Charles George Gordon

“ We, the servant of God Abdallah Mohammed Jifarah, one of the governors of the Mahdi, on whom be peace, on the East, to Gordon, the Pasha of Kartoum. You have paid no attention to the counsel and reasoning repeatedly sent to you, but have increased in folly; and the numerous kindly admonitions have only made you more haughty and wayward; because truth enlightens the breasts of believers and only increases the oppressors in their degenerations. ”

“ To accept government, only if by so doing you benefit the race you rule; to lead, not drive the people to a higher civilisation; to establish only such reforms as represent the spontaneous desire of the mass; to abandon relations with your native land; to resist other governments, and keep intact the sovereignty of the State whose bread you eat; to represent the native when advising Ameer, Sultan or Khedive, on any question which your own or any foreign government may wish solved ”

“ Do you not know, O you wicked learned men, that he who secedes from the Commonwealth has slipped away from the Faith, just as a hair is drawn out from the lump of dough? If you, by reason of your love of office and by reason of your association with darkness, are in doubt as to this Imàn, are you also in doubt as to the Apostleship of Mahommed, on whom be peace and blessings, that you followed his enemies the evil unbelievers, and have made your rulers in preference to the sons of Islam and desire them to be victorious? ”

“ I do not think Zubair will care for the Equator Province; he will agree to give that up; he will agree to uphold the Treaty of 1877 Slave Convention, and laugh as he does so. As for the Bahr Gazelle, I expect the Mahdi has it, and if so, his people will move up there, when Zubair by his politics recaptures Obeyed.
What a fearful row there will be. I know one man who will write: “Better, my dear Gordon, far better! to have died, than have so very far departed from the right path; nothing, no nothing can explain it away. ”

“ During our blockade, we have often discussed the question of being frightened, which, in the world’s view, a man should never be. For my part I am always frightened, and very much so. I fear the future of all engagements. [28] It is not the fear of death, that is past, thank God; but I fear defeat, and its consequences. I do not believe a bit in the calm, unmoved man. I think it is only that he does not show it outwardly. Thence I conclude no commander of forces ought to live closely in relation with his subordinates, who watch him like lynxes, for there is no contagion equal to that of fear. ”

“ Life is a very leaden business, and if any one can lighten it, so much the better. Because I criticise Baring, Egerton, and the Foreign Office, it is not that I think I am their superior, but because I would like them to see how others, outside themselves, view things. Because I may differ with them it is no reason why they may not be right, and acting uprightly, and I may be utterly wrong. I am sure the “Siren” Malet is conscientiously sure all he did in Egypt was right; if visited in Brussels one will see, at a glance, he is plainly content. ”

“ If we proclaim the abolition of slave-holding we must proclaim it in Egypt as well, and then the revenue falls. The Turks really seem the only way out of it, in a speedy way. It would be cheaper to give them a million pounds than to keep our people up here, and there is no discredit to our arms if we take Berber and open the route to Sennaar, and then leave the country to the Turks, letting them deal with the Mahdi as they like. ”

“ Know thou, O thou enemy of God, that the true news is with us and not with you, and that the news which has reached us contains nothing to cheer thy eye or uphold thy power; on the contrary, there is no escape for thee from death at our hands, and from death by lack of food. ”

“ The danger to be feared is not that the Mahdi will march northward through Wady Halfa; on the contrary, it is very improbable that he will ever go so far north. The danger is altogether of a different nature. It arises from the influence which the spectacle of a conquering Mahommedan Power, established close to your frontiers, will exercise upon the population which you govern. In all the cities in Egypt it will be felt that what the Mahdi has done they may do; and, as he has driven out the intruder and the infidel, they may do the same. ”

“ For this reason, therefore, Gordon, after three years’ labour, resigned his post as Governor of the Equator. But the step was taken in a wavering spirit; and these are among his last words ere he left: “By retiring I do not aid anything; by staying I keep my province safe from injustice and cruelty in some degree. Why should I fear? Is man stronger than God? Things have come to such a pass in these Mussulman countries that a crisis must come about soon.” ”

“ I know if I was chief I would never employ myself, for I am incorrigible. To men like Dilke, who weigh every word, I must be perfect poison. I wonder what the telegrams about Soudan have cost Her Majesty’s Government? It has been truly a horrid question. There is the Town El Obeyed and the Sheikh El Obeyed; there is the Haloman of Cairo and the Haloman of Kartoum. Sanderson must have a hard time of it. “The city moves about!” “Why, if Haloman is attacked, Cairo must be in danger! Send for Wolseley! Kartoum forces defeated by Sheikh el Obeyed! ”

“ It would seem the fate of those who devote their lives to the cause of humanity to be foiled instead of aided in their aim. In all his efforts for the good of these blacks Gordon met with every form of interference whence he might at least expect support. Ismail Pasha Yacoub, the Governor-General of the Soudan, jealous of the new Governor of the Equator and fearful of exposure from so conscientious a servant of the State, put every obstacle in Gordon’s way; and the Khedive himself was not always mindful of the many difficulties to be encountered. ”

“ I have named men to different places, thus involving them with the Mahdi; how could I look the world in the face if I abandoned them and fled? As a gentleman could you advise this course?” he really telegraphed a bitter rebuke to the English Government; and when he added, “It may have been a mistake to send me up, but, having been done, I have no option but to see evacuation through,” he merely pointed out, what the Government already knew, namely, that the position they had allowed him to accept was one over which they had no legal control, unless they announced the annexation of Egypt. ”

“ Four soldiers, one slave and two women came from the Arabs to Omdurman. The Mahdi means to attack Omdurman; he has received 120 camels of ammunition; Slatin is in chains. These men say the Mahdi and the Arabs have not the least intention of risking their skins against the fort, but will shove on the Black Regulars they have captured. It is like fighting one’s own flesh and blood; it is not fair warfare. ”

“ I know that you have been invested with a veil and robes of honour, and you say that Mohammed Achmed is the Mahdi—and I know that there is among you a man of mature age who has spent his life, from his youth up, in Islâm—who would consent to the ruin of the country. ”

“ Why men cannot be friends without bringing the wretched stomachs in, is astounding.
October 25.—Three men came in from Waled a Goun; one I sent out again, as I think he is a spy, the other reports that the small captured steamer Mahomet Ali will be down at Giraffe with twelve boat loads of grain, either to-day or to-morrow. I do not even attempt to stop it; for if the expeditionary force arrives, we will capture it; I cannot risk steamers against land guns.
Two soldiers came in from the Arabs at Omdurman with their rifles. ”

“ I hear Hansall, the Austrian Consul, is disposed to go with his seven female attendants to the Arabs. I hope he will do so.
Heaps of cattle come in every day, but very little grain. Seyd Mahomet Osman has sent word to his people to go to Kartoum for refuge; this is pleasant for us! but it shows his confidence in our future, and it is a great honour to me, who (thank God) am given faith to outspeak “I am a Christian,” to have obtained such confidence from a man, who would, in the times of my glory, scarcely look at me. ”

“ What a life one has to live. I wish I commanded the Arabs (speaking professionally) . I think it is a great shame not giving me Zubair Pasha, for he would know how to deal with these people. They are the weariness of my life. From February until now they have been one continued worry to me, and I expect they worried the Arabs as much.
I have decided to put the Shaggyeh into the North Fort, and not to occupy Goba. A slave came in from Kerowé; had no news. The Arabs did not fire upon the lines to-day, so concentration of artillery fire on them did not come off. ”

“ It is a thousand pities to give up Kartoum to the Mahdi when there is a chance of keeping it under Zubair.
The fighting force can take the guns of the steamers, if they need artillery; they are very good guns and have field carriages with limbers. I shall not send down the castellated barges or the Krupp guns. Should you cross the desert en masse, the way to guard your communications is to occupy, with a company, all the wells in a good large radius, for the Arabs cannot come down on your line of communication, not being able to get water. ”

“ In this first volume then we have an interesting instance of Gordon’s nobility, when he declines to have anything to do with certain doubtful proposals made by the apostate Europeans in the Mahdi’s camp, for he declares “treachery never succeeds; and it is better to fail with clean hands than to be mixed up with dubious acts and dubious men. Maybe it is better to fall with honour than to gain the victory with dishonour, and in this view the Ulemas are agreed, for they will have nought to do with the proposals of treachery.” ”

“ Any man accustomed to judge by faces sees that they hate us.
I would back the Mussulmans of India against the lot of those snakes. India, to me, is not an advantage; it accustoms our men to a style of life which they cannot keep up in England; it deteriorates our women. If we kept the sea-coast, it is all that we want. It is the centre of all petty intrigue, while if our energy were devoted elsewhere, it would produce tenfold. India sways all our policy to our detriment. ”

“ The Cairo Turkish Bashi Bazouks, the Shaggyeh, and the Fellaheen soldiers, I will back against any troops in the world for cowardice! I expect the reason why the Arabs did not take the three recaptured horses was because they were as frightened nearly as our men (vide p. 259) ; the worst of it is, that it is taken generally as a thing of “matter of course” by the Kartoum people, and, one may say, officers; no one is a bit put out or ashamed; it teaches no experience. ”

“ The second is the FICTION that it is the Egyptian Government which governs Egypt; it is a silly story, for every one sees through it. Can one imagine a greater farce, than Lord Northbrook asking Towfik for the “assistance of Egyptian Government to carry out this, or that.” I expect the two roared with laughter over it (sorry I cannot manage a sketch of the scene) . (Baring would never laugh, it is too serious, like jesting in church) . The third grievance is that Treaty with Abyssinia, under the screen of the “FICTION,” (if it is true it has been made) ”

“ It is not very pleasant also to feel at any moment you may have a shell in your room, for the creatures fire at all hours. The steamers fired on the Arabs at Bourré this morning, and one of the Arab shells struck one steamer, and another struck a santal which we have there to defend the flank; but neither did any harm. Two soldiers deserted to the Arabs to-day—these men are generally those who have before been with the Arabs, and had deserted to us. The Arabs fired another shell at the Palace this evening, which burst in the air. ”

“ We send you also a letter addressed to Farratch Pasha el Zeeb. Should you think right, send it to him; and, if you fear the result, tear it up and destroy it. Leave the others and come and be saved. We are here near you; come to us secretly, and leave those infidels to their fate. Send Ibrahim your servant, with those you chose to send as messengers, as he is trustworthy, and we can deliver any secret to him. We await your early arrival, so as to go together with Emir Mustapha, on Tuesday the 23rd El Hajah, to the Mahdi. Peace be upon him! ”

“ It is therefore, I say, either, when once you have got up to Kartoum, give the country to the Turks, or else establish Zubair, and (instead of expending time in going up to Sennaar and the Equator) combinating with us, commence an attack upon Kordofan. You must be here six months. How will you spend the time? Will you at the end of six months allow it to be said you are kicked out, or will you not establish some government and retire with dignity. The cost is the same in both cases in money; but in honour one costs a great deal more. If Zubair falls, after some time, what is it to you? ”