DIFFICULTIES OF GORDON S POSITION. 2 I

general's portmanteau, Lord Granville took his ticket for him, and

the Duke of Cambridge held open the carriage door He left

London, at all events, with the sense that he was sped on his way by the good wishes of friends and comrades, and that the hearts of

his countrymen beat in sympathy with him in the work that it was now known he had undertaken. That he entirely shared the views

of the government is improbable. He must have known that the

pressure of rapidly changing conditions in the rebellious province

to which he was going, and the difficulties that might arise because

of official complications at Cairo, would make it necessary for him

to have a free hand, and that he could not be bound by anything

like an unalterable programme. This freedom was accorded and understood; but inevitably when a change of circumstances came which seemed to necessitate a course that the government thought would cancel their declarations of the motives and the policy which

led to their having sent a representative to the Soudan, compli-

cation arose, and the strongly-expressed advice of the envoy was

contrary to the opinion and to the principles on which the govern-

ment had interposed for the purpose of evacuating the garrisons of

the Soudan provinces. Gordon's own views changed on successive occasions — or, at all events, the practical conclusions at which he seemed to have arrived at a later date differed very considerably

from those which he had been commissioned to carry out. These

vicissitudes of expediency were among the difficulties which beset the government and appeared likely to become insuperable,

especially as the conditions of affairs at Berber and Khartum could

only be known by messages which for a long time gave no ground

for supposing that it was necessary, even if it had been practicable,

to afford any assistance of a kind that would have been outside the

scope or the purpose of Gordon's endeavour. At a later period of the year the difficulties were increased by the means of regular communication being interrupted, and by several messages which

were sent to and from the distant and beleaguered town being- intercepted.

General Gordon had little doubt of the success of his mission,

so far as the evacuation of Khartum went, when he started on his