Major Gordon Kept His Force Well
In Hand, And Refused To Allow Any Of The Men To Enter The City, Where They
Would Certainly Have Exercised The Privileges Of A Mercenary Force In
Respect Of Pillage.
Instead of this Major Gordon endeavored to obtain for
them two months' pay from the Futai, which that official stated his
inability to procure.
Major Gordon thereupon resigned in disgust, and on
succeeding in obtaining one month's pay for his men, he sent them back to
Quinsan without a disturbance.
The departure of the Ever-Victorious Army for its headquarters was
regarded by the Chinese officials with great satisfaction, and for several
reasons. In the flush of the success at Soochow both that force and its
commander seemed in the way of the Futai, and to diminish the extent of
his triumph. Neither Li nor Ching also had the least wish for any of the
ex-rebel chiefs, men of ability and accustomed to command, to be taken
into the service of the government. Of men of that kind there were already
enough. General Ching himself was a sufficiently formidable rival to the
Futai, without any assistance and encouragement from Lar Wang and the
others. Li had no wish to save them from the fate of rebels; and although
he had promised, and General Ching had sworn to, their personal safety, he
was bent on getting rid of them in one way or another. He feared Major
Gordon, but he also thought that the time had arrived when he could
dispense with him and the foreign-drilled legion in the same way as he had
got rid of Sherard Osborn and his fleet. The departure of the Quinsan
force left him free to follow his own inclination. The Wangs were invited
to an entertainment at the Futai's boat, and Major Gordon saw them both in
the city and subsequently when on their way to Li Hung Chang. The exact
circumstances of their fate were never known; but nine headless bodies
were discovered on the opposite side of the creek, and not far distant
from the Futai's quarters. It then became evident that Lar Wang and his
fellow Wangs had been brutally murdered. Major Gordon was disposed to take
the office of their avenger into his own hands, but the opportunity of
doing so fortunately did not present itself. He hastened back to Quinsan,
where he refused to act any longer with such false and dishonorable
colleagues. The matter was reported to Pekin. Both the mandarins sought to
clear themselves by accusing the other; and a special decree came from
Pekin conferring on the English officer a very high order and the sum of
10,000 taels. Major Gordon returned the money, and expressed his regret at
being unable to accept any token of honor from the emperor in consequence
of the Soochow affair.
A variety of reasons, all equally creditable to Major Gordon's judgment
and single-mindedness, induced him after two months' retirement to abandon
his inaction and to sink his difference with the Futai.
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Page 284 of 366
Words from 148168 to 148678
of 191255
