Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1885-03-26
General Gordon and the SOudan
Difficulty.

Difficulty.
For one day the thoughts OF the civil
lied world were recently turned to one
man, and that man one of the most ro-
mantle figures of contemporary history
General Gordon. His remarkable ride
across the desert of Khartoum was in
harmony with his strange career, and
his long solitary hold of the town, envel-
oped by hostile race burning with re-
ligious zeal, and his disappearance on
the very eve of succor, were but natural
events in story so extraordinary. The
news of his death also produced in Eng
land deep and universal excitement,
which in its intensity was doubtless like
that which followed the tidings from
Waterloo, or the Sepoy rebellion, or the
passage of the Dardanelles by the Eng
lish feet. For a moment party strife
was outwardly composed. and Tories
and Liberals were only Englishmsn re-
solved that the man who stood for Eng
land in the African desert bowling with
enemies should be avenged. The Past
and the Future were forgotten in the
duty Of the Present. Why England was
upon the Upper Nile in arms. or what
disaster might impend in India, was not
to be considered while the fate of Corr
don was unknown.
But to us who look upon the English
campaign ia Egypt only as sympathetic
spectators, the old proverb seems more
than ever true. What is worth doing is
worth doing well. This was Cbatham's s
principle nearly a century and a half
ago. 1t was the principle of Napoleon
in the field and in the Cabinet. 1t is the
practical rule of success everywhere.
Whether you are going to hunt hare or
tiger, whether you march to meet bar
barians or civilized regulars, the first and
vital condition of success, is not to un-
derestimate the task, and to abandon it
rather than to undertake it inadequately.
But a government and its enterprises
are continuous, and in England and in
this country when the popular will de-
crees a change of administration, the
newcomers must deal with a situation
already made for them. England drives
the lingo from the helm, bot he has set
the course of the ship, and the Liberal
must take it as he finds it.
The Jingo took England to Egypt, and
combined with France to control its
government. When he was dismissed,
it was not possible simply to withdraw
from Egypt. But it was equally impos
sible TO remain without a strong hold
and determined policy. This is the
point at which the Liberal seems to
have failed. Apparently there was not
a definite policy vigorously pursued, but
an acquiescense in the vague demand of
public sentiment-a following rather
than a leading. When Gordon was sent
to Khartoum, be should have been sus-
tanned by a commanding force. If Eng
laid was to remain in Egypt at all, she
should have staid for purpose, and
have supplied the means to accomplish
it. What is worth doing is worth doing
well.
But the cheerful aspect of the situar
ton at the darkest moment was the re-
sponse of England. In great emergen-
cies the old quality of the English shows
itself. There is not panic or desponden-
cy, but a wrathful resolution to atone
for all short comings by mighty recu-
peration. The press had but one voice.
All day, says the dispatch, the War Office
was thronged with officers offering their
services. Every Englishman felt per-
sonal appeal. 1t was not what will this
or that party do? but the tone of all that
was said, the spirit of the whole people,
was that England expects every mau to
do his duty. That duty is the rescue, if
possible, of brave English soldiers, and
the settlement of the Soudan trouble,
with the broadest regard for the inter-
ests of humanity and civilization
George William Curtis, in Harper's Mag
azine for April.