a friend.

In General Gordon's own letters from the Crimea there are frequent
references to his eldest brother, Henry Gordon, a man of whom it may
be said here that the best was never publicly known, for during a long
and varied career, first in the combative branch of the army as an
officer of the 59th Regiment, and then as a non-combative officer in
the Ordnance Department, he showed much ability, but had few
opportunities of special distinction. In several of General Gordon's
transactions Sir Henry was closely mixed up, especially with the Congo
mission; and I should like to say, of my own knowledge, that he was
thoroughly in sympathy with all his projects for the suppression of
the slave trade, had mastered the voluminous Blue Books and official
papers, from the time of Ismail to the dark days of Khartoum, in so
thorough a manner that the smallest detail was fixed in his brain, and
had so completely assimilated his brother's views that an hour's
consultation with him was almost as fertile a source of inspiration
as it would have been with the General himself. I believe that the
original cause of Sir Henry's influence over his brother was that he
disclaimed having any, and that he most carefully avoided any attempt
to force his advice on his younger brother, as so many of our elders
deem to be their right and prerogative. General Gordon was a bad
listener to advice at any time or from anyone. He acted almost
entirely on his own judgment, and still more on his own impulse. His
first thoughts were his best thoughts, or, perhaps, as Tennyson says,
"his third thoughts, which are a maturer first." Sir Henry knew the
ingrained and unalterable character of his brother, and adapted
himself to it, partly through affection and partly through admiration,
for in his eyes Charles Gordon was the truest of heroes. No man ever
possessed a truer or more solicitous friend than General Gordon found
in him. Sir Henry was thoroughly devoted to him and his interests, and
carried out all his wishes and instructions to the very letter.

Having said this much about the relations between Gordon and his
brother, it would be an inexcusable omission to pass over the still
more striking sympathy and affection that united him with his sisters.
From his first appointment into the service he corresponded on
religious and serious subjects with his elder sister, the late Miss
Gordon, who only survived her brother a few years, with remarkable
regular