Clive having commenced his work in China, Bussy has of
course turned up. Two English officers, Major Gordon and Major Cooke, in the employ of the Imperial Government, were clearing the Grand Canal aid the province of Ningpo very successfully, when an Ameri- can named Burgevine, who had been ill-treated by the mandarins, went over to the Taepings. He received a command and was immediately Joined by three dis- contented officers, and a number of deserters, " rowdies " and broken men, making up altogether a force of 300 Euro- peans. With this assistance the Taepings rapidly turned the tide, compelled Major Gordon to fall back from the Canal, out out a steamer employed by Dr. Macartney, another Anglo- Chinese' and excited some apprehension within Shanghai itself. The Taepings, it is feared, will regain all they have lost, and the Government will be compelled either to demand the formal aid of Great Britain or to suffer Captain Osborne to levy a large force of Europeans. In either case Great Britain advances another step towards her inevitable position as the paramount power in China a position which she will acquire, apparently, without Parliament so much as,' expressing an opinion upon the matter.
