A MESSAGE FROM CHINA.

resignation of the post in a few words, in which he simply acknow-

ledged that he had made a mistake. "Men at times, owing to the mysteries of Providence, form judgments which they afterwards repent of. This is my case in accepting the appointment Lord Ripon honoured me in offering me. I repented of my act as soon

as I had accepted the appointment, and I deeply regret that I had

not the moral courage to say so at that time. Nothing could have exceeded the kindness and consideration with which Lord

Ripon has treated me. I have never met anyone with whom I could have felt greater sympathy in the arduous task he has

undertaken."

It had been evident to everybody — so everybody said — that a man like Gordon could not become a comparative cipher and

occupy the private secretary's office in Government House; but it had not seemed impossible to himself until he began to

reflect on the limitations to which he would be subject in the discharge of his duties. That he should have formed a judgment

that he afterwards (and even very soon afterwards) repented of

was, it may be said, not altogether outside his experience any more than it was outside that of others. In the Soudan he had to deal

with such a network of treachery, greed, and unscrupulous false-

hood that it was exceedingly difficult to form immediately, judg-

ments which were not afterwards either cancelled or greatly

modified by circumstances, or the crooked conduct of the men by whom he was surrounded. These changes of judgment were among the causes of the uncertainty which attended the subsequent relations between him and the government after he had gone out to Khartum.

Gordon had intended to leave Bombay for Zanzibar, where he

proposed to help the sultan, Syed Burghash, against the slave- dealers, when a telegram reached him from Mr. Campbell, the agent in London of Mr. Hart, the Chinese commissioner of

customs, to whom the message had been sent from Gordon's former colleague, Li Hung Chang. This telegram ran, " I am directed to invite you to China. Please come and see for yourself.

This opportunity for doing really useful work on a large scale