The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1885-02-12
CHARLES GEORGE GORDON.
A sketch of the Remarkable British Sol
dier's Career.

Mai Gen Charles GEORGE Gordon comes of
old Highland stock. but was born at Woolwich,
and at the Woolwich Military Academy. where
he obtained his commission in the Royal
Engineers His earliest employment was at
Pembroke. but he was ordered to Corfu
during the Crimean war and soon was actively
engaged. Here he made such a mark as
to bring him distinguished employ
ment wnen the war ended. Afterward he acted
as Assistant Boundary Commissioner I'm Bes-
sarabia and Armenia. At this time the Chinese
war broke out and he joined the army which
was advancing on Pedn- and arrived in time to
witness the surrender OF that place and the de-
struction of the Summer Palace. In 1862 the
TAPPING rebellion had made great progress, and
Shanghai. Gordon and the British
troops were engaged in driving them
away. The leader of the rebellion, like the
Mahdi, thought himself inspired, and called
himself the second celestial brother Although
impeded by every imaginablee opposition and
obstacle, Gordon MANAGED the campaign
summate military skill. Several mutinies oc-
CURED in his troops, but by his firm manner
of dealing with the nngleaders the outbreaks
were nipped in the bud. His whole con-
duct of the campaign was such as to gain
for him the warmest admiration in military cir
Giles. The six years following this he spent At
home, and were marked by good deeds done
by stealth. He spent his salary as royal en-
gineer on the Door and in teaching boys whom
he had picked out of the gutter. His house
was school, hospital. and almshouse in turn
After a brief service Commissioner at
Galatz, Gordon succeeded Sir Samuel
Baker as Governor OF the tribes In up-
per Egypt, and his first act astonished
every one but his friends. The Khedive offered
him salary of $4,000. but he would only accept
$4,000, his former pay at Galatz. He landed at
Sualin February, 1878; reached Berber TN
March, assembled the river I'm March. and then
started for Gondokoro. Here he began his
work, and his policy soon relieved the suffer-
ing people from the horrible oppression. and
curbed where It did not suppress
entirely the abominabie slave hunters.
He inves tigated the work personally, and abol-
ished many abuses when he found them He
went among the miserable. degraded people.
ministering to their wants with his own hand
In 1877 he obtained the command of the entire
Soudan and was also deputed TO look into the
affairs of Abyssinia This he did with good eff
feet and then returned to Khartoum to rebegin
his work a reformcr. Unable To stop
bribery, for example, he put the money into
the treasury. He established n water supply
which, during the long siege, has proved price
less. After Gordon quilted the Soudan he re-
turned to Europe. accompanied Lord Ripon to
India, but resigned his post at Bombay; subse-
quently went to South Africa to assist in ter
minating the war in Basutoland. n task ne
failed in accomplishing. He again started for
the Soudan in January, 1884, upon the sudden
command OF Gladstone and the Cabinet. His
operations since that time havc been closely fol-
lowed by readers the world over.