“If a man do not erect in this age his own tomb e’er he dies, he shall live no longer in monuments than the bell rings and his widow weeps.”—Shakespeare.

A new chapter now opens in our story of Gordon. Sir Samuel Baker had resigned the honoured position of Governor General of the Soudan. Gordon was selected as the man who, of all others, was most suitable for such an appointment. Our Government acquiesced in the Khedive’s offer of this post to Gordon, so he accepted the responsible position.

The Khedive offered him, it is stated, a salary £10,000 per annum; this, however, he refused to accept. He said “Your Majesty I cannot accept it, as I should look upon it as the life’s blood wrung out of those poor people over whom you wish me to rule.” “Name your own terms then,” said the Khedive. “Well,” replied Gordon, “£2,000 per annum I think will keep body and soul together, what should I require more than this for.” About the close of the year 1873 he left his country and loved ones behind him, for that lone sad land, with its ancient history. We think Gordon played such a part that his name will be honourably associated with Egypt, and remembered from generation to generation.

I am indebted to the author of Gordon in Central Africa for the following abstract of the Khedive’s final instructions to Col. Gordon, dated Feb. 16th, 1874.

“The province which Colonel Gordon has undertaken to organise and to govern is but little known. Up to the last few years, it had been in the hands of adventurers who had thought of nothing but their own lawless gains, and who had traded in ivory and slaves. They established factories and governed them with armed men. The neighbouring tribes were forced to traffic with them whether they liked it or not. The Egyptian Government, in the hope of putting an end to this inhuman trade had taken the factories into their own hands, paying the owners an indemnification.

Some of these men, nevertheless, had been still allowed to carry on trade in the district, under a promise that they would not deal in slaves. They had been placed under the control of the Governor of the Soudan. His authority, however, had scarcely been able to make itself felt in these remote countries. The Khedive had resolved therefore to form them into a separate government, and to claim as a monopoly of the State, the whole of the trade with the outside world. There was no other way of putting an end to the slave trade which at present was carried on by force of arms in defiance of law. When once brigandage had become a thing of the past, and when once a breach had been made in the lawless customs of long ages, then trade might be made free to all. If the men who had been in the pay of adventurers were willing to enter the service of the Government, Col. Gordon was to make all the use of them he could. If on the other hand they attempted to follow their old course of life, whether openly or secretly, he was to put in force against them to the utmost severity of martial law. Such men as these must find in the Governor neither indulgence, nor mercy. The lesson must be made clear even in those remote parts that a mere difference of colour does not turn men into wares, and that life and liberty are sacred things.”

Another object of the new Governor should be to establish a line of posts through all his provinces, so that from one end to the other they might be brought into direct communication with Khartoum. Those posts should follow, as far as was possible, the line of the Nile; but for a distance of seventy miles the navigation of that river was hindered by rapids. He was to search out the best way of overcoming this hindrance, and to make a report thereon to the Khedive.

In dealing with the Chieftains of the tribes which dwelt on the shores of the lakes, the Governor was above all to try to win their confidence. He must respect their territory, and conciliate them by presents, and whatever influence he gains over them, he must use in the endeavour to persuade them to put an end to the wars, which they so often make on each other in the hope of carrying off slaves. Much tact would be needed, for should he succeed in stopping the slave trade, while wars were still waged among the chiefs, it might well come to pass that, for want of a market, the prisoners would, in such a case, be slaughtered. Should he find it needful to exercise a real control over any of these tribes, it will be better to leave to the chieftains the direct government. Their obedience must be secured by making them dread his power.

He made the journey to Khartoum without any mishap or serious difficulty, reaching there in May, 1874, and was installed in office on the fifth. A royal salute from the government house guns was fired in honour of this event; the new Governor-General was, of course, expected to make a speech, after the order of his predecessors. But all he said was, “With the help of God I will hold the balance level.” This was received with the greatest enthusiasm, for it evidently pleased the people more than if he had addressed them for an hour. His attention was soon directed towards the poverty-stricken and helpless people all around him. He caused special enquiries to be made; then he began to distribute his gifts of charity to all who he believed were really in need; and in three days he had given away one thousand pounds of his first year’s salary. He had not been long in the Soudan before he realized the tremendous responsibilities he had assumed; and with all his strength of character, and his trust in his Almighty, ever-present Friend, it is not to be wondered at that when alone in the trackless desert, with the results of ages of wrong-doing before him, this man of heroic action and indomitable spirit sometimes gave way to depression and murmuring; although this was exceedingly rare. If we remember what he had already done and suffered for down-trodden humanity. And that now he was doing heroic work for the true hero’s wages—the love of Christ, and the good of his fellow-men. He was labouring not for himself, but as the hand of God in providence, in the faith that his work was of God’s own appointing. The wonder is that in the face of perils so dangerous, work so difficult, and sufferings so intense, that his spirit was not completely crushed and broken. We must bear in mind, his work there was to secure peace to a country that appeared to be bent on war; to suppress slavery amongst a people to whom it was a second nature, and to whom the trade in human flesh was life, and honour, and fortune. To make and discipline an army out of the rawest recruits ever put in the field, to develop and grow a flourishing trade, and to obtain a fair revenue, amid the wildest anarchy in the world; the immensity of the undertaking, the infinity of detail involved in a single step toward this end, the countless odds to be faced; the many pests, the deadly climate, the nightly and daily alternations of overpowering heat, and of bitter cold, to be endured and overcome; the environment of bestial savagery, and ruthless fanaticism;—all these contributed to make the achievement unique in human history. He was face to face with evil in its worst form, and saw it in all its appalling effects upon the nation and its people. He seemed to have everything against him, and to be utterly alone. There stood in front of him the grim ruined land. He faced it, however, as a saint and soldier should do; he stood for right, truth, and for God.

Gordon on his favourite camel

“He would dare to do right. Dare to be true
He had a work that no other could do;
He would do it so wisely, so bravely, so well,
That angels might hasten the story to tell.”

After some time he writes:—

“How the Khedive is towards me I don’t know, but thank God he prevents me caring for any one’s favour or disfavour. I honestly say I do not know anyone who would endure the exile and worries of my position out here. Some might fear if they were dismissed, that the world would talk. Thank God! I am screened from that fear. I know that I have done my best, as far as my intellect would allow me, for the Khedive, and have tried to be just to all.”

On contemplating retirement, he writes:—

“Now imagine what I lose by coming back, if God so wills it; a life in a tent, with a cold humid air at night, to which if, from the heat of the tent you expose yourself, you will suffer for it, either in liver or elsewhere. The most ordinary fare. Most ordinary I can assure you; no vegetables, dry biscuits, a few bits of broiled meat, and some dry macaroni, boiled in water and sugar. I forgot some soup; up at dawn and to bed between eight and nine p.m. No books but one, and that not often read for long, for I cannot sit down for a study of those mysteries. All day long, worrying about writing orders, to be obeyed by others in the degree as they are near or distant from me: obliged to think of the veriest trifle, even to the knocking off the white ants from the stores, etc.—that is one’s life; and, speaking materially, for what gain? At the end of two years, say £2,000. At the end of three say £3,500 at the outside. The gain to be called ‘His Excellency,’ and this money. Yet his poor ‘Excellency’ has to slave more than any individual; to pull ropes, to mend this; make a cover to that (just finished a capital cover to the duck Gun). I often say, ‘drop the excellency, and do this instead.’”

Again he writes:—

“This country would soon cure a man of his ambition, I think, and make him content with his lot. The intense heat, and other stagnation except you have some disagreeable incident, would tame the most enthusiastic; a thin, miserable tent under which you sit, with the perspiration pouring off you. A month of this life, and you would be dissatisfied with your lot.”

Gordon had kept up some very interesting correspondence with an old friend in China; an old officer in Gordon’s “Ever victorious Army,” Li Hung Chang. While Gordon is feeling unwell, and disposed to send his resignation to the Khedive—he writes in his journal:—

July 21st, 1879.

“I shall (D.V.) leave for Cairo in ten days, and I hope to see you soon; but I may have to go to Johannis before I go to Cairo. I am a wreck, like the portion of the ‘Victory’ towed into Gibraltar after Trafalgar; but God has enabled me, or rather has used me, to do what I wished to do—that is, break down the slave trade. “Those that honour me I will honour.” May I be ground to dust, if He will glorify Himself in me; but give me a humble heart, for then he dwells there in comfort. I wrote you a letter about my illness and tore it up. Thank God, I am pretty well now, but I have passed the grave once lately, and never thought to see Khartoum. The new Khedive is more civil, but I no longer distress myself with such things. God is the sole ruler, and I try to walk sincerely before Him.”

The letter from Li Hung Chang was to him a source of great satisfaction and pleasure, as it showed his example had affected for good this eastern ambassador, who visited this country only a very few years ago.

The letter ran thus:—

Tientsin,
March 22nd, 1879.

“To His Excellency Colonel C. G. Gordon,
Khartoum, Egypt.

“Dear Sir.—I am instructed by his Excellency the Grand Secretary, Li, to answer your esteemed favour, dated the 27th October, 1878, from Khartoum, which was duly received. I am right glad to hear from you. It is now fourteen years since we parted from each other. Although I have not written to you, I often speak of you, and remember you with very great interest. The benefit you have conferred on China does not appear with your person, but is felt throughout the regions in which you played so important and active a part. All those people bless you for the blessings of peace and prosperity which they now enjoy.

Your achievements in Egypt are well known throughout the civilized world. I see often in the papers of your noble works on the Upper Nile. You are a man of ample resources, with which you suit yourself to any emergency. My hope is that you may long be spared to improve the conditions of the people amongst whom your lot is cast. I am striving hard to advance my people to a higher state of development, and to unite both this and all other nations within the ‘Four seas’ under one common brotherhood.

I wish you all manner of happiness and prosperity. With my highest regards,

I remain,
Yours truly,
Li Hung Chang.”

In all, and through all these various trying vicissitudes he remained true to his innate religious convictions, and looked upon it all as the filling in of a plan, which was divine. His hours for prayer were maintained with as great a regularity as were those of another eastern official servant, Daniel, who “three times a day kneeled on his knees and prayed and gave thanks to God.” Gordon, when at prayer, placed outside his tent a white handkerchief, this was the sign the Governor was at his devotions, and no servant or messenger must disturb him. He kept closely in touch with God, so to speak. His outer life might be ruffled by storms and tempests, but within he had the perfect peace.

While Gordon was hoping to get away from the trying climate and yet more trying circumstances around him, a message (not unexpected) reached him, giving him instructions to proceed to Abyssinia, and see if he could settle the dispute or misunderstanding that had arisen between Johannis the King and the Khedive. He proceeded on that very risky mission as he states in his letters; the journey was “indescribable in its solitary grandeur. These interminable deserts, and arid mountain passes fill the heart with far different thoughts than civilized lands do.” With few attendants, he writes:—“We are still slowly crawling over the world’s crust. Reaching the dominions of the King of Abyssinia, we camped near Ras Alonla, and the priests used to gather at 3 a.m. in knots of two and three and chant for an hour in a wild melodious manner the Psalms of David. Awakened at this unearthly hour no one could help being impressed. Some of them had children who chanted.” Again he writes:—“We have just passed a famous convent. The great high priest, who only comes out to meet the King, and who is supposed to be the King’s right hand in religious questions, came out to meet us. I had some splendid silk brocade, which I gave him. He held a gold cross in his hand, and spoke of the love of Christ. He seemed to be a deeply religious man.”

Father Soho says of Abyssinia:—

“No country in the world is so full of churches, monasteries, and ecclesiastics, as Abyssinia. It is hardly possible to sing in one church, or monastery, without being heard in another, and perhaps by several. They sing the Psalms of David, of which they have a very exact translation in their own language. They begin their concert by stamping their feet on the ground, and playing gently on their instruments; but when have become warm by degrees, they leave off drumming, and fall to leaping, dancing, shouting and clapping hands, till their is neither tune nor pause, but rather a religious riot. For this manner of religious worship, they quote the Psalm—“O clap your hands, all ye nations.” Gordon says, “I could not but like this poor simple-minded peasantry.”

Again he writes:—

“We are about a days march from the river Taczzi, which joins the Nile at Berber. Nearing the Palace, if so I may call it, I was met by the King’s body guard. I was of course wearing the Crest and Field Marshal’s uniform; the soldiers were sitting on their heels and never got up. Passing through them I found my mule so tired that I got down and walked. On arrival at the Palace, I was admitted to the King, who sat upon a raised dÄis, with the ItagÈ, or Chief Priest on the ground at his left hand. Then guns were fired, and the King said, “That is in your honour, and you can retire,” which I did, to see him again shortly. Again Gordon visited the Royal personage, and was granted permission to present his case, but Gordon considered himself unduly humbled as he was ordered to stand afar off; a stool at length was placed for him to sit upon. This humble position Gordon would at other times have accepted and tolerated, but not here and now; he must show his dignity as the representative of a Foreign, powerful monarch; he seized the stool and carried it up to near where the King sat, and placed it by his side, saying, “Though in your hands I may be a prisoner, I am a man as much as you are, and can only meet you as an equal.” His sable Majesty was greatly annoyed at Gordon’s audacious conduct, and remarking said, “Gordon Pasha don’t you know I am the King, and could kill you if I wished.” “I am perfectly aware of that,” said Gordon, “Do so at once if it is your Royal pleasure, I am ready.” “What,” said the King, “Ready to be killed?” “Certainly,” said Gordon, “I am always ready to die, and so far from fearing you putting me to death, you would confer a favour on me by so doing, for you would be doing for me that which I am precluded by my religious convictions from doing for myself. You would relieve me from all the troubles the future may have in store for me.” “Then my power has no terror for you, Gordon!” “None whatever,” he replied. So Gordon proved more than a match for this half-civilized Abyssinian King. His visit, however, could not be considered successful as his Majesty was unreasonable in all his demands, and so put out of the power of Gordon to reach any settlement. So he left the King without effecting what he came to do. How to get away now was to him a source of anxiety. As he surmised, they were not likely to allow him to carry back the valuables he had in his possession. It required all his tact and wit and discretion in this perilous position. He, however, at the cost of about £1,400 in bribes and gifts, managed to get away. Then he had to find his way back alone. This was a severe ordeal. Over mountains covered with snow, and through defiles of rocky places, now meeting with wild hordes of the dog-faced baboons, then with the uncivilized tribes of the human species none the less dangerous. He, however, by the care of an ever watchful Providence, had escaped serious harm and reached Khartoum in safety.”