a peasant
emperor had been proclaimed. The insurrection--or the Taeping rebellion,
as it is called--could have been easily put down in the beginning, but
ministers in China are slow to move, and it soon became a real danger to
the empire. The great object of the rebels was to gain possession of
Shanghai, the centre of European trade, built in the midst of canals and
rivers, with the great Yang-tse-kiang at hand to carry into the interior
of China the goods of foreign merchants of all countries that come to
its harbour across the Pacific. Pirate vessels, too, haunted its shores,
ready to pounce upon the rich traders, and when their prizes were
captured, they went swiftly away, and hid themselves among the islands
and bogs that stretched themselves a hundred miles to the north and
south of the city.

Thus Shanghai was a very important place both to Chinese, French, and
English; yet for twelve years the rebellion had been allowed to go on
unchecked, burning, pillaging, and murdering, till in 1853 the rebels
had reached a point only a hundred miles distant from Pekin itself. Then
soldiers were hastily collected, and the Taepings forced back; quarrels
broke out among their leaders, and most likely the rebellion would have
melted away altogether had it not been for the appearance four years
later of young Chung Wang, who assumed the command, and proved himself a
most skilful general. As long as he led the Taepings in battle victory
was on their side; if he was needed elsewhere, they were invariably
defeated.

Inspired by his successes, Chung Wang attacked and took several rich and
important towns in the Shanghai district, and held Nankin, the ancient
capital of China. Shanghai trembled when the flames of burning villages
became visible from her towers and pagodas, and even the Chinese felt
that, if they were to be saved at all, measures must be quickly taken.
Volunteers of all nations living in the town, Chinese as well as
Europeans and Americans, put themselves under the command of an American
named Ward, who drilled them, trained them, and fought with them, and,
it is said, gave battle to the rebels on seventy different occasions
without once being beaten. Well had his troops earned the title
afterwards given them at Pekin, of the Ever-Victorious Army.

* * * * *

This was the state of things when, in May 1862, Gordon was sent to
Shanghai in command of the English engineers who, with some