"A just retaliation on those wretches who had made their smiling land a scene of misery and desolation."
Reporting the second affair, it states:—
"The aspect of the country looked charming, as the expedition threaded its way among cultivated fields covered with the green crops sown by the industrious inhabitants."
Like all other unscrupulous sources of opposition to the revolutionists, the Shanghae Daily Shipping List is sufficiently condemned by its own words. It needeth not a partizan to advocate Ti-pingdom; any person not blinded by prejudice or dollars, and who will take the trouble to study both sides of the question with proverbial English fair-play, cannot fail to become favourably interested in the insurgents, simply through the rabid diatribes which prove the bigotry of opponents and the inadvertent contradictions which prove their falseness.
In order to avoid quarrelling about the plunder, General Staveley and the Admirals entered into the following agreement with regard to the future freebooting exploits. Immediately after the heavily laden heroes, sailors, soldiers, marines, and all had deposited their loot in safe quarters, the triumviri, in solemn conclave, assembled upon the 22nd of April, and made the following formal regulations:—
"Previous to the capture of Kah-ding and the other towns from the rebels, proper arrangements shall be made ... to collect whatever may be of value, in order to its fair distribution amongst the troops, to whom the same is to be made known before the commencement of the operations."
Eager to try the merit of their regulated loot hunting, on the 27th of April, the allies again set forth to attack the Ti-pings. Upon this occasion their looting propensities were indulged in at the town of Kah-ding, situate about 30 miles to the N.W. of Shanghae. The allied force consisted of nearly 4,000 men, with 30 pieces of artillery,[7] assisted by an army of Imperialist braves, under the command of Le, a Chinese general.
The advance guard of the allies having been arrested by two small stockades, defending the water approach to Kah-ding, upon the morning of the 29th, the artillery was brought into play and the defenders of the outwork driven back upon the city, losing some 50 men during their resistance and retreat, the European enemy following in rapid pursuit up to the walls of Kah-ding without a single casualty.
The last day of April was spent by the allies in reconnoitering the city and landing the heavy guns, which had been brought in boats from Shanghae. Before dawn on the morning of May the 1st, the whole of the guns were in position, and the troops safely under cover in the ruined suburbs, ready to pick off the defenceless Ti-pings with their far-reaching rifles. The country traversed during the preceding days is thus spoken of in the China Mail, a paper bitterly hostile to the insurgents:—
"After marching along a good road, and through a beautiful country with fine thriving crops, the troops reached the southern suburb of Kah-ding."