o 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