Democratic Sentinel, Volume 9, Number 4, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 February 1885 — CHARLES GEORGE GORDON. [ARTICLE]

CHARLES GEORGE GORDON.

A Sketch of the Remarkable British Soldier’s Career. Maj. Gen. Charles George Gordon cornea of old Highland stock, but»was born at Woolwich, England in 1833. He was educated at Taunton and at the Woolwich Military Academy, where he obtained his commission in the Royal Engineers. His earliest employment was at Pembroke, but he was ordered to Corfu during the Crimean war and soon was actively engaged. Here he made such a mark as to bring him distinguished employment wnen the war endecl. Afterward he acted as Asssistant Boundary Commissioner in Bessarabia and Armenia. At this time the Chinese war broke out and he joined the army which was advancing on Pekin, and arrived in time to witness the surrender of that place and the destruction of the Summer Palace. In 1862 the Taiping rebellion had made great progress, and the insurgents had nearly arrived at Shanghai. Gordon and the British troops were engaged In driving them away. The leader of the rebellion, like the Mahdi, thought himself inspired, and called himself the second celestial Brother. Although impeded by every imaginable opposition and obstacle, Gordon managed the campaign against the horde of fanatical relrels with consummate military skill. Several mutinies occurred in his troops, but by his firm manner of dealing with the ringleaders the outbreaks were nipped in the bud. His whole conduct of the campaign was such as to gain for him the warmest admiration in military circles. The six years following this he spent at home, and were marked by good deeds done by stealth. He spent his salary as royal engineer on the poor and in teaching boys whom he had picked out of the gutter. Bis house was school, hospital, and almshouse in turn. After a brief service as Commissioner at Galatz, Gordon succeeded Sir Samßel Balter as Governor of the tribes In upper Egypt, and his first act astonished every one but his friends. The Khedive offered him a salary of $50,000, but he would only accept SIO,OOO, Us former pay at Galatz. He landed at Suakin February, 1873; reached Berber in March, ascended the river In March, and then started for Gondokoro. Here he began his work, and his policy soon relieved the suffering people from the horrible oppression, and curbed where it did not suppress entirely the abominable slave-hnnters. He investigated the work personally, and abolished many abuses when he found them. He went among the miserable, degraded people, ministering to their Wants with his own hand. In 1877 he obtained the command of the entire Sondan and was also deputed to look into the affairs of Abyssinia. This he did with good effect and then returned to Khartoum to rebegin his work as a reformer. Unable to stop bribery, for example, he put the money Into the treasury. He established a water supply which, during the long siege, has proved priceless. After Gordon quitted the Soudan he returned to Europe, acoompanied Lord Ripon to India, bnt resigned his post at Bombay; subsequently went to South Africa to assist in terminating the war in Basutoland, a task ne failed in accomplishing. He again started for the Soudan in January, 1884, upon the sadden command 'of Gladstone and the Cabinet. His operations since that time have been closely followed by readers the world over. .

Thebe are 671 convicts in the Kentucky Penitentiary, and for three months they have not done a day’s work, except those in the cook-house. Ex-Gov. Hoyt, of Pennsylvania, tells that when he was in college (Lafayette) he and his classmates got board for 87 cents a week. Beverly Tucker, of Virginia, expects to have his volume of reminiscences ready for publication in November. Sitting Bull announces that he would like to be made a citizen and allowed to vote.