With public opinion demanding that Gordon be sent to the Sudan, on 16 January 1884 the Gladstone government decided to send him there, albeit with the very limited mandate to report on the situation and advise on the best means of carrying out the evacuation. Gladstone had gone to his estate at Hawarden to recover from an illness and thus was not present at the meeting on 18 January where Gordon was given the Sudan command, but he was under the impression that Gordon's mission was advisory whereas the four ministers present at the meeting had given Gordon the impression that his mission was executive in nature.