hly sick of his command, and would willingly have
returned to Europe. The difficulties with his own men, the want of
co-operation, to say nothing of appreciation on the part of the
Chinese authorities, had damped even his zeal in what he reiterated
was the good cause of restoring peace and security to a suffering
people; and in addition to these troubles he had to carry on a
correspondence with anonymous writers, who made many baseless charges
in the Shanghai and Hongkong papers of cruelty against the men under
his command. The English General at Shanghai used all his influence,
however, with the Chinese Governor to pay up the arrears, and with
Gordon to retain the command, because, as he said, there was "no other
officer who combined so many dashing qualities, let alone skill and
judgment."

But the event that really decided Gordon to withdraw his resignation
was the unexpected return of Burgevine. That adventurer had proceeded
to Peking after his dismissal from the command, and obtained some
support from the American minister in pressing his claims on the
Chinese. He had been sent back to Shanghai with letters which,
although they left some loophole of escape, might be interpreted as
ordering Li Hung Chang to reinstate him in the command. This Li,
supported by the English commanding officer at Shanghai, had
resolutely refused to do, and the feud between the men became more
bitter than ever. Burgevine remained in Shanghai and employed his time
in selling the Taepings arms and ammunition. In this way he
established secret relations with their chiefs, and seeing no chance
of Imperial employment he was not unwilling to join his fortunes to
theirs. This inclination was increased by the belief that he might be
able to form a force of his own which would give a decisive turn to
the struggle, and his vanity led him to think that he might pose on
the rebel side as no unequal adversary of Gordon, to whom all the time
he professed the greatest friendship. These feelings arose from or
were certainly strengthened by the representations made by several of
the officers and men whom Gordon had dismissed from his army. They
easily led Burgevine to think that he was not forgotten, and that he
had only to raise his standard to be joined by many of his old men.

A fortnight before Gordon's resignation Dr Macartney--who had some
time before begun his remarkable career in the Chinese service, and of
whom Gordon himself said: "He drilled