r with withering scorn says:--

"Nay, he was almost a stranger in his own land, and, when nearly a
generation had passed away, and the fruit of many blunders had
accumulated in Egypt a load of disaster that seemed too heavy to be
borne, Gordon was at last called from the obscurity in which he had
been so long consigned--he was, his own brother has told us, as a
person who was now heard of for the first time."

A report has been circulated that he was offered the command of the
Ashantee Expedition and declined it. This report has absolutely no
foundation. The truth of the matter is that he never was offered a
command on active service of any kind by the British authorities. Those
who manage the affairs of other nations were able to recognise the
merits of this remarkable man, and to find opportunities for him to
exercise his powers, but our own authorities seem to have been
absolutely blind to his qualities. Yet this was he of whom Colonel
Chesney, a great writer on military matters, said, "If there is a man
in the world who can conduct a war with honour, thoroughness, and
humanity, and bring it to a satisfactory close without needless delay
or expense, England has that man in 'Chinese Gordon.'" It is, of
course, quite possible that every army has some men of military genius,
whose services are never utilised in positions of importance, for the
simple reason that they are unknown to the authorities. There is no
profession in which it is more difficult to pick out the born leaders
than is the case in the army. Plenty of men who promise well when in a
subordinate position prove miserable failures when in command. Men who
can pass examinations with flying colours are not always able to make
use of their knowledge in the field. A foreign power had, however,
provided a field in which one of our officers was able to show what
wonderful military instincts he possessed. It is therefore all the more
difficult to find excuses for those who were responsible for the fact
that, as far as England was concerned, Gordon was allowed to live in
obscurity, and was never even offered a command of any sort in any of
the campaigns in which his countrymen were engaged.

CHAPTER VII

AT GRAVESEND

When Lord John Russell visited Elba, he was asked by Napoleon, then a
prisoner there, whether he thought that his rival, the Duke of
Wellington, would be able to live without the excitement of war, which
Napoleon