The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1890-09-11
IN HIS OWN TRUE COLORS.
General Gordon Is not what Fancy
Pictured Him.
he HAD NO Love for England ana
Wanted 20 be King
In Africa.

OreQoRidn: The character Of General
Gordon, the so-called martyr Of Khar-
toum, has always been a puzzle to his
friends, because II was so full Of contra
dictions. Some have thought him a man
Of genius, with faint Of insanity in his
blood. Some have thought him q sort Of
saint in the church militant, and have
written his name high on the list Of
Christian soldiers" like Havelock,
Hodson, or Stonewall jackson. Colonel
Long, an American soldier who served as
chief Of staff to Gordon in the Soudan in
1874, describes him as absolutely chaste
in life, and incorruptible in all matters Of
money, "a man who hated woman, hated
society, hated the world, and was am
bitious" to the degree Of moral unscrupu-
lousness. This is certainly not the
picture Of a hero, or a high-toned man in
any comprehensive sense. Long quotes
from his diary, under date Of April 18th,
1875, the following:
"NoW," he said, ''let us define our posi-
tons. You are receiving much reputa-
ton for your expeditions. i am risking
my life here also, but am getting moth
ing. Now, what do you wish? Let us
divide the government. You take from
M'Tesa to Fatiko. l will take the rest
meaning thence TO Khartoum, where
he had already announced to me he de-
sired 10 remove his headquarters. 1--WE
will govern here; these people shall not
belong either TO the Arabs or Turks"
The proposition was clearly defined, and
not little startling, and meant simply
setting up for ourselves-by revolution.
Gordon intended to establish himself
in kingdom in central Africa. This was
his dream and his return to Soudan in
1884 was the elimination Of the ambition
he confessed to Colonel Long nearly ten
years before. Gordon was a creature like
Napoleon, but born out Of his time. He
believed, like Napoleon, far more in des-
tiny than in any orthodox Christianity.
The famous explorer Burton, Gordon's
most intimate and devoted friend, wrote
Of him that he was more fatalistic than
any MOslem, and a transition to FL Islam
would not have been violent" Gordon,
indeed, applied for and sent two sheikhs
to the barbarian negro king, MTesa, to
teach him the Koran. His cratic, or
rather Grant, morality was shown by the
fact that after hanging slave-dealers right
and left, he afterwards issued proclama-
tiOn restoring the slave trade. He con-
victed an employe Of q money theft and
promoted the same man to be pasha u
few months afterward. For months he
would drink nothing but water, and then
prefer water with whisky. He consumed
quantities Of brandy and soda, a very
dangerous tipple in hot climates, and Of
its effect upon Gordon's singular nervous
temperament, Colonel Long says:
He had the habit Of shutting himself in
his hut, with flag and hatchet at the
door as a sign that he was not TO be dis
turbed. At these times he gave himself
up 10 reading the Bible, and, for a fact,
indulged freely in the ever present bottle
Of cOSnac. In my humble Judgment,
his religious lucubrations and "Night
Thoughts" which are 80 mixed and
PuzEling, are due not little to brandy
and soda; and 1t Is TO this fact, perhaps,
that Burton refers. In his ordinary
humOr, Gordon was mOdesty, mildness
and humility personitied, but when ex-
cited by anger, or when under the infu-
ence Of brandy, he was sort Of fiend.
His government Of the Soudan in 1874
was marked by acts Of inexcusable folly,
and, as he boosted, "hatched the Madhi."
In 1878 all revenue had disappeared, dis
order reigned in the government and
waste in the finances, which were man
aged by menials who were literally kicked
and spat upon by Gordon IN his angry
moods. In 1881 Soudan was in state
Of insurection in consequence Of Cor
dOn's utter lack Of order.
His government Long describes as a
costly and ridiculous farce. Gordon was
an able engineer, but utterly without
generalship from positive lack Of that
cerebral condition so absolutely necessary
to leader" Ambition led Gordon back
to Khartoum in 1884. In his journal Of
Sept. 18th of that year he writes at
Khartoum:
1t is one Of my joys that never have
out Of this office, and either 70 TO the
Congo via equatorial PROVINCES or by
Brussels. say this in order that those
who may have 10 do with me may know
how very determined mans will must
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