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useless。 On July 31st; Lord Hartington did the deed。 He stated

that; unless an expedition was sent; he would resign。 It was; he

said; 'a question of personal honour and good faith; and I don't

see how I can yield upon it'。 His conscience had worked itself to

rest at last。



When Mr。 Gladstone read the words; he realised that the game was

over。 Lord Hartington's position in the Liberal Party was second

only to his own; he was the leader of the rich and powerful Whig

aristocracy; his influence with the country was immense。 Nor was

he the man to make idle threats of resignation; he had said he

would resign; and resign he would: the collapse of the Government

would be the inevitable result。 On August 5th; therefore;

Parliament was asked to make a grant of £300;000; in order 'to

enable Her Majesty's Government to undertake operations for the

relief of General Gordon; should they become necessary'。 The

money was voted; and even then; at that last hour; Mr。 Gladstone

made another; final; desperate twist。 Trying to save himself by

the proviso which he had inserted into the resolution; he

declared that he was still unconvinced of the necessity of any

operations at all。 'I nearly;' he wrote to Lord Hartington; 'but

not quite; adopt words received today from Granville。 〃It is

clear; I think; that Gordon has our messages; and does not choose

to answer them。〃' Nearly; but not quite! The qualification was

masterly; but it was of no avail。 This time; the sinuous creature

was held by too firm a grasp。 On August 26th; Lord Wolseley was

appointed to command the relief expedition; and on September 9th;

he arrived in Egypt。



The relief expedition had begun; and at the same moment a new

phase opened at Khartoum。 The annual rising of the Nile was now

sufficiently advanced to enable one of Gordon's small steamers to

pass over the cataracts down to Egypt in safety。 He determined to

seize the opportunity of laying before the authorities in Cairo

and London; and the English public at large; an exact account of

his position。 A cargo of documents; including Colonel Stewart's

Diary of the siege and a personal appeal for assistance addressed

by Gordon to all the European powers; was placed on board the

Abbas; four other steamers were to accompany her until she was

out of danger from attacks by the Mahdi's troops; after which;

she was to proceed alone into Egypt。 On the evening of September

9th; just as she was about to start; the English and French

Consuls asked for permission to go with hera permission which

Gordon; who had long been anxious to provide for their safety;

readily granted。 Then Colonel Stewart made the same request; and

Gordon consented with the same alacrity。



Colonel Stewart was the second…in…command at Khartoum; and it

seems strange that he should have made a proposal which would

leave Gordon in a position of the gravest anxiety without a

single European subordinate。 But his motives were to be veiled

forever in a tragic obscurity。 The Abbas and her convoy set out。

Henceforward the Governor…General was alone。 He had now;

definitely and finally; made his decision。 Colonel Stewart and

his companions had gone; with every prospect of returning

unharmed to civilisation。 Mr。 Gladstone's belief was justified;

so far as Gordon's personal safety was concerned; he might still;

at this late hour; have secured it。 But he had chosen he stayed

at Khartoum。



No sooner were the steamers out of sight than he sat down at his

writing…table and began that daily record of his circumstances;

his reflections; and his feelings; which reveals to us; with such

an authentic exactitude; the final period of his extraordinary

destiny。 His Journals; sent down the river in batches to await

the coming of the relief expedition; and addressed; first to

Colonel Stewart; and later to the 'Chief of Staff; Sudan

Expeditionary Force'; were official documents; intended for

publication; though; as Gordon himself was careful to note on the

outer covers; they would 'want pruning out' before they were

printed。 He also wrote; on the envelope of the first section; 'No

secrets as far as I am concerned'。 A more singular set of state

papers was never compiled。 Sitting there; in the solitude of his

palace; with ruin closing round him; with anxieties on every

hand; with doom hanging above his head; he let his pen rush on

for hour after hour in an ecstasy of communication; a tireless

unburdening of the spirit; where the most trivial incidents of

the passing day were mingled pell…mell with philosophical

disquisitions; where jests and anger; hopes and terrors;

elaborate justifications and cynical confessions; jostled one

another in reckless confusion。 The impulsive; demonstrative man

had nobody to talk to any more; and so he talked instead to the

pile of telegraph forms; which; useless now for perplexing Sir

Evelyn Baring; served very wellfor they were large and blank

as the repositories of his conversation。 His tone was not the

intimate and religious tone which he would have used with the

Rev。 Mr。 Barnes or his sister Augusta; it was such as must have

been habitual with him in his intercourse with old friends or

fellow…officers; whose religious views were of a more ordinary

caste than his own; but with whom he was on confidential terms。

He was anxious to put his case to a select and sympathetic

audienceto convince such a man as Lord Wolseley that he was

justified in what he had done; and he was sparing in his

allusions to the hand of Providence; while those mysterious

doubts and piercing introspections; which must have filled him;

he almost entirely concealed。 He expressed himself; of course;

with eccentric ABANDONit would have been impossible for him to

do otherwise; but he was content to indicate his deepest feelings

with a fleer。 Yet sometimesas one can imagine happening with

him in actual conversationhis utterance took the form of a

half…soliloquy; a copious outpouring addressed to himself more

than to anyone else; for his own satisfaction。 There are passages

in the Khartoum Journals which call up in a flash the light;

gliding figure; and the blue eyes with the candour of childhood

still shining in them; one can almost hear the low voice; the

singularly distinct articulation; the persuasivethe self…

persuasivesentences; following each other so unassumingly

between the puffs of a cigarette。As he wrote; two preoccupations

principally filled his mind。 His reflections revolved around the

immediate past and the impending future。 With an unerring

persistency he examined; he excused; he explained; his share in

the complicated events which had led to his present situation。 He

rebutted the charges of imaginary enemies; he laid bare the

ineptitude and the faithlessness of the English Government。 He

poured out his satire upon officials and diplomatists。 He drew

caricatures; in the margin; of Sir Evelyn Baring; with sentences

of shocked pomposity coming out of his mouth。 In some passages;

which the editor of the Journals preferred to suppress; he

covered Lord Granville with his raillery; picturing the Foreign

Secretary; lounging away his morning at Walmer Castle; opening

The Times and suddenly discovering; to his horror; that Khartoum

was still holding out。 'Why; HE SAID DISTINCTLY he could ONLY

hold out SIX MONTHS; and that was in March (counts the months)。

August! why; he ought to have given in! What is to be done?

They'll be howling for an expedition。 。。。 It is no laughing

matter; THAT ABOMINABLE MAHDI! Why on earth does he not guard his

roads better? WHAT IS to be done?' Several times in his

bitterness he repeats the suggestion that the authorities at home

were secretly hoping that the fall of Khartoum would relieve them

of their difficulties。 'What that Mahdi is about; Lord Granville

is made to exclaim in another deleted paragraph; 'I cannot make

out。 Why does he not put all his guns on the river and stop the

route? Eh what? 〃We will have to go to Khartoum!〃 Why; it will

cost millions; what a wretched business! What! Send Zobeir? Our

conscience recoils from THAT; it is elastic; but not equal to

that; it is a pact with the Devil。 。。。 Do you not think there is

any way of getting hold of H I M; in a quiet way?' If a boy at

Eton or Harrow; he declared; had acted as the Government had

acted; 'I THINK he would be kicked; and I AM SURE he would

deserve it'。 He was the victim of hypocrites and humbugs。 There

was 'no sort of parallel to all this in history except David

with Uriah the Hittite'; but then 'there was an Eve in the case';

and he was not aware that the Government had even that excuse。



From the past; he turned to the future; and surveyed; with a

disturbed and piercing vision; the possibilities before him。

Supposing that the relief expedition arrived; what would be his

position? Upon one thing he was determined: whatever happened; he

would not play the part of 'the res

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