New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1903-10-10

wrong way, but that peace giving their coun-
try back to the Beers ought never to have been
made at ali, any terms or In any way. rms
was not the point from which either Cab-
net or Parliament started. The government has
decided that annexation had been an error The
Beers had proposed inquiry. Inc government
assented on condition that the Beers dispersed.
Without waiting reasonable time for reply.
our general was wOrSted In a rash ana trivial
attack Did this cancel our profered bargain
The point was simple and unm1stakable though
rartT bot At home race passiOn in the colony,
and our everlasting human prOneneSS to mix up
different questions and to answer one point by
arguments that belong to another, all combined
10 produce a confusion OF mind that a certain
school of partisans have traded upon ever
since Strange in mighty nations is moral
cowardice disguised as Roman pride. All the
more may we admire the moral courage of the
minister For moral courage may be needed
even where aversion to bloodshed fortunately
happens to coincide with high prudence and
sound policy Of state.
Still another delicate subject. which Mr.. Nor
lev must have approached with trepidation. IS
that Of Gladstones Egyptian policy. To this day
there are thousands Of Englishmen who cannot
speal, of the 'statesman's relation to the fall of
Khartoum and the death of Gordon without in
tense feeling. Mr.. Morley writes of the burning
topic In this wise:
The Cabinet in London fixed IN their resolve
not TO accept responsibility for Soudan war.
and not TO enter upon that responsibility py
irving advice for or against the ADVANCE OF
Hicks stood aloof. Here was their hrst frlght-
fI,l blunder-indecision. Unfortunately, the
adv clar1or of headong philanthropists, polit-
ical partv men and the men who think Eng
land Inundated II she ever lets SIP an excuse
for drawing her sword, drove the CaDlnet on
to the rocks Gordon seized the imagination OF
England and seized IL on its higher side his
religion was eccentric, but ii was reIlglon; the
Bible was the rock on which ne ROUNDED NM
self both old diSpenSatOn ana new ne was
known to hate forms, ceremonies and all the
solemn plausibilities'; his speech was sharp,
r,it,,x, ranid and ironic; above ALL he knew the
and
nolght All this material enough to make
a popular ideal and this is what Gordon In an
ever increasing degree became. to the immense
inconvenience of the statesmen. otherwise so
sensible on war who had now improvidently
let the genie forth from the Jar. Gordon's poll
ces were many and very mutable. When
Gordon left this country said Mr.. Gladstone.
"and when he arrived in Egypt, he declared 1t
to be a fixed portion OF his policy that
no British force should be employed in aid Of
his mission When March came he flung him
self with ardor into the policy Of smashing up
the Mahdi, with resort TO British and Indian
troops This was violent reversal Of all that
had been either settled or dreamed Of whether
IN London or at Cairo. To send Zobeir would
have been gamblers throw. But, then what
was 1t but a gamblers throw 10 send Gordon
himself? To all the risks involved in the
olspatch OF Gordon. and then Immediately to
reruse the request that he persistently repre-
behteo as furnishing him his only chance. was
an Ihcoherence that the Parliament and people
OF England have not often surpassed
Mr. Morley pursues the tragic tale to its BIT
Ter end then summing it UP in two or three
pregnant sentences: Distractions grew thicker
upon the Cabinet, and a lust reader now far
away from the region OF votes of censure will
Dedhi 'iieiii !" ihlilo The generals in Lon
don fought the battle OF the routes with IN
abated tenacity for month after month.
The idea that the relieving force was only two
days late Is misleading" Gladstone wrote TO
one of his former colleagues long after: we
ought TO have known that hero of heroes IL