"CHINESE GORDON."

Manawatu Standard, Volume IV, Issue 65, 15 February 1884, Page 2

"CHINESE GORDON."

A biography ig just. coming out which will be read with immense interest by every Englishman, Its subject is liv- ; ing now m seclusion and retirement near the Mount of Olives, and is ignorant of the honor which is bciiig done him. Probably if. he knew it he would resent it, for a plainer, mope unagsunw ing mau never walked the earth than « Chinese Gordon." Abroad and especially m uncivilised countries, all combine to do him honor, but at Home he is a plain officer os : Engiue6re,; arid has never rectiyed auy aubsj^ritiarrecognition from the authorities.' . jfcrordon'sie- < niarkable career began m the Crimea, and he there displayed remarkable aptitude, Subsequently he was engaged

m marking out the new frontier of Russia, Turkey, and Ron mania ; from this work he wont to Armenia, and nfcerwards to China, where he witnessed the sack of the Summer Palace. The Cliine.se Empire was just tottering and a false prophet who had arisen a few years before, was cartying everything before him, until Nankin itself was stormed. The Imperial troops could do nothing, and the Government m despair asked for a British officer. Goi'don "was offered and accepted the post. Only 4000 men were' available for service,and]the officers were recruited from all the adventurers m Europe, but they all found their master, as m time did also the enemy, f jr the general carried on a kind of Napoleonic warfare, and none knew where his next attack «vould fall. Thus town after town fell before him, and he led every attack m person, waving only a light cane m his hand, for he would not carry any weapon ; once he ;was wounded, but led his men on until ho fainted from loss of blood. One of the most striking things m his character is his intense contempt for money. When the Chinese Emperor sent him the Order of the Yellow Jacket and a present m coin of 10,000 tack, Gordci , rose angrily, and with his famous stick drove the- bearers from his presence. After these extraordinary services he retired Home, worked at Thames forti fioations, and taught ragged schools m Greenwich. But his fame had reached to the Nile, and m 1874 Ismail offered him the Governorship ot the Soudan. Here the same indifferenne to money showed itself. The Khedivegave him £10,000 a year, but Gordon only accepted £2000. The task before him was stupendous. Anarchy reigned over a province larger than half Europe, and slavery reared its head on every side. Yet m five, years he carried ail before hire, going unprotected into the wildest districts, and when he retired, as has been well said, "hs left an empire where he found a chaos." Had he been permitted to carry out; his intentions at the Cape, 'the 'difficulties that now exist would have, been, cleared away, that he was too 'much oorf r refoamer, and too little of red-tapist, and hence the friction was so great that Guidon retired, 'Pedple with whom I am acquainted have often met him, and describo him as one of the most unassuming of men. Guzzledand weather beaten, no one meeting him would imagine that he was one of the, most remarkable men m Europe. The biography of such a man cannot fail to bo of the highest interest, if m anyway authentic.