Government.

At first the king tried to distinguish between Gordon and the Khedive,
but the former was too loyal to allow this, and informed the king that
he must look on him as a Mahommedan and an Egyptian, and not as a
Christian and an Englishman. On this point Gordon held very
conscientious views. In the event of a foreigner entering the service
of an Oriental Power, he contended, "He shall for the time entirely
abandon his relations with his native land; he shall resist his own
government, and those of other powers, and keep intact the sovereignty
of the Oriental State whose bread he eats."

When Johannis saw that Gordon had nothing to offer, and nothing was to
be got out of him, he dismissed him. It is unnecessary to retail all
the unpleasant incidents of his journey to Massowah. The only thing of
importance is, that Gordon, anticipating that there might be
disturbances at Massowah, telegraphed to the Khedive to send a
battalion of infantry there, a request to which no attention was paid.
This neglect on the part of the Khedive ultimately led to an open
rupture between him and Gordon. Fortunately the British Government had
sent a gunboat across from Aden at Gordon's request. "The whole town
was in a ferment," Gordon writes, "and had it not been for H.M.S.
_Seagull_, Massowah would no doubt have been attacked and sacked." The
Khedive asked Gordon to come at once to Cairo, but this he refused to
do till the battalion arrived, as he felt that his presence was
necessary there, "in order to give confidence to the people, until the
troops came."

Ultimately, however, Gordon went to Cairo, and gave the Khedive a piece
of his mind, with regard to the publication of confidential telegrams,
as well as other things. It was on this occasion that he received the
reply from the ruler of Egypt, "I am a young man; it is not my fault,"
which caused some little amusement in England, when it was made known.
The rupture was made, Gordon had decided to serve the Khedive no
longer, and at the beginning of the year 1880 he returned home for the
rest that he required, mentally and physically, after six years'
incessant hard work in the thankless task of governing the Soudan.

When Gordon was leaving Alexandria he was medically examined by Dr.
Mackie, the surgeon to the British Consulate, who stated that he was
"suffering from symptoms of nervous exhaustion, and alteration of the
blood, giving rise to haemorrhagic spots on the skin, &c