Gordon himself was honest and incorruptible, but he was almost alone in possessing these qualities, and the venal and corrupt Egyptian bureaucrats usually ignored his orders when they conflicted with the chance to make money. The Europeans whom the Egyptians had hired to work as civil servants in the Sudan were no better and proved to be just as corrupt as the Egyptians. The bribes that the slave traders offered for bureaucrats to turn a blind eye to the slave trade had far more effect on the bureaucrats than did any of Gordon's orders to suppress the slave trade, which were simply ignored. Licurgo Santoni, an Italian hired by the Egyptian state to run the Sudanese post office wrote about Gordon's time as Governor-General that: as his exertions were not supported by his subordinates his efforts remained fruitless. This man's activity with the scientific knowledge which he possesses is doubtless able to achieve much, but unfortunately no one backs him up and his orders are badly carried out or altered in such a way as to render them without effect. All the Europeans, with some rare exceptions, whom he has honoured with his confidence have cheated him. Reflecting these realities, Gordon had to undertake much of the administrative work himself, travelling ceaselessly and constantly all over the Sudan via camel in attempts to make the bureaucracy actually obey his orders, something that occurred when he was present, but stopped as soon as he left. Gordon's reforming zeal made him popular with the ordinary people of the Sudan. As one observer noted that whenever he left and entered the Governor's Palace in Khartoum: "Government officials, consular agents and native people awaited him in large numbers. They celebrated H.E's Excellency arrival with an indescribable uproar".