point of view. The circumference of its walls is some five miles,
but they are very inferior. Its ditch is over forty yards wide,
and from the nature of the creeks around it would prove very
difficult to take. The high hill enclosed within its walls would
enable the slightest move to be seen, and if two or three guns
were placed on the spurs of this hill it would form a very
formidable citadel. The rebels did not know its importance till
they lost it."

Such was the capture of Quinsan, told in the simple words of its
captor. It confirmed the reputation gained by the fall of Taitsan, and
proved that the new commander was a man of extraordinary military
intuition as well as energy. There is scarcely room to doubt that if
Gordon had attacked Quinsan where the Chinese commander wished him to
do, at its very strongest point, he would have met with a rude
repulse. By attacking them on the side of Soochow, and by threatening
their communication with that place, he terrified the large garrison
so much that in the end they evacuated the place without resistance.
Gordon himself believed that if the mandarins at the head of the
Imperial army would have consented to support him in immediate
measures for an assault on Soochow, that city would have fallen in the
panic that ensued after the loss of Quinsan. The opportunity being
lost, it will be seen that many months of arduous fighting followed
before the same result was achieved.

The reasons which rendered a change in the headquarters of the force
desirable have already been mentioned, and Major Gordon at once
decided to remove them to Quinsan, a strong and advantageously-placed
position embarrassing to the Taepings, and equally encouraging to the
Imperialists. But if this removal was necessary on grounds of
discipline and policy, it was very unpopular with the men themselves,
who were attached to Sungkiang, where they could easily dispose of
their plunder. They determined to make an effort to get the offensive
order withdrawn, and a proclamation was drawn up by the most
disaffected, who were the non-commissioned officers, and sent to Major
Gordon with an intimation that the artillery would blow all the
officers to pieces unless their demands were complied with. Major
Gordon at once sent for all the non-commissioned officers, who paraded
before him. When he demanded the name of the writer of the
proclamation they were silent. At this Major Gor