ket,
and even if we consider that the financial situation in the Delta,
with all its cross-currents of shady intrigue and selfish designs, was
one that he was not quite qualified to deal with, we cannot dispute
that his propositions were full of all his habitual nobility of
purpose, and that they were practical, if they could ever have been
put into effect.

This incident serves to bring out some of the limitations of Gordon's
ability. His own convictions, strengthened by the solitary life he had
led for years in the Soudan, did not make him well adapted for any
form of diplomacy. His methods were too simple, and his remedies too
exclusively based on a radical treatment, to suit every complaint in a
complicated state of society; nor is it possible for the majority of
men to be influenced by his extraordinary self-abnegation and
disregard for money. During this very mission he boasted that he was
able to get to bed at eight o'clock, because he never dined out, and
that he did not care at everyone laughing at him, and saying he was in
the sulks. This mode of living was due, not to any peculiarity about
General Gordon--although I trace to this period the opinion that he
was mad--but mainly to his honest wish not to be biassed by any
European's judgment, and to be able to give the Khedive absolutely
independent advice, as if he himself were an Egyptian, speaking and
acting for Egypt. Enough has been said to explain why he failed to
accomplish a really impossible task. Nor is it necessary to assume
that because they differed from him and strenuously opposed his
project, the other Englishmen in authority in the Delta were
influenced by any unworthy motives or pursued a policy that was either
reprehensible or unsound.

From this uncongenial task General Gordon returned to the work which
he thoroughly understood, and with regard to which he had to apprehend
no serious outside interference, for the attraction of the flesh-pots
of Egypt did not extend into the Soudan. Still, he felt that his
"outspokenness," as he termed it, had not strengthened his position.
He travelled on this occasion by the Red Sea route to Aden, thence to
Zeila, with the view of inspecting Harrar, which formed part of his
extensive Government. During this tour Gordon saw much that disquieted
him--a large strip of country held by fanatical Mahommedans, the slave
trade in unchecked progress where he had not thought it to exist--and
he wrote these memorable