General Gordon | Page 9

the "Peacock's feather," "The Order of the Star," and the "Yellow
Jacket." By these he was constituted one of the "Emperor's Body
Guard." In a letter home he says, "I shall leave China as poor as I
entered it, but with the knowledge that through my weak
instrumentality from eighty to one hundred thousand lives have been
saved. Than this I covet no greater satisfaction."
Before he left China, as a proof of the estimation in which he was held,
a grand illuminated address was presented to him, signed by more than
sixty of the leading firms of the Empire, and by most of the bankers
and merchants of the cities of Pekin, Shanghai, and of the principal
towns throughout China.
It read thus:--"Honoured Sir,--On the eve of your departure to your
native country, we, the undersigned, mostly fellow-countrymen of your
own, but also representing other nationalities, desire to express to you
our earnest wish for a successful voyage and happy return to your
friends and the land of your birth.
"Your career during your stay amongst us has been, so far as we know,
without a parallel in the history of foreign nations with China; and we

feel that we should be alike wanting towards you and towards ourselves,
were we to pass by this opportunity without expressing our
appreciation and admiration of the line of conduct which you
personally have pursued. In a position of unequalled difficulty, and
surrounded by complications of every conceivable nature, you have
succeeded in offering to the eyes of the Chinese Empire, no less by
your loyal and thoroughly disinterested line of action than by your
conspicuous gallantry and talent for organization and command, the
example of a foreign officer, serving the government of this country,
with honourable fidelity and undeviating self- respect.
{Chinese Gordon: p45.jpg}
"Once more wishing you a prosperous voyage, and a long career of
usefulness and success."
Signed, &c.
There is truth in this as applied to Gordon:--
"He strove not for the wealth of fame, From heaven the power that
moved him came. And welcome as the mountain air, The voice that bid
him do and dare. Onward he bore and battled still With a most firm
enduring will, His only hope to win the prize Laid up for him beyond
the skies."
The Emperor wished the British Minister to bring before the notice of
Her Majesty the Queen of England his appreciation of the splendid
services which Gordon had rendered. He hoped that he would be
rewarded in England as well as in China for his heroic achievements.
A subsequent letter in the Times said that Prince Kung, who was then
the Regent of China, had waited upon Sir Frederick Bruce, and said to
him, "You will be astonished to see me again, but I felt I could not
allow you to leave without coming to see you about Gordon. We do not
know what to do. He will not receive money from us, and we have
already given him every honour which it is in the power of the Emperor
to bestow; but as these are of little value in his eyes, I have brought you

this letter, and I ask you to give it to the Queen of England that she may
bestow on him some reward which would be more valuable in his
eyes."
Sir Frederick Bruce sent this to London with a letter of his own:--"I
enclose translation of a despatch from Prince Kung, containing the
decree published by the Emperor, acknowledging the services of
Gordon and requesting that Her Majesty's Government be pleased to
recognise him. Gordon well deserves the favours of your Majesty for
the skill and courage he has shown, his disinterestedness has elevated
our national character in the eyes of the Chinese. Not only has he
refused any pecuniary reward, but he has spent more than his pay in
contributing to the comforts of the officers who served under him, and
in assuaging the distress of the starving population whom he relieved
from the yoke of their oppressors."
It does not appear that this letter was ever sent to the Queen, or noticed
by the Government, and so the heroic deeds of a man of whom any
nation might justly be proud, were forgotten.
CHAPTER III.
"We are to relieve the distressed, to put the wanderer into his way, and
to share our bread with the hungry, which is but the doing good to
others."--SENECA.
Our hero having returned to his native land, and to settle for a little
while at the quiet town of Gravesend, refused to be lionized, and he
begged that no publication of his deeds of daring and devotion in China,
should be recorded. His quiet life here as an engineer was not less
remarkable, though of