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CHARLES GEORGE GORDON (1833-'885)
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See also:
He returned to See also:England towards the end of 1858, and was
then selected for the See also:appointment of See also:adjutant and See also:
Fighting continued See also:round Shanghai for about two years, but Ward's force was not altogether successful, and when General Staveley arrived from Tientsin affairs were in a somewhat See also:critical See also:condition
.
He decided to clear the See also:district of rebels within a See also:radius of 30 M. from Shanghai, and Gordon was attached to his See also:staff as engineer officer
.
A See also:French force, under the command of See also:Admiral PrStet, co-operated with Staveley and Ward, with his little See also:army, also assisted
.
Kanding, Singpo and other towns were occupied, and the country was fairly cleared of rebels by the end of 1862
.
Ward was, unfortunately, killed in the See also:assault of Tseki, and his successor, Burgevine, having had a See also:quarrel with the Chinese authorities, Li Hung Chang, the See also:governor of the Kiang-su province, requested General Staveley to appoint a British officer to command the contingent
.
Staveley selected Gordon, who had been made a See also:brevet-See also:major in See also:December 1862 for his previous services, and the nomination was approved by the British See also:government
.
The choice was judicious as further events proved
.
In See also: The city was taken on the 29th of See also:November, and after its capture Gordon had a serious dispute with Li Hung Chang, as the latter had beheaded certain of the See also:rebel leaders whose lives the former had promised to spare if they surrendered . This See also:action, though not opposed to Chinese See also:ethics, was so opposed to Gordon's ideas of See also:honour that he withdrew his force from Suchow and remained inactive at Quinsan until See also:February 1864 . He then came to the conclusion that the subjugation of the rebels was more important than his dispute with Li, and visited the latter in See also:order to arrange for further operations . By mutual consent no allusion was made to the See also:death of the Wangs . This was a See also:good example of one of Gordon's marked characteristics, that, though a See also:man of strong See also:personal feelings, he was always prepared to subdue them for the public benefit . He declined, however, to take any decoration or See also:reward from the See also:emperor for his services at the capture of Suchow . After the See also:meeting with Li Hung Chang the " Ever-Victorious Army " again advanced and took a number of towns from the rebels, ending with Chanchufu, the See also:principal military position of the Taipings . This See also:fell in May, when Gordon returned to Quinsan and disbanded his force . In June the Tien Wang, seeing' his cause was hopeless, committed See also:suicide, and the capture of Nan-king by the imperialist troops shortly afterwards brought the Taiping revolt to a conclusion . The suppression of this serious See also:movement was undoubtedly due in great part to the skill and See also:energy of Gordon, who had shown remarkable qualities as a leader of men . The emperor promoted him to the rank of Titu, the highest grade in the Chinese army, and also gave him the Yellow Jacket, the most important decoration in China . He wished to give him a large sum, of See also:money, but this Gordon refused .
He was promoted lieutenant-See also:colonel for his Chinese services, and made a See also:Companion of the See also:Bath
.
Henceforth he was often familiarly spoken of as " Chinese " Gordon
.
Gordon was appointed on his return to England Commanding Royal Engineer at See also:Gravesend, where he was employed in super-intending the erection of forts for the defence of the See also:Thames
.
He devoted himself with energy to his See also:official duties, and his leisure See also:hours to See also:practical philanthropy
.
All the acts of kindness which he did for the poor during the six years he was stationed at Gravesend will never be fully known
.
In See also:October 1871 he was appointed British representative on the international commission which had been constituted after the Crimean War to maintain the See also:navigation of the mouth of the See also:river See also:Danube, with headquarters at See also:Galatz
.
During 1872 Gordon was sent to inspect the British military cemeteries in the See also:Crimea, and when passing through See also:Constantinople on his return to Galatz he made the acquaintance of Nubar See also:Pasha, See also:prime See also:minister of See also:Egypt, who sounded him as to whether he would take service under the See also:khedive
.
Nothing further was settled at the time, but the following See also:year he received a definite offer from the khedive, which he accepted with the consent of the British government, and proceeded to Egypt early in 1894
.
He was then a colonel in the army, though still only a captain in the corps of Royal Engineers
.
To understand the See also:object of the appointment which Gordon accepted in Egypt, it is necessary to give a few facts with reference to the Sudan
.
In 1820-22 See also:Nubia, See also:Sennar and See also:Kordofan had been conquered by Egypt, and the authority of the Egyptians was subsequently extended southward, eastward to the Red See also:Sea and westward over See also:Darfur (conquered by Zobeir Pasha in 1894)
.
One result of the See also:Egyptian occupation of the country was that the slave See also:trade was largely See also:developed, especially in the See also:
Captains See also:Speke and See also:
On arriving in Cairo Gordon informed the khedive of his reasons for not wishing to return to the Sudan, but did not definitely resign the appointment of governor of the equatorial provinces
.
But on reaching See also:London he telegraphed to the British See also:consul-general in Cairo, asking him to let the khedive know that he would not go back to Egypt
.
Ismail Pasha, feeling, no doubt, that Gordon's resignation would injure his See also:prestige, wrote to him saying that he had promised to return, and that he expected him to keep his word
.
Upon this Gordon, to whom the keeping of a promise was a sacred duty, decided to return to Cairo, but gave an assurance to some See also:friends that he would not go back to the Sudan unless he was appointed governor-general of the entire country
.
After some discussion the khedive agreed, and made him governor-general of the Sudan, inclusive of Darfur and the equatorial provinces
.
One of the most important questions which Gordon had to take up on his appointment was the See also:state of the political relations between Egypt and See also:Abyssinia, which had been in an unsatisfactor condition for some ears
.
The dispute gen Generaor-
~' ~' eral
.
centred round the district of See also:Bogos, lying not far
inland from See also:Massawa, which both the khedive and King See also: He went up to Bogos, and had an interview with Walad See also:Michael, an Abyssinian See also:chief and the hereditary ruler of Bogos, who had joined the Egyptians with a view to raiding on his own See also:account . Gordon, with his usual See also:powers of See also:diplomacy, persuaded Michael to remain quiet, and wrote to the king proposing terms of peace . But he received no reply at that time, as John, feeling See also:pretty secure on the Egyptian frontier after his two successful actions against the khedive's troops, had gone southwards to fight with Menelek, king of See also:Shoa . Gordon, seeing that the Abyssinian difficulty could wait for a few months, proceeded to Khartum . Here he took up the See also:slavery question, and proposed to issue regulations making the See also:registration of slaves compulsory, but his proposals were not approved by the Cairo government . In the meantime an insurrection had broken out in Darfur, and Gordon proceeded to that province to relieve the Egyptian garrisons, which were considerably stronger than the force he had available, the insurgents also being far more numerous than his little army . On coming up with the See also:main body of rebels he saw that diplomacy gave a better See also:chance of success than fighting, and, accompanied only by an interpreter, rode into the enemy's See also:camp to discuss the situation . This bold move, which probably no one but Gordon would have attempted, proved quite successful, as part of the insurgents joined him, and the See also:remainder retreated to the See also:south . The relief of the Egyptian garrisons was successfully accomplished, and Gordon visited the provinces of Berber and See also:Dongola, whence he had again to return to the Abyssinian frontier to treat with King John . But no satisfactory See also:settlement was arrived at, and Gordon came back to Khartum in January 1878 . There he had scarcely a See also:week's See also:rest when the khedive summoned him to Cairo to assist in settling the See also:financial affairs of Egypt . He reached Cairo in March, and was at once appointed by Ismail as See also:president of a commission of inquiry into the finances, on the understanding that the European commissioners of the See also:debt, who were the representatives of the See also:bond-holders, and whom Ismail regarded as interested parties, should not be members of the commission . Gordon accepted the See also:post on these terms, but the consuls-general of the different powers refused to agree to the constitution of the commission, and it fell to the ground, as the khedive was not strong enough to carry his point . The See also:attempt of the latter to utilize Gordon as a counterpoise to the European financiers having failed, Ismail fell into the hands of his creditors, and was deposed by the See also:sultan in the following year in favour of his son Tewfik . After the conclusion of the financial See also:episode, Gordon proceeded to the province of See also:Harrar, south of Abyssinia, and, finding the See also:administration in a See also:bad condition, dismissed Raouf Pasha, the governor . He then returned to Khartum, and in 1899 went again into Darfur to pursue the slave traders, while his subordinate, Gessi Pasha, fought them with great success in the Bahr-el-Ghazal district and killed See also:Suleiman, their leader and a son of Zobeir . This put an end to the revolt, and Gordon went back to Khartum . Shortly afterwards he went down to Cairo, and when there was requested by the new khedive to pay a visit to King John and make a definite treaty of peace with Abyssinia . Gordon had an interesting interview with the king, but was not able to do much, as the king wanted great concessions from Egypt, and the khedive's instructions were that nothing material was to be conceded . The matter ended by Gordon being made a prisoner and sent back to Massawa . Thence he returned to Cairo and resigned his Sudan 'appointment . He was considerably exhausted by the three years' incessant work, during which he had ridden no fewer than 8500 M. on camels and mules, and was constantly engaged in the task of trying to reform a vicious See also:system of administration . In March 188o Gordon visited the king of the Belgians at See also:Brussels, and King See also:Leopold suggested that he should at some future date take See also:charge of the See also:Congo See also:Free State . In April the government of the Cape See also:Colony telegraphed to him offering the position of commandant of the Cape See also:local forces, but he declined the appointment . 
In May the See also:marquess of See also:Ripon, who had been given the post of governor- general of See also:India, asked Gordon to go with him as private secretary . This he agreed to do, but a few days later, feeling that he was not suitable for the position, asked See also:Lord Ripon to See also:release him . The latter refused to do so, and Gordon accompanied him to India, but definitely resigned his post on Lord Ripon's staff shortly afterwards . Hardly had he resigned when he received a telegram from Sir See also:Robert See also:Hart, inspector-general of customs in China, inviting him to go to Peking . He started at once and arrived at'Tientsin in See also:July, where he met Li Hung Chang, and learnt that affairs were in a critical condition, and that there was See also:risk of war with Russia . Gordon proceeded to Peking. and used all his See also:influence in favour of peace . His arguments, which were given with much plainness of speech, appear to have convinced the Chinese government, and war was avoided . Gordon returned to England, and in April 1881 exchanged with a See also:brother officer, who had been ordered to See also:Mauritius as Commanding Royal Engineer, but who for See also:family reasons was unable to accept the appointment . He remained in Mauritius until the March following, when, on promotion to the rank of major-general, he had to 6acate the position of Commanding Royal Engineer . Just at the same time the Cape See also:ministry telegraphed to him to ask if he would go to the Cape to consult with the government as regards settling affairs in See also:Basutoland . The telegram stated that the position of matters was See also:grave, and that it was of the utmost importance that the colony should secure the services of someone of proved ability, firmness and energy . Gordon sailed at once for the Cape, and saw the governor, Sir See also:Hercules See also:Robinson, Mr Thos .
Scanlen, the premier, and
Mr
.
J
.
X
.
See also:Merriman, a member of the ministry, who, for political
reasons, asked him not to go to Basutoland, but to take the
appointment of commandant of the colonial forces at King See also: That Gordon's views were correct is proved by the fact that a few years later Basutoland was separated from Cape Colony and placed directly under the imperial government . After his return to England from the Cape, being unemployed, Gordon decided to go to See also:Palestine, a country he had See also:long desired to visit . Here he remained for a year, and devoted his time to the study of Biblical history and of the antiquities of See also:Jerusalem . The king of the Belgians then asked him to take charge of the Congo Free State, and he accepted the See also:mission and returned to London to make the necessary preparations . But a few days after his arrival he was requested by the British government to proceed immediately to the Sudan, To understand the reasons for this, it is necessary briefly to recapitulate the course of events in that country since Gordon had See also:left it in 1879 . After his resignation of the post of governor-general, Raouf Pasha, an official of the See also:ordinary type, who, as already mentioned, had been dismissed by Gordon for misgovernment in 1878, was appointed to succeed him . As Raouf was instructed to increase the receipts and diminish the See also:expenditure, the system of government naturally reverted to the old methods, which Gordon had endeavoured to improve . The fact that See also:justice and firmness were succeeded by injustice and weakness tended naturally to the outbreak of revolt, and unfortunately there was a leader ready to See also:head a rebellion—one Mahommed Ahmed, already known for some years as a See also:holy man, who was insulted by an Egyptian official, and retiring with some followers to the See also:island of Abba on the White Nile, proclaimed himself as the See also:mandi, a successor of the See also:prophet . Raouf endeavoured to take him prisoner but without success, and the revolt spread rapidly . Raouf was recalled, and succeeded by Abdel Kader Pasha, a much stronger governor, who had some success, but whose forces were quite insufficient to See also:cope with the rebels . The Egyptian government was too busily engaged in suppressing Arabi's revolt to be able to send any help to Abdel Kader, and in September 1882, when the British troops entered Cairo, the position in the Sudan was very perilous . Had the British government listened to the representations then made to them, that, having conquered Egypt, it was imperative at once to suppress the revolt in the Sudan, the rebellion could have been crushed, but unfortunately Great See also:Britain would do nothing herself, while the steps she allowed Egypt to take ended in the disaster to See also:Hicks Pasha's expedition .
Then, in December 1883, the British government saw that something must be done, and ordered Egypt to abandon the Sudan
.
But See also:abandonment was a policy most difficult to carry out, as it involved the withdrawal of thousands of Egyptian soldiers, civilian employes and their families
.
Abdel Kader Pasha was asked to undertake the work, and he agreed on the understanding that he would be supported, and that the policy of abandonment was not to be announced
.
But the latter condition was refused, and he declined the task
.
The British government then asked General Gordon to proceed to Khartum to See also:report on the best method of carrying out the evacuation
.
The mission was highly popular in England
.
Sir See also:Evelyn See also:Baring (Lord See also:Cromer) was, however, at first opposed to Gordon's appointment
.
His objections were overcome, and Gordon received his instructions in London on the 18th of January 1884, and started at once for Cairo, accompanied by Lieut.-Colonel J
.
D
.
H
.
See also: At Cairo he received further instructions from Sir Evelyn Baring, and was appointed by the khedive as governor-general, At K6ar- with executive powers . Travelling by Korosko and turn . Berber, he arrived at Khartum on the 18th of February, and was well received by the inhabitants, who believed that he had come to See also:save the country from the rebels . Gordon at once commenced the task of sending the See also:women and See also:children and the sick and wounded to Egypt, and about two thousand five See also:hundred had been removed before the mandi's forces closed upon Khartum . At the same time he was impressed with the See also:necessity of making some arrangement for the future government of the country, and asked for the help of Zobeir (q.v.),, who had great influence in the Sudan, and had been detained in Cairo for some years . This See also:request was made on the very See also:day Gordon reached Khartum, and was in accordance with a similar proposal he had made when at Cairo . But, after delays which involved the loss of much See also:precious time, the British government refused (13th of March) to See also:sanction the appointment, because Zobeir had been a notorious slave-See also:hunter . With this refusal vanished all See also:hope of a peaceful See also:retreat of the Egyptian garrisons . Wavering tribes went over to the mandi . The advance of the rebels against Khartum was combined with a revolt in the eastern Sudan, and the Egyptian troops in the vicinity of Suakin met with constant defeat . At length a British force was sent to Suakin under the command of General Sir Gerald See also:Graham, and routed the rebels in several hard-fought actions . Gordon telegraphed to Sir Evelyn Baring urging that the road from Suakin to Berber should be opened by a small force .
But this request, though strongly supported by Baring and the British military authorities in Cairo, was refused by the government in London
.
In April General Graham and his forces were withdrawn from Suakin, and Gordon and the Sudan were seemingly abandoned to their See also:fate
.
The See also:garrison of Berber, seeing that there was no chance of relief, surrendered a See also:month later and Khartum was completely isolated
.
Had it not been for the presence of Gordon the city would also soon have fallen, but with an energy and skill that were almost miraculous, he so organized the defence that Khartum held out until January 1885
.
When it is remembered that Gordon was of a different See also:nationality and See also:religion to the garrison and See also:population, that he had only one British officer to assist him, and that the town was badly fortified and insufficiently provided with See also:food, it is just to say that the defence of Khartum is one of the most remarkable episodes in military history
.
The siege commenced on the 18th of March, but it was not until See also:August that the British government under the pressure of public opinion decided to take steps to relieve Gordon
.
General See also:Stephenson, who was in command of the British troops in Egypt, wished to send a See also:brigade at once to Dongola, but he was overruled, and it was not until the beginning of November that the British relief force was ready to start from See also:Wadi See also:Haifa under the command of Lord See also:Wolseley
.
The force reached Korti towards the end of December, and from that See also:place a See also:column was despatched across the Bayuda See also:desert to Metemma on the Nile
.
After some severe fighting in which the leader of the column, Sir See also:Herbert Stewart, was mortally wounded, the force reached the river on the loth of January, and the following day four steamers, which had been sent down by Gordon to meet the British advance, and which had been waiting for them for four months, reported to Sir See also:
In the first place, Wilson could not have started sooner than he did; and in the second, even if he had been able to do so, it would have made no difference, as the rebels could have taken Khartum any time they pleased after the 5th of January, when the provisions were exhausted
.
Another popular notion, that the capture of the place was due to treachery on the part of the garrison, is equally without See also:foundation
.
Theattack was made at a point in the fortifications where the rampart and ditch had been destroyed by the rising of the Nile, and when the mandi's troops entered the soldiers were too weak to make any effectual resistance
.
Gordon himself expected the town to fall before the end of December, and it is really difficult to understand how he succeeded in holding out until the 26th of January
.
See also:Writing on the 14th of December he said, " Now, See also:mark this, if the expeditionary force—and I ask for no more than two hundred men—does not come in ten days, the town may fall, and I have done my best for the honour of my country." He had indeed done his best, and far more than could have been regarded as possible
.
To understand what he went through during the latter months of the siege, it is only necessary to read his own See also:journal, a portion of which, dating from loth September to 14th December 1884, was fortunately preserved and published
.
Gordon was not an author, but he wrote many short memoranda on subjects that interested him, and a considerable number of these have been utilized, especially in the work by his brother, Sir See also: To serve See also:God and to do his duty were the great See also:objects of his life, and he died as he had lived, carrying out the work that See also:lay before him to the best of his ability . The last words of his last letter to his See also:sister, written when he knew that death was very near, sum up his character: " I am quite happy, thank God, and, like See also:Lawrence, I have tried to do my duty."1 1 With this estimate of Gordon's character may be contrasted those of Lord Cromer (the most severe of Gordon's critics), and of Lord See also:Morley of See also:Blackburn; in their strictures as in their praise they help to explain both the causes of the extraordinary influence wielded by Gordon over all sorts and conditions of men and also his difficulties . Lord Cromer's See also:criticism, it should be remembered, does not deal with Gordon's career as a whole but solely with his last mission to the Sudan; Lord Morley's is a more general See also:judgment . Lord Cromer (See also:Modern Egypt, vol. i., ch. xxyii., p . 565-571) says: " We may admire, and for my own part I do very much admire General Gordon's personal courage, his disinterestedness and his chivalrous feeling in favour of the beleaguered garrisons, but admiration of these qualities is no sufficient plea against a condemnation of his conduct on the ground that it was quixotic . In his last letter to his sister, dated December 14, 1884, he wrote: ` I am rite happy, thank God, and, like Lawrence, I have tried to do my duty ' . . . I am not now dealing with General Gordon's character, which was in many respects See also:noble, or with his military defence of Khartoum, which was heroic, but with the political conduct of his mission, and from this point of view I have no hesitation in saying that General Gordon cannot be considered to have tried to do his duty unless a very strained and mistaken view be taken of what his duty was .. As a matter of public morality I cannot think that General Gordon's See also:process of reasoning is defensible . . . I do not think that it can be held that General Gordon made any serious effort to carry out the main ends of British and Egyptian policy in the Sudan . He thought more of his personal opinions than of the interests of the state . . . . In fact, except personal courage, great fertility in military resource, a lively though some-times See also:ill-directed repugnance to injustice, oppression and meanness of every description, and a considerable power of acquiring influence over those, necessarily limited in See also:numbers, with whom he was brought into personal contact, General Gordon does not appear to have possessed any of the qualities which would have fitted him to undertake the difficult task he had in See also:hand." Lord Morley (Life of See also:Gladstone, vol. iii., 1st ed., 1903, ch . 9, p . 151) says: " Gordon, as Mr Gladstone said, was a See also:hero of heroes . He was a soldier of See also:infinite personal courage and daring, of striking military energy, initiative and resource; a high, pure and single character, dwelling much in the region of the unseen . |
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