tion and
gallantry of a single man, to send him alone to grapple with a
difficulty which several armies had, by their own failure and
destruction, rendered more grave, at the same time that they
established the formidable nature of the rebellion in the Soudan as an
unimpeachable fact instead of a disputable opinion. I do not think his
own countrymen have yet quite appreciated the extraordinary heroism
and devotion to his country which Gordon showed when he rushed off
single-handed to oppose the ever-victorious Mahdi at the very zenith
of his power.

In unrolling the scroll of events connected with an intricate history,
it next becomes necessary to explain why Gordon voluntarily, and it
may even be admitted, enthusiastically, undertook a mission that, to
any man in his senses, must have seemed at the moment at which it was
undertaken little short of insanity. Whatever else may be said against
the Government and the military authorities who suggested his going,
and availed themselves of his readiness to go, to Khartoum, I do not
think there is the shadow of a justification for the allegation that
they forced him to proceed on that romantic errand, although of course
it is equally clear that he insisted as the condition of his going at
all that he should be ordered by his Government to proceed on this
mission. Beyond this vital principle, which he held to all his life in
never volunteering, he was far too eager to go himself to require any
real stirring-up or compulsion. It was even a secret and unexpressed
grievance that he should not be called upon to hasten to the spot,
which had always been in his thoughts since the time he had left it.
He could think of nothing else; in the midst of other work he would
turn aside to discuss the affairs of Egypt and the Soudan as paramount
to every other consideration; and when a great mission, like that to
the Congo, which he could have made a turning-point in African
history, was placed in his hands, he could only ask for "a respite,"
and, with the charm of the Sphinx strong upon him, rushed on his fate
in a chivalrous determination to essay the impossible. But was it
right or justifiable that wise politicians and experienced generals
should take advantage of such enthusiasm and self-sacrifice, and let
one man go unaided to achieve what thousands had failed to do?

It is necessary to establish clearly in the first place, and beyond
dispute, the frame of mind which induced Gordon to