The Journals of Major-Gen. C. G. Gordon, C.B., at Kartoum

The Journals of Major-Gen. C. G. Gordon, C.B., at Kartoum.

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears; I come to bury Csar, not to praise him. The evil that men do lives after them; The good is oft interred with their bones. Good friends, sweet friends, let me not stir you up To such a sudden flood of mutiny. They that have done this deed are honourable; What private griefs they had, alas! I know not, That made them do it; they are wise and honourable, And will no doubt, with reasons answer you. But were I Brutus, And Brutus Antony, there were an Antony Would ruffle up your spirits, and put a tongue In every wound of Csar, that should move The stones of Rome to rise and mutiny. These grand lines force themselves upon me, though maybe their analogy is incomplete. Mark Antony was a casuist, and pleaded the cause of revenge; I am only earnest in the cause of justice. Yet I trust in my pleading to enable Englishmen to realise how great and how sad is the loss of Charles Gordon, not only to those who loved him, but to the cause of suffering humanity. Gordon is dead. We cannot bring him back to life.[x] Yet from his death we may learn at least how fit he was to teach us while he lived, how fit to hold his countrys honour in his hand, how fit to judge of what was right and what was wrong. His journals are his last words to the world as much as they are instruction and information to his Government, and Englishmen who value Englands honour may well read them with a heavy heartwith eyes dimmed by tears. I say Gordon is dead, and we cannot bring him back to life, but we can do much he would have done for us had he been allowed to live. His journals tell us how we can best repair mischief already done (and I understand his words to apply rather to the English people than to the Government which represents them), and they tell us what is best for the Soudan. In the interest of this unhappy land he devoted much of his life; in its interest he died. Let us then compare the opposite conditions under which the people existed during Gordons presence and absence, and in doing this let us mark well what Gordon said during his life, and what his journals say for him now that he is dead. ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 49224
Author: Gordon, Charles George
Release Date: Jun 16, 2015
Format: eBook
Language: English

Contributors

Editor: Hake, A. Egmont (Alfred Egmont)