ssible, and even kind and
thoughtful; but if you treat him the other way, he is a fiend
incarnate. The late General Gordon divined his character marvellously,
and was the only man Masupha had the slightest regard for." If our
Government had more men of the type of General Gordon, we may rest
assured that we should have fewer of these petty little "nigger wars,"
which, more often than not, are brought on by incapacity and want of
sympathy on the part of our representatives abroad. One great charm
about Gordon's character was his sympathy for the weak and helpless. It
mattered not whether the helpless one were a king or a slave, so long
as he was weak he was sure of having Gordon's sympathies and assistance
in his troubles. Before leaving the Cape, Gordon made a most noble
offer, which was that he should go on L300 per annum and live as a
magistrate among the Basutos, so as to protect them from their enemies,
but the offer was not accepted.

The way in which Gordon regarded his position is shown in the following
passages from two of his letters:--

"KING WILLIAM'S TOWN, _October_ 6, 1882.--The telegrams will show
you that the Cape Colony chapter of my life is over. I am so glad
to be free of all this turmoil. There will be a fearful row, but
these things have not moved me at all. I have thought more of a
scuttler who shed tears when I spoke to him of God's living in him,
than I have of all this affair."

"SS. KINFAUNS CASTLE, _October_ 20, 1882.--I shall, D.V., be in
England when you get this. I shall go by sea to Gravesend, and on
to Southampton at once. Whether men praise you, it does not make
you better, or whether they blame you, it does not make you worse.
God judges by motives, men by actions (Thomas a Kempis). When I
went to the Cape I prayed for glory to God and the welfare of the
people, so I am glad _I_ got no glory out of it."

It may be well to introduce here a few words he wrote of the celebrated
Zulu king whom we deposed and imprisoned at the Cape.

"_May_ 20, 1882.--I went to see Cetewayo, and felt for him, and
tried to cheer him. I gave him a stick with an ivory head--a
beauty--which had been given me by the Sultan of Perak, who was a
prisoner at the Seychelles. When I told Cetewayo that I had always
been interested in him and that he must have hope, with a deep
'_Ah!_' he pointed upwards. He is a fine savage."

General Gord