184 



CHINA. 



Shanghai from Soong-keong with his body 

 guard, and entered the premises of Ta-kee, a 

 mandarin of wealth, who acted as paymaster 

 to the force. The object of this visit was to 

 obtain money for the payment of his men, 

 which was in heavy arrear. It had been re- 

 peatedly promised and as repeatedly withheld, 

 and the consequence was that the troops, be- 

 ing entirely dependent on their pay for the 

 means of subsistence, became insubordinate. 

 To prevent open mutiny, Gen. Burgevine ap- 

 pears to have given his personal promise 

 that they should receive at least a portion of 

 their dues at once, and hence his march to 

 Shanghai. A violent altercation ensued be- 

 tween him and Ta-kee, which ended in Gen. 

 Burgevine giving the Chinaman some violent 

 blows, and seizing $40,000, which he carried 

 off and distributed among the starving soldiers. 

 The Footai on this issued a proclamation de- 

 nouncing Burgevine as guilty of treason, re- 

 moving him from his command, and finishing 

 by offering a reward for his head. Gen. Bur- 

 gevine retired on board a British vessel, and 

 Captain Holland, an Englishman, was in 'his 

 place appointed to the temporary command of 

 the Chinese. Mr. Burlingame, U. S. minister 

 at Pekin, while disclaiming any right to have 

 General Burgevine restored, or to interfere in 

 the civil war, defended him against the unjust 

 charges brought against him, and at length sent 

 to the Chinese Government a kind of ultima- 

 tum demanding that the charges against Bur- 

 gevine, having been admitted by the Chinese 

 Government to be unjust, should be withdrawn. 

 The Chinese Government complied with this 

 request on the same day. 



In July, 1863, Gen. Burgevine with 500 fol- 

 lowers joined the insurgents, and the military 

 mandarin at Shanghai offered a reward of 

 1,000 for the person of Burgevine " dead or 

 alive." Against this offer, Mr. Seward, the 

 United States consul, protested, and the other 

 European consuls signed the protest. Gen. Bur- 

 gevine became, however, soon disgusted with 

 the insurgents, and left them. 



The Anglo-Chinese contingent, under Major 

 Gordon, was particularly successful against the 

 Taepings. In March, Fooshan yielded to an at- 

 tack, and the siege of Chiang-zu had to be 

 raised by the rebels. Taitsan was recaptured 

 in April, after some severe fighting, and after 

 500 men who had been sent to receive the sur- 

 render of the town from the rebel authorities 

 had been treacherously murdered. On Oct. 1 2th 

 Major Gordon captured Patolkon and Leooka- 

 dis ; on Oct. 24th, Prelung-vor (Wu-lungyow). 

 A correspondent of the Paris "Moniteur," dated 

 Shanghai, Nov. 2d, stated that Ly-Chung- 

 "Wong, the commander-in-chief of the rebel 

 troops, after a brilliant campaign of three years, 

 undertaken to relievo Kiang-si, the Ilou-nnn, 

 and the Hou-pe, had returned precipitately to 

 Nankin, which was attacked by the Imperial- 

 ists and their allies. He had increased the 

 garrison of the town to 80,000 men, and sup- 



plied it -with provisions and ammunition for 

 three years. He added to the guns on the 28 

 advanced works which form the exterior de- 

 fences of the place,. and he established an in- 

 trenched camp at Mo-ling, of which he gave 

 the command to Heon-Tien-Hia, his adopted 

 son. Chung-Wong had learned that the great- 

 er number of the towns which he captured 

 during the campaign had been retaken by the 

 allies; that, moreover, the Franco-Chinese 

 contingent was laying siege to Hangchow, 

 and that the Anglo-Chinese forces were attack- 

 ing Soochow. Should these two places fall, 

 the strategic line which the rebel general had 

 formed round Nankin, would be destroyed, 

 and in that case the Imperialists and the allies 

 would unite their forces round the capital, 

 which must be defended to the last extremity. 

 Such were the last orders given by the rebel 

 commander-in-chief. 



On December 5th, the important city of 

 Soochow capitulated to Major Gordon. From 

 the account which Major Gordon published of 

 the capitulation, it appears that the Chung 

 "Wong, who may be called the Taeping com- 

 mander-in-chief, held a council of war at Soo- 

 chow, at which all the Taeping chiefs (or 

 Wongs) were present. He suggested that, as it 

 was useless to fight against the English, both 

 Soochow and Nankin should be evacuated, 

 and that they should retire to the fastnesses of 

 Kwangsi. This all agreed to, except the Mo- 

 Wong, who had charge of the defence of Soo- 

 chow, and who was determined to defend the 

 city to the death. The Chung-Wong then with- 

 drew with all his men, and the other Wongs, 

 excepting the Mo-Wong, made overtures of sur- 

 render, promising to deliver the Mo-Wong a 

 prisoner. At a council of war, however, they 

 came to a different conclusion, and slew the 

 Mo-Wong in his presidential seat. They then 

 made terms which were distinctly understood, 

 and agreed to by the Footai, Gen. Ching, and 

 Major Gordon. These terms embraced a full 

 pardon for the Taeping chiefs and their follow- 

 ers. The city being entered under this capitula- 

 tion, the Footai decapitated all the Wongs, and 

 gave the city over to plunder, which, to a certain 

 extent, was followed by indiscriminate massacre. 

 Major Gordon exerted himself most efficiently 

 to stop the carnape, to warn the Taepings at a 

 distance of the bad faith in store for them, and 

 to give shelter to all the refugees who were in 

 the neighborhood. On finding himself in an 

 anomalous position, Major Gordon sent a com- 

 munication to Gen. Brown, the commander-in- 

 chief of the British forces in China, who was 

 on the point of leaving Shanghai for Hongkong. 

 The General immediately proceeded to Soo- 

 chow, and had an interview with both Major 

 Gordon and the Footai. He then returned to 

 Shanghai, and called a meeting of all the treaty 

 consuls. The result was simply this : that 

 Major Gordon should remain in charge of his 

 disciplined force, and act on the defensive only, 

 but quite independent of the Footai, until a 



