The morning times., 1896-08-23
tory. The third is by Denietrius c. Boat

Tory Ihe third Is by Denietrlus O. by'ii-
ger in the Contemporary Review.
The earl's career during the first years
OF his official life was exclusively military,
though he seldom saw the enemy on the
field OF battle. and was never perS rna!ly
engag aged in an action. His business was
to direct the movements of the troops from
asafe distance.
His first great achievement was il the
Taiping rebellion. The insurgents lad
advanced from their first quarters in
Kwangrung to the YangTse River and
In 1888 had conquered the great tity OF
Nankin The troops Of the emperor had
proved wholly Incapable Of coping with
them and they would have soon oysFrun
the whole of the rich Yang Tsc Valley,
If not the entire realm.
ovERPowERED THE REBELS
Then it was that Earl Ii rose up and
with a humber Of other leaders Of military
skill and sagacious insight of strltcgy,
opposed the rebels and finally defeated
them. The earl's successes We're re " irued
in I $50 by the rank Of ''Taotai,f with
chief military command in the province
4 Z
of the province OF Kiang-Su- In this po-
sition. while the rebellion was still strong,
he was reinforced by Gen. Gordon. then the
commander Of 1.-The ever victorious army
n body OF weIl-discipl.ued troops 81 the
imperial army. which was cCmniahieh 10y
European officers. These troops joined TO
the local army finally drove the rebels iroIi
kiarg-Su and Gen. Gordon, in the crush
ing of the insurrection, gained his sOuhFi-
ouet "Chiuese" :" while Earl Ii spranc INTO
fame as u stTategist and soon became the
chief military man of the empire. He was
made yjceroy of the united Thuang or
Kiang provinces in 1860
At the siege of Soo-Choo. the chief city
of Kiang-Su. nine OF the ten leaders OF
the rebellion teGan neSoua ions win
Gordon. and promised TO surrender II ihey
could get rid of Mu-Wang, the hr'tvest OF
their number. 1t was arranged that
Mu-Wang was to make il sally from the
gate of the city and as soon is ne han
got out the gate should he closed against
his return and he and his band shoulh he
shot down by Gordon's sharpshooters-
The plan was not carried out because
Mu-Wang became suspicious. He gave
expression TO this feeling at meeting, and
the other nine leaders set upon him and
killed him. They then surrendered.
Ii had promised Gordon that they should
be spared il they delivered up the city, but
instead Of keeping this promise Ii had
every leader promptly put To death. Cor
don was so angereh when he learned this
that he seized u gun and searched through
the city for the Chinese general. declaring
~, sitrInt I / az
capped by hiding in a servants quarters.
Sir Robert Hart succeeded in bringing about
an understanding between the two. Ii
Hung Chang issued proclamation In which
he exoneratcd Gen. Gordon. He said that
the rebel leaders at their surrender de-
manded in the most bold way that all their
followers shoIld be received into the im-
perial army ana thai they themselves should
be given high commands. he had not met
this with sharp measures the rebellion could
not have been broken up.
IN THE RECENT WAR.
At the beginning of the Korean trouble
In 1882, Ii Hung Chang foresaw the war
with Japan, and urged his government to
prepare against it, For more than ten
years his diplomacy STAYED off the struggle.
During the war, though laboring under
the burden of years, he for long time
had the whole responsibility upon his
shoulders. He was practically at the head
of the departments of war, navy aud
finance The emperor would issue his
DEGREES and the premier must find some
way to see that they were carried into
execution. This was q matter with which
the emperOr dtd not trouble himself. When