French aspirations in Tonkin--Margary receives his instructions--Work
already done on the Yang-tse--Margary is insulted at Paï-Chou--He
awaits instructions in vain at Lo-Shan--The Tung-Ting lake--A Chinese
caravanserai--The explorer leaves the river to proceed by land--He
meets a starving missionary--Kwei-Chou and the French bishop there--A
terrible road--Arrival at the capital of Yunnan--Armed escort from
Bhâmo--Meeting between Margary and Colonel Browne--Threatening attitude
of natives--Margary crosses the frontier alone--Colonel Browne's camp
surrounded--Murder of Margary outside Manwyne--Importance of Yunnan and
Szechuan to Europeans.
Whether, as has been asserted by more than one French writer, it was the
French operations in Tonkin which so roused the jealousy of the British
as to determine them at all risks to render those operations futile in
the opening of a direct route from Yunnan to Burma, or whether they were
merely pursuing their usual astute policy of making exploration precede
the flag, there is no doubt that the tragic fate of the young explorer,
Margary, whose adventurous journey deserves relation here, was fruitful
in most important political results alike to England and to France. The
French, who looked upon Tonkin as their own special key to China, had
meant to make the Song-coi, or Red River, which is its chief artery,
the outlet of the wealth of Yunnan; the English succeeded in making the
Yang-tse that outlet by the concessions they wrung from the Chinese as
part of the indemnity for the murder of their explorer.
[Sidenote: MARGARY'S INSTRUCTIONS]
It was in 1874 that Augustus Raimond Margary, an _attaché_ of the British
Embassy at Pekin, received instructions from Sir Thomas Wade, then
Minister Plenipotentiary to China, to go to Bhâmo, and there meet Colonel
Browne, who was about to start on an expedition across Western China, with
a view to open the overland route between Burma and the Celestial Empire.
Margary, who knew the natives well, and had on many occasions given proof
of his tact in dealing with them, was to act as interpreter and guide to
the English party.
Already the Yang-tse, the great river at the mouth of which Shanghai is
situated, had been opened to foreign trade as far as Hankow, that is
to say, for 600 miles, but the difficulties of communication with the
interior were still immense, so bad were the roads, and so ignorant the
people of the districts those roads traversed. What was really needed in
the interests of British trade was a continuous route partly by water
and partly by land from the port to Burma, and Margary was to test the
practicability of such a route, although the brutality of the natives to
foreigners was well known, and much of the district he had to traverse had
never before been visited by a European. Even now, as those who have read
Marcel Monnier's account of his adventures in Yunnan in the pages of the
French journal _Le Temps_ know full well, there is anything but a cordial
feeling for foreigners in Yunnan, and a quarter of a century ago the
traveller who ventured far from Hankow must have carried his life in his
hand.
[Sidenote: MARGARY IN DANGER]
Nothing daunted, however, by all he knew of the perils before him,
the gallant young explorer left Shanghai in a little American steamer
on August 24th, accompanied only by one English servant and a Chinese
secretary. Arrived at Hankow, which, now that it is to be connected
with Pekin, Russian Siberia, and Tonkin by rail, has a great future
before it as a commercial centre, the little party left the steamer and
hired boats from a native banker for the further voyage. They started
again on September 4th, and on the 6th cast anchor off Paï-Chou, a
picturesque town rising from amongst magnificent trees. This town turned
out to be extremely well built, and prosperous, and to be surrounded by
well-cultivated plantations, yielding quantities of valuable produce.
Margary and his secretary wandered about for some time, noting everything,
and at first the natives were very civil; but when the visitors approached
the quay, to which the junks of the inhabitants were moored, the crowd
became insulting, and followed the travellers to their vessel, hooting
them and dancing round them with menacing gestures. They escaped without
injury, however, and pushed on to Lu-Chi-Ku, where they saw a big
war-junk, with no less than twenty-one guns. On September 11th they reached
Lo-Shan, where a halt was made to await a reply to a telegram sent by
Margary to Sir Thomas Wade. No answer came, however, and a whole week was
wasted, during which Margary nearly lost his life in a fracas with the
natives. The heat was intense, and but for the shade of the fine mulberry
trees on the banks of the river, would have been almost insupportable.
In spite of it the Englishman spent most of his time shooting the
plentiful game, consisting chiefly of partridges and pheasants. One day
he had left his gun behind him, to go and call on a mandarin, who held
an official post at Lo-Shan. As he was being carried in a sedan-chair by
native porters, he suddenly met a gang of conscripts bound for Formosa,
who surrounded him, shouting, "Ha! Ha! here is a foreign devil--let us
do for the foreign devil!" How the "foreign devil" wished he had had his
stout club in his hand, he would quickly have dispersed the cowardly mob;
but seeing he was absolutely defenceless, the soldiers seized the ends
of the bamboo rods supporting the chair, and began shaking its occupant
about in a most unpleasant manner. With a quiet smile on his lips, but
hatred in his heart, Margary was meditating a blow with his clenched
fist in the face of the ringleader, when his servant relieved the tension
of the situation by striking one of the assailants in the chest with all
his force. The result was magical and immediate, the brave soldiers all
ran away, and the "foreign devil" arrived safely at the house of the
mandarin. Fortunately that official proved friendly, and gave his visitor
the escort of two lictors for his return on board. Back again in his own
boat, the explorer harangued the crowd, which still lingered on the bank,
in these words: "Why did you treat me so roughly? Is this your politeness
to strangers? I had heard that the Chinese were distinguished amongst
other nations for their courtesy. Is this how you show it? Shall I go and
tell my fellow-countrymen how you treat me?" This speech, in their own
language, greatly astonished the audience, who received it in silence,
and quietly withdrew, apparently quite ashamed of themselves, the older
amongst them trying to lay the blame on the younger.
[Illustration: FIG. 33.--CHINESE PEASANT CRUSHING RICE.]
[Sidenote: THE TUNG-TING LAKE]
On September 20th Margary gave up all hope of hearing from Sir Thomas
Wade, and resumed his voyage, feeling rather out of heart, no doubt, at
the silence of his chief Helped by a strong wind from the north-east, he
succeeded the same day in leaving the muddy Yang-tse, and entering the
beautiful Tung-Ting lake, of a lovely blue colour, from which the Great
River draws its chief volume. At the entrance to this lovely sheet of
water is the island of Chün-Shan, celebrated throughout the Celestial
Empire for its tea, considered the best in China, a portion of which is
set apart for the use of the Son of Heaven, or the Emperor, and for the
chief dignitaries of the province in which it is grown. The lake, lovely
as it is in appearance, is of little depth, and except for the clouds of
venomous insects which hover over it, inflicting torture on those who
venture to navigate it, there is but little life about it. A few towns of
no particular importance rise from its banks, but Margary did not land
at any of them. The natives of the shores of the lake say that the flies
which haunt the surface of the water are the winged guardians, appointed
by the Spirit of the Lake, to keep away intruders.
On the 22nd the explorer entered the river Yuen, a stream of transparent
waters, and halted for a brief time opposite the town of Nih-sin-Tang,
where, to his relief, the winged and barbed sentinels of the lake melted
away as rapidly as they had appeared.
[Illustration: FIG. 34.--A CHINESE FERRYMAN.]
The banks of the Yuen are extremely picturesque: instead of the sewers
and rugged paths which generally disfigure the banks of the water-courses
of China, the riverine districts consist of well-cultivated land, cotton
plantations alternating with beautiful meadows bordered by venerable
willows. The farms, too, are clean and well kept; men, women and children
seem to lead happy, prosperous lives, and Margary was everywhere kindly
received. At sunrise, on the 28th, the expedition arrived opposite
Tao-Yuen-Hsien, a large, prosperous, but unwalled town. This was the
first important place without fortifications which Margary had visited.
The inhabitants seemed very independent, and their chief industry was the
making of pottery; every house, of whatever size, was decorated inside
and out with tasty vases, serving as pots for the dwarf orange trees and
other stunted plants in which the Chinese take so great a delight.
Beyond Tao-Yuen-Hsien the river narrows, and flows between rocky gorges,
beyond which low conical hills, covered with sombre pines, rise one above
the other, none of them more than about 200 feet high, the effect of
which is, nevertheless, extremely fine. From the description given of
the scenery by Margary, it must greatly resemble that of Civet in the
Ardennes, immortalized by George Sand in her poetical romance, _Malgré
tout_.
[Sidenote: AN OLD FRIEND]
The province of Hunan, so rich in geological interest, and in which
such terrible convulsions must have taken place in the remote past, was
now entered, and the important town of Yuping-Hsien was soon reached,
where the drooping spirits of Margary were cheered by finding the chief
magistrate to be an old friend of his, who had formerly been interpreter
in the English legation at Pekin. The native official received his former
colleague with a salute from three guns, and, better still, wished him to
spend a few days with him at his own residence. Margary gladly accepted
the hospitality offered, donned his dress-uniform, and was carried in
state to the Yamin or house of the magistrate, where a great crowd was
assembled to witness the arrival of the foreigner.
Refreshed by his rest, the English explorer soon started again, and on
October 27th reached the important town of Chen-Yuan-Fu, at the entrance
to which is a very fine bridge of six arches, which would be considered
a work of art even in Europe. Round about the city rise rocky heights,
which give it a very picturesque appearance. Margary landed near the
bridge, for he would now have to travel by land, and accompanied by his
own servant and four men who had been told off to protect him, he made
his way to a house where he hoped to be able to spend the night. It was
not exactly a hotel, but a stopping-place where travellers could hire
sedan-chairs, coolies, and horses; in fact, all that was needed for the
further prosecution of his journey. As there are generally several such
establishments in every important place, the Chinese proprietors always
send agents down to the landing-stages to secure the custom of travellers
just as do their brethren in Europe.
[Sidenote: A RAGING MULTITUDE]
Now the messenger who had got Margary to promise to patronize his master's
house, had disappeared as soon as he had transacted the business in hand,
leaving the English traveller and his men in the lurch. It was only
with the greatest difficulty that the little party made their way to
the caravanserai chosen, through the crowds assembled to stare at them.
Arrived there, they found a clean, comfortable-looking shelter, but no
one to receive them. The next thing to do was to get the baggage of the
expedition under shelter, but to this the crowd outside objected so very
vigorously that Margary was obliged to give up the attempt. He determined,
however, to seek the aid and protection of the Hsien, or first magistrate
of the town, and to force his way to him in spite of all opposition. He
had the door of the caravanserai opened, and faced the raging multitude
outside with head erect and an air of such determined resolution, that
the easily daunted Chinese recoiled before him, and withdrawing as he
advanced, allowed him to reach the Yamin unhurt. There he found the chief
magistrate, who must have heard all the noise, for the caravanserai was
only some two hundred paces off, quietly awaiting events without moving a
finger to control them.
[Illustration: FIG. 35.--A MANDARIN'S HOUSE.]
Margary could not persuade the official to let him remain for a night's
rest in the town, but he did succeed in securing four sturdy coolies as
porters, by whom he was carried from. Chen-Yuan, where he had been so
grossly insulted, to Kwei-Yang, capital of the province of Kwei-Chou,
receiving a kind welcome everywhere _en route_.
Three days before his arrival at Yunnan, capital of the province of the
same name, as the English explorer was taking his lunch _al fresco_,
he was, to his great surprise and delight, accosted by a Frenchman, an
unfortunate missionary, who was bound for the same place, and was nearly
wild with joy at finding another European in this remote district. An
eager conversation began in Chinese, but as Margary could speak French,
the native language was soon exchanged for it. Margary tells how the
two sat down to the same "table," and were to share their meal, but
the missionary was so badly off for provisions that, in the end, the
Englishman gave him half his beefsteak, with all the bread he had. Then
he had an omelette made for his guest, and gave him a glass of spirits.
From the eagerness with which the food was consumed it was evident that
the poor fellow had been almost starving. The meal over, Margary told
his new friend of the way in which he had been insulted at Chen-Yuan,
and the Frenchman replied that most likely the magistrate had taken the
explorer for a Jesuit father, or a Lazarist, that is to say, a follower
of Saint Vincent de Paul. However it may be in the future, the people of
Central China had in Margary's time no toleration for Roman Catholic
missionaries, and there was little chance of their doing anything to
promote civilization amongst the natives. Had the magistrate looked at
the Englishman's passport when the latter first landed he would have been
very differently treated. It will be traders, not preachers of the gospel,
who will be the first to introduce European ideas. Even manufacturers
and engineers who elsewhere often achieve so much success have little
chance in China, for the people are as content with their own systems of
mechanical production and their clumsy primitive modes of working their
salt and mineral mines as they are with their religion.
[Sidenote: A FRENCH BISHOP]
At Hwei-Chow, a picturesque walled city of great importance, Margary met
an old French bishop and two of his priests who had adopted the costume
of the Chinese, and spoke their language even better than their own. The
bishop, in fact, had been so long expatriated that he had forgotten his
own tongue, and spoke that of his adopted country with his visitor. In
fact, instead of converting the natives he had become almost a native
himself, a sad fate for a once ardent missionary. He lived in a Yamin
and used a green arm-chair, a privilege accorded generally to officials
of Chinese birth only. He was even called Ta-jin, or a great man, a
title reserved, as a rule, for mandarins of the first class. Though this
assumption of native titles cannot but have been displeasing to the
literati and officials, the fact that the bishop was left unmolested is a
singular instance of tolerance; for what would be thought in Europe of a
Chinaman who should venture to adopt the uniform of a general or the robes
of a cardinal? Would not steps be taken at once to despoil him of his
borrowed plumes?
It was now three months since Margary had left Shanghai, and forty-nine
days more would be required before he could reach Bhâmo on the Irrawadi,
where he hoped to meet Colonel Browne, with whom he was to make the return
journey, if the Chinese authorities would give the necessary permission.
There seemed no reason to suppose that it would be refused, for nothing
could have been more cordial than the reception of the young Englishman in
the capital of Yunnan.
The road from Yunnan-Fow to Tali-Fow was really little more than a
goat-track, and Margary gives an amusing account of his own sufferings and
those of two mandarins who made the journey with him, as he was jolted
along amongst the crowds of carts, mules, and donkeys which blocked the
way, all alike laden with bags of salt. The Englishmen and the literati
had many a laugh together over their misfortunes, and the way he made
friends with pretty well every one he met speaks volumes for the tact of
the explorer, who deserved a better fate than that which eventually befell
him.
It was now December, and the cold was intense, but it was impossible to
procure winter clothing, and the travellers had to make the best of what
they happened to have with them. As Chen-nan was four days' journey from
Tali-Fow, the mandarins did all they could to dissuade Margary from going
further, assuring him that the people of the last-named town were very
hostile to foreigners; but the Englishman, anxious to ascertain the truth
about native feeling for Europeans from actual observation, was not to be
deterred. On the 16th December he boldly entered the city of inhospitable
reputation, and wrote in his journal: _Veni, vidi, vici!_ He was
unmolested, and weary though he was, he remained but one night to rest,
pushing on the next day for the Burmese frontier. He reached Manwyne, the
scene soon afterwards of his assassination, on January 11th, and there
found an escort of forty soldiers from Burma sent to him by Colonel Browne
to protect him from attack by the tribes of the frontier districts through
which he had now to pass. It is very probable that the sudden appearance
of all these armed men was really the cause of Margary's death. Alone,
the gallant young explorer would have conciliated the friendship of the
natives as he had so often done before, but surrounded by his guard he
naturally became an object of suspicion.
[Sidenote: MARGARY REACHES BHÂMO]
Margary did, however, succeed in reaching Bhâmo, and suspecting no danger,
he and Colonel Browne started on the return journey early in February,
reaching on the 18th of that month the last post in Burma, just beyond the
Chinese frontier. There the travellers learnt that the pass into Yunnan
was blocked by an armed band of Kakhyens, whose opposition to the re-entry
into China of the white men, if not exactly instigated was certainly
connived at by the authorities of the frontier town of Seray, and also
by those of Manwyne. Colonel Browne and Margary consulted together as to
what was best to be done, and the latter, who had just crossed Yunnan so
successfully, assured his companion that they need fear nothing; he had
only recently been kindly received at both the towns mentioned above, and
he proposed with his usual enterprising spirit that he should go on alone
to test the accuracy of the various rumours afloat, promising to send back
a messenger with news as soon as possible.
It was indeed unfortunate that the Colonel should have agreed to this
rash suggestion, and allowed his unfortunate young colleague to go to his
death. Little dreaming of the approaching tragedy, however, the two sat
over their last meal together till far into the night, discussing the
probable results of their expedition, regardless of the noise made by the
beating of gongs and playing of cymbals to be heard from the pass, and of
the fact that they could actually see the Kakhyens spying upon them from
the lofty trees overlooking their camp.
[Sidenote: MURDER OF MARGARY]
At sunrise on the 19th Margary crossed the frontier, accompanied by
his faithful secretary, the servants who had been with him since he
left Shanghai, and a few Burmese muleteers. The next day Colonel Browne
received a letter from him announcing his safe arrival at Seray, adding
that he had been well received there, and was now on his way to Manwyne.
The rest of the expedition followed in his footsteps, arriving at Seray on
the 21st. No further news was received from Margary, but Colonel Browne
was alarmed by rumours that he and his people were to be attacked, and by
the fact that the chief mandarin of the place was arming his retainers. On
the morning of the 22nd the storm burst, the Colonel's camp was surrounded
by armed men, and at the same time letters were received from some Burmans
residing at Manwyne telling of the cowardly assassination of Margary in
that town.
But for the courage and steadfastness of his Burmese escort, especially
of fifteen sepoys who formed a kind of body-guard. Colonel Browne would
have shared the fate of his young fellow-countryman, but after a fierce
struggle he succeeded in re-crossing the frontier with no worse casualties
than three men wounded.
From Bhâmo every possible effort was made to ascertain the truth about
the murder of Margary, but full details were never obtained. The most
apparently trustworthy account was that given by a Burmese, who said he
had seen the victim at Manwyne several times on the 21st, once alone and
later walking with several Chinese. According to this witness, the young
Englishman had been invited to ride out to see a spring of warm water, and
that just as he issued from the town he was suddenly dispatched with their
spears.
Thus apparently ended the attempt to open the land route between Burma and
China, but as a matter of fact the death of Margary eventually did more
for the interests of his country than the peaceful conclusion of Colonel
Browne's expedition could ever have accomplished. The English know how to
turn to account every incident, however tragic, however seemingly adverse
to their own interests, and the indemnity wrung from the reluctant Chinese
for the murder of the young Englishman included the opening of another 400
miles of the great river above Hankow, an immense step in advance towards
the realization of the long-cherished British ambition; the connection
of the Upper Yang-tze with Burma, so justly called England's land-gate
to China. It is, in fact, in the provinces of Szechuan and Yunnan that
the question of which European power is to have the supremacy in Central
China will be finally fought out, and therefore every concession won
in connection with them is alike of immense commercial and political
significance.