General Gordon / A Christian Hero

E-text prepared by David Clarke and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net)
P.S. I am quite happy, thank God, & like Lawrence, I have tried to do my duty. Copied from the Original Engraving by permission of F. C. McQueen & Sons, sole Proprietors of the Copyright.
DEDICATED
TO THE
YOUNG MEN OF ENGLAND
WITH THE EARNEST DESIRE THAT SOME OF THE NOBLE GODLIKE CHARACTERISTICS OF THIS
CHRISTIAN SOLDIER AND HERO
MAY BE REPRODUCED IN FUTURE GENERATIONS
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
Lord Wolseley, on hearing an officer say that General Gordon was mad, remarked, in language similar to that used by George II. to the Duke of Newcastle about General Wolfe, that it was a great pity Gordon had not bitten more Generals, so that they might have been infected with some of his madness. Nor is there any reason why the motive power which could make a man do such noble deeds and lead such a splendid life should be confined to Generals. There are thousands of young men in this country who may be helped to live better lives by the study of such a Christian hero as Charles George Gordon undoubtedly was, and it is with that end in view that I have endeavoured to write a popular sketch of his life and character.
The late Sir Henry Gordon has also written a biography; but though an able man and very fond of his brother, it is not generally considered that he did full justice to his memory. The brothers were widely separated in age, there being fourteen years between them; and owing to the younger one having spent so much of his life abroad, they had not seen much of each other. Colonel Sir William F. Butler has written the ablest and most interesting of all the biographies which embrace the whole of Gordon's life, but as he is a Roman Catholic, it could not be expected that he would enter largely into the religious views of his hero. The remarks he does make on the subject are, however, excellent and in good taste. Another capital sketch of Gordon has been produced by the celebrated war correspondent Archibald Forbes, who not unnaturally devotes most of his space to the military aspect of Gordon's career, and says but little about his religious life. From the religious standpoint the best information can be got from the Letters of General Gordon to his Sister, edited by Miss Gordon. There seems to have been a special bond of sympathy between the brother and sister, and she seems to have been made the recipient of all his confidences, religious and otherwise.