ely as to propose that instead of being imprisoned
in Cyprus, his enemy should be sent to govern the Soudan!

Those who have followed Gordon's tactics closely will not wonder so
much at the proposal. Indeed it seems to have been a part of his creed
to utilise his enemies, and thus if possible to turn them into friends.
In China he frequently enlisted hundreds of prisoners of war, converted
them into staunchest allies, and led them to victory against their old
comrades. He now wanted to apply in the case of Zebehr the principles
he had found so effective elsewhere. So long as he did not see his way
to utilising this king of slave-hunters, he desired to have him kept
out of the way, but when his brilliant genius saw a way of turning his
old foe into a friend, he asked for his services. Unfortunately, Gordon
was not in the position of a Napoleon: he was hampered in the carrying
out of his brilliant designs by those at home, who had neither his
knowledge nor his capacity.

With regard to the proposed appointment of the great slave-hunter to be
King of the Soudan, opinions even now differ greatly. Lord Wolseley,
Sir Evelyn Baring, and most well-informed people are agreed that the
recommendation ought to have been acted upon, and that its adoption
would have been the means of saving many valuable lives, including
Gordon's, and of placing the Soudan under an authoritative government,
which it has not yet obtained. But the English Cabinet felt that public
opinion would be strongly opposed to such a step, and therefore they
would not sanction it.

When Gordon left Cairo for Khartoum he thought that the best plan for
the Soudan, when the Egyptian Government withdrew, would be to replace
it by the heirs of the petty Sultans, who had been deprived of their
power when the Soudan was annexed by Mehemet Ali. But when he saw the
real state of affairs, he felt that these disunited kinglets would not
be strong enough to resist the power of the Mahdi. As for the Mahdi, he
was too much of a religious fanatic to have the government of the
Soudan put into his hands. He was ambitious as well as fanatical; his
object was to overrun the whole world. Directly he ceased to be a
conqueror, his people would cease to believe in his Divine mission, and
he would lose his power. At that time he possessed great power, and
Gordon felt that there must be a still more powerful man set up. There
was only one such man alive, and he was a prisoner at Cairo.