In the following year he made a tour on horseback to the outer wall of China at Kalgan, accompanied by Lieutenant Cardew. A Chinese lad of the age of fourteen, who knew a little English, acted as their servant and interpreter, while their personal luggage was conveyed in the Chinese carts. In the course of this tour we are told they passed through districts which had never before been visited by any European. At Kalgan the great wall was seen, with its parapet about twenty-two feet high, and sixteen feet broad. Both sides were solid brick, each being three times the size of our English bricks. Gordon writes: “It is wonderful to see the long line of wall stretching over the hills as far as the eye can reach.” From Kalgan they travelled westwards to Taitong; here they saw huge caravans of camels laden with tea going towards
Russia. Here they were forced to have the axle trees of their carts widened, for they had come into a great part of the country where the wheels were set wider than in the provinces whence they came. Their carts, therefore, no longer fitted into the deep ruts which had been worn into the terribly bad roads. The main object of their journey was to find out if there was in the Inner Wall any pass besides the Tchatiaou which on that side of the country led from the Russian territory to Pekin. It was not until they reached Taiyuen that they struck the road that led to Pekin or Tientsin.
Their first bit of trouble on this somewhat venturesome tour occurred at Taiyneu; when the bill was brought for their night’s entertainment, they found it was most exorbitant. They saw they were likely to have trouble, so they sent on the carts with luggage and waited at this strange hostelry till they believed they had got well out of the way. Then they offered what they believed was a reasonable amount in payment of their bill. It was refused. They then tried to mount their horses but the people at the Inn stopped them. Major Gordon hereupon
drew his revolver more for show than for use, for he allowed them to take it from him. He then said, “Let us go to the Mandarin’s house.” To this consent was given, and the two wide-awake English officers walked alongside their horses. On the way Gordon said to his companion “are you ready to mount?” “Yes” he replied. So they mounted quietly, and went on with the people. When they reached the Mandarin’s, they turned their horses and galloped off after their carts as fast as they could, having paid what they believed a reasonable amount for expenses. The people yelled and rushed after them, but it was too late. Some distance from the place where they had spent the night they came upon the pass over the mountains which led down into the country, drained by the great Peiho river. “The descent” says Gordon, “was terrible, and the cold so intense that raw eggs were frozen as hard as if they had been boiled half an hour.” To add to their troubles, the carts they had sent on in front had been attacked by robbers. They, however, with many difficulties managed to reach Tientsin in safety; their leave of absence
had been exceeded by about fourteen days. In 1862 Major Gordon left for Shanghai under the orders of Sir Charles Staveley who had been appointed to the command of the English forces in China. At the very time that England and France were at war with China, a terrible and far reaching rebellion was laying waste whole provinces. An article in our London Daily News about this date said, “But for Gordon the whole Continent of China might have been a scene of utter and hopeless ruin and devastation.” At the date he took charge of the “ever victorious army,” China was in a state of widespread anarchy and confusion.
This rebellion which Gordon was here authorized to suppress was called “The Tai-ping rebellion.” Its rise was brought about by a strange mixture of incredulity and fanaticism, caused by some European Christian giving away his literature. A village demagogue named Hung-tsne-Shuen caught the idea, after reading the papers referred to, that he was inspired; that he was God, King, Emperor, and that he ought to rule; so, puffed up with pride and insatiable ambition, he began raising an army; and
aimed at nothing less than the usurpation of the “Dragon Throne.” Some thought him mad; but he gathered about him some 20,000 men whom he had influenced to believe in him as the “Second Celestial Brother,” and gave out he was a seer of visions, a prophet of vengeance and freedom; a champion of the poor and oppressed; and many were mad enough to believe him, and thus he raised an army which grew in strength until it reached some hundreds of thousands strong; he then proclaimed himself the Heavenly King, The Emperor of the great place; and then with five wangs or warrior kings, chosen from amongst his kinsmen, he marched through China, devastating the country, and increasing his army in his progress.
The most populous, and until now wealthy provinces were soon in his hands. The silk factories were silent; the Cities were falling into utter and hopeless desolation: rebellion, war and famine, raged and reigned supreme. Gordon made them pause! His marvellous power of organizing and leading men, a power derived from an inflexible, determined, fearless, and deeply religious temperament, influenced the
Chinese character quickly and powerfully. His very name soon became a terror to the banded brigands and to all evil doers. An Englishman in China at the time wrote home and said “The destiny of China is in the hands of Major Gordon, and if he remains at his post the question will soon be settled, and peace and quiet will be restored to this unfortunate, but sorely tried country.”
In all the strange and trying experiences of this Chinese Campaign Gordon bore himself with a bravery and courage seldom equalled, we think never surpassed.