a letter
written home, Gordon says:--

"The losses I have sustained in this campaign have been no joke:
out of one hundred officers I have had forty-eight killed and
wounded; and out of 3500 men, nearly 1000 killed and wounded; but I
have the satisfaction of knowing that, as far as mortal can see,
six months will see the end of this rebellion, while if I had
continued inactive it might have lingered on for six years. Do not
think that I am ill-tempered, but I do not care one jot about my
promotion or what people may say. I know I shall leave China as
poor as I entered it,[3] but with the knowledge that through my
weak instrumentality upwards of eighty to one hundred thousand
lives have been spared. I want no further satisfaction than this."

[3] It may be well to note here that his predecessor, Ward, who
was killed in action, accumulated the sum of L60,000, although he
was not very long in command, and was not considered at all an
unscrupulous man.

A large sum of money was offered to Gordon and at first declined; but
when pressed to accept it, he decided to do so, and divide it among his
men. His pay had been good, being over L3000 per annum, but, in his
usual generous manner, he had spent it almost entirely on his men,
especially in providing comforts for the sick and wounded.

The last fight had taken place on May 11th, and by June 1st Gordon had
disbanded his army, his promptness exhibiting itself to the very last.
"So parted the Ever-Victorious Army," says Colonel Chesney in his
"Essays on Modern Military Biography," "from its general, and its brief
but useful existence came to an end. During sixteen months' campaigning
under his guidance it had taken four cities and a dozen minor strong
places, fought innumerable combats, put _hors de combat_ numbers of the
enemy, moderately estimated at fifteen times its own, and finding the
rebellion vigorous, aggressive, and almost threatening the unity of the
Chinese Empire, had left it at its last gasp, confined to the ruined
capital of the usurper."

Gordon paid a visit to the Imperialists who were investing Nankin,
where he interested himself in their mode of conducting the siege, and
gave a good deal of useful advice as to the future existence of the
Imperial army. Beyond this he took no active part. Nankin fell; the
"Heavenly King," who was the author of the rebellion, committed
suicide; and Chung W