The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1885-03-21
GENERAL GORDON:
The Unique characteristics of the Hero Of
Khartoum.

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The life of General Gordon is without
parallel in history. He had will as
imperious as Napoleon's. he had a
nature as inflexible as Cromwells; he
had Gives genius for war and fertility
of resource; he had Jan Lawrence's
capacity for governing semi-civilized
races; he had Francis xavier's over
mastering love of humanity. But with
these traits were combined chivalrous
devotion to the races for whom he
labored. with a contempt for the states
manship of Europe, an unquestioning
reliance upon the law of his own con-
science. and an intense religious nature
that reflected at once the mysticism Of
Puritanism and the fatalism of the East
A man of commanding genius in achiev-
ing great results by means of ins;g-
niHcant instrumentalities. and in con-
ciliating the prejudices and overcoming
the resistance of barbaric hordes, he
was at once hero among men, and a
solitary figure removed from them by
unique characteristics.
There is, perhaps, no other country
in the world where such character as
General Gordon's would be so easily
misunderstood as England. His SOM
bre genius, his medieval piety and his
devotion to the interest of semi-civiliZed
races. had little in common with the in
tensely practical instincts of the Nation.
His contempt for the tedious processes
of diplomacy, and his Indifference to
the fate of ministries and the policy of
governments, marked him out as a fnys-
FERROUS idealist, whose Judgment was
not to be accepted without hesitation
and reserve. He returned from China
to face storm of obloquy and reproach
from the humanitarians who mistook
him for ccld-blooded butcher of the
Chinese population. His work in the
equatorial provinces and his battles
with the slave-hunters were neither I'M
derstood nor appreciated by English
men, while he incurred the hostility of
the ring of pachas at Cairo through his
administrative reforms. At Mauritus,
in Basuto-Land and in India he found
it impossible to endure official restraint.
His mission to South Africa was COM
plete failure, and it was not until as an
arbitrator he had personally decided
that China should not declare
war against Russia that the
English people began to comprehend
the genius of this grim Puritan warrior.
His rowing commission as miracle work
er in the Soudan was regarded at first
with enthusiasm. but the moment he ar
rived at Khartoum every proclamation
that he issued, every proposal that he
made, was criticised and misconstrued.
The Government which had dispatched
him across the desert refused to follow
his advice. The humanitar,ans de-
nounced him as the Shareholders ally.
Practical politicians condemned his
nomination of Zebehr as his successor
as the act of fanatical madman.
But even Engiishmen awoke at last
to consciousness of General Gordon's
heroic qualities. For nearly wear that
solitary European has held his ground
against a horde of barbarans He has
raised armies and paid them without
money. He has conducted marvel
lous campaign by promising liberty to
several thousands OF blacks and by
mounting rusty artillery on fleet of
leaking hulks. He has stood on the
broken rampant, a solitary English SEN
try refusing to desert those who had
trusted in him, and awaiting an army
of rescuers which never came. And
there he will remain in the memory of
the nation-a sublime figure, never to
be forgotten; his heroism. fortitude
chivalrous loyalty and Christian faitf
understood at last.-N. Y. Tribune.