The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1885-03-27
Gordou'a lnDeaIa

Gord0n's Appeals.
The publication of the suppresse
portions of Gen. Gordon's dispatche
must fall upon the British public wit
the startling force of an explodln,
. shell. Surprise, dismay. doubt, hor
ror, rage, are the feelings which invol
unfairly crowd upon each other upol
first reading these pitiful appeals ant
indignant circumstances. They seen
at first sight like voice from tn.
dead taxing false friendship with {
treachery that has produced murder
they seem to imply the giving up o.
hope, and to convict the Government
of all the indecision, weakness and
dishonest indifference that its enemies
have charged against it. And If no
sober second thought comes to alter
judgment, the Liberal Ministry of Eng
land will go down under crushing
weight Of public odium, however it
may be bolstered up for time by
party prejudice and political interests
in Parliament.
1t is not safe to predict, however.
that the second thought will not alter
judgment. 1t is probable that the
worst has now been published, Glad
stone seems, in lofty defiance of his
opponents, to have given them on the
eve of their assault upon him the
all the more dangerous because Cor
don's words are taken from their con-
text, and are to be read without any
regard to the circumstances of the
time, to Gordon's instructions, to his
peculiar temperament. or to the then
purposes and preparations of his Gov
eminent.
A great deal of the criticism of the
Gladstone ministry in this matter is
based on the false assumption that the
government was in duty bound to do
everything Gordon asked-that the
promise of support meant that he was
to be encouraged to do what it was
expressly ordered should not be done.
1t ought to be well understood by this
time that Gordon was sent to the Sou
dan to get out the garrisons if he
could, and to return if he could not.
The peaceful object of his mission was
30 well understood by him that he even |
felt it necessary to suggest that if the
garrisons were attacked it might be |
prudent to do more than simply re-
sist. But Gordon had more trouble
shan he anticipated, and though he
succeeded in sending out some 5000
soldiers and non-com batants, his mis-
ZION was virtual failure. The Brit
sh government had intended to as
'ume no further responsibility than
his, and it was a blunder to assume
wen that. The subsequent entangle-
nents have been brought about by
Iordon's own stubbornness. The
nipple fact is that when he found he
could not relieve Khartoum peaceful
y, he endeavored to force the nation
o do it with violence, through his
hivalric devotion to a crowd of falla-
leen and Nubians, who, as one of the
governments harshest military critics
las said, and as events has since
hown, would as soon remain in the
'oudan with the Mahdi as return to
Egypt. Gordon failed to establish a
government in the Soudan, independ-
Mt of both Egypt and the Mahdi, but
instead of coming away as he was or I
cred to do, and as he might have
one even as late as the last of July, 9
Q stuck stubbornly to his determine 8
ion to ''smash the Mahdi." /
These were the circumstances under
hitch these dispatches of Gordon's q
ere sent, and which led the British i
government into war which it had r
ssolved to avoid. Read in the light
those facts, it will be seen that Cor C
on's bitterness Is not caused by any a
'ellng of personal desertion. On the b
ontrary, he emphatically refuses to @
1mit-what all the world knows k
lat Wolseley's expedition was sent to v
'scue him especially. In his view it h
as to suppress this rebellions evil il
it was always TO e
smash the Mahdi," whom England Il
I'd no particular reason for smashing. b
hese dispatches, on the whole, then, t
} not convict the British Government s.
insincerity. Their dates indicate il
at when they were written the troops
ere already in Africa or being pre- b
lred for the journey, though Gordon e
d not know it. Moreover they re- "
we Wolseley from the sharp criti- n
SIN of his action in choosing the Nile u
ute, since it seems he followed Cor
ms advice in this respect. They n
le odium upon him, however. if it u
IS he who changed Gordon's last u
teous wall into an expression of tt
oyant confidence; and they will h
ore strongly than ever convince the
orld of his self-complacent stupidity CT
dividing his forces in the face of ad- Sc
&c and appeal from the man who fl
one knew the strength of the enemy
be encountered.-St Louis Globe
nocrdt