of the Imperialidt troops had been mostly due, at onoe to throw up his command, which he only resumed in response to a sense of duty. And in spite of all recent attempts to present a pleasing picture of the relations between the two commanders, it seems quite certain that on hearing the news of the Princes' execution Gordon armed himself with a reyolver and went in search of his treacherous colleague, who prudently kept out of the way. After the capture of Nanking in 1864 and the final extinction of the rebellion, Li was ennobled as Earl. In 1866 he was appointed Special Commissioner for the suppression of the Nien fei, armed bandits who were doing much serious mischief in several of the northern provinces; and in 1867 he became Viceroy of Hu-Enang. In 1870, after the Tientsin Massacre, he was appointed Viceroy of Chibli, and received various marks of Imperial esteem. In 1871 a serious inundation destroyed much property in the province, and on this occasion Li Hung-chang distinguished himself by o£fering propitiatory prayers to a water-snake which had been caught and identified as the River God (see E?ung Tao-fu). In 1874, when the Emperor T^ung Chib was dying, there was a formidable party in the palace opposed to the two Empresses Dowager, anxious to put them and their party out of the way and raise to the throne the dissolute son of Prince Eung , now dead. The Empresses Dowager appealed to Li. He did not lose a moment, but made a secret forced march to Peking, accompanied by his personal guard of four thousand well-armed men, horse, foot, and artillery, all Anhui men, on whose devotion he could rely under any circumstances. The march of eighty miles was made in thirty-six hours, and he was timed to arrive at Peking at midnight. At midnight Li and his Anhui men were admitted, and marched at once into the Forbidden City in dead silence. Every man held a wooden bit in
his mouth to prevent talking, and the metal trappings of the
