"J. C. S."
Placing the Manchoo, Sing, in charge of Tait-san, _General_ Gordon moved forward to reconnoitre Quin-san, the next Ti-ping city in the direction of Soo-chow, the provincial capital. After establishing a large Imperialist army in a stockaded position close to its walls, he returned with his own force to Soong-kong, the head-quarters, for the purpose of obtaining from General Brown, at Shanghae, further supplies of H. B.
Majesty"s shot and sh.e.l.l, preparatory to bombarding the city. When all the necessary munitions of war had been received from the British a.r.s.enals, Gordon returned to his allies outside the east gate of Quin-san.
The garrison, upon the arrival of Gordon"s troops, sallied forth upon them in strong force, but after a desperate attempt to come to close quarters were driven back by the artillery with much loss. Now, unfortunately for the Ti-pings, the scientific knowledge of their enemy led him to investigate the strategic and defensive position of Quin-san with unmistakable perception of its weak points. He quickly discovered that the place was so situated as to possess but one line of retreat or supply, in consequence of the numerous small lakes, Imperialist outposts, and broad creeks in every other direction. Consequently, instead of directly attacking the city, Gordon moved his army, supported by the steamer _Hyson_ and a large fleet of well-armed gunboats, against its only line of communication, a road constructed along the bank of a wide creek leading to Soo-chow. This movement was no sooner perceived by the garrison of Quin-san, than, finding their position rendered perfectly untenable, they commenced to evacuate the city as fast as possible. Refugees from Tait-san and the surrounding country had increased the number of inhabitants considerably, and, as at many places their only line of retreat was but a few feet broad, with deep creeks on either side, and continual narrow bridges spanning the numerous ca.n.a.ls intersecting the country with a perfect maze of water, their escape from the city occupied the entire day, and their long thin line stretched for miles along this narrow road. The rush of the panic-stricken people was so great that the Ti-ping troops became inextricably mingled with and confused among them.
A few miles from Quin-san the _Hyson_ and the gunboats came upon the fugitives where their line of retreat was intersected by the creek, up which the vessels were advancing; their progress, however, was for some time arrested by a couple of stockades, into which a few soldiers managed to throw themselves, and by an obstruction presented by a strong row of stakes driven firmly across the creek. During the delay, the _Hyson"s_ European officers amused themselves by an incessant fire of grape and canister poured among the helpless people seeking to escape almost in front of the muzzle of her 32-pounder bow gun. Gordon, in his report to General Brown,[48] after noticing the "well-cultivated"
appearance of the country, states that the _Hyson_ continued this murderous work for "over three hours," at the expiration of which time he arrived with his troops and drove the defenders from their stockades.
Immediately upon this, the _Hyson_, as Gordon states, "overhauled the rebels and followed them slowly up. The creek was positively jammed up with their boats, and at the bridge at Edin the crush was awful." Now, how those who directed the fire of sh.e.l.l and _mitraille_ from the _Hyson_ managed to avoid injuring the women and children, who const.i.tuted a great proportion of the people contained in the boats, does not appear.
When the unfortunates had been leisurely followed up and ceaselessly attacked until they reached the vicinity of Soo-chow, and the protection afforded by its garrison, the steamer turned about and slowly ran back.
The report, continuing from this point, states:--
"All this time rebel stragglers had been dropping into the Soochow road from all parts, and the _Hyson_ had to _continue her work_ all the way back, sometimes being so close on ma.s.ses of rebels that she had to resort to some measure to get clear of them, and so adopted the novel expedient of using her steam whistle, which, singular as it may appear, had the desired effect.... Mounted men would try and gallop by the steamer not six yards from her; others positively rode or tried to ride past when she was alongside the road. _The grape and canister must have told fearfully, owing to their numbers._... We had not ceased sh.e.l.ling until 2.30 _a.m._"
At least nine-tenths of the wretched people who thus perished under the orders of _General_ Gordon--who, by the way, seems to have become very quickly imbued with the "Chinese character" prophesied by the British minister at Pekin--were non-combatants. The manner in which British officers dealt destruction to their victims during _twenty hours_, with absolute impunity to themselves, would be too revolting to be credible, but for its plain avowal by Major Gordon, R.E., himself. This almost unparalleled proceeding is merely the prototype of many other atrocities perpetrated by the Anglo-Manchoo legion and its Imperialist allies.
During all the operations against the Ti-pings, and all the terrible consequences following the fall of their cities, can Major Gordon say how many were peaceful inhabitants, whose only fault was the fact that they were inmates of a town captured and held by the revolutionists?
Fully nine-tenths of the Ti-ping killed and wounded, so vain-gloriously, were only guilty of submission to the _de facto_ Power; the remainder were _bona fide_ Ti-ping soldiers, whose only crime was their endeavour to expel the foreign and oppressive dynasty, and to establish the Christian faith, the persecution of the first converts to which caused their revolution.
Thousands of the people who fled before the ceaseless sh.e.l.ling from the _Hyson_ had never seen a steamer before; even the few who had, like all Chinese, were greatly awed by the supposed qualities of the "fiery dragon ship;" thus, the shrieking of the steam whistle, the dashing noise of her paddles, the flaming appearance of her funnel, and the fearful effect of her artillery fire, must have thrown them into the wildest consternation. Other steam gunboats, similar to the _Hyson_, were shortly added to the flotilla attached to Gordon"s force, and ever afterwards their appearance threw the Ti-pings into confusion, and proved more effective than a great army in the field. The dread inspired by the steamers was always fatal to every Ti-ping position they attacked, and not without cause. They were each protected by iron mantlets, proof against musketry fire, which was all they had to resist, and carried a heavy bow gun and another at the stern. If the garrison of any stockade attempted to resist them, their artillery soon battered down the defences or sh.e.l.led the defenders, and then came a ma.s.sacre similar to that attending the evacuation of Quin-san. The whole country between Shanghae and Soo-chow is low, marshy, and cut up by innumerable creeks, ca.n.a.ls, d.y.k.es, and lakes, the only roads being a few narrow causeways built along the sides of the princ.i.p.al creeks; therefore, whenever the garrison of a stockade was driven out, their only line of retreat was along the bank of a creek, up which a steamer could follow them for miles, and pour in deadly discharges of grape and canister at a distance of only a few feet.
It has been estimated that the Ti-ping loss during the evacuation of Quin-san and the subsequent route was not less than 3,000. Gordon"s force lost 2 killed and 5 drowned!
Having noticed the particulars of the disastrous loss of Tait-san and Quin-san, we must now come to the still more unfortunate effect caused by the receipt of the intelligence at Nankin, and the further report that the ships of the Anglo-Chinese or "Vampyre" flotilla were arriving at Shanghae.
These events took place in the month of May, 1863, and immediately the Ti-ping Government heard of them, couriers were despatched in hot haste after the Chung-w.a.n.g, recalling his army to the capital. At this time the Commander-in-Chief had advanced about four hundred miles in the direction of Pekin, having captured many cities from the enemy, and completely defeated several large Manchoo armies, one led by the Imperialist Prince Sung-w.a.n.g, or San-ko-lin-sin, as he is known to Europeans. Upon receipt of the orders from Nankin, the Chung-w.a.n.g was compelled to forsake all the important advantages he had gained, and derive no benefit from the series of victories he had achieved, by abandoning every captured position and precipitately returning to the capital.
The Ti-ping forces had quite lately reached a fertile part of the country, where they were recruiting and gradually recovering from the hardships endured throughout the previous march. From the edge of the river Yang-tze, in the vicinity where the army first crossed from Nankin, throughout a naturally sterile country, for a distance of more than three hundred miles, the retreating Imperialists had devastated everything far and near, so as to stay the advance of the Ti-pings by the deadly medium of famine. Every rice-field, farm, and plantation were destroyed and made a desert waste, so that not the smallest article of food could be obtained. Fortunately the Chung-w.a.n.g"s commissariat was well supplied, so his troops were able to traverse the desolated regions without very much suffering, and by quick movements to limit the devastation to an extent of three hundred miles.
At the time, however, when the Chung-w.a.n.g received his orders to return to Nankin, the supplies of his army had become well nigh exhausted, and the urgent tone of the despatches made an immediate retreat so imperative, that no delay to gather in the standing crops or otherwise collect a sufficient quant.i.ty of provisions was possible.
Besides the fall of Tait-san, Quin-san, &c., and the presence of several "Vampyre" ships at Shanghae, where others were momentarily arriving, other dangers menaced the Ti-pings; namely, either the destruction of their best army by starvation, or the prevention of its retreat to Nankin, by the immense fleet of Imperialist gunboats threatening the city.
Since the fall of Ngan-king (towards the close of the year 1861), the Imperialists had gradually approached along both banks of the river, until at last they managed to capture every place up to the walls of Nankin. This result was accomplished entirely by the presence of the well-equipped and innumerable flotilla of row-galleys, just at the period the Ti-ping Government was alarmed by the loss of Tait-san and Quin-san. But though the revolutionists were unable to dispute the supremacy on the great river, simply because they were entirely dest.i.tute of war vessels, they held the country within five miles of the water for a considerable distance above Nankin on the south bank of the Yang-tze.
The army commanded by the Chung-w.a.n.g consisted princ.i.p.ally of veteran troops, natives of the south of China, who originally joined the movement, and was by far the best in the Ti-ping service. Its strength of fighting men was not less than 50,000, while numberless refugees, prisoners, coolies, and others, far more than doubled those figures.
From the intelligence conveyed in his despatches, the General knew at once that only one course--an instant retreat by forced marches--was possible, either to save his army from destruction, or succour the hardly-pressed garrisons of the cities of the silk district. Gathering all the rice at hand, though it was quite unripe, and foraging everything that could be used as food, though a full treasury could have supplied them with suitable provisions had such been available in sufficient quant.i.ty, the army broke ground and commenced its disastrous return to Nankin. The supplies soon proved inadequate to last one half the distance to be traversed; consequently, this retreat proved more terribly destructive to the army than a dozen bad defeats would have been. The latter part of the forced marches these starving men had to perform led through desert places and low marshy ground; and, to add to the horrors of their situation, the Yang-tze having considerably overflowed its banks, the low country for a great distance inland was completely flooded. Through this, and many a weary mile of bamboo swamp, had the exhausted and starving Ti-pings to force their way.
Whenever a piece of firmer ground was reached, it could only be pa.s.sed after defeating the Manchoo troops in occupation, who, well supplied with food, clothing, and boats, swarmed around the perishing and retreating army in thousands, now that it could be done with impunity.
As the unfortunate Ti-pings approached nearer and nearer to the bank of the river, their sufferings (if possible) became increased. Frequently they came to places totally impa.s.sable except by swimming, and at such they had to cross exposed to the attacks of numerous squadrons of Imperialist gunboats, stationed at every available position to cut off or hara.s.s their retreat. Can anything more dreadful than the state of these unhappy patriots be imagined? For nearly a month they had subsisted entirely upon the gra.s.s of the fields, the green tops of bamboo, and the bodies of the dead!--while their march lay through the mazes of dense bamboo jungle, and swamps of mud and water--frequently of a depth which prevented fording. During the whole of this fearful retreat, their rear, front, and flanks were incessantly hara.s.sed by the attacks of the cowardly and bloodthirsty enemy, who cruelly murdered hundreds of exhausted men, whom they were quite unable to withstand in fair fight. Thousands perished in this manner, and thousands more were horribly suffocated in the mora.s.ses, or drowned among the swamps. Who is responsible for all this misery and loss of life? It was _caused_ entirely through British intervention, and the material aid given to the Manchoo. At last the leading division of the army made its appearance opposite Nankin, and then arose the difficulty of transporting it across the river.
During several days preceding the arrival of the remnant of the Chung-w.a.n.g"s troops, the enemy had maintained an incessant attack upon the batteries and forts commanding the pa.s.sage of the river, and had particularly concentrated their efforts against a large fort on the opposite side, the capture of which would have placed the whole north bank in their hands, and would also have cut off all retreat. About a week previous, the _Anglo-Ti-ping_, with my old craft and three junks, had run the Imperial blockade and safely arrived at the Nankin creek, each heavily laden with rice and other provisions. My friend D---- had caught a pa.s.sing steamer, and proceeded on to Shanghae upon business.
P---- remained with the lorcha, and I joined him on board, taking my wife with me, as the Sz-w.a.n.g and princ.i.p.al chiefs in the city had requested me to a.s.sist in the defence of the river forts. Directly the Imperialists became aware of the near approach of the Chung-w.a.n.g"s army, they began their attacks upon the fort on the other side of the river.
This work, Kew-fu-chew, as the Ti-pings named it, was directly opposite the batteries (at the entrance of the creek) which extended along the edge of the river, on the narrow strip of land forming the outer bank of the creek until it turned inland towards the city. These batteries mounted a number of heavy guns; though, as nearly all were of Chinese make--huge, unwieldy ma.s.ses of iron, bigger than an English 68, but with the bore of only a 4 or 6-pounder--few were moveable or manageable. As a rule, until taught by Europeans, the Chinese are wretched artillerists, their guns being usually lashed firm in one position, from which they can neither be moved by the muzzle radius, nor breech-elevating principle; so that, be the object far or near, the guns are fired at the same range in every case. Among the many useless guns, the appearance of which had far more to do with frightening away the enemy than their effectiveness, I at last found five or six that were really serviceable--including an English naval 32-pounder, one 18-pounder, a large French cannon, and several fine bra.s.s Chinese guns. As there happened to be nearly thirty European and American trading vessels at the port, I managed to raise a corps of about twenty-five volunteers to work the artillery. My own lorcha carried two beautiful pivot-guns amidships, which proved of no little use during the different actions.
Regularly at daylight every morning the enemy would commence their attack upon Kew-fu-chew, and the smaller forts above the Sz-w.a.n.g"s position. Their plan of battle was well formed and very picturesque in appearance; successive squadrons of gunboats would sail down and engage the fort, delivering their fire; and then, filling away before a fair wind, returning to their position up the river. These vessels were a.s.sisted by others co-operating from below the Ti-ping lines; all being profusely decorated with gaudy flags, and propelled by numerous oars on either side.
The whole scene of battle formed a never-to-be-forgotten spectacle. The gallant appearance of the innumerable gunboats tacking down stream, and opening fire, one after the other, in regular order; some crossing in every direction, and others running back dead before the wind, with their broad and prettily-cut lateen sails stretching out on either side like a pair of snowy wings; the incessant roar of the cannonade; the flash of the guns; the curling smoke, at first dense and impenetrable, and then dissolving into thin wreaths, gracefully circling round the rigging and the white sails; the steady reply from the flag-covered forts, now enveloped in clouds of sulphurous vapour, anon standing forth clear and sharply defined against the dark background formed by the waving bamboo; the peaceful current of the n.o.ble Yang-tze river--here narrowed to a point less than 1,800 yards across, though stretching far and wide immediately beyond on either side; the grim embattled walls of Nankin, towering over the plain a few miles distant; mountains of fantastic shape on every side--some near, impending and majestic; others, cloud-capped and dimly visible in the distance; the cheer and cry of battle mingling with the echo of artillery--all combined, produced an effect truly grand and imposing.
At last the garrison of Kew-fu-chew reported that the leading columns of the Chung-w.a.n.g"s army were in sight; upon which further reinforcements were instantly thrown into all the forts, while every boat was made ready for the purpose of transporting the approaching troops across the river. Even when they had arrived within sight of their capital, the sufferings of the unfortunate people were not completed until they had endured much more loss by the a.s.saults of the enemy. Upon the arrival of the famished and emaciated troops at the brink of the river, they were saluted with one continuous cannonade from the gunboats that now found ample opportunities of slaughtering them as they crowded the bank for a distance of nearly two miles. With incredible fort.i.tude they maintained their position, and did not flinch backward by the least perceptible movement; and, in the face of the terrible fire poured into their dense ma.s.ses at point-blank range (mostly from _English_ guns), proceeded to the work of embarkation as steadily as their weakened condition would permit.
Directly the first detachment appeared on the beach, I sailed over to help them with all my vessels, and getting a dozen Europeans on board the lorcha, worked her against the enemy with considerable effect. The fearful sights that met my gaze upon every part of the sh.o.r.e I shall never forget. Very many of the weakest men, totally unable to a.s.sist themselves further, were left to die within sight of the goal for which they had striven so hard and suffered so greatly, their number being so large that their comrades were not sufficient to help, or get them over the river in the presence of the enemy. The horrible "thud" of the cannon shot crashing continuously among the living skeletons, so densely packed at places that they were swept off by the river, into which they were forced by the pressure from behind; the perfect immobility with which they confronted the death hurled upon them from more than a thousand gunboats; and the slow effort the exhausted survivors made to extricate themselves from the mangled bodies of their stricken comrades, were scenes awful to contemplate. It was dreadful to watch day after day during the time occupied in getting the remnant of that once splendid army across the river, with but little means to succour them, the lanes cut through the helpless mult.i.tude on the beach by the merciless fire of the enemy; all so pa.s.sively endured. The gaunt, starved forms, and wild staring eyes of those who had laid themselves down to die, haunted me for many a future night.
Frequently during the pa.s.sage of the river, some small boat, with its scarcely living freight, would be drifted away from the protection of the Nankin batteries by the strength of the tide, the overcrowded boat being too heavily laden to be moved quickly enough by the weakened arms of the rowers. Whenever such an event took place, the mandarin boats would dart upon their defenceless prey, and immediately chop off the heads of all on board in the most brutal manner, throwing the bodies of the victims into the river within sight of their comrades, who were totally unable to a.s.sist them. In these cases the poor fellows struggled and fought against their murderers with the energy of despair, as desperately as their enfeebled condition would permit; but this was of little avail, for nearly all their fire-arms were rendered useless, the powder being saturated with water, while they were far too weak to wield other weapons effectively.
I received the Chung-w.a.n.g on board my vessel, and carried him to the Nankin side, when he had seen the greater part of his surviving troops safely across the river. My comrade, L----, was with him, also the Sardinian officer of the late Ling-ho"s regiment; but I never saw my brave lieutenant, Phillip Bosse, again: he had fallen at the head of the Chung-w.a.n.g"s guards, while gallantly protecting the retreat of the main body.
Upon the twelfth day all who could be saved were across the Yang-tze, and under the friendly shadow of the Nankin walls, whilst, on the other side of the river, none remained but the garrison of the fort and the numerous bodies of those who had perished of hunger or had been slaughtered by the enemy. At last all seemed laid in the sleep of death, until some poor wretch would suddenly crawl to the brink of the desired water, and then fall into the swift current either to quench his burning thirst or terminate his agony.
Even now the bleached skeletons of many thousands of these unfortunate victims to British intervention may be seen in the positions in which they fell, waiting for the hand of decay to obliterate the last sad trace of their existence.
The Chung-w.a.n.g"s army had formed the best and bravest part of the whole Ti-ping forces; in fact, his troops were the _elite_ of the whole military organization, being princ.i.p.ally composed of veterans who had joined the cause from its infancy, and to whom defeat was really unknown. A great proportion of the original nucleus of the revolution was included in its ranks, consisting of the men from Kw.a.n.g-tung, Kw.a.n.g-si, and the Miau-tze, who, inspired with the religious enthusiasm so conducive to the wonderful success which attended the earlier stages of the Ti-ping movement, and imbued with that spirit of chivalry which defied all obstacles, dreaded no dangers, and endured cruel torture, became the true champions of the great religious and political Chinese revolution. Unless Christendom chooses to deny the theory that Asia is to be Christianized by a process similar to the manner in which it was itself converted from Heathenism, it is impossible to dispute the fact that Hung-sui-tshuen and his followers have commenced a work that shall never perish nor be forgotten. The very fact that the leaders of the Ti-ping movement, from the first day of its existence, forced their tenets upon the sage contempt of the literati, the general repugnance of the people, and the well-known hatred of the innumerable Manchoo employes, proves most convincingly that it was a holy element which animated those chiefs and their followers, and which induced them to forsake the theories of their ancient and deeply venerated sages, to rely upon the help and attributes of an Eternal Judge.
Unfortunately, by the disastrous retreat to Nankin, the Ti-pings lost the greater proportion of those adherents whose religious fervour has induced me to compare them to the heroes and champions of the early Christian Church. There are doubtless those who, from their self-erected pinnacle of righteousness, will prove sceptics as to the reality of Ti-ping Christianity; but I trust all who have had the patience to accompany me through this history will consider that point effectually proved in favour of the revolutionists.
The remnant of the Chung-w.a.n.g"s army scarcely amounted to 15,000 effective men, and from this number reinforcements had to be thrown into Nankin, Soo-chow, Chang-chow, Wu-sie, and other cities menaced by the enemy; consequently, when the General-in-Chief proceeded to the districts invaded by the Anglo-Franco-Manchoo mercenaries in the neighbourhood of Soo-chow, he was not accompanied by more than 7,000 troops; yet with this small force he managed to keep the overwhelming numbers of the enemy for some time at bay, to control and rea.s.sure many garrisons wavering in loyalty, and to protect a great extent of frontier. Had his once splendid army been intact and serviceable, the Imperialists and their allies would have to tell a very different tale to that of the expulsion of the Ti-pings from their former territory.
On the day succeeding the pa.s.sage of the last surviving troops across the river, the enemy seemed determined to vent his wrath at their escape by a general attack upon all the fortifications. From early morning the a.s.sailants had swarmed down in countless gunboats, covering the whole expanse of the Yang-tze, and completely hiding the fort of Kew-fu-chew from our view by the dense clouds of smoke proceeding from their ceaseless bombardment. The adverse flotilla in the neighbourhood of Nankin was closely estimated at a strength of 3,000 gunboats of all sizes, some carrying only one light gun in the bow, others mounting four or five rather heavy cannon.
The Imperialists maintained their attack with much vigour and determination until late at night. Throughout the day we were unable to do much harm to them, their vessels being nearly always perfectly concealed by smoke, so that our guns could only be pointed at chance range. The roar from nearly 2,000 pieces of artillery was terrific and deafening beyond description. As night closed in we were enabled to make much better practice from our batteries by noticing the flashes of the enemy"s guns, and aiming in the direction indicated. At about 10 p.m.
our fire proved so effective that the whole fleet relinquished the attack and retreated both up and down the river. Owing to the vast number of gunboats which were crowded together in the comparatively small s.p.a.ce between the Nankin batteries and the fort opposite, our fire must have inflicted severe loss, yet they persisted in the engagement with a courage I have never before or afterwards seen equalled by troops of the Manchoo Government.
In spite of this resolute attack, the Ti-pings garrisoning the fortifications were singularly indifferent, and laughed to scorn the idea that the _Ya-mun-qui_ (Mandarin-palace devils, as they delighted to call them) could ever capture any outwork of Nankin. When I remonstrated with the old Kung-w.a.n.g about the negligent guard at night, he replied: "I have held these forts for twelve years, and, unless Tien-voo deserts me, shall hold them twelve years more, so far as the "Imps" are concerned." That very night, or rather morning, he found occasion to regret his overweening confidence.
The lurid glare of battle during the early night, the thunder of artillery, the crashing of shot, the fiery track of the arrow-headed rockets, followed by the occasional explosion of a gunboat, the whole din and prospect of tumult, had died away, and been replaced by the deathlike calm of a beautiful summer"s night. Dirty, begrimed with powder, and fatigued with labour and excitement, my party of European volunteers, L---- (who had remained on board our lorcha), Captain P----, and myself, took advantage of the quiet interval and retired to rest.
Unfortunately for us, the deceitful calm proved doubly treacherous.
Tap, tap, went the bamboo signals of the solitary sentinels around the forts under whose shadow our vessel rode silently at anchor; tum, tum, sounded the drums of the guards ensconced in the little look-out houses perched along the walls; and at last these monotonous echoes, sharply distinguished from out the surrounding stillness, proved irresistibly somniferous; gradually they became fainter and less frequent, and then ceased altogether.
How long our sleep lasted I do not know, but suddenly I was aroused by the crashing roar of artillery seemingly right alongside our vessel. At the same moment I heard my friends start up in the adjoining cabin, and together we rushed on deck.
Daylight was just dawning, but it was not required to enlighten the scenes taking place around. The water, neighbouring sh.o.r.e, and forts, were illuminated by the red glare of war. Above and below on the river; outside the batteries; on the broad arm of the Yang-tze, running past the Nankin creek and forming Tasohea Island; everywhere, in fact, the gunboats of the enemy were upon us in countless numbers; while the vivid and repeated flashes of their artillery made the air alive with bright coruscations. Early on the morning of June 28, 1863, the Imperialists made their daring and partially successful _coup de main_. In dense lines, completely covering the broad expanse of the river, they had pulled rapidly down stream; running the gauntlet of the stronger forts held by the Sze and Kung w.a.n.gs, and making the weaker ones just beyond the entrance of the Nankin creek the object of their attack. Each gunboat maintained a very quick fire of cannon, heavy gingals, rockets, fire-arrows, and every description of missile known in China, many of which took effect among the light-built houses inside the larger forts.
On the other hand, the Ti-pings were entirely taken by surprise; the guns of the river forts were not loaded, and, being heavy, could not be quickly enough worked, or sufficiently depressed to obtain more than a couple of rounds before the last division of the enemy had swept past, the first having run by, and entered the channel between Tasohea Island and the mainland, almost before the alarm was given. The few shots that were delivered inflicted great havoc among the closely-packed gunboats right under the muzzles of the heavy artillery in the Kung-w.a.n.g"s fort; and the yellow waters of the mighty Yang-tze engulphed many a shattered man and vessel, while pieces of wreck were strewed upon the surface, and swiftly borne away to excite the wonder of distant villagers on the banks of the rapid river.
[Ill.u.s.tration: DAY & SON (LIMITED) LITH.
IMPERIALIST ATTACK ON THE RIVER FORTS AT NANKIN]
When off Theodolite Point, hundreds of the war-boats pulled inside the island, and made a dash upon the small forts on the mainland, and the foreign trading vessels anch.o.r.ed in the channel; while many soldiers, landing from others, captured the works on the end of the island, killing man, woman, and child, as the affrighted people rushed from their houses and attempted to escape. The small forts, being surrounded by overwhelming numbers, were quickly taken and then set on fire. Three large war-junks defending the mouth of the Nankin creek were also fired by the enemy, before their crews were fairly awake or had time to deliver a second broadside. At this moment I rushed on deck with my comrades. Our lorcha was lying close astern of the last _Ti-mung_, or war-junk, and many European craft were at anchor closer to Tasohea Island, and nearer to the main river; some of these I saw boarded by the Imperialists, who instantly murdered the few Europeans, plundered the vessels, and then set them on fire.
I saw at a glance that nothing but instant flight could save our lives, if it were not already too late. The gunboats were everywhere around, firing away indiscriminately in all directions. Fortunately our old junk was fast alongside the lorcha, which was far too heavy to escape from smaller craft; so abandoning the latter, containing all our property and nearly everything we had in the world, with my wife and friends I went on board the lighter vessel. We then cut her adrift and tried to escape down the channel. The land on each side being occupied by hostile troops, and the upper part of the channel leading into the river being crowded with their war-boats, it was the only course open.
At the moment we shoved off and left the _Anglo-Ti-ping_ to her fate, several gunboats boarded her from the opposite side, while others poured a terrible fire into our old junk, whose decks were covered with grape-shot, which had fallen harmless, from the hurried loading of our a.s.sailants.
While all around seemed a ma.s.s of fire and flame, the daylight obscured by the dense pall of smoke above, the earth shaken by the ceaseless cannonade below, and while the fiery track of rockets, accompanied by their hissing sound, and the "wheep" of the shot whistling everywhere about, kept up the jubilee of war and destruction, we had drifted with the tide a few cables" length away from the lorcha, and made sail to the light though freshening breeze that offered our only chance of escape.
A squall of wind was parting the heavy volume of smoke and fire, and coming towards us, when a number of gunboats appeared in full chase, keeping up a very heavy fire, the crew of the nearest throwing stink-pots, with which they managed to ignite our mainsail. I was just turning to my dear wife to hurry her below, when a volley of musketry was poured in by the troops on board the attacking vessels. I saw my faithful friend and companion, L----, fall to the deck, but almost at the same moment, struck by a spent ball, I became senseless.