hands of
Gordon more than of any other man, and if he be encouraged to act
vigorously, the knotty question of Taepingdom _versus_ 'union in
the cause of law and order' will be solved before the end of May,
and quiet will at length be restored to this unfortunate and
sorely-tried country. Personally, Gordon's wish is to leave the
force as soon as he can. Now that Soochow has fallen, there is
nothing more that he can do, whether to add to his own reputation
or to retrieve that of British officers generally, tarnished by
Holland's defeat at Taitsan. He has little or nothing personally
to gain from future successes, and as he has himself to lead in
all critical moments, and is constantly exposed to danger, he has
before him the not very improbable contingency of being hit
sooner or later. But he lays aside his personal feelings, and
seeing well that if he were now to leave the force it would in
all probability go at once to the rebels or cause some other
disaster, he consents to remain with it for a time."

During that interval some minor successes had been obtained by the
Imperialists. Several towns surrendered to Li Hung Chang, and Chung
Wang evacuated Wusieh and retired to Chanchufu, also on the Grand
Canal. At the same time he hastened himself to Nanking, in the vain
hope of arousing Tien Wang to the gravity of the situation, and
inducing him to make some special effort to turn the fortune of the
war. General Ching succeeded in capturing Pingwang, and with it
another entrance into the Taiho Lake. San Tajin moved his camp close
up to Changchufu and engaged the Taepings in almost daily encounters,
during one of which the _Firefly_ steamer was retaken, and its English
captain killed. In consequence of this all the Europeans left the
service of the Taepings, and as their fleet had been almost entirely
destroyed, they were now hemmed in within a small compass, and Gordon
himself estimated that they ought to be finally overcome within two
months. In this hope he resumed the command, and his decision was
officially approved of and confirmed by the British Minister at
Peking.

The Taepings still retained possession of Hangchow and some other
towns in the province of Chekiang, but all communication between them
and Nanking had been severed by the fall of Soochow, so far at least
as the routes east of the Taiho Lake were concerned. West of that lak