He Arrived At A Most Critical Moment.
The Garrison Was Hard Pressed.
General Ching had gone back to Shanghai,
and only the presence of the "Hyson" prevented the rebels, who were well-
armed and possessed an efficient artillery, from carrying the fort by a
rush.
The arrival of Major Gordon with 150 men on board his third steamer,
the "Cricket," restored the confidence of the defenders, but there was no
doubt that Burgevine had lost a most favorable opportunity, for if he had
attacked this place instead of proceeding to Soochow it must have fallen.
General Ching, who was a man of almost extraordinary energy and
restlessness, resolved to signalize his return to the field by some
striking act while Major Gordon was completing his preparations at Quinsan
for a fresh effort. His headquarters were at the strong fort of Ta Edin,
on the creek leading from Quinsan to Soochow, and having the "Hyson" with
him he determined to make a dash to some point nearer the great rebel
stronghold. On August 30 he had seized the position of Waiquaidong, where,
in three days, he threw up stockades, admirably constructed, and which
could not have been carried save by a great effort on the part of the
whole of the Soochow garrison. Toward the end of September, Major Gordon,
fearing lest the rebels, who had now the supposed advantage of Burgevine's
presence and advice, might make some attempt to cut off General Ching's
lengthy communications, moved forward to Waiquaidong to support him; but
when he arrived he found that the impatient mandarin, encouraged either by
the news of his approach or at the inaction of the Taepings in Soochow,
had made a still further advance of two miles, so that he was only 1,000
yards distant from the rebel stockades in front of the east gate. Major
Gordon had at this time been re-enforced by the Franco Chinese corps,
which had been well disciplined, under the command of Captain Bonnefoy,
while the necessity of leaving any strong garrison at Quinsan had been
obviated by the loan of 200 Belooches from General Brown's force. The
rebel position having been carefully reconnoitered, both on the east and
on the south, Major Gordon determined that the first step necessary for
its proper beleaguerment was to seize and fortify the village of
Patachiaou, about one mile south of the city wall. The village, although
strongly stockaded, was evacuated by the garrison after a feeble
resistance, and an attempt to recover it a few hours later by Mow Wang in
person resulted in a rude repulse chiefly on account of the effective fire
of the "Hyson." Burgevine, instead of fighting the battles of the failing
cause he had adopted, was traveling about the country: at one moment in
the capital interviewing Tien Wang and his ministers, at another going
about in disguise even in the streets of Shanghai. But during the weeks
when General Ching might have been taken at a disadvantage, and when it
was quite possible to recover some of the places which had been lost, he
was absent from the scene of military operations. After the capture of
Patachiaou most of the troops and the steamers that had taken it were sent
back to Waiquaidong, but Major Gordon remained there with a select body of
his men and three howitzers. The rebels had not resigned themselves to the
loss of Patachiaou, and on October 1 they made a regular attempt to
recover it. They brought the "Kajow" into action, and, as it had found a
daring commander in a man named Jones, its assistance proved very
considerable. They had also a 32-pounder gun on board a junk, and this
enabled them to overcome the fire of Gordon's howitzers and also of the
"Hyson," which arrived from Waiquaidong during the engagement. But
notwithstanding the superiority of their artillery, the rebels hesitated
to come to close quarters, and when Major Gordon and Captain Bonnefoy led
a sortie against them at the end of the day they retired precipitately.
At this stage Burgevine wrote to Major Gordon two letters - the first
exalting the Taepings, and the second written two days later asking for an
interview, whereupon he expressed his desire to surrender on the provision
of personal safety. He assigned the state of his health as the cause of
this change, but there was never the least doubt that the true reason of
this altered view was dissatisfaction with his treatment by the Taeping
leaders and a conviction of the impossibility of success. Inside Soochow,
and at Nankin, it was possible to see with clearer eyes than at Shanghai
that the Taeping cause was one that could not be resuscitated. But
although Burgevine soon and very clearly saw the hopelessness of the
Taeping movement, he had by no means made up his mind to go over to the
imperialists. With a considerable number of European followers at his beck
and call, and with a profound and ineradicable contempt for the whole
Chinese official world, he was both to lose or surrender the position
which gave him a certain importance. He vacillated between a number of
suggestions, and the last he came to was the most remarkable, at the same
time that it revealed more clearly than any other the vain and
meretricious character of the man. In his second interview with Major
Gordon he proposed that that officer should join him, and combining the
whole force of the Europeans and the disciplined Chinese, seize Soochow,
and establish an independent authority of their own. It was the old
filibustering idea, revived under the most unfavorable circumstances, of
fighting for their own hand, dragging the European name in the dirt, and
founding an independent authority of some vague, undefinable and
transitory character. Major Gordon listened to the unfolding of this
scheme of miserable treachery, and only his strong sense of the utter
impossibility, and indeed the ridiculousness of the project, prevented his
contempt and indignation finding forcible expression.
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Page 143 of 188
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of 191255
