Life in Nankin.--Ti-ping Character.--Its Friendly
Nature.--Religious Observances.--Cum-ho.--Curious Adventure.--A
Catastrophe.--Love-making.--Difficulties.--Trip to
Shanghae.--Reflections.--On the Yang-tze River.--Life on the
River.--An Adventure.--The Deserted Lorcha.--The Murdered
Crew.--"Mellen's" Fate.--Arrival at Shanghae.--Return
Voyage.--Sin-ya-meu.--A "Squeeze Station."--The
"Love-chase."--Fraternizing.--Wife-purchasing.--The Grand
Canal.--China under Manchoo Rule.--Its Population.--The Manchoo
Government.
After my return to Nankin from the Chung-wang's army, I spent some very
pleasant months in that city. The warm summer weather of central China
produced a sort of lassitude both of mind and body, and for a time,
while leading a happy and listless life, mixing with the kind and
enthusiastic Ti-pings, or wandering through the beautiful gardens of the
Chung-wang's palace with Marie, the outer world became forgotten.
Aroused each day with the rising sun, my friend, Philip, and I would
meet the Chung-wang's household at the morning prayers in the "Heavenly
Hall." Here, from about six o'clock till seven, I regularly joined in
the prayers of people whose devotion I have never seen excelled
elsewhere. The men and women were separated by occupying different sides
of the Hall, and the worship was generally conducted by the Chung-wang's
chaplain. After a long form of supplication, the anthem was chanted,
followed by a doxology and hymn; the officiating minister then closed
the service by reading a written prayer, which when finished was always
set on fire and consumed.
[Illustration: A TI-PING CHURCH.
DAY & SON, (LIMITED) LITH.]
Oftentimes while kneeling in the midst of an apparently devout
congregation, and gazing on the upturned countenances lightened by the
early morning sun, which poured its golden rays through the quaintly
carved windows, have I wondered why no British missionary occupied my
place, and why Europeans generally preferred slaughtering the Ti-pings
to accepting them as brothers in Christ; and while scanning the
assembled Christian Chinese, praying from the Bible we Europeans trust
in and declare to be our guide, I have felt a sympathy and enthusiasm
for their cause that never can be weakened or subdued.
About an hour after prayers the great drums at the palace entrance would
sound for the morning meal. When the family were assembled, the
following form of grace was given by the master of the house, or, in the
absence of the Chung-wang, by his brother:--
"Heavenly Father, the Great God, bless us thy little ones. Give
us day by day food to eat and clothes to wear. Deliver us from
evil and calamity, and receive our souls into heaven."
After breakfast the household would disperse upon their various daily
occupations,--the ladies to their private apartments, there to employ
themselves with embroidering the exquisitely ornamented shoes and silken
garments in vogue among the Ti-pings, to perform more domestic duties,
or amuse themselves with music and singing.
The Chung-wang's cousin, Yu-wang (the Admired Prince), being
Vice-President of the Board of War, and member of the Tien-wang's Privy
Council, seemed generally overwhelmed with business. First he would
gallop off with a numerous escort to the offices of the "Board of War."
Having returned from thence, after the mid-day meal he would don his
state robes and attend the royal court. This chief possessed a high
reputation for wisdom in council, sanctity in living, and bravery in the
field.
Besides his civil appointments, he was a general of the "Loyal troops of
the palace of the Tien-wang" (the veteran _élite_ of the Ti-ping
forces). He was married to but one wife, though many of his associates
were polygamists, and, although a young man, was of a remarkably grave
and religious character, so much so, that even his little running pages
seemed affected by it and forgot their wild mischievous propensities.
Each day the major-domo mustered his people to prayers, to feed, and to
work. The captain of a detachment of the Chung-wang's body-guard
regularly drilled them in the large courtyard of the palace. The
Commander-in-Chief's adjutant-general, Lee-wang, daily conducted the
business connected with his office, employing an immense number of
scribes, officials, and soldiers, who waited and carried away huge
sheets of yellow proclamations almost larger than themselves. In another
part of the Chung-wang's palace his private secretaries seemed for ever
writing, or rather painting, interminable Chinese characters on
large-sized paper and small-sized paper, which they continually added to
the vast heaps of manuscript piled up around them, while I have often
wondered what it could all be about.
These various duties were executed with a wonderful exactitude and
regularity, almost mechanical; indeed, throughout Nankin and every part
of Ti-pingdom I have always found a similar state of methodical
organization.
I frequently visited the Minister of the Interior, the Chang-wang
(Accomplished Prince), and other chiefs, with my two companions, and we
were always received with such kindness and hospitality that every house
in Nankin became our home. We usually employed a part of each day
instructing the Ti-ping soldiers in gunnery or drilling them upon a plan
combining the line and column formation of European tactics with their
own more undisciplined manoeuvres. The Chinese are well known for their
imitative ingenuity; but we found these _free_ Chinamen still more
easily taught, their quick acquirement of English words and
extraordinary aptitude for every kind of instruction being really
marvellous.
When I look back upon the unchangeable and universal kindness I have
always met with from the Ti-pings, even while their dearest relatives
were being slaughtered by my countrymen, or captured by the Manchoos to
be tortured to death and their wives and daughters when not killed
infamously outraged and passed from hand to hand by the rabble
Imperialist soldiery, it almost seems to be a dream, so difficult is it
to comprehend their magnanimous forbearance, when, according to the _lex
talionis_ in vogue among civilized nations, they should have executed
every Englishman they met with similar barbarities to those practised
upon the unfortunate Ti-ping prisoners given up by British officers
(during the years 1862-3-4) to the Manchoo authorities.
During all my intercourse with the Ti-pings I can recollect nothing
_more_ unpleasant than being made "bogie" to frighten unruly children;
and even this was of rare occurrence, so great a feeling of respect for
Englishmen did their parents entertain. Sometimes, while strolling
through a city, I have been pointed out as a white man bogie to little
yellow-skinned Ti-pings by their black-haired pretty mother, qualified,
however, in most cases by a polite invitation to enter and partake of a
cup of tea; and so the only offence that could be taken at becoming
"bogie" would be from the unflattering opinion one's appearance caused
in the juvenile imagination. How different are the scowling looks and
the epithet "Yang-quitzo" applied to us with the aspiration of hate by
our Manchoo allies!
The kind and friendly feeling of the Ti-pings I often found so excessive
as to be absolutely annoying. For hours together I have been quite
wearied out by their attentions. Some impulsive Ti-pingite would seize a
hand of his "foreign brother" and retaining it between his own for
several hours, all the time maintain an energetic conversation,
perfectly regardless as to whether I understood him or not; probably
when tired he would leave me in the hands of a particular friend, who in
turn, after exhausting his own conversational powers and my patience,
would give me up to another. To those who have experienced the ordinary
dislike and contumely of the Chinese, the surprising friendliness of the
Ti-pings is no less remarkable than pleasant. The ingenuous earnestness
with which they always welcomed Europeans as "Wa-choong-te" (brethren
from across the seas), and the apparent sincerity with which they would
claim the relationship as fellow-worshippers of "Yesu," seems to have
impressed all who have really been among them with similar feelings of
unmingled pleasure.
When I remember in what manner these people have been treated by my
country, I almost feel the blush of shame at being an Englishman. None
who love their country can behold its foreign policy with satisfaction,
or hope for its future. It requires but a glance at the history of the
greatest nations of ancient and modern history to perceive our danger,
and the parallel between our present position and the meridian of their
greatness. The yearning for self-aggrandizement has caused the overthrow
of many nations, and day by day we see the rich colonies forming part of
some overgrown aggressively created empire, seceding from and breaking
the power of their former oppressor. Well for us or our descendants will
it be if by changing our policy and pursuing one of righteousness and
non-aggression, England is preserved from destruction amid the regular
and successive crash of falling nations.
Can we look upon our acquisition of India, of our old American colonies,
of New Zealand and the Cape of Good Hope annexations, &c., or our wars
with China, Burmah, Japan, and last though not least, our war upon the
Ti-ping Christian revolution, without remembering the fate of the mighty
empire of Imperial Rome? Can we ponder with satisfaction over the former
greatness of Spain, Portugal, and Holland, the decline of their power,
and its causes? In connection with this subject I cannot forbear quoting
the following extract from a letter written by the Bishop of Victoria to
the Archbishop of Canterbury, dated Hong-kong, May 23rd, 1853, and in
which, referring to the Ti-ping revolution, he states:--
"And if Britain, and, above all, Britain's Church, neglect the
call, and arise not to her high behest as the ambassadress of
Christ and the heraldress of the cross among these Eastern
empires, then the page of history will hereafter record the
melancholy fact that, like Spain, Portugal, and Holland, who
each enjoyed their brief day of supremacy and empire in these
Eastern seas, and then sank into insignificance and decay, so
Britain, wielding the mightiest sceptre of the ocean, and ruling
the vastest colonial empire of the world, failed to consecrate
her talents to Christ, and, _ingloriously intent on mere
self-aggrandizement and wealth, fell from her exalted seat in
merited ignominy and shame_."
At Nankin each day the signal for prayer was given from the Tien-wang's
palace, when the great gongs within the first courtyard were sounded.
The signal was then repeated from house to house, till at last the
brazen reverberation having died away in the most remote corners of the
city, and having been echoed along the massive ramparts by the solitary
watchmen to the distant suburbs, the knee of every man within, or in the
adjoining villages without the walls, became bent in prayer. Often have
I stood upon the old time-worn mural defence of Nankin, with the last
lingering light of sunset throwing strange fantastic shadows around me,
and listened to the humming noise rising up from the praying people
below. At other times I have gazed from that same ancient wall at
midnight, as the last hollow tap from the sentinel's bamboo drum was
sounded, have seen the whole populace assemble to welcome the Sabbath
day; then turning towards the distant hills, crowned with the
fortifications and numerous tents of the idolatrous Imperialists, I have
felt that God would never forsake those who so fervently believed and
studied his word.
Dark days have come upon the Ti-ping cause; but although many have
perished who hopefully assured me "the Heavenly Father would protect
them," and although others are now wanderers from what they had settled
as a Christian territory, so long as even one righteous believer shall
remain, I have faith in God's word for their eventual success.
The idol-worshippers and the worshippers of mammon have together made
merry over persecuted Christians, but if right is ever vindicated upon
earth, and if the Bible shall not for the first time in its history
cause the entire extermination of those who suffer for professing it, a
day will come when their unholy rejoicing shall be turned into trouble
and lamentation. That day of retribution may be far distant, yet recent
events would seem to prove it near; and whenever it does come, how
terrible it will be.
Time flew onward at Nankin with seemingly treble rapidity, so happily
passed the days with myself and European comrades. At last a shadow came
athwart the general happiness. My friend, since our return to the city,
had taken every advantage of his honourable scars to forward his dumb
suit of her ladyship Cum-ho, the Chung-wang's daughter, and as _he_
thought with great success. Nearly every day Miss Cum-ho and Marie would
join us in the palace gardens, and from simple "Chin-chining," pressing
one hand on the region of his heart, &c., my friend somehow managed to
pick up a little Chinese in a very short time, by which his courtship no
doubt was considerably benefited. For awhile things went on thus; but
one unpropitious morning the pretty princess was entrusted with a little
brother for a ramble in the gardens. As usual, at the commencement of a
large shrubbery my friend and her ladyship took the wrong path, and so
became separated from Marie and myself.
We could not have strolled far, when suddenly a most tremendous
screaming arose in the direction of the palace. Leaving Marie to follow
me, I ran in the direction of the noise as fast as possible. When close
up to the termination of the shrubbery, I heard voices proceeding from a
little by-path, and, following it up, soon ascertained the cause. It
appeared that the princess having become absorbed with my friend's
endeavours to study the Chinese language, forgot her young brother, and
left him to his own devices, when, with the usual perversity of small
people, he straightway got into mischief. Not content with making mud
pies on the open walks of the shrubbery, or otherwise innocently amusing
himself, this wretched child saw fit, in an evil moment, to investigate
the dark and tortuous windings of the path in which I found him.
Late rains had made the out-of-the-way part this infant mind determined
to explore, a perfect quagmire, through which he had successfully
wriggled along, until, reaching one of those large earthen jars peculiar
to China, sunk into the ground, and filled with agricultural compost,
the Chung-wang's youngest "olive-branch" tumbled in. After the first
suffocating dip, he had managed to stick his head out and give tongue in
his loudest key. The scene of disaster being only a few hundred yards
from where the servants lived in rear of the palace, the noise had
attracted the attention of several, who at once hastened to the spot;
and they had just succeeded extracting their young lord from his
unenviable position when I arrived among them.
His little Excellency was led off by the faithful serving-men, while I
returned for Marie, and after seeing her to the palace, ran down the
shrubbery to its end, and there, calmly oblivious to all besides
themselves, found my friend and his companion side by side on one of the
garden seats. Miss Cum-ho was terribly frightened at my tale, not only
for the sake of her brother, but because the affair would make known her
meetings with my friend. We had no time to make any arrangement by which
this might be avoided, for I had scarcely told them of the mischance
when up came a couple of young pages in search of the lady.
Upon reaching the palace, the Mrs. Chung-wang appeared, superintending
the washing of her son and ready to receive her delinquent daughter. Two
old duennas, of particularly vinegar aspect, advanced upon the girl, who
for a moment clung to my friend's arm. That moment, however, must have
sufficed to show the Chung-wang's better-half the state of her
daughter's affections, whom she now sharply upbraided while being
dragged into the palace. Poor Cum-ho disappeared in tears, doubtless
severely pinched by her two guards, while the injured "parent," after
seeing her purified boy carried in before her, retired with a Parthian
exclamation of "Yang-quitzo," thrown at my friend.
It was the first time I had ever heard an European called "foreign
devil" in Ti-pingdom, and Mrs. Chung-wang must have been hugely offended
to have uttered such a thing. Turning to L----, I exclaimed, "Well, old
fellow, what do you think of it?"
"Think," he answered; "why it's the last I shall see of Cum-ho."
"Yes, I suppose it will be; but that won't trouble you much?"
After a moment's thought, my friend seriously said to me:--"My dear
fellow, I really believe I love that girl; Chinese or not, she is a
good, warm-hearted creature, and--I think she loves me; besides, she is
very pretty. What do you think of her hair? is it not long and
beautiful? I do not believe any English girl has such tresses. She has a
straight nose too, and her eyes are very fine; don't you think so?"
"Yes, there's no question about it; she is a very good-looking girl,
but, unfortunately, you must remember she is the Chung-wang's daughter."
"I don't care if she's the Lord Duke of Macaciac's daughter; if she
loves me I _will_ see her again."
"Have you spoken to her about love?" I asked.
"I cannot exactly say I have, for I do not know the Chinese version of
the verb, but I believe she understood what I meant when I tried to. How
do you express "I love you" in Chinese?"
"Gno gnae ne," I told him as well as I knew.
"Noo nay nee; well, I think I shall remember that; noo nay nee; yes,
that's simple enough; but how shall I meet Cum-ho again to tell her so?
that's the question."
"Trust to the Chinese Cupid, if there is one; besides, if she loves you,
depend upon it you will hear from her somehow before long; but I must
say I still retain a vivid remembrance of some of your Hong-kong
attachments; there was A-far, the pretty daughter of Canton Jack, our
boatman; do you forget how desperately in love you fancied yourself with
that sun-burnt, black-eyed, rough-headed 'Sanpan girl?'"
"Oh, nonsense," replied my friend, pettishly, "there's a vast difference
between the two; at that time I was fresh from England and could not be
much smitten by a Chinese boat-girl, with the thoughts of the dear girls
at home filling my mind. But now I have been so long in China I have
almost forgotten what an English woman is like; you cannot deny that
Cum-ho is handsome; see what a beautiful little mouth she has, what
teeth, what ----."
"There, that will do, my friend; it is needless to recapitulate the fair
celestial's charms, you are evidently a victim of the little Chinese
god; but I will just ask one thing; apart from the danger of becoming
obnoxious to so powerful a chief as the Chung-wang, who would certainly
never look with pleasure upon an alliance between his daughter and
yourself, leang-sze-ma (lieutenant) in his guards though he has made
you,--how would you feel disposed to carry home to England a Chinese
wife?"
"Home!" said he, bitterly; "most likely I shall never see home again, at
all events I love the girl, and I am determined not to give her up so
easily; if I escape the gingall-balls and rusty spears of those rascally
Imps, the Chung-wang may yet be willing to give me his daughter; it
appears to me the marriage ceremony of the Ti-pings is much like ours,
and if nothing else will succeed, why, an elopement _à la_ Ti-ping
Gretna Green may."
"You shall never do anything so rash," I responded, as we entered the
palace and proceeded to our quarters, "we shall be leaving Nankin for
some days very shortly, and when we return, if you are still of the same
mind, we will resume the subject and see what can be done."
After this event Cum-ho was never permitted to meet us, although she
managed now and then to send a message by Marie to the "Yang-quitzo."
The misfortune of that confounded child would have proved a source of
much merriment, but for the interruption of our pleasant promenades it
effected. Besides making a prisoner of Cum-ho, it very considerably
annoyed Marie and myself; for the vigilance of the elder ladies of the
household having become aroused, they carefully watched over my
betrothed wherever she went. I cannot but admit that, one and all, the
women of Ti-pingdom were paragons of modesty and propriety, and although
in this case their espionage proved rather vexatious, I did not admire
them less for it.
Previous to this, I had determined to take a trip to Shanghae in order
to ascertain, if possible, the purport of the will left by Marie's
father, and also to make various arrangements with regard to obtaining
supplies of grain, European arms, &c., for Nankin; all of which the
Manchoos were able to obtain _ad libitum_ from Europeans at the treaty
ports, although furnishing the same articles to the Ti-pings was
strictly prohibited by the British authorities, in spite of their
pledged neutrality. Before setting out upon my journey, I had an
interview with the Minister of the Interior, Chang-wang, who gave me a
number of passes, requesting me to bestow them upon respectable
Europeans and inform them Nankin was open to trade. A few foreign
vessels were occupied trading to the city, and among them my friend
Mellen, with two of his own lorchas. I had met him several times when in
port, and shortly before I set out for Shanghae he had sailed with the
vessel he was on board, intending to return with a cargo of rice, &c.
When all was ready for a start, I had no small difficulty in getting my
friend away with me; Philip I left behind to continue drilling and
otherwise instructing the soldiery, and also as my agent for other
affairs. Besides the bother with my friend, I experienced a more serious
one before getting the crew of my vessel to obey orders. These men
during my stay had become thoroughly Ti-pingized, and having allowed
their hair to grow, did not seem at all inclined to shave and adopt the
Manchoo badge of slavery again. So attached to the Ti-ping
re-establishment of Chinese customs had they become, that I was
compelled to call in the Sz-wang to make them shave and leave Nankin. It
may be that, as a rule, the Chinese are pretty well contented with and
accustomed to the monkey tail, but let their national spirit once be
aroused upon the subject, they feel the degradation bitterly. With
scarcely an exception, the whole crew violently protested against
resuming the guise of the Tartar, and one fine young fellow felt so
acutely while under the hands of the barber that he actually cried like
a child.
At last, however, the tresses were all shorn off, and having parted with
Marie with the full intention of making her my wife when I returned, and
having given her a letter for Cum-ho, concocted by my friend from a
Morison's Chinese and English Dictionary, the anchor was rudely dragged
forth from its snug hiding-place in the muddy bottom of the Nankin
creek; then clapping my shiny-headed men on to the halyards fore and
aft, all sail was made, and Nankin bidden adieu for a time.
The Yang-tze river, at its mildest mood and lowest period in the middle
of winter, is still a mighty and a swift-running stream; but in summer,
when swollen with the vast torrents from the melted snow of the region
of great mountains, amid which it rises far away beyond the western
limits of Thibet, its waters rush fierce and foaming far into the
country upon either side of its proper channel. Such was the case upon
my departure from Nankin.
Sailing was out of the question, because what little wind there came
was, as the sailors say, dead on end. But although our canvas could not
help us on our way, the boiling tide did, and that at the rate of nearly
five knots an hour. I have many a time floated along the bosom of that
grand Yang-tze, and with nature all beautiful around me, crew and
servants obedient to the slightest wish, and, above all, a sympathizing
friend, fancied more complete happiness impossible.
At such moments I have often reflected upon the great Ti-ping movement,
and wondered whether my partisanship could have blinded me to any of its
defects, and so led me to disagree with the manifold tales of horror and
detraction narrated by persons who opposed the rebellion. I have even
tried to persuade myself that I was a fool, that I had been imposed upon
and deceived by the Ti-pings as to their real character, and that the
hostile reports were true. But then I could not help feeling myself
sincerely a well-wisher of the rebels; I knew that I became a partisan
from my conviction of the righteousness and favourable characteristics
of their cause, and from no mere worldly interest or attraction; and,
moreover, against the hearsay adverse testimony I could certainly plead,
"seeing is believing," and prefer my own eyesight and personal
experience to the tales of others, the greater proportion of whom had
never even seen a Ti-ping under any circumstances, much less when at
their home and uninfluenced by the horrors of Asiatic warfare. Besides
this, nearly all my friends and acquaintances were entirely of the same
opinion as myself, including the Revs. W. Lobschied, Griffith John, and
other missionaries, who had really seen Ti-ping life and manners.
[Illustration: A Mast Head View Of Nankin From The River As It Appeared
On The Morning Of Departure.
London, Published March 15^{th} 1866 by Day & Son, Limited Lithog^{rs}
Gate Str, Lincoln's Inn Fields.
Day & Son, Limited, Lith.]
These driftings on the Yang-tze were productive of much meditation. Far
from the trammels, disturbance, and troubles of the great cities of men,
with the warm pure air blowing freshly upon us, we could think only of
the justice and reason of things, completely unbiassed by the
stereotyped customs and formal conventionalities of society; but the
living voice of Nature all around us, manifested in the murmur of the
moving waters, the humming noise of manifold insects, the myriad lamps
of the fire-fly at night, and the brilliant-coloured feathery songsters
in full chorus among the reed-beds' luxuriant foliage by day, whispered
a better and more comprehensive theory of existence. So far as society
was concerned, it might have been extinct, for we were at such times
perfectly isolated, myself and friend were alone with regard to
companionship, will, and authority. Of course this sort of life requires
change; it is all very well for a few months; but then one seems to wish
for something more than the voice of nature, and the novelties of
strange people, new faces, and busy life, become excessively attractive.
To descend unto the mere creature comforts of such living:--at four in
the morning we arose; As-sam, with meek devotion, or rather serpent-like
Asiatic stealthiness, would bring coffee, containing just a dash of
strong waters, with a little breakfast of rice-cake or toast, by way of
fortifying oneself in a cholera country. This sailors' inseparable
morning stimulant despatched,[40] habited in thin white silk, we were
douched with many buckets of water, drawn overnight and separated from
the thick muddy particles of the Yang-tze by settling and cooling till
morn, when the clear part was poured off for use; then a couple of
brawny Chinese mariners would rub us down like young horses, and our day
began.
If the _locale_ was favourable and the breeze light, a stroll along the
river's bank, gun in hand, keeping time with the progress of our vessel
with the tide, almost surely supplied us with many fat pheasants, wild
pigeons, and some of the numerous Chinese summer water-fowl, or snipe
and curlew of singular variety. A stroll to the trees and bushes further
inland would possibly reward us with a few woodcock, rice-birds or
ortolan, and other delicious game peculiar to China.
Whenever the game-bag became full, or the sun too high to be pleasant,
we returned to our floating home, probably with some fish purchased from
a solitary dip-net fisherman, working at a little clear spot among the
tall bulrushes overhanging some tideless deep pool, the favourite resort
of his legitimate prey.
About 11 a.m. our breakfast was served, that breakfast a feast for an
epicure: choice and fragrantly-scented tea the principal beverage, and
fish, newly plundered from the rich stores of the river, the standing
dish. How shall I sing your praises, ye finny tribes of the Yang-tze?
Large and small, long and short, thick and thin, flat and deep, every
conceivable shape and colour, with every possible flavour appertaining
to fishes of any part of the world, or the most approved delicacy, I
safely pronounce ye unequalled by your brethren of foreign seas, lakes,
or running streams. Above all ranks the delicious Ke-yu (chicken-fish),
combining the qualities of British salmon, turbot, and whiting, equally
the favourite of natives and Europeans, and in some of the distant
cities eagerly purchased at fabulous prices by the wealthy gourmands.
The remnants of fish being carried away, the hot and greasy face of
As-sam would be thrust into our cabin, followed by that individual's
other parts, carefully bearing to his yet strong-appetited masters a
brown and juicy pheasant or wild duck, done as he knew how to do them,
with Chinese ingenuity and cunning spices. A plentiful supply of
fruit--oranges, pears, pumelos, peaches, li-chees, and Chinese
preserves--finished a cheap, though almost Sybarite repast; and last,
but not least in a hot climate, one glass of ice-cold water was
forthcoming.
If the day was not oppressively hot, we would while away the time with
books, or my friend would bring out his soft-toned flute, and join in
melody with the birds, huge dragon-flies, and other flying, creeping,
and crawling things, which had all woke up to be happy in the bright
sunshine.
Should we, perchance, fall in with some fellow wanderer, we met as
brothers and equals; but this did not often happen. Swiftly roll the
yellow waters, yellower still in the fierce sunlight, spreading away
over islands, villages, and cultivated fields, far into the interior.
Sometimes, when in flood, even 500 miles from its mouth, this mighty
river is bounded here and there by the glittering horizon of its own
waters. At one spot the roof of a tall house just shows above the
stream; at another the tops of some great trees may be noticed bending
along with the rushing tide.[41]
Purple, dim, and vast, rise the mountains, lazily flaps the white
canvas, while through the tall bulrushes beautiful little summer ducks
skim about, great "Bramley" kites wheel high above, uttering their
piercing cries, and in and out of the feathery-topped bamboo strange and
brilliantly-plumaged birds incessantly play. Still we glide with the
flowing waters, which, from unknown mysterious regions flow onward, flow
ever, towards the great outside ocean, whither for hundreds of centuries
it has flowed, untired and unceasing, and whither it will flow to all
eternity.
"Ho-li" is echoed along the decks, and reverentially our long-tailed
cook brings burning charcoal between iron pincers. The day is too hot
now for work, for talking, almost for thinking, and whilst the tide
sweeps along, we slowly puff our cheroots and recline under the grateful
shade of the awning in a state of semi-coma.
Lying on the flat of our Saxon backs, and lazily wreathing
reflective-producing columns of smoke from our Manilas, we build castles
in the air, loftier far and not so grim as those which ever and anon
frown back at the mountains on either side. We dream with revolver in
belt and gun at hand, ready to knock over stray unwary ducks, or savage,
plundering, military Manchoos, should it become necessary. Little kings
are we in our own right; obsequiously bends As-sam, pattern of boys and
servants, to our lordly nod; meekly answers A-foo, _lowder_, captain,
and pirate that he is; for the white men are strong, the Chinese think,
and we must be civil to them while awake, even if we murder them when
asleep.
We have no bad smells here, no wear and tear and flurry of cities; our
habits are primitive, and for the most part, we own the open heavens
only as our roof, and breathe the pure and uncontaminated atmosphere of
the temperate zone.
A mid-day siesta, for at night we must be watchful of straggling
piratical Manchoo gunboats, followed by another gunning excursion in the
cool of the evening, or possibly a few minutes passed in some secluded
village; then dinner at dusk, almost the same as breakfast, excepting
the addition of curry (real curry, not as is often the case, a
yellow-looking mess of that name only), some of the many descriptions
of Chinese vegetables, and pastry made by that clever As-sam; followed
by a game of chess, a duet with my concertina and friend's flute, and a
fragrant Manila to accompany the constitutional after-dinner
quarter-deck promenade, terminate the pleasures of the day.
While daylight lasted we were generally safe; but whenever night spread
her sable mantle over river, shore, and man alike, the utmost vigilance
was required. By generally keeping underweigh all night, and choosing
the centre of the stream, with one or two exceptions I avoided any
serious danger from the Imperialist _braves_ and gunboats, as one
well-directed shot would mostly satisfy them; some of my friends,
however, were not so fortunate, and on this occasion of my river life I
came upon a scene of horror I never shall forget.
After successfully running past the fortifications and flotillas
situated at the commencement of the Imperialist jurisdiction, early one
morning, when within a few miles of Chin-kiang, we came in sight of a
lorcha close in to the river's bank. As the wind was too scant to be
useful for vessels bound up the river, at first I paid but little
attention to the otherwise singular position of the strange craft, but
when nearly abreast, to my astonishment I discovered her to be the
_Fox_, my friend Mellen's lorcha. The daylight was now pretty well
developed, and almost at the same time I was enabled to discern some one
on deck waving a large white signal. Upon this I steered directly for
the lorcha, and when sufficiently near, saw the figure was that of a
woman, apparently alone; that the vessel was evidently derelict, from
the confusion and dismantled state of her rigging, and that she was run
ashore high and dry, her bow actually projecting a considerable way over
the land.
Running as close alongside as we could without grounding, we anchored in
the stream right abeam of her, and arming ourselves and a couple of good
men, my friend and I proceeded to board the lorcha. Upon doing so we
were met at the gangway by the old nurse of Mellen's children, who was
wringing her hands and loudly vociferating the peculiar lament in vogue
among the Chinese women when in grief.
A deserted ship has at all times a disheartening, melancholy sort of
effect, upon a sailor at all events; but although I had seen such a
thing before, even far away upon the vast ocean hundreds of miles from
the nearest land, I never experienced so sudden and so fearful a chill
as the moment my feet touched that lorcha's deck. It was not the
grievous aspect of old As-su, neither was it the deserted appearance of
the vessel itself, but the atmosphere seemed heavy with some undefinable
horror, that unearthly smell, or rather perception, of human blood which
those who have discovered deeds of slaughter will easily appreciate, but
which I cannot further explain.
Of course my first endeavour was to gather something from the old nurse,
meanwhile my friend proceeded aft towards the lorcha's cabin. Before I
could distinguish anything tangible from the sobbing "hi-yo hi-yo's" of
As-su, I was startled by his horrified exclamation.
"Great God! come here, A----," called he in the sharp accents of
powerful excitement. In a moment I was by his side and gazing down
through the torn-off cabin skylight.
I have passed among the bodies of thousands killed in the sanguinary
Chinese battles; I have moved slowly along creeks, ay, even the broad
Yang-tze itself, literally choked with poor remnants of humanity; quite
lately I have wandered through once happy Ti-ping villages, at this time
tenanted alone with the starved, dead, and the miserable living
cannibals, yet existing upon their former companions. I have passed
through all these fearful scenes, yet never did I feel the overpowering
horror I experienced while gazing into that lonely cabin; lonely,
indeed, for only the bodies of the ruthlessly murdered composed its
ghastly tenancy.
Blood stained the sides, the ceiling, and the furniture, while the deck
of that gory cabin seemed one coagulated mass. Doubled up at the foot of
his berth my poor friend Mellen, one of the bravest among the brave, lay
mangled and hideous; above him, in the very attitude of protecting her
husband, stood the corpse of his noble-hearted wife, frightfully
disfigured and covered with wounds; while the innocent little child lay
gashed and lifeless by its father's side. I will not further horrify my
readers with a description of the fearful nature of the wounds inflicted
upon these unfortunates; suffice it to say that although Mellen himself
was cut up with many, his brave wife was literally hacked to pieces.
I afterwards ascertained, through inquiries made in the vicinity by my
interpreter A-ling, and from the testimony of the nurse As-su, who
escaped the fate of her mistress by secreting herself, that my friends
had been thus brutally murdered by a number of Imperialist soldiery in
combination with some of the crew.
Poor Mellen had on board a large amount of money, some £6,000 sterling.
At E-ching his crew had informed the Mandarins of this, and they, taking
the opportunity to pocket a large sum by simply gratifying their hatred
of a solitary "foreign devil," had authorized a party of soldiers to
murder him. These soldiers assembled on board a large _Ti-mung_ close to
where I found the _Fox_; but as the latter happened to pass them during
the day, and moreover, in company with another vessel, their designs
were frustrated for a little while. With true Chinese cunning, however,
these wretches managed to get Mellen into their murderous clutches. At
the village of Kwa-chow, within sight of the treaty port Chin-kiang, the
Chinese _lowder_ (captain), by making some plausible excuse, induced his
master to anchor there and allow him to go on shore. Returning on board
with a couple of soldiers disguised as merchants, this wretch (who was
actually the father of Mellen's wife, and whose life his master had once
saved at the peril of his own) pretended the pseudo traders were anxious
to have a large cargo taken to Nankin, to be embarked some distance up
the river, and for which they agreed to pay a very high freight. Mellen
was very unwell, and trusting to the statements and integrity of his
Chinese father-in-law, unfortunately agreed to return up the river and
take in the fictitious cargo for the Ti-pings. That same night his
vessel was anchored but a short distance from the _Ti-mung_ and her
bloodthirsty crew. About midnight the assassins took to a couple of
small boats and pulled for their prey. At this time the confederates
among the lorcha's crew made a noise on deck, probably to get Mellen out
in the dark, when their work would be safer than in a light cabin with a
deadly revolver to oppose them. Mrs. Mellen, leaving her sick husband
below, ran on deck with a revolver, and seeing the two boats close
alongside, instantly fired several shots at them. As the yelling savages
swarmed on board, she ran down to her husband closely followed by them,
and then the butchery commenced. Poor Mellen was killed rising from the
berth, and ere he could draw the sword I found half unsheathed just
underneath him. His wretched wife, after suffering every torture and
atrocity the cruel Chinese particularly excel in, died over her
husband's body, faithful to the last, with one arm round his severed
neck, the other upraised as though to ward the blow her eyes had seen
coming ere they closed for ever. Poor girl! I can never forget the
horribly mutilated state in which I found her: it would hardly have been
possible to touch an unwounded spot on her body. She had killed one and
hit another of the murderers; they stated ashore that she was as bad as
a "Yang-quitzo" (all this my interpreter ascertained); and they wreaked
a most ferocious vengeance upon the defenceless woman. When the victims
were killed, the treasure was carried off, and the whole vessel
pillaged fore and aft; and when everything of the slightest value had
been taken, the crew and soldiers, after running her ashore upon the
bank, took their departure. The old nurse, after some time, had ventured
from her hiding-place, and for four days had been living on the deck of
the charnel ship when we boarded her.
Having sent news of the tragedy to Chin-kiang, a steamer came to the
spot and towed the _Fox_ down to Silver Island, where the mangled bodies
were removed and given Christian burial. And so terminated my friendship
with poor Mellen and his courageous wife; since then all my friends, I
may say, in that distant and fatal land have perished by the sword, by
sudden death, or by the deadly diseases of the country.
The facts of the foregoing barbarous murders I forwarded to H.M.'s
consul at Chin-kiang, who, with the officers of the gunboat on the
station, beheld the bodies and saw them buried, yet no redress was ever
sought from the allies of the British Government. This is but one of
many and many a similar specimen of the Manchoo feeling towards
Englishmen, and this is the style of people who are to be firmly
established throughout China by the overthrow of the Ti-ping rebellion
by the aid of British arms.
Leaving my vessel at Chin-kiang (I had at this time entirely purchased
her from the previous owner), in charge of A-ling, I took a passage to
Shanghae with my friend on board one of the river steamers. When all
business was arranged, I set out upon my return to Nankin, leaving L----
in charge of a fine lorcha we had jointly purchased as a blockade-runner
to the Ti-ping capital, to follow me as fast as wind and tide would
allow. I found out Marie's relatives, and they told me that Manouel
Ramon had inherited all her father's property, that he had raised a
foreign contingent of Manila-men and Portuguese, with which he had
joined the Imperialists, and that he was determined to be revenged upon
myself and betrothed.
While at Shanghae I sought out many Europeans who owned lorchas, Ningpo
boats, and other river craft, and stating the advantages to be derived
from trade with Nankin, induced a goodly number to undertake the risk,
to whom I bestowed the passes given me by the Chung-wang. When I had
settled various transactions with regard to obtaining arms, agents, and
a correspondence with that portion of the Shanghae press known to be
impartial, I returned by steamer to Chin-kiang, accompanied by Captain
P----, whom I had formerly seen in command of the schooner whose crew
had mutinied at the Lang-shan crossing. I had met him in Shanghae, and
he willingly took a share of my vessel at Chin-kiang, agreeing to run
her himself in the Nankin trade.
Upon reaching Chin-kiang and taking up my quarters on board the old
craft, I determined to proceed with her to a town some thirty miles up a
branch of the Grand Canal, purchase a cargo of rice, and take it with me
to Nankin. This idea was soon put into force, and after the _lowder_ had
collected his men from the gambling dens in the village immediately
opposite the city of Chin-kiang, on the other side of the river, we got
underweigh. With a light breeze and beautiful weather we proceeded
merrily on our trip, with that exhilarating feeling the prospect of a
visit to a strange and interesting country always produces.
After being swept down stream for more than an hour, just below Silver
Island, we came to the entrance of the creek up which lay our further
course. Steering into its mouth, we left the swift and turbid waters of
the great Yang-tze, and landing our crew with their collars and rope,
slowly tracked along the quieter stream. Our destination was the town of
Sin-ya-meu, the great emporium of that part of China. From the river
inland the whole country is richly cultivated, and the style of
agriculture and farm-house seems more nearly approaching that of
England than I have observed elsewhere. Barley, wheat, rye, and oats
greet the eye in place of the interminable paddy-fields of most parts of
China. Haystacks are seen about the farms, and the dwellings are all of
a large and spacious build. The country is slightly wooded and full of
wild pigeons, and of these my friend and self obtained many, thanks to
our double-barrels. These pigeons are quite unlike any I have seen in
other countries; their colour very closely resembles that of the dove,
but the breast and wings are like the golden plover; and a beautiful
circlet round the neck, similar to the ringdove, with a large black
tail, completes their exquisite plumage. The delicacy of this bird
excels that of any other I have ever tasted, yet the Chinese pay no
attention to their presence, and neither attempt to catch, eat, tame, or
do anything else with them.
This country would be perfect were it not for the imperfections of the
people who inhabit it, or rather, the evil qualities of its rulers, for
I believe the Chinese themselves are capable of almost any improvement.
During my trip to Sin-ya-meu I particularly noticed the abominable
extortion of the Manchoo Government. Although the distance from the
mouth of the creek to the town is considerably less than thirty miles, I
passed no fewer than fifteen custom-houses established along its banks.
The creek is a very broad one, and forms the principal route for the
wood rafts bound from Han-kow (up the Yang-tze) to the town. I passed
many on my journey, and conversed with the merchants to whom they
belonged, who all bitterly complained of the gross extortion of the
Customs officials, and assured me that by law no more than two
duty-stations were authorized, yet at each of the fifteen they were
squeezed of the same amount of duty that ought only to have been paid
twice.
Sin-ya-meu I found to be a very extensive unwalled town, the centre of
an immense trade. What little business is transacted at the treaty port
Chin-kiang, is entirely dependent upon Sin-ya-meu; and unless the native
merchants can be induced to establish themselves at the former city, it
will never become a place of much commercial importance.
[Illustration: A MANCHOO SQUEEZE STATION.]
While the invaluable A-ling was negotiating for the rice, I took a trip
as far as the walled city of Yang-chow-foo with my friend P----. This
town and the district has long been famous for its women, who, the
natives say, are the handsomest in China. Although our experience was
limited to a couple of days, from what we saw in the country and town
during daylight, and in the sing-songs at night, we were able to form
the same opinion. The women, though darker than those of the Honan
province, are quite as straight-featured and much more rosy and robust.
They also appeared taller than is usual in south and central China, and
their eyes seemed larger and not quite so oblique.
When within a few _li_ of Yang-chow, a turn of the creek placed our boat
close to a pair of damsels on the bank, but they no sooner espied the
strange faces of myself and P----, than they rushed towards a
neighbouring farm-house, screaming "Yang-quitzo-li" (foreign devils are
coming) at the top of their shrill voices. We had just that moment been
talking of the reputed loveliness of the Yang-chow ladies, and P----,
with his head full of the subject, jumped ashore and ran after the two
fugitives in order to have a nearer opportunity to satisfy himself as to
their superior charms. With my boy As-sam I followed my friend on shore.
The girls, terrified by the pursuit of the "foreign devil," were headed
by that individual just before they managed to hobble up to the house.
Their crippled feet sadly interfered with what would otherwise have been
their very graceful figures. Their faces were certainly very pretty, and
the excitement added not a little to their interesting appearance. At
first, when P---- appeared between themselves and their home, they clung
to each other and continued to yell, while several Chinamen came running
towards them armed with hoes and spades, and the dogs of the farm joined
chorus with a tremendous barking. But when the ladies found my friend
did not attempt to carry them off, but continued in front of them bowing
and scraping like a French dancing master (although this, of course,
they did not know), and when the advancing Chinamen observed my
fowling-piece and one of the snapping curs had been saluted with a large
stone between its eyes, which changed the baying into howling, the
commotion gradually subsided, although paterfamilias, and materfamilias,
who now put in her appearance, seemed by no means satisfied.
When the farmer's men, carrying hoes and other agricultural instruments,
for the nonce converted into warlike weapons, arrived upon the scene,
P---- suddenly thrust a hand into an inside breast pocket of his coat,
and winding up a small musical-box he carried there, changed the
combative feeling of the natives into the greatest surprise and
curiosity. Taking advantage of the pause, while the astounded people
seemed to look upon my friend, with "the British Grenadiers" issuing
from the region of his heart, as a "Joss" man, I told As-sam to inform
the head of the family that we had landed to inquire the way to
Yang-chow. This seemed to brighten the old fellow's dingy countenance
without the aid of water, although he still seemed dubious as to whether
we were "Joss" men, robbers, or honest travellers. One of his sons at
this moment displayed a remarkable genius by guessing the cause of my
friend's music, and it afterwards transpired that the clever youth had
an old musical-box in a forgotten corner of the paternal dwelling, which
had been obtained from the foreign-frequented city of Chin-kiang a year
or two ago, but had been broken by over-winding just when it began to
play.
The two pretty daughters having been conveyed to the inner apartments by
their watchful mother, who, I believe, penetrated the real cause of our
visit, and did not seem very much inclined to dazzle the vision of the
strangers from afar with their celestial charms, we were invited to tea
by their father, and the musical-box was produced for the general
delight of the company.
After tea and rice-cakes had been despatched, the musical-box nearly
worn out, and the girls peeping through the bamboo screen fairly
propitiated by our gentle manner and extraordinary tales, the old farmer
discovered that he had in former days been acquainted with As-sam's
father in Canton; at once we were pressed to remain and partake of
dinner, and the already genial humour of the old man became redoubled.
The day passed over very comfortably, except that at dinner the Chinese
yeoman would persist in being polite, and as this involved the
fishing-up of pieces of meat from the dinner bowls with his own
chop-sticks and the careful depositing of the same morsels in his
visitors' basins, it was not exactly pleasant.
Towards evening we were gratified by the presence of the young women to
perform various duties in the principal room, in which we were
established. Whether the small cups of rice-spirit at dinner had made
their father unusually relaxed in domestic _régime_ I do not pretend to
say, but he certainly called his daughters up to him, and actually
permitted them to be gazed upon by strangers and to gaze in return, and
to listen to their marvellous tales of other lands, these latter
singularly improved upon by As-sam whenever my knowledge of the Chinese
language was at fault.
To my unqualified surprise, when upon the point of taking our departure,
As-sam asked me to let him have fifty dollars and stop it from his
wages, as he wished to buy our host's youngest daughter! It appeared
that the old gentleman, warmed with the recollection of his friendship
for our servant's father, or impressed with As-sam's importance and
wealth through the eloquence of that cunning individual himself, and
seeing him in connection with Europeans, whom the Chinese always look
upon as overburdened with dollars, had offered him his daughter in
marriage for the sum of fifty dollars. I refused to be a party to the
transaction, so As-sam had to leave without a bride, although he
promised to return and claim her whenever he had saved her value. I bade
the farmer and his household farewell, wishing more than ever for the
success of my Ti-ping friends, who had abolished this buying and slavery
of women among themselves, and intended, God willing, to do so
throughout the land.
Upon reaching Sin-ya-meu I found the faithful A-ling had obtained the
cargo of rice and loaded our craft with it. We therefore at once set out
upon our return to Nankin, choosing the route by the Grand Canal, which
would bring us into the Yang-tze river at Kwa-chow, some few miles above
Chin-kiang.
Placing the crew on to the _yu-lo's_ (which, working in a figure of
eight motion, urge a vessel along upon the same principle as the screw
propeller), by these large oars our vessel was soon impelled beyond
Sin-ya-meu and into the Grand Canal. This magnificent work of olden time
is artificial for an extent of some 550 miles. Originally throughout
nearly the whole of this length, its sides were built of marble, with an
uniform breadth of more than 150 feet, and a depth of not less than 25.
Since the conquest of China by the Manchoos, however, this great work
has been sadly neglected, and at many parts the marble sides are no
longer visible. At frequent intervals between Hang-chow (the capital of
the Che-kiang province, where the canal terminates in the waters of
Hang-chow bay) and the city of Lin-tsing (where it joins a branch of the
Pei-ho river and continues on for about 180 miles up to Pekin, the
capital of China), the canal is no longer navigable, while the sluices,
having become neglected, have broken down the raised embankment and
flooded the surrounding country. This vast work was executed about 600
years ago by Koblai Khan, the first Emperor of the Yuen or Mongol
dynasty, as a means of supplying the sterile province of Chi-le (in
which the capital is situated) from the rich and fertile provinces of
Keang-su, Shang-tung, and Che-kiang, through which the canal is
constructed.
Not only the Grand Canal, but every other work of art, antiquity, and
manufacture, has been injured and allowed to fall into decay by the
Manchoo dynasty. Although the latter claim descent from the refugee
Mongol Princes, who were expelled from China by the first of the native
dynasty of Ming, A.D. 1366, they have done far less towards any
advancement of the physical or moral prosperity of China. During the
Mongol era many great works of public benefit and improvement were
preserved and others created, but since the epoch of the Manchoo China
has seriously deteriorated in every phase of her antique civilization.
The Manchoo conquerors are self-evidently preying upon the nation at the
present day, even although they have been in possession two hundred
years, and exhibit not the slightest wish to improve or benefit the
people, whom they only plunder. They seem to be actuated by the
knowledge that their reign is but for a time, and consequently rule
against freedom or improvement in order to make that time as long as
possible. They have proved themselves to be unequalled destroyers, and
have produced absolutely nothing. All Chinese of mind and education
declare that the Manchoo dynasty cannot last; even the highest officials
of the very Government itself have made the same observation to members
of the last British Embassy to China. Had the Ti-pings not possessed
Christianity, China would have risen to their standard as one man; had
the revolution not seemed likely to interfere with British "indemnities"
and opium trading, it would have succeeded; and had not England
interfered, the wretchedness of China would have been relieved by the
change of dynasty, the necessity for which becomes more apparent daily.
The only advancement China has undergone during the Manchoo rule has
been her rapid increase of population within the last century. For more
than one hundred years after the conquest the depopulating effect
continued in full force. Thousands of the Chinese emigrated to Formosa,
Hae-nan, Thibet, Cochin-China, Ava, Siam, the territories of the
Miau-tze, and other independent tribes; while many thousands fell by the
sword, and a greater number perished by famine, the inevitable and most
deadly companion of war in that densely populated and closely cultivated
country. But since the Chinese have become used to the Tartar yoke,
about the middle of the eighteenth century, the population has continued
increasing at the Malthusian ratio of doubling every twenty-five years.
Still this enormous increase is estimated to have simply restored to the
land the number of people it maintained before the Manchoo invasion.
This conclusion is formed from the most moderate data, but, as Malthus
himself observes, "The more difficult as well as the more interesting
part of the inquiry is to trace the immediate causes which stop its
further progress." The loss of life by the Ti-ping revolution may be one
cause, for it is a moot question whether war be not one of the ordained
methods to arrest the pro-creative power. This, however, is a
consideration for those who have made such theories their study. At all
events it is certain that the great increase of the population of China
has ceased, and it is palpable that, with already more than three
hundred inhabitants on a square mile, the soil is unable to support any
further multiplication of its children.
The increase of the population of China seems another likely enemy of
the continuance of the Manchoo dynasty. The ranks of the people having
become full again, all the old hatred of the Tartar, his tail-wearing
badge of servitude, extortion, monopoly of office, oppression, &c.,
naturally assume a more formidable aspect. The means of livelihood are
also more precarious, and the famine riots have become more frequent and
threatening, the impoverished people of course turning against the
Government whose extortion not a little helps to create their misery.
The number of malcontents become continually increased, while the
impotence and corruption of the Government, or rather the Manchoo
subjugators, is daily more apparent to them.
It is a singular fact that the Tartars have never amalgamated with the
Chinese, and that at the present day, by their organization of the eight
tribes of "Bannermen," they are as distinct as during the reign of their
first Emperor. Manchoo troops of the "eight banners" garrison every
important city in China, Manchoo officers hold every military command,
but I never found a Chinaman who would admit relationship to one, or
that did not feel himself insulted by the supposition.
Whether the cause may be patriotism, famine, increase of population, or
the extortion and oppression of the Government, certain it is that at
this period[42] the Chinese are unusually disaffected towards their
rulers, and that, besides the Ti-ping movement, there are distinct
rebellions progressing in each of the eighteen provinces.
The Manchoo Government is generally admitted to be hopelessly
oppressive, cruel, and totally corrupt; it is also believed that they
have, and by their system are compelled, to oppose Christianity and
modern civilization. In the face of all these facts he must indeed be a
very wise or a very foolish man who will either venture to believe that
the Manchoo-Tartar dynasty can endure, or will wilfully criminate
himself by upholding their cause. Most probably the British Government
thought only of their own interests during their late interference, and
it is at least doubtful whether a sincere mercenary motive or a sincere
desire to perpetuate the Manchoo dynasty would have been the most
wicked.
FOOTNOTES:
[40] The coffee of the morning watch (4 a.m. to 8 a.m.) has become so
inveterate and cherished a custom that I have had a main-yard carried
away in a sudden squall while rousing the men from the galley-fire and
their hook-pots.
[41] The immense volume of water composing the Yang-tze in the middle of
summer must be incredible to those who have not seen it. In consequence
of its great rise (some 35 feet) and strong current, villages and towns
are always built upon high ground throughout the whole length of its
course.
[42] Commencement of the year 1865.