Gladstone felt that this was a deft political move. Public opinion would be satisfied with "Chinese Gordon" going to the Sudan, but at the same time, Gordon was given such a limited mandate that the evacuation would proceed as planned. The Cabinet felt very uncomfortable with the appointment as they had been pressured by the press to send a man who was opposed to their Sudan policy to take command in the Sudan with the Foreign Secretary Lord Grenville wondering if they had just committed a "gigantic folly". Gordon made a short trip to Brussels to tell Leopold that he would not be going to the Congo after all, news that enraged the King.