GENERAL GORDON
Continuation
"The suggestion is made the more readily because when the gallant Charles George Gordon was last amongst us, he was, as he himself described it, a waif.
Gordon, as we all know, left Bombay at a moment's notice on the invitation of Sir Robert Hart on behalf of the Chinese Government, upon a mission of peace and benevolence. He arrived in Hongkong in the P. & O. steamer Avoca, and after a stay of two or three days, during which he paid a flying visit to Canton to confer with the Viceroy, he proceeded to Peking and exerted all his powerful influence, and successfully too, in preventing the threatened rupture between China and Russia.
"On his return to Hongkong, after steadfastly refusing all proffers of remuneration even to the extent of his travelling expenses, he found himself stranded in Hongkong, having expended the whole of the money he had brought from India, and in that most charming and humorous manner which so characterised him, he appeared as a waif before Sir Thomas Jackson and sought his assistance, which, it is needless to say, was readily granted and the courtesy and kindness he received under the circumstances from the Chief Manager of the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank was one of the most pleasant of Gordon's memories of Hongkong. Knowing these facts, the idea has naturally suggested itself that the memorial should take the form of some worthy object and associate it with the name of that great Englishman whose remarkable career in Europe, Asia and Africa, adds lustre to the last half of the nineteenth century."
Incidentally, it might be recalled (see 12-7-33) that Gordon first visited Hongkong in 1860 on the way to direct the forces against the Taiping rebels, but returned on a brief advisory visit in 1880.
342
GENERAL GORDON
Continuation
"The suggestion is made the more readily be cause when the gallant Charles George Gordon was last amongst us, he was, as he himself described it a wail.
Gordon, as we all know, left Bombay at a moment's notice on the. invitation of Sir Robert Hart on behalf of the Chinese Government, upon a mission of peace and benevolence. He arrived in Hongkong in the P. & 0. steamer Avoca, and after a stay of two or three days, during which he paid a flying visit to Canton to confer with Viceroy, he proceeded to Peking and exerted all his powerful influence, and successfully too, in preventing the threatened rupture between China and Russia.
"On his return to Hongkong, after steadfastly refusing all proffers of remuneration even to the extent of his travelling expenses, he found himself stranded in Hongkong. - having expended the whole of the money he had brought from India - and in that most charming and humorous manner which so characterised him, he appeared as a waif before Sir Thomas Jackson and sought his assistance, which, it is heedless to say, was readily granted and the courtesy and kindness he received under the circumstances from the Chief Manager of the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank was one of the most pleasant of Gordon's memories of Hongkong. Knowing these facts, the idea has naturally suggested itself that the memorial should take the form of some worthy object and associate it with the name of that great Englishman whose remarkable career in Europe, Asia and Africa, adds lustre to the last half of the nineteenth century:"
Incidentally, it might be recalled (see 12-7-33) that Gordon first visited Hongkong in 1860 on the way to direct the forces against the Taiping rebels, but returned on a brief advisory visit in 1880.
342
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