The Life of Gordon, Volume I
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Title: The Life of Gordon, Volume I
Author: Demetrius Charles Boulger
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THE LIFE OF GORDON
MAJOR-GENERAL, R.E., C.B.; TURKISH FIELD-MARSHAL, GRAND
CORDON MEDJIDIEH, AND PASHA; CHINESE TITU (FIELD-MARSHAL),
YELLOW JACKET ORDER.
"_'Tis a name which ne'er hath been dishonour'd,
And never will, I trust--most surely never
By such a youth as thou._"
--SWINTON ON ADAM GORDON.
by
DEMETRIUS C. BOULGER
Author of "The History of China;" "England and Russia in Central
Asia;" "Lord William Bentinck," Etc., Etc.
With Portrait
VOLUME I
London
T. Fisher Unwin
Paternoster Square
MDCCCXCVI
[All rights reserved.]
[Illustration: GENERAL GORDON
A PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN SHORTLY AFTER THE CRIMEA AND LENT BY HIS NIECE,
MISS DUNLOP.]
PREFACE.
As so many books of a more or less biographical nature have been
written about General Charles Gordon, it is both appropriate and
natural that I should preface the following pages with a statement of
a personal character as to how and why I have written another.
In the year 1881 I told General Gordon that I contemplated describing
his career as soon as I had finished writing my "History of China."
His laughing reply was: "You know I shall never read it, but you can
have all my papers now in the possession of my brother, Sir Henry
Gordon." My history took a very long time to write, and the third
volume was not published until April 1884, when General Gordon was
hemmed in, to use his own words, at Khartoum.
For over two years General Gordon's papers and letters remained in my
custody, and they included the Equator and Soudan correspondence,
which was so admirably edited by Dr Birkbeck Hill in that intensely
interesting volume, "Colonel Gordon in Central Africa." The papers
relating to China and the Taeping Rebellion were freely used in my
history. To them I have the privilege of adding in the present volume
an authoritative narrative of the events that followed the execution
of the Taeping Wangs at Soochow, and of thus rendering tardy justice
to the part taken in them by Sir Halliday Macartney. Among the
contents of the large portmanteau in which all these documents were
stored, I noticed a thick bundle of letters, in somewhat faded
handwriting, and an examination of their contents showed me that they
were of the deepest interest as relating to the important events of
the Crimean War, and to the first seven years of Gordon's service in
the Army. I at once went to Sir Henry Gordon, who honoured me with his
friendship and confidence in no less a degree than his distinguished
and ever-lamented brother, and begged of him permission to publish
them. He at once gave his consent, which was ratified by the late Miss
Augusta Gordon, the hero's favourite sister. The letters appeared in
July 1884, under the title of "General Gordon's Letters from the
Crimea, the Danube, and Armenia." In the proper place I have told what
Kinglake, the historian of the war, thought of them and their author.
In the rush of books that followed the fall of Khartoum, no favourable
opportunity for carrying out my original purpose presented itself;
and, indeed, I may say that the anonymous biographical work I
performed during the course of the year 1885 would have filled a
large-sized volume. Moreover, the terrible events of the fall of
Khartoum, and the failure of the relieving expedition, were too close
at hand to allow of a just view being taken of them, and it was
necessary to defer an intention which I never abandoned. It seemed to
me that the tenth anniversary of the fall of Khartoum would be an
appropriate occasion for the appearance of a Life claiming to give a
complete view and final verdict on the remarkable career and character
of the man, with whom his own friendly inclination had made me
exceptionally well acquainted.
In 1893, therefore, I began to take steps to carry out my project, and
to the notification of my intention and the application for assistance
in regard to unpublished papers, I received from several of the
principal representatives of the Gordon family encouraging replies.
But at this time both Sir Henry Gordon and Miss Gordon were dead, and
I discovered that the latter had bound her literary executrix, Miss
Dunlop, a niece of General Gordon's, by a promise not to divulge the
bulk of the unpublished papers during her lifetime. I am happy to
say, however, that Miss Dunlop, without accepting any responsibility
for what I have written, has with the greatest possible kindness read
these pages, and assisted me to attain complete accuracy in the facts,
so far as they relate to family and personal matters, but excluding
altogether from her purview all military and political topics. For
that co-operation, unfortunately restricted by the condition of the
promise to Miss Gordon, I avail myself of this opportunity to express
my grateful thanks; and I am also indebted to Miss Dunlop for the
youthful unpublished portrait of Gordon which forms the frontispiece
of this volume, and also for that of the house in which he was born.
When I was first confronted with the difficulty that the unpublished
papers would not be accessible to me, I contemplated the abandonment
of my task; but a brief consideration made me conclude that, even
without these documents, I had special knowledge, derived from Sir
Henry Gordon and many other sources, that would enable me to deal with
all the more important passages of General Gordon's life. The result
must be judged from the Life itself; but I have not sought to make any
partisan attack on anyone, although, when I have felt compelled to
criticise and censure, I have done so with a full sense of
responsibility as well as with reluctance. I may be pardoned the
confidence I express when I say that I am sure nothing in the
unpublished documents will affect the main conclusions to which I have
come on the Khartoum mission, its inception and disastrous close.
I am permitted by the courtesy of the proprietors of _The Times_ to
reproduce in these pages the several articles and letters which
originally appeared in the columns of that paper.
It is a personal matter, of no interest except to myself, but I should
like to state that the work would have been out much sooner but for a
long and serious illness.
DEMETRIUS C. BOULGER
_29th August 1896._
CONTENTS.
VOLUME I.
CHAP. PAGE
I. BIRTH AND EARLY LIFE 1
II. THE CRIMEA, DANUBE, AND ARMENIA 16
III. THE CHINA WAR 45
IV. THE TAEPING REBELLION 61
V. THE EVER-VICTORIOUS ARMY 78
VI. GRAVESEND AND GALATZ 127
VII. THE FIRST NILE MISSION 141
ILLUSTRATIONS.
PORTRAIT OF GENERAL GORDON, TAKEN SOON AFTER THE CRIMEA _Frontispiece_
HOUSE IN WHICH GENERAL GORDON WAS BORN _To face page_ 16
THE LIFE OF GORDON.
CHAPTER I.
BIRTH AND EARLY LIFE.
Charles George Gordon was born on 28th January 1833, at No. 1 Kemp
Terrace, Woolwich Common, where his father, an officer in the Royal
Artillery, was quartered at the time. The picture given elsewhere of
this house will specially interest the reader as the birthplace of
Gordon. It still stands, as described by Gordon's father in a private
memoir, at the corner of Jackson's Lane, on Woolwich Common.
The name "Gordon" has baffled the etymologists, for there is every
reason to believe that the not inappropriate connection with the
Danish word for a spear is due to a felicitous fancy rather than to
any substantial reality. There is far more justification for the
opinion that the name comes through a French source than from a
Danish. The Gorduni were a leading clan of Caesar's most formidable
opponents, the Nervi; a Duke Gordon charged among the peers of
Charlemagne; and the name is not unknown at the present day in the
Tyrol. The "Gordium" of Phrygia and the "Gordonia" of Macedonia are
also names that suggest an Eastern rather than a Northern origin.
History strengthens this supposition and entirely disposes of the
Danish hypothesis. The first bearer of the name Gordon appeared in
Scotland at far too near a date to the Danish descents upon that
country to encourage the view that he was a member of that most
bitterly hated race. Nowhere were the Danes more hated or less
successful than in Scotland, yet we are asked to believe that the
founder of one of the most powerful families in that kingdom belonged
to this alien and detested people. The silence itself of the
chronicler sufficiently refutes the idea that the first Gordon was a
renegade or a traitor, as he must have been if he were a Dane.
In all probability the first Gordon, who helped Malcolm Canmore, and
received in return a large grant of lands in Berwick, which became
known as the Gordon country, was one of the many Norman knights
attracted to the Court of Edward the Confessor. Accepting for the
occasion the popular legendary version of Shakespeare, rather than the
corrected account of modern historians, he may be supposed to have
found his way north to the camp of Siward, where the youthful and
exiled Scotch Prince had sought shelter from Macbeth, and it is no
undue stretch of fancy to suggest that he took his part in the
memorable overthrow of that usurper at Dunsinane, and thus obtained
the favour of his successor. The growth of the Gordon family in place
and power was rapid. To the lands on the borders was soon added the
Huntly country on Deeside, where Aboyne Castle now stands, and in a
very short period the Gordons ranked among the most powerful and
warlike clans of Scotland. As Sir Walter Scott wrote of Adam Gordon,
in words which might be appropriately applied to the subject of this
biography:
"'Tis a name which ne'er hath been dishonour'd,
And never will, I trust--most surely never
By such a youth as thou!"
Be its remote origin what it may, no name has appeared more
prominently or more honourably in the British Army Lists during the
last century and a half than that of Gordon. One of the most famous of
our regiments bears and has nobly upheld the name. In honourable and
friendly rivalry with the equally numerous and equally distinguished
clans of Grant and Cameron, the Gordons have figured on every
battlefield from Minden to Candahar, thus establishing at the same
time the political wisdom of Chatham, who first turned the Highlanders
from a cause of danger into a source of strength, and the military
ardour and genius of their own race. Thus it came to pass that the
spirit of remote warlike ages was perpetuated, and that the profession
of arms continued to be the most natural one for any bearer of the
name Gordon. It is not surprising, therefore, to find that the
practice of his nearest relations, as well as the traditions of his
race, marked out Charles Gordon for a soldier's career.
Passing over an uncertain connection with the General Peter Gordon,
who rose high in the Russian service under Peter the Great, the
nearest direct ancestor of whom we can speak with absolute confidence
was Charles Gordon's great-grandfather David Gordon, who served as a
lieutenant in Lascelles' regiment of foot--afterwards the 47th
Regiment--at the battle of Prestonpans. Although the majority of the
clans were still loyal to the Stuarts, it seems from this that some of
them had entered the Hanoverian service probably in that most
distinguished regiment, the First Royal Scots, which a few years
before Culloden had fought gallantly at Fontenoy. At Prestonpans David
Gordon had the bad fortune to be made prisoner by the forces of
Charles Edward, and he found on the victorious side the whole of the
Gordon clan, under the command of Sir William Gordon of Park, a
younger son of the Earl of Huntly. As he was able to claim kindred
with Sir William, David Gordon received better treatment than he might
have expected, and in a short time was allowed to go free, either on
an exchange of prisoners or more probably on his parole. This incident
is specially interesting, because, after making every allowance for
the remoteness and vagueness of the old Highland custom of cousinship,
it seems to bring Charles Gordon's ancestry into sufficiently close
relationship with the main Gordon stem of the Huntlys. After his
release David Gordon does not appear to have taken any further part in
the war which terminated at Culloden, and he emigrated shortly
afterwards to North America, where his death is recorded as having
taken place at a comparatively early age at Halifax in the year 1752.
That he came of gentle blood is also proved by the fact that the Duke
of Cumberland stood sponsor to his son, who bore the Duke's names of
William Augustus. This second Gordon, of the particular branch that
has interest for us, also entered the army, and held a commission in
several regiments. The most memorable event in his life was his taking
part in Wolfe's decisive victory on the heights of Abraham. In 1773 he
married a lady, Miss Anna Maria Clarke, whose brother was rector of
Hexham in Northumberland, and by her had a family of four daughters
and three sons. Of the latter, two died at an early age, and only the
youngest, William Henry, born in 1786, survived to manhood. He is
especially interesting to us, because he was the father of General
Gordon.
Like his father and grandfather, William Henry Gordon chose the
profession of a soldier, and entered the Royal Artillery. He saw a
great deal of active service, being with his corps in the Peninsula
and at Maida, commanding at a later period the Artillery at Corfu and
Gibraltar, and attaining before his death in 1865 the rank of
Lieutenant-General. He was also connected with the Woolwich Arsenal as
Director of the Carriage Department. He has been described as an
excellent officer if a somewhat strict disciplinarian, and his firm
character of noble integrity lived again in his sons. He married, in
1817, Elizabeth, the daughter of Samuel Enderby, a merchant whaler,
one of those west country worthies who carried on the traditions of
Elizabeth to the age of Victoria. It would not be possible to present
a complete picture of Gordon's mother, and therefore none will be
attempted here; but all the available evidence agrees in describing
her as a paragon of women, and as having exercised an exceptional
influence over her children. Gordon himself bore the most expressive
testimony to her virtues and memory when, long years afterwards, he
closed an exordium on the filial affection due to a mother with the
outburst--"Oh! how my mother loved me!"
Such in brief were the forebears of the hero who comes next after
Nelson in national veneration. To understand him and his career, it
must be remembered that he came of a gallant race, with a quick sense
of honour, seeing clearly the obvious course of duty, and never
hesitating in its fulfilment. These qualities were not peculiar to the
man, but inherited from his race, and as they had never been
contaminated by the pursuit of wealth in any form, they retained the
pristine vigour and fire of a chivalrous and noble age. What was
personal and peculiar to Charles Gordon had to be evolved by
circumstance and the important occurrences with which it was his lot
to be associated throughout his military and public career, but his
soldierly talent and virtue must be mainly assigned to the traditions
and practice of his ancestors.
Of the five sons of General William Henry Gordon and Elizabeth
Enderby, Charles George Gordon was the fourth. His eldest brother,
Henry William Gordon, born in 1818, had entered the army, first in the
8th Regiment, and transferred in a short time to the 59th, when, at
the early age of ten, Charles Gordon was sent off to school at
Taunton. The selection of this school in the western country was due
to the head-master, Mr Rogers, being a brother of a governess in the
Gordon family. Little is known of his early childhood beyond the fact
that he had lived, before he was ten, at Corfu, where his father held
a command for some years. The Duke of Cambridge has publicly stated
that he recollects, when quartered at Corfu at this period, having
seen a bright and intelligent boy who occupied the room next to his
own, and who subsequently became General Gordon. At Taunton Gordon
remained during the greater part of five years, enjoying the
advantages of one of the most excellent grammar schools in the West of
England, and although he failed to make any special mark as a scholar,
I find that, whether on account of his later fame or for some special
characteristic that marked him out from the general run of boys, his
name is still remembered there by something more than the initials cut
upon his desk. If he distinguished himself in anything it was in
map-making and drawing, and he exhibited the same qualifications to
the end of his career. How careful and excellent the grounding at
Taunton school must have been was shown by the fact that, after one
year's special coaching at Mr Jefferies' school at Shooter's Hill,
Gordon passed direct into the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich. It
is noteworthy that during the whole of the period we are now
approaching, he never showed the least tendency to extravagance, and
his main anxiety seems to have been to save his parents all possible
expense, more especially because they had a large family of daughters.
To the end of his life, and in each successive post, Gordon was the
slave of duty. At this time, and during the years that follow, down to
the Chinese campaigns, his guiding thought was how to save his family
the smallest expense on his account, and yet at the same time to hold
his head high, and to show himself worthy of his race.
Gordon entered the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich in 1848, when he
had not completed his sixteenth year, and during the four years he
remained there he gave some evidence of the qualities that
subsequently distinguished him, at the same time that he showed a
lightness of disposition which many will think at strange variance
with the gravity and even solemnity of his later years. Among his
fellow-students he was not distinguished by any special or exclusive
devotion to study. He was certainly no bookworm, and he was known
rather for his love of sport and boisterous high spirits than for
attention to his lessons or for a high place in his class. More than
once he was involved in affairs that, if excusable and natural on the
score of youth, trenched beyond the borders of discipline, and the
stories of life at the Academy that he recited for many years after he
left were not exactly in harmony with the popular idea of the ascetic
of Mount Carmel.
As the reader treasures up the boyish escapades of Nelson and Clive,
so will enduring interest be felt in those outbreaks of the boy
Gordon, which made him the terror of his superiors. They are recorded
on the unimpeachable evidence of his elder brother, and some of them
were even narrated by Gordon himself to his niece nearly thirty years
after they happened. Sir Henry is the writer.
"Charles Gordon with a brother (William Augustus) more unruly
than himself, finding the time hang heavily upon their hands
during the vacation, employed themselves in various ways. Their
father's house (at Woolwich) was opposite to that of the
Commandant of the Garrison, and was overrun with mice. These were
caught, the Commandant's door quietly opened, and the mice were
transferred to new quarters. In after life (that is in 1879, when
in the Soudan) Charles Gordon wrote to one of his nieces: 'I am
glad to hear the race of true Gordons is not extinct. Do you not
regret the Arsenal and its delights? You never, any of you, made
a proper use of the Arsenal workmen as we did. They used to
neglect their work for our orders, and turned out some splendid
squirts--articles that would wet you through in a minute. As for
the crossbows we had made, they were grand with screws. One
Sunday afternoon twenty-seven panes of glass were broken in the
large storehouses. They were found to have been perforated with a
small hole (ventilation), and Captain Soady nearly escaped a
premature death; a screw passed his head, and was as if it had
been screwed into the wall which it had entered. Servants were
kept at the door with continual bell-ringings. Your uncle Freddy
(a younger brother) was pushed into houses, the bell rung, and
the door held to prevent escape. Those were the days of the
Arsenal.'"
Sir Henry continues:
"But what Charles Gordon considered as his greatest achievement
was one that he in after years often alluded to. At this time
(1848) the senior class of Cadets, then called the Practical
Class, were located in the Royal Arsenal, and in front of their
halls of study there were earthworks upon which they were
practised from time to time in profiling and other matters. The
ins and outs of these works were thoroughly well known to Charles
Gordon and his brother, who stole out at night--but we will leave
him to tell his own story. He says: 'I forgot to tell----of how
when Colonel John Travers of the Hill Folk (he lived on Shooter's
Hill) was lecturing to the Arsenal Cadets in the evening, a crash
was heard, and every one thought every pane of glass was broken;
small shot had been thrown. However, it was a very serious
affair, for like the upsetting of a hive, the Cadets came out,
and only darkness, speed, and knowledge of the fieldworks thrown
up near the lecture-room enabled us to escape. That was before I
entered the curriculum. The culprits were known afterwards, and
for some time avoided the vicinity of the Cadets. I remember it
with horror to this day, for no mercy would have been shown by
the Pussies, as the Cadets were called.'"
After he entered the Academy the same love of fun and practical joking
characterised him. Sir Henry writes: "After he had been some time at
the Academy and earned many good-conduct badges, an occasion arose
when it became necessary to restrain the Cadets in leaving the
dining-hall, the approach to which was by a narrow staircase. At the
top of this staircase stood the senior corporal, with outstretched
arms, facing the body of Cadets. This was too much for Charlie Gordon,
who, putting his head down, butted with it, and catching the officer
in the pit of the stomach not only sent him down the stairs, but
through the glass door beyond. The officer jumped up unhurt, and
Gordon was placed in confinement and nearly dismissed.
"Upon another occasion, when he was near his commission, a great deal
of bullying was going on, and in order to repress it a number of the
last comers were questioned, when one of them said that Charlie Gordon
had on one occasion hit him on the head with a clothesbrush. The lad
admitted it was not a severe blow; nevertheless Charlie Gordon was for
this slight offence put back six months for his commission, which
turned out well in the end, since it secured for him a second
lieutenancy in the Royal Engineers in place of the Royal Artillery."
This alteration in the branch of the service to which he was attached
was due to his own act. He decided that, as his contemporaries would
be put ahead of him, he would work for the Engineers instead of the
Artillery.
Even to the end of his life there were two sides to his character.
Private grief, much disappointment, and a long solitary existence,
contributed to make him a melancholy philosopher, and a sometimes
austere critic of a selfish world, but beneath this crust were a
genial and generous disposition that did not disdain the lighter side
of human nature, a heart too full of kindness to cherish wrath for
long, and an almost boyish love of fun that could scarcely be
repressed. If this was the individual in his quieter and contemplative
moods, an energy that never tired, and a warlike spirit that only
needed the occasion to blaze forth, revealed the man of action. It may
be pronounced a paradox to say so, but to the end of his life the true
Gordon was more of the soldier than the saint.
Even in the midst of his escapades at the Academy, something of the
spirit of the future hero revealed itself. However grave the offence
or heavy the punishment, he was never backward in taking his share--or
more than his share--of the blame for any scrape into which he and his
friends were brought by their excessive high spirits. On more than one
occasion his ardour and sense of justice resulted in his being made
the scapegoat of worse offenders, and it seems probable that he
generally bore more than his proper share of the blame and punishment
for acts of insubordination. But there were limits to his capacity of
suffering and sense of guilt, and when one of his superiors declared
that he "would never make an officer," he touched a point of honour,
and Gordon's vigorous and expressive reply was to tear the epaulettes
from his shoulder and throw them at his superior's feet. In this
incident the reader will not fail to see a touch and forecast of
greatness. He was ever willing to pay the penalty of youthful
indiscretion, but he was sensitive to the reproach of honour, and his
exuberant spirits detracted in no respect from his sense of the
nobility of his profession. His earnestness saved him from the
frivolity into which a light heart and good health might have led him,
and compensated for his disinclination to devote all his spare time to
the severer studies of his college.
On June 23rd, 1852, nearly four years after he entered the Royal
Military Academy, Charles Gordon passed out with the rank of second
lieutenant in the Royal Engineers. Notwithstanding some remissness in
his work, he had passed through all his examinations--"Those terrible
examinations," as he said long years afterwards--"how I remember them!
Sometimes I dream of them,"--and in accordance with the regulations in
force he was sent to Chatham for the purpose of completing there his
technical training as an engineer officer. Chatham, as is well known,
is the Headquarters of the Royal Engineer Corps, to which it stands in
the same relation as Woolwich to the Artillery. There Gordon remained
until February 1854, constantly engaged on field work and in making
plans and surveys, at which his old skill as a draughtsman soon made
him exceptionally competent. This kind of work was also far more
congenial to him than the cramming at the Academy, and he soon gained
the reputation of being an intelligent and hard-working subaltern. In
the month named he attained the grade of full lieutenant, and on
taking his step he was at once ordered to Pembroke Dock, then one of
the busiest naval depots and most important military arsenals in the
country. The war clouds were already lowering over Eastern Europe, and
although all hope of maintaining peace had not been abandoned,
arrangements were in progress for the despatch, if necessary, of a
strong naval and military expedition to the Black Sea.
At Pembroke, Gordon was at once employed on the construction of the
new fortifications and batteries considered necessary for the defence
of so important a position, and in one of his letters home he wrote:
"I have been very busy in doing plans for another fort, to be built at
the entrance of the haven. I pity the officers and men who will have
to live in these forts, as they are in the most desolate places, seven
miles from any town, and fifteen from any conveyance." Seclusion and
solitude had evidently no charms for him at that period. In another
letter about this time he wrote expressing his relief at being "free
from the temptations of a line regiment," and concluded with the
self-depreciatory remark that he was "such a miserable wretch that he
was sure to be led away." In yet another letter from Pembroke, written
not many weeks after his arrival, he reveals something of the deep
religious feeling which was no doubt greatly strengthened by his
experiences in the Crimea, and which became stronger and more
pronounced as years went on. In writing to his favourite sister in the
summer of 1854, he gives the following interesting bit of biographical
information: "You know I never was confirmed. When I was a cadet I
thought it was a useless sin, as I did not intend to alter (not that
it was in my power to be converted when I chose). I, however, took my
first sacrament on Easter Day (16th April 1854) and have communed ever
since."
Charles Gordon was still occupied on the Pembroke fortifications when
war broke out with Russia on the Eastern Question. His father was at
the time stationed at Gibraltar in command of the Royal Artillery, and
was never employed nearer the scene of hostilities during the war. But
his two elder brothers were at the front--the eldest, the late Sir
Henry Gordon, at Balaclava, where he served in the Commissariat, and
the next brother, the late General Enderby Gordon, with his battery
under Lord Raglan. At the battle of the Alma, fought on 20th September
1854, Enderby Gordon specially distinguished himself, for he worked
one of the two guns of Turner's Battery, which exercised such a
decisive influence on the fortunes of the day. Readers of Kinglake's
"History" will remember that it was the flank fire of these two guns
which compelled the Russian battery of sixteen guns on the Causeway to
retire and thus expose the Russian front to our attack. It is a little
curious to find that while one brother was thus distinguishing himself
in the first battle of the war, another was writing from Pembroke Dock
as follows: "---- says there were no artillery engaged in the battle
of the Alma, so that Enderby was safe out of that." Enderby Gordon
also distinguished himself at Inkerman, where he acted as aide-de-camp
to General Strangeways. He subsequently earned the reputation of a
good officer during the Indian Mutiny, and when he died he had, like
his father, attained the rank of Lieutenant-General, and received
besides the Companionship of the Bath. One characteristic incident has
been recorded of him. As he commanded a column in India, he had only
to ask for promotion to obtain it; this he declined to do, because he
would thus have stepped over a friend.
In General Gordon's own letters from the Crimea there are frequent
references to his eldest brother, Henry Gordon, a man of whom it may
be said here that the best was never publicly known, for during a long
and varied career, first in the combative branch of the army as an
officer of the 59th Regiment, and then as a non-combative officer in
the Ordnance Department, he showed much ability, but had few
opportunities of special distinction. In several of General Gordon's
transactions Sir Henry was closely mixed up, especially with the Congo
mission; and I should like to say, of my own knowledge, that he was
thoroughly in sympathy with all his projects for the suppression of
the slave trade, had mastered the voluminous Blue Books and official
papers, from the time of Ismail to the dark days of Khartoum, in so
thorough a manner that the smallest detail was fixed in his brain, and
had so completely assimilated his brother's views that an hour's
consultation with him was almost as fertile a source of inspiration
as it would have been with the General himself. I believe that the
original cause of Sir Henry's influence over his brother was that he
disclaimed having any, and that he most carefully avoided any attempt
to force his advice on his younger brother, as so many of our elders
deem to be their right and prerogative. General Gordon was a bad
listener to advice at any time or from anyone. He acted almost
entirely on his own judgment, and still more on his own impulse. His
first thoughts were his best thoughts, or, perhaps, as Tennyson says,
"his third thoughts, which are a maturer first." Sir Henry knew the
ingrained and unalterable character of his brother, and adapted
himself to it, partly through affection and partly through admiration,
for in his eyes Charles Gordon was the truest of heroes. No man ever
possessed a truer or more solicitous friend than General Gordon found
in him. Sir Henry was thoroughly devoted to him and his interests, and
carried out all his wishes and instructions to the very letter.
Having said this much about the relations between Gordon and his
brother, it would be an inexcusable omission to pass over the still
more striking sympathy and affection that united him with his sisters.
From his first appointment into the service he corresponded on
religious and serious subjects with his elder sister, the late Miss
Gordon, who only survived her brother a few years, with remarkable
regularity, and as time went on the correspondence became more, rather
than less constant, and in his letters to her were to be found his
most secret thoughts and aspirations. Most of the letters from the
Crimea were addressed to his mother; but, in an interesting volume
published in 1888, Miss Gordon presented the world with the remainder
of her brother's letters, spread over thirty active and eventful
years. One of General Gordon's most cherished objects, resembling in
that, as in other respects, Lord Lawrence, was to add to the comfort
of his sisters, and when he left England on his last fatal mission to
Egypt, his will, made the night before he left for Brussels, provided
that all he possessed should be held in trust for the benefit of his
well-beloved sister, Mary Augusta, and that it was to pass only on her
death to the heirs he therein designated. It is not necessary to enter
into fuller particulars on this subject, but it may be proper to say
that his affection for his other sisters was not less warm or less
reciprocated. Of his six sisters, of whom two alone survive, it is
only necessary to refer here (in addition to Miss Gordon) to the
youngest, who married Dr Andrew Moffitt, who was not merely head
medical officer with the Ever Victorious Army, but Gordon's right-hand
man in China. Dr Moffitt was a man of high courage; on one occasion he
saved Gordon's life when a Taeping attempted to murder him in his
tent, and an English officer, who served with the Force, has described
him in these two lines: "He was imbued with the same spirit as his
future brother-in-law; he was a clever Chinese scholar and an A1
surgeon." Dr Moffitt, who received a gold medal and order, besides the
Red Button of a Mandarin, from the Chinese Government for his
brilliant services against the Taepings, died prematurely. To say less
about these family relations would be an omission; to say more would
be an intrusion, and they may be left with the reflection that as no
one who knew him will dispute the depth and the strength of General
Gordon's sentiments as a friend, his feelings towards the members of
his own family cannot well be impugned.
Some account of the personal appearance of General Gordon will be
deemed necessary, and may be appropriately given at this stage,
although the subject is a dangerous one, because so very few people
form the same impression about any one's appearance. There has been
much discussion as to General Gordon's exact height, and I have been
to much pains to obtain some decisive evidence on the subject.
Unfortunately no such records as to height, etc., are kept about
officers, and my search proved fruitless, more especially as the
records at Woolwich for the period required were destroyed by fire
some years ago. The best evidence I have obtained is that of General
Gordon's tailors, Messrs Batten & Sons, of Southampton, who write: "We
consider, by measurements in our books, that General Gordon was 5 ft.
9 in." As he had contracted a slight stoop, or, more correctly
speaking, carried his head thrown forward, he looked in later life
much less than his real height. The quotations at the end of this
chapter will show some difference of opinion. His figure was very
slight, but his nervous energy could never be repressed, and he was
probably stronger than his appearance suggested. The suggestion of
delicate health in his look and aspect, arising, as he was led to
believe, but erroneously, from _angina pectoris_, or some mysterious
chest pain, may have induced a belief that he was not robust, but this
seems to have been baseless, because throughout his life, whether in
the trenches of Sebastopol, the marshes of the Yangtse delta, or the
arid plains of the Soudan, he appears to have equally enjoyed
excellent health.
The only specific mention of serious illness was during his stay in
the Soudan as Governor-General, when the chest pains became acute.
These were at length traced to an enlarged liver, and perhaps the
complaint was aggravated by excessive smoking. In the desert, far
removed from medical aid, he obtained much relief from the use of
Warburg's Tincture.
In his ordinary moods there was nothing striking about the face. The
colour of the eye was too light--yet the glance was as keen as a
rapier, and, as the little Soudan boy Capsune, whom he had educated,
said, "Gordon's eyes looked you through and through"--the features
were not sufficiently marked, the carriage of the man was too
diffident and modest to arrest or detain attention, and the
explanation of the universal badness of the numerous photographs taken
of him at all stages of his career is probably to be found in the
deficiency of colouring and contrast. Everything in his appearance
depended on expression, and expression generally baffles the
photographer. Perhaps the least objectionable of all these
portraitures is the steel plate in Dr Birkbeck Hill's volume on
"Gordon in Central Africa," and that not because it is a faithful
likeness, but because it represents a bust that might well be imagined
to belong to a hero. It was only when some great idea or some subject
in which he was interested seized his imagination that one could
perceive that the square jaw denoted unshakable resolution, and that
the pale blue eye could flash with the fire of a born leader of men.
In tranquil moments no one would have been struck by a casual glance
at his face, but these were rare, for in congenial company, and with
persons he trusted, Gordon was never tranquil, pacing up and down the
room, with only brief stops to impress a point on his listener by
holding his arm for a few seconds, and looking at him intently to see
if he followed with understanding and interest the drift of his
remarks, lighting cigarette after cigarette to enable him to curb his
own impetuosity, and demonstrating in every act and phrase the truth
of his own words that "inaction was intolerable to him." Such was the
man as I recall him on the all too few occasions when it was my
privilege and good fortune to receive him during his brief visits to
London of late years, and to hear from him his confidential views on
the questions in which he took so deep an interest. One final remark
must be hazarded about the most remarkable point after all in General
Gordon's personality. I refer to his voice. It was singularly sweet,
and for a man modulated in a very low tone, but there was nothing
womanish about it, as was the case with his able contemporary Sir
Bartle Frere, whose voice was distinctly feminine in its timbre. I
know of no other way to describe it than to say that it seemed to me
to express the thorough and transparent goodness of the speaker, and
the exquisite gentleness of his nature. If angels speak with the human
voice, Gordon's tone must have borne affinity to theirs.
In completing this subject it may be appropriate to quote a few of the
more important and interesting descriptions of his personal
appearance, contributed by those who had opportunities of seeing him.
An officer, who served with General Gordon in China, describes his
first interview with him in the following words:--
"C---- introduced me to a light-built, active, wiry, middle-sized
man of about thirty-two years of age, in the undress uniform of
the Royal Engineers. The countenance bore a pleasant frank
appearance, eyes light blue, with a fearless look in them, hair
crisp and inclined to curl, conversation short and decided. This
was Major C. G. Gordon."
General Sir Gerald Graham who, to use his own words, was Gordon's
"school-fellow at Woolwich, his comrade in the Crimea and China, and
for many years past a more or less regular correspondent," has put on
record the following interesting description of the hero, and it
should not be forgotten that, excepting his companion, Colonel Donald
Stewart, and Mr Power, General Graham was the last Englishman to see
General Gordon in this world.
"Not over 5 feet 9 inches in height, but of compact build, his
figure and gait characteristically expressed resolution and
strength. His face, although in itself unpretending, was one that
in the common phrase 'grew upon you.' Time had not streaked with
grey the crisp, curly brown hair of his youth and traced lines of
care on his ample forehead and strong clear face, bronzed with
exposure to the tropical sun. His usual aspect was serene and
quiet, and although at times a ruffling wave of uncontrollable
impatience or indignation might pass over him, it did not disturb
him long. The depth and largeness of Gordon's nature, which
inspired so much confidence in others, seemed to afford him a
sense of inner repose, so that outer disturbance was to him like
the wind that ruffles the surface of the sea, but does not affect
its depths. The force and beauty of Gordon's whole expression
came from within, and as it were irradiated the man, the steady,
truthful gaze of the blue-grey eyes seeming a direct appeal from
the upright spirit within. Gordon's usual manner charmed by its
simple, unaffected courtesy, but although utterly devoid of
self-importance he had plenty of quiet dignity, or even of
imperious authority at command when required. With his friends he
had a fund of innocent gaiety that seemed to spring from his
impulsiveness, while his strong sense of humour often enabled him
to relieve his impatience or indignation by a good-natured
sarcasm."
Two further descriptions by men who served under him at Gravesend in
the interval between the Taeping War and the first mission to the
Soudan will suffice to complete the personal impressions that may help
the reader to form some idea of the appearance of General Gordon. The
first is from the pen of Mr W. E. Lilley, who brought out a special
volume on Gordon at Gravesend.
"In Colonel Gordon's appearance there was nothing particularly
striking. He was rather under the average height, of slight
proportions, and with little of the military bearing in his
carriage, so that one would hardly have imagined that this
kindly, unassuming gentleman was already one who had attracted
the notice of his superiors by his courage and zeal in the
Crimean War, and who had won lasting renown by subduing in China
one of the greatest revolts the world had ever seen. This last
exploit had gained for him the name by which he was from that
time best known, viz. "Chinese Gordon." The greatest
characteristic of his countenance was the clear blue eye, which
seemed to have a magical power over all who came within its
influence. It read you through and through; it made it impossible
for you to tell him anything but the truth, it inspired your
confidence, it kindled with compassion at any story of distress,
and it sparkled with good humour at anything really funny or
witty. From its glance you knew at once that at any risk he would
keep his promise, that you might trust him with anything and
everything, and that he would stand by you if all other friends
deserted you."
The other impression, formed under precisely the same circumstances,
is that of Mr Arthur Stannard, recorded in the _Nineteenth Century_ of
April 1885.
"The next moment I was looking into Chinese Gordon's eyes. What
eyes they were! Keen and clear, filled with the beauty of
holiness, bright with an unnatural brightness, their expression
one of settled feverishness, the colour blue-grey as is the sky
on a bitter March morning. In spite of the beautiful goodness of
his heart and the great breadth of his charity, Gordon was far
from possessing a placid temperament or from being patient over
small things. Indeed his very energy and his single-mindedness
tended to make him impatient and irritable whenever any person or
thing interfered with his intentions or desires.... For a man of
his small stature his activity was marvellous--he seemed able to
walk every one else off their legs over rough ground or
smooth.... In Gordon strength and weakness were most
fantastically mingled. There was no trace of timidity in his
composition. He had a most powerful will. When his mind was made
up on a matter it never seemed to occur to him that there could
be anything more to say about it. Such was his superb confidence
in himself!"
When Gordon had been only a few months at Pembroke Dock he received
orders to proceed to Corfu, and believing it to be due to his father's
request, he wrote: "I suspect you used your influence to have me sent
there instead of to the Crimea. It is a great shame of you." But the
Fates were to be stronger than any private influence, for four days
after he wrote those lines he received fresh orders directing him to
leave for the Crimea without delay in charge of huts. It seems that
the change in his destination was due to Sir John Burgoyne, to whom he
had expressed the strongest wish to proceed to the scene of war. On
4th December 1854, he received his orders at Pembroke, on the 6th he
reported himself at the War Office, and in the evening of the same day
he was at Portsmouth. It was at first intended that he should go out
in a collier, but he obtained permission to proceed _via_ Marseilles,
which he pronounced "extremely lucky, as I am such a bad sailor." This
opinion was somewhat qualified later on when he found that the
Government did not prepay his passage, and he expressed the opinion
pretty freely, in which most people would concur, that "it is very
hard not to give us anything before starting." He left London on the
14th December, Marseilles in a French hired transport on the 18th, and
reached Constantinople the day after Christmas Day. He was not much
struck with anything he saw; pronounced Athens "very ugly and dirty,"
and the country around uncommonly barren; and was disappointed with
the far-famed view on approaching Constantinople. The professional
instinct displayed itself when he declared that the forts of the
Dardanelles did not appear to be very strong, as, although numerous,
they were open at the rear and overlooked by the heights behind. On
28th December Gordon left Constantinople in the _Golden Fleece_
transport conveying the 39th Regiment to Balaclava. The important huts
had not yet arrived in the collier from Portsmouth, but they could not
be far behind, and Gordon went on in advance. The huts, it may be
added, were built to contain twenty-four men, or two captains and four
subalterns, or two field-officers or one general, and the number of
these entrusted to the charge of Gordon was 320. These reinforcements
were the first sent out to mitigate the hardships the British Army
underwent during a campaign that the genius of Todleben and the
fortitude of his courageous garrison rendered far more protracted and
costly than had been anticipated.
[Illustration: THE HOUSE IN WHICH GENERAL GORDON WAS BORN, ON
WOOLWICH COMMON.]
CHAPTER II.
THE CRIMEA, DANUBE, AND ARMENIA.
Charles Gordon reached Balaclava on New Year's Day, 1855. He found
everyone engaged in foraging expeditions, that the siege of Sebastopol
excited no interest, that the road from the bay to the hill was like a
morass, and that a railway to traverse it was being slowly laid down.
Gordon remained about three weeks at Balaclava assisting in the
erection of huts, and in the conveyance of some of them to the front.
When this task was accomplished he was himself ordered to the
trenches, where his work could not fail to be more exciting and also
more dangerous than that upon which up to this he had been engaged.
Before following him it will be useful to summarise the leading events
that had taken place in the Crimea up to this date. War between
England and France on the one side, and Russia on the other, was
finally declared in March 1854, the allied forces landed in the Crimea
early in September 1854, and the first battle was fought on the Alma
stream on the 20th of that month. In that battle 60,000 allied
troops--20,000 English, 40,000 French--attacked 120,000 Russians in a
strong and well-chosen position. The result was a brilliant victory
for the allies, and there is no doubt that it was mainly won by the
dashing attack of the English Infantry. The losses were--French, 60
killed and 500 wounded; English, 362 killed and 1620 wounded, thus
furnishing clear evidence as to the force which bore the brunt of the
engagement. The Russian loss was computed to be not less than 6000, or
double that of the allies.
As the allied forces advanced towards Sebastopol the Russian Army
assumed the offensive. The brilliant and never-to-be-forgotten Cavalry
charges on 25th October, of the Light and Heavy Brigades, under
Cardigan and Scarlett respectively, at Balaclava in the valley that
stretched at the foot of the hills overlooking the bay of that name,
had not merely vindicated the reputation of English horsemen for dash
and daring, but had done something--at excessive cost, it is true--to
clear the advance for the whole army. When the Russians, assuming in
their turn the offensive, attacked our camps on the heights of
Inkerman, they were repulsed with heavy loss on both sides, and with
the result that more than six months elapsed before they again
ventured to show any inclination to attack in the open field, and then
only to meet with fresh discomfiture on the banks of the Tchernaya.
The battle of Inkerman was fought in the early morning of 5th
November, and again the brunt of the fighting fell on the English
army. The Russian General, Todleben, subsequently stated that he
reluctantly decided to attack the English camp instead of the French,
because "the English position seemed to be so very weak." Here again
the losses give no misleading idea of the proportionate share of the
two allied armies in the struggle. While the Russian loss was put down
in all at 11,000 men, the French lost 143 killed and 786 wounded; the
English, 597 killed and 1760 wounded.
The opinion has been confidently expressed that if a rapid advance and
attack had been made on Sebastopol immediately after Inkerman, the
fortress would have been easily captured; but both before and during
the siege the Russians made the best use of every respite the Allies
gave them, and this lost opportunity, if it was one, never recurred.
It will thus be seen that some of the most interesting incidents of
the war had passed before Gordon set foot in the Crimea, but for an
engineer officer the siege and capture of the fortress created by
Todleben under the fire of his foes presented the most attractive and
instructive phase of the campaign.
At this time the French army mustered about 100,000 men, the British
about 23,000, and the Russian garrison of Sebastopol 25,000. In
addition, there was a covering army, under the Grand Dukes and General
Liprandi, which, despite its losses at Inkerman, was probably not less
than 60,000 but the successive defeats at Alma, Balaclava, and
Inkerman had broken the confidence of the troops and reduced their
leaders to inaction. The batteries were nearly completed when Gordon
reached the front, and a good deal had already been written and said
about the hardships of the soldiers. Gordon was a man of few wants,
who could stand any amount of fatigue, and throughout his life he was
always disposed to think that soldiers should never complain. Writing
as late as 12th February 1855, when the worst of the winter was over,
he says: "There are really no hardships for the officers; the men are
the sufferers, and that is partly their own fault, as they are like
children, thinking everything is to be done for them. The French
soldier looks out for himself, and consequently fares much better."
Something of the same conclusion had been forced on him when on board
the French transport between Marseilles and Athens when he wrote: "The
poor French soldiers, of whom there were 320 on board without any
shelter, must have suffered considerably from cold; they had no
covering, and in spite of the wet, cold, and bad weather, they kept up
their health however, and their high spirits also, when our men would
have mutinied." And again, later on: "We have capital rations, and all
the men have warm clothing, and more than enough of that. They of
course grumble and growl a good deal. The contrast with the French in
this respect is not to our advantage." It must in fairness be
remembered that the worst of the maladministration was over before he
reached the scene, and that he came with those reinforcements, not
merely of men, but still more especially of supplies, which ended "the
winter troubles," and converted them into the sanguine hopes and views
of the spring.
Gordon was not long in the trenches before he came under fire, and the
account of his first experience of real warfare may be given in his
own words:--
"The night of February 14th I was on duty in the trenches, and if
you look at the plan I sent you and the small sketch enclosed I
will explain what I had to do. The French that night determined
to join their sentries on their right and our sentries on our
left, in advance of their and our trenches, so as to prevent the
Russians coming up the ravine, and then turning against our
flank. They determined to make a lodgment in the ruined house
marked _B_ on the sketch, and to run a trench up the hill to the
left of this, while I was told to make a communication by
rifle-pits from the caves _C_ to the ruined house _B_. I got,
after some trouble, eight men with picks and shovels, and asked
the captain of the advance trench to give me five double sentries
to throw out in advance. It was the first time he had been on
duty here; and as for myself, I never had, although I kept that
to myself. I led forward the sentries, going at the head of the
party, and found the sentries of the advance had not held the
caves, which they ought to have done after dark, so there was
just a chance of the Russians being in them. I went on, however,
and, though I did not like it, explored the caves almost alone.
We then left two sentries on the hill above the caves, and went
back, to get round and post two sentries below the caves.
However, just as soon as we showed ourselves outside the caves
and below them, bang! bang! went two rifles, the bullets hitting
the ground close to us. The sentries with me retired in a rare
state of mind, and my working party bolted, and were stopped with
great difficulty. What had really happened was this: It was not a
Russian attack, but the two sentries whom I had placed above the
caves _had fired at us_, lost their caps, and bolted to the
trench. Nothing after this would induce the sentries to go out,
so I got the working party to go forward with me. The Russians
had, on the report of our shots, sent us a shower of bullets,
their picket not being more than 150 yards away. I set the men to
work, and then went down to the bottom of the ravine, and found
the French in strength hard at work also. Having told them who we
were, I returned to the trench, where I met Colonel ---- of the
1st Royals. I warned him if he went out he would be sure to be
hit by our own sentries or the Russians. He would go, however,
and a moment afterwards was hit in the breast, the ball going
through his coats, slightly grazing his ribs, and passing out
again without hurting him. I stayed with my working party all
night, and got home very tired."
In further illustration of the confusion prevailing in the trenches at
night, he mentions in the same letter that while trying to find the
caves he missed his way, and "very nearly walked into the town by
mistake."
This was the more surprising because Gordon's intimate knowledge of
the trenches was remarkable and well known. The following testimony
given by Sir Charles Staveley affords striking proof that this
reputation was not undeserved:--
"I happened to mention to Charlie Gordon that I was field officer
for the day for command in the trenches next day, and, having
only just returned from sick leave, that I was ignorant of the
geography of our left attack. He said at once, 'Oh! come down
with me to-night after dark, and I will show you over the
trenches.' He drew me out a very clear sketch of the lines (which
I have now), and down I went accordingly. He explained every nook
and corner, and took me along outside our most advanced trench,
the bouquets (volleys of small shells fired from mortars) and
other missiles flying about us in, to me, a very unpleasant
manner, he taking the matter remarkably coolly."
The late Sir George Chesney, a very competent and discriminating
witness, gives evidence to the same effect:--
"In his humble position as an Engineer subaltern he attracted the
notice of his superiors, not merely by his energy and activity,
but by a special aptitude for war, developing itself amid the
trench work before Sebastopol in a personal knowledge of the
enemy's movements _such as no other officer attained_. We used to
send him to find out what new move the Russians were making."
The next incident of the siege described by Gordon occurred about a
week after his _bapteme de feu_ in the caves. While the French were
somewhat deliberately making at Inkerman a battery for fifteen guns,
the Russians, partly in a spirit of bravado, threw up in a single
night a battery for nearly twenty guns immediately opposite, at a
distance of not more than 600 yards from the French. As this was made
in the open ground, it was a defiance which could not be tolerated,
and the French accordingly made their arrangements to assault it.
Kinglake has graphically described the surprise of the French when
they discovered this "white circlet or loop on the ground," and the
attempt made by three battalions, with two other battalions in
reserve, to capture it. A battalion of Zouaves, under the command of
Colonel Cere, carried it in fine style, but the Russian reserves came
up in great force, and their own reserves "declining to come to the
scratch," as Gordon laconically put it, the Zouaves were in their turn
compelled to fall back, with a loss of 200 killed. Encouraged by this
success, the Russians gave the French another surprise a few days
later, throwing up a second battery 300 yards further in advance of
the first "white circlet." These two batteries, mounting between them,
according to Kinglake, twenty-two guns, were finally strengthened and
equipped by 10th March, and although the French talked much of
storming them, nothing was done, much to Gordon's disgust. It was
while these operations were in progress that Charles Gordon had a
narrow escape of being killed. A shot from one of the Russian
rifle-pits "as nearly as possible did for me," he wrote; "the bullet
was fired not 180 yards off, and passed an inch above my nut into a
bank I was passing." His only comment on this is very characteristic:
"They are very good marksmen; their bullet is large and pointed."
This was the first but not the last escape he had during the siege.
One of his brothers, writing home some three months later, a few days
before the assault on the Redan, wrote as follows: "Charlie has had a
miraculous escape. The day before yesterday he saw the smoke from an
embrasure on his left and heard a shell coming, but did not see it. It
struck the ground about five yards in front of him and burst, not
touching him. If it had not burst it would have taken his head off."
Of this later shave Gordon himself says nothing, but he describes a
somewhat similar incident, which had, however, a fatal result. "We
lost one of our captains named Craigie by a splinter of a shell. The
shell burst above him, and by what is called chance struck him in the
back, killing him at once."
During the three months March, April, and May, the siege languished,
and Gordon apologises for the stupidity of his letters with the
graphic observation: "It is not my fault, as none of the three
nations--French, English, or Russian--will do anything."
At the end of May, however, there was a renewal of activity. General
Pelissier succeeded to the French command, and, unlike his
predecessors, made it his primary object to act in cordial
co-operation with the English commander. He was also in favour of an
energetic prosecution of the siege, with the view to an early
assault. All the batteries were by this time completed, and 588 guns,
with 700 rounds in readiness for each gun, were opposed to the 1174 in
the Russian fortress. It only remained to utilise this terrific force,
and at last orders were given for the commencement of what was known
as the third bombardment. After nearly two days' incessant firing the
French stormed the Mamelon and two advance redoubts. These were
successfully carried and held, at the same time that the English
stormed a position called the Quarries, close under the formidable
Redan. Of this bombardment Gordon gives in one of his letters a very
good description:--
"On the 6th we opened fire from all our batteries. I was on duty
in the trenches. I could distinctly see the Russians in the Redan
and elsewhere running about in great haste, and bringing up their
gunners to the guns. They must have lost immensely, as our shot
and shell continued to pour in upon them for hours without a
lull. Never was our fire so successful. Before seven we had
silenced a great many of their guns, while our loss was very
small--only one man killed and four wounded. I was struck
slightly with a stone from a round shot and stunned for a second,
which old Jones has persisted in returning as wounded. [It was,
notwithstanding, a real wound.] However, I am all right, so do
not think otherwise. Our fire was continued all night, and the
next day until four o'clock, when we opened with new batteries
much nearer, and our fire then became truly terrific. Fancy 1000
guns (which is the number of ourselves, the French, and Russians
combined) firing at once shells in every direction. On our side
alone we have thirty-nine 13" mortars. At half-past five three
rockets gave the signal for the French to attack the Mamelon and
the redoubts of Selingkinsk and Volhynia. They rushed up the
slope in full view of the allied armies. The Russians fired one
or two guns when the French were in the embrasures. We then saw
the Russians cut out on the other side, and the French after
them, towards the Malakoff Tower, which they nearly reached, but
were so punished by the guns of this work that they were obliged
to retire, the Russians in their turn chasing them through the
Mamelon into their own trenches. This was dreadful, as it had to
be assaulted again. The French, however, did so immediately, and
carried it splendidly. The redoubts of Volhynia and Selingkinsk
were taken easily on our side. In front of the right attack a
work called the Quarries had to be taken, which was done at the
same time as the Mamelon. The Russians cut out and ran, while our
men made their lodgment for our fellows. We were attacked four
times in the night, but held the work. If we had liked to
assault, I am sure we should have taken the place with little
loss, some of our men being close to the Redan. The French took
twenty guns and 400 prisoners, and found the Mamelon so traversed
as to have no difficulty in making their lodgment. We were driven
from the Quarries three times in the night, the Russians having
directed all their efforts against them. Our loss is supposed to
be 1000 killed and wounded. Nearly all our working party had to
be taken for fighting purposes. The attacking columns were 200
strong; one went to the right, and the other to the left of the
Quarries. The reserve consisted of 600 men. The Russians fought
desperately."
A further week was occupied with a heavy but desultory bombardment,
but at last on 17th June what is known as "the fourth bombardment"
proper began, and after it had continued for about twenty-four hours,
orders were given for the assault to be made by the French on the
Malakoff and the English on the Redan on the 18th June, a date ever
memorable in military annals. The silence of the Russian guns induced
a belief that the allied fire had overpowered theirs, and in
consequence orders for the attack were given twenty-four hours sooner
than had been intended. Kinglake, in his exhaustive History, has shown
how this acted adversely on the chances of the assault, because the
Russian gunners had really only reserved their fire, and also
especially because the Redan, which we had to attack under the
original arrangement between Lord Raglan and General Pelissier, had
hardly suffered any damage from the bombardment. General Gordon's long
account of this memorable assault will long be referred to as a
striking individual experience:--
"I must now commence my long story of our attempted assault. To
take up my account from 14th June, which was the last letter I
wrote to you, Seeley, my fellow-subaltern at Pembroke, arrived on
the 15th, and joined the right. On the evening of the 16th it was
rumoured we were to commence firing again in the morning. I was
on duty on the morning of the 17th, and I went down at half-past
two A.M. At 3 A.M. all our batteries opened, and throughout the
day kept up a terrific fire. The Russians answered slowly, and
after a time their guns almost ceased. I mentioned in my report
that I thought they were reserving their fire. [If this view had
only been taken by the Generals, especially Pelissier, a dreadful
waste of life would have been averted, and the result might have
proved a brilliant success.] We did not lose many men. I remained
in the trenches until 7 P.M.--rather a long spell--and on coming
up dined, and found an order to be at the night attack at twelve
midnight on June 17 and 18. I was attached to Bent's column, with
Lieutenants Murray and Graham, R.E., and we were to go into the
Redan at the Russians' right flank. Another column, under Captain
de Moleyns and Lieutenants Donnelly and James, R.E., was to go
in at the angle of the salient; and another under Captain Jesse,
Lieutenants Fisher and Graves, was to go in at the Russian left
flank. We passed along in our relative positions up to the
advanced trench, which is 200 yards from the Redan, where we
halted until the signal for the attack should be given from the
eight-gun battery, where Lord Raglan, Sir G. Brown, and General
Jones were.
"About 3 A.M. the French advanced on the Malakoff Tower in three
columns, and ten minutes after this our signal was given. The
Russians then opened with a fire of grape, which was terrific.
They mowed down our men in dozens, and the trenches, being
confined, were crowded with men, who foolishly kept in them
instead of rushing over the parapet of our trenches, and by
coming forward in a mass, trusting to some of them at least being
able to pass through untouched to the Redan, where of course,
once they arrived, the artillery could not reach them, and every
yard nearer would have diminished the effect of the grape by
giving it less space for spreading. We could then have moved up
our supports and carried the place.
"Unfortunately, however, our men dribbled out of the ends of the
trenches, ten and twenty at a time, and as soon as they appeared
they were cleared away. Some hundred men, under Lieutenant
Fisher, got up to the abattis, but were not supported, and
consequently had to retire.
"About this time the French were driven from the Malakoff Tower,
which I do not think they actually entered, and Lord Raglan very
wisely would not renew the assault, as the Redan could not be
held with the Malakoff Tower in the hands of the Russians.
Murray, poor fellow, went out with the skirmishers of our
column--he in red, and they in green. He was not out a minute
when he was carried back with his arm shattered with grape.
Colonel Tylden called for me, and asked me to look after him,
which I did, and as I had a tourniquet in my pocket I put it on.
He bore it bravely, and I got a stretcher and had him taken back.
He died three hours afterwards. I am glad to say that Dr Bent
reports he did not die from loss of blood, but from the shock,
not being very strong.
"A second after Murray had gone to the rear, poor Tylden, struck
by grape in the legs, was carried back, and although very much
depressed in spirits he is doing well. Jesse was killed at the
abattis--shot through the head--and Graves was killed further in
advance than any one. We now sat still waiting for orders, and
the Russians amusing themselves by shelling us from mortars. When
we appeared, the Russians lined their parapets as thick as
possible, and seemed to be expecting us to come on. They flew two
flags on the Malakoff Tower the whole time in defiance of us.
About ten o'clock some of the regiments got orders to retire.
We, the Royal Engineers, however, stayed until twelve o'clock,
when we were told that the assault was not to be renewed, and
that we could go. Thus ended our assault, of the result of which
we felt so sure. The first plan made was that we should fire for
three hours and go in at six o'clock, but the French changed it,
and would not wait until we had silenced the enemy's artillery
fire, and so we attacked at 3 A.M. My father can tell the effect
of grape from twelve 68-pounders and 32-pounders at 200 yards
upon a column; but whatever may be the effect, I am confident
that if we had left the trenches in a mass, some of us would have
survived and reached the Redan, which, once reached, the Highland
Brigade and Guards would have carried all before them, and the
place would have fallen. General Jones was struck by a stone in
the forehead, but not much hurt. I believe it is said that the
trenches were too high to get over. As the scaling-ladders were
carried over them, this can hardly be sustained. So much for
_our_ assault.
"Now for the assault which was made from the left attack. General
Eyre had an order given him to make a feint at the head of the
creek if we were successful at the Redan; however, at five
o'clock, when we had failed at the Redan, we heard a very sharp
attack on the head of the creek. The 44th and other regiments
advanced, drove the Russians out of a rifle-pit they held near
the cemetery, and entered some houses there. The Russians then
opened a tremendous fire on the houses, and the men took shelter
in line, being under no command, their own officers not knowing
where they were to go, or anything about the place, and no
Engineer officer being with them. The men sheltered themselves in
the houses until they were knocked about their ears. They then
remained in different places--in fact, wherever they could get
any shelter, until dusk, as, if they had attempted to retire,
they would have been all destroyed. The men of General Eyre's
column found lots of drink in the houses. Our losses in the four
columns are--1400 killed and wounded, 64 officers wounded, and 16
killed. The French lost 6000 killed and wounded, they say!
Nothing has occurred since the assault, but it is determined to
work forward by sap and mine!"
In a subsequent letter he wrote: "Remember, in spite of all the absurd
reports in the papers, that our troops never once passed the abattis
in front of the Redan, which is sixty yards from it, and that we have
never spiked a gun of the Russians," and before closing his narrative
account of the Redan, the passage in which Mr Kinglake refers to
Gordon's evidence and action on this eventful day may well be quoted.
It appears from his statement that Gordon lost his temper through
excitement at the repulse, and even upbraided and used angry language
to his old friend and comrade, Lieutenant, now General Sir Gerald,
Graham, on his coming back to the trenches. Such language, it may be
pointed out, could not have been used with less justice to any soldier
taking part in the assault than to the man who had carried a ladder
farther than anyone else, and twice endeavoured to place it against
the Redan. It illustrates the perfervid zeal and energy of the young
officer, who explained in his letters home how he thought the Russian
fortress might have been carried at a rush, and appropriately
introduces the passage in which Mr Kinglake records his opinion of
Gordon:
"This impassioned lieutenant of sappers was a soldier marked out
for strange destinies, no other than Gordon--Charles Gordon--then
ripening into a hero, sublimely careless of self, and a warrior
saint of the kind that Moslems rather than Christians are fondly
expecting from God."
I cannot refrain from quoting here a letter I received from Mr
Kinglake when I sent him a copy of my edition of "General Gordon's
Letters from the Crimea," etc., as it records a somewhat more
deliberate opinion on his character and career:--
"28 HYDE PARK PLACE,
"MARBLE ARCH, W., _27th July 1884_.
"DEAR SIR,--I indeed feel greatly obliged to you for your
kindness in sending me a copy of 'General Gordon's Letters from
the Crimea.'
"Already I have read a great part of the volume, and I need
hardly say that, apart from the reasons which link me to the
Crimea, I have been greatly interested by seeing what was
thought, and felt, and expressed in his early days by this really
phenomenal man, whose romantic elevation above all that is base
and common has made him, in even these days, a sort of warlike
and heroic Redeemer.
"Your Preface well and ably expresses an opinion that is widely
entertained as to the conduct of our Government towards Gordon,
and I don't know enough of the question to be able to gainsay
your conclusion, but it would seem at first glance that,
considering the imperative reasons, the vast distances, the
changeful condition of things, and the consequent changes of
mind, the task of doing justice between the Government and this
heroic envoy would be one of some complexity. With my repeated
thanks,--I remain, dear sir, very truly yours,
"A. W. KINGLAKE."
Ten days after the repulse at the Redan, Lord Raglan, the gallant
soldier over whose bier Pelissier wept like a child, died "of wear and
tear and general debility," as Gordon put it, and the siege again
entered upon another dull and uninteresting stage. Nearly three
months were to elapse before the capture of the fortress that had
resisted so long, and the only incident of marked importance during
that period was the battle of the Tchernaya, in which the officers in
the trenches had no part. In that action the last effort of the
Russian commanders to relieve the place and extricate Todleben from
his peril was repulsed by the whole allied forces, for in this
engagement both the Italians and Turks took part, with a loss of seven
or eight thousand men. The only comment Gordon makes on the action is
that "the Sardinians behaved very well." At last, on 8th September, a
second general assault was delivered, the English again attacking the
Redan, and, more fortunate in one sense than on the earlier occasion,
effected a lodgment in the fortress, but were then driven out with
heavy loss. But the French succeeded in storming and holding the
Malakoff, which commanded the Redan, and the Russians retired to the
northern side of the harbour during the night after blowing up their
ships. The fall of Sebastopol, especially after the doubts held and
expressed in July and August as to whether the siege would not have to
be raised, caused the greatest excitement and widespread satisfaction.
General Gordon sent home the following graphic description of this
final and at last successful attack:--
"I must now endeavour to give you my idea of our operations from
the eventful 8th of September to the present 16th. We knew on the
7th that it was intended that the French should assault the
Malakoff Tower at twelve the next day, and that we and another
column of the French should attack the Redan and central bastion.
The next day proved windy and dusty, and at ten o'clock began one
of the most tremendous bombardments ever seen or heard. We had
kept up a tolerable fire for the last four days, quite warm
enough; but for two hours this tremendous fire extending six
miles was maintained. At twelve the French rushed at the
Malakoff, took it with ease, having caught the defenders in their
bomb-proof houses, where they had gone to escape from the shells,
etc. They found it difficult work to get round to the Little
Redan, as the Russians had by that time got out of their holes.
"However, the Malakoff was won, and the tricolour was hoisted as
a signal for our attack. Our men went forward well, losing
apparently few, put the ladders in the ditch, and mounted on the
salient of the Redan, but though they stayed there five minutes
or more, they did not advance, and tremendous reserves coming up
drove them out. They retired well and without disorder, losing in
all 150 officers, 2400 men killed and wounded. We should have
carried everything before us if the men had only advanced. The
French got driven back with great loss at the central bastion,
losing four general officers. They did not enter the work. Thus,
after a day of intense excitement, we had only gained the
Malakoff. It was determined that night that the Highlanders
should storm the Redan the next morning.
"I was detailed for the trenches, but during the night I heard
terrible explosions, and going down to the trenches at 4 A.M. I
saw a splendid sight--the whole town in flames, and every now and
then a terrific explosion. The rising sun shining on the scene of
destruction produced a beautiful effect. The last of the Russians
were leaving the town over the bridge. All the three-deckers,
etc., were sunk, the steamers alone remaining. Tons and tons of
powder must have been blown up.
"About eight o'clock I got an order to commence a plan of the
works, for which purpose I went to the Redan, where a dreadful
sight was presented. The dead were buried in the ditch--the
Russians with the English--Mr Wright reading the Service over
them. About ten o'clock Fort Paul was blown up--a beautiful
sight. The town was not safe to be entered on account of the fire
and the few Russians who still prowled about. The latter cut off
the hands and feet of one Frenchman. They also caught and took
away a sapper who would go _trying_ to plunder--for as to plunder
there was and is literally nothing but rubbish and fleas, the
Russians having carried off everything else. I have got the lock
and sight off a gun (which used to try and deposit its contents
very often in my carcass, in which I am grateful to say it
failed) for my father, and some other rubbish (a Russian cup,
etc.) for you and my sisters. But you would be surprised at the
extraordinary rarity of knick-knacks. They left their pictures in
the churches, which form consequently the only spoil, and which I
do not care about buying. I will do my best to get some better
things if it is possible. On the 10th we got down to the docks,
and a flag of truce came over to ask permission to take away
their wounded from the hospital, which we had only found out that
day contained 3000 wounded men. These unfortunate men had been
for a day and a half without attendance. A fourth of them were
dead, and the rest were in a bad way. I will not dwell any more
on it, but could not imagine a more dreadful sight.
"We have now got into the town, the conflagration being out, and
it seems quite strange to hear no firing. It has been a splendid
city, and the harbour is magnificent. We have taken more than
4000 guns, destroyed their fleet, immense stores of provisions,
ammunition, etc. (for from the explosions they did not appear to
be short of it), and shall destroy the dockyard, forts, quays,
barracks, storehouses, etc. For guns, Woolwich is a joke to it.
The town is strewn with our shell and shot, etc. We have traced
voltaic wires to nearly every powder magazine in the place. What
plucky troops they were! When you hear the details of the siege
you will be astonished. The length of the siege is nothing in
comparison with our gain in having destroyed the place.
"We are not certain what the Russians are doing on the north
side, and as yet do not know whether we shall follow them up or
not. We ought to, I think. It is glorious going over their horrid
batteries which used to bully us so much. Their dodges were
infinite. Most of their artillerymen, being sailors, were
necessarily handy men, and had devised several ingenious modes of
riveting, which they found very necessary. There was a vineyard
under our attack, a sort of neutral ground where no one dared to
venture, either Russian or English. We found lots of ripe grapes
there. The Russians used to fire another description of grape
into it. One night I was working with a party at this very spot,
and out of 200 men we lost 30 killed and wounded. We are engaged
in clearing the roads, burning the rubbish, and deodorizing the
town, taking account of the guns, etc. Nothing is stirring; the
Russians fire a little into the town. We hear they are
retreating, but do not believe it. The French, it seems, took the
Malakoff by surprise. They had learnt from a deserter that the
Russians used to march one relief of men out of the place before
the other came in on account of the heavy fire; whilst this was
being done the French rushed in and found the Malakoff empty. The
Russians made three attempts to retake it, the last led by a
large body of officers alone. Whenever the Russians commenced a
battery they laid down first a line of wires to the magazine with
which they could blow it up at any time."
With this final tribute to the courage of the Russian garrison,
Charles Gordon's account of the siege and fall of Sebastopol closes.
He took part in the expedition to Kimburn, when General Spencer
commanded a joint force of 9000 men intended to dislodge the Russians
from a fort they had built at that place, and also to attack a corps
of 10,000 men supposed to be stationed at the important town of
Kherson. The fort surrendered after four hours' bombardment by the
fleet--the garrison not being "the same style of soldiers as the
Sebastopol men"--but the Kherson force was never encountered, retiring
as the allies advanced, who in their turn retired for fear of being
drawn too far into the country. In one of several letters while on
this expedition Gordon says that the Czar Alexander the Second was
near Kimburn during the attack, and that he sent the Governor a
telegram, "Remember Holy Russia," which the Russian General did by
getting drunk. The expedition was then withdrawn after installing a
French garrison in the fort, and Charles Gordon returned to his old
quarters before Sebastopol. A fortnight after his arrival he was
appointed to take part in the destruction of the docks, which was to
signalise the downfall of Russia's power in the Black Sea. This
closing episode is very well described in several of his letters
written during the month of December 1855:--
"I am now, as you see, stationed in the dockyard preparing the
shafts and galleries for the demolition of the docks. The French
will destroy one half and ourselves the other. The quantity of
powder we shall use is 45,000 lbs., in charges varying from 80
lbs. to 8000 lbs. The French do not sink their shafts so deep as
we do, but use heavier charges. The docks are very well made, and
the gates alone cost L23,000. We are taking one gate to London,
and the French another to Paris. Our shafts are some of them very
deep, and in others there are from eight to ten feet of water.
There is not much prospect of the Russians leaving the north
side. We can see them hutting themselves.... Our works at the
docks approach completion, and we hope to blow up some portion of
them on Saturday. The French blew up one last Saturday. The
explosion presented a splendid appearance and succeeded
admirably, not a stone being left standing. The powder for our
demolition will be upwards of twenty-two tons. The Russians still
(27th December) hold the north forts, and do not appear to be
likely to leave this year as their huts are all built. We can see
them quite distinctly on the other side.... _January 20,
1856._--We have blown up part of our docks, and are very busy
with the remainder, which we hope to get over by the end of the
month. I do not anticipate any movement of the army until March,
when I suppose we shall go to Asia to relieve Kars, and make the
Russians retire from the Turkish territory.... _February 3,
1856._--We all of us have been extremely busy in loading and
firing our mines in the docks, which required all our time, as we
were so very short of officers, having only three, while the
French had twelve. Our force of sappers was only 150 and the
French had 600. We have now finished the demolition, which is
satisfactory as far as the effects produced are concerned; but
having used the voltaic battery instead of the old-fashioned
hose, we have found that electricity will not succeed in large
operations like this, and I do not think that anyone will use it
if there is a possibility of using hose. I am now engaged in
making plans of the docks, and have not much time to myself. The
French have done their work very well, using more powder than we,
and firing all their mines with hose. I will try and get you a
photograph of the docks as they _were_ and as they _are_, which
will tell you more than a dozen letters would. We had an alarm
down here the other night about twelve o'clock. The Russians on
the north side opened a tremendous fire throughout the whole line
on us and on the French. We were all out under arms, expecting an
attack by boats, but after being well shelled for an hour, the
Russians left off, and all was again silent; but for the time it
lasted the fire was terrific. I heard afterwards that it was
caused by a French navy captain, who pulled over to the other
side of the harbour, and tried to burn a steamer which was lying
on its side. He and his companions arrived unperceived, found the
steamer quite new, and were getting into it, when the Russian
sentinel challenged. They answered 'Russe,' but the sentry called
'To arms,' and the Russians fired into the boat, and then
continued the fire from all their guns, I suppose expecting a
grand attack. Only one man, however, was hurt by a splinter on
the arm. The French will blow up Fort Nicholas on Monday. They
only got their order the night before last, and are obliged to
make a hasty demolition of it. They will use 105,000 lbs. of
powder in the demolition. The Russians had ruined this fort, but
had not had time to put in the powder; the excavations were
complete. It certainly is a splendid fort, mounting 128 guns, and
capitally finished for barracks. It would hold 6000 men. The
Russians evidently intended this to be an exceptionally strong
place, and they appear to have been making a quay all the way
round the dockyard creek. We have seen a great deal of the French
engineers; they are older men than ours, and seem well educated.
The non-commissioned officers are much more intelligent than our
men. With us, although our men are not stupid, the officers have
to do a good deal of work which the French sapper
non-commissioned officer does. They all understand line of least
resistance, etc., and what they are about. The Russians do not
molest us much now. We can hear them call out and sing,
especially on Sundays. We can see them drill, which they do every
day. They even have the coolness to go out and fish in the
harbour. We never fire, neither do the French. I do not think
they purpose leaving the north side; in fact, it would not be at
all wise of them to do so. We had some French engineers to dine
with us the other day; they were very agreeable, and we learnt a
great deal from them about their mining. They used to hear the
Russians mining within ten feet of them, and when they did this
they used to put in their powder as quick as possible and blow in
the Russian mines. The Russians had two systems or layers of
mines, one about ten feet below the surface of the ground and the
other about forty feet. The French only knew of the higher one,
and they found out after the place was taken that their advanced
trenches were quite mined and loaded in the lower tier. In the
Bastion du Mat there were no less than thirty-six mines loaded
and tamped. I saw one myself in the upper tier when I was
surveying it. They (the Russians) worked out a strata of clay
between two layers of rock, so that no wood was required to keep
the earth from falling in."
Soon after these letters a truce was concluded with the Russians in
anticipation of the peace which was ultimately signed at Paris in
March 1856. The prospects of peace were not altogether agreeable to
the English army, which had been raised to an effective strength of
more than 40,000 men, and was never in a better condition for war than
at the end of the two years since it first landed in the Chersonese.
Gordon's correspondence contains two or three remarks, giving
characteristic evidence to the strength and extent of this sentiment.
In one passage he says: "We do not, generally speaking, like the
thought of peace until after another campaign. I shall not go to
England, but expect I shall remain abroad for three or four years,
which _individually_ I would sooner spend in war than peace. There is
something indescribably exciting in the former."
Another comment to the same effect is the following: "Suders, the
Russian General, reviewed us and the French army last week. He must
have thought our making peace odd."
Gordon did not obtain any honour or promotion for his Crimean
services. He was included in Sir Harry Jones's list of Engineer
Subalterns who had specially distinguished themselves during the
siege. The French Government, more discerning than his own, awarded
him the Legion of Honour.
The letters from the Crimea are specially interesting for the light
they throw on General Gordon's character. They illustrate better than
anything else he wrote during his career the soldierly side of his
character. The true professional spirit of the man of war peers forth
in every sentence, and his devotion to the details of his work was a
good preparatory course for that great campaign in China where his
engineering skill, not less than his military genius, was so
conspicuously shown. As a subaltern in the Crimea Gordon showed
himself zealous, daring, vigilant, and with that profound national
feeling that an army of Englishmen was the finest fighting force in
the world, combined with an inner conviction that of that army his
kindred Highlanders were the most intrepid and leading cohort. This
was a far more attractive and comprehensible personality than the
other revealed in later days, of the Biblical pedant seeking to
reconcile passing events with ancient Jewish prophecies, and to see in
the most ordinary occurrences the workings of a resistless and
unalterable fate. That was not the true Gordon, but rather the
grafting of a new character on the original stem of Spartan simplicity
and heroism. But to the very end of his career, to the last message
from Khartoum, the old Gordon--the real Gordon, the one who will never
be forgotten--revealed himself just as he was in the trenches before
Sebastopol.
Gordon's connection with the Russian War and the Eastern Question did
not terminate with the Treaty of Paris. On 10th May he received orders
to join Colonel Stanton, for the purpose of assisting in the
delimitation of the new frontier in Bessarabia. He imagined that the
work would take six months; it really took a year. A not unimportant
principle was involved in this question, and an error in a map was
nearly securing for the Russians a material advantage. At the Paris
Congress it was determined to eloin the Russians from the Danube and
its tributary lakes and streams. The Powers therefore stated that the
Russian frontier should pass south of Bolgrad, judging from the small
scale-map supplied by the Russians that Bolgrad was north of Lake
Yalpukh, which opens into the river Danube. When the Boundary
Commission came on the ground, they found that Bolgrad was on Lake
Yalpukh, and that if the frontier passed to the south of it the
Russians would have access to the Danube; and therefore, knowing the
spirit of the Treaty, the English Commissioners referred the question
to the Paris Congress. A sketch was prepared by Gordon and his
colleagues, to show the diplomatists its exact position, and led to
the frontier being laid down north of Bolgrad and Lake Yalpukh.
Austria, as well as France, Turkey, and Russia, was represented on
this Commission, and Gordon's comrade was Lieutenant, afterward
General Sir Henry, James, who had served with him in the trenches, and
who had one day lost his way and walked into the Russian lines, as
Gordon himself had so nearly done.
Gordon's letters give an interesting account of his work, and bring
out with his usual clearness all the points at issue; but it is
unnecessary to follow very closely the events of the year he passed in
the lower Danube region. How excellent his work must have been can be
judged from the fact that the Government sent him back some years
later to act as British Consul at Galatz. The delimitation work
commenced with a personal inspection of the frontier from Katamori on
the Pruth to Boma Sola on the Black Sea, a distance of 200 miles. Then
the frontier was defined on the map, and finally it had to be marked
on the ground with the usual posts and distinctive marks. Thirty-two
separate plans had to be prepared before the frontier could be
adjusted, and the frequent bickerings and quarrels gave rise to many
surmises that the negotiations might be broken off and hostilities
ensue. The main point of dispute as to Bolgrad threatened to form a
_casus belli_ with even a new arrangement of the Powers, as France
gave up the case, and thus encouraged Russia to prove more obdurate.
But England and the other Powers stood firm, and Bolgrad was included
in Moldavia.
The following extracts give a tolerably complete account of what was
done. Writing from Kichenief on 9th January 1857, Gordon said:
"We are now settled as to the frontier question. Russia has given
up Bolgrad and received a portion of territory in exchange equal
to that surrendered, both as to number of inhabitants and also as
to extent of land. This mode of compensation will give us more
than half our work to do over again. I had almost finished my
plans, and one-half of these will have to be redrawn. However, it
is a consolation to know that the thing is settled. We heard all
this by telegraph from Paris, and by the same message learnt that
we are to proceed at once to work on the frontier in order to get
it finished by 30th March, and thus allow of the ceded territory
being handed over to the Moldavians on that day. You may imagine
what a hurry they are in to get this finished. The Russians
pretend to believe that they have got the best of the dispute,
but it will be difficult to persuade the world to be of the same
opinion. Although so cold, there is not much snow, and it is
beautifully clear weather, capital for sledging. The new frontier
leaves Tobak and Bolgrad in Moldavia, and gives a piece of land
near the Pruth in exchange to Russia.... The territory will be
given over in two parts. The southern consists of Ismail, Kilia,
Reni, and Bolgrad, as well as the delta of the Danube. The
northern part consists of the land between the Pruth and
Yalpukh.... We have finished our work, everything has been
signed, and the total number of the plans we have made is upwards
of 100. For my part, I have had enough of them for my whole
life."
This wish was not to be gratified, for before Colonel Stanton's
Commission was dissolved orders came for him to hand over his officers
and men to Colonel--now Field-Marshal Sir Lintorn--Simmons, for the
purpose of settling the boundary in Armenia, where a dispute had
arisen about the course of the river Aras, the ancient Araxes. Gordon,
who had now had two and a half years of foreign service without a
break, did not relish this task, and even went to the expense of
telegraphing for permission to exchange; but this effort was in vain,
for the laconic reply of the Commander-in-Chief was: "Lieutenant
Gordon must go." If Gordon had under-estimated the time required for
the Bessarabian delimitation, he slightly over-estimated that for the
Armenian, as his anticipated two years was diminished in the result to
twenty-one months.
He left Constantinople on 1st May 1857 on board a Turkish steamer,
_Kars_, bound for Trebizonde. The ship was overcrowded with dirty
passengers, and the voyage was disagreeable, and might have been
dangerous if the weather had not proved exceptionally favourable. On
arriving at Trebizonde horses had to be engaged for the ten days'
journey across the 180 miles of difficult country separating that port
from Erzeroum, the Armenian capital. The total caravan of the English
and French Commissioners--the latter being Colonel Pelissier, a
relative of the Marshal--numbered ninety-nine horses; and the Turkish
Commissioner, being unable to obtain any money from his Government,
seized the horses necessary for his journey in a manner that first
opened Gordon's eyes to the ways of Pashas. He stopped on the road
every caravan he met, threw off their goods, put on his own, and
impounded the animals for his journey. After a brief stay at
Erzeroum--which Gordon describes as a very pretty place at a distance,
but horribly dirty when entered, and where there are eight or nine
months of very hard winter--the Commission passed on to Kars, which
became its headquarters. The heroic defence of that fortress was then
recent, and it is still of sufficient interest as a military episode
to justify the quotation of the evidence Gordon, with his
characteristic desire to be well informed, collected on the spot while
the events themselves were fresh. For convenience' sake, his remarks
on Kars and the whole campaign are strung together here, although they
appeared in several letters:--
"Kars is, as you can easily imagine, a ruined city, and may
perhaps never recover its former strength and importance. As far
as the works of defence are concerned, they are excessively badly
traced. A little pamphlet published by Kmety, a Hungarian, gives
a graphic description of the siege. One thing difficult if not
impossible to realise without seeing it, is the large extent of
the position. Kars has been twice in the hands of the Russians
during the last thirty years, Paskievitch having taken it by
assault in 1829. We passed the battlefield at Kuyukdere, where
the Russians in very small force under Bebutoff were attacked by
a very superior force of Turks, under the direction of General
Guyon, the Hungarian. By some mistake the Turkish left lost its
way during the night, and was eight miles distant from the field
when the right came into action. The battle was very hotly
contested, but the Turks had at last to retire with the loss of
several guns. Had the affair gone off as Guyon[1] intended, the
Russians would have been licked. This battle, I should add, was
fought in August 1854, before any English officer had arrived in
this country. The Russian loss was very severe: there were 3,200
wounded alone brought into Gumri for treatment. The first day
from Gumri we passed Baiandoor, where the Turks and Russians had
a small battle in 1853, and where the former lost a splendid
opportunity of taking Gumri, which was nearly denuded of troops.
My Turkish colleague, Osman Bey (I believe this officer to be
identical with Ghazi Osman, the defender of Plevna), was present,
and got into Gumri as a spy, disguised in the character of a
servant. The Russian army avenged the slight check they received
from the Turks by taking all their artillery of the right wing."
[1] Guyon was an Englishman, but one of the National Commanders
in the Hungarian Rebellion of 1848. I have given a brief
account of his adventurous career at pp. 148-49 of "General
Gordon's Letters from the Crimea," etc.
As illustrating his professional zeal and powers of scientific
examination, the following description of the fortress of Alexandropol
or Gumri is a striking production from so young an officer:--
"The fortress of Alexandropol (40 deg. 47' N. lat., 43 deg. long.
45' E., 4500 feet above the sea) is situated on the left bank
of the river Arpatchai, which here forms the boundary between
Russia and Turkey. It is distant thirty-five miles from Kars and
eighty-four miles from Tiflis. The plain on which it is situated
is perfectly level and very peculiar. It has a stratum of alluvial
soil for the depth of one foot six inches on the surface, and then
a substratum of fine uniform lava, ten to fifteen feet thick,
supposed to have issued from Mount Alagos (13,450 feet), an
extinct volcano thirty miles from Alexandropol. The depth of the
earth allows the growth of grain, but entirely prevents that of
trees, which with their roots cannot penetrate into the lava. The
Russians have taken advantage of this bed of lava in the ditch of
the fortress. The fortress is well constructed and in perfect
repair. There are upwards of 200 guns (varying from 36-pounders
to 12-pounders) mounted on the works, and about 100 in reserve,
of which 30 are field-guns with their equipment wagons, etc. The
garrison would be 5000 to 6000, including artillery. There are
large supplies of ammunition and military stores. The ditch,
twelve feet deep, of the two western fronts has not been
excavated near the flanks on account of the expense. The Russians
have constructed in the centres of the two curtains a
_caponniere_ with two guns in each flank to defend the dead
angles caused by the non-excavation of the whole of the ditch. In
the centre of these two fronts is a large _caponniere_, mounting
ten guns in the upper tier and eight in the lower tier. This
_caponniere_ is on a lower level than the enceinte of the place.
The counterscarp at the north-west and south-west angles of these
two fronts is for the distance of twenty yards composed of a
crenellated wall four feet six inches thick. This was caused by
the irregularity of the ground. The bomb-proof barracks of the
northern fronts mount in casemate two tiers of fourteen guns at
the curtains. The flanks have five guns in casemates open to the
rear, in addition to the guns on the parapet above. The lunette
in the ditch is eight feet deep. The eastern front has an escarp
fourteen feet high cut in the lava, and well flanked by the
_caponniere_ defending the entrances, mounting four guns. The
bomb-proof barracks in the northern fronts have one tier of eight
guns in casemate at the curtains, and three guns in each flank in
casemates open to the rear. The two outworks are closed at the
gorge with a loopholed wall, flanked by a small guard-house. They
have no ditches, but an escarp of ten feet in the lava. The tower
marked _A_ in my plan is sixty yards in diameter, with a well in
the centre. It has its gorge closed with a ditch and loopholed
wall. It mounts fifteen guns on the top, and fifteen guns in
casemate. It is proposed to connect it by a crenellated wall with
the main work. The tower marked _B_ has a ditch and small glacis.
It mounts eight guns in casemate, and eight on the top. Its
object is to flank the long ravine which runs southward from it.
All the buildings in the interior of the fortress are bomb-proof.
The great fault of the fortress as it is constructed at present
is that it does not so much as see the town with its population
of 9310. It is now proposed, however, to make a large work on the
site marked _K_ with a view of meeting this want. During the war
in 1853, when the Turks were 35,000 strong at Baiandoor, six
miles from Alexandropol, and the Russians had only two battalions
in the fortress, the latter demolished all the houses which were
on this ground. I think that should it ever be in our power to
besiege this place (which is not likely, from the enormous
difficulty of getting a siege train there), that batteries might
be established on the hillocks between the fortress and the
river, to breach the large _caponniere_ and the tower _A_ which,
from the formation of the ground, would not be opposed by more
fire than the direct fire of the works they were intended to
breach, and which would be limited by their circular form to
about seven guns. The soil is not unfavourable on these hills.
The hill on which the cemetery of the officers killed at Kars and
Kuyukdere is situated is also favourable for batteries. The
principal well, which is sunk to a good depth, is in the
north-eastern bastion."
General Gordon's letters contain two or three interesting descriptions
that, in view of more recent events, deserve quotation. Of the Kurds
he thus speaks, and the description stands good at the present day:--
"We met on our road a great number of Kurds, who live as their
fathers did, by travelling about, robbing, etc., with their
flocks. Their children are short of clothing. In spite of the
Cossacks, etc., they are as lawless as ever, and go from Turkey
to Russia and back again as they like. They are fine-looking
people, armed to the teeth, but are decreasing in numbers. They
never live in houses, but prefer tents and caves. On the
mountains we fell in with the tribes of Kurds, who live at this
height during the summer months, quite isolated from the rest of
mankind. I paid a visit to the chief of a tribe of 2000, and he
passed a great number of compliments on the English. This Bey is
all powerful with his tribe; he settles all disputes, divides the
pasture land among the families, etc. Although living in such a
deserted spot, they read the Turkish papers, and they asked
several questions about the English war with Persia. They are
very fanatical, and are much encouraged in their religious
fervour by the Sultan's agents. Their houses consist of stone
walls covered with camel's-hair tents, which are quite
waterproof, and lined inside with capital carpets made by
themselves. We encamped near them and obtained our milk, etc.,
from them; but, in order to let us know their habits, they stole
the horse of the Russian officer's interpreter during the night.
I should not mind trusting them at all, for the Bey would not
allow them to take our horses; perhaps this was only from his
hatred to the Russians."
He gives some particulars of the Lazes, to one of whose villages he
paid a visit, and as he believed that he was the only Englishman who
had ever done so, his remarks were based on special local knowledge:--
"On one side of it was Lazistan, and this part of Lazistan is
peopled by the fiercest tribe of Lazes, who scarcely acknowledge
even the Sultan. We had an escort of forty infantry, and were not
molested. This tribe and the Kabouletians supply the
Constantinople Turks with slaves, whom they kidnap from the
Gourelians, who are on the Russian side. The Adjars (the tribe
referred to) are most daring, and even proposed to us to bring
any person we might choose out to Batoum for L40 to L120. In
consequence of these kidnappings, etc., a deadly enmity exists
between the two peoples, and whenever they get a chance they kill
one another. During the last eighteen months sixty-two people
have been kidnapped, sixteen killed, and twenty or thirty wounded
on the part of the Gourelians. The Russian guards of the frontier
are helpless against these people, for the latter are armed with
a capital rifle and are also splendid shots, while the Cossacks
have only a trumpery smooth bore. The country of the Adjars is
very mountainous indeed, and quite impracticable except on foot,
being covered with dense forests."
Of Ani, the ancient, once famous, and now deserted capital of Armenia,
he gives the following picture:--
"We passed through Ani, the ancient capital of Armenia. This city
is completely deserted, and has splendid churches still standing
in it. These churches are capitally built and preserved. Some
coloured drawings on their walls are to be seen even now. The
towers and walls are almost intact, but the most extraordinary
thing about so large a place is the singular quietness. There are
many ruined cities in the neighbourhood, and all dating from
about the eleventh century. At that period Ani itself contained
100,000 inhabitants and 500 churches, which shows that more
people went to church among them than with us. Before the end of
that century it passed into the hands of the Greeks and Saracens.
Afterwards the Mongols took it, and at last an earthquake drove
out the remaining inhabitants in 1339, since which time it has
been perfectly deserted. The churches of Ani were built with
lava, and crosses of black lava were let in very curiously into
the red lava. With the exception of the churches and the king's
palace, the city is level with the ground, the foundations of the
houses being alone discernible. These churches were covered with
Armenian inscriptions cut on the walls."
The delimitation work in itself was uninteresting, being carried on in
barren and solitary regions where there was nothing but rock, without
either grass or inhabitants. Gordon said he would not take thirty
square miles for a gift, and yet the Turks and Russians clung to it,
bringing witnesses from among the tribes who would swear whatever they
were paid for. The question at issue was where the old frontier
between the Persian province of Erivan and the Pashalik of Baizeth was
fixed. The Persians ceded the province of Erivan to Russia in 1828,
and both the Turks and Russians had their own, and necessarily
conflicting, views as to where the frontier was. General Gordon's own
belief that there had never been any real frontier at all was no doubt
the right one. The English officers, without any assistance from their
Turkish colleagues, who merely looked on when they were not keeping up
the supply of witnesses, had to effect the best arrangement they could
with the Russians. In the course of his survey of the frontier, which
he said he examined almost foot by foot, Gordon came to Mount Ararat,
which he very nearly ascended, as he tells the reader in the following
graphic narrative:--
"When we arrived at the foot of Mount Ararat we were unable to
proceed along the frontier any further because the ground becomes
extremely broken by the innumerable streams of lava which have
run down from it. The ground is black with cinders. They look as
if quite recently emitted, and no one would imagine from their
appearance that Ararat had been extinct so long. Our road went
along the northern or Russian slope of Ararat, and passed
through a very old city called Kourgai, where there are still the
remains of a church and part of an old castle. Even the Armenians
do not pretend to know its history, but some of them say that
Noah lived there. It is situated half-way up the mountain, and
there is no living person within twelve miles of it. There used
to be a populous village named Aralik, with 5000 inhabitants, a
little above it, but in 1840 an earthquake shook Mount Ararat,
and in four minutes an immense avalanche had buried this place so
completely as to leave scarcely any vestige of its site. Not a
single person escaped, which is not to be wondered at,
considering the mass that fell. Stones of twenty or thirty tons
were carried as far as fifteen to twenty miles into the plain. It
has left a tremendous cleft in Ararat itself. Other villages were
destroyed at the same time, but none so completely as this. The
village immediately below Aralik was also destroyed, but the
graveyard remained untouched, and the tombstones stand up intact
in the midst of the ruins. The common people say that it was
saved on account of a saint who was buried there. All these
places have a very lonely look. Both the Kurds and the Armenians,
if they can possibly help it, never pass near Mount Ararat, while
they think it a great sin to ascend it.
"I must now tell you of my ascent, or rather my near ascent, of
Great Ararat.
"I and my interpreter and three sappers went up to a Kurdish
encampment where an old Kurd lived who assisted five of our
countrymen to ascend about two years ago. The only assistance,
however, that he appeared able to give us was to show us where
these Englishmen had encamped the night before their ascent. We
consequently pitched our tents there, and settled ourselves for
the night. The night proved to be very stormy, with thunder and
rain, which was a bad lookout for us. However, we started at 4
A.M. the next morning, and had some very hard work up to the line
of perpetual snow. My interpreter and two of the sappers gave it
up before this, but I and the other, Corporal Fisher, held on.
"The whole of this time there was a thick fog, which now and then
cleared away, though only for brief moments, and enabled us to
get a splendid view of the country spread out as a map beneath
us, with cumuli clouds floating about. The snow which I mounted
was at a very steep slope, and quite hard, nearly ice, on the
surface. It was so steep that we could not sit down without
holding on tightly to our poles. Corporal Fisher was about half a
mile to my left, and had a better ascent as it was not quite so
steep. About two o'clock I began to get very tired, not able to
get up more than two yards without resting. This was caused by
the rarefication of the air. The mist cleared just at this time
for a minute, and I was enabled to see the summit about 1000 feet
above me, but still a further very steep ascent. Little Ararat
was also visible 3000 feet below me. It began to snow soon after
this, and became intensely cold. The two together settled me, and
I turned round, although very reluctantly, and sitting down, slid
over in a very few minutes the distance which had taken me so
many hours to clamber up. Corporal Fisher managed to get up to
the top, and describes the crater to be very shallow, although
the top is very large. The Kurd told me afterwards that the road
I took was very difficult, and that the other English explorers
went up a road which was comparatively easy. I believe, however,
that if the weather had been more favourable I should have
succeeded."
This was not his only mountaineering experience. Some weeks later he
ascended Mount Alagos--that is, the Motley Mount, from its various
colours. It is 13,480 feet above the sea, or about 3000 feet lower
than Ararat.
"We started with some Kurdish guides to the mountain, and after a
good deal of delay got to the place where the only path to the
summit commences. Here we were obliged to dismount and take to
our legs. After about two hours and a half we got to the summit,
and were extremely glad of it, for although it is not to be
compared to Mount Ararat, it is still rather difficult. Trusting
to my Ararat experience, I thought of descending in the snow, and
started. I was much astonished at finding the slope far steeper
than I expected, and consequently went down like a shot, and
reached the bottom one hour and a half before the others. A
Russian doctor tried it after me, and in trying to change his
direction was turned round, and went to the bottom sometimes head
foremost. He was not a bit hurt. There was no danger, as we had
only to keep ourselves straight. My trousers are the only
sufferers! I was the first up. None of the Russians succeeded!"
With one more quotation, Gordon's description of Etchmiazin, the
celebrated monastery where the Armenian Catholicos resides, the
extracts from these early letters may be concluded:--
"We passed through the oldest of the Armenian churches and
monasteries, a place called Etchmiazin. It professes to be 1500
years old, and certainly has the appearance of great antiquity;
it was existing during the time of the ruined city of Ani, and is
built in a similar style. The relics there are greatly esteemed.
People make pilgrimages to this monastery from all parts. There
is, firstly, an arm of St Gregory, which is enclosed in a gold
case covered with precious stones; next the piece of the ark,
which is necessarily of great antiquity; a piece of the cross and
of the spear, and a finger-nail of St Peter complete the relics.
All these are enveloped in gold cases, and richly ornamented with
every sort of precious stones. The monastery owns ten villages
and a great deal of land. The monks gave us a grand dinner, and
their feeding certainly was not bad. The monks' council chamber
was splendidly got up, all the ceiling being carved and gilded."
The concluding stages of the delimitation work were rapidly concluded,
and before the end of September 1857 Colonel Simmons and his staff had
returned to Constantinople. The illness of all the English officers
except Gordon detained them some weeks in the Turkish capital, and he
wrote home that his surveying duties had been superseded by those of
sick nurse. But before the end of October he was back again in
England, and met his father and the other members of his family after
a still longer interval. While engaged on the frontier commission, his
comrade in the trenches, Lieutenant William Christian Anderson, of his
own Corps, had married one of his sisters, but, after a very short
period of wedded happiness, he died suddenly. After his death a son
was born who bore the same name, is now an officer in the Royal
Artillery, and served on General Graham's staff at Souakim. Charles
Gordon summed up his comrade's character in these words:--
"I am extremely distressed to hear of poor Willie Anderson's
death, and every one who knew him will be so. He was a sterling
good comrade and officer, greatly liked by both officers and men,
and our Corps has sustained a great loss in him. I am so very
sorry for poor dear ----. It is such a sudden blow to her, and I
am sure they must have been so happy together during their short
married life."
Gordon, therefore, found a certain amount of gloom in the family
circle during the Christmas of 1857, and as his desire to join the
staff of the army was not immediately attainable, the orders he
suddenly received in April 1858 to again proceed to the Caucasus, in
consequence of a slight frontier dispute with Russia, were not
altogether disagreeable to him as a return to that active work which
he loved. For some reason, which was probably the wish to save a
little money by economy in travelling, with the view of carrying out
his generous plans towards others, he took his passage to
Constantinople in a slow steamer from the Thames, touching at Havre.
He described his fellow-passengers as not very select, but amusing,
and the voyage as "a yachting excursion, time being apparently no
object." He only remained ten days at Constantinople, and reached
Redout Kaleh in the Caucasus on 3rd June, visiting Sebastopol on the
way. He described it as still an utter ruin; "the grass had so
overgrown the place where the camps stood that it was with difficulty
I found my hut."
On 12th June Gordon joined his Russian colleague, Ogranovitch, at
Ozurgeth; but the Turkish representative did not arrive for a month
later, which interval Gordon employed in recording his impressions of
Russian and Georgian society in the Caucasus:--
"I dined with the Governor-General, Prince Eristaw, who left the
next day for Swaneti to overawe the subjects of the late Prince
(he was shot at Kutais for stabbing Prince Gagarin, the
predecessor of Prince Eristaw), who do not seem to have realised
his death. The Prince takes two battalions of infantry and two
guns nominally as an escort. There are some very pretty ladies at
Kutais who dance their national dances capitally. They dance
alone, and all the gentlemen beat time with their hands. I was
surprised at seeing the ladies wear a sort of bracelet of black
beads, to which they attached great value. I am sure they are
nothing more than bog oak.... I have since discovered they are
_cannel coal, not bog oak_. The ladies are very pretty, but have
not very cleanly habits in general; they prefer their nails
tipped, and do not hesitate at taking a bone and gnawing it. They
live in extremely dirty houses, or rather huts. They are
generally all princesses, and the men all princes, who, however,
do not hesitate to accept small donations. I am always in fear
and trembling lest they should give me anything, as it is
necessary to give in return. I, unfortunately, happened to notice
a certain glass letterweight with the Queen on it, and observed
that it was like Her Majesty. I was given it on the spot, and
with deep regret had to part with my soda-water machine the next
day. I admire nothing now, you may be sure. The servants of
Prince Dimitri Gouriel have made a good thing out of my visit,
for each time they bring anything--butter, fruit, etc.--orders
are given that an equivalent be given them in money. My hands get
quite sticky with shaking hands with so many princes, but I have
hitherto borne up like a martyr under my trials. On being invited
to the house of a prince, you would figure yourself invited to a
palace; but it is not the case here, and you would find it out to
your cost if you did not take something to eat in your pockets."
The work of this Commission proved exceedingly fatiguing--Gordon
breaking in characteristically with the statement: "I do not complain
when there is no occasion"--and consisted chiefly in replacing the
pyramids carefully removed by the population during the twelve months
since they were erected. The successful result of this Commission was
entirely due to Gordon's energy and untiring labour. His Russian and
Turkish colleagues were always quarrelling, and Gordon had to play the
part of peacemaker--for which, he said, "I am naturally not well
adapted"--an admission that may be commended to those who think that
Gordon was a meek and colourless individual, with more affinity to a
Methodist parson than the dauntless and resolute soldier he really
was.
Early in October the whole delimitation was concluded, and without a
hitch, much to Gordon's satisfaction. By 17th November he had reached
Constantinople on his way home, but notwithstanding the special
hardships of his work and his long absence from England, with one
brief interval, he was still anxious for work and action. In the
closing letter of his correspondence he said: "I do not feel at all
inclined to settle in England and be employed in any sedentary way,
and shall try and get employed here (Constantinople) if it is
possible."
While these letters contain a very vivid account of the striking and
remarkable events that occurred during the long military and
diplomatic struggle with Russia, they are not less interesting or
important for the many unconscious glimpses Gordon gives into his own
character. In them may be found references to habits and things which
show that the young officer was a sportsman, and by no means
indifferent to creature comforts; and as the most careful search
through all his later writings of every kind will bring no similar
discovery, these acquire a special importance as showing that the
original Gordon only differed from his comrades in being more earnest,
more active, and more enthusiastic. I take at random such statements
as "Our feeding is pretty good, but the drinking is not," "The
Russians gave a spread [vulgar] on Saturday, noisily and badly got up.
Their wine was simply execrable," and "How I wish I could get some
partridge shooting! My bag up to the present (on the Danube) is
200--not bad! eh?" Then again, on a more delicate subject, there are
numerous references to ladies, and to his appreciation of beauty. In a
chaffing passage in one of his letters, he wrote that one of his
sisters "wants me to bring home a Russian wife, I think; but I am sure
you would not admire the Russian ladies I have seen." Again, the
ladies of the Caucasus are pronounced "very pretty," and "the
Gourelians are beautiful--in fact, I never saw so many handsome women
as the peasants among them." At this time Gordon was certainly not a
misogynist, but I am assured that the rumours as to his having met
with an early disappointment in love are quite baseless of truth. From
a very early period of his life, certainly before the Crimea, Gordon
had made up his mind not to marry, and was in the habit of going even
further, and wishing himself dead. This sentiment led him to
constantly refer to himself as "the dead man"; and some years later he
wrote, "There is a Miss ---- here, the nicest girl I ever met; but
don't be afraid, the dead do not marry." His own secret opinion seems
to have been that marriage spoilt both men and women, and it will be
at least admitted that if he had married he could never have lived the
disinterested, heroic life which remains a marvel for the world.
CHAPTER III.
THE CHINA WAR.
Gordon was back in England in good time for the Christmas festivities
of 1858, and a few months later--1st April 1859--he was gazetted to
the rank of Captain. About the same time he also received the
appointment of Field-Work Instructor and Adjutant at Chatham, where
his practical knowledge gained in the Sebastopol trenches was turned
to good account in the theoretical training of future officers of his
Corps. He was thus employed when the conflict in China, which had been
in progress for some years, assumed a graver character in consequence
of the Chinese refusal to ratify the Treaty of Tientsin and Admiral
Hope's repulse in front of the Taku forts. Gordon at once volunteered
for active service, and on 22nd July 1860 he sailed for the Far East.
He did not reach Tientsin until the following 26th September, being,
as he said in his first letter home, "rather late for the amusement,
which won't vex mother." Not only had he missed the capture of the
Taku forts, but also the one battle of the war, that fought at
Chan-chia-wan on 9th September. He was, however, in time for the sack
of the Summer Palace, which he describes in the following letter:--
"On the 11th October 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. They were also required to give up all the
prisoners. You will be sorry to hear that the treatment they have
suffered is very bad. Poor De Norman, who was with me in Asia, is
one of the victims. It appears that they were tied so tight by
the wrists that the flesh mortified, and they died in the
greatest torture. Up to the time that elapsed before they arrived
at the Summer Palace they were well treated, but then the
ill-treatment began. The Emperor is supposed to have been there
at the time.
"To go back to the work--the Chinese were given until twelve on
the 13th to give up the gate. We made a lot of batteries, and
everything was ready for the assault of the wall, which is
battlemented and 40 feet high, but of inferior masonry. At 11.30
P.M. the gate was opened, and we took possession; so our work
was of no avail. The Chinese had then until the 23rd to think
over our terms of peace, and to pay up L10,000 for each
Englishman and L500 for each native soldier who died during their
captivity. This they did, and the money was paid, and the Treaty
signed yesterday. I could not witness it, as all officers
commanding companies were obliged to remain in camp.
"Owing to the ill-treatment the prisoners experienced at the
Summer Palace, the General ordered it to be destroyed, and stuck
up proclamations to say why it was so ordered. We accordingly
went out, and, after pillaging it, burned the whole place,
destroying in a Vandal-like manner most valuable property which
would not be replaced for four millions. We got upwards of L48
a-piece prize money before we went out here; and although I have
not as much as many, I have done well. Imagine D---- giving
sixteen shillings for a string of pearls, which he sold the next
day for L500!
"The people are civil, but I think the grandees hate us, as they
must after what we did to the Palace. You can scarcely imagine
the beauty and magnificence of the places we burnt. It made one's
heart sore to burn them; in fact, these palaces were so large,
and we were so pressed for time, that we could not plunder them
carefully. Quantities of gold ornaments were burnt, considered as
brass. It was wretchedly demoralising work for an army. Everybody
was wild for plunder.
"You would scarcely conceive the magnificence of this residence,
or the tremendous devastation the French have committed. The
throne-room was lined with ebony, carved in a marvellous way.
There were huge mirrors of all shapes and kinds, clocks, watches,
musical boxes with puppets on them, magnificent china of every
description, heaps and heaps of silks of all colours, embroidery,
and as much splendour and civilization as you would see at
Windsor; carved ivory screens, coral screens, large amounts of
treasure, etc. The French have smashed everything in the most
wanton way. It was a scene of utter destruction which passes my
description."
It may be of interest to state here that Gordon bought the throne
referred to. Its supports are the Imperial Dragon's claws, and the
cushions are of yellow Imperial silk. He presented it long afterwards
to the headquarters of his Corps at Chatham, where it now stands.
On the exchange of the Treaty ratifications, which took place within
the walls of the Imperial capital, the force under Sir Hope Grant was
withdrawn to Tientsin, and after a brief space from China. But pending
the payment of the instalments of the war indemnity, a garrison of
3000 men, under General Staveley, was left at Tientsin, and Captain
Gordon was attached to this force. He had a very busy time of it at
first, for suitable quarters had to be provided for our troops, and
Gordon was fully employed in the construction of barracks and stables.
Among the other tasks that engaged his attention at the time was the
management of a fund for the benefit of the Chinese poor, and he was
much distressed by an unfortunate accident that attended its
distribution.
"We had collected about nine hundred dollars for the poor, and
had asked the mandarins to issue tickets to the most deserving.
This they would not do, so a certain day was fixed upon which to
distribute the funds. There were about 3000 beggars, and in the
crush seven women and one boy were killed. The poor women on
their little feet, on which they are never very safe, were thrown
down and trampled upon."
During the eighteen months that Gordon resided at Tientsin he took
every opportunity of seeing the country, and as often as he could he
rode from that town along the banks of the Peiho river to the Taku
forts at its mouth. The distance is about forty miles each way, and he
computed that he accomplished it not fewer than twenty times. He also
visited Peking in August 1861, and remained several days on a visit to
Sir Frederick Bruce at the British Legation. At that date rumours were
already current that the Emperor Hienfung, who never returned to
Peking after our occupation, but made Yehol his capital and place of
residence, was dead. These were true, but some time elapsed before it
was officially announced that the Emperor had died on the 22nd of that
month, the very day that Gordon reached Peking himself, and wrote the
following letter:--
"The Emperor is reported to be dead, and his coffin has been sent
for; but this is no proof, since it is the custom to send for a
man's coffin when he is seriously ill, and it is kept for him
even if he lives fifty years after."
Writing again some time after, he says on the grave event: "A great
operation relating to the funeral of Hienfung is going on: a marble
block, weighing sixty tons, is being removed from the quarries to the
west of Peking to the cemetery in the east. It is drawn along upon a
huge truck by six hundred ponies, and proceeds at the rate of four
miles per day. When it arrives it is to be set up and carved into the
shape of an elephant; several other large stones are also _en route_."
But the most interesting expedition Gordon undertook from Tientsin was
that to the Great Wall, and here I must borrow Dr Birkbeck Hill's
graphic description, which is based on a long letter from Gordon
himself:--
"In December 1861, accompanied by Lieutenant Cardew of the 67th
Regiment, he made a tour on horseback to the outer Wall of China
at Kalgan. A Chinese lad of the age of fourteen who knew a little
English acted as their servant and interpreter, while their
baggage was carried in two carts. In the course of their journey
they passed through districts which had never before been visited
by Europeans. Against the northern side of the city of Siuen-hoa
(_not_ Si_n_en-hoa, as printed in Dr Hill's book) they found that
the sand had drifted with the wind till it had formed a sloping
bank so high that it reached to the top of the walls, though they
were nearly twenty feet high. Nature had followed in the steps of
the generals of old, and had cast up a bank against the town. At
Kalgan the Great Wall was with its parapet about 22 feet high and
16 feet broad. Both of its faces were built of bricks, each of
which was three times the size of one of our bricks. The space
between was filled in with rubble. 'It is wonderful,' writes
Colonel Gordon, 'to see the long line of wall stretching over the
hills as far as the eye can reach.' From Kalgan they travelled
westwards to Taitong, where the wall was not so high. There they
saw huge caravans of camels laden with 'brick tea' going towards
Russia. Here they were forced to have the axle-trees of their
carts widened, for they had come into a part of the country where
the wheels were always set wider apart than in the province
whence they came. Their carts therefore no longer filled the deep
ruts which had been worn in the roads.
"The chief object of their journey had been to ascertain whether
there was in the inner wall any pass besides the Tchatiaou, which
on that side of the country led from the Russian territory to
Peking. They pushed along southwards, in vain trying for a long
time to find a way eastward over the mountains. It was not till
they reached Taiyuen that they struck into the road that led to
Peking or Tientsin.
"In this town, for the first time on their journey, they got into
any kind of trouble. When their bill was brought them for their
night's lodging they found that the charge was enormous. Seeing
that a dispute would arise, they sent on their carts, and waited
at the inn till they felt sure that they had got well on their
way. They then, like the three Quakers with whom Charles Lamb
travelled to Exeter, offered what they thought a reasonable sum.
It was refused. They tried to mount their horses, but the people
of the inn stopped them. Major Gordon took out his revolver, for
show more than for use, for he allowed them to take it from him.
He thereupon said, 'Let us go to the Mandarin!'
"To this they agreed, and at the same time they gave him back his
revolver. They all walked towards the Mandarin's house--the two
Englishmen alongside their horses. On the way Major Gordon said
to his companion, 'Are you ready to mount?' 'Yes,' he answered.
So they mounted quietly, and went on with the people. When they
reached the Mandarin's they turned horses, and scampered after
their carts as fast as they could. The people yelled and rushed
after them, but it was too late.
"Some way beyond Taiyuen they came upon the pass over the
mountains which led down into the country drained by the Peiho.
The descent was a terrible one. All along the cold had been
intense--so much so that raw eggs were frozen hard as if they had
been boiled. To add to their troubles, when they were on in front
their carts were attacked by robbers; but the Chinese lad--an
ugly imp--kept them off with his gun. When they drew near
Paoting-fu they sent on with the lad the two carts and their
tired horses, which had now carried them for three weeks without
the break of a single day, and they hired a fresh cart in which
they thought to ride to Tientsin. But with the boy gone they had
no interpreter, and in their impatience, 'their new driver'--to
quote our traveller's own words--'got rather crossly dealt with.'
They stopped near Paoting-fu for the night. Early next morning as
they were washing they heard the gates of the inn open and the
rumble of cartwheels. They guessed what was happening. 'Half
stripped as I was, I rushed out and saw our cart bolting away. I
ran for a mile after it, but had to come back and hire another
with which we got to Tientsin--more than fourteen days over our
leave.'"
From this pleasant but uneventful occupation Gordon was summoned to a
scene where important events were in progress, and upon which he was
destined to play what was perhaps, after all, the most brilliant part
in the long course of his remarkable career. His brother puts the
change into a single sentence:--
"On the 28th of April 1862 Captain Gordon left the Peiho and
arrived at Shanghai on 3rd of May, and at once dropped into the
command of a district with the charge of the engineer part of an
expedition about to start, with the intention of driving the
rebels out of a circuit of thirty miles from Shanghai."
By the end of March 1862 the Chinese Government had sufficiently
carried out its obligations to admit of the withdrawal of the force at
Tientsin, and General Staveley transferred the troops and his quarters
from that place to Shanghai, where the Taeping rebels were causing the
European settlement grave anxiety, and what seemed imminent peril. The
Taepings, of whose rebellion some account will be given in the next
chapter, were impelled to menace Shanghai by their own necessities.
They wanted arms, ammunition, and money, and the only means of
obtaining them was by the capture of the great emporium of foreign
trade. But such an adventure not merely implied a want of prudence and
knowledge, it could only be attempted by a breach of their own
promises. When Admiral Hope had sailed up the Yangtsekiang and visited
Nanking, he demanded and received from Tien Wang, the Taeping king or
leader, a promise that the Taeping forces should not advance within a
radius of thirty miles of Shanghai. That promise in its larger extent
had soon been broken, and an attack on Shanghai itself, although
unsuccessful, crowned the offences of the rebels, and entailed the
chastisement a more prudent course would have averted. Without
entering into the details here that will be supplied later on, it will
suffice to say that in January 1862 the Taepings advanced against
Shanghai, burning all the villages _en route_, and laid irregular
siege to it during more than six weeks. Although they suffered several
reverses, the European garrison was not in sufficient strength to
drive them away, and a general anxiety prevailed among the European
community when the arrival of General Staveley altered the posture of
affairs.
Before Gordon arrived two affairs of some importance had taken place.
At Wongkadza, a village twelve miles west of Shanghai, General
Staveley obtained a considerable success, which was, however, turned
into a disaster by the disobedience of his orders. The Taepings had
retired to some stronger stockades, and General Staveley had ordered
the postponement of the attack until the next day, when the trained
Chinese troops, carried away by their leaders' impetuosity, renewed
the assault. The result was a rude repulse, with the loss of nearly
100 men killed and wounded. The next day the stockades were evacuated,
and within another week the fortified villages of Tsipu and Kahding
were also taken. It was at this point that Gordon arrived from
Tientsin, and reached the scene of action just as the arrangements for
attacking the important village of Tsingpu were being completed.
That the Taepings were not contemptible adversaries, at least those
under their redoubtable leader Chung Wang, was shown by their
attempting to destroy Shanghai by fire, even while these operations
were in progress. The plot nearly succeeded, but its promoters were
severely punished by the summary execution of 200 of their number. The
force assembled for the attack on Tsingpu assumed almost the
dimensions of an army. General Staveley commanded 1,429 British troops
with twenty guns and mortars, in addition to a naval brigade of 380
men and five guns. There was also a French contingent of 800 men and
ten guns, under Admiral Protet. At Tsingpu Gordon specially
distinguished himself by the manner in which he reconnoitred the
place, and then placed and led the ladder parties after two breaches
had been pronounced practical. The Taepings fought well, but the place
was carried, and the Chinese auxiliaries killed every one they found
with arms in their hands. Commenting on Gordon's part in this affair,
General Staveley wrote in his official despatch:--
"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 he approached
the enemy's works to acquire information. Previous to our attack
upon Tsingpu, 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 100 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."
A letter from Gordon gives an interesting account of the two
subsequent affairs at Nanjao, where Admiral Protet was killed, and at
Cholin, where the Taepings suffered a severe but, as it proved, not a
decisive defeat.
"On going through the village a Chang-mow (rebel leader) came out
of a house rubbing his eyes, evidently having been taking a
siesta; he was horrified, and bolted, but was soon caught, and
the sailors had much difficulty in saving his life from the
villagers, who flew upon and would have killed him. Poor man! he
had such a nice costume when taken, but in five minutes
afterwards you would scarcely have known him; all his finery, and
even more, had been taken from him. The small force encamped and
entrenched themselves 900 yards from Cholin, much to the surprise
and anger of the garrison. They came down in force on the next
morning with no end of banners. Upon the principle that inquiring
minds should not be balked, they were allowed to come pretty
close, but then the poor things received a check, and the
beautiful silk banners were furled up and carried back to the
town.
"The next day General Staveley sent us word to come back, since
he would attack Nanjao first, but as there were nearly 1000
villagers depending upon our protection and crowding round our
camp, I was sent back with an armed party, and Captain Willes
remained in front of the town. I went back by a different road
and came on the General four miles from Nanjao. We marched on,
and halted near the town, which was reconnoitred during the
night, and the guns placed in position by 5 P.M. On the 17th we
opened fire at seven, and attacked the place. Here Admiral Protet
was killed; he was among 500 men, and was the only one struck.
The town was a wretched affair, and a good many Chang-mows
escaped. These Chang-mows are very funny people; they always run
when attacked. They are ruthlessly cruel, and have a system of
carrying off small boys under the hope of training them up as
rebels. We always found swarms of these boys who had been taken
from their parents (whom the rebels had killed) in the provinces.
"I saved one small creature who had fallen into the ditch in
trying to escape, for which he rewarded me by destroying my coat
with his muddy paws in clinging to me. I started soon after the
attack for Cholin, and got there on the 18th. The rebels had made
a _sortie_ since my departure, and had got into a pretty mess.
Willes let them come up and then advanced on them; over sixty
were killed, and several taken prisoners. The General then came.
We got our guns in position during the night, opened fire next
morning, and assaulted at seven. The place was miserable and
poor. The Armstrong guns, which enfiladed one face, did great
execution."
The fruits of these successes were lost by the signal overthrow and
practical annihilation of a large Chinese army at Taitsan. One of
General Staveley's detachments was cut off, and with his
communications threatened he found himself compelled to abandon
Kahding, and to retire towards Shanghai. Tsingpu had also to be
abandoned, and the garrison suffered some loss in effecting its
retreat. Of the first results of General Staveley's campaign there
thus remained very little, and it was only in the autumn that these
places were retaken, and the campaign against the Taepings in the
Shanghai districts continued with varying fortune throughout the
remainder of the year 1862 and the early months of 1863.
While these military events were in progress Major Gordon, who was
raised to the rank of Major in the army in December 1862 for his
services in China, had been trusted with the congenial task, and one
for which he was pre-eminently well suited, of surveying and mapping
the whole of the region for thirty miles. This work, necessary in
itself for many reasons, proved of incalculable value to him in the
operations which he eventually undertook and carried out to a
successful issue against the rebels. His own letters show how
thoroughly he fulfilled his instructions, and how his surveys ended in
his complete mastery of the topography of the region between the Grand
Canal, the sea, and the Yangtsekiang:--
"I have been now in every town and village in the thirty miles'
radius. The country is the same everywhere--a dead flat, with
innumerable creeks and bad pathways. The people have now settled
down quiet again, and I do not anticipate the rebels will ever
come back. They are rapidly on the decline, and two years ought
to bring about the utter suppression of the revolt. I do not
write about what we saw, as it amounts to nothing. There is
nothing of any interest in China; if you have seen one village
you have seen all the country. I have really an immensity to do.
It will be a good thing if the Government support the
propositions which are made to the Chinese.
"The weather here is delightful--a fine cold, clear air which is
quite invigorating after the summer heats. There is very good
pheasant-shooting in the half-populated districts, and some quail
at uncertain times. It is extraordinary to see the quantities of
fishing cormorants there are in the creeks. These cormorants are
in flocks of forty and fifty, and the owner in a small canoe
travels about with them. They fish three or four times a day, and
are encouraged by the shouts of their owners to dive. I have
scarcely ever seen them come up without a fish in their beaks,
which they swallow, but not for any distance, for there is a ring
to prevent it going down altogether. They get such dreadful
attacks of mumps, their throats being distended by the fish,
which are alive, when the birds seem as if they were pouter
pigeons. They are hoisted into the boats and then are very
sea-sick. Would you consider the fish a dainty?"
And again he writes about the Taepings, who were not in his eyes "a
people nobly struggling to be free," but a horde of ruthless
marauders.
"We had a visit from the marauding Taepings the other day. They
came close down in small parties to the settlement and burnt
several houses, driving in thousands of inhabitants. We went
against them and drove them away, but did not kill many. They
beat us into fits in getting over the country, which is
intersected in every way with ditches, swamps, etc. You can
scarcely conceive the crowds of peasants who come into Shanghai
when the rebels are in the neighbourhood--upwards of 15,000, I
should think, and of every size and age--many strapping fellows
who could easily defend themselves come running in with old women
and children.
"The people on the confines are suffering very greatly, and are
in fact dying of starvation. It is most sad this state of
affairs, and our Government really ought to put the rebellion
down. Words could not depict the horrors these people suffer from
the rebels, or describe 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.... In the midst of
those terrible times the British and foreign merchants behaved
nobly and gave great relief, while the Chinese merchants did not
lag behind in acts of charity. The hardest heart would have been
touched at the utter misery of these poor harmless people, for
whatever may be said of their rulers, no one can deny but that
the Chinese peasantry are the most obedient, quiet, and
industrious people in the world."
The propositions referred to in the former of these two letters were
that the services of Major Gordon should be lent to the Chinese
Government for the suppression of the Taeping rebellion, that he
should assume the command of an Anglo-Chinese legion of which the
nucleus already existed, and that he might enlist the services of a
certain number of our own officers. Considerable delay took place in
the execution of this project, as it was necessary to send to Europe
for the necessary authority; and another explanation was given
subsequently to the effect that Gordon insisted on finishing his
survey first. But Sir Charles Staveley, who nominated Major Gordon for
the work, has effectually disposed of this latter statement by
declaring that the former was the true and only cause. At length these
propositions were sanctioned, and on 26th March 1863 Major Gordon
proceeded to Sungkiang, a town west of Shanghai and south of Tsingpu,
to take over the command of the Chinese force, which had already been
named the Ever Victorious Army, and which in his hands justified its
name.
Before closing this chapter it will be well to give some account of
the origin of this force, and of the more important events that
preceded Gordon's appointment to the command. As far back as April
1860 the Viceroy of the Two Kiang provinces had begged the English and
French representatives to lend him military assistance in dealing with
the rebels. The request was not complied with, but when some of the
richest native merchants of Shanghai, with one Takee at their head,
formed themselves into a patriotic association, and bound themselves
to provide the funds required to raise a European-led force, no
impediments were placed in their way. In July 1860 the services of two
American adventurers who had had some military experience in Central
America and elsewhere were enlisted and taken into the pay of this
merchants' guild. Their names were Ward and Burgevine, and they were
both adventurers of an unscrupulous and unattractive type. In addition
to excellent pay, they were promised handsome money rewards for the
capture of specified places, and what spoil there was to take should
be theirs. Such a prospect was very inviting to the bold spirits of a
great port like Shanghai, with its trading ships from every quarter
of the world, and they succeeded in recruiting about 100 Europeans
and 200 Manilla men or Spanish half-breeds.
In order to test the quality of this force it was decided to attack
Sungkiang; and in July, only a week or so after it was organised, Ward
led his somewhat motley band against that place. The result was
unfavourable, as his attack was repulsed with some loss. Nothing
daunted, Ward collected some more Manilla men and renewed the attack.
He succeeded in capturing one of the gates, and in holding it until an
Imperial army of 10,000 men arrived, when the town was carried by
storm. Having thus proved its mettle, Ward's force became very
popular, and it was increased by many fresh recruits, chiefly Greeks
and Italians. It also was strengthened by the addition of some
artillery, two six-pounder and later two eighteen-pounder guns.
The Chinese merchants then offered Ward and his quarter-master
Burgevine a large reward for the capture of Tsingpu; and their legion,
accompanied by a Chinese force of 10,000 men, who were, however, only
to look on while it did the fighting, accordingly marched on that
place. The attack made during the night of 2nd August resulted in a
most disastrous repulse, most of the Europeans being either killed or
wounded, Ward himself receiving a severe wound in the jaw. He renewed
the attack with fresh men and two eighteen-pounders three weeks later;
but after bombarding the place for seven days, he was attacked by the
Taeping hero Chung Wang, and routed, with the loss of his guns and
military stores. It was on this occasion that Chung Wang, following up
his success, and doubly anxious to capture Shanghai because this new
and unexpected force was organised there, attacked that town, and was
only repulsed by the English and French troops who lined its walls.
This reverse at Tsingpu destroyed the reputation of Ward's force, and
for several months he remained discredited and unemployed. In March
1861 he reappeared at Sungkiang, at the head of sixty or seventy
Europeans whom he had recruited for the Imperial cause; but at that
moment the policy of the foreign Consuls had undergone a change in
favour of the Taepings, and Ward was arrested as a disturber of the
peace. Perhaps a more serious offence was that the high pay he offered
and prospect of loot had induced nearly thirty British sailors to
desert their ships. He was released on his claiming that he was a
Chinese subject, and also on his sending orders to his colleague
Burgevine to return the troops they had enlisted. Burgevine thought he
saw in this a chance of personal distinction, and before disbanding
the men he made with them another attack on Tsingpu. This attack, like
its two predecessors, was repulsed with heavy loss, and the original
Ward force was thus finally discredited. It should be borne in mind,
to distinguish it from what followed, that it was a mercenary force of
European and Spanish half-breeds, without a single Chinese in it.
In September 1861 these two men altered their proceedings, and gave a
new turn to the whole question. As it was impossible for them to
recruit foreigners, they induced Takee and his associates to provide
the funds for a native Chinese force, which they undertook to train
and organise. In this task they made considerable progress, and with a
view to making it popular with the Chinese, and also to give the men
confidence, this new force was named, probably by Takee, the Chun Chen
Chun or Ever Victorious Army. This proud title was given long before
the claim to it was justified, but its subsequent appropriateness has
buried in oblivion the slender claim it possessed to it on its
inception.
By the end of January 1862 Ward had succeeded in training two
regiments of 1000 men each, and with these he captured Quanfuling and
200 boats in the rear of the Taeping force, which attacked Shanghai
for a third time in that month. When the English and French forces
assumed the offensive before the arrival of Sir Charles Staveley, part
of Ward's Corps accompanied them in the attack on Kachiaou. It led the
attack, and behaved extremely well, thus giving rise to very
favourable anticipations as to what a properly-trained Chinese army
might do.
In a second action at Tseedong the force maintained the reputation it
had gained. The Chinese fought with great bravery, and the difficulty,
in fact, was in keeping them back. The English general reviewed them
after this encounter, and declared himself much impressed with their
appearance. Representations were made at Peking, and on 16th March
1862 an Imperial decree gave the first public recognition of the Ever
Victorious Army.
Although reverses followed, the Corps maintained the reputation it had
gained for steadiness and discipline. Under General Staveley at
Wongkadza it acted well and lost heavily, and in all the subsequent
movements of that officer it took a prominent part. When Tsingpu was
captured, as already described, one of Ward's regiments was left in it
as a garrison, but on the evacuation of that place in consequence of
the return of Chung Wang with fresh and more numerous forces, it
narrowly escaped annihilation. It was then that the Taeping general
named them in scornful irony, "Cha-Yang-Kweitser," or "Sham Foreign
Devils," the point of the sarcasm being that these troops wore an
European costume.
During the summer of 1862, when the heat rendered active operations
impossible, everything was done to increase both the numbers and the
efficiency of the Ever Victorious Army. By the month of July its
strength had been raised to 5000 men, the commissioned officers being
all Europeans except one Chinese, named Wongepoo, who had been given a
commission for special gallantry by Admiral Hope. Ward was in chief
command, and Colonel Forrester and Burgevine were his first and second
lieutenants. When the weather became a little cooler in August, it was
determined to utilise this force for the recapture of Tsingpu, which
was taken at the second assault on the 9th of that month, although not
without heavy loss in officers and men. Six weeks later the important
Taeping position at Tseki, across the Hangchow Bay and not far distant
from Ningpo, was attacked by Ward and a party of English blue-jackets.
The operation was perfectly successful, but Ward was shot in the
stomach and died the next day. His loss was a very considerable one,
for, as Gordon said, "he managed both the force and the mandarins very
ably." Colonel Forrester should have succeeded to the command, but he
declined the post, which then devolved upon Burgevine.
After a brief space the services of Captain Holland of the Royal
Marine Light Infantry were lent to Burgevine in the capacity of Chief
of the staff, and as this was done at the suggestion of the Futai
Li--since famous to Europeans as Li Hung Chang--it did not conduce to
greater harmony between him and Burgevine, for their antagonism had
already become marked. An occasion soon offered to fan this feeling to
a flame. A Chinese army under Li and General Ching advanced to attack
a Taeping position near Tsingpu, at the same time that Burgevine at
the head of his corps assailed it from the other side. The brunt of
the fighting fell on the latter, but when Li issued his bulletin he
claimed all the credit of the victory, and totally ignored Burgevine
and his men. Burgevine did not accept this rebuff meekly, and his
peremptory manner offended the Chinese. The breach was widened by the
distrust many of the Chinese merchants as well as officials felt as to
his loyalty, and soon it was seen that the funds so freely supplied to
Ward would not be forthcoming in his case.
Burgevine's character has been described in the following sentence by
Gordon himself:--
"He was a man of large promises and few works. His popularity was
great among a certain class. He was extravagant in his
generosity, and as long as he had anything would divide it with
his so-called friends, but never was a man of any administrative
or military talent, and latterly, through the irritation caused
by his unhealed wound and other causes, he was subject to violent
paroxysms of anger, which rendered precarious the safety of any
man who tendered to him advice that might be distasteful. He was
extremely sensitive of his dignity."
The situation between the Chinese authorities and Burgevine soon
became so strained that the former presented a formal complaint to
General Staveley, and begged him to remove Burgevine. This, as the
English commander pointed out, was for obvious reasons beyond his
power, but he made representations to his Government, and suggested
that an English officer should be lent to the Chinese, and he
nominated Gordon as the best qualified for the work. Pending the
arrival of the required authority, the Chinese, assisted by
Burgevine's own impetuosity, brought their relations with him to a
climax. The merchant Takee withheld the pay of the force; Burgevine
was first ordered to proceed with his troops to Nanking, and then, on
consenting, the order was withdrawn; some weeks later a fresh order to
the same effect was issued, and Burgevine demanded the payment of all
arrears before he would move, and thus Li's object of exposing
Burgevine as a disobedient officer to the Government that employed him
was attained.
The Ever Victorious Army, excited by the absence of its pay, and
worked upon by the exhortations of its chief, was on the point of
mutiny, and Burgevine hastened to Shanghai to obtain by force rather
than persuasion the arrears. On 4th January 1863 he saw Takee, a
violent scene ensued, and Burgevine used violence. Not only did he
strike Takee, but he carried off the treasure necessary to pay his
men. Such conduct could not be upheld or excused. Li Hung Chang made
the strongest complaint. Burgevine was dismissed the Chinese service,
and General Staveley forwarded the notice to him with a quiet
intimation that it would be well to give up his command without making
a disturbance. Burgevine complied with this advice, handed over the
command to Captain Holland, and came back to Shanghai on 6th of
January. He published a defence of his conduct, and expressed his
regret for having struck Takee.
Captain Holland was thus the third commander of the Ever Victorious
Army, and a set of regulations was drawn up between Li Hung Chang and
General Staveley as to the conduct and control of the force. It was
understood that Captain Holland's appointment was only temporary until
the decision of the Government as to Gordon's nomination arrived, but
this arrangement allowed of the corps again taking the field, for
although it cost the Chinese L30,000 a month, it had done nothing
during the last three months of the year 1862. Early in February 1863,
therefore, Captain Holland, at the head of 2,300 men, including a
strong force of artillery--600 men and twenty-two guns and
mortars--was directed to attack Taitsan, an important place about
fifty miles north-east of Shanghai. An Imperialist army of nearly
10,000 men acted in conjunction with it. The affair was badly managed
and proved most disastrous.
After a short bombardment a breach was declared to be practicable, and
the ladder and storming parties were ordered to the assault.
Unfortunately, the reconnoitring of the Taeping position had been very
carelessly done, and the attacking parties were checked by a wet
ditch, twenty feet wide and six feet deep, of which nothing had been
seen. Situated only forty yards from the wall of the town, and without
any means of crossing it, although some few did by throwing across a
ladder, the storming party stood exposed to a terrific fire. Captain
Holland ordered a retreat, but it was not managed any better than the
attack. The light guns were removed too quickly, and the heavy ones
were stuck so fast in the mud that they could not be removed at all.
The Taepings attacked in their turn, and the greatest confusion
prevailed, during which the survivors of the larger half of the Ever
Victorious Army escaped in small detachments back to Sungkiang. Twenty
European officers were killed or wounded, besides 300 Chinese
privates. Captain Holland exposed himself freely, but this, his only
action in independent command, resulted in complete and unqualified
failure. Gordon himself summed up the causes of this serious and
discouraging reverse:--
"The causes of the failure were the too cheap rate at which the
rebels were held. The force had hitherto fought with the allies
with them (except at Tsingpu). They now had to bear the brunt of
the fighting themselves, the mistake of not having provided
bridges in spite of the mandarin's information, and the too close
proximity of the heavy guns to the walls, and the want of cover
they had, and finally the withdrawal of the lighter guns before
the heavy guns, whose removal they should have covered. There is
little doubt that the rebels had been warned by persons in
Shanghai of the intended attack, and that several foreigners, who
had been dismissed by Captain Holland, were with the rebels
defending the breach. As may be imagined, Burgevine's removal had
caused considerable feeling among his acquaintances, who were not
sorry to see the first expedition of the force under an English
officer fail, being in hopes that the command would again revert
to Burgevine."
This reverse occurred on 13th February, and no further steps of any
consequence were taken until the appointment of Major Gordon, which at
last was sanctioned in the latter portion of March, about a week
before ill-health compelled General Staveley to resign his command in
China. That officer was connected with the Gordon family, his sister,
a most amiable and sympathetic lady, being Lady Gordon, widow of the
late Sir Henry Gordon. As far back as May 1861--that is, prior to most
of the events described in this chapter--Gordon's sensitiveness about
his family connection with the commanding officer in China had
impelled him to write this letter:--
"I was much put out in Henry's writing, and I think hinting he
could do something for me, and I went to Staveley and told him
so. It is the bother of one's life to be trying after the honours
of the profession, and it has grown in late years into a regular
trade--everyone uses private interest."
When Gordon gave this early manifestation of his independent spirit he
was little more than twenty-eight years of age, but it should
certainly be noted as showing that in one respect he was very little
changed in his later years from what he was in his youth.
After these reverses in February nothing more was attempted until
Major Gordon arrived at Sungkiang on 25th March 1863 to take over the
command of the force. It is to be hoped that the last few pages have
made clear what that force was like. In the first place, it had been
one composed entirely of Europeans, a band somewhat resembling those
that have set up and cast down the mushroom republics that separate
the conquests of Pizarro from those of Cortes. That force achieved
nothing and had an ignominious end. It was succeeded by the larger
force of drilled Chinese, to which was given the name of the Ever
Victorious Army. Although these Chinese showed far more courage than
might have been expected of them, none of their leaders--Ward,
Burgevine, or Holland--seemed able to turn their good qualities to any
profitable purpose. They were as often defeated as successful, and at
the very moment of Gordon's assuming the command the defeat of Captain
Holland at Taitsan, and a subsidiary reverse of Major Tapp at Fushan,
had reduced their _morale_ to the lowest point, and even justified a
belief that for military purposes this force was nearly, if not quite,
worthless.
CHAPTER IV.
THE TAEPING REBELLION.
In order to bring before the reader the magnitude of Gordon's
achievements in China it is necessary to describe briefly the course
of the Taeping rebellion, and to show the kind of opponents over whom
he was destined to obtain so glorious and decisive a victory. But as
this would be to tell a thrice-told tale, I content myself with giving
in an abridged form the account I prepared from the papers of General
Gordon and other trustworthy sources, which appears in the last volume
of my "History of China."
As far back as the year 1830 there had been symptoms of disturbed
popular feeling in Kwangsi, the most southern province of China
adjacent to Tonquin. The difficulty of operating in a region which
possessed few roads, and which was only rendered at all accessible by
the West River or Sikiang, had led the Chinese authorities, much
engaged as they were about the foreign question, to postpone those
vigorous measures, which, if taken at the outset, might have speedily
restored peace and stamped out the first promptings of revolt. The
authorities were more concerned at the proceedings of the formidable
secret Association, known as the "Triads," than at the occurrences in
Kwangsi, probably because the Triads made no secret that their object
was the expulsion of the Manchus and the restoration of the old Ming
dynasty. The true origin of the Triads is not to be assigned, but
there seems reasonable ground for the suspicion that they were
connected with the discontented monks of a Buddhist monastery which
had been suppressed by the Government. Between them they seem to have
formed the inception of what became the famous Taeping rebellion.
The summer of 1850 witnessed a great accession of energy on the part
of the rebels in Kwangsi, which may perhaps have been due to the death
of the Emperor Taoukwang. The important town of Wuchow on the Sikiang,
close to the western border of Kwantung, was besieged by a force
reported to number 50,000 men. The governor was afraid to report the
occurrence, knowing that it would carry his own condemnation and
probable disgrace; and it was left for a minor official to reveal the
extent to which the insurgents had carried their depredations. Two
leaders named Chang assumed the style of royalty; other bands appeared
in the province of Hoonan as well as in the southern parts of
Kwantung, but they all collected by degrees on the Sikiang, where they
placed an embargo on merchandise, and gradually crushed out such trade
as there had been by that river. Their proceedings were not restricted
to the fair operations of war. They plundered and massacred wherever
they went. They claimed to act in the name of the Chinese people; yet
they slew all they could lay hands upon, without discrimination of age
or sex.
The confidence of the insurgents was raised by frequent success, and
by the manifest inability of the Canton Viceroy to take any effectual
military measures against them. Two hundred imperial troops were
decoyed into a defile, and slaughtered by an overwhelming force in
ambush. This reverse naturally caused considerable alarm in Canton
itself, and defensive measures were taken. Governor Yeh was sent
against them with 2000 men, and he succeeded in compelling, or as some
say in inducing, them to retreat. Any satisfaction this success may
have occasioned was soon dispelled, for at Lienchow, near the small
port of Pakhoi, the rebels not merely gained a victory, but were
joined by the troops sent to attack them. But these successes at
several different points were of far less significance than the
nomination of a single chief with the royal title of Tien Wang, or the
Heavenly King.
The man on whom their choice fell was named Hung-tsiuen. He was the
son of a small farmer, who lived in a village near the North River,
about thirty miles from Canton. If he was not a Hakka himself, he
lived in a district which was considered to belong exclusively to that
strange race, which closely resembles our gipsies. He belonged to a
degraded race, therefore, and it was held that he was not entitled to
that free entry into the body of the civil service, which is the
natural privilege of every true-born Chinese subject. His friends
declared that he came out high at each of the periodical examinations,
but their statements may have been false in this as in much else. The
fact is clear that he failed to obtain his degrees, and that he was
denied admission into the public service. Hung was therefore a
disappointed candidate, the more deeply disappointed, perhaps, that
his sense of injured merit and the ill-judging flattery of his
admirers made his rejection appear unjust.
Hung was, at all events, a shrewd observer of the weakness of the
Government, and of the popular discontent. He perceived the
opportunity of making the Manchu dynasty the scapegoat of national
weakness and apathy. He could not be the servant of the Government.
Class contempt, the prejudices of his examiners, or it may even have
been his own haughty presumption and self-sufficiency, effectually
debarred him from the enjoyment of the wealth and privileges that fall
to the lot of those in executive power in all countries, but in
Asiatic above every other. To his revengeful but astute mind it was
clear that if he could not be an official he might be the enemy of the
Government and its possible subverter.
The details of his early career have been mainly recorded by those who
sympathised with the supposed objects of his operations; and while
they have been very anxious to discover his virtues, they were always
blind to his failings. The steps of his imposture have therefore been
described with an amount of implicit belief which reflected little
credit on the judgment of those who were anxious to give their
sanction to the miracles which preceded the appearance of this
adventurer in the field. Absurd stories as to his dreams, allegorical
coincidences showing how he was summoned by a just and all-powerful
God to the supreme seat of power, were repeated with a degree of faith
so emphatic in its mode of expression as to make the challenge of its
sincerity appear extremely harsh. Hung, the defeated official
candidate, the long-deaf listener to the entreaties of Christian
missionaries, was thus in a brief time metamorphosed into Heaven's
elect for the Dragon Throne, into the iconoclastic propagator of the
worship of a single God, and the destroyer of the mass of idolatry
stored in the hearts and venerated in the temples of the Chinese
people for countless ages. Whether Hung was merely an intriguer or a
fanatic, he could not help feeling some gratitude to those who so
conveniently echoed his pretensions to the Throne at the same time
that they pleaded extenuating circumstances for acts of cruelty and
brigandage often unsurpassed in their infamy.
If he found the foreigners thus willing to accept him at his own
estimate, it would have been very strange if he had not experienced
still greater success in imposing upon the credulity of his own
countrymen. To declare that he had dreamt dreams which showed that he
was selected by a heavenly mandate for Royal honours was sufficient to
gain a small body of adherents, provided only that he was prepared to
accept the certain punishment of detection and failure. If Hung's
audacity was shown by nothing else, it was demonstrated by the lengths
to which he carried the supernatural agency that urged him to quit the
ignominious life of a Kwantung peasant for the career of a pretender
to Imperial honours. The course of training to which he subjected
himself, the ascetic deprivations, the loud prayers and invocations,
the supernatural counsels and meetings, was that adopted by every
other religious devotee or fanatic as the proper novitiate for those
honours based on the superstitious reverence of mankind, which are
sometimes no inadequate substitute for temporal power and influence,
even when they fail to pave the way to their attainment.
Yet when Hung proceeded to Kwangsi there was no room left to hope that
the seditious movement would dissolve of its own accord, for the
extent and character of his pretensions at once invested the rising
with all the importance of open and unveiled rebellion. After the
proclamation of Hung as Tien Wang, the success of the Kwangsi rebels
increased. The whole of the country south of the Sikiang, with the
strong military station of Nanning, fell into their hands, and they
prepared in the early part of the year 1851 to attack the provincial
capital Kweiling, which commanded one of the principal high roads into
the interior of China. So urgent did the peril at this place appear
that three Imperial Commissioners were sent there direct by land from
Peking, and the significance of their appointment was increased by the
fact that they were all Manchus. They were instructed to raise troops
_en route_, and to reach Kweiling as soon as possible. Their movements
were so dilatory that that place would have fallen if it had not been
for the courage and military capacity shown by Wurantai, leader of the
Canton Bannermen. This soldier fully realised the perils of the
situation. In a memorial to the Throne he spoke plainly:--
"The outer barbarians (Europeans) say that of literature China
has more than enough, of the art of war not sufficient. The whole
country swarms with the rebels. Our funds are nearly at an end,
and our troops few; our officers disagree, and the power is not
concentrated. The commander of the forces wants to extinguish a
burning wagon-load of fagots with a cupful of water. I fear we
shall hereafter have some serious affair--that the great body
will rise against us, and our own people leave us."
The growth of the rebellion proved steady if slow. Although 30,000
troops were stated to be concentrated opposite the Taeping positions,
fear or inexperience prevented action, and the numbers and courage of
the Imperialists melted away. Had the Chinese authorities only pressed
on, they must, by sheer weight, have swept the rebels into Tonquin,
and there would thus have been an end of Tien Wang and his
aspirations. They lacked the nerve, and their vacillation gave
confidence and reputation to an enemy that need never have been
allowed to become formidable.
While the Imperial authorities had been either discouraged or at the
least lethargic, the pretender Tien Wang had been busily engaged in
establishing his authority on a sound basis, and in assigning their
respective ranks to his principal followers who saw in the conferring
of titles and posts, at the moment of little meaning or value, the
recognition of their past zeal and the promise of reward for future
service. The men who rallied round Tien Wang were schoolmasters and
labourers. To these some brigands of the mountain frontier supplied
rude military knowledge, while the leaders of the Triads brought as
their share towards the realisation of what they represented as a
great cause skill in intrigue, and some knowledge of organisation.
Neither enthusiasm nor the energy of desperation was wanting; but for
those qualities which claim respect, if they cannot command success,
we must look in vain. Yet the peasants of Kwangsi and the artisans of
Kwantung assumed the title of "Wang" or prince, and divided in
anticipation the prizes that should follow the establishment of some
dynasty of their own making.
The war dragged on in the Sikiang valley during two years, but the
tide of success had certainly set in the main against the
Imperialists, as was shown by the scene of operations being
transferred to the northern side of that river. The campaign might
have continued indefinitely until one side or the other was exhausted
had not the state of the province warned Tien Wang that he could not
hope to feed much longer the numerous followers who had attached
themselves to his cause. He saw that there would very soon remain for
him no choice except to retire into Tonquin, and to settle down into
the ignominious life of a border brigand. To Tien Wang the thought was
intolerable, and in sheer desperation he came to the resolve to march
northwards into the interior of China. It was not the inspiration of
genius but the pressure of dire need that urged the Taeping leader to
issue his orders for the invasion of Hoonan. He issued a proclamation
on the eve of beginning this march, announcing that he had received
"the divine commission to exterminate the Manchus and to possess the
Empire as its true sovereign."
It was at this stage in the rebellion that the name "Taepings" came
into general use, and various accounts are given as to its origin.
Some say it was taken from the small town of that name in the
south-west of Kwangsi, where the insurrection began; others that the
characters mean "Universal Peace," and that it was the style assumed
by the new dynasty. In seeming contradiction with this is the fact
that some of the Taepings themselves declared that they never heard
the name, and did not know what it meant. At this particular juncture
the rebels were in the heart of Kwangsi, at the district capital of
Woosuen. In May 1851 they moved to Siang, a little north of that
place. They ravaged the country, making no long stay anywhere. In
August they were at Yungan, where 16,000 men were ranged under the
banner of the Heavenly King, and for a moment Tien Wang may have
thought of making a dash on Canton. Respect for Wurantai's military
capacity induced him to forego the adventure, and at Yungan, where he
remained until April 1852, the Taeping leader made his final
arrangements for his march northwards.
At Yungan a circumstance occurred which first promised to strengthen
the Taepings, and then to lead to their disruption. Tien Wang was
joined there by five influential chiefs and many members of the Triad
Society. For a time it seemed as if these allies would necessarily
bring with them a great accession of popular strength; but whether
they disapproved of Tien Wang's plans, or were offended by the
arrogant bearing of the Wangs, who, but the other day little better
than the dregs of the people, had suddenly assumed the yellow dress
and insignia of Chinese royalty, the Triad leaders took a secret and
hurried departure from his camp, and hastened to make their peace with
the Imperialists. The principal of these members of the most
formidable secret society in China--Chang Kwoliang by name--was given
a military command of some importance, and afterwards distinguished
himself among the Imperial commanders. In April 1852 the Taeping army
left its quarters at Yungan and marched direct on Kweiling, the
principal city of the province, where the Imperial commissioners sent
from Peking had long remained inactive. Tien Wang attacked them at the
end of April or the beginning of May, but he was repulsed with some
loss. Afraid of breaking his force against the walls of so strong a
place, he abandoned the attack and marched into Hoonan. Had the
Imperial generals only been as energetic in offensive measures as they
had shown themselves obstinate in defence, they might have harassed
his rear, delayed his progress, and eventually brought him to a
decisive engagement under many disadvantages. But the Imperial
Commissioners at Kweiling did nothing, being apparently well satisfied
with having rid themselves of the presence of such troublesome
neighbours.
On 12th of June the Taepings attacked the small town of Taou in Hoonan
with better success. Some resistance was offered, and one of the
Taeping Wangs, known as the "Southern King," was killed. This was a
great loss, because he was a man of some education, and had taken the
most prominent part in the organisation of the Taeping rebellion.
General Gordon inclined to the opinion that he was the real originator
of the whole rising. His loss was a severe blow to the Taepings, whose
confidence in themselves and their cause was alike rudely shaken. They
could not however turn back, for fear of the force at Kweiling, and to
halt for any time was scarcely less dangerous. Necessity compelled
them therefore to press on, and in August they captured the three
small towns of Kiaho, Ching, and Kweyang. Their next march was both
long and forced. Overrunning the whole adjacent country, they appeared
early in the month of September before the strong and important town
of Changsha, situated on the river Seang, and only fifty miles south
of the large lake Tungting.
At this town, the capital of Hoonan, some vigorous preparations had
been made to withstand them. Not merely was the usual garrison
stationed there, but it so happened that Tseng Kwofan, a man of great
ability and some considerable resolution, was residing near the town
at the time. Tseng Kwofan had held several offices in the service, and
as a member of the Hanlin enjoyed a high position and reputation; but
he was absent from the capital on one of those frequent periods of
retirement to their native province which the officials of China have
to make on the occasion of any near relative's death.
When tidings of the approach of the Taepings reached him he threw
himself with all the forces he could collect into Changsha. At the
same time he ordered the local militia to assemble as rapidly as
possible in the neighbourhood, in order to harass the movements of the
enemy. He called upon all those who had the means to show their duty
to the state and sovereign by raising recruits or by promising rewards
to those volunteers who would serve in the army against the rebels.
Had the example of Tseng Kwofan been followed generally, it is not too
much to say that the Taepings would never have got to Nanking. As it
was, he set the first example of true patriotism, and he had the
immediate satisfaction of saving Changsha.
When the Taepings reached Changsha they found the gates closed and the
walls manned. They proceeded to lay siege to it; they cut off its
supplies, and they threatened the garrison with extermination. They
even attempted to carry it by storm on three separate occasions.
During eighty days the siege went on; but the Taepings were then
compelled to admit that they were as far from success as ever. They
had suffered very considerable losses, including another of their
Wangs, the Western King, and although it was said that the loss of the
Imperialists was larger, they could better afford it. On the 1st
December they accordingly abandoned the siege and resumed their march
northwards. They crossed the Tungting Lake on boats and junks which
they had seized, and secured the town of Yochow on the Yangtsekiang
without meeting any resistance. Here they captured much war material,
including a large supply of gunpowder left by the great Chinese
Viceroy, Wou Sankwei, of the seventeenth century. From Yochow they
hastened down the river. The important city of Hankow surrendered
without a blow. The not less important town of Wouchang, on the
opposite or southern bank of the river, was then attacked, and after a
siege of a fortnight carried by storm. The third town of Hanyang,
which completes the busy human hive where the Han joins the great
river, did not attempt any resistance.
These successes raised the Taepings from the depths of despair to the
heights of hope. The capture of such wealthy places dispelled all
their doubt and discouragement. They were able to repay themselves for
the losses and hardships they had undergone, and the prize they had
thus secured furnished ground for hoping for more. But even now it was
no part of their mission to stand still. They waited at Hankow only
long enough to attach to their cause the many thousands attracted to
Tien Wang's flag by these successes. The possibility of pursuit by
Tseng Kwofan at the head of the warlike levies of Hoonan, where each
brave is considered equal to two from another province, was still
present to their minds. But he unfortunately rested content with his
laurels, while the Taepings swept like an irresistible wave or torrent
down the valley of the Yangtsekiang.
The capture of Kiukiang, a town situated on the river near the
northern extremity of the lake Poyang, and of Ganking followed in
quick succession, and on 8th March the Taepings sat down before
Nanking, the old capital of the Mings. The siege lasted only sixteen
days. Notwithstanding that there was a considerable Manchu force in
the Tartar city, which might easily have been defended apart from the
Chinese and much larger town, the resistance offered was singularly
faint-hearted. The Taepings succeeded in blowing in one of the gates.
The townspeople fraternised with the assailants, and the very Manchus,
who had looked so valiant in face of Sir Hugh Gough's force ten years
before, now surrendered their lives and their honour after a mere show
of resistance to a force which was nothing better than an armed
rabble. The Manchu colony of Nanking, to the number of some 4000
families, had evidently fallen off from its high renown. Instead of
dying at their posts, they threw themselves on the pity of the Taeping
leader. Their cowardice helped them not; of 20,000 Manchus not 100
escaped. The tale rests on irrefragable evidence. "We killed them all
to the infant in arms; we left not a root to sprout from; and the
bodies of the slain we cast into the Yangtse."
The capture of Nanking and this sweeping massacre of the dominant race
seemed to point the inevitable finger of fate at the Tatsing dynasty.
It was no longer possible to regard Tien Wang and his miscellaneous
gathering as an enemy beneath contempt. Without achieving any
remarkable success, having indeed been defeated whenever they were
opposed with the least resolution, the Taepings found themselves in
possession of the second city in the Empire. With that city they
acquired the control of the navigation of the Great River, and they
cut off the better part of the communications between the northern and
southern halves of the Empire. They abandoned Hankow, and confined
their occupation of the river banks to the part between Kiukiang and
Nanking; but they determined to secure the Grand Canal, which enters
the river east of the city. On 1st April 1853 they occupied
Chinkiangfoo, on the southern side of the river, and they held it, but
although they also captured Yangchow on the northern bank, they
evacuated it in a few days. These successes were obtained without any
loss, as all the garrisons fled at the mere approach of the dreaded
Taepings.
The Imperialist authorities seemed paralysed by the rapidity and
success of the rebels, who devoted all their efforts to strengthening
the defences of Nanking and to provisioning it in view of all
eventualities. But the thoughts of Tien Wang and his immediate
advisers were still of offensive and forward measures, and when
Nanking was equipped for defence a large part of the Taeping army was
ordered to march against Peking. At this time it was computed that the
total number of the Taepings did not fall short of 80,000 trustworthy
fighting men, while there were perhaps more than 100,000 Chinese
pressed into their service as hewers of wood and drawers of water. The
lines of Nanking and the batteries along the Yangtsekiang were the
creation of the forced labour of the population which had not fled
before the Taepings.
On the 12th of May an army, stated to consist of 200,000 men, but
probably consisting of less than half that number of combatants,
crossed the Yangtse and marched northwards. It would be uninteresting
to name the many small places they captured on their way, but on 19th
June they reached Kaifong, the capital of Honan, and once of China
itself. They had thus transferred in a few weeks their advanced posts
from the Yangtsekiang to the Hwangho, or Yellow River.
The garrison of Kaifong made a resolute defence, and repulsed the
Taepings, who at once abandoned the siege in accordance with their
usual custom, and resumed their march. They succeeded in crossing the
Yellow River under the eyes of the Kaifong garrison, and they then
attacked Hwaiking, an important prefectural town, where they
encountered a stout resistance. They besieged it for two months, and
then had to give up the attempt. Forces were gathering from different
directions, and it became necessary to baffle their opponent
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