the
people mourn for him as for their father."
He made friends with some of the missionaries of the Church Missionary
Society, with whom he found himself much in sympathy. Speaking of the
Rev. J. R. L. Hall, he says, "I have found a nice man now here (Jaffa),
but his mission is at Gaza. He is a Jew[10] by birth, but a man after my
own heart. I may drop down there ere long and help him. He belongs to
the C.M.S."
[10] General Gordon was under a misconception as to the parentage
of Mr. Hall. As a matter of fact this missionary is descended
from a very old family in the county of Hampshire, and was no
more related to that ancient race than the General himself.
This Mr. Hall, in a speech afterwards made at Exeter Hall, told some
interesting things about General Gordon at this period of his life,
which for want of space, cannot be reproduced at length here. He
thoroughly identified himself with mission work, showing how much he
valued Christianity over all other religious systems. When he met Mr.
Hall he said, "I am very restless; I came here for rest and quiet, to
study the Word of God, and at the same time to discover different
sacred sites. I am not satisfied; I am restless; I want Christian work.
Do you think that if I were to come to Jaffa, you could give me any
work to do?" He went to live at Jaffa for eight months. While he was
there instructions came from the central society for a mission-house to
be built at Nablous. There was no architect nearer than at Jerusalem,
and his fee and expenses would have been very high. The missionaries
agreed to consult General Gordon about drawing up the plans for the
house, but were afraid of presuming too much on his kindness. When the
deputation from them arrived, he cut them short in their apology. "I
know what you want; you want a contribution," said he. When told that
they wanted something much more valuable, he was delighted, and seizing
a pencil and paper wrote down exactly all they needed in the way of
accommodation. He set to work, and before the day was over he had drawn
up admirable plans and calculations. The mission-house was built on
those plans, and his estimate proved to be almost exactly the cost of
the building. He said to Mr. Hall:--
"You thought that I should be annoyed at being asked to draw out
plans for a mission-house. If there is anything that I can do for
the cause of missions I am delighted to do it. What did I come to
Jaffa for? Did I not tell you at Haifa that if you could give me
some work to do for the Lord, that would set my mind at rest? I was
restless because I had been shutting myself up in Palestine, and
had not been putting out my powers for service in the Lord's work."
There are among Christian people some who take a deep interest in the
spread of the Gospel at home, but do not exhibit the same interest in
the spread of Christianity abroad, and _vice versa_. During Gordon's
stay at Gravesend he showed what a real interest he took in home
mission work, and in his letters he frequently used to say that he
should like to end his days working in the east end of London. The time
he spent among the missionaries in Palestine shows that he took an
equally deep interest in foreign missions, and before leaving that
country he wrote, in reference to a conference of missionaries that was
about to be held at Gaza, "I should like to go down there and meet the
brethren who assemble; it may be the last time that I can have any
intercourse with a number of missionaries."
On the 15th October 1883 General Gordon received a telegram from the
King of the Belgians, asking him to go to Central Africa to govern the
territory that had been acquired by the International Association. The
King had once before pressed him to join this movement, which had for
its object the opening up of Africa to trade and civilisation, and the
consequent abolition of slavery and cruelty. Mr. H. M. Stanley was at
the head of the movement, and Gordon offered to serve under him, and
had promised the Belgian king that when his services were required they
would be given. Stanley had resigned his post, and the time had come
for Gordon to redeem his promise. He at once telegraphed home for
leave, and the reply came back, "The Secretary of State has decided to
sanction your going to the Congo." A telegraph clerk had made a
mistake, and the correct message was, "The Secretary of State has
_declined_ to sanction your going to the Congo." As Gordon had,
however, already promised the King of the Belgians to go, there was no
alternative but for him to sever his connection with the British army.
With the full intention of placing his resignation in the hands of the
Secretary of State for War, as well as to interview King Leopold, he
left Palestine at the end of the year 1883. He was travelling on the
last night of the old year, and he tells us that he spent that night in
prayer in the railway carriage, of which he was the solitary occupant.
As the new year was ushered in, the lonely traveller between Genoa and
Brussels little thought that it was to be almost his last,[11] and that
soon he would be permitted to throw off the earthly tabernacle, and put
on the crown of glory. His active brain was busily employed at this
time in considering how best he could wage war with human cruelty. He
was to have started on January 26, 1885, for the Congo, but a telegram
reached him at his sister's house at Southampton, from Lord Wolseley,
requesting his presence in London, as an outcry was being made by
certain well-informed persons that the only man who was capable of
solving the Soudan difficulties was being permitted to leave the
British army, and to go into the service of a foreign power, to busy
himself in the wilds of Africa.
[11] General Gordon is supposed to have been killed on 26th
January 1885.