182 



CHINA. 



The following table shows the number of 

 Protestant missionaries in China in 1864: 



The year 1864 opened with new and serious 

 disasters for the Taeping rebellion. Major 

 Gordon, early in the year, proceeded to the 

 westward, forty miles from Soochow, to a city 

 named E-shing, on the opposite side of the 

 Tae-hoo Lake. The stockades about this place 

 he took on February 29th. On the 2d of March 

 the garrison evacuated the place without firing 

 a shot. In the attacks on the stockades, Gor- 

 don had two or three killed, and four wounded. 

 He next proceeded northwestward for twenty- 

 five miles to a city named Li-ying, which was 

 captured on March 9th, without the loss of a sin- 

 gle life. The rebels who here laid down their 

 arms were about 20,000, some 4,000 of whom, 

 who resided not far distant, returned at once to 

 their homes. The commander of this place, 

 Tsze Wang, who was equal in rank to Chang 

 "Wang, had been abandoned by his own men. 

 Having taken a portion of his troops out of 

 the stockades to oppose the approaching en- 

 emy, he found, on his return, the gates shut 

 against him. Li-ying is an important place in 

 a military point of view, as it cut the rebel 

 district into two portions, and established a 

 communication with the Imperialists in the 

 west. From Li-ying Major Gordon marched 

 upon Kintang, a district town thirty miles 

 north of Li-ying, and the same distance to the 

 west of Chan-chow-foo. An attack upon this 

 town, on March 21st, was, however, repulsed 

 with severe loss to the assailants, and Major 

 Gordon himself severely wounded ; and having 

 learned that the Imperialists were falling back 

 from Chan-chow-foo, and that his communica- 

 tions were threatened, he returned to Li-ying. 

 The important city of Kiashing fell into the 

 hands of the Imperialists on March 20th, after 

 a long siege, during which the Imperialist Gen. 

 Ching, one of the ablest officers of the Chinese 

 army, was mortally wounded. On March 31st 

 the city of Hangchow was captured by the 

 Franco-Chinese and the Imperialist troops, and 

 thus nearly the entire Chekeang province clear- 

 ed of rebels. 



The Taepings, in the meanwhile, had reen- 

 forced their army by some ten to fifteen thou- 

 sand Kwang-tung and Kwangsimen, who seem 

 to have surpassed the rest of the rebel army in 

 ferocity. They travelled without any commis- 



sariat, devastating villages, and committing 

 frightful atrocities. They showed neither 

 mercy nor consideration toward foreigners, 

 and killed them just as they did others who 

 fell in their power. It was these men who 

 repulsed the Imperial troops at Chang-chow, 

 and who afterwards attacked Kiang-yin, Chang- 

 zu, and other places. On Kiang-yin their at- 

 tack failed, but at other places they succeeded. 

 Gordon, after his repulse at Kintang, deter- 

 mined on attacking this body of rebels. He 

 came up to a party of them on the 26th March, 

 about ten miles from Kiang-yin, and although 

 he had but 500 men with him, he easily scat- 

 tered them, on account of their being badly 

 armed. He then made up his mind to attack 

 their main body, which lay near Chang-zu. 

 On the 30th March he despatched Ehode 

 and Howard, with 1,000 men, to attack and 

 drive in the extreme line of the enemy. These 

 officers, however, were completely surrounded, 

 and in cutting their way out lost seven officers 

 and about 150 men. 



In April, Major Gordon, having recovered 

 from his wound, again took the field, and on 

 the llth April attacked and defeated the Tae- 

 pings at a place called "Waisoo. Previous to the 

 action the Taepings mustered over 15,000, while 

 the Imperialists were not more than 10,000. Maj. 

 Gordon next made a move upon the ' city of 

 Chang-chow-foo, which, after a siege of several 

 weeks, was captured by him in May. Soon 

 after the Imperialist army suffered a very severe 

 loss by the withdrawal of Gordon. From the 

 official correspondence between Sir F. Bruce, 

 the English Minister in Pekin, Gordon, and the 

 English Government, it appears, that before the 

 occupation of the city of Soo-chow (December, 

 1863), a promise had been given upon the re- 

 commendation of Gordon, to the chiefs of the 

 Taepings, or, as they are called, the " Wangs," 

 that their lives should be spared. Notwith- 

 standing this promise the principal Chinese 

 officer, named the Footae, ordered the eight 

 chief Wangs to be brought before him and to 

 be beheaded. As soon as Gordon heard of the 

 particulars he at once decided to retire from 

 the Chinese service unless the Footae, whose 

 name was Li, was removed from the command 

 by the Chinese Government and a public state- 

 ment made by that Government that he (Gor- 

 don) was entirely innocent of all connection 

 with the affair. So far as Gordon's inno- 

 cence was concerned, the Chinese Government, 

 the Footae himself, and all the parties con- 

 cerned, made no scruple of bearing witness to 

 it ; but they were not so compliant as related 

 to the removal of the Footae. He was a man 

 of great influence in the army, and the state 

 and the Government being either unable or 

 unwilling to remove him, set to work to apol- 

 ogize for hi conduct toward the Taeping 

 chiefs ; indeed, his conduct in patting them to 

 death was too much in accordance with Chi- 

 nese customs to be condemned by them with 

 any thing like sincerity. The result was iha* 



