CHINESE WAR AND TAIPING REBELLION
A stout old Scotch lady when asked about her health, replied that she
was "weel i' pairts, but ower muckle to be a' weel at ane time." If the
old lady was too large to be perfectly well all over at the same time,
may it not be said that in this respect China resembled her in 1860?
The largest empire in the world was suffering from external as well as
internal troubles. A great portion of the country was given up to all
the horrors of civil war conducted on an enormous scale, while the
united armies of England and France were assaulting it from without.
Space does not permit a detailed account of the causes which led
England to declare war on China. This war was but a phase in a dispute
that had been going on since 1837 between the two countries. In 1842,
to our shame it must be said, by force of arms we compelled the Chinese
to receive opium from India, and thenceforward a very sore feeling
existed against us. Just before the Indian Mutiny this feeling was
awakened by a trifling event, and war was again declared, though, owing
to the outbreak of the Mutiny, we did not press matters for a time. As
soon as our hands were free in India, operations in China were actively
pushed forward, the French troops joining us on account of the murder
of some French missionaries. The war was practically a walk-over, for
the Chinese army was quite incapable of meeting trained forces; and a
treaty having been agreed upon, the representatives of the English and
French returned home.
In March 1859 Mr. Frederick Bruce, brother to Lord Elgin, was sent out
as Minister Plenipotentiary to China, and instructed to proceed to
Pekin to exchange the ratifications of the treaty. He was to be
accompanied by Admiral Hope, the English admiral commanding in China.
Pekin lies inland about a hundred miles, being connected with the sea
by the river Peiho, the entrance to which was commanded by the Taku
Forts. For some reason, the Chinese did not want Mr. Bruce to proceed
to Pekin, or at all events they objected to his proceeding by the river
route, as he proposed. Obstacles to the progress of our ships were put
in the way, and the Chinese refused to remove them. Mr. Bruce thereupon
called upon the Admiral to take steps for their removal, and on his
attempting to do so, the Chinese fired on the English ships with such
telling effect that four gunboats were placed _hors de combat_. Nor was
the Admiral more successful when he attempted to storm the forts. The
result of that day's work was that out of 1100 men in the English force
nearly 450 were killed or wounded. The feeling in England was, that
though Mr. Bruce had acted very hastily in thus committing England to
another war without definite instructions from home, the matter could
not be allowed to rest. The French again joined us, and Sir Hope Grant,
who had distinguished himself in the Indian Mutiny, was appointed to
the command. This General, it may be remarked, was an earnest Christian
no less than an eminent soldier. The Taku Forts were captured and the
troops were marching on Pekin, when the Chinese sought to open
negotiations, in order to prevent our army from entering their capital.
Our representatives consented to enter into negotiations at Tungchow, a
place about a dozen miles from Pekin. Some English officers,
accompanied by a few of the staff of the English and French envoys,
went forward to Tungchow, to make the necessary arrangements for the
interview of the envoys with the Chinese commissioners. A
misunderstanding arose, and twenty-six British and twelve French
subjects were seized, in spite of the flag of truce, and hurried off to
different prisons. Their sufferings as prisoners were frightful, the
result being that half of them died, while the remainder, when
released, bore evident signs of the ill-treatment they had undergone.
The allied armies at once marched on Pekin, and Lord Elgin refused to
treat with the Chinese till the prisoners were restored, which did not
take place till the gates of the city were about to be blown in. The
Chinese were compelled to pay L10,000 for each European and L500 for
each native soldier captured, in addition to having their famous Summer
Palace, valued by some at the almost fabulous sum of L4,000,000,
destroyed.
* * *
Gordon at this time was adjutant of engineers at Chatham, a post a good
deal esteemed by officers of his rank. He had lost the opportunity of
seeing active service in India, but he was determined that it should be
no fault of his if he were not sent out to China. He resigned his
appointment at Chatham, an act which greatly annoyed his father and
many of his friends. Even a high official in the War Office considered
that he was damaging his prospects for life; whereas it turned out that
by going to China he got that opportunity of exercising his talents and
displaying his abilities which he might otherwise never have met with.
Not leaving England till the 22nd of July 1860, he was too late to take
part in the principal action, the taking of the Taku Forts, which were
assaulted on the 21st August. He writes to his mother from Hong-Kong,
"I am rather late for the amusement, which will not vex you." He
arrived at Tientsin on September 26th, and marched with Sir Hope
Grant's force to Pekin. The following is his description of the only
part he was allowed to take before the Chinese surrendered:--
"We were sent down in a great hurry to throw up works and batteries
against the town, as the Chinese refused to give up the gate we
required them to surrender before we would treat with them. The
Chinese were given until noon on October 13 to give up the Anting
gate. We made a lot of batteries, and everything was ready for the
assault of the wall, which is battlemented and forty feet high, but
of inferior masonry. At 11.30 P.M. on the 12th, however, the gate
was opened, and we took possession; so our work was of no avail."
The English and French armies left Pekin on November 8th, a little over
three weeks after the fall of the city, and returned to Tientsin, to
take up their quarters for the ensuing cold weather. Captain Gordon was
the senior engineer officer left behind, and he remained till the
spring of 1862, performing the ordinary engineer duties of providing
accommodation for men and horses. During his stay at Tientsin there is
little of any interest to record. He wisely relieved the monotony of
camp life by making a journey to the Great Wall of China, which has
been visited by very few of our countrymen. He was doubtless prompted
by curiosity to undertake this expedition, but other motives were also
at work. He was a born soldier, he was good at surveying, and doubtless
he was anxious to ascertain by personal observation if any other route
existed than the well-known one by which a Russian army could march on
Pekin; but he was unsuccessful in finding one. During the journey the
cold was very severe; in one place, he says, "the raw eggs were frozen
hard as if they had been boiled."
* * *
It has been already mentioned that China was troubled by an extensive
civil war, which had been going on for many years. It appears to have
commenced in the province of Quang-Tung, and to have been headed by a
schoolmaster, Hung-tsue-schuen. That there must have been good cause
for the dissatisfaction which caused the outbreak is clear from the
fact that not only did thousands join the rising, but that among the
rebels were men of great ability. The leader seems to have been a
strange mixture of good and evil, and at one time appears to have had
an inclination towards Christianity. Unfortunately the evil part of his
nature predominated, and his head was turned by his success. During the
time the Chinese troops were engaged in war with the English, the
rebels had it pretty well their own way, and large tracts of the
country were devastated. Intoxicated with success, the rebels
threatened to attack Shanghai, and the merchants there, seeing how
incapable the Government was to protect them, subscribed to form a
small army to protect their interests. The command of this force was
given to an American named Ward, who appears to have been a born
soldier. His career was short, but he was engaged in seventy actions
and never lost one. So successful was he, that the Pekin authorities
conferred on his troops the pretentious title of "Ever-Victorious
Army." Unfortunately for that army, it soon lost its able commander,
for in September 1862 he was killed when assaulting a city near Ningpo.
He was succeeded by an American adventurer named Burgevine, who turned
out a complete failure, being one of that type of unprincipled men who
do so much harm in non-Christian countries. When he was dismissed,
application was made to the English General to appoint an English
officer to take command. Major Gordon had been ordered to Shanghai from
Pekin at the beginning of May 1862, and consequently had come under the
command of General Staveley, with whom, it will be remembered, he was
acquainted in the Crimea. General Staveley's duty was to clear the
country for thirty miles round Shanghai of the rebels, and in the
performance of this task Major Gordon had been employed. The opinion
that General Staveley had formed of Gordon's courage and ability in the
Crimea was confirmed in the operations around Shanghai, and the
following account is given by that General of Gordon's plucky
conduct:--
"Captain Gordon was of the greatest use to me when the task of
clearing the rebels from out of the country within a radius of
thirty miles from Shanghai had to be undertaken. He reconnoitred
the enemy's defences, and arranged for the ladder-parties to cross
the moats, and for the escalading of the works; for we had to
attack and carry by storm several towns fortified with high walls
and deep wet ditches. He was, however, at the same time a source of
much anxiety to me from the daring manner in which he approached
the enemy's works to acquire information. Previous to our attack
upon Singpo, and when with me in a boat reconnoitring the place, he
begged to be allowed to land, in order better to see the nature of
the defences. Presently, to my dismay, I saw him gradually going
nearer and nearer, by rushes from cover to cover, until he got
behind a small outlying pagoda within a hundred yards of the wall,
and here he was quietly making a sketch and taking notes. I, in the
meantime, was shouting myself hoarse in trying to get him back; for
not only were the rebels firing at him from the walls, but I saw a
party stealing round to cut him off."
There is not much more of interest to record of Gordon's doings at this
period. The rebels having been cleared out of the thirty-miles radius,
Gordon was deputed to commence a complete survey of the whole district,
and in December we find him so engaged. This occupation gave him a
thorough insight into the ways of the people and the nature of the
country. In this month he writes as follows:--
"The people on the confines are suffering greatly and dying of
starvation. This state of affairs is most sad, and the rebellion
ought to be put down. Words cannot express the horrors these people
suffer from the rebels, or the utter desert they have made of this
rich province. It is all very well to talk of non-intervention, and
I am not particularly sensitive, nor are our soldiers generally so;
but certainly we are all impressed with the utter misery and
wretchedness of these poor people."
When General Staveley was applied to for an officer to take command of
the so-called Ever-Victorious Army, his thoughts not unnaturally turned
to Gordon, who, by the way, had received the brevet rank of major at
the end of 1862. Gordon, having seen the failings and shortcomings of
our generals in the Crimea, longed for an opportunity to exercise the
gifts of which he felt conscious. General Staveley, however, shrank
from recommending him for such a dangerous post. He knew well the
plucky, chivalrous nature of the young engineer, and not unnaturally
feared that he would expose himself too much to danger. His affection
for Major Gordon made him at first refuse to recommend him for the
command, and it was not till Gordon repeatedly urged him to yield, and
promised not to expose himself more than necessary, that he consented
to submit his name to the authorities at home. A temporary commander
being urgently required, he appointed the chief of his staff, Captain
Holland, of the Royal Marines, to the post, pending the decision of the
War Office with regard to Gordon. Before the reply arrived from England
two expeditions took place, one against Fushan, under Major Brennan,
and one against the city of Taitsan, in which Captain Holland commanded
in person. Both were disastrous to the reputation of the
Ever-Victorious Army. In the attack on Taitsan some 7500 men were
engaged, about one-third belonging to the Ever-Victorious Army, while
the remainder were Chinese Imperial troops. Unfortunately, Captain
Holland took it for granted that the Mandarins were correct when they
informed him that the moat around the city contained no water, whereas
it proved to be at least thirty feet deep. This was not discovered till
the assaulting party arrived without bridges, and with nothing but
escalading ladders, which they attempted to use as bridges. The ladders
were of course not strong enough to bear the weight of the men, and
broke down. The assault was very soon turned into a rout, and the
"Ever-Victorious Army" not only lost several hundred men, but allowed
two guns to fall into the hands of the enemy.
Such a disaster clearly indicated that an abler man was required at the
head of the Ever-Victorious Army, and forthwith Major Gordon was
appointed. A letter written home at the time shows that he was
conscious that his father would not be pleased at the step he had
taken:--
"I am afraid that you will be much vexed at my having taken the
command of the Sung-kiang force, and that I am now a Mandarin. I
have taken the step on consideration. I think that any one who
contributes to putting down this rebellion fulfils a humane task,
and I also think tends a great deal to open China to civilisation.
I will not act rashly, and I trust to be able soon to return to
England; at the same time, I will remember your and my father's
wishes, and endeavour to remain as short a time as possible. I can
say that if I had not accepted the command, I believe the force
would have broken up, and the rebellion gone on in its misery for
years. I trust this will not now be the case, and that I may soon
be able to comfort you on the subject. You must not fret over the
matter. I think I am doing a good service.... I keep your likeness
before me, and can assure you and my father that I will not be
rash, and that as soon as I can conveniently, and with due regard
to the object I have in view, I will return home."
Gordon's father has been much misrepresented by some biographers. It
has been practically said that he was not able to appreciate his son's
nobility of character; but there is not a word of truth in this. The
old man saw that the post accepted by his son was one of great danger,
made all the more dangerous by that son's daring, and the fact that he
did not understand the language of the people and was not cognisant of
their manner of conducting warfare. He also was of opinion that the
Chinese Government ought to be able to deal with their own internal
affairs, and put down any rebellions that might occur without making a
cat's-paw of his son. One cannot blame the father, who only looked at
the matter in a natural way, judging the circumstances from his own
standpoint. It is impossible to consider the whole facts, and to read
the letters concerning them, without feeling that neither father nor
son had anything of which to be ashamed.
One of the most painful things in life is for a man who is fond of his
parents to have to take a step which he feels will not meet with their
approval, and we may be quite sure that Major Gordon gave this subject
his earnest and prayerful consideration. The path of duty seemed to him
to be clear, and the call was distinct. The whole country was
practically deluged in blood, and not only strong men, but hapless
women and children, were suffering. Could Gordon, knowing what he did,
and feeling conscious of his power to put down the rebellion, have
declined to enter the path so unexpectedly opened to him? Some would
have done so. But opportunities such as this, not seized, are seldom
repeated. His ability, his energies, and his powers might never have
found full scope, and might have proved a curse to him rather than a
blessing. How often one sees in life men with marked ability who are
not only unhappy themselves, but make every one around them equally so.
They seem to have missed the object for which they were created, and
instead of doing their duty in a large sphere, as they might have done,
their stunted energies prevent them from properly filling even a
smaller and humbler sphere. They have missed the opportunity of being
really great, and yet their abilities prevent them from being satisfied
with anything short of this. The call came to Gordon to take his share
in the battle of life, and to do his best to mitigate the sufferings
caused by a horrible civil war, and doubtless he pondered those words,
"He that loveth father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me." He
decided to take the path which appeared to him the one of duty; nor
need we be surprised when we know that he was a thorough Englishman of
the highest type, of whom the words are true--
"There's a heart that leaps with burning glow
The wronged and the weak to defend;
It strikes as soon for a trampled foe
As it does for a soul-bound friend."