GOVERNMENT RESPONSIBILITIES. iSl that the original view as to the possibility of evacuation had become impossible of execution. General Gordon would not be called upon by the government to do anything derogatory to his honour or his character. Those who had trusted themselves in his service, those who had fought for him, those who had increased the perils in which they stood before — by having entered his service, he was no doubt responsible for and could not desert; but there was no reason to believe that if escape were possible for him it was not also possible for them. The fact that he had risked his life in a mission of mercy — a pacific mission — did not make him responsible for the performance of impossibilities.

It did not make him responsible, or the government more responsible than they were before his mission was undertaken, for the safe withdrawal of the garrisons from the Soudan— garrisons which were not placed there in the service of England, or by the orders of England. There was nothing to show that the danger in which those garrisons had always stood after the victory over General Hicks, had been increased by any orders given by General Gordon or any measures taken by him. For the relief of those garrisons General Gordon was not bound in honour; but he was bound in honour not to desert those who had co-operated with him, and taken service under him. The government were bound to satisiy themselves ot the practicability as well as of the necessity for any steps they might decide upon or announce for the rescue or relief of General Gordon; they were bound to satisfy themselves by inquiry, the collection of information, and by consultation with the best authorities, before committing this country to an undertaking which must be difficult, and might be one of enormous difficulty. They must consider the scale of the preparations which would h to be made, the route which it would be possible to take, and the time of year when it would be possible for operations to commence.

The government were thinking, and had long been thinking, what measures they could take for the relief of General Gordon; but it was asked whether this or any other government would be justified in risking the health and safety of an expedition by sending it out before the month of September or October? By