xtended over from twenty-four to thirty miles, and
that he commanded 80,000 troops, who were, however, badly armed. The
troops were well fed, but ill paid, and at last confident of success.
While Gordon was there, or only a few hours after he left, Tien Wang,
the leader of the moribund Taeping cause, seeing no chance of escape,
swallowed gold leaf in the approved regal fashion, and died. On the
19th July the Imperialists succeeded in running a gallery under the
wall of Nanking, and in charging it with 40,000 lbs. of powder. The
explosion destroyed fifty yards of the wall, and the Imperialists at
once stormed the breach. Chung Wang made a valiant defence in his own
palace, and then cut his way out, at the head of 1000 men. Very few of
these escaped, but Chung Wang and the young Tien Wang, son of the
defunct leader, were among the fortunate few. Chung Wang was soon
captured, and beheaded on 7th August, after being allowed a week's
respite to write the history of the Taeping rebellion. At least it may
be claimed for him that he was the only true hero of the rebel
movement. Gordon's own estimation of this leader is given in these
words:--

"He was the bravest, most talented, and enterprising leader the
rebels had. He had been in more engagements than any other rebel
leader, and could always be distinguished. His presence with the
Taepings was equal to a reinforcement of 5000 men, and was always
felt by the superior way in which the rebels resisted. He was the
only rebel chief whose death was to be regretted; the others, his
followers, were a ruthless set of bandit chiefs."

The young Tien Wang was eventually captured and executed. Thus
terminated, in the blood of its authors and leaders, the great
rebellion, which had inflicted an incalculable amount of misery and
loss on the Chinese people in a vain attempt to subvert the existing
dynasty. Six hundred cities were stated to have been destroyed during
its course, and sixteen out of the eighteen provinces to have
witnessed the ravages of civil war.

Having thus concluded his work as commander of the Ever Victorious
Army, it might have been thought that Gordon would be allowed to carry
out his own wish of returning home as quickly as possible, but the
English, as well as the Chinese, authorities were desirous of
organising a purely Chinese force, with the object of supplying the
Government with the means of asserting its authority over any