and although the waits at Christmas are bad, these others
are worse." Such a wish as this was impossible of gratification. The
public press could not be silenced by the modesty of this retiring
commander whose deeds had been so heroic and devoid of selfish
purpose. The papers became so filled with accounts of his achievements
that he gave up reading them, but _The Times_ had at least
crystallised the opinion of the day into a single sentence: "Never did
soldier of fortune deport himself with a nicer sense of military
honour, with more gallantry against the resisting, and with more mercy
towards the vanquished, with more disinterested neglect of
opportunities of personal advantage, or with more entire devotion to
the objects and desires of his own Government, than this officer who,
after all his victories, has just laid down his sword."

The more calmly and critically the deeds of the Ever Victorious Army
and Gordon's conduct during the campaign against the Taepings are
considered, the greater will be the credit awarded to the high-minded,
brave, and unselfish man who then gained the sobriquet of "Chinese"
Gordon. Among all the deeds of his varied and remarkable career he
never succeeded in quite the same degree in winning fame and in
commanding success. At Khartoum the eyes of the world were on him, but
the Mahdi was allowed to remain victorious, and the Soudan still
awaits fresh conquest. But during the two Taeping campaigns he was
completely successful, and closed his work with an unqualified
triumph. It was also the only occasion when he led an army in the
field, and proved his claims to be considered a great commander. Of
serious warfare it may be said to have been his last experience, for
his own Government was very careful to give him no active military
employment--garrison, and even consular duties being deemed more
suitable for this victorious leader than the conduct of any of those
little expeditions commencing with the Red River and Ashanti for which
he was pre-eminently qualified--and under the Khedive he controlled an
army without finding a real foe. Gordon's title to rank among skilful
military commanders rests on his conduct at the head of the Ever
Victorious Army during the Taeping war. It has earned the praise of
many competent military authorities as well as the general admiration
of the public, and Lord Wolseley must have had it in his mind when, in
vindicating his sanity, he exclaimed that he "wished