ordon blamed himself sometimes for having made known the
intentions of the Government, but it is questionable if such an
important fact could have been long kept secret. At all events, when he
openly promulgated it as Governor-General, he thought, and many thought
with him, that he was taking the line most likely to lead to a peaceful
solution.

* * *

General Gordon did not take long to make up his mind, and soon after
his arrival in Khartoum he astonished the English people by two steps
he took. The first was the issue of a proclamation announcing that the
institution of slavery was not to be interfered with in any way; the
second was an application that his old enemy, Zebehr Rahama, the great
slave-dealer, should be sent up to govern the Soudan. At first sight
Gordon's action was amazing; but when it is more carefully examined in
the light of facts, it cannot be blamed. To take the proclamation
first, it must be apparent to any one that when it was decided that the
Soudan was to be given up, and that thenceforth neither Egypt nor
England should interfere in its internal affairs, it would have been
ridiculous to go on talking about the abolition of slavery. Gordon had
to face a fanatical body of Mohammedans who, rightly or wrongly, looked
upon slavery as a religious institution. The feeling of the country was
strongly in favour of slavery, and if the country was to be left to
itself slavery would continue to exist. Gordon did but make a virtue of
a necessity, and announce that henceforth outsiders would not interfere
in the matter. Thus he took the wind out of the sails of the Mahdi and
his party, who could not say that they were fighting on behalf of one
of their religious institutions.

The proposal to the English Government that Zebehr should be made ruler
of the Soudan, was, as Mr. Hake truly says, "one of those daring
strokes of policy which made his tactics unlike those of other men."
The telegram reached England on February 18, and must at first have
caused some of the Cabinet Ministers to think that Gordon had lost his
head. The last that they had heard on the subject of Gordon's
relationship with Zebehr, was the suggestion of the former that the
latter should be sent as a prisoner to Cyprus, to get him out of Egypt,
where he thought he might give trouble. No wonder, then, if the
ministers were astonished to hear that their representative had changed
his mind so complet