." "I have,"
said the same authority, "recommended him to retire for several months
for complete rest and quiet, and that he may be able to enjoy fresh and
wholesome food, as I consider that much of what he is suffering from is
the effect of continued bodily fatigue, anxiety, and indigestible food.
I have insisted on his abstaining from all exciting work--especially
such as implies business or political excitement." Gordon possessed an
exceptionally strong constitution, but there is a limit to the burden
which the most powerful can bear, and that limit had been exceeded.
There was nothing for it, therefore, but to put into dock for
constitutional repairs.

* * *

After spending three months in England, he went to Switzerland on the
9th April 1880. During this period of inactivity he was offered by the
Government of the Cape of Good Hope the command of their colonial
forces on L1500 per annum, but his reply was, "Thanks for telegram just
received; I do not feel inclined to accept an appointment." In the
beginning of May, however, he accepted the post of private secretary to
Lord Ripon, who was going out to India as Viceroy. Considering that
Colonel Gordon had been ruling a territory as large as France, Germany,
and Spain put together, it was thought strange at the time that he
should accept such a very subordinate post as that of secretary to the
Viceroy, himself only a subordinate to the Secretary of State for
India, who practically governs that vast empire from Downing Street by
means of the telegraph. The appointment was indeed a peculiarly
unfortunate one. The P. & O. steamer that conveyed the Viceregal party
had on board two kings, the greater man being, so to speak, the
uncrowned one. The Viceroy, who has since shown himself to be a man of
ability, had not at that time gained the confidence of the public.
Consequently, his principal qualification for the post was that he
possessed the aristocracy of birth. It is impossible to secure
everything in any given man, and as social distinctions weigh heavily
in such a post as that of Viceroy of India, only average abilities are
as a rule looked for. Consequently India has been termed the "land of
mediocrity," from the fact that the average statesmen who direct her
affairs, are neither very brilliant nor very dull.

The Viceroy must have been more than human not to have felt somewhat
keenly the awkward position in which he was place