CHAPTER VIII.

FIRST MISSION TO CHINA. CANTON.

IMPROVED PROSPECTS--ADVANCE ON CANTON--BOMBARDMENT AND CAPTURE--JOINT

TRIBUNAL--MAINTENANCE OF ORDER--CANTON PRISONS--MOVE NORTHWARD--SWATOW--MR.

BURNS--FOOCHOW--NINGPO--CHU-SAN--POTOU--SHANGHAE--MISSIONARIES.

[Sidenote: Improved prospects.]

On the same day on which the ultimatum of the Envoys was delivered to Yeh,

i.e. on the 12th of December, 1857, the glad news reached Lord Elgin that

Lucknow had been relieved: the more welcome to him as carrying with it the

promise of speedy reinforcement to himself, and deliverance from a

situation of extreme difficulty and embarrassment. 'Few people,' he might

well say, 'had ever been in a position which required greater tact--four

Ambassadors, two Admirals, 'a General, and a Consul-general; and,

notwithstanding 'this luxuriance of colleagues, no sufficient force.' And

what he felt most in the insufficiency of the force was not the irksomeness

of delay, still less any anxiety as to the success of his arms. 'My

greatest difficulty.' he wrote, 'arises from my fear that we shall be led

to 'attack Canton before we have all our force, and led 'therefore to

destroy, if there is any resistance, both life 'and property to a greater

extent than would otherwise 'be necessary.' The prospects of immediate

reinforcements from India diminished his fears on this score, and sent him

forward with a better hope of bringing the painful situation to a speedy

and easy close.

[Sidenote: Changed quarters.]

_H.M.S. 'Furious,' Canton River.--December 17th.--_You see from my

date that I am again in a new lodging. It promises to be, I think,

more agreeable than any of our previous marine residences. We have

paddles instead of a screw. Then the captain has not only given up to

me all the stern accommodation, but he has also done everything in his

power to make the place comfortable.... He is the Sherard Osborn of

Arctic regions notoriety. I am on my way to join Gros, in order to

decide on our future course of action. I mentioned yesterday that

Honan was occupied, and that I had received a letter from Yeh, which

must, I suppose, be considered a refusal. This was the fair side of

the medal. The reverse was an ugly quarrel up the river, which ended

in the loss of the lives of some sailors and the destruction of a

village,--a quarrel for which our people were, I suspect, to some

extent responsible. I fear that, under cover of the blockade

instituted by the Admiral, great abuses have taken place.... It makes

one very indignant, but unfortunately it is very difficult to bring

the matter home to the culprits. All this, however, makes it most

important to bring the situation to a close as soon as possible. It is

clear that there will be no peace till the two parties fight it out.

The Chinese do not want to fight, but they will not accept the

position relatively to the strangers under which alone strangers will

consent to live with them, till the strength of the two parties has

been tested by fighting. The English do want to fight.

[Sidenote: Yeh's reply.]

_December 18th._--This does not promise to be a lively sojourn. We are

anchored at present at a point where the river forks into the Whampoa

and Blenheim reaches. We have the Blenheim reach, and my suite wish me

to go up it to the Macao Fort, from which they think they would have a

good view of what goes on when the city is attacked. I wish, however,

to be with Gros, and he will go up the Whampoa reach as far as his

great lumbering ship will go. Meanwhile we are here confined to our

ships, as it would not of course do for me to go on shore to be

caught. Poor Yeh would think me worth having at present. What will he

do? His answer is very weak, and reads as if the writer was at his

wits' end; but with that sort of stupid Chinese policy which consists

in never yielding anything, he exposes himself to the worst

consequences without making any preparations (so far as we can see)

for resistance. Among other things in his letter he quotes a long

extract from a Hong-kong paper describing Sir G. Bonham's investiture

as K.C.B., and advises me to imitate him for my own interest, rather

than Sir J. Davis, who was recalled. Davis, says Yeh, insisted on

getting into the city, and Bonham gave up this demand. Hence his

advice to me. All through the letter is sheer twaddle.

[Sidenote: Advance on Canton.]

_December 22nd._--On the afternoon of the 20th, I got into a gunboat

with Commodore Elliot, and went a short way up towards the barrier

forts, which were last winter destroyed by the Americans. When we

reached this point, all was so quiet that we determined to go on, and

we actually steamed past the city of Canton, along the whole front,

within pistol-shot of the town. A line of English men-of-war are now

anchored there in front of the town. I never felt so ashamed of myself

in my life, and Elliot remarked that the trip seemed to have made me

sad. There we were, accumulating the means of destruction under the

very eyes, and within the reach, of a population of about 1,000,000

people, against whom these means of destruction were to be employed!

'Yes,' I said to Elliot, 'I am sad, because when I look at that town,

I feel that I am earning for myself a place in the Litany, immediately

after "plague, pestilence, and famine."' I believe however that, as

far as I am concerned, it was impossible for me to do otherwise than

as I have done. I could not have abandoned the demand to enter the

city after what happened last winter, without compromising our

position in China altogether, and opening the way to calamities even

greater than those now before us. I made my demands on Yeh as moderate

as I could, so as to give him a chance of accepting; although, if he

had accepted, I knew that I should have brought on my head the

imprecations both of the navy and army and of the civilians, the time

being given by the missionaries and the women. And now Yeh having

refused, I shall do whatever I can possibly do to secure the adoption

of plans of attack, &c., which will lead to the least destruction of

life and property.... The weather is charming; the thermometer about

60° in the shade in the morning; the sun powerful, and the atmosphere

beautifully clear. When we steamed up to Canton, and saw the rich

alluvial banks covered with the luxuriant evidences of unrivalled

industry and natural fertility combined; beyond them, barren uplands,

sprinkled with a soil of a reddish tint, which gave them the

appearance of heather slopes in the Highlands; and beyond these again,

the white cloud mountain range, standing out bold and blue in the

clear sunshine,--I thought bitterly of those who, for the most selfish

objects, are trampling under foot this ancient civilisation.

[Sidenote: Summons to Yeh.]

_December 24th_.--My letter telling Yeh that I had handed the affair

over to the naval and military commanders, and Gros's to the same

effect, were sent to him to-day; also a joint letter from the

commanders, giving him forty-eight hours to deliver over the city, at

the expiry of which time, if he does not do so, it will be attacked. I

postponed the delivery of these letters till to-day, that the expiry

of the forty-eight hours might not fall on Christmas Day. Now I hear

that the commanders will not be ready till Monday, which the Calendar

tells me is 'the Massacre of the Innocents!' If we can take the city

without much massacre, I shall think the job a good one, because no

doubt the relations of the Cantonese with the foreign population were

very unsatisfactory, and a settlement was sooner or later inevitable.

But nothing could be more contemptible than the origin of our existing

quarrel. We moved this evening to the Barrier Forts, within about two

miles of Canton, and very near the place where the troops are to land

for the attack on the city. I have been taking walks on shore the last

two or three days on a little island called Dane's Island, formed of

barren hills, with little patches of soil between them and on their

flanks, cultivated in terraces by the industrious Chinese. The people

seemed very poor and miserable, suffering, I fear, from this horrid

war. The French Admiral sent on shore to Whampoa some casks of damaged

biscuit the other day, and there was such a rush for it, that some

people were, I believe, drowned. The head man came afterwards to the

officer, expressed much gratitude for the gift, but said that if it

was repeated, he begged notice might be given to him, that he might

make arrangements to prevent such disorder. The ships are surrounded

by boats filled chiefly by women, who pick up orange-peel and offal,

and everything that is thrown overboard. One of the gunboats got

ashore yesterday, within a stone's-throw of the town of Canton, and

the officer had the coolness to call on a crowd of Chinese, who were

on the quays, to pull her off, which they at once did! Fancy having to

fight such people!

_Christmas Day_.--Who would have thought, when we were spending that

cold snowy Christmas Day last year at Howick, that _this_ day would

find us separated by almost as great a distance as is possible on the

surface of our globe! and that I should be anchored, as I now am,

within two miles of a great city, doomed, I fear, to destruction, from

the folly of its own rulers and the vanity and levity of ours. We have

moved a little farther up the river this morning, and as we are, like

St. Paul, dropping an anchor from the stern, I have had over my head

for several hours the incessant dancing about and clanking of a

ponderous chain-cable, till my brains are nearly all shaken out of

their place.

_December 26th._--I have a second letter from Yeh, which is even more

twaddling than the first. They say that he is all day engaged in

sacrificing to an idol, which represents the God of Physic, and which

is so constructed that a stick in its hand traces figures on sand. In

the figures so traced he is supposed to read his fate.

Early on Monday the 28th the attack began; and Lord Elgin was reluctantly

compelled to witness what he had been reluctantly compelled to order--the

bombardment of an unresisting town. Happily the damage both to life and

property proved to be very much less serious than at the time he supposed

it to be.

[Sidenote: Bombardment.]

_December 28th, Noon._--We have been throwing shells, etc., into

Canton since 6 A.M., without almost any reply from the town. I hate

the whole thing so much, that I cannot trust myself to write about it.

_December 29th._--The mail was put off, and I add a line to say that I

hope the Canton affair is over, and well over.... When I say this

affair is over, perhaps I say too much. But the horrid bombardment has

ceased, and we are in occupation of Magazine Hill, at the upper part

of the city, within the walls.

[Sidenote: Capture of the city.]

[Sidenote: Looting.]

_H.M.S. 'Furious,' Canton River.--January 2nd, 1858._--The last week

has been a very eventful one: not one of unmixed satisfaction to me,

because of course there is a great deal that is painful about this

war, but on the whole the results have been successful. On Monday last

(the 28th) I was awakened at 6 A.M. by a cannon-shot, which was the

commencement of a bombardment of the city, which lasted for 27 hours.

As the fire of the shipping was either not returned at all, or

returned only by a very few shots, I confess that this proceeding gave

me great pain at the time. But I find that much less damage has been

done to the town than I expected, as the fire was confined to certain

spots. I am on the whole, therefore, disposed to think that the

measure proved to be a good one, as the terror which it has excited in

the minds of the Cantonese is more than in proportion to the injury

inflicted, and therefore it will have the effect, I trust, of

preventing any attempts on their part to dislodge or attack us, which

would entail very great calamities on themselves. At 10 A.M. on Monday

the troops landed at a point about two miles east of the city, and

marched up with very trifling resistance to Lin Fort, which they took,

the French entering first, to the great disgust of our people. Next

morning at 9 A.M., they advanced to the escalade of the city walls, and

proceeded, with again very slight opposition, to the Magazine Hill, on

which they hoisted the British and French flags. They then took Gough

fort with little trouble, and there they were by 3 P.M. established in

Canton. The poor stupid Chinese had placed some guns in position to

resist an attack from the opposite quarter--the quarter, viz. from

which Gough attacked the city; and some people suppose that if we had

advanced from that side we should have met with some resistance. My

own opinion is, that the resistance would have been no great matter in

any case, although, no doubt, if we had made the attempt in summer,

and with sailors only, as some proposed when I came here in July, we

should probably have met with disaster. As it is, my difficulty has

been to enforce the adoption of measures to keep our own people in

order, and to prevent the wretched Cantonese from being plundered and

bullied. This task is the more difficult from the very motley force

with which we have to work, composed, firstly, of French and English;

secondly, of sailors to a great extent--they being very imperfectly

manageable on shore; all, moreover, having, I fear, a very low

standard of morality in regard to stealing from the Chinese. There is

a word called 'loot,' which gives, unfortunately, a venial character

to what would, in common English, be styled robbery.... Add to this,

that there is no flogging in the French army, so that it is impossible

to punish men committing this class of offences.... On the other hand,

these incomprehensible Chinese, although they make no defence, do not

come forward to capitulate; and I am in mortal terror lest the French

Admiral, who is in the way of looking at these matters in a purely

professional light, should succeed in inducing our chiefs to engage

again in offensive operations, which would lead to an unnecessary

destruction of life and property. I proposed to Gros that we should

land on the first day of the year, and march up to Magazine Hill. He

consented, and the chiefs agreed, so we landed about 1 P.M. at a point

on the river bank immediately below the south-east angle of the city

wall, which is now our line of communication between the river and

Magazine Hill. As we landed, all the vessels in the river hoisted

English and French flags, and fired salutes. We walked up to the hill

along the top of the wall, which is a good wide road, and which was

all lined with troops and sailors, who presented arms and cheered as

we passed. We reached the summit at about three. The British quarter,

which is a sort of temple, stands on the highest point, the hill

falling pretty precipitously from it on all sides. The view is one of

the most extensive I ever saw. Towards the east and north barren hills

of considerable height, and much of the character of those we see from

Hong-kong. On the west, level lands cultivated in rice and otherwise.

Towards the south, the town lying still as a city of the dead. The

silence was quite painful, especially when we returned about

nightfall: but it is partly owing to the narrowness of the streets,

which prevents one from seeing the circulation of population which may

be going on within. We remained at the top of the hill till about

half-past five, during which time we blew up the Blue Jacket Fort and

Gough Fort, and got back to our ships about 8 P.M., having spent a

very memorable first of January, and made a very interesting

expedition; although I could not help feeling melancholy when I

thought that we were so ruthlessly destroying the prestige of a place

which had been, for so many centuries, intact and undefiled by the

stranger, and exercising our valour against so contemptible a foe.

_January 4th._--I have not given you as full a description as I ought

to have done of the views and ceremony of Friday, because I saw 'Our

own Correspondent' there, and I think I can count on that being well

done in the _Times_.... This day is a pour of rain, rather unusual for

the season.... Some of the Chinese authorities are beginning to show a

desire to treat, and some of the inhabitants are presenting petitions

to us to protect them against robbers, native and foreign.

[Sidenote: Capture of Yeh.]

_January 6th_.--Yesterday was a great day. The chiefs made a move

which was very judicious, I think, and which answered remarkably well.

They sent bodies of men at an early hour into the city from different

points, and succeeded in capturing Yeh, the Lieutenant-Governor of the

city, and the Tartar General, &c. This was done without a shot being

fired, and I believe the troops behaved very well, abstaining from

_loot_, &c. Altogether the thing was a complete success, and I give

them great credit for it. Yeh has been carried on board the

'Inflexible' steamer as a prisoner of war. He is an enormous man. I

can hardly speak to his appearance, as I only saw him for a moment as

he passed me in a chair on his way to his vessel. Morrison, who has

taken a sketch of him, speaks favourably of him; but it is the fashion

to abuse even his looks. The Lieutenant-General has been allowed to

depart, but the Lieutenant-Governor and Tartar General are still in

custody at head-quarters. At my suggestion a proposal was made to the

Lieutenant-Governor to-day to continue to govern the city under us;

but the stolidity of the Chinese is so great that there is no saying

what he may do. We have given him till to-morrow to determine whether

he will accept. My whole efforts have been directed to preserve the

Cantonese from the evils of a military occupation; but their stupid

apathetic arrogance makes it almost impossible to effect this object.

Yeh's tone when he was taken was to be rather bumptious. The Admiral

asked him about an old man of the name of Cooper, who was kidnapped.

At first he pretended that he knew nothing about him. When pressed he

said, 'Oh! he was a prisoner of war. I took him when I drove you away

from the city last winter. I took a great deal of trouble with him and

the other European prisoners, but I could not keep them alive. They

all died, and if you like I'll show you where I had them buried.'

Morrison says that when he saw him on board the 'Inflexible,' he was

very civil and _piano_. He takes it easy, eats and drinks well, &c. He

said to his captain, that if it was not an indiscreet question, he

would be glad to know whether it was likely that we should kill him.

The captain had no difficulty in re-assuring him on that point.

_January 8th_.--We had rather an important day's work yesterday. The

Lieutenant-Governor showed some symptoms of a willingness to govern on

our conditions. This gives some chance of our getting out of the

difficulties of our situation. You may imagine what it is to undertake

to govern some millions of people (the province contains upwards of

20,000,000), when we have _in all_ two or three people who understand

the language! I never had so difficult a matter to arrange.... Each

man has his own way of seeing things, and the real difficulties of the

question being enormous, and the mysteries of the Chinese character

almost unfathomable,... the problem is well nigh insoluble. However

yesterday we seemed to make some progress towards an understanding. We

walked up to the front along the wall as usual, and very hot it was;

but we returned through the town itself with the General and Admiral

and a large escort. I rode on a pony. It was a strange and sad sight.

The wretched-looking single-storied houses on either side of the

narrow streets almost all shut up, only a few people making their

appearance, and these for the most part wan and haggard, and here and

there places which the fire from our ships had destroyed, all

presented a very melancholy spectacle; and one could hardly help

asking one's self, with some disgust, whether it was worth while to

make all the row which we have been making, for the sake of getting

into this miserable place. However, I presume that the better part of

the population have either fled or hid themselves. I daresay if they

had returned, and the shops had been opened, the aspect of the town

would have been different.

[Sidenote: Establishment of a joint tribunal.]

_January 9th._--Yesterday I went up again to the front without Gros,

and pressed matters forward towards a solution. The result was, that

my plan of getting the Governor of the province to consent to return

to his Yamun and resume his functions, a board of our officers,

supported by a large body of troops, being appointed to inhabit his

Yamun with him, and to aid him in the maintenance of order,

prevailed.... To-day we went, Gros and I, in great procession to the

Governor's Yamun, to reinstate him in his office on the above

conditions. We were carried in chairs through the town, attended by a

large escort. The city seemed fuller of people than on the occasion of

my former visit, and they looked more cheerful.

_January 10th._--By a ludicrous mistake, no orders had been given to

release the Governor and Tartar General, so that, after waiting for

them for an hour, we heard that the sentry would not let them leave

the room in which they were confined. The consequence was that it was

getting late, and as I wished to get my escort out of the streets

before it was dark, we were obliged to hurry through the ceremony a

little. We began with a kind of squabble about seats; but after that

was over, I addressed the Governor in a pretty arrogant tone. I did so

out of kindness, as I now know what fools they are, and what

calamities they bring upon themselves, or rather on the wretched

people, by their pride and trickery. Gros followed, in a few words

endorsing what I had said. The Governor answered very satisfactorily.

I then rose, saying that we must depart, and that we wished him and

the Tartar General all sorts of felicity. They were good-natured-

looking men, the General being of great size. They conducted us to the

front door, where we ought to have found our chairs; but they had

disappeared, to the infinite wrath of Mr. Parkes.... I say the front

door; but in fact the house consisted of a series of one-storied

pavilions, placed one behind the other, and connected by a covered way

with trellis-work panels running through a sort of garden. We got at

last into the chairs, and hastened off to the city wall, which we

reached just as it was getting dark, having thus terminated about the

strangest day which has yet occurred in Chinese history,--the Governor

of this arrogant city of Canton accepting office at the hand of two

barbarian chiefs!

_Wednesday, January 13th._--You get the least agreeable picture of the

concerns in which I am engaged; because, as I write this record from

day to day, all my anxieties and their causes are narrated. On the

whole I think the last fortnight has been a very successful one. I

walked through the city to-day with the Admiral and an escort, and saw

evident signs of improvement in the streets. The people seemed to be

resuming their avocations, and the shops to be re-opening. My

'Tribunal' is working well. In short, I hope that the evils incident

to the capture of a city, and especially of a Chinese city, have been

in this instance very much mitigated. The season is very changing.

Three nights ago the thermometer did not fall below 72°, and last

night it fell to 40°. There is a cold wind; and it was necessary to

walk briskly to-day to keep one's-self warm.

[Sidenote: Exodus.]

_January 16th._--Though I was able to send off the last despatches

with something of a satisfactory report, we are by no means, I fear,

yet out of the wood. I took a long walk in the city of Canton

yesterday. I visited the West Gate, where I found a stream of people

moving outwards, and was told by the officer that this goes on from

morning to night. They say, when asked, that they are going out of

town to celebrate the New Year, but my belief is that they are flying

from us. The streets were full, and the people civil. Quantities of

eating stalls, but a large proportion of the shops still shut. As we

got near the wall in our own occupation, some people ran up to us

complaining that they had been robbed. We went into the houses and saw

clearly enough the signs of devastation. I have no doubt, from the

description, that the culprits were French sailors. If this goes on

one fortnight after we have captured the town, when is it to stop?...

It is very difficult to remedy.... Nothing could, I believe, be worse

than our own sailors, but they are now nearly all on board ship, and

we have the resource of the _Cat_.... All this is very sad, but I am

not yet quite at the end of my tether. If things do not mend within a

few days I shall startle my colleagues by proposing to abandon the

town altogether, giving reasons for it which will enable me to state

on paper all these points. No human power shall induce me to accept

the office of oppressor of the feeble.

[Sidenote: A sober population.]

[Sidenote: Maintenance of order.]

_January 20th._--I hinted at my ideas as to the evacuation of the

city, and it has had an excellent effect.... There is a notable

progress towards quiet in the city. Still, I fear the tide of

emigration is going on. Parkes is exerting himself with considerable

effect, and he is really very clever. There were a great many more

shops open in the streets yesterday than I had seen before.... What a

thing it is to have to deal with a sober population! I have wandered

about the streets of Canton for some seven or eight days since the

capture, and I have not seen one drunken man. In any Christian town we

should have had numbers of rows by this time arising out of

drunkenness, however cowed the population might have been. The

Tribunal convicted a Chinaman the other day for selling 'samshoo' to

the soldiers. I requested Parkes to hand him over to the Governor

Pehkwei for punishment. This was done, and the arrangement answered

admirably. The Governor was pleased, he presented himself before the

Chinese as the executor of our judgments, and at the same time we, to

a certain extent, seemed to be conceding to the Chinese the principle

of exterritoriality which we assert as against them.... I have no

'responsible ministers' here, though the presence of a colleague, and,

since military operations began, the position of the naval and

military Commanders-in-Chief, have required me to act with some

caution, in order to make the wheels of the machine work smoothly and

keep on the rails. For this reason it was that I suggested a few days

ago the plan of evacuation. The maintenance of order in a city under

martial law was, I felt, an affair rather for the Commander-in-Chief

than for me, therefore I was in a false position when I meddled with

it directly. But the question of remaining in the city or not was a

political one. By letting it be known that I had there my lines of

Torres Vedras, upon which I should fall back if necessary, I obtained

the influence I required for insuring, as far as possible, the

adoption of satisfactory arrangements within the city. I must add that

this evacuation plan was not intended by me to be a mere threat. I

have it clearly matured in my mind as a thing feasible, and which

would be under certain circumstances an advisable plan to adopt. In

taking Canton we had, as I understand it, two objects in view: the one

to prove that we could take it; the other to have in our hands

something to give up when we come to terms with the Emperor,--'a

material guarantee.' I believe that the capture of the city, followed

by the capture of Yeh, has settled the former point. Indeed, from all

that I hear, I infer that the capture of Yeh has had more effect on

the Chinese mind than the capture of the city. I believe, therefore,

that we might abandon the city without losing much if anything on this

head. No doubt we should lose on the second head; we should not have

Canton to give up when a treaty was concluded, if we had given it up

already. Even then however we might, by retaining the island of Honan,

the forts, &c., do a good deal towards providing a substitute; so that

you see my threat was made _bonâ fide_. I certainly should have

preferred the loss to which I have referred, to the continuance of a

state of things in which the Allied troops were plundering the

inhabitants.

_January 24th._--Baron Gros and I were conversing together yesterday

on affairs in this quarter, and among other things he told me that we

were both much reproached for our laxity, and that I was more blamed

on that account than he. I said to him: 'I can praise you on many

accounts, my dear Baron, but I cannot compliment you on being a

greater brute than I am.'

Whatever was the feeling of the British residents, and whatever excuses may

be made for it, the consistent humanity shown both in the taking and in the

occupation of the city did not fail to strike Mr. Reed, the Plenipotentiary

of the United States, who wrote to Lord Elgin: 'I cannot omit this

opportunity of most sincerely congratulating you on the success at Canton,

the great success of a bloodless victory, the merit of which, I am sure, is

mainly due to your Lordship's gentle and discreet counsels. My countrymen

will, I am sure, appreciate it.' 'This,' observes Lord Elgin, from the

representative of the United States, is gratifying both personally and

politically.'

_January 28th._--I am glad to say that this mail conveys, on the

whole, a satisfactory report of the progress of affairs, though this

letter puts you in possession of all the ebbs and flows which have

taken place during the fortnight. I send a leaf of geranium, which I

culled in the garden of the Tartar general.

[Sidenote: Canton prisons.]

_January 31st._--I visited yesterday two of the Canton prisons, and

witnessed there some sights of horror beyond what I could have

pictured to myself. Many of the inmates were so reduced by disease and

starvation, that their limbs were not as thick as my wrist. One man

who was in this condition was in the receptacle for untried prisoners,

and said he had been there seven years. In one of the courts which we

entered, there was a cell closed in by a double row of upright posts,

which is the common style of gate at Canton, and I was attracted to it

by the groans of its inmates. I desired it to be opened, and such a

spectacle as it presented! The prisoners were covered with sores,

produced by severe beatings; one was already dead, and the rats,--but

I cannot go further in description. The others could hardly crawl,

they were so emaciated, and my conviction is that they were shut in

there to die. The prison authorities stated that they had escaped at

the time of the bombardment for which they had been punished as we

saw. If the statement was true, they must have been systematically

starved since their recapture. Our pretext for visiting the prisons

was to discover whether any Europeans, or persons who had been in the

service of, or had had relations with Europeans, were confined in

them. We took out some who professed to belong to the latter classes.

I went a step further, by taking out a poor boy of fifteen, whom we

found in chains, but so weak that when we took them off he was unable

to stand. I told Mr. Parkes to take him to Pehkwei from me, as a

sample of the manner in which his prisons are managed.

_February 2nd._--Pehkwei was very indignant at our visit to his

prisons, and hinted that he would make away with himself, in a letter

which he wrote to me on the subject. However, he was obliged to admit

that some of the things we found were very bad, and quite against the

Chinese law. On reviewing the whole I must admit, that, except in the

case of the one cell that I have described, it was rather neglect,

want of food, medical care, cleanliness, &c., than positive cruelty,

of which one found evidence in the prisons.

* * * * *

[Sidenote: Move northwards.]

Canton the impregnable had been taken, and was in the military occupation

of the allied forces; Yeh, the Terror of Barbarians, was a captive beyond

the seas; so completely was all resistance crushed, that it was found

possible to raise the blockade of the Canton River, and to let trade return

to its usual channels. Still nothing was achieved so long as the Emperor

remained aloof, and could represent the affair as a local disturbance not

affecting the imperial power. To any permanent settlement it was essential

that he should be a party; the next step, therefore, was to move northwards

to Shanghae, and there open direct negotiations with the Court of Pekin;

and, for the success of these negotiations, it was obviously of great

importance that the envoys of England and France should have the co-

operation of the representatives of Russia and the United States.

_February 4th._--Still no letters. To-morrow, Frederick is to go to

Macao, to take to Messrs. Reed and Putiatine copies of all my

diplomatic correspondence with Yeh, &c., and an invitation to each

that he will join us in an attempt to settle matters by negotiation at

Shanghae. It is the commencement of the third act in this Chinese

affair.

_February 6th._--I have a letter from Mr. Reed, saying that he is

going to the North this day, so that perhaps Frederick will not find

him. This would be a great disappointment.

_Sunday, February 7th._--A month without news is very long to wait.

Perhaps time passes a little more quickly than when one was dawdling

and doing nothing at Hong-Kong; but still this life is tiresome

enough. I do not suppose that there ever was a town of the same

extent, or a population of the same number, more utterly uninteresting

than the town and population of Canton--low houses, narrow streets,

temples containing some hideous idols, which are not apparently in the

least venerated by their own worshippers. The only other resource is

the curiosity shops, and, as you know, I have not the genius for

making collections.

_February 9th._--Things have taken a better turn. F. by steaming at

night from Macao to Hong-Kong caught Reed about an hour before that

fixed for his departure for the North. He was delighted with my

communication, and has written undertaking to co-operate cordially

with us. This is, I think, a very great diplomatic triumph, because it

not only smooths the way for future proceedings, but it greatly

relieves our anxiety about Canton, as the Americans are the only

people who would be likely to give us trouble during the military

occupation.

_February 10th._--We have got Putiatine's letter for Pekin. It is very

good; perhaps better than any of the lot.... However, the _entente_ is

now established. My mind, too, is a good deal relieved to-day by

seeing the wretched junks, which have been shut up so long by the

blockade, with their sails set, gliding down the river. I sent Mr.

Wade to visit Yeh yesterday, to see how he took the notion of being

sent out of the country to Calcutta or elsewhere. He adhered to his

policy of indifference, real or affected, I cannot tell which. I

suppose it is a point of pride with him never to complain.

[Sidenote: Adieu to Canton.]

_H.M.S. 'Furious.'--February 20th._--I am now off from Canton, never I

hope to see it again. Two months I have been there--engaged in this

painful service--checking, as I have best been able to do, the

disposition to maltreat this unfortunate people.... On the whole I

think I have been successful. There never was a Chinese town which

suffered so little by the occupation of a hostile force; and

considering the difficulties which our alliance with the French

(though I have had all support from Gros, in so far as he can give it)

has occasioned, it is a very signal success. The good people at Hong-

Kong, &c., do not know whether to be incredulous or disgusted at this

policy.... I am told a parcel of ridiculous stories about arming of

Braves, &c. I heard that in the western suburb the people 'looked ill-

natured,' so I have been the greater part of my two last days in that

suburb, looking in vain into faces to discover these menacing

indications. Yesterday I walked through very out-of-the-way streets

and crowded thoroughfares with Wade and two sailors, through thousands

and thousands, without a symptom of disrespect.... I know that our

people for a long time used to insist on every Chinaman they met

taking his hat off. Of course it rather astonished a respectable

Chinese shopkeeper to be poked in the ribs by a sturdy sailor or

soldier, and told, in bad Chinese or in pantomime, to take off his

hat, which is a thing they never do, and which is not with them even a

mark of respect. I only mention this as an instance of the follies

which people commit when they know nothing of the manners of those

with whom they have to deal.... We are steaming down to Hong-Kong on a

beautiful fresh morning. I feel as if I was a step on my way home.

At Hong-Kong he remained nearly a fortnight, that his ship might be fitted

to go to the North: his letter for Pekin being sent on, in the meantime, to

Shanghae, by the hands of his secretary, Mr. Oliphant.[1]

_February 26th._--To-morrow this letter goes, and still no mail from

England. I think of starting in a few days, and calling at the other

ports--Foochow, Amoy, and Ningpo. I have a line from Oliphant, who

took up my letter to Shanghae, and made a quick though rough passage.

We shall be a good deal longer on the way, and my captain advises me

to be off, to anticipate the equinox. I have just written a despatch

to Lord Clarendon, to tell him that perhaps I may go direct from

Shanghae to Japan, and so home. It is almost too good a prospect to be

realised.

[Sidenote: Home news.]

_February 27th_.--I had Reed to dine with me yesterday. He is off this

morning to Manila, _en route_ for Shanghae. The Russian returns on

Monday, and we are going to Shanghae by the same route most

fraternally.... Your accounts of the boys make me feel as if I had

been an age away from home. God grant that I may get through this

business soon, and return to find you all flourishing!

_March 1st_.--I received your letters yesterday.... How I wish that I

had joined that merry dance on Christmas Day at Dunmore, and seen B.

and R. performing their reel steps, and F.[2] snapping his fingers!

You knew now how differently my New Year was passed--traversing that

vast city of the dead--meditating over that 28th December which Herod

had already hallowed.... These letters are my conscience and memory,

the only record I keep of passing emotions and events.... Depend upon

it the true doctrine is one I have before propounded to you: Do

nothing with which your own conscience can reproach you; _nothing_ in

its largest sense; _nothing_, including _omission_ as well as

_commission_; not nothing only in the meaning of having done no ill,

but nothing also in the meaning of having omitted no opportunity of

doing good. You are then _well with yourself_. If it is worth while to

be well _with others_--SUCCEED.

[Sidenote: Swatow.]

_H.M.S. 'Furious,' Swatow.--March 5th_.--I am again on the wide

ocean, though for the moment at anchor.... The settlement here is

against treaty. It consists mainly of agents of the two great opium-

houses, Dent and Jardine, with their hangers-on. This, with a

considerable business in the coolie trade--which consists in

kidnapping wretched coolies, putting them on board ships where all the

horrors of the slave-trade are reproduced, and sending them on

specious promises to such places as Cuba--is the chief business of the

'foreign' merchants at Swatow. Swatow itself is a small town some

miles up the river. I can only distinguish it by the great fleet of

junks lying off it. The place where the foreigners live is a little

island, barren, but nicely situated at the mouth of the river. A

number of Chinese are resorting to it, and putting up rather good

houses for Chinese. The population has a better appearance than the

Cantonese. The men powerful and frank-looking, and some of the women

not quite hideous. Our people get on very well with the natives here.

They have no consuls or special protection; so they act, I presume,

with moderation, and matters go on quite smoothly. I went into the

house of one of the 'Shroffs' (bankers or money-dealers) connected

with Jardine's house, and I found the gentleman indulging in his

opium-pipe. He gave us some delicious tea.... The Shroffs here are

three brothers. They came from Canton, their father remained behind.

The mandarins wanting money to carry on the war with us, called upon

him to pay 12,000 taels about 4,000_l_. They used him as the screw to

get this sum from his sons who were in foreign employ. Though the old

man had resolved to leave his home and his patch of ground rather than

pay, his sons provided the money and sent him back. Such cases are

constantly occurring here, and they show bow strong the family

affections are in China.

[Sidenote: Rough justice.]

Another case was mentioned to me yesterday, which illustrates the very

roundabout way in which justice is arrived at among us all here. The

coolies in a French coolie ship rose. The master and mate jumped

overboard, and the coolies ran the ship on shore, where the crew had

their clothes, &c., taken from them, but were otherwise well treated.

On this a French man-of-war comes, proceeds to Swatow, which is fifty

miles from the scene of the occurrence, and informs the people that

they will bombard the place immediately unless 6,000 dollars are paid.

They got the money, but the mandarins at once squeezed it out of these

same Shroffs, saying, that as they brought the barbarians to the spot,

they must pay for the damages they inflicted. Meanwhile, the

'foreigners' have it, I apprehend, much their own way. They are

masters of the situation, pay no duties except tonnage dues, which are

paid by them at about one-third of the amount paid by native vessels

of the same burthen!

[Sidenote: Mr. Burns.]

Hearing that Mr. Burns, a missionary, whose case is narrated in the

series of 'insults by the Chinese authorities' submitted to Parliament

(he having been in fact very kindly treated, as he himself

acknowledges), was at the island, I invited him to breakfast. I found

him a very interesting person, really an enthusiastic missionary, and

kindly in his feelings towards the Chinese. He wears the Chinese

attire, not as a disguise, but to prevent crowds being attracted by

his appearance. He does not boast of much success in converting, but

the Chinese are very willing to listen to him and to take books. They

approve of all books that inculcate virtue, morality, &c., but they

have no taste for the distinctive doctrines of Christianity. As Yeh

said, when a Bible was presented to him from the Bishop:--'I know that

book quite well, a very good book. It teaches men to be virtuous, like

the Buddhistic books;' and then turning very politely to his captain,

'Will you be good enough to take care of this book till I want it.'

The country in this neighbourhood is very lawless. Burns, a few days

before he was arrested, slept with his two companions, two native

Christians, in a large village. During the night the house he was in

was broken into, and all they had stolen. Nothing remained but a few

of their books, which they carried tied to sticks over their

shoulders. A peasant came up to him and said, 'I see you are not

accustomed to carry loads,' and took his burden and carried it for him

six miles, asking for nothing in return. Other natives bought the

books (they had previously given them gratuitously), and thus they got

money enough to go on with. When they got into this principal town,

and were arrested by the police, the authorities seemed rather to

regret it. They underwent some interrogatories which Burns seems to

have turned into a sort of sermon, for he went at length into

Christian teaching, and the judges listened most complacently. They

confined them in prison, but did everything they could to make Burns

himself comfortable. His companions were not so well treated. He

joined them at one time at his own request, under circumstances

curiously illustrative of Chinese manners. A subordinate of the gaoler

with whom he was lodged died from swallowing opium. The gaoler was at

once held responsible, and his house was mobbed. On which Mr. Burns,

not knowing the cause of the disturbance, asked to rejoin his

companions. He found them shut up in a very loathsome cell, with

several other prisoners; a place something like my Canton prisons; but

he said they did very well while there, for they were able to preach

to the other prisoners. At one of the interrogatories, one of his

companions, the more zealous of the two, on being asked why he had

brought a foreigner to the place, answered that it was because he was

a Christian, and that their books said, 'It is better to die with the

wise than to live with fools.' This sentiment was not considered

complimentary by the mandarins, who immediately ordered him to be

beaten, upon which he got ten blows on each side of his face with an

instrument like the sole of a shoe. Mr. B. told this story, but added

that he believed the beating had been determined on before, for his

other companion, who was the more worldly of the two, and who had

probably found his way to the heart of the gaoler, was told that he

too would be beaten that day, but that the blows would be laid on by a

friendly hand, and that if he kept his cheek loose, he would not feel

them much.

[Sidenote: Amoy.]

_March 8th._--We are entering Foochow; a most beautiful day; the sea

smooth as glass. We left Amoy last night. I went to church in the

forenoon at the Consulate. An American missionary preached. There are

several missionaries at Amoy. They have, as they say, about 300

converts. The foreigners and natives get on very well there. The town

is a poor enough place, and the island seems rocky and barren. How it

can sustain the great population which inhabits the villages that

cover it is a mystery.

_March 14th._--A vessel from Shanghae brought me this morning a letter

from Oliphant, which shows that he has got well through the business

which I entrusted to him.[3] He went with my letter for the Prime

Minister of the Emperor to a city named Soochow, which is not open to

foreigners, and which is moreover the seat of beauty and fashion in

the empire, and he seems to have been well received. This is a good

sign. An edict has moreover been issued by the Emperor degrading Yeh,

and moderate in its tone as regards foreigners. All this looks as if

there would be at Pekin a disposition to settle matters. God grant

that it may be so, that I may get home, and not be required to do

farther violence to these poor people.

[Sidenote: Foochow.]

The scenery of Foochow and its neighbourhood struck him as singularly

beautiful. Even in an official despatch we find him writing of it as

follows:--

With the exception perhaps of Chusan, I have as yet seen no place in

China which, in point of beauty of scenery, rivals Foochow. The Min

river passes to the sea between two mountain ranges, which, wherever

the torrents have not washed away every particle of earth from the

surface, are cultivated by the industrious Chinese in terraces to

their very summits. These mountain ranges close in upon its banks

during the last part of its course: at one time confining it to a

comparatively narrow channel, and at another suffering it to expand

into a lake; but in the vicinity of the Pagoda Island they separate,

leaving between them the plain on which Foochow stands. This plain is

diversified by hill and dale, and comprises the Island of Nantai,

which is the site of the foreign settlement. At the season of my

visit, both hills and plain were chiefly covered with wheat; but I was

informed that the soil is induced, by irrigation and manure applied

liberally, to yield in many cases, besides the wheat crop, two rice

crops during the year. We walked with perfect freedom, both about the

town and into the surrounding country. Nothing could be more courteous

than the people of the villages, or more quaint than the landscape,

consisting mainly of hillocks dotted with horseshoe graves, and

monuments to the honour of virtuous maidens and faithful widows,

surrounded by patches of wheat and vegetables. Kensal Green or Père la

Chaise, cultivated as kitchen gardens, would not inaptly represent the

general character of the rural districts of China which I have

visited.

In some respects, however, the impression was not so satisfactory. In his

journal he says:--

The people whom we met in our peregrinations were perfectly civil. The

Consul, too, and Europeans were civil likewise. They were willing to

give me information. I do not know that I carried much away with me,

except the general impression, that our trade is carried on on

principles which are dishonest as regards the Chinese, and

demoralising to our own people.

[Sidenote: American missionaries.]

At Foochow, I saw one of the American missionaries, a very worthy man

I should think, but not of the stamp of Mr. Burns. He had been about

eight years at Foochow, and he computed the converts made by himself

and his brother missionaries at fifteen. He said that they were

particular as to the conduct of their converts; but I cannot affirm

that he satisfied me that they accepted in any very earnest way the

peculiar doctrines of Christianity. However, I daresay that these

missionaries do good, for the Chinese are not fanatics, and it must do

them a benefit to see among them some foreigners who are not engaged

exclusively in money-making.

[Sidenote: Chinhae.]

_March 16th._--We are at anchor off Chinhae at the mouth of the river

which leads to Ningpo. We have just returned from a walk on shore. We

passed through a small walled town, and climbed up a hill to a temple

on the summit, from which we had a magnificent prospect. On the east

and north, the sea studded with the islands of the Chusan group; on

the west, a rich plain, through which the river meanders on its way

from Ningpo; on the north, a succession of mountain ranges. We were

accompanied by some curious but good-natured Chinamen, who seemed

anxious to give us information. A very dirty lad, without a tail,

proved to be the priest. After looking about us for some time, we

entered the building; which contained a sort of central shrine, in

which were some gilt figures of large size, besides rows of smaller

gilt figures round the walls. I observed a number of slips of paper

with Chinese characters upon them; and being told that they were used

for divination purposes, I asked how it was done: upon which one of

the Chinamen took from before the shrine a thing like a match-holder,

full of bits of stick like matches, and kneeling down on a hassock,

began to shake this case till one of the bits of stick fell out. He

picked it up, and finding a single notch upon it, selected from the

slips of paper which I had noticed the one which had a corresponding

mark. We carried it away, and I intend to get Mr. Wade to translate it

that I may send it to you. The other Chinamen present seemed very much

amused at what was going on. They do not appear to have a particle of

reverence for their religion, and yet they spend a good deal of money

on their temples.

Wade's teacher (so the Chinaman who aids him in the work of

interpretation is styled) has told him that the lot which fell to me

at the Buddhist temple is the No. 1 lot, the most fortunate of all.

Their system of divination is rather complicated, but, as I understand

it, it appears to be that Noah, or some one who lived about his time,

discovered eight symbols on the back of a tortoise. These, multiplied

into themselves, make sixty-four, which constituted the Book of Fate.

It appears that my lot is the first of the eight, and therefore the

best that can be got!

[Sidenote: Ningpo.]

_Ningpo.--March 18th._--We arrived here yesterday, and I have been

walking both days about the town with Mr. Meadows, the author, who is

vice-consul here. I am disappointed with the city, of which I had

heard a great deal. But the people are even more amiable than at any

other place I have visited. Oliphant has rejoined us in high spirits,

after his visit to Soochow. I cross-examined a Church of England

clergyman about his converts. When pressed, he could only name one who

seemed to be conscious of the want which we believe to be supplied by

the Atonement. About 100, however, including children, attend churches

in Ningpo, of whom thirty have been baptized.

Ningpo was one of the places which had been treated with more than ordinary

severity in the last war. It was also one of the places in which the

natives showed the most friendly disposition towards foreigners. To the

resident traders the inference was obvious: the severity was the cause of

the friendly disposition, and it had only to be applied elsewhere to

produce the like results. With evident satisfaction Lord Elgin sets

himself, in an official despatch, to refute this reasoning. After observing

that the natives showed rather an exaggeration than a defect of the desire

to live peaceably with foreigners, he proceeds:--

The state of Ningpo in this respect furnishes their favourite and,

perhaps, most plausible argument, to that class of persons who

advocate what is styled a vigorous policy in China; in other words, a

policy which consists in resorting to the most violent measures of

coercion and repression on the slenderest provocations. They say,

'Remember what happened at Ningpo during the last war, and observe the

consideration and respect which is evinced towards you there. Treat

other towns in China likewise, and the result will be the same.' I

question the soundness of this inference. Ningpo is situated on the

south-eastern verge of the mighty valley of the Yang-tze-kiang, which

is inhabited by a population the most inoffensive, perhaps, both by

disposition and habit, of any on the surface of the earth. Their

amenity towards the foreigner is due, I apprehend, to temperament, as

much, at least, as to the recollection of the violence which they may

have sustained at his hands.

I have made it a point, whenever I have met missionaries or others who

have penetrated into the interior from Ningpo and Shanghae, to ask

them what treatment they experienced on those expeditions, and the

answer has almost invariably been that, at points remote from those to

which foreigners have access, there was no diminution, but on the

contrary rather an enhancement, of the courtesy exhibited towards them

by the natives.

[Sidenote: Missionary schools.]

_H.M.S. 'Furious.'--March 20th._--Yesterday, I called on a clergyman

to see Miss Aldersey,--a remarkable lady, who came out here

immediately after the last war, and has been devoting herself and her

fortune to the education and Christianisation of the Chinese at

Ningpo. She seems a nice person, but I could not get as much

conversation with her as I wished, because the Bishop, &c., were

present all the time. She has to pay the girls a trifle, as an

equivalent for what their labour is worth, for coming to her school,

or to board them and keep them, as it is not at all in the ideas of

the Chinese that women should be educated. She does not seem to have

got the _entrée_ into Chinese houses of the richer class. Mrs. Russell

(wife of the English clergyman), who speaks the language, has obtained

it a little. I cannot make out that, when she visits them, they ever

talk of anything except where she got her dress, &c.; but on great

occasions, when they assemble for ceremonies in the temples, they seem

very devout. In private they treat these matters with great

indifference. I had some of the missionaries to dinner. They put the

converts at a larger number than I understood Mr. Russell to do, but

otherwise their report did not differ materially from his.

[Sidenote: Chusan.]

[Sidenote: French missionary.]

_Chusan.--March 21st._--This is a most charming island. How any

people, in their senses, could have preferred Hong-Kong to it, seems

incredible. The people too, that is to say, the lower orders, seem

really to like us. We walked through the town of Tinghae, and asked at

the shop of a seller of perfumed sticks for the 'Mosquito tobacco,'

but in vain. We then passed through the further gate of the city into

the country beyond, and seeing something like a chapel, made towards

it. A man, dressed as a Chinaman, came out to meet us. He addressed us

in French, and proved to be a Roman Catholic priest. He was very

civil, and asked us into his house, where he gave us some tea, grown

on his own farm. He has been here two years quite alone, and he was

ten years before in the province of Kiangsù. He says that he has some

200 converts. Some twenty boys, deserted children, he brings up, and

works on his farm. I saw them, and I must say I never beheld a more

happy and well-conditioned set of boys. In the town was an

establishment for younger children, chiefly girls, under the charge of

a Chinese female convert. After he had given us tea, the missionary

accompanied us in our walk. He first took us to a sort of cottage-

villa, belonging to one of the rich inhabitants, consisting of about a

couple of acres of ground, covered by kiosks and grottos and dwarf-

trees, and ups and downs and zigzags,--all in the most approved

Chinese fashion. From thence we clambered up a mountain of, I should

think, some 1,200 feet in height, from which we had a very extensive

view, and beheld ranges of hills, separated by cosy valleys, on one

side; on the other, the walled city of Tinghae, surrounded by rice-

fields; beyond, the sea studded with islands of the Chusan group. It

was a beautiful view, and we returned to the ship very much pleased

with our scramble.

[Sidenote: Scenery.]

_March 22nd._--I have just returned from a walk to the top of a hill,

on the opposite side of the flat on which the town is situated from

that which we mounted yesterday. The day is charming, clear, with a

fanning, bracing air. We had a finer view almost than yesterday. The

same character of scenery all round the island. Spacious flats on the

sea-board under irrigation; about one-half of the fields covered (now)

with water, and the other half in crop, chiefly beans, wheat, and

rape, which, with its yellow flower, gives warmth to the colouring of

the landscape; these flats, fringed by hills of a goodly height--say

from 600 to 1,200 feet,--which cluster together as they recede from

the sea-board, compressing the flats into narrow valleys, and finally

extinguishing them altogether. The hills themselves barren, with

patches here and there of Chinese cultivation and fir plantations, the

first I have seen in China. Turn your eyes to the sea, and you have

before you innumerable islands dotting its surface, the same in

character, though smaller in size, than that on which you are

standing. I have seldom seen a more delightful spot. In going on our

walk, we passed by the burying-ground of the British who died while we

occupied the island, and we did something to put order among their

neglected graves. On our return, we passed by a cottage where an old

lady was seated at her spinning-wheel. I entered. She received us most

courteously, placed chairs for us, and immediately set to work to

prepare tea. When she found that one of the party was a doctor, a son

(grown up) was produced who was suffering from ague. We brought him on

board, and gave him some quinine. He showed us the medicine he was

taking. It appeared to be a sort of mash of bits of bamboo and all

sorts of vegetable ingredients. The doctor who tried it said it had no

taste. I should mention that at the landing-place we met some of the

French, missionary's boys, who brought me a present of eggs and fowls

and salad from the farm, in return for a dollar which I gave them

yesterday to buy cakes withal.

[Sidenote: Potou.]

[Sidenote: Bonzes.]

_March 23rd._--We set off this morning to visit Potou.[4] After

lauding on the beach, we proceeded along a spacious paved path to a

monastery, in a very picturesque spot under the grey granite hills. We

entered the buildings, which were like all other Buddhistic temples

--the same images, &c.--and were soon surrounded by crowds of the most

filthy and miserable-looking bonzes, some clad in grey and some in

yellow. All were very civil, however, and on the invitation of the

superior--who had a much more intelligent look than the rest--we went

into an apartment at the side of the temple and had some tea. After a

short rest we proceeded on our way, and mounted a hill about 1,500

feet in height, passing by some more temples on the way. I never saw

human beings apparently in a lower condition than these bonzes, though

some of the temples were under repair, and on the whole tolerably

cared for. The view from the top of the hill was magnificent, and

there was glorious music here and there, from the sea rolling in upon

the sandy beach. We met some women (not young ones) going up the hill

in chairs to worship at the temples, and found, in some, individuals

at their devotions. In one there was a monk, hidden behind a great

drum, repeating in a plaintive tone, over and over again, the name of

Buddha, 'ameta fo,' or something like that sound. I observed some with

lumps on the forehead, evidently produced by knocking it against the

ground. The utter want of respect of these people for their temples,

coupled with this asceticism and apparent self-sacrifice in their

religion, is a combination which I cannot at present understand. It

has one bad effect, that in the plundering expeditions which we

Christians dignify with the name of war in these countries, idols are

ripped up in the hope of finding treasure in them, temple ornaments

seized, and in short no sort of consideration is shown for the

religious feelings of the natives.

The following notice of the same sacred island occurs in one of his

despatches:--

I trust that I may be permitted to offer one remark in reference to

Potou, an islet adjoining Chusan, which I touched at on my way from

the latter place to Chapoo. Little information, of course, was to be

gathered there on questions directly affecting trade or politics, for

it is a holy spot, exclusively appropriated to temples in tinsel and

bonzes in rags; but it was impossible to wander over it as I did,

visiting with entire impunity its most sacred recesses, without being

forcibly reminded of the fact that one, at least, of the obstacles to

intercourse between nations, which operates most powerfully in many

parts, especially of the East, can hardly be said to exist in China.

The Buddhistic faith does not seem to excite in the popular mind any

bigoted antipathy to the professors of other creeds. The owner of the

humblest dwelling almost invariably offers to the foreigner who enters

it the hospitable tea-cup, without any apparent apprehension that his

guest, by using, will defile it; and priests and worshippers attach no

idea of profanation to the presence of the stranger in the joss-house.

This is a fact, as I humbly conceive, not without its significance,

when we come to consider what prospect there may be of our being able

to extend and multiply relations of commerce and amity with this

industrious portion of the human race.

The private journal proceeds:--

_March 24th._--We are gliding through a perfectly smooth sea, with

islands on both sides of us, on a beautifully calm and clear day,

warmer than of late, but still tart enough to feel healthy. We passed

a fleet of some hundreds of junks, proceeding northward under convoy

of some lorchas of the 'Arrow' class, carrying flags which they

probably have no right to. These lorchas exact a sort of black mail

from the junks, and plunder them whenever it is more profitable to do

so than to protect them. They often have Europeans on board. Poor Yeh

has suffered severely for our sins in respect to this description of

craft. We are on our way to Chapoo now, a port not opened to trade,

but one which I am ordered by the Government to induce the Chinese to

open. As it is very little out of the way to Shanghae, I wish to look

at it in passing.

[Sidenote: Chapoo.]

_March 25th._--We reached Chapoo at about 5 P.M. I did not land, but

some of the party did, and mounted a hill from whence they looked down

upon a walled town of no great size, and a plain, perfectly flat,

stretching for any number of miles beyond it. The people, as usual,

were civil, and made no difficulties, although we have no right to

land there. The bay in which we anchored is open, and not in any

particular way interesting. At about three this morning we started,

and have been favoured with as good a day as yesterday. We have had

nothing of the bold coasts of previous days, and passed occasionally

islands flatter than those seen before. We are now in the mouth of the

Yang-tze-kiang, with a perfectly flat and low shore on one side, and

an equally flat one just discoverable with the aid of the telescope on

the other. A good many junks are sailing about us, their dark sails

filled with a lively breeze. Before us is a large man-of-war, which I

am just told is the American 'Minnesota.' So our cruise is coming to

an end, which I regret, as it has been a very pleasant break, and at

least for the time has kept me out of reach of the bothers of my

mission. We have reason too to be most thankful for the weather with

which we have been favoured, and if Mr. Reed is before me he cannot

complain, as I am here on the very day on which I said I should reach

Shanghae. This is a very strange coast. The sea seems to be filling up

with the deposits of the rivers. We have an island (inhabited) beside

us, which did not exist a few years ago. We have not during all

yesterday and to-day had ever more than eight fathoms of water.

[Sidenote: Shanghae.]

Shanghae had been named as the rendezvous for the Allied Powers. There, as

he had written to the Emperor's Prime Minister, 'the Plenipotentiaries of

England and France would be prepared to enter into negotiations for the

settlement of all differences existing between their respective Governments

and that of China with any Plenipotentiary, duly accredited by the Emperor,

who might present himself at that port before the end of the month of

March.' There he still fondly hoped to find his Hercules' Pillar. 'If I can

only conclude a treaty at Shanghae,' so he wrote when starting from Canton,

'and hasten home afterwards!'

The place was well chosen for the purpose; not only as the most northerly

of the Treaty ports, and therefore nearest to the capital, but also as the

most flourishing stronghold of European influence and civilisation then

existing in China. 'I was struck,' wrote Lord Elgin in one of his

despatches, 'by the thoroughly European appearance of the place; the

foreign settlement, with its goodly array of foreign vessels, occupying the

foreground of the picture; the junks and native town lying up the river,

and dimly perceptible among the shadows of the background; spacious houses,

always well, and often sumptuously, furnished; Europeans, ladies and

gentlemen, strolling along the quays; English policemen habited as the

London police; and a climate very much resembling that which I had

experienced in London exactly twelve months before, created illusions which

were of course very promptly dissipated.'

[Sidenote: Message from Pekin.]

Dissipated too was the hope in which he had indulged, of a speedy

termination to his labours; for he was met by a _message_ from the Prime

Minister, that 'no Imperial Commissioner ever conducted business at

Shanghae; that a new Commissioner had been sent to Canton to replace Yeh;

and that it behoved the English Minister to wait in Canton, and there make

his arrangements.' This, of course, was not to be thought of; and nothing

remained but to move onwards towards Pekin, and apply some more direct

pressure to the Emperor and his capital.

_March 29th.--Shanghae._--Here I am in the Consul's house, a very

spacious mansion. The climate, character of the rooms, &c., all make

me feel in Europe again. I reached this harbour on the 26th, but only

landed to-day. Mr. Reed and Count Putiatine arrived before me, but

Baron Gros has not yet made his appearance. The Prime Minister of the

Emperor says that he cannot write to me himself, but sends me a

message through the Governor-General of the province to say that a

Commissioner has been sent to Canton by the Emperor to replace Yeh,

and that I must go there and settle matters with him. This will never

do, so I must move on to the mouth of the Peiho. I am only waiting for

Gros and the Admiral before I start. The Shanghae merchants presented

an address to me to-day, and as I was obliged to say something in

reply, I thought that I might as well take advantage of the

opportunity to let the Chinese (who are sure to get a translation of

my answer) know, that there is no chance of my going back to Canton. I

also endeavoured to give the British manufacturers a hint that they

must exert themselves and not trust to cannon if they intend to get a

market in China.

The views to which he here refers were expressed in his reply in the

following forcible language:--

[Sidenote: Reply to merchants' address.]

In my communication with the functionaries of the Chinese Government,

I have been guided by two simple rules of action: I have never

preferred a demand which I did not believe to be both moderate and

just, and from a demand so preferred I have never receded. These

principles dictated the policy which resulted in the capture and

occupation of Canton. The same principles will be followed by me, with

the same determination, to their results, if it should be necessary to

repeat the experiment in the vicinity of the capital of the Emperor of

China.

The expectations held out to British manufacturers at the close of the

last war between Great Britain and China, when they were told 'that a

new world was opened to their trade so 'vast that all the mills in

Lancashire could not make stocking-stuff sufficient for one of its

provinces,' have not been realised; and I am of opinion that when

force and diplomacy shall have done all that they can legitimately

effect, the work which has to be accomplished in China will be but at

its commencement.

When the barriers which prevent free access to the interior of the

country shall have been removed, the Christian civilisation of the

West will find itself face to face, not with barbarism, but with an

ancient civilisation in many respects effete and imperfect, but in

others not without claims on our sympathy and respect. In the rivalry

which will then ensue, Christian civilisation will have to win its way

among a sceptical and ingenious people, by making it manifest that a

faith which reaches to Heaven furnishes better guarantees for public

and private morality than one which does not rise above the earth.

At the same time the machina-facturing West will be in presence of a

population the most universally and laboriously manufacturing of any

on the earth. It can achieve victories in the contest in which it will

have to engage only by proving that physical knowledge and mechanical

skill, applied to the arts of production, are more than a match for

the most persevering efforts of unscientific industry.

The journal proceeds as follows, under date of the 29th of March:--

I shall be a little curious to see my next letters. The truth is, that

the whole world just now are raving mad with a passion for killing and

slaying, and it is difficult for a person in his sober senses like

myself to keep his own among them. However I shall be glad to see what

Parliament says about Canton.

[Sidenote: Baths for the million.]

[Sidenote: Malevolence towards Chinese.]

_March 30th._--Baron Gros arrived to-day. I forgot to mention that I

visited the town of Shanghae yesterday, and among other things went

into a bathing establishment, where coolies were getting steamed

rather than bathed at rather less than a penny a head, which penny

includes, moreover, a cup of tea. So that these despised Chinamen have

bathing-houses for the million. With us they are a recent invention:

they have had them, I believe, for centuries. I am told that they are

much used by the labouring class. I was struck by an instance of the

malevolence towards the Chinese, which I met with to-day. Baron Gros

told me that a boat with some unarmed French officers and seamen got

adrift at a place called the Cape of Good Hope, as he was coming up

from Hong-Kong. They found themselves off an island, on the shore of

which a crowd of armed Chinese collected. Their situation was

disagreeable enough. Next day, however, the body of the Chinese

dispersed, and a few who remained came forward in the kindest manner

offering them food, &c. They stated that they came down in arms to

defend themselves, fearing that they were pirates, but that as they

were peaceful people they were glad to serve them. I have heard the

first part of this story from two other quarters, _but the latter part

was in both cases omitted._

[Sidenote: Burial practices.]

_April 3rd._--I took another walk yesterday into the country, and saw

a kind of tower where dead children, whom the parents are too poor to

bury, are deposited. It is a kind of pigeonhouse about twenty feet

high, and the babies are dropped through the pigeon-holes. After that

I walked into a spacious building where coffins containing dead bodies

are stored, awaiting a lucky day for the burial, or for some other

reason. The coffins are so substantial and the place so well

ventilated that there was nothing at all disagreeable in it. There is

something touching in the familiarity with which the Chinese treat the

dead.

[Sidenote: Roman Catholic mission.]

_Shanghae.--Easter Sunday._--I have been at church.... In the

afternoon I walked to the Roman Catholic cathedral, which is about

three miles from the Consulate. I found a really handsome, or at any

rate spacious, building, well decorated. The priests were very civil.

They count 80,000 converts (a considerable portion, I take it,

descendants of the Christian converts made by the missionaries ages

ago) in this province. It is impossible to help contrasting their

proceedings with those of the Protestants. They come out here to pass

the whole of their lives in evangelising the heathen, never think of

home, live on the same fare and dress in the same attire as the

natives. The Protestants (generally) hardly leave the ports, where

they have excellent houses, wives, families, go home whenever self or

wife is unwell, &c. I passed an American missionary's house yesterday.

It was a great square building, situated in a garden, and at the

entrance gate there was a modest barn-like edifice, large enough to

hold about twenty sitters, which on inquiry I found to be the church.

These people have excellent situations, good salaries, so much for

every child, allowances for sickness, &c. They make hardly any

converts, but then they console themselves by saying, that the Roman

Catholics who make all these sacrifices do it from a bad motive, teach

idolatry, &c. I cannot say, but I must admit that the priests whom I

met to-day talked like very sensible men, and that the appearance of

the young Chinamen (_séminaristes_) whom I saw was most satisfactory.

They had an intelligent, cheerful look, greatly superior to that of

the Roman Catholic seminarists generally in Europe. The priests bear

testimony to their aptitude in learning, their docility and good

conduct. They have an organ in the cathedral, the pipes of which are

all made of bamboo. It seems to have an excellent tone.

[Sidenote: and college.]

_April 7th._--I went on Monday to visit a college which the priests

have about six miles off, with about seventy scholars. It appeared to

be in good order. I walked back with a priest who had been in Canada

in our time. He was talkative, and gave me a good deal of information

about the Jesuits. It came on to rain very hard as we returned, but we

found our letters from home to reward us on our arrival.... No doubt,

as you say, one cannot help sometimes regretting that one is mixed up

with so bad a business as this in China, but then in some respects it

is a great opportunity for doing good, or at least for mitigating

evil.

[Sidenote: American missionary.]

I had a visit to-day from Dr. B., who is, I believe, the most eminent

of the American missionaries in China. He began by expressing his

gratitude to me for the merciful way in which matters had been

conducted at Canton, adding that they were _bad_ people, that they

insulted foreigners. He had lived among them fifteen years, and had

never been insulted when alone. He always went about without even a

stick, and they knew that he did not wish to injure them, &c. I then

asked him whether there was not some inconsistency in what he had said

about their treatment of himself and the epithet 'bad' which he had

applied to them. He said that perhaps the word was too strong, that he

was much attached to the Chinese, but that certain classes at Canton

were no doubt very hostile to foreigners, and that the chastisement

they had received was quite necessary. I really believe that what Dr.

B. said is pretty nearly the truth of the case, and it is satisfactory

to me that the fact that I laboured to spare the people should be

known, known not only by those who approve, but by those who abhor

clemency.

From the foregoing and similar extracts, it will be seen how much interest

he took in the labours of the missionaries, and at the same time with what

breadth and calmness of view he handled a subject peculiarly liable to

exaggeration on one side or the other. During his stay at Shanghae, it was

brought before him officially in the shape of an address from the

Protestant missionaries of the port, praying him, in the first place, to

obtain a separate decree of toleration in favour of Protestantism, distinct

from that which the French had already obtained for the 'Religion of the

Lord of Heaven;' and, in the second place, to procure for them greater

liberty of travelling and preaching in all parts of China. His reply

contained words of grave warning, which have a special interest when read

by the light of recent events. After saying that 'it certainly appeared to

him to be reasonable and proper that the professors of different Christian

denominations should be placed in China on a footing of equality,' he

proceeded as follows:--

[Sidenote: Reply to address of Protestant missionaries.]

I should be wanting in candour, however, if I were not to state that,

in my opinion, the demands which you prefer involve, in some of their

details and consequences, questions of considerable nicety.

Christian nations claim for their subjects or citizens, who sojourn in

the East under heathen Governments, privileges of exterritoriality.

They are bound, therefore, when they seek to extend their rights of

residence and occupation, to take care that those exceptional

privileges be not abused, to the prejudice of the countries conceding

them.

I cannot say that I think that the Christian nations who have

established a footing in China, under the sanction of treaty

stipulations obtained by others, or in virtue of agreements made

directly by the Chinese Governments with themselves, have in all cases

duly recognised this obligation.

Unless I am greatly misinformed, many vile and reckless men, protected

by the privileges to which I have referred, and still more by the

terror which British prowess has inspired, are now infesting the

coasts of China. It may be that for the moment they are able, in too

many cases, to perpetrate the worst crimes with impunity; but they

bring discredit on the Christian name; inspire hatred of the foreigner

where no such hatred exists; and, as some recent instances prove,

teach occasionally to the natives a lesson of vengeance, which, when

once learnt, may not always be applied with discrimination.

But if the extension of the privileges of foreigners in China involves

considerations of nicety, still more delicate are the questions which

arise when it is proposed to confer by treaty on foreign Powers the

right to interfere on behalf of natives who embrace their religion. It

is most right and fitting that Chinamen espousing Christianity should

not be persecuted. It is most wrong and most prejudicial to the real

interests of the Faith that they should be tempted to put on a

hypocritical profession in order to secure thereby the advantages of

abnormal protection.

[1] Mr. Oliphant's 'Narrative' contains an interesting account of

the places which he visited in the execution of this mission.

[2] Bruce, Robert, and Frederick, his three sons.

[3] See his 'Narrative,' vol. i. c. xi.

[4] A sacred island, in the 'sea of water-lilies.'