CHAPTER X
MY VISIT TO THE TAIPINGS
In the fall of 1859 a small party of two
missionaries, accompanied by Tsang Laisun,
planned a trip to visit the Taiping rebels in
Nanking. I was asked to join them, and I
decided to do so. My object in going was to
find out for my own satisfaction the character
of the Taipings; whether or not they were the
men fitted to set up a new government in the
place of the Manchu Dynasty. Accordingly, on
the 6th of November, 1859, we left Shanghai in
a Woo-Sik-Kwei boat, with a stiff northeast
breeze in our favor, though we had to stem an
ebb tide for an hour. The weather was fine and
the whole party was in fine spirits. We
happened to have an American flag on board,
and on the spur of the moment, it was flung to
the breeze, but on a sober second thought, we had
it hauled down so as not to attract undue attention
and have it become the means of thwarting
the purpose of our journey. Instead of taking
the Sung-Kiang route which was the highway
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