GORDON AND THE MAHDI. 17

GENERAL GORDON,

accompaniedthe expedition toKinburn,and waslateron engagedindemolishing the fortificationsofSebastopol.

In the summer of the last-named year Gordonserved on the commissionappointed to survey the frontier line of Moldavia, and subsequently held a like position in

Armenia. At the close of 18.59 he returned home, and, after a year of "duty soldiering" at Chatham, sailed in 1860 for China. Too late to takepart in the capture of the Taku forts, he shared in the advance onPekin and

witnessed thepillage andburning of the SummerPalace. He remained at Tientsin for a year, making excursions

into the surrounding districts where no " foreign devil"

hadbefore penetrated,and exploringin company with a brother officer aconsiderable section of the Great Wall of China. In the spring of 1862 he was summoned to Shanghai to aid in checking the threatened advance of

the Taepings, and made a survey7 of the neighbouring country that afterwardsproved invaluable to himinhis comingcampaign. Ward, the original commander of the "Ever-Victorious Army" was killed in 1862, hissuccessor Burgevine was dismissed,and, at therequestof Li Hung Chang, the Imperialist Governor-General, Gordon, now a