The
argument against Zebehr was that he had been an inveterate slave-hunter,
and that to put him into supreme power would be to give him unlimited
means of gratifying his vices. Against this it must be urged that under
the Mahdi's rule the kidnapping of slaves would be just as cruelly
carried on as under that of Zebehr. Also that with Zebehr, being a
prisoner, it would be possible to make certain stipulations on the
subject of slave-hunting. Moreover, it was Gordon's intention
eventually to annex, for the Congo State, the great slave-hunting
district, and to rule that himself, so that Zebehr could not interfere.
Apart from these arguments, Gordon did not believe that Zebehr loved
slave-hunting for its own sake, but rather for the wealth and position
it gave him. He believed that if Zebehr were made Sultan of the Soudan,
his ambitious nature would be satisfied, and he would cease to hunt
slaves, the _raison d'etre_ for such an occupation being gone.

There can be no question that Zebehr was a most able man, a born ruler
and leader of men. He was an inveterate enemy of Gordon's, and at the
meeting which took place between Gordon and Zebehr at Cairo, when the
former was _en route_ to Khartoum, lookers-on considered that on no
account ought these two men ever to be in the Soudan together.

It was, however, one of Gordon's characteristics, and a great charm in
his nature, that he was not only forgiving, but that he never allowed
personal feeling to affect his judgment. He thought only of what was
good for the Soudan, and he was convinced that the only way to restore
law and order there was to place Zebehr in power. One of the faults of
our system of party government is that the Cabinet does not consider so
much what is right in the abstract, as what will most affect the public
mind. The national hatred of slavery is, in England, rightly very
strong; but circumstances alter cases. The Cabinet could not face
public opinion, although the public were at that time ill-informed, and
ignorant of many important elements in the case, and they consequently
refused to let Zebehr go.

Public opinion in England is generally in the right when the public
have been properly informed, and have had time to form an opinion. But
it is not to be expected that the first impressions, formed by a large
mass of people who have not been supplied with full information, are
very reliable. We ought therefore always to have a government in office
str