GORDON, Charles George, letters, autographs, documents, manuscripts



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'I hope I have prevented [China] going to war with Russia'

GORDON, Charles George (1833-1885). 'Chinese Gordon'.
Autograph Letter Signed to Geigler (probably Carl Christian Geigler), 4 pages 8vo on thin paper (as usual), Singapore, 29 August 1880. Written on Gordon's return from a brief return visit to China following his resignation as Lord Ripon's private secretary in India, berating him for supposedly having given £250 to the Missionaries, and commenting on China, etc.


'Your letters ... reached me at Hong Kong as I was leaving China. ... I am afraid I have forgotten the Soudan to some extent. ... I gave Felkin and Wilson [Robert Felkin was a missionary] 50£ each when they came home, I was sorry for the poor devils, who were fêted and treated well, but did not have one £ given them except by me! Sorry to hear what you say about Gessi [Romolo Gessi, a former Italian interpreter on Gordon's staff in the Sudan], the lust of money is the root of all evil. ...
 It is no use my telling you anything of China you do not know the country, and it would be greek to you. I hope I have prevented her going to war with Russia. ...'

Carl Christian Geigler, the director of telegraphs at Khartoum, was a German 'whom Gordon held in high esteem' (Charley Gordon, by Charles Chevenix Trench, 1978, p.135).
[No: 25900]


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