General Gordon | Page 8

troops were undisciplined and largely composed of all
nationalities. Men bent on plunder, and exceedingly numerous; about
120,000 men. Gordon's appointment as Chief in Command of the "Ever
Victorious Army" proved to be a wise and good one for China.
Colonel Chesney thus writes:--"If General Staveley had made a mistake
in the operations he personally conducted the year before, he more than
redeemed it by the excellence of his choice of Gordon. This strange
army was made up of French, Germans, Americans, Spaniards, some of
good and some of bad character, but in their chief they had one whose
courage they were bound to admire, and whose justice they could not
help but admit. The private plundering of vanquished towns and cities
allowed under their former chief, disappeared under the eye of a leader
whose eye was as keen, as his soul was free from the love of filthy
lucre. They, however, learned to respect and love a general in whose
kindness, valour, skill, and justice they found cause unhesitatingly to

confide; who never spared himself personal exposure when danger was
near. In every engagement, and these numbered more than seventy, he
was to the front and led in person. His somewhat undisciplined army,
had in it many brave men; but even such men were very reluctant at
times to face these desperate odds. Whenever they showed signs of
vacillation he would take one of the men by the arm, and lead him into
the very thick of the fight. He always went unarmed even when
foremost in the breach. He never saw danger. A shower of bullets was
no more to him than a shower of hailstones; he carried one weapon
only, and that was a little cane, which won for itself the name of
"Gordon's magic wand." On one occasion when leading a storming
party his men wavered under a most withering fire. Gordon coolly
turned round and waving his cane, bade his men follow him. The
soldiers inspired by his courage, followed with a tremendous rush and
shout, and at once grandly carried the position. After the capture of one
of the Cities, Gordon was firm in not allowing them to pillage, sack and
burn such places; and for this some of his men showed a spirit of
insubordination. His artillery men refused to fall in when ordered; nay
more, they threatened to turn upon him their guns and blow him and his
officers to pieces. This news was conveyed to him by a written
declaration. His keen eye saw through their scheme at a glance, and
with that quiet determination which was his peculiar strength, he
summoned them into his presence and with a firmness born of courage
and faith in God, he declared that unless the ringleader of this
movement was given up, one out of every five would be shot! At the
same time he stepped to the front and with his own hand seized one of
the most suspicious looking of the men, dragged him out, and ordered
him to be shot on the spot at once, the order was instantly carried out
by an officer. After this he gave them half an hour to reconsider their
position at the end of which he found them ready to carry out any order
he might give. It transpired afterwards that the man who was shot was
the ringleader in this insubordination."
When Gordon had broken the neck of this far-reaching and disastrous
rebellion, and had restored to the Emperor of China the principal cities
and towns in peace, the London Times wrote of him:--"Never did a
soldier of fortune deport himself with a nicer sense of military honour,

with more gallantry against the resisting, with more mercy towards the
vanquished, with more disinterested neglect of opportunities of
personal advantage, or with more entire devotion to the objects and
desires of the Government he served, than this officer, who, after all his
splendid victories, has just laid down his sword."
Before leaving China he was offered a very large reward in cash, as it
was acknowledged on all hands he had saved the Empire more than
5,000,000 pounds sterling. All money he refused; he, however, asked
that some of it might be given to the troops, who had served him on the
whole with great loyalty, and this was granted. A gold medal was
struck in honour of his marvellous achievements, and this he accepted
and brought home; but it was soon missing. He thought more of the
starving poor than of any medal; so he sold it, and sent the cash it
realized to the Lancashire Cotton Operatives, who were then literally
starving. The Imperial Decree of China conferred upon him the rank of
"Ti-tu," the very highest honour ever conferred upon a Chinese subject.
Also