[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 deg., and last night it fell to 40 deg.. 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 bona 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 4,000l. 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 Pere 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 entree 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 Kiangsu. 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 (seminaristes) 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.'



CHAPTER IX.

FIRST MISSION TO CHINA. TIENTSIN.

ADVANCE TO THE PEIHO—TAKING OF THE FORTS—THE PEIHO RIVER— TIENTSIN—NEGOTIATIONS—THE TREATY—THE RIGHT OF SENDING A MINISTER TO PEKIN—RETURN SOUTHWARD—SAILS FOR JAPAN.

The establishment of the principle of direct communication with the Imperial Government at the capital had always been regarded as one of the most important objects of Lord Elgin's mission. When, therefore, in reply to his letter addressed to the Prime Minister, there came an answer from a provincial officer, he returned it at once, and wrote again to the Prime Minister, pointing out that, by refusing to correspond with him directly, the Minister had broken the existing treaty, by which it was agreed that 'Her Britannic Majesty's Chief High Officer shall correspond with the Chinese High Officers, both at the capital and in the provinces, under the term "communication;"' and announcing that he should proceed at once to the North, in order that he might place himself in more immediate communication with the High. Officers of the Imperial Government at the capital. Accordingly, he arranged with Baron Gros that they should meet in the Gulf of Pecheli, at the mouth of the Peiho, backed by their respective fleets, and with the moral support of the presence of the Russian and American Plenipotentiaries.

In carrying out these plans everything depended, in his judgment, on acting promptly; and he was therefore most desirous that the supporting force should collect at once at the appointed spot, and that it should include a considerable number of gunboats of light draught, capable of passing over the mud-banks which form a bar at the mouth of the Peiho river. In this, however, he was disappointed, and many weeks elapsed before any vigorous measures could be taken. The delay, as may be supposed, caused him much annoyance and anxiety at the time; and he especially regretted it afterwards, because it prevented him from personally visiting Pekin, as he might have done at this time under circumstances peculiarly favourable; and thus left the delicate question of access to the capital to be settled by his successor, with no such advantage.[1]

[Sidenote: Advance to the Peiho.]

H.M.S. 'Furious,' at sea.—April 11th.—Here we are, gliding through the smoothest possible sea, with a gentle wind, and this time favourable, which relieves us of all the smoke and ashes of the funnel,—an advantage for our eyes as well as conducive to our comfort. We are in the midst of the Yellow Sea, going about eight knots, dragging a gunboat astern to save her coal. This is the only gunboat I have got. I trust, both on private and public grounds, that we may succeed, because otherwise the consummation might be put off for a year, or at least till the autumn, and God knows what might happen in the interval. The Russian Plenipotentiary, with his own small vessel—dragging behind him, however, a junk well laden with coals and provisions—sailed the day before me. I followed on the 10th (yesterday). The French and American are to follow. It is amusing to see how we play our parts. Putiatine and I are always together, visiting every port, looking into everything with our own eyes. Our colleagues, with their big ships, arrive sooner or later at the great places of rendezvous.

[Sidenote: Aground.]

April 13th, Nine P.M.—We had an adventure this afternoon. I was on the paddle-box bridge watching, as we passed between the town of Tung- Chow Foo (a long wall, as it seemed, stretching for about four miles, with a temple at the nearest end) and the island of Meantau, when I felt a shock,—and, behold! we were aground. Our gunboat, which we towed, not being able to check its speed at a moment's notice, ran foul of us, and we both suffered a little in the scuffle. We got off in about two hours. On the whole, I am rather glad that we have a gunboat with us, for if anything serious did happen, it would be rather awkward, under existing circumstances, to be cast on the coast of China. It is as well to have two strings to one's bow.

April 14th.—This morning it was thick and pretty rough. It is now (4 P.M.) very bright and comparatively smooth. We have seen no land to-day, nor, indeed, anything but sea and a few junks. Shall we meet any vessels at the rendezvous? A few hours will tell.

[Sidenote: The rendezvous.]

April 15th.—We saw, at about 5 P.M. yesterday, Russian at anchor, and went towards her, but were afterwards obliged to remove to some distance, as we had not water enough where she is. While we were going to our berth, the 'Pique' came in sight. So here we are—'Pique' 'Furious' and 'Slaney' (gunboat), in an open sea, land not even risible. Captain Osborn started off this morning, in the gunboat, to sound and find out what chance we have of getting over the bar at the mouth of the Peiho. Putiatine came on board this morning. He has sent to the shore a note announcing his arrival. I am not disposed to do anything of the kind. The best plan, as it appears to me, is to move steadily up the river as soon as we can get ever the bar, and let the Chinese stop us if they dare. Putiatine says that he will follow me, if I pass without any resistance being offered, but that he must not go first, as his Government forbids him to provoke hostilities. This division of labour suits me very well.

April 19th.—I have nothing to write about. You may imagine what it is to be at anchor in this gulf with nothing to do.... If I had had my gunboats, I might have been up the Peiho ere this. I might perhaps have brought the Emperor to his senses.... Meanwhile Reed is arrived. Gros is last, but he is bringing his Admiral and force with him.

April 21st.—Gros arrived last evening. He is very well disposed, and ready to act with me. The French Admiral may be expected any day. We are going to make a communication to Pekin to invite a Plenipotentiary to meet us here, as we cannot go up to Tientsin.

About a week afterwards the bar was crossed; but it was not until three more weeks had passed that the forts at the mouth of the river were taken, in order to secure the passage of the Envoys up to Tientsin.

[Sidenote: Taking of the forts.]

May 21st.—I have spent during the last three weeks the worst time I have passed since 1849, and really I have not been capable of writing. The forts were taken yesterday. The Chinese had had several weeks to prepare, and their moral was greatly raised by our hesitations and delays. The poor fellows even stood at their guns and fired away pretty steadily. But as they hardly ever hit, it is of very little consequence how much they fire. As soon as our men landed they abandoned the forts and ran off in all directions. We have hardly had any loss, I believe; but the French, who blundered a good deal with their gunboats, and then contrived to get blown up by setting fire to a powder magazine, have suffered pretty severely. I fancy that we have got almost all the artillery which the Chinese Empire possesses in this quarter.... This affair of yesterday, in a strategical point of view was a much more creditable affair than the taking of Canton. Our gunboats and men appear to have done well, and though they were opposed to poor troops, still they were troops, and not crowds of women and children, who were the victims of the bombardment at Canton.

May 22nd.—Would that you had been a true prophet! Yet there is something of inspiration in your writing on the 1st of March: 'I was fancying you even now, perhaps, ascending the Peiho with a train of gunboats!'

May 23rd.—These wretched Chinese are for the most part unarmed. When they are armed, they have no notion of directing their firearms. They are timorous, and without either tactics or discipline. I will venture to say that twenty-four determined men, with revolvers and a sufficient number of cartridges, might walk through China from one end to another.

May 25th.—No news since I began this letter, except a vague report that the Admirals are moving up the river slowly, meeting with no resistance, rather a friendly reception, from the people. I am surprised that we have not yet heard anything from Pekin. I hope the Emperor will not fly to Tartary, because that would be a new perplexity. I am not quite in such bad spirits as last week, because at least now there is some chance of our getting this miserable war finished, and thus of my obtaining my liberty again.... We ought to have a mail from England any day.... Changes of Government have this inconvenience, that of course the new-comers cannot possibly take time to read over previous correspondence, so that they must be but partially informed on many points,... but no doubt at this distance it is practically impossible for Government to give instructions, and all the responsibility must rest on the agent on the spot. At this moment, when I am moving up to Pekin, I am receiving the despatches of the Government commenting upon the Canton proceedings, and asking me: What do you intend to do next?

May 27th.—I have been pacing the deck looking at the dancing waves sparkling under a bright full moon. It is the third time, I think, that I have seen it since I have been in this gulf. I had a message last night late from the Admiral, stating that he is within two miles of Tientsin! I sent Frederick up that he might see what is going on, and let me know when I ought to advance. I had also a communication from the Chinese Plenipotentiaries, but it was not of much importance. I do not think that these poor, timorous people have any notion of resisting. I only trust that they may make up their minds to concede what is requisite at once, and enable us all to have done with it.

May 28th.—The last news from Canton shows that the kind of panic which had been, in my opinion most needlessly, got up, is subsiding, and the General has sent up a few men—for which I ought to thank him, as he had only been asked whether he could supply any if wanted.

May 29th.—I have a short despatch from the new Government, giving me latitude to do anything I choose if I will only finish the affair. Meanwhile Frederick writes from Tientsin to recommend me to proceed thither, and I intend to be off this afternoon. There appears to be on the part of the Chinese no attempt at resistance, but on the other hand no movement to treat. This passivity is, of course, our danger, and it is one which slowness on our part tends to increase. However, we must hope for the best.

[Sidenote: On the Peiho.] [Sidenote: Tientsin.]

Yamun, Tientsin.—May 30th.—Only look at my date, does it not astonish you? I hardly yet realise to myself where I am. I started at about 4.30 P.M. yesterday from the 'Furious,' crossed the bar, at the forts at the entrance of the river, picked up Gros and the French mission, whose vessel could not get on, and moved on to this place. The night was lovely—a moon nearly full. The banks, perfectly flat and treeless at first, became fringed with mud villages, silent as the grave, and trees standing like spectres over the stream. There we went ceaselessly on through this silvery silence, panting and breathing flame. Through the night-watches, when no Chinaman moves, when the junks cast anchor, we laboured on, cutting ruthlessly and recklessly through the waters of that glancing and startled river, which, until within the last few weeks, no stranger keel had ever furrowed! Whose work are we engaged in, when we burst thus with hideous violence and brutal energy into these darkest and most mysterious recesses of the traditions of the past? I wish I could answer that question in a manner satisfactory to myself. At the same time, there is certainly not much to regret in the old civilisation which we are thus scattering to the winds. A dense population, timorous and pauperised, such would seem to be its chief product. I passed most of the night on deck, and at about 4 A.M. we reached a point in the centre of the suburb of Tientsin, at which the Great Canal joins the Tientsin or Peiho river. There I found the Admirals, Frederick, &c. Frederick had got this yamun for us, half of which I have had to give to my French colleague. It consists of a number of detached rooms, scattered about a garden. I have installed myself in the joss-house, my bedroom being on one side, and my sitting-room on the other, of the idol's altar. We have a letter informing us that the Emperor has named two great Officers of State to come here and treat, and our Admirals are in very good humour, so that matters look well for the present.

June 1st.—I found my joss-house so gloomy and low, that I have returned to my first quarter in the garden, on a mound overlooking the river. It consists, of a single room, part of which is screened off by a curtain for a bedroom. It is hot during the day, but nothing much to complain of. I took a walk yesterday. The country is quite flat, cultivated in wheat, millet, &c. Instead of the footpaths of the southern parts of China, there are roads for carriages, and wheeled carts dragged by mules in tandem going along them. I have not been in the town, but some of the party were there this morning, and one had his pocket picked, which is a proof of civilisation. They say it is a poor place, the people stupid-looking and curious, but not as yet unfriendly.

June 4th.—I am to have an interview with the Chinese Plenipotentiaries to-day. I devoutly hope it may lead to a speedy and satisfactory pacific settlement; but I am sending to Hong-Kong for troops, in order to be prepared for all eventualities. In sum, my policy has resulted in this:—I have complete military command of the capital of China, without having broken off relations with the neutral Powers, and without having interrupted, for a single day, our trade at the different ports of the empire.

[Sidenote: Negotiations.]

Tientsin.—June 5th—After sending off your letter yesterday, I went to have my first official interview with the Chinese Plenipotentiaries. I made up my mind, disgusting as the part is to me, to act the role of the 'uncontrollably fierce barbarian,' as we are designated in some of the confidential reports to the Chinese Government which have come into our hands. These stupid people, though they cannot resist, and hardly even make a serious attempt to do so, never yield anything except under the influence of fear; and it is necessary therefore to make them feel that one is in earnest, and that they have nothing for it but to give way. Accordingly I got a guard of 150 marines and the band of the 'Calcutta,' and set off with all my suite in chairs, tambour battant for the place of rendezvous. It was about two-and-a-half miles off, and the heat of the sun very great. The road carried us through several narrow streets of the suburb, then across a plain, till we reached a temple at which the Plenipotentiaries were awaiting us. A dense crowd of Chinese men—I saw not one woman—lined the route. Curiosity chiefly was depicted on their countenances; some looked frightened; but I observed no symptoms of ill-will. At the entrance of the temple were two blind musicians, playing something like squeaking bagpipes. This was the Chinese band. We marched in with all our force, which drew up in a sort of court before an open verandah, where refreshments were set out, and the dignitaries awaited us. I was received by the Imperial Commissioner, and conducted to a seat at a small table covered with little plates of sweetmeats, &c. One of the Chinese Plenipotentiaries sat on either side of me. It was a very pretty scene, and the place was decorated in very good taste with flowers, &c. As my neighbours showed no disposition to talk, I began by asking after their health and that of the Emperor. They then said that they had received the Emperor's orders to come down to treat of our affairs. I answered, that although I was much grieved by the neglect of the Prime Minister to answer the letters I had addressed to him, yet as they had on their cards stated that they had 'full powers,' I had consented to have this interview in order that we might compare our powers, and see whether we could treat together. I told them that I had brought mine, and I at once exhibited them, giving them a translation of the documents. They said they had not powers of the same kind, but a decree of the Emperor appointing them, and they brought out a letter which was wrapped up in a sheet of yellow paper. The chief Plenipotentiary rose and raised the paper reverentially over his head before unfolding it. I thought the terms of this document rather ambiguous, besides which I was desirous to produce a certain effect; so when it had been translated to me, I said that I was not sufficiently satisfied with it to be able to say on the spot whether I could treat with them or not; that I would, if they pleased, take a copy of it and consider the matter; but that I would not enter upon business with them at present. So saying I rose, moved to the front of the stage, and ordered the escort to move and the chairs to be brought. This put the poor people into a terrible fluster. They made great efforts to induce me to sit down again, but I acted the part of the 'uncontrollably fierce' to perfection, and set off for my abode. I had hardly reached it when I received two cards from my poor mandarins, thanking me for having gone so far to meet them, &c.

June 12th.—I have gone through a good deal since we parted. Certainly I have seen more to disgust me with my fellow-countrymen than I saw during the whole course of my previous life, since I have found them in the East among populations too timid to resist and too ignorant to complain. I have an instinct in me which loves righteousness and hates iniquity, and all this keeps me in a perpetual boil.

[Sidenote: Treaty signed.]

June 29th.—I have not written for some days, but they have been busy ones.... We went on fighting and bullying, and getting the poor Commissioners to concede one point after another, till Friday the 25th, when we had reason to believe all was settled, and that the signature was to take place on the following day.... On Friday afternoon, however, Baron Gros came to me with a message from the Russian and American Ministers, to induce me to recede from two of my demands—1. A resident minister at Pekin; and, 2. Permission to our people to trade in the interior of China; because, as they said, the Chinese Plenipotentiaries had told them that they had received a decree from the Emperor, stating that they should infallibly lose their heads if they gave way on these points.... The resident minister at Pekin I consider far the most important matter gained by the Treaty; the power to trade in the interior hardly less so.... I had at stake not only these important points in my treaty, for which I had fought so hard, but I know not what behind. For the Chinese are such fools, that it was impossible to tell, if we gave way on one point, whether they would not raise difficulties on every other. I sent for the Admiral; gave him a hint that there was a great opportunity for England; that all the Powers were deserting me on a point which they had all, in their original applications to Pekin, demanded, and which they all intended to claim if I got it; that therefore we had it in our power to claim our place of priority in the East, by obtaining this when others would not insist on it? Would he back me?... This was the forenoon of Saturday, 26th. The Treaty was to be signed in the evening. I may mention, as a proof of the state of people's minds, that Admiral Seymour told me that the French Admiral had urged him to dine with him, assuring him that no Treaty would be signed that day! Well, I sent Frederick to the Imperial Commissioners, to tell them that I was indignant beyond all expression at their having attempted to communicate with me through third parties; that I was ready to sign at once the Treaty as it stood; but that, if they delayed or retracted, I should consider negotiations at an end, go to Pekin, and demand a great deal more, &c.... Frederick executed this most difficult task admirably, and at 6 P.M. I signed the Treaty of Tientsin.... I am now anxiously waiting some communication from Pekin. Till the Emperor accepts the Treaty, I shall hardly feel safe. Please God he may ratify without delay! I am sure that I express the wish just as much in the interest of China as in ours. Though I have been forced to act almost brutally, I am China's friend in all this.