The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1883-07-06
THE TAPPING REBELLION.
How 1t Was Suppressed by the Eng
lishman, Gen. G. G. Gordon.
Attacking Powerful Army with Small
Force and Achieving Victory by
Superior Skill.
New York Herald.

The most celebrated feat of General G. g.
Gordon (better know as "Chinese Gordon" ~
was the suppression of the Tapping rebellion,
which in the spring of 1868 had reached its
apogee. In thirteen years Hung-sew-tsuen,
the visionary schoolteacher of Canton, hao
mustered a following OF 1000 men. Most
of the principal cities on both banks of the
Yang-tse KiaEg were in his hands. His pro-
LESSONS of Christianity and his control of
the tea district had at first enlisted many
foreign nations in his favor. The resistance
of Nankin to his arms turned the current OF
feeling against him. For days the inhabit-
ants and the imperial garrison had lived on
the banks of trees and roots of grass. Leather,
boiled in narrow slips, was eagerly swallow
ed. Human flesh was openly hawked in the
streets The surrounding country was de-
vastated. Water courses were filled with
broken furniture, rotten boats and
ruin. Once fourishing marts were
entirely deserted and thousands
of houses were burned to the
ground. Here and there a solitary old man
might be seen moving with trembling limbs
among the ruins sadly musing over the des-
olation that reigned around. In the midst of
these events the Tapping leader put forth
proclamation. 1.-THE Father and the Elder
Brother" he said, "have descended upon
earth and established the heavenly kingdonr
and have taken me and the Junior Lord to
regulate affairs appertaning to the world"
The foreign nations at once withdrew their
support and waived their ardor for Christian
w in foy Of thair interaSt N
The first to take advantage of the change
was an American named Ward. He had been
a mate on Boston ship, and had landed at
Shanghai with suit of clothes upon his
back and six Mexican dollars in his pocket.
He went to Prince Kung and offered to crush
the rebellion for $10,000000. The Prince ac-
cepted and paid considerable sum in ad-
vance. Wards life had been full of adven-
fure. He had been with Walker in his ear
/ ler expeditions and had had taste of civil
warfare in South America. He first set to
work to recruit his men and then to drill
them. Dozens applied every day. Marines,
sailors from men-of-war, tea planters, mem
soers of the police force, all the European adj
genturers whom chance had brought to
China, were enrolled under Wards banners.
They were mutinous and rapacious mob.
They plundered all who came in their way.
They broke into pagodas and despoiled them
of their rare contents. They tore ont dia-
monds from the IDOLS eyes, dug up treasure
which the priests had concealed, and scat
tered precious manuscripts of Buddhist
classics to the wind. Ward was soon dis
gusted with them. He had been created
Mandarin of the Blue Button, he had mar
ried Chinese wife, and he was preparing to
a Tapping rebel shot him through the heart
before the walls of Ningpo.
NOVEL CAMPAIGN.
That was Gordon's opportunity. Bur-
gevine, who succeeded to Wards command,
was disposed to sell his men to the highest
bidder. The young British engineer fore
stalled him. Fortified with counsels from
Calcutta and promises of unlimited pay
from Pekin, he called the remnant of Wards
force around him and offered them terms of
service. There was to be no footing so long
as their pay was regularly distributed. He
Then went to work to mature his scheme of
attack. For grasping a military situation
his quickness was Napoleonic. Heretofore
the plan for defending the city of Shanghai
was to guard a radius of thirty miles around
it and remain wholly on the defensive. This
policy he at once reversed. Having raised
most of the Europeans to posts of command,
and drilled little army of some 900 Chi
nese, he moved boldly against the enemy
He did not direct his attack on their front,
where their numbers must have overwhelmed
him, but determined to throw himself on
their communications, seize them. point by
point, with the aid of small hotlla, and so
clear up the whole country down to the gates
of Nankin.
study of the operations by which he
cut off the great city of Soochow proves
min a master of strategy in its highest
sense, as his extraordinary control over his
native contingent and the wild spirits
that differed it had marked him a
true leader OF men. His difficulties were I'M
precedented The Yang tse- Kiang had so
long been closed to foreign commerce that
the villagers had never seen Europeans.
They mistook the army of succor for Tartar
robbers. The whistle of Gordon's steamer,
the sparks that issued from its funnel, ad-
ded to their terrors, Whole villages fled
from the fiery dragon ship" Women
threw themselves down from great heights
They say that a Taitsan fateful subject of
the Emperor rushed into the rebel lines and
fought desperately on the side of the de-
tested Taepngs. Dmly through the smoke
he saw the black and yellow banner and
hestated. Then the firing ceased and he
was surrounded by his countrymen rushing
through the breach. In his amazement he
still was able to cry Good Chinaman!"
SHOW yonr gum" was the reply. The bar
rel was still warm
"Your hands," His hams were black with
powder.
They pushed him back against the wall
and fired. He died in ignorance of his of
tense.
With the arrival of winter Colonel Gordon
was before Soochow, and opened the siege
with which his name is inseparably CON
nected. Soochow is the Venice of the East.
When the city of the Foscari was marshy
waste poets were singing the glories of 500
chow, the splepdor OF its temples, the beauty
of its women. Its canals traced their way
through arches of osier and weeping willow,
Its shops and streets wore an air of Partisan
gayety. In the Morning Palace the mowang
exquisite grottos and summer houses. Girls
famed him as he reclined in his divan;
musical boxes tinkled in his halls.
Despite his righteousness he was man
of character and ability. He was the favor