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risoned by the Imperialists. This event roused the Tai-pings at Soochow, and their bands again appeared in the vicinity of Shanghai, driving the peasantry before them and cramming that city with fugitives. Some good service was done in repelling these marauding bands by the mounted rangers of Shanghai, a volunteer force composed of the Foreign merchants of that place, and not a little confused skirmishing took place. Important events, which are recounted in my next chapter, had meanwhile been going on at Ningpo, and General Ward went down in September to that neighbourhood, where he unfortunately met with his death-wound. In an attack on Tseki on the 21st of September, he was shot in the stomach at the moment of attack by a stray bullet. Being carried back to Ningpo, he survived for a short time, meeting his fate with much firmness and composure, and disposing by will of the considerable fortune which he had acquired during his military career in China. Ward was a brave, energetic leader, and managed very well both with his force and with the Mandarins. When the news of his death reached Sungkiang, he was deeply lamented both by his officers and men, and by the people of the city. When his remains entered that place for interment, all the shopkeepers at once shut their shops for the day; several officers of the British army and navy attended his funeral; the usual volleys for a general were fired over his grave, and he was buried in the Confucian University, which the Chinese considered a great honour, and which place had been closed for many years until that day in September 1862. Colonel Forrester, Ward's second in command,

now offered charge of the Ever-Victorious Army, but declined, and the command was accepted by the officer next in rank, Henry Burgevine, a young American

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from North Carolina, who, like Ward, had been a seafaring man, but from an early period had cherished vague dreams of founding an empire in the East. Some weeks elapsed before the new Commander took the field, and at this time an officer of the Russian Government came to Shanghai to offer Lí Hung-chang, who was now Futai or Governor of the province, the assistance of 10,000 men. But this offer was calculated to cause the Chinese alarm rather than gratification, and was respectfully declined. The new Futai, who had served long under Tseng Kwo-fan against the Tai-pings, proved to be a man of much more ability than his predecessor, and one likely to follow a definite path of his own.

The country remained quiet till November 1862, when the Moh Wang, who had made an advance from Soochow, was attacked on one side by the forces of Lí, on the other by those of Burgevine, and so met with a severe repulse, in which his son, a young man of distinguished bravery, was killed. Before this event there was some bad feeling between Burgevine and Governor Lí, which was now increased by the latter taking the credit of this victory to himself. General Ching, an exRebel chief who fought under the Futai, and was jealous of the disciplined Chinese, did all he could to ferment the quarrel, and Burgevine himself increased it by his peremptory manner, and by rousing suspicions in the mind of the shrewd Futai as to his ultimate intentions. There were also reports that Ward, had he lived, had intended to establish himself as an independent power in the country, and so the Chinese at this time became very distrustful of the Ever-Victorious Army, and of its Commander. One consequence of this was that the merchants at Shanghai, who had hitherto supported

the force from dread of the Rebels, were now not disposed to give such large sums for its maintenance as they had formerly paid. Lí became so suspicious of the new Commander, that on 1st December he went to General Staveley, begging him to remove Burgevine and to appoint an English officer in his place. He also complained much of the enormous expenses of the force both under Ward and Burgevine; of the interference by the latter with the civil government of Sungkiang; of disputes between the disciplined Chinese and the Imperialist troops; of the way in which the former plundered the people of the country, and in general of Burgevine's independent insulting demeanour. These complaints of the Chinese were not altogether without reason, especially as regarded the expenses of the force, which had amounted to £30,000 per mensem; but General Staveley had no wish to interfere in the matter, and stated that he had no power to grant their request, though he would communicate on the subject with the Home Government and with the British Minister at Peking. His own idea was that, if the Chinese Government wished to organise its military forces, it should be assisted in doing so under proper conditions; but he was not prepared to give his support to the EverVictorious Army in its then unsatisfactory state, officered as it was by a body of men who, however brave, were not fit representatives of their respective nations, and who, on any disagreement arising, might turn against the Chinese Government itself. It occurred to him, however, that some more satisfactory arrangement might be made for placing the disciplined Chinese under the joint command of Native and Foreign officers; and accordingly he drew up a rough sketch of the terms on which, if his Government approved, the ser

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vices of a British officer might be obtained for the pur

The quarrel between Burgevine and the Futai soon came to an issue. For two months the troops had not been paid regularly, and when 6000 of them were ordered up to Nanking they refused to proceed until the arrears were paid. Their Commander also demanded that a number of other back claims should be cleared off before he left. The fact was, that neither the men nor the officers had much relish for being sent against the Rebel capital; for the former, being chiefly natives of the Sungkiang district, were averse, like all Chinese, to going far from home, while the latter imagined, and not without some reason, that up at Nanking both their lives and their pay would be very much at the mercy of the Imperialists. On the other hand, the Mandarins were glad to make Burgevine feel how much he was in their power, and they probably expected that this unpleasant demand might enable them to get rid of him. Ta Kee, the banker through whose hands the payments of the force were made, kept back some moneys which he had promised to advance in the commencement of January, on which Burgevine, accompanied by his body-guard, paid him a visit at Shanghai, struck him on the face in the course of the altercation which ensued, and carried off for the troops a sum of money that he found conveniently ready in the banker's house.

Of course Ta Kee reported this affair to the Futai, who determined to dismiss Burgevine; but being in fear of a revolt on the part of the Ever-Victorious Army, he went to General Staveley and the American Consul, and requested they would arrest the Commander. This the General refused to do, but he informed Burgevine that * See Appendix IV.

the Futai had dismissed him, and recommended him to give up the force quietly, a request which was at once complied with, and Captain Holland of the Royal Marines, the Chief of Staveley's Staff, was left in temporary command. At the same time the Futai assumed the responsibility of supporting the Sungkiang force, which had hitherto been paid by the Chinese merchants; and he quelled a great commotion which arose amongst them when they heard of the dismissal of their Commander, by the simple but effectual expedient of paying their

arrears.

Again General Staveley urged that Colonel Forrester should be placed in command, so anxious was he to avoid any appearance of putting the disciplined Chinese exclusively under British management; and it was only on that officer again refusing that he agreed to place Captain Holland in temporary command, and to recommend Captain Gordon of the Royal Engineers as its permanent Chief, if his Government approved of a British officer taking such an appointment.