THE CAPTURE OF CANTON.
1857.
On the 8th October, 1856, a party of Chinese, in charge of an officer,
boarded the lorcha or junk Arrow, in the Canton river, tore down the
flag, and carried away the Chinese crew.
Now, the Arrow had not long before been registered as a British vessel,
and, moreover, the outrage was carried out in defiance, not only of the
master of the ship, but also of the British consul, to whom appeal was
first made. In either case, the reply was the same--that the vessel was
not British, but Chinese.
The fact is that for a long time past British influence in China had
been on the decline. The incident of the Arrow constituted its first
outward expression. Now, the Chinese Imperial Commissioner in Canton
at this time was a man called Yeh. To this man a complaint was at once
made, and, at the same time, Mr. Parkes, the British consul, thought
fit to inform Sir John Browning and Commodore Elliot, the political and
naval authorities respectively, of the occurrence.
Several days passed in futile negotiations, so that by the 23rd of the
month the matter passed out of the hands of the civil authorities,
owing to the repeated refusals of the Chinese Commissioner to order
any redress. Admiral Seymour took action on that day (the 23rd), and
seized the principal forts of Canton, holding them without any attempt
at opposition, Still the Chinese preserved silence, but on the 25th an
attack was made upon the British Consulate. This was repelled without
much trouble, but other more serious conflicts were to follow.
In the opinion of the British administrative authorities in China,
it was at this juncture deemed expedient to make the occasion one in
which to require the fulfilment of long-evaded treaty obligations, and
accordingly further demands were made upon Yeh, though the preliminary
cause of dispute was still far from being settled.
The method of retort was as might have been expected--a silent
celestial contempt of the barbarian demands, so the next move of the
British entailed the bombardment of Yeh’s official residence. Yeh now
offered a reward of thirty dollars for the head of every Englishman,
and matters at length grew serious.
A course of reprisals now ensued on both sides, and individual murders
were not infrequent, but early in January an attempt was made to poison
the whole British community in Hong-Kong, where, as in Canton, and
indeed the whole of China, the name of Britisher was one to be spoken
with contempt and loathing.
With such a state of affairs, and no decisive action on the part of
our authorities, small wonder that British prestige suffered severely
throughout China. Our influence at the Court of Pekin became nil, and
it was feared that further inaction would have a prejudicial effect
upon our influence in India, where rumours of the approaching mutiny
were beginning to make themselves heard. Accordingly, in the spring of
1857, our Government despatched to China, not only an expeditionary
force of some 5000 men, but also a Special High Commissioner and
Ambassador to the Court of Pekin, in the person of the able Earl
of Elgin. Though due to arrive in Hong-Kong in May, Lord Elgin did
not finally take up his duties there until the 20th September, for,
on reaching Singapore in May, it was found that the mutiny in the
north-west provinces in India was turning out to be far more serious
than was at first anticipated. How serious indeed that mutiny finally
became, is well known to every Britisher to-day, but Lord Elgin was one
of the few men to foresee its extent even then. With a promptitude and
energy meriting the highest praise, he diverted the whole of his China
force to the seat of war, and he himself, only calling for a day or two
at Hong-Kong, accompanied the naval brigade to Calcutta.
But it is with China, and not India, that we are at present concerned,
and, as before intimated, the 20th September found Lord Elgin back
again at Hong-Kong, awaiting reinforcements from Britain in place of
those troops which he had taken on to India. The reduction of the
city of Canton was the first object at which he aimed. With that city
as a hostage, he deemed it possible to make terms at Pekin and restore
British prestige.
Till the 28th October inaction prevailed, owing to lack of troops, but
on that date the Imperador arrived, bringing the first batch of marines
for the expedition. Early in November the American minister, the
Russian, German, and French envoys were all at Hong-Kong in view of the
general anti-foreign agitations of the Chinese. By the 10th December
preparations were complete, and French and British allied presented
their ultimatum to Yeh. Meantime the island of Hainan was occupied by
the allied troops without resistance.
Yeh’s reply to the message of Britain and France was of a truly
celestial wittiness. He totally denied the existence of the main
grievance, that of the hostility of the Cantonese to foreigners,
slurred over the affairs of Canton itself, and finally recommended Lord
Elgin to “adopt the policy pursued by Sir George Bonham, which might,
as in his case, procure him the Order of the Bath”! The occupation of
the island of Hainan, however, he strongly resented.
On the 17th December, Lord Elgin embarked upon the Furious, the
Audacieuse being the flagship of the French admiral, and the allied
fleets assembled at Blenheim beach, below Canton. Germany and the
United States resolved to join the allied Powers.
Writing from before Canton at this stage, Mr. George Wingrove Cook,
the “Times” correspondent, says:--“We must hope, in the interests of
humanity, that when the allotted interval has expired, Yeh will yield.
He has at his gates the representatives of the four great nations of
the earth, ... and they are all equally determined to tolerate no more
this foolish Chinese pageant.”
In the interests of humanity also, time was granted to as many
inhabitants of Canton to escape as might care to avail themselves of
the advantage. The floating population--a literal and not a figurative
phrase, availed themselves largely of the interval, and house after
house detached itself from what a moment before appeared to be solid
ground, and slipped off down the river out of the way of the allied
guns. Half a million are said to have fled at this time. Twenty-three
British ships of war, sloops, gunboats and the like were at this time
before Canton, whilst the French fleet numbered nine. The combined
armament was over 500 guns. Our total attacking land force numbered
some 7000 men.
Christmas Day passed uneventfully, the interval being occupied by the
various naval and military preparations, and up to the last moment it
was expected that Yeh would yield; but dawn on the 28th saw the last
hope gone.
Just as the day was breaking, the hoisting of a white ensign to the
main of the Actæon gave the signal to open fire, and, with no crashing
broadside, but steadily, one by one, the iron mouths belched forth
their rain of shot and shell upon the doomed city. For twenty-seven
hours without intermission the guns of the allies poured their iron
hail upon Canton, and the bombardment disclosed many strange traits of
Chinese character, particularly the celestial impassivity.
“These strange Chinese actually seem to be getting used to it,” wrote
Mr. Cook in one of his letters to the “Times.” “Sampans and even cargo
boats are moving down the river like London lightermen in the ordinary
exercise of their calling; people are coming down to the bank to
watch the shot and shell fly over their heads. Many curious instances
occurred, and strange sights were to be seen. A 12-pounder rocket fell
short, and was burning on the ground, when a Chinaman attacked it with
a flail as though it had been a living thing. Of course it burst at
last, and blew the poor fellow to pieces. In a room opening upon the
river a family were taking their evening meal within 200 yards of the
Phlegethon, which was keeping up a constant discharge of shells, which
passed within a few yards of their heads. The light was so strong that
the interior of the room was visible in all its details--the inmates
were all eating their rice as though nothing particular was happening
outside.... All day long the sampans were proceeding from ship to ship,
and selling fruit and vegetables to the sailors who were bombarding
their city. Who can pretend to understand such a people as this?”
Who, indeed? But the Chinese nature has a darker side, as we shall see
later.
At times during the bombardment troops were disembarked for
reconnaissance, and the general plan of the assault arranged, and after
a brief exchange of musketry the East Fort was captured in this way,
and shortly afterwards blown up.
As antagonists the Chinese were not found to be particularly
formidable. They were in overwhelming number, it is true, and imbued
with treachery, but while from a distance they would fire their
gingals, so soon as our men approached to close quarters, they would
throw down their arms and run.
During the first hours of bombardment, the movements of our troops
on land took the form principally of reconnaissance, and the grand
assault was reserved for the morning of Tuesday, 29th. The city by
night, as seen from the ships, presented a wild and dazzling sight. The
inflammable houses caught here and there, and at times the whole place
seemed enveloped by a ring of flame, while the native brigades could
be seen rushing hither and thither in wild effort to quell the flames
which everywhere opposed them.
At daybreak the general bombardment ceased, and from three divisions
of the allied troops the attack commenced, British troops forming the
right and centre, the French taking the left. The extreme right was
composed of our naval brigade. Some stiff fighting was anticipated
before the city wall could be gained, and then, by the aid of scaling
ladders, our men were to pour themselves into the city and carry by
assault its main fortifications of Magazine Hill and Gough’s Fort and a
barn-like building called the Five-Storied Pagoda.
Now the attack commences. Sharp comes the order to advance at the
double, and into the dense brushwood and tree-covered space that lies
between them and the wall of Canton plunge fearlessly the troops of
France and Britain.
Stubborn was the resistance of the Chinese. Dropping back from tree to
tree, and firing from dense cover, practised troops might have delayed
their enemy’s advance indefinitely, but, strange to say, few men were
killed at this point of the attack. Indeed, the loss of the allies at
the storming of Canton was extraordinarily insignificant, considering
the huge number of their armed assailants.
On and on pressed our men, firing incessantly at the top of the high
wall now appearing in front of them, and thronged with Chinese and
Tartar soldiers, and all the while on the watch for any Chinese face
which might show itself for an instant in the brushwood, or amongst the
stunted hillocks. Here a man would throw up his shoulders with a short
cough, struck through the lungs by a bullet from a Chinese gingal,
aimed from who knew where; there a man would drop with a groan with
shattered ankle or with wounded thigh. Instantly the bearers of the
medical corps would fearlessly dash to his side, stretcher in hand,
tenderly raise their wounded comrade, and, with swinging steps, remove
him to the ships, where was the floating hospital.
Many gallant deeds were done by British and by French alike, but the
coolie corps came in for the special commendation of Mr. Cook.
“They carried the ammunition on the day of the assault, close up to the
rear of our columns, and when a cannon-shot took off the head of one of
them, the others only cried, ’Ey yaw!’ and laughed, and worked away as
merrily as ever.”
At length, however, the wall is gained, and to the last the Chinese
man the top and pour down a fire upon the party advancing with the
scaling ladders. When at length it seems that we are not to be driven
back by any force opposed, the hordes of Chinese and Tartar soldiers,
leaping down inside the city, fled to conceal themselves behind the
neighbouring houses to keep up a musket fire from there.
Major Luard is the first to gain the wall. Snatching the foremost
ladder from its bearers, the gallant Major scrambles up, closely
followed by a Frenchman. A moment passes, and our men are swarming up
in dozens, firing down upon the Chinese in the city, and rushing along
the wall towards the right, where the Five-Storied Pagoda awaits them
with sullen fire.
The fighting at the Pagoda is short and sharp. Quick as thought the
bayonets are out, and ere a few moments pass the Chinese and Tartar
defenders are fleeing for their lives, with all the Chinaman’s
abhorrence of “barbarian” cold steel. The next to fall is Gough’s Fort,
where similar scenes are enacted, and, shortly after midday, the main
defences of the city of Canton are in the hands of the allies.
The total casualties had been slight--some 15 British and 2 Frenchmen
killed; while the Chinese dead have been estimated at 200. But the
capture of Canton may be said to be quite unlike the capture of any
other city. The main defences, it is true, had fallen, but no formal
surrender had occurred, and so for many days conflicts between victors
and vanquished were of frequent occurrence.
“People ask,” says the “Times” report, “not what we are going to do
next, but what the Chinese are going to do. These curious, stolid,
imperturbable people seem determined simply to ignore our presence, and
wait till we are pleased to go away. Yeh lives much as usual. He cut
off 400 Chinese heads the other morning, and stuck them up in the south
of the city.”
A strange picture this, of a conquered city. The Governor, whom one
would naturally expect to be busied with making formal submission and
arranging terms of surrender, going about his business as usual, and
carrying on administration in his old barbaric way.
Very slowly and laboriously did the allies effect some semblance of
order in Canton, and in a few days the precise casualty list came to
hand. The number of killed was as we previously stated, while the
wounded totalled some 81 British and 32 French. Among the killed was
gallant Captain Bate. At one stage of the attack upon the city wall it
was found necessary to send someone forward to reconnoitre the ditch
and ascertain the best position for the placing of a scaling ladder.
This duty involved the crossing of a small vegetable patch which lay
in front of our fellows, and which was exposed to a perfect hail of
hostile bullets. At once Captain Bate of the Actæon volunteered for
the dangerous mission, Captain Mann of the Engineers accompanying him.
Quick as thought they dashed across the deadly patch of garden and
reached the other side in safety, where they stood for a moment looking
down into the ditch. A sigh of relief went up from our officers and
men as they beheld the mission half accomplished, when suddenly Bate
was seen to throw up his hands and fall headlong. A Chinese bullet had
found a billet in his brave heart. He never spoke nor stirred when, a
few moments later, his body was recovered.
This and many another tale of deeds bravely done was told during the
succeeding days, when the allies sought to restore some show of law and
order in the city of Canton.
Mr. Cook’s tale of a scene round the camp-fire of some of our naval
brigade is too good to be missed, bearing in mind the strictness of law
against looting. Says Mr. Cook:--
“Never was an army kept under stricter discipline. The eccentricities
of the British sailor are kept under strict repression by the
provost-marshal, and if a man is found ten yards in front of the
outposts he is incontinently flogged, unless he happens to be a
Frenchman. Yet somehow pig is very abundant.
‘Where did you loot that pig, Jack?’
‘Loot, sir? We never loots; there’s an order against looting, and it’s
pretty strict, as we knows.’
‘But how do you get all these pigs?’
‘Why, d’ye see, we lights our fires o’ nights, and I think the pigs
must all come to the light, and the sentries must take ’em for Chinamen
and fire at ’em, for we generally finds two or three with their throats
cut in the morning.’
This was all the explanation I could get,” adds Mr. Cook, with an
undoubted chuckle.
New Year’s Day, 1858, now arrived, was held as a gala day by the
victorious army. A formal procession of the Ambassadors was held to
Magazine Hill, to officially “take possession of the city,” while the
ships in the harbour were decked from stem to stern with bunting. A
royal salute at intervals frightened many Cantonese into the belief
that the bombardment was recommencing.
Thus the days passed, interspersed with military duties and the
erection of huts upon the city walls for the occupation of the
soldiers. Probably in spite of the strictness of the anti-looting
orders some “curio collecting” was indulged in by our men, and that not
always with the willing consent of the Chinese. Any way, many strange
silks and furs and even jewelled ornaments found their way into the
baggage of this man and the haversack of that.
At length, on the 5th January, the capture of the great Yeh himself
was determined upon, and, once mooted, the project was carried out
with secrecy, alacrity, and success. For not only did Yeh himself
become a prisoner of the allies on that day, but with him the
lieutenant-governor of Canton and the Tartar general. The Treasury,
52 boxes of dollars, and many other rich spoils fell into our hands
upon the same auspicious occasion. Early on the morning of the 5th,
several bodies of British troops shouldered their way through the city,
each upon its separate mission. That under Colonel Holloway proceeded
straight to the palace of Peh-kwei, the acting governor of Canton,
and little resistance was met with as they burst open the doors and
searched room after room for the person of the acting-governor himself.
Eventually the old gentleman was discovered at breakfast, and promptly,
and without bloodshed, he was placed under arrest.
A truly Chinese interview passed between the old man and his captors.
Asked for his keys and seals of office, he regretted exceedingly that
that particular morning, of all others in the year, he should have
mislaid them! He promised to make search for them, and once more
expressed his regrets. Such shilly-shallying was too much for Colonel
Holloway, and a whispered consultation followed. A few moments passed,
and presently in marched a stout sergeant-major with an axe, which he
brandished about in an ominous and terrifying manner! Like magic the
missing keys were found, and the governor was removed to the British
headquarters!
The scene at the capture of the Treasury was similarly typical of the
peculiarities of the Chinese. Almost without resistance the place was
taken possession of, the bayonet proving invaluable as a persuasive
power, and the search for the city’s treasury commenced.
Taking into account the fact that for six days no guard had been
mounted to hinder the Chinese from removing their treasures, it was
anticipated that little money would be found. Quite the reverse,
however, proved to be the case. Fifty-two boxes of silver dollars,
sixty-eight packets of solid ingots, and a whole room full of copper
cash were recovered, while furs and silks and other loot was left
untouched. The officer in command of the company, Captain Parke,
pressed the Chinese coolies who had assembled outside in their hundreds
into the work of removing the treasures of their own city to the
British camp, and soon all was safely stored and under guard.
Meanwhile, in another part of the city, the French had succeeded in
laying hands upon the Tartar general, who was found almost alone in a
deserted palace, and elsewhere the hunt for Yeh was being vigorously
pushed forward.
Mr. Parkes and Captain Key, receiving information that the Imperial
Commissioner was in hiding in a library not far from the Tartar
general’s palace, proceeded thither with all haste, only to find one
old man in possession of the place. After much interrogation and a
mild threat or two, this individual was induced to lead the searchers
to the house of the Tartar lieutenant-general. Here the doors were
burst in by a party of a hundred bluejackets, and a room-to-room search
commenced.
After a few moments an old man in a mandarin’s cap and coat threw
himself before the party of British officers, and protested wildly
that he was Yeh, of whom they were in search, but so vigorous was
his self-identification that it was promptly suspected that he
was an impostor. He was therefore retained in custody while the
search continued. He turned out subsequently to be the Tartar
lieutenant-general himself, and was placed under arrest. A few moments
later, Captain Key, hearing a sound as of persons escaping by the
back of the house, hurried in that direction, and was just in time to
perceive a mandarin of huge stature hastening along a narrow passage.
Suspecting this person to be the Imperial Commissioner himself, Captain
Key, without further ceremony, threw his arms round the neck of the
fugitive, and proclaimed him prisoner.
It was indeed Yeh himself, very eager to escape, but without the
slightest idea of defending himself or otherwise securing his desired
purpose. Many papers were captured in the house, amongst them both
incriminating and amusing documents.
Says Mr. Oliphant, Lord Elgin’s secretary:--“I reached Magazine
Hill (where the headquarters were established) shortly after the
prisoners arrived there. Yeh, seated in a large room, and surrounded
by some of his immediate attendants, was answering in a loud, harsh
voice questions put to him by Sir Michael Seymour with reference to
Englishmen who had been prisoners in his hands. Though he endeavoured,
by the assumption of a careless and insolent manner to conceal
his alarm, his glance was troubled, and his fingers trembled with
suppressed agitation!”
He had heavy sensual features, this mighty mandarin, whose power was
such that he had caused to be beheaded no fewer than 70,000 of his
countrymen during his two years of office in Canton. But though Yeh
may have been in some state of perturbation while interrogated by our
high officials, he yet retained sufficient self-possession to display
great insolence. In the matter of the British prisoners he was unable,
he said, to recall exactly what had become of them, but, after all, it
was an unimportant matter! Mr. Parkes, one of only two really competent
Chinese linguists, acted as interpreter.
It was soon decided that little information could be got from Yeh, and
it was determined to keep him prisoner on board the Inflexible, whither
he was at once conveyed, under a strong guard. A few days later the
Governor Peh-kwei was formally restored to his office as administrator
of Pekin, with the assistance of an allied council of three, composed
of Colonel Holloway, Captain Martineau, and Mr. Parkes.
Lord Elgin, Baron Gros, and other plenipotentiaries were present at his
installation, which was conducted with much pomp and ceremony. In the
course of an address, Lord Elgin pointed out the firm resolve of the
allied Governments to retain military occupation of the city until such
time as all questions pending between these Governments and the Emperor
of China should be satisfactorily settled. In the meantime it was
intended that the Governor, with the newly-appointed Council, should be
responsible for the preservation of order in Canton.
Thus for some days matters remained, while negotiations with Pekin
proceeded. The time was spent in perfecting, so far as possible,
the affairs of the city of Canton, meting out a rough justice, and
in visiting the prisoners, where indescribable horrors and past
brutalities upon the unhappy prisoners were brought to light by
our Commissioners. Most of the poor wretches found surviving were
liberated, and a more liberal and humane policy urged upon the Chinese
Government.
About this time America and Russia joined with France and Britain in
the agreement to insist upon the proper recognition and treatment of
foreigners throughout the Chinese empire. The main terms insisted
upon by the allies at Pekin were the appointment of a high Chinese
official to confer with Europeans upon matters concerning them, such as
a free transit throughout China under proper protection from Chinese
authority; permanent diplomatic relations at Pekin; unrestricted
commerce, and indemnity for losses and expenses incurred.
On the satisfactory adjustment of these matters the international
blockade of the port of Canton was raised on the 10th February, and
in about three weeks time Lord Elgin and Baron Gros proceeded north.
The treaty of Tientsin was signed on June 26, 1858, and for a time
comparative quiet prevailed in China. The British colony at Canton was
re-established, and Yeh, the late Imperial Commissioner, degraded from
his office, was deported by the British to India.