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be able to report a victory when giving up office. The Faithful King, however, was infuriated at this move of the Imperialists, and went from Soochow to Taitsan with 10,000 of his picked troops. On the 15th May there was an indecisive engagement; next morning 2000 of his men shaved their heads, pretending to join the Imperialists; and the King, moving round so as to intercept their retreat, attacked the latter, when the pretended Imperialists fought on his side, and the result was a most disastrous defeat, scarcely 2000 out of 7000 men returning to Kading. This affair, and the manner in which the Chung Wang began to follow up his success, induced the Allies to return to Shanghai.

When the latter found that the Imperialists were unable to hold the cities taken from the Rebels, they evacuated Kading after a good deal of skirmishing, and confined themselves to Shanghai and its more immediate neighbourhood. Elated by his success, the Faithful King sent out marauding parties nearly to the walls of that city, and invested Singpoo and Sungkiang, which were held by Ward's force. At the latter place a party of British seamen under Lieutenant Stephens, R.N., were introduced to assist the garrison, and fortunately in time to resist an attack made by the Rebels to scale the walls. During the engagements at this time it was seen that the Tai-pings had been well supplied with arms by Foreign traders, for nearly a third of them had muskets. The great heat of the weather had also some effect in inducing the Allied Commanders to retain their troops for the most part at the Consular port.

The garrison at Singpoo, commanded by Colonel Forrester, was soon closely invested by the Rebels, who sent in a letter offering to allow the "Strange Devils and Foreign Demons" to escape by the south gate and

return to their own country. Though the disciplined Chinese under Forrester made many sorties against the Rebel works, yet their position soon became desperate, as their numbers decreased and they had fewer men to guard the walls, which were three miles in extent, and were liable to be escaladed at any point. Accordingly, on the 10th June, 200 men of the 31st Regiment under Colonel Spence, the naval brigade under Admiral Hope, and Ward himself with two steamers and some of his men, went up to relieve Singpoo and withdraw its garrison. Unfortunately, when evacuating this city, Ward ordered it to be set on fire, which betrayed his intention, and caused a great deal of confusion. The Rebels entered before the garrison had left, and taking Colonel Forrester prisoner, drove out his force with considerable loss, pursuing them to the spot where Admiral Hope had halted with his naval brigade. It was a disastrous retreat, for the bridges over the innumerable creeks which intersect the country having been previously broken down, many of the retreating forces were drowned.

It was feared that Colonel Forrester, who had thus been taken, would be tortured to death, but he turned up some time after in exchange for a ransom of powder and muskets. On being seized by the Tai-pings, his hands and feet were bound, and he was kept in prison without food till next morning, when he was taken before a Chief, who ordered him to be tortured, and then decapitated. A young Tai-ping leader, however, who admired the Foreign Devil's courageous bearing, interfered, and the sentence was not carried out. After being kept in prison for some weeks in a state of semi-starvation, he was stripped naked, was loaded like a donkey, and in this way had to march for several days to Chapu under a burning July sun. After that, his hardships

*

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ceased; he was well treated, though closely guarded, and at last induced his custodians to accept a ransom. Thus, after two months' captivity, he returned to his astonished comrades with only his constitution a little shaken.

The Faithful King expatiates with considerable pleasure in his Autobiography on this victory over the "False Foreign Devils," as Ward's men were called, owing to their being dressed in European clothes. There is no doubt that at this time he might have endangered the safety of even Shanghai itself, had he not received intelligence which cut short his career in that direction, and recalled him to Nanking, which was again threatened by the Imperialists. It seems that the Ying Wang, or Four-eyed Dog, fell back on Tongching after the failure of the various expeditions to save Nanking, and that he was degraded by the Tien Wang. After some more reverses, he was deluded by an ex-Rebel, Miao Pe-ling, a subordinate of the famous General Shung Pow, to enter a city under the pretext that it would be surrendered to him; but when he did so, along with about thirty high Rebel dignitaries and leaders, the drawbridge was pulled up, and he and his friends were taken prisoners. The Four-eyed Dog, who deserved a better fate, was then executed; but his captors also came to a violent end, for Miao broke out again into rebellion in 1863, and was executed, while Shung Pow was degraded for having recommended him. for service, and for that and other sins was ordered to commit suicide. The Imperialists had also advanced down the Yangtsze from Nganking, and in May 1862 had captured the West, and invested the East, Pillar— two high conical hills ten miles below Wuhu. Tseng Kwo-tsun, the brother of the Imperialist Generalissimo, CHA YANG KWEITZE"

had also moved down with 40,000 men against Nanking, had established himself at the south-west of the city, and had extended his camps from the river to Porcelain Tower Hill, which was still held by the Rebels, but round which he had thrown up intrenchments. If we aided the Imperialists by defending Shanghai for them, they certainly aided us effectually by withdrawing the most formidable general of the Tai-pings, and a great portion of his force, at this critical moment.

Alarmed at all this, and by the capture of some other places both above and below his capital, the Tien Wang ordered the Faithful King to come up to Nanking directly, and the latter had to do so sorely against his own judgment. His own notion was to pour supplies into Nanking sufficient for two years, and to allow it to be beleaguered by the Imperialists during that period, while he pursued his designs towards the seaboard. But the Heavenly Monarch sent a peremptory mandate to him requiring his presence, and significantly added, "If you do not obey this decree, the law must inevitably take effect upon you." He found things in a bad way, and illustrates the effect of the loss of Nganking by remarking that when a bamboo is once split, it splits easily all the way down. Instead of listening to the wise advice of this loyal adherent, the Tien Wang accused him of treachery, and overwhelmed him with abuse. On reaching Nanking, the Faithful King was ordered to take Tseng Kwo-tsun's intrenched camps, which were defended with deep trenches and strong bastions, and with connecting drawbridges, so that a force could be concentrated at any one point. Many weeks were wasted in uselessly attacking this position, and his failure in taking it was punished by severe censure, by depriving him of his rank as a noble, and by sending

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him in to Nganwhui to join the remnant of the Ying Wang's force.

During the heats of this summer the Allied forces remained quiet at Shanghai, round which works of defence were completed; and Admiral Hope and General Staveley went away—the one to Chefoo to recover from his wound, and the other to Japan to recruit his impaired health. The only places near Shanghai from which the Rebels were excluded was Najow, where there was a garrison of British troops, and Sungkiang, which was held by Ward, whose force was now 5000 strong, well armed with percussion muskets, and supported by artillery. This force was still paid by the Chinese merchants of Shanghai, and was only partially under the orders of the Governor of the province. By this time General Ward had a good position with the Chinese authorities, and could get what money he required without trouble. His higher officers received £70 per mensem, his lieutenants £30, and the men rather more than 1s. 6d. per diem, with free rations when in the field. The non-commissioned officers and men were all Chinese, but the other officers were Europeans with the exception of one Chinaman named Wong Apo.* A thousand of the men were armed with Prussian rifles of the old pattern, and the Ever-Victorious Army had by this time assumed, chiefly owing to Ward's exertions, a good many of the characteristics of a regular disciplined force.

On the other side, the recall of the Faithful King must have discouraged the Tai-pings, so on the 6th of August Ward ventured out of Sungkiang with nearly 3000 men and retook Singpoo, leaving it to be gar

* In such names as Apo, Apak, and Atai, the "A" is merely a euphonistic aspirate, and the Chinese characters represent Po, Pak, and Tai.