The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1884-02-23 00:00:00

"CHINESE" GORDON.

1 "Chinese Gordon I Chinese Gordon I " said a
fellow-traveller to me one day, as we were speeding
along by the morning train to our City offices. "Why
is the General always spoken of as Chinese V I can-
not understand it, for I always thought that he was an
Englishman," As it happened, I was born and edu-
cated in the same garrison town as the General, and,
'moreover, my father was an officer in the same gallant
regiment as that in which the parent of Gordon held
high rank. I was able, therefore, to explain how
matters stood pretty satisfactorily, for I had naturally
followed the career of my quondam playmate with
great and ever•increasing interest. General Charles
Gordon comes of a clever family. His father, Colonel
Gordon, of the Royal Artillery, was for many
years Chief Director of the Royal Carriage De-
partment, Woolwich Arsenal. The cllonel, though of
somewhat eccentric disposition, possessed a warm
heart ani great firmness and decision of character,
General Gordon is the youngest of three sons,
eldest of whom is General Sir Henry Gordon, 1C.C.8.,
late Commissary-General of Ordnance, Royal Arsenal;
the second is General Samuel Gordon, Royal Artillery,
late President of the Ordnance Select Committee.
General Gordon's youthful companions never supposed
he would make any particular mark in life. He was
considered to be too unobstrusive in nature to accom-
plish great things. His manner was quiet and sedate.
His lessons at school were always well learnt. He
gave no trouble to his tutors, and never got into youth-
ful scrapes. He passed into the Royal Military
Academy at Woolwich, pretty high up on the list of
candidates for examination, and afterwards came out
nearly at the head of his class, receiving in consequence
a commission in the Royal Engineers, He is now
about fifty-two or fifty-three years of age, and there.
fore in the very prime of life and in the fullest vigour
of his intellect. He possesses the ripe judgment of a
man who has matured it by a deep study of difficult
problems in the affairs of State. After the siege of
Sebastopol, at which he was present, he was chosen
as one of the deliminators of the Turkish boundaries.
It was in this post that he attracted attention by his
remarkable power of memory and his aptitude for
grasping details, which enabled him to give accurate
decisions upon points at issue. He was sent to China
in the ordinary course of duty. Here he learnt the
Chinese language and became acquainted with im-
portant Chinese officials, amongst them being the
General-in-Chief of the Imperial forces, He was
selected as a British officer of known ability, though so
young a man, to command the Chinese army
destined to crush the Taeping rebellion against the
Emperor's authority, His power of organisation and
his brilliant success obtained for him the Emperor's
high favour and the grade of a Mandarin of the
highest class, and the position of General in the
Chinese service. So great was the admiration wrought
in the minds of Orientals of every degree, and the
esteem he gained amongst Europeans, for his excellent
qualities while in the service of the Emperor of China,
that he was thenceforward known by a title that
seemed to have been conferred upon him by almost
universal consent. This was " Chinese " Gordon, a
title which has become a household name throughout
every civilised and even throughout many uncivilised
countries.—Cassell's Saturday Journal.