FL4618314

(33)
... Then came the recommendation to send Zebehr, but it was
well known that if, when that recommendation was made, we had
complied with it, an Address from this House to the Crown would
have paralyzed our action. ..."

We see in newspapers that Mr. Gladstone enchants worshippers
by entering tabernacles and reading lessons. If in any such
assemblage he should read about the qualities of him who shall
dwell in the Supreme Tabernacle:– "He that sweareth unto his
neighbour and disappointeth him not, though it were to his
hindrance," – he would need surpassing vanity to escape qualms of
conscience for those who broke their pledges to Gordon.

The friends of Gordon, on the other hand, from the same sen-
tence may derive enduring comfort.

Some points of Gladstone's speech–the choice of the route by
the Nile and the "hypothesis of starvation" – have already been
touched upon. His obstinate assertion (Hansard, vol. ccxciv.,
p. 1092) "There is no reason at present to believe that a great
effusion of blood attended the occupation of Khartoum," must
have jarred upon all humane minds; but though the massacres
which Mr. Gladstone minimized as merely an "occupation of
Khartoum" involved Gordon's death, he did not venture, in Feb-
ruary 1885, to disparage the character of one whom he had called
"a hero of heroes." At a later date, however, he threw out hints
that Gordon had overweening confidence in himself, and over-
rated his influence.

On the 30th April 1885, Gladstone was asked in the House to
produce the evidence on which he had said, "We have no reason*
to suppose that any very considerable body ever attached them-
selves to General Gordon, and we have no reason to suppose that
the general population of Khartoum–though I have no doubt that
some of his immediate adherents may–have suffered in consequence
of what has taken place." One reads in Hansard these strange
words from Gladstone, which certainly cannot be called an answer:
"I entirely differ from the hon. gentleman as to the preamble
of his question; and as to his request, I cannot comply with it."

As to the mean suggestion that Gordon over-rated his own im-
portance, Gordon gave, by anticipation, the fullest refutation to
such slander when, on the day of his arrival at Khartoum, amid
the acclamation of thousands, he telegraphed that Zebehr must be
sent thither to enable the work of evacuation to be done.

* But the telegrams of February 1884 furnished ample reason, and in conformity with
them we read in the work of the Rev. Mr. Barnes (C. G. Gordon. Macmillan, 1884),
p. 79: "The people appeared in their thousands at Khartoum to kiss his feet, styling
him the Sultan of the Soudan." Fortunately, it is difficult for deceivers to weave their
sophistries so as to escape detection when the truth is sought for; and expert as Mr.
Gladstone is in the art of distortion, his subtleties do but confirm the old saying that it is
better to tell the truth than by any temporizing subterfuge to gain brief credit for a lie