take up his last
Nile mission in precisely the confiding manner that he did. Gordon
left Egypt at the end of 1879. Although events there in 1880 were of
interest and importance, Gordon was too much occupied in India and
China to say anything, but in October 1881 he drew up an important
memorandum on affairs in Egypt since the deposition of Ismail. Gordon
gave it to me specially for publication, and it duly appeared in _The
Times_, but its historical interest is that it shows how Gordon's
thoughts were still running on the affairs of the country in which he
had served so long. The following is the full text:--

"On the 16th of August 1879, the Firman installing Tewfik as
Khedive was published in Cairo. From the 26th of June 1879, when
Ismail was deposed, to this date, Cherif Pasha remained Prime
Minister; he had been appointed on the dismissal of the
Rivers-Wilson and de Blignieres Ministry in May. Between June and
August Cherif had been working with the view of securing to the
country a representative form of government, and had only a short
time before August 16 laid his proposition before Tewfik.
Cherif's idea was that, the representation being in the hands of
the people, there would be more chance of Egypt maintaining her
independence than if the Government was a personal one. It will
be remembered that, though many states have repudiated their
debts, no other ruler of those states was considered responsible
except in the case of Ismail of Egypt. Europe considered Ismail
responsible personally. She did not consider the rulers of
Turkey, Greece, Spain, etc., responsible, so that Cherif was
quite justified in his proposition. Cherif has been unjustly
considered opposed to any reform. This is not so. Certainly he
had shown his independence in refusing to acknowledge
Rivers-Wilson as his superior, preferring to give up his position
to doing so, but he knew well that reform was necessary, and had
always advised it. Cherif is perhaps the only Egyptian Minister
whose character for strict integrity is unimpeachable.

"A thoroughly independent man, caring but little for office or
its emoluments, of a good family, with antecedents which would
bear any investigation, he was not inclined to be questioned by
men whose social position was inferior to his own, and whose
_parti pris_ was agai