GORDON'S RETURN. 353 appeared in print. At the time when Gordon was on his way to Khartoum, his Lordship was asked at a public dinner, by a gentleman who sat next him, what he thought of the appointment. His reply was that when he had been Prime Minister himself, he had had some idea of sending Gordon to Turkey on a private mission. He therefore requested Gordon to write a memorandum on the subject of the mission he might be asked to undertake. On receiving, however, the memorandum demanded, he found it was in his judgment the work of a madman, and abandoned his idea of availing himself of Gordon's services. Upon this, his neighbour remarked, " After all, Gordon is a good man ; " to which Lord Beaconsfield answered, * * I hate good men," and dropped the conversation.

The Khedive and the Egyptian Ministers approved of the proposal, not so much, I think, because they had any great belief in Gordon's success, unsupported by a British army, but because they hoped that his presence at Khartoum, as the Envoy of England, might ultimately lead — as it did, but too late — to armed British intervention. I believe the only serious protest against the despatch of Gordon to Khartoum was made by Sir Evelyn Baring, who foresaw the insuperable difficulties of the mission, and doubted whether, if such a mission were desirable, Gordon was the man best fitted for the post. His objections, however, were disregarded ; and Gordon, with the energy he displayed in every work to which he put his hand, left London on the i8th of January, 1884, as 2 A