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THE GREAT REFUSAL
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"Colui Che fece per viltate il gran rifiuto!"
The great refusal branded by Dante as worthy of eternal condemnation, has been imputed to various criminals. For the English, in modern time, there exists one great refusal, the viltate — or "indelible disgrace" — of which must formally remain with Mr. Gladstone, though he had accomplices who must, in varying degrees, bear with him the shame. They who called General Gordon to extricate them from embarrassments in Egypt, who pledged themselves to support him both in England and in Egypt ; they are the men who, by their "great refusal" to keep faith with him, have earned their place among the infamous in history. But it seems now that, on the presumption that the public memory is as treacherous as themselves, they or their parasites deem it safe to deny that, in refusing to let Zebehr Pasha go, on Gordon's demand, to Khartoum, Mr. Gladstone and his henchman Lord Granville broke faith with Gordon and disgraced their country.
A brief statement of the facts has, therefore, become necessary. The victim of the Ministry had, in 1884, set them an example which made their conduct to him signally shameful. In 1881 he had suggested to a friend a journey together in Palestine. In 1883, when his friend had an opportunity to join him there, Gordon wrote: " A week ago I was invited by the King of the Belgians to take up Stanley's work on Congo in the spring. This has been for years on the tapis, and I was bound to go if the King asked me, which he has now. I have telegraphed home to ask whether Her Majesty's Government will let me go." Receiving a telegram to the effect that he was permitted to go, Gordon hastened to Brussels, arriving there on the 1st January 1884. On that day he wrote to
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his friend: "I shall see the King this evening. In answer to my telegram asking for leave to go I got an answer thus, 'Sec. of State sanctions your going Congo.' Well, about three weeks after, it appears from a letter from my brother that the telegram sent was thus, Sec. of S. refuses to sanction your going Congo,' which makes all the difference! It now depends on what the King will do. I promised him to go, and go I must unless he will let me off."
On the same evening he wrote again, "I saw the King to-night, and sequence is I have to resign my Commission and go to Congo next month."
It may be remembered that for a time the public were led to believe that Mr. Gladstone's Government would exact the penalty alluded by Gordon, although, as Gordon had made his final promise to the King, on faith of a telegram purporting to emanate from the Secretary of State, it would have been ungenerous if not unjust to drive from the army on such grounds a man of whom an English General has been heard to say that, not since the days of Hannibal has any commander done such great things under such disadvantages as to means. After an interval of suspense, it was announced that the Government would not proscribe Gordon for keeping faith.
The incident is instructive with regard to the subsequent "great refusal," for it shows that, rather than break faith, Gordon would sacrifice all wordly prospects, even though a deceitful telegram had led to his promise. Also it shows that though so scrupulous in keeping personal faith, he devotedly recognised the paramount claims of his country ; and when appealed to by Gladstone and his colleagues in the name of duty he promptly flew to their aid. They, meanwhile, to obtain his help, made unlimited promises ; and having bound him to the state in the name of duty, obstinately refused to perform that which they had promised, and callously looked on while he lingered, starving, until treachery, foreign and domestic, put an end to his earthly sufferings, and sealed the "indelible disgrace" of his betrayers. The hurried manner in which Gordon was called from Brussels to London when the Ministry was in distress, can have been forgotten by none. Summoned suddenly he obeyed as suddenly, and was on his way to Khartoum on the 18th January 1884 before the fact of his having been summoned was known in many parts of Great Britain.
It is recorded in a volume written by the Rev. Reginald Barnes and a coadjutor* that Gordon received a summons at Brussels on the 17th January ; crossed the Channel forthwith, saw Lord Wolseley on the morning of the 18th in London, and "later in the
* Charles George Gordon. (Macmillan & Co. London, 1884.)
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day he saw Lord Granville, Lord Harrington, Lord Northbrook, and Sir Charles Dilke," after which he started, on the same day, for Khartoum.
Mr. Gladstone, who was out of town, was communicated with by telegram. Perhaps a cautious man careful for himself might have dictated terms which even so suave a shuffler as Lord Granville might have found it hard to evade.
But Gordon was thinking only of life which might be saved, and of the honour of his country. In such services, both in counsel and in the field, his sagacity was expended, and not for himself.
But though he was not self-seeking, the crisis in which his services were sought was so imminent, that there are ample public records to convict the betrayers.
The destruction of the army under Hicks ; the beleaguering of the Egyptian garrisons ; and the probability, if not the certainty, that men, women, and children would be ruthlessly massacred under the immediate superintendence of an English Government had pressed upon the public conscience.
To pacify that conscience the Ministry took pains to declare that they gave Gordon a free hand, and guaranteed to him unconditional support in such measures as he might deem necessary. His mission was expressly mentioned in Her Majesty's Speech to Parliament on the 5th February 1884: "I have also despatched General Gordon to report on the best means of giving effect to the Soudan, and have permitted him to act in the execution of the measure."
Even if the responsibility of the Ministry for these words were not undoubted, the address in both Houses in reply to the Speech would have bound both them and the majorities in the Houses. Each address gave thanks for the information that Her Majesty had despatched General Gordon, and "had permitted him to act in the execution of the measure" of withdrawing from the Soudan.
On the 6th February, Mr. Gladstone told the Commons that Gordon had "full power to take all measures, civil and military, which he may think necessary."
The Lord Chancellor told the Lords (12th February), "One reason which we have availed ourselves of the services of that heroic man, General Gordon, is because he, with his vast knowledge of the country and great influence over the tribes and chiefs, was better able than any other man to say by what means a policy of conciliation and pacification might succeed in extricating the different scattered garrisons from the dangerous positions in which they were, and withdrawing them," &c. In their distress, the
