traditions, was generally denounced at the time, and has excited much
discussion since. Major Gordon certainly felt it very keenly, for he
considered that his word had been pledged as much as the Chinese
commander's for the safety of the leaders who surrendered. It has been
shown how energetically he acted once he suspected that anything was
wrong, but it seems as if it were going too far to say that he thought
for a moment of exacting a summary revenge on the person of Li Hung
Chang. Sir Henry Gordon, writing with at least a sense of
responsibility, says on this point: "It is not the fact that Major
Gordon sought the Futai with the intention of shooting him. It is a
complete misrepresentation to say he did so. It is true he endeavoured
unsuccessfully to have an explanation with him, but not of the nature
asserted." But it must also be reaffirmed that as long as Gordon
thought he could save the Wangs' lives he was prepared to secure the
person of Li Hung Chang and hold him as a hostage for their safety. Of
that, at least, there can be no question.
I must now ask the reader to return to the point when Gordon and Dr
Macartney were standing on the wall near the Low Mun Gate, in order
that the following important and authoritative narrative may be
understood. General Ching entered by this gate at the head of a party
of his troops, and Gordon, somewhat uneasy at the signs of commotion
he thought he had detected across the creek, at once addressed him,
asking--"Well, how did it go off? Have the Wangs seen the Futai?"
Taken off his guard, or confused between the sudden question and his
own knowledge of what had occurred, Ching quickly replied, "They have
not seen the Futai."
"What!" replied Gordon, equally hastily; "that must be nonsense. I saw
the Wangs myself ride out of the city to the rendezvous, and spoke to
them."
Ching then corrected himself by saying, "Oh, yes, that is all right,
but they have not shaved their heads, and they want to retain half the
city," the western half, that nearest to the relieving force, still at
a considerable distance from Soochow, under the heroic Chung Wang.
To which Gordon at once responded, "That won't do. They must conform
with what has been agreed upon," and turning to Macartney, he said,
"Will you go to the Lar Wang's palace and tell him that this cannot
be, and meet me afterwards at Wuliungchow, where I am to join the
steamer _Hyson_ to go on the Taiho Lake?"
Macartney at once accepted the mission, and proceeded to the Lar
Wang's palace, but before following him thither it is necessary to
refer to two earlier passages, one known and the other up to this
moment unknown, in the relations of General Gordon and Sir Halliday
Macartney.
The passage which is known is that where Macartney, sent as the
representative of the Futai Li Hung Chang, and escorted by that
Governor's own bodyguard, healed the breach caused between Gordon and
General Ching by the latter firing on some of Gordon's troops and
treating the matter with marked levity, which so enraged Gordon that
he was on the point of attacking the Imperialist troops when Sir
Halliday Macartney arrived as peacemaker, and with equal tact and
energy averted the catastrophe. This incident has already been
referred to, and need not further detain us. I come now to the second
and more interesting matter.
Some weeks before the fall of Soochow, but at a moment when it had
become clear that the place could not hold out much longer, Gordon
approached Macartney and said: "I want to speak to you very privately,
and as I do not wish any one to hear our conversation, will you come
on board my boat?" When they were both on board, Gordon ordered his
Chinese sailors to pull out to the centre of the lake before he would
say a word. Having thus rendered secrecy assured, Gordon spoke as
follows:--
"Macartney, I have brought you out here so that nobody should
know of our conversation, and that we might speak out as man to
man. I must tell you, in the first place, that as soon as Soochow
falls I intend to resign the command and return home. With that
intention in my mind, I have been anxiously considering who was
the best man to name as my successor in the command of the Ever
Victorious Army, and, after the most careful consideration, I
have come to the conclusion that you are the best man. Will you
take the command?"
This unexpected question was the more embarrassing to Macartney,
because, long before Gordon was appointed, rumour had freely credited
him with coveting the command of the Ever Victorious Army in
succession to Burgevine, and, as a matter of fact, the Chinese
authorities had wished him to have the command. However, nothing had
come of the project, and Macartney, after his post as Burgevine's
military secretary had ceased to exist with the dismissal and treason
of that adventurer, was appointed to a separate command of a portion
of the Imperialist forces. The course of events had now, in an
unexpected but highly complimentary manner, brought the realisation of
any hopes he may have entertained on the subject within his reach. He
replied to Gordon as follows:--
"As you speak so frankly to me, I will speak equally frankly to
you, and tell you something I have never told a living person.
Rumour has credited me with having aspired to the command of this
force, but erroneously so. My ambition was to work myself up at
Court, and only to take the command if forced on me as a
provisional matter, and as a stepping-stone to my real object,
which was, when my knowledge of the language was perfected, to
acquire at Peking some such influence as that possessed by
Verbiest and the other French missionaries in the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries. I should never have mentioned this to you
lest you should not have believed it, but now that the command is
at my feet I may make this avowal without any hesitation as to
your accepting it. As you really think I can best succeed to the
command of the force when you resign it, I am perfectly willing
to accept the task."
To which Gordon replied: "Very well, then. That is settled." With this
private understanding, as to which nothing has been published until
this moment, the conversation closed with a final injunction from
Gordon of profound secrecy, as, should it become known, he might be
unable to get certain of his more ambitious officers to take part in
capturing the city. When Gordon therefore turned to Macartney, and
asked him to proceed to the Lar Wang's palace and inform him that the
terms of the convention must be carried out, it is necessary in order
to throw light on what follows to state what their relations were at
that moment. Gordon had selected Macartney as his successor in
preference to all his own officers.
Macartney hastened to the Lar Wang's palace, but as he had lent Gordon
his horse, his movements were slightly retarded. On reaching the
building he noticed some signs of confusion, and when he asked one of
the attendants to take him at once to his master, he received the
reply that the Lar Wang was out. Sir Halliday Macartney is not a man
to be lightly turned from his purpose, and to this vague response he
spoke in peremptory terms:
"The matter is of the first importance. I _must_ see the Lar Wang.
Take me to him."
Then the servant of the Taeping leader did a strange thing.
"You _cannot_ see my master," he said, and turning his face to the
wall, so that no one else might see, he drew his open hand in a
cutting position backwards and forwards. This is the recognised
Chinese mode of showing that a man's head has been cut off.
Being thus apprised that something tragic had happened, Macartney
hastened away to Wuliungchow to keep his appointment with Gordon, and
to acquaint him with what had taken place at the Lar Wang's palace.
But no Gordon came, and more than a day elapsed before Macartney and
he met again under dramatic circumstances at Quinsan. After waiting at
Wuliungchow some hours, Sir Halliday resolved to proceed to the
Futai's camp, and learn there what had happened. But on arriving he
was informed that the Futai was not in the camp, that no one knew
where he was, and that Gordon was in a state of furious wrath at the
massacre of the Wangs, which was no longer concealed. Macartney then
endeavoured to find Gordon, but did not succeed, which is explained by
the fact that Gordon was then hastening to Quinsan to collect his own
troops. Baffled in these attempts, Macartney returned, after a great
many hours, to his own camp near the Paotichiaou Bridge, there to
await events, and on his arrival there he at last found the Futai Li
who had come to him for security. Li put into his hands a letter,
saying, "I have received that letter from Gordon. Translate its
contents."
After perusing it, Macartney said: "This letter is written in a fit of
indignation. You and Gordon are and have been friends, and I am also
the friend of you both. The most friendly act I can do both of you is
to decline to translate it. Let me therefore return you the letter
unread."
"Very well," replied Li; "do as you think best, but as I am not to
know the contents, I do not wish to have the letter. Please keep it."
Sir Halliday Macartney kept the letter, which remained in his
possession for some time, until, in fact, he handed it, with an
explanatory account of the whole affair, to Sir Harry Parkes, as will
be explained further on.
After this point had been settled, Li Hung Chang went on to say that
he wished Macartney to go and see Gordon at Quinsan, and speak to him
as follows:--
"Tell Gordon that he is in no way, direct or indirect,
responsible in this matter, and that, if he considers his honour
involved, I will sign any proclamation he likes to draft, and
publish it far and wide that he had no part in or knowledge of
it. I accept myself the full and sole responsibility for what has
been done. But also tell Gordon that this is China, not Europe. I
wished to save the lives of the Wangs, and at first thought that
I could do so, but they came with their heads unshaved, they used
defiant language, and proposed a deviation from the convention,
and I saw that it would not be safe to show mercy to these
rebels. Therefore what was done was inevitable. But Gordon had no
part in it, and whatever he demands to clear himself shall be
done."
I do not gather that Sir Halliday Macartney had any serious misgivings
about this mission when he undertook it. His relations with Gordon
were, as has been shown, of a specially cordial and confidential
character, and even if he failed to induce Gordon to abandon the
threatening plans he had described in his letter to Li Hung Chang,
which was in his pocket, there was no reason to apprehend any
personal unpleasantness with one who had given the clearest proof of
friendship and esteem. As I cannot give the full text of the original
letter from General Gordon, I content myself by stating that its two
principal passages were that Li Hung Chang should at once resign his
post of Governor of Kiangsu, and give up the seals of office to
Gordon, so that he might put them in commission until the Emperor's
pleasure should be ascertained; or that, failing that step, Gordon
would forthwith proceed to attack the Imperialists, and to retake from
them all the places captured by the Ever Victorious Army, for the
purpose of handing them back again to the Taepings. When Gordon went
so far as to write a letter of that character, which, it must be
admitted, was far in excess of any authority he possessed, it must be
clear that the envoy, who came to put forward counsels that were
intended to restore harmony, but that by so doing might assume the
aspect of palliating the Futai's conduct, could not count on a very
cordial reception from a man of Gordon's temperament, whose sense of
honour and good faith had been deeply injured by the murder of the
rebel leaders.
Still, Sir Halliday accepted the mission without hesitation, and
hastened to carry it out without delay. It was late in the day when he
saw Li Hung Chang, but having procured a native boat with several
rowers, he set off in the evening, and reached Quinsan in the middle
of the night. Gordon was then in bed and could not be disturbed, and
while Macartney waited he drank some coffee Gordon's servant made for
him, which he much needed, as he had left Soochow without having
broken his fast during the whole day. After a short time, and before
day had really broken, Gordon sent down word that he would see him,
and Macartney went upstairs to an ill-lighted room, where he found
Gordon sitting on his bedstead. He found Gordon sobbing, and before a
word was exchanged, Gordon stooped down, and taking something from
under the bedstead, held it up in the air, exclaiming:
"Do you see that? Do you see that?"
The light through the small Chinese windows was so faint that
Macartney had at first some difficulty in recognising what it was,
when Gordon again exclaimed:
"It is the head of the Lar Wang, foully murdered!" and with that burst
into hysterical tears.
At once perceiving that any conversation under these circumstances
would do no good, Macartney said he would retire and see Gordon later.
Some hours afterwards breakfast was served in a large room downstairs,
where there were present not only many of the officers, but also
several European merchants and traders of Shanghai, who had been in
the habit of supplying the force with its commissariat requirements.
Gordon came in, and Macartney took a seat beside him. After a few
minutes' silence Gordon turned to Macartney, and said abruptly:
"You have not come for yourself. You have come on a mission from the
Futai. What is it?"
When Macartney suggested that so public a place might not be the most
suitable, Gordon said: "There are only friends here. I have no
secrets. Speak out."
There was no longer any honourable way of avoiding the challenge, and
Macartney described exactly what has been already recorded as to Li
Hung Chang having come to him with Gordon's letter, which from
friendly motives he had declined to translate, and stating that Li
took the whole responsibility on himself, and would exonerate Gordon
from the least complicity in the affair, with which the Chinese
statesman averred Gordon had had nothing to do. He went on to urge
with regard to the measures threatened by Gordon in expiation of the
massacre that they were not justifiable, and would not in the end
redound to Gordon's own credit. In conclusion, he said he felt sure
that "a little reflection would show Gordon that to carry on a
personal war with the Futai would be to undo all the good that had
been done. Moreover, you must recollect that although you, no doubt,
have at this moment the military force to carry out your threats, it
will no longer be paid by the Chinese authorities. You will only be
able to keep your men at your back by allowing them to plunder, and
how long will that prove successful, and what credit will you get by
it?"
Gordon here stamped his foot, saying he would have none of Macartney's
mild counsels. To which Macartney replied, "Mild or not, they are the
only ones your Minister at Peking and our Queen will approve. Nay,
what I advise you to do is even that you would yourself do if you
would but reflect, and not let yourself be influenced by those men
sitting at your table."
To these undoubtedly prudent representations, supported as they were
by at least one of those present, Mr Henry Dent, who got up and said
that, in his opinion, Dr Macartney's advice ought to be followed,
while the others who wished the war to go on from interested motives
remained silent, Gordon did and would not listen. The hot fit of rage
and horror at the treacherous murder of the Wangs, kept at fever-point
by the terrible memorial in his possession, was still strong upon him,
and his angry retort was--"I will have none of your tame counsels,"
and there and then ordered the _Hyson_, with a party of infantry, to
be got ready to attack the Futai, at the same time offering Macartney
a passage in the steamer.
On hearing this decisive declaration Macartney left the table, and
hastening to one of Gordon's officers, who was a personal friend, he
begged the loan of a horse and a pair of spurs. Having obtained what
he wanted, he set off riding as hard as he could by the road, which
was somewhat shorter than the canal, so that he might warn Li Hung
Chang as to what was going to happen, and also bring up his own troops
to oppose the advance of Gordon, who actually did move out of Quinsan
with the intention of carrying out his threats, but returned there
when his flotilla had proceeded half way.
By that time he had fortunately reflected on the situation, and a
sanguinary struggle was averted. Gordon came to see that his honour
was not in the slightest or most remote degree involved, and that
China was not a country to which the laws of chivalry could be
applied; but before he had reached this stage of mental equilibrium he
had penned a most regrettable and cruelly unjust despatch, not about
Li Hung Chang or any one involved in the massacre, but about Dr, now
Sir Halliday Macartney, whose sole fault had been that he wished to
make peace, and to advise Gordon to act in the very sense which he
afterwards himself adopted.
In a despatch to General Brown, commanding at Shanghai, which appears
in the Blue Book (China, No. 3, 1864, p. 198), Gordon wrote: "I then
went to his (Li's) boat and left him a note in English, informing him
of what my intention had been, and also my opinion of his treachery. I
regret to say that Mr Macartney did not think fit to have this
translated to him.... On 8th December the Futai sent Mr Macartney to
persuade me that he could not have done otherwise, and I blush to
think that he could have got an Englishman, late an officer in Her
Majesty's army, to undertake a mission of such a nature." This
statement, appearing in an official publication, has been largely
quoted, especially in Mr Egmont Hake's "Story of Chinese Gordon," and
the original injury done by Gordon, for which at the time he atoned,
was thus repeated in an offensive and altogether unjustifiable form
twenty years after Gordon had stated publicly that he was sorry for
having written this passage, and believed that Sir Halliday Macartney
was actuated by just as noble sentiments as himself.
It is not an agreeable task for any biographer to record that his hero
was in the wrong, but as General Gordon frankly and fully admitted
that in this matter he was altogether to blame, and as Mr Hake's error
shows that his retractation never obtained that publicity which he
himself desired, I conceive myself to be carrying out his wishes in
placing the following facts prominently before the reader.
When the Blue Book was published with the despatch referred to, Dr
Macartney took no notice of it. Some time afterwards he met the late
Sir Harry Parkes, then Consul-General at Shanghai, and he described
what I have set forth in the same language. Sir Harry Parkes, than
whom England never had a finer representative in the Far East, at once
said: "This is very interesting. Sir Frederick Bruce is coming down
shortly. I wish you would write out what you have told me, so that I
might show it to him." Dr Macartney wrote out his narrative, and with
it he sent Gordon's original letter to Li Hung Chang. Those documents
have never been published, but they should still exist in the Shanghai
Consulate. Sir Frederick Bruce's (brother of the ambassador Lord
Elgin, and himself the First British Minister at Peking) comment after
perusing them was: "Dr Macartney showed very great judgment and good
sense, and no blame attaches to him in this matter."
A considerable period intervened between the breakfast scene at
Quinsan and Gordon's next meeting with Macartney. In that period much
had happened. Gordon had forgiven Li Hung Chang, done everything that
Macartney had recommended as the right course in the memorable scene
at Quinsan, and by some of the most remarkable of his military
exploits had crushed the Taeping rebellion, but the two principal
actors in this affair had not crossed each other's path.
Six weeks after Gordon brought his operations in the field to an end
at Chanchufu in May he returned to Soochow, and Li Hung Chang, wishing
to do him honour, asked him to an official breakfast at his yamen. At
the same time Li Hung Chang said to Macartney: "I have asked Gordon to
breakfast. I know you and he have had some difference. How would you
meet him if you came too?"
To this question Macartney replied: "I would meet Gordon exactly as
Gordon met me. It is true that Gordon did me an injustice, but I am
quite ready to blot it out from my memory if Gordon will admit it.
Gordon acted under a strong feeling of excitement when he was not
master of himself, and I have no more thought of holding him strictly
responsible for what he wrote at such a moment than I would a madman."
Li Hung Chang said: "Very well, then. I ask you to come to breakfast
to meet him." On Macartney's return to his house he found a letter
from Gordon waiting for him. In this letter Gordon admitted that he
had done him a wrong, and was prepared to sign any paper to that
effect that Macartney might prepare.
Macartney thereupon replied to Gordon, pointing out that the mere
publication of a letter of retractation was not an adequate reparation
for an injurious statement which had been given a wide circulation,
and to a certain extent placed beyond recall by appearing in an
official publication, but that if he might publish Gordon's own
letter offering to do this in the _North China Herald_, he would be
satisfied, and the matter, as far as he was concerned, might be
considered at an end. To this course Gordon at once acquiesced,
subject to the omission of one paragraph affecting a third person, and
in no respect relating to Sir Halliday or his conduct. This letter,
which the Editor of that paper stated he "published at Colonel
Gordon's request," on 23rd July 1864, read as follows:--
"SHANGHAI, _July 5, 1864_.
"MY DEAR MACARTNEY,--It is with much regret that I perceive in
the last Blue Book issued on China affairs a Report from me to
General Brown on the occurrences at Soochow, which report
contains an injurious remark on your conduct.
"I am extremely sorry that I ever penned that remark, as I
believe you went out of your way on this occasion wholly on the
same public grounds which led eventually to my taking the field
myself, and I can only excuse my having done so by recollecting
the angry feelings with which I was actuated at that time.
"It will be my duty to rectify this error in other quarters, and
in the meantime I beg you to make what use you may think fit of
this letter.--Yours truly,
"C. G. GORDON."
On the next day Gordon and Macartney met at breakfast at the yamen of
the Futai Li Hung Chang, and Gordon at once came up to Macartney and
said:
"Do not let us talk of the past, but of the future. I am one of
those who hold that when a man has wronged another he should seek
opportunities through his life of making him redress. Now you are
founding an Arsenal at Soochow, and I am going back to England,
where I have a brother in the Arsenal at Woolwich. From him I can
get you books, plans, and useful information. I will do so."
Gordon was as good as his word. He sent Macartney expensive plans and
books, besides most valuable information. He also promised to write to
the Duke of Cambridge as Commander-in-Chief, admitting that he was not
justified in his criticism of Dr Macartney, who had acted in every way
becoming an English gentleman and officer. Thus ended the
misunderstanding between the two Englishmen who rendered China the
best service she has ever obtained from foreigners; and knowing both
these distinguished men intimately, I have much pleasure in testifying
from my own knowledge to the accuracy of the following statement of
Sir Halliday Macartney to myself that "after this, Gordon and I
remained firm friends evermore."
Gordon's indignation at this outrage did not soon subside, and three
weeks after it happened an opportunity presented itself for showing
and perhaps relieving his mind. A high Chinese officer presented
himself at his quarters at Quinsan to announce the receipt of an
Imperial decree and presents from Peking as a reward for his share in
the capture of Soochow. Gordon at once said that he would not accept
the presents, and that they were not to be brought to him. The Chinese
officer replied that they should not be brought, but that the emissary
of the Emperor ought to be received. To this Gordon assented, and on
1st January 1864 he went down to receive him at the West Gate. On
arriving there he met a procession carrying a number of open boxes,
containing 10,000 taels (then about L3000 of our money) in Sycee
shoes, laid on red cloth, also four Snake flags taken from the
Taepings--two sent by Li Hung Chang, and two by another mandarin who
had had no part in the Soochow affair. Gordon made the procession turn
about and take the whole lot back again. He wrote his reply stating
his reason on the back of the Imperial rescript itself; he rejected Li
Hung Chang's flags, but he accepted the other two as being in no sense
associated with the disgrace of the Taeping massacre. In this manner
did Gordon show the Chinese what he thought of their conduct. His
characteristic reply to the Imperial rescript read as follows:--
"Major Gordon receives the approbation of His Majesty the Emperor
with every gratification, but regrets most sincerely that, owing
to the circumstance which occurred since the capture of Soochow,
he is unable to receive any mark of H.M. the Emperor's
recognition, and therefore respectfully begs His Majesty to
receive his thanks for his intended kindness, and to allow him to
decline the same."
At this moment it will be recollected that Gordon was, strictly
speaking, no longer in command. He had resigned, because his very
reasonable demand for a gratuity to his troops had not been complied
with. But circumstances were too strong for him, and a number of
considerations, all highly creditable to his judgment and
single-mindedness, induced him to sink his private grievances, and to
resume the command on grounds of public policy and safety. The
internal condition of the Ever Victorious Army itself, which inaction
had brought to the verge of mutiny, was the determining fact that
induced Gordon to resume the command, even at the price of meeting Li
Hung Chang and sinking his differences with him. There had been much
intrigue among the officers of the force as to who should succeed
Gordon in the command, if he persisted in his resolve to give it up,
and before tranquillity was restored sixteen of the agitating officers
had to be dismissed. The force itself welcomed the formal resumption
of the command by Gordon, and not the less because it signified a
return to active operations after more than two months' inaction. The
murder of the Wangs took place on 7th December 1863; it was on 18th
February 1864 that Gordon marched out of Quinsan at the head of the
bulk of his force.
In a letter written at the time, Sir Robert Hart, whose services to
the Chinese Government, spread over the long period of forty years,
have been of the highest order and importance, said:--
"The destiny of China is at the present moment in the hands of
Gordon more than of any other man, and if he be encouraged to act
vigorously, the knotty question of Taepingdom _versus_ 'union in
the cause of law and order' will be solved before the end of May,
and quiet will at length be restored to this unfortunate and
sorely-tried country. Personally, Gordon's wish is to leave the
force as soon as he can. Now that Soochow has fallen, there is
nothing more that he can do, whether to add to his own reputation
or to retrieve that of British officers generally, tarnished by
Holland's defeat at Taitsan. He has little or nothing personally
to gain from future successes, and as he has himself to lead in
all critical moments, and is constantly exposed to danger, he has
before him the not very improbable contingency of being hit
sooner or later. But he lays aside his personal feelings, and
seeing well that if he were now to leave the force it would in
all probability go at once to the rebels or cause some other
disaster, he consents to remain with it for a time."
During that interval some minor successes had been obtained by the
Imperialists. Several towns surrendered to Li Hung Chang, and Chung
Wang evacuated Wusieh and retired to Chanchufu, also on the Grand
Canal. At the same time he hastened himself to Nanking, in the vain
hope of arousing Tien Wang to the gravity of the situation, and
inducing him to make some special effort to turn the fortune of the
war. General Ching succeeded in capturing Pingwang, and with it
another entrance into the Taiho Lake. San Tajin moved his camp close
up to Changchufu and engaged the Taepings in almost daily encounters,
during one of which the _Firefly_ steamer was retaken, and its English
captain killed. In consequence of this all the Europeans left the
service of the Taepings, and as their fleet had been almost entirely
destroyed, they were now hemmed in within a small compass, and Gordon
himself estimated that they ought to be finally overcome within two
months. In this hope he resumed the command, and his decision was
officially approved of and confirmed by the British Minister at
Peking.
The Taepings still retained possession of Hangchow and some other
towns in the province of Chekiang, but all communication between them
and Nanking had been severed by the fall of Soochow, so far at least
as the routes east of the Taiho Lake were concerned. West of that lake
they still held Yesing and Liyang, which enabled them to maintain
communication, although by a roundabout route. Gordon determined to
begin his campaign by attacking these two places, when the severance
would be complete.
Yesing, on the north-west corner of the lake, was the first object of
attack. Liyang is about fifty miles further inland than that town. The
Taepings at Yesing were not dreaming of an attack when Gordon, at the
head of his force, suddenly appeared before its walls. He found the
surrounding villages in a most appalling state of distress, the
inhabitants living on human food. The town was well surrounded by
ditches and stockades, and Gordon felt compelled to reconnoitre it
most carefully before deciding on his plan of attack. While engaged in
this work his ardour carried him away, and he was nearly captured by
the enemy. It was one of the narrowest of his many escapes during the
war, and went far to justify the reputation he had gained of having a
charmed life. A very striking instance of his narrowly escaping a
premature end had occurred during the siege of Soochow itself, when
the marvellous fifty-three-arch bridge at Patachiaou was destroyed.
One evening Gordon was seated smoking a cigar on one of the damaged
parapets of the bridge, when two shots fired by his own men struck the
stone-work close by him. He got down at the second shot, and entered
his boat. Hardly had he done so when the bridge collapsed with a
tremendous crash, nearly smashing his boat and killing two men. In all
the engagements, except when confined to his boat, Gordon always led
the attack, carrying no weapons, except a revolver which he wore
concealed in his breast, and never used except once, against one of
his own mutineers, but only a little rattan cane, which his men called
his magic wand of Victory. A graphic picture was drawn by one of his
own officers of this unarmed leader in the breach of an assaulted
position urging on his men by catching them by the sleeve of their
coats, and by standing indifferent and unresisting in the midst of the
thickest fire. Gordon long afterwards admitted that during the whole
of these scenes he was continuously praying to the Almighty that his
men should not turn tail. In the varied and voluminous annals of war
there is no more striking figure than this of human heroism combined
with spiritual fervour.
The attack on Yesing lasted several days, as, owing to the manner in
which the country was cut up by canals, all the operations had to be
conducted with great caution. The capture of the southern stockades
was followed after a day's interval by the evacuation of the latter
and the flight of the garrison, who however pillaged the town as far
as they could before leaving. Gordon would not let his men enter the
town, as he knew they would pillage, and thus get out of hand. They
were so disappointed that several cases of insubordination occurred,
and one mutineer had to be shot. The Imperialists were left to
garrison Yesing, but under strict injunctions that they were on no
account to take life; and under the threats of Li Hung Chang, who did
not wish a repetition of the Soochow affair, these were strictly
obeyed. All these arrangements having been made, Gordon resumed his
march towards Liyang on 4th March, the infantry proceeding overland,
and the artillery in the boats and _Hyson_ steamer.
At Liyang the rebels had collected a large force, and made every
preparation for a vigorous defence. But Gordon was quite confident of
success, although he was now operating in the heart of a hostile
country, and at a distance from his base. The sound flotilla which
mounted formidable artillery, and which co-operated with him on the
creek that led to the walls of Liyang, gave him sound reasons for
confidence, and additional ground of security in the event of any
accident. But his military skill and careful arrangements were not
subjected to any severe test, as a mutiny broke out among the Taepings
themselves, and the half in favour of surrender got possession of the
city, and closed the gates on those of their comrades who wished to
hold out. Major Gordon promptly accepted their surrender, and
guaranteed their personal safety to all, thus obtaining a signal
success without any loss. This was the more satisfactory because
Liyang was found to be an admirable position for defence, strongly
fortified with numerous stockades, well supplied with provisions for
several months' siege, and garrisoned by 15,000 well-armed and
well-clothed rebels. These men were disarmed, and allowed to go where
they liked after they had shaved their heads in token of surrender.
The provisions they had stored up for their own use were distributed
among the starving peasants of the surrounding country. Gordon himself
saved the lives of the female relatives of the Taeping Wang, who had
wished to hold out, not however, it should in fairness be stated, from
the official Chinese, but from the Taepings who had surrendered. After
the capitulation was over, Gordon took 1000 of the Taepings into his
own force, and he also engaged the services of another 1500 as a new
contingent, to fight under their own officers. In this unusual manner
he nearly doubled the effective strength of his own corps, and then
advanced north to attack the town of Kintang, rather more than forty
miles north of Liyang. At this point Gordon experienced his first
serious rebuff at the hands of Fortune, for the earlier reverse at the
Soochow stockades was so clearly due to a miscarriage in the attack,
and so ephemeral in its issue, that it can scarcely be counted.
Unlike the other Taeping towns, all of which were stockaded
positions, Kintang had no outer defences. It presented the appearance
of a small compact city with a stone wall. No flags were shown; the
place might have been deserted, but the complete silence seemed
ominous. Gordon selected his point of attack, and began a bombardment,
which continued during three hours, and then he ordered the assault.
As the bugles sounded the advance, the Taepings appeared for the first
time on the walls, and received the assailants with a heavy fire. At
this critical moment Gordon received a severe wound below the knee,
and had to be carried to his boat. His place was taken by Major Brown,
brother of the General commanding at Shanghai, who advanced waving
Gordon's own flag, but he too received a severe wound, and was carried
off the field. The rebels fought with great desperation, and Gordon,
who remained conscious, sent orders from his boat for the
discontinuance of the attack. The loss was heavy--two officers killed,
eleven wounded, and 115 rank and file killed and wounded. Gordon,
notwithstanding his wound, would have renewed the attack, but for the
receipt of alarming intelligence from his rear. Li Hung Chang wrote
that the Taepings had turned the flank of his brother's army, and
captured Fushan. They were at that moment besieging Chanzu, and had
carried terror into the very heart of the Imperial position. Gordon's
wound--the only one of any severity he ever received--excited much
sympathy among the Chinese, and was made the subject of an Imperial
edict ordering Li Hung Chang to call on him daily, and "requesting
Gordon to wait until he shall be perfectly restored to health and
strength."
In the extremity to which he was reduced, the brilliant idea had
occurred to Chung Wang to assume the offensive at a point most remote
from the scene where Gordon was acting in person. Hence the sudden and
successful attack on Fushan, and his strategy was rewarded by the
paralysis it produced in the Imperial plans. Gordon at once hastened
back to Liyang, where he left a strong garrison, and taking only 1000
men, half of whom were the irregular Taeping contingent raised at
Liyang itself, proceeded by forced marches to Wusieh. As the late Sir
George Chesney well said, it is impossible to decide whether the
temerity or the confidence of the young wounded commander was the more
calculated to excite wonder. On arriving here, he found that nothing
worse had happened than what had been already reported, while in the
south, beyond his sphere of operations, the important city of Hangchow
had been evacuated by the Taepings; and with this loss another avenue
for obtaining arms and ammunition was closed to them.
The relief of Kongyin, which was hard pressed, was the first task
Gordon set himself; and as he could not leave his boat on account of
his wound, the conduct of operations was attended with much
difficulty. After obtaining several minor successes, and approaching
to within a few miles of Kongyin, Gordon found it necessary to
completely alter his plans, and to attack the Taepings in their
headquarters at Waisso, before relieving the former place. He
accordingly proceeded to Waisso with his artillery on board the
flotilla, and his infantry marching by land. The latter, carried away
by some trifling successes, attacked the Waisso stockades without his
orders, and even without his knowledge; and having invited a reverse
by their rashness and disobedience, rendered it complete by an
inexcusable panic, during which the Taeping cavalry, not more than 100
strong, rode through the best regiment of the force; the rebels,
carrying a sword in each hand, cut down the fugitives right and left.
The pursuit lasted for three miles, and 7 European officers killed, 1
wounded, 252 men killed, and 62 wounded, represented the heavy loss in
this disastrous affair. The survivors, many of whom had thrown away
their arms, were so panic-stricken that Gordon had to retire, and to
summon up fresh troops.
For this disaster Gordon held the officers, and not the men, to be
blameworthy. They led the men into a false position, and then did not
make the proper movements. If the men had only formed square, Gordon
wrote, it would have been all right with them. After this Gordon
waited to allow of his wound being thoroughly cured, and on 6th April
he again appeared before Waisso. A large Imperial force also enveloped
the place on all sides but one, which had been left apparently open
and unguarded in the hope that the garrison would use it as a means of
reaching a place of safety. The Imperialists had, however, broken all
the bridges along this route, so that the Taepings would soon
encounter serious difficulties to their progress, and admit of their
being taken at a great disadvantage. Gordon approached the place with
much caution, and he found it so strongly fortified on the south side,
opposite his line of approach, that he moved round to the north in
search of a more favourable point of attack. This simple manoeuvre so
disconcerted the Taepings that they abandoned several of their
stockades, which Gordon promptly seized; and finding that these in
turn commanded others, he succeeded in carrying the whole of a most
formidable position with little or no loss. The Taeping garrison fled
in confusion and suffered heavily at the hands of the Imperial troops.
It rallied on the camp before Kongyin, and the day after this success
Gordon marched from Waisso to attack them. The Taepings were
thoroughly disorganised, and apparently amazed at the number of their
opponents, for the whole of the population rose against them in
revenge for the outrages they had perpetrated. There was only one
action, and that of an insignificant description, when the whole
Taeping force before Kongyin broke into a rout. The Imperialist plan
for retarding their retreat succeeded to admiration, and of more than
10,000 men not a tenth escaped from the sword of their pursuers.
In a letter written at this time to his mother, Gordon, who, at the
end of February had been raised to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in
the army for distinguished conduct in the field, gave a graphic
account of the condition of the region in which he was operating:--
"The rebels are very much pressed, and three months should finish
them. During the pursuit from Kongyin the Imperialists and
villagers killed in one village 3000. I will say this much--the
Imperialists did not kill the coolies and boys. The villagers
followed up and stripped the fugitives stark naked, so that all
over the country there were naked men lying down in the grass.
The cruelties these rebels had committed during their raid were
frightful; in every village there were from ten to sixty dead,
either women--frightfully mutilated--old men, or small children.
I do not regret the fate of these rebels. I have no talent for
description, but the scenes I have witnessed of misery are
something dreadful, and I must say that your wish for me to
return with the work incomplete would not be expressed if you saw
the state of these poor people. The horrible furtive looks of the
wretched inhabitants hovering around one's boat haunts me, and
the knowledge of their want of nourishment would sicken anyone.
They are like wolves. The dead lie where they fall, and are in
some cases trodden quite flat by the passers-by. I hope to get
the Shanghai people to assist, but they do not _see_ these
things, and to _read_ that there are human beings eating human
flesh produces less effect than if they saw the corpses from
which that flesh is cut. There is one thing I promise you, and
that is, that as soon as I can leave this service, I will do so;
but I will not be led to do what may cause great disasters for
the sake of getting out of the dangers, which, in my opinion, are
no greater in action than in barracks. My leg is all right; the
eleventh day after I received the wound I was up, and by the
fifteenth day I could walk well. The ball went through the thick
part of the leg, just below the knee."
Having thus cleared the district due north of Wusieh, Gordon proceeded
against the main Taeping position at Chanchufu, north-west of that
place, and on the Grand Canal. Here Chung Wang had fortified thirty
stockades, and commanded in person. On inspecting it, Gordon found it
so strong that he summoned up his troops from Liyang, and it was not
until 22nd April, ten days after Waisso, that he had collected all his
force of 4000 men for the attack. On the very day he accomplished this
the Imperialists alone attacked some stockades outside the West Gate,
and carried them by a heavy and unnecessary loss of life. Their
defenders, instead of retreating into Chanchufu, fled northwards to
their next possession, at Tayan. The same night part of the garrison
left behind made a _sortie_, but Gordon was apprised of it, and it was
easily repulsed. The next day he captured all the stockades on the
southern, or, more correctly, the western side of the Canal, but the
Taepings still held a strong stone fort on the opposite side, which
defied all the efforts of the Imperialists. Two hundred of the Liyang
corps gallantly crossed the Canal in boats, forced open the back door
of the fort, and carried it at a rush. With this success all the
outworks of Chanchufu were taken, and the town itself closely
besieged. Gordon then proceeded to plant his batteries opposite the
point he had selected for attack, but a regrettable affair happened in
the night, when the picket on guard fired into the party working at
the battery, and killed Colonel Tapp, an excellent officer who
commanded the artillery of the force. This mishap was quickly followed
by others. The Imperialists under their own generals wished to get all
the credit of the capture, and attacked several times on their own
side, but always without obtaining any advantage. Nor was Gordon
himself more fortunate. After a severe bombardment, to which the
Taepings made no reply, Gordon assaulted on 27th April. His men
succeeded in throwing two pontoons across the ditch, twenty yards
wide, and some of his officers reached the wall; but the Taepings met
them boldly with a terrific storm of fire-balls, bags of powder,
stinkpots, and even showers of bricks. Twice did Gordon lead his men
to the assault, but he had to admit his repulse with the loss of his
pontoons, and a great number of his best officers and men. Ten
officers killed and 19 wounded, 40 men killed and 260 wounded,
represented the cost of this disastrous failure.
Undaunted by this defeat, Gordon proceeded to lay siege in regular
form, and Li Hung Chang lent him the services of his own troops in
order to dig the necessary trenches. Working only at night, and with
equal celerity and secrecy, a succession of trenches were made right
up to the edge of the ditch. At the same time, proclamations in large
characters were exhibited, offering terms to all who came over, except
the Wang in command; and many desertions took place. At last, on 11th
May, the place was again assaulted, this time at mid-day; and owing to
the short distance from the advance trench to the breach, the Chinese
troops of all kinds were able to come to close fighting with the
Taepings without any preliminary loss. The Taepings fought with great
courage, even although their chief Hoo Wang was taken prisoner early
in the fight, but at last they were overwhelmed by numbers. Hoo Wang
and all the Canton and Kwangsi men--that is to say, the original
Taeping band--were executed, and the completeness of the triumph was
demonstrated by the surrender, two days later, of Tayan, the last of
the Taeping possessions on the Grand Canal. On the spur of the moment,
two hours after the successful assault, Gordon wrote a hurried few
lines to his mother, stating, to relieve her anxiety, that he would
"not again take the field," and that he was happy to say he had "got
off safe."
The capture of Chanchufu was the last achievement of the Ever
Victorious Army, which marched back to Quinsan, its headquarters, in
preparation for its disbandment, which had been decided on by the
joint conclusion of the Chinese and European authorities. It had done
its work, and the Chinese naturally regarded the presence of this
formidable and somewhat unruly force with no little apprehension. The
Taepings were now confined to Nanking, and the Viceroy, Tseng Kwofan,
felt confident that before long he would be able to capture that city.
The British Government had decided that the service of Major Gordon
under the Chinese should terminate on 1st June 1864, and some weeks
before that order was put in force the army was quietly disbanded,
without any disturbance or display. The troops themselves would have
given their commander a demonstration, but he evaded them, and escaped
quietly into Shanghai, passing without regret from the position of the
arbiter of an Empire's destiny to the routine of an English officer's
existence. At the same time a considerable part of his force was taken
into the service of Li Hung Chang.
Gordon's own opinion of his work was given in the following letter:--
"I have the satisfaction of knowing that the end of this
rebellion is at hand, while, had I continued inactive, it might
have lingered on for years. I do not care a jot about my
promotion or what people may say. I know I shall leave China as
poor as I entered it, but with the knowledge that, through my
weak instrumentality, upwards of eighty to one hundred thousand
lives have been spared. I want no further satisfaction than
this."
Having retired from the active direction of the campaign, Gordon still
retained sufficient interest in the work he had had in hand so long to
incline him to accept an invitation to visit the lines of Tseng Kwofan
before Nanking. On 26th June he visited that Viceroy's camp, and found
that his position extended over from twenty-four to thirty miles, and
that he commanded 80,000 troops, who were, however, badly armed. The
troops were well fed, but ill paid, and at last confident of success.
While Gordon was there, or only a few hours after he left, Tien Wang,
the leader of the moribund Taeping cause, seeing no chance of escape,
swallowed gold leaf in the approved regal fashion, and died. On the
19th July the Imperialists succeeded in running a gallery under the
wall of Nanking, and in charging it with 40,000 lbs. of powder. The
explosion destroyed fifty yards of the wall, and the Imperialists at
once stormed the breach. Chung Wang made a valiant defence in his own
palace, and then cut his way out, at the head of 1000 men. Very few of
these escaped, but Chung Wang and the young Tien Wang, son of the
defunct leader, were among the fortunate few. Chung Wang was soon
captured, and beheaded on 7th August, after being allowed a week's
respite to write the history of the Taeping rebellion. At least it may
be claimed for him that he was the only true hero of the rebel
movement. Gordon's own estimation of this leader is given in these
words:--
"He was the bravest, most talented, and enterprising leader the
rebels had. He had been in more engagements than any other rebel
leader, and could always be distinguished. His presence with the
Taepings was equal to a reinforcement of 5000 men, and was always
felt by the superior way in which the rebels resisted. He was the
only rebel chief whose death was to be regretted; the others, his
followers, were a ruthless set of bandit chiefs."
The young Tien Wang was eventually captured and executed. Thus
terminated, in the blood of its authors and leaders, the great
rebellion, which had inflicted an incalculable amount of misery and
loss on the Chinese people in a vain attempt to subvert the existing
dynasty. Six hundred cities were stated to have been destroyed during
its course, and sixteen out of the eighteen provinces to have
witnessed the ravages of civil war.
Having thus concluded his work as commander of the Ever Victorious
Army, it might have been thought that Gordon would be allowed to carry
out his own wish of returning home as quickly as possible, but the
English, as well as the Chinese, authorities were desirous of
organising a purely Chinese force, with the object of supplying the
Government with the means of asserting its authority over any internal
enemies. Sir Frederick Bruce came specially from Pekin to Shanghai on
the subject, and Gordon undertook to give the necessary organisation
his personal supervision until it was in fair working order. From the
end of June until the middle of November Colonel Gordon was engaged in
the Chinese camp, which was formed at a place near Sungkiang, drilling
recruits, and endeavouring to inspire the officers with the military
spirit. He describes his work in the following short note, which is
also interesting as expressing his impressions about the Chinese
people:--
"I have the manual, and platoon, and company drill in full swing,
also part of the battalion drill, and one or two men know their
gun drill very fairly. This is so far satisfactory, and I think,
if the whole country was not corrupt, they might go on well and
quickly, but really it is most irritating to see the jealousies
of the mandarins of one another. The people are first-rate,
hard-working, and fairly honest; but it seems as soon as they
rise in office they become corrupt. There is lots of vitality in
the country, and there are some good men; but these are kept down
by the leaden apathy of their equals, who hate to see reform,
knowing their own deficiencies."
By the end of November Gordon was able to think of returning home, as
he had given a start to military reform in China; but before he sailed
he had to receive a congratulatory address from the most prominent
citizens and merchants of Shanghai, expressing their "appreciation and
admiration of his conduct." They had not always been so
discriminating, and at the beginning their sympathies had been for the
Taepings, or at least for strict non-intervention. The Chinese
Government also gave exceptional signs of its gratitude to the
noble-minded soldier, who had rendered it such invaluable aid. It
again offered him a large sum of money, which was declined with as
much firmness, although less emphasis, as on the earlier occasion. But
he could not reject the promotion offered him to the high rank of
Ti-Tu, or Field Marshal in the Chinese army, or churlishly refuse to
receive the rare and high dignity of the Yellow Jacket. The English
reader has been inclined on occasion to smile and sneer at that
honour, but its origin was noble, and the very conditions on which it
was based ensured that the holders should be very few in number.
The story of its origin will admit of being retold. When the Manchus
conquered China, in the middle of the seventeenth century, they
received material aid from a Chinese soldier named Wou Sankwei. He was
rewarded with the Viceroyalty of the whole of south-western China, in
which region he became supreme. After many years the Manchus thought
he posed with too great an air of independence, and he was summoned to
Peking to give an account of his stewardship. But Wou Sankwei was too
old to be caught by so simple a ruse. He defied the Manchus, and
established his authority throughout the larger part of the country
south of the Great River. The young and afterwards illustrious Emperor
Kanghi threw himself into the struggle with ardour, and it continued
for many years, and devastated almost as large an area as did the
Taeping rebellion. Kanghi did not obtain a decisive triumph until
after the death of Wou Sankwei, when he bestowed a yellow riding
jacket and an ornament of peacock's feathers for the cap on his
principal lieutenants. He also decreed that this decoration should be
made a regular order, to be conferred only on generals who had led
victorious armies against rebel forces. Gordon was thus perfectly
qualified to receive the order founded by the famous Manchu
contemporary of the Grand Monarque.
The Chinese Government also sent him six mandarin dresses in the
correct fashion for a commanding officer of the rank of Ti-Tu, and a
book explaining how they should be worn. Gordon said very little about
it, his only comment being: "Some of the buttons on the mandarin hats
are worth thirty or forty pounds. I am sorry for it, as they cannot
afford it over well; it is, at any rate, very civil of them." The two
Empress Regents also struck a heavy gold medal in his honour, the
destination of which will be told hereafter, and Li Hung Chang did
everything possible to demonstrate the respect and regard he
entertained for his European colleague. That that was no transitory
feeling was well shown thirty-two years later, when the famous Chinese
statesman seized the occasion of his visit to London to place wreaths
on the statue and cenotaph of his old comrade in arms. General Gordon
valued the Yellow Jacket and the Gold Medal very highly. When he gave
up the medal for the cause of charity he felt its loss keenly, and it
became a phrase with him to signify the height of self-sacrifice to
say, "You must give up your medal." Prince Kung, in a special and
remarkable despatch to the British Minister, narrated in detail the
achievements of Gordon, and declared in graceful language that "not
only has he shown himself throughout both brave and energetic, but his
thorough appreciation of that important question, a friendly
understanding between China and foreign nations, is also deserving of
the highest praise." The Minister was requested to bring these facts
to the notice of the British Government, and it was even suggested by
the Chinese Prince that some reward that Gordon would appreciate at
the hands of his own Sovereign should be conferred on him, and would
be hailed with satisfaction in China. If I add to this list the sword
of Chung Wang, captured from one of his lieutenants, and presented
afterwards by Gordon to the Duke of Cambridge, the rewards of Gordon
from the Chinese are fully catalogued. At the hands of his own
Government he received for his magnificent service a brevet
lieutenant-colonelcy, and somewhat later the Companionship of the
Bath.
Gordon had kept a journal, which he sent home; but subsequently, on
finding that it was being circulated, he destroyed it. Of this fact
there is no doubt, and it is of course impossible to say whether it
contained more than the manuscript history of the Taeping war, which
he lent me in 1881 as "a trustworthy narrative" for the purposes of my
"History of China," and which was published many years later as a
separate volume. The authorship of that history is a matter of
speculation, but there seems little or no doubt that it was at least
compiled under Gordon's own direction, from the reports of his
lieutenants in China, and completed during his residence at Gravesend.
Of the true personal journal Gordon wrote in 1864: "I do not want the
same published, as I think, if my proceedings sink into oblivion, it
would be better for every one; and my reason for this is that it is a
very contested point whether we ought to have interfered or not, on
which point I am perfectly satisfied that it was the proper and humane
course to pursue, but I still do not expect people who do not know
much about it to concur in the same.... I never want anything
published. I am sure it does no good, and makes people chary of
writing."
The same feeling came out in his last letter to his mother from China,
17th November 1864: "The individual is coming home, but does not wish
it known, for it would be a signal for the disbanded to come to
Southampton, and although the waits at Christmas are bad, these others
are worse." Such a wish as this was impossible of gratification. The
public press could not be silenced by the modesty of this retiring
commander whose deeds had been so heroic and devoid of selfish
purpose. The papers became so filled with accounts of his achievements
that he gave up reading them, but _The Times_ had at least
crystallised the opinion of the day into a single sentence: "Never did
soldier of fortune deport himself with a nicer sense of military
honour, with more gallantry against the resisting, and with more mercy
towards the vanquished, with more disinterested neglect of
opportunities of personal advantage, or with more entire devotion to
the objects and desires of his own Government, than this officer who,
after all his victories, has just laid down his sword."
The more calmly and critically the deeds of the Ever Victorious Army
and Gordon's conduct during the campaign against the Taepings are
considered, the greater will be the credit awarded to the high-minded,
brave, and unselfish man who then gained the sobriquet of "Chinese"
Gordon. Among all the deeds of his varied and remarkable career he
never succeeded in quite the same degree in winning fame and in
commanding success. At Khartoum the eyes of the world were on him, but
the Mahdi was allowed to remain victorious, and the Soudan still
awaits fresh conquest. But during the two Taeping campaigns he was
completely successful, and closed his work with an unqualified
triumph. It was also the only occasion when he led an army in the
field, and proved his claims to be considered a great commander. Of
serious warfare it may be said to have been his last experience, for
his own Government was very careful to give him no active military
employment--garrison, and even consular duties being deemed more
suitable for this victorious leader than the conduct of any of those
little expeditions commencing with the Red River and Ashanti for which
he was pre-eminently qualified--and under the Khedive he controlled an
army without finding a real foe. Gordon's title to rank among skilful
military commanders rests on his conduct at the head of the Ever
Victorious Army during the Taeping war. It has earned the praise of
many competent military authorities as well as the general admiration
of the public, and Lord Wolseley must have had it in his mind when, in
vindicating his sanity, he exclaimed that he "wished other English
generals had been bitten with his madness."
Those who have thought that Gordon won his victories in China by sheer
personal gallantry, and nothing else, have taken a very shallow view
of the case, and not condescended to study the details. In his general
conception of the best way to overcome the Taepings he was necessarily
hampered by the views, wishes, jealousies, and self-seeking purposes
of his Chinese colleagues. But for them, his strategy would have been
of a very different character, as he himself often said. He had to
adjust his means to the best attainable end, and it must be allowed
that he did this with remarkable tact and patience--the very qualities
in which he was naturally most deficient. If we consider his strategy
as being thus fettered by the Chinese officials Li Hung Chang and
General Ching, whose first object was not so much the overthrow of the
Taeping Government as the expulsion of the Taepings from the province
for which they were responsible, it will be admitted that nothing
could be better than his conception of what had to be done, and how it
was to be effected. The campaign resolved itself into the cutting off
of all their sources of supply from the sea and Treaty ports, and the
shutting up of their principal force within the walls of Soochow. How
well and successfully that was accomplished has been narrated, but a
vainglorious commander could not have been held back after the fall of
Chanchufu from leading his victorious force to achieve a crowning
triumph at Nanking, which Gordon could easily have carried by assault
before the order in council withdrawing his services came into effect.
More frequent opportunity was afforded for Gordon to reveal his
tactical skill than his strategical insight, and in this respect the
only trammels he experienced were from the military value and
efficiency of his force, which had its own limitations. But still it
would be unjust to form too poor an estimate of the fighting
efficiency and courage of either Gordon's force or his Taeping
opponents from the miserable exhibition the Chinese recently made of
themselves during the war with Japan. The heavy losses incurred, the
several repulses Gordon himself experienced, would alone tell a
different tale, if there were not the obstinate resistance offered to
General Staveley and the French by the Taepings to show that they were
not altogether contemptible adversaries. Gordon himself thought that
his force could fight very well, and that his officers, if somewhat
lacking in polish, were not to be surpassed in dash and devilry. For
the Taepings, especially behind walls, and when it was impossible to
out-manoeuvre them, he had also the highest opinion, and his first
object on every occasion was to discover a weak point in their
position, and his patience and perspicuity were generally rewarded.
The very first step he took on approaching any place that he had to
attack was to reconnoitre it himself, either on foot or in one of his
steamers, and he wrote a powerful despatch pointing out the general
neglect of this precaution in the conduct of our Eastern campaigns,
with its inevitable heavy attendant loss of precious lives. As he
truly said, a careful reconnaissance generally revealed points of
weakness in the enemy's position, and the Taepings, like all Asiatics,
were easily demoralised when their line of retreat was threatened, or
when attacked at some point where their preparations had not been
perfected. Among his own personal qualifications, his untiring energy
and his exceptional promptitude in coming to a decision were the most
remarkable. No exertion relaxed his effort or diminished his ardour,
and in face of fresh perils and disappointments he was always ready
with a new plan, or prepared with some scheme for converting defeat
into victory. One of his chief characteristics was his quickness in
seeing an alternative course of action when his original plan had
either failed or been thwarted by others. Of his personal courage and
daring sufficient instances have been given to justify the assertion
that in those qualities he was unsurpassable; and if he had never done
anything else than lead the Ever Victorious Army, it would be
sufficient to secure him a place among the most remarkable of English
soldiers. In China he will be remembered for his rare self-abnegation,
for his noble disdain of money, and for the spirit of tolerance with
which he reconciled the incompatible parts of "a British officer and a
Chinese mandarin."