roceed
to the Congo River to put down the slave-trade. Imagination will persist
in wondering what might have been the result if he had carried out this
much-needed duty. Possibly he might have acquired such an influence as
to direct the "Congo Free State" to courses far other than those to
which it has come. He himself discerned the greatness of the
opportunity. In his letter of January 6, 1884, to H.M. Stanley, he
stated that "no such efficacious means of cutting at root of slave-trade
ever was presented as that which God has opened out to us through the
kind disinterestedness of His Majesty."

The die was now cast against the Congo and for the Nile. Gordon had a
brief interview with four members of the Cabinet--Lords Granville,
Hartington, Northbrooke, and Sir Charles Dilke,--Mr. Gladstone was
absent at Hawarden; and they forthwith decided that he should go to the
Upper Nile. What transpired in that most important meeting is known only
from Gordon's account of it in a private letter:--

At noon he, Wolseley, came to me and took me to the
Ministers. He went in and talked to the Ministers, and came
back and said, "Her Majesty's Government want you to
undertake this. Government are determined to evacuate the
Sudan, for they will not guarantee future government. Will
you go and do it?" I said, "Yes." He said, "Go in." I went
in and saw them. They said, "Did Wolseley tell you our
orders?" I said, "Yes." I said, "You will not guarantee
future government of the Sudan, and you wish me to go up to
evacuate now?" They said, "Yes," and it was over, and I left
at 8 P.M. for Calais.

Before seeing the Ministers, Gordon had a long interview with Lord
Wolseley, who in the previous autumn had been named Baron Wolseley of
Cairo. That conversation is also unknown to us, but obviously it must
have influenced Gordon's impressions as to the scope of the duties
sketched for him by the Cabinet. We turn, then, to the "Instructions to
General Gordon," drawn up by the Ministry on Jan. 18, 1884. They
directed him to "proceed at once to Egypt, to report to them on the
military situation in the Sudan, and on the measures which it may be
advisable to take for the security of the Egyptian garrisons still
holding positions in that country and for the safety of the European
population in Khartum." He was also to report on the best mode of
effecting the evacuation of the interior of the Sudan