DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4995#0097
G2 LECTURE ON EGYPT.
the ordinances of their religion and to immemorial
custom.
With domestic slavery the difficulties are far greater,
as it may be said to form a part of the religion of many
millions of people with whom a slave girl is considered,
and treated, as one of the family. Whilst withholding
our approval from many Eastern customs, we must in
justice remember that Mahomedanism, with all its faults,
has established a sobriety amongst its followers which
Christians would do well to emulate.
Colonel Amongst other remarkable men with whom my
Egyptian duties brought me into communication was
Colonel Gordon, or ' Chinese Gordon,' or, as his old
and distinguished comrades, such as General Lintorn
Simmons, love to call him, ' Charley Gordon.'
Colonel Gordon, when appointed Governor of the
Soudan, received a firman conferring unprecedented
powers, but it must be remembered that Khartoum, the
seat of the Government of the Soudan, is far removed
from Cairo ; and that the suppression of the slave trade
necessitated the employment of a man who could be
safely entrusted with despotic power. Such a man is
Gordon. There is something about Colonel Gordon
which soon satisfies you that he is capable of doing
anything which man can do. It is hard to say what
this something is, for although sagacious, and firm in
his grasp of affairs, he is singularly retiring and modest
in manner. His self-abnegation is chivalrous and at-
tractive beyond anything I ever met.
the ordinances of their religion and to immemorial
custom.
With domestic slavery the difficulties are far greater,
as it may be said to form a part of the religion of many
millions of people with whom a slave girl is considered,
and treated, as one of the family. Whilst withholding
our approval from many Eastern customs, we must in
justice remember that Mahomedanism, with all its faults,
has established a sobriety amongst its followers which
Christians would do well to emulate.
Colonel Amongst other remarkable men with whom my
Egyptian duties brought me into communication was
Colonel Gordon, or ' Chinese Gordon,' or, as his old
and distinguished comrades, such as General Lintorn
Simmons, love to call him, ' Charley Gordon.'
Colonel Gordon, when appointed Governor of the
Soudan, received a firman conferring unprecedented
powers, but it must be remembered that Khartoum, the
seat of the Government of the Soudan, is far removed
from Cairo ; and that the suppression of the slave trade
necessitated the employment of a man who could be
safely entrusted with despotic power. Such a man is
Gordon. There is something about Colonel Gordon
which soon satisfies you that he is capable of doing
anything which man can do. It is hard to say what
this something is, for although sagacious, and firm in
his grasp of affairs, he is singularly retiring and modest
in manner. His self-abnegation is chivalrous and at-
tractive beyond anything I ever met.