shortcomings as a commander.

He was drowned in

the canal during the heat of the engagement, and the spectacle of his fall so greatly discouraged his men that they at once gave way in all directions. The fate of the ex-Triad chief decided the day, and by this victory Chung Wang cleared the road to Soochow.

Two days later Chung Wang defeated his brother Chang Yuliang at Changchow, thus to some extent compensating for his own reverse at Hangchow. Changchow surrendered on the 11th of May, but the Imperialist troops endeavoured to make a fresh stand at Wusieh, where a desperate battle was fought for twentyfour hours. The action was stubbornly contested, and for a moment it seemed as if the verdict would be in favour of the Imperialists; but Chung Wang's impetuosity again turned the day in his favour, and Wusieh became the prize of the victor. Upon its capture the Emperor's general, Hochun, who had taken a prominent part in the earlier siege of Nankin, committed suicide; and Hienfung was thus deprived of another officer who, despite many faults, had shown at least consistent zeal and courage in his service.

From these frequent actions Chang Yuliang had escaped, and with the remnant of his force he prepared to defend Soochow, a place at that time of greater size than strength. His intentions were baffled partly

* It will be remembered that Chang Kwoliang was the principal Triad chief who joined the rebels in Kwangsi, and then abandoned them for the side of the Imperialists.

Said to be itself thirteen miles in circumference, and to have suburbs of immense size. It was also a place of vast wealth and prosperity.

The

by the difficulty of his task, and partly by the discouragement of his troops. An attempt to destroy the suburbs by fire and thus make the place defensible was rendered abortive by the action of the people themselves, so that no resource was left save to abandon the town as promptly as possible. Chang Yuliang and his braves returned to Hangchow, where they remained in safety, while Ho Kweitsin, the governorgeneral of the provinces of the Two Kiang, implored aid from those very English who were on the point of proceeding to attack the capital of the Empire. French, then as ever impelled by the restless feeling to participate in whatever warlike operations might be going on, turned a sympathising ear to the complaints of the Chinese Viceroy, and promised that they would send a force of 1,500 French troops if 500 English would combine with them, in order to re-assert the Imperial authority, although those very troops owed their presence in China to the fact that they were there to wage war upon the Emperor. The caution of Mr. Bruce forbade the enterprise, but the application of Ho Kweitsin remains an incident almost unique in the annals of war of an officer of a Government appealing to a foreign enemy engaged in actual hostilities for aid against a national rebel. Although the English representative declined to comply with the request of the Chinese official, a proclamation (May 26th, 1860) was made in the joint names of the foreign representatives to the effect that they were fully resolved to prevent Shanghai falling a second time into the hands of an insurgent force.

III.

35

When Soochow passed into the possession of Chung Wang, the small towns around it also surrendered. By this means Quinsan, Tsingpu, Taitsan, and other places accepted Taeping garrisons without a blow, and a large part of the able-bodied population joined the standard of Chung Wang. Such attempts as Chang Yuliang made to recover the ground he had lost were all repulsed with loss, and he had to content himself with the defence of Hangchow. This unfortunate campaign proved fatal to Ho Kweitsin, who was degraded, summoned to Pekin, and after a short delay executed, although his advice had eventually to be adopted.* The post of Viceroy of the Two Kiang was conferred upon Tseng Kwofan, then at Kwante endeavouring to collect and reorganise some of the scattered forces. Chung Wang's success in Kiangsu encouraged the disaffected to bestir themselves in Chekiang, but although several towns were lost to the Emperor the importance of the movement was never more than local; and the principal interest of the situation continued to centre in the attempts of the Taeping leader to acquire possession of the riches of Shanghai.

At Shanghai itself some preparations had been made to recover the neighbouring places, and the town of Tsingpu in particular had been fixed upon as the proper place to commence operations for the reassertion of Hienfung's authority. In this emergency the Shang

Ho Kweitsin disappointed in his direct appeal to the allies sent a memorial to Pekin, praying that the demands of the foreigners might be conceded, and that they should then be employed against the rebels.

hai officials had turned to the European residents, as their Governments had refused to be compromised; and the great Chinese merchants, forming themselves into a kind of association of patriotism, guaranteed the funds for fitting out and rewarding a small contingent force of foreigners. Two Americans, Ward and Burgevine, were easily tempted by the promise of good pay and by the possibility of distinction to raise a levy among the foreign and sea-faring colony, and to place themselves at the disposal of this Shanghai committee. Of these two men Ward was the recognised leader, and Burgevine acted as his quartermaster. The principle on which they were treated was that in addition to high pay they were promised a large sum of money as a reward for the capture of certain positions. The place on which they were invited to make their first attempt, and as it were to prove their mettle, was Sunkiang, a large walled town nearly twenty miles south-west of Shanghai.

The first attack was made under Ward in July 1860, when he had succeeded in collecting 100 Europeans and perhaps twice as many Manilla men. It was repulsed, however, with some loss. Ward was a man of determination, and seeing the anticipated prize slipping away from him he resolved to make a further and more vigorous effort to capture the place. He succeeded in enlisting a further body of Manilla men, and with these he renewed the attack. He seems to have resorted to a stratagem to effect his object, but, having gained possession of a gateway,* he held it against every attack

* “He lay hid during the day, and seized the south gate just as the sun set."

until the main body of the Imperialists joined him. The capture of Sunkiang brought home to the Chinese mind the valuable aid which a foreign contingent might render against the rebels. It also made Ward's force popular for the moment with the more adventurous portion of the European community; and while most joined for the sake of the high pay and plunder to be obtained, some entered it with the hope of seeing service and gaining military experience. The latter it must be admitted were very few indeed.* The capture of Sun

kiang so far encouraged the officials at Shanghai that they requested Ward + to proceed forthwith to attack Tsingpu, and in return for its capture they promised him a great reward.

Ward was nothing loth to undertake another enterprise that might prove of as profitable a character as the attack on Sunkiang had been. He returned to Shanghai to complete his arrangements, and soon had assembled

* Each of the men received £20 a month, in addition to a share of the loot or ransom.

A full account is given of Ward and the raising of his force in General Gordon's Confidential Despatch on "The Organisation of the Quinsan Force." Ward had been an officer in the merchant service of America. He served as mate under Gough, an American, who commanded the fleet fitted out by Taotai Wou for operations on the Yangtse, and was thus brought into contact with the rich Chinese merchants of Shanghai. By some of his admirers, who wished above all things to weaken the influence of England, he and his lieutenant, Vincente Macanaya, a Manillaman, were represented as perfect heroes and demigods. (See their Memoirs by P.C., published at Shanghai in 1863.) As a matter of fact, Ward was of the most ordinary type of the fillibuster, possessing the qualities of cruelty and rapaciousness. He used to kill all his prisoners, after having been imposed upon by a party of Taepings who pretended to give in their adhesion to the Imperialists, and then revolted.