-
Articles/Ads
Article Literature. ← Page 2 of 4 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Literature.
demands involved the right for all foreign representatives of free access to the authorities and city of Canton . Hitherto the point at issue had been one simply of principle , and turned upon the right of the Chinese government to seine a lorcha under certain conditions . It is just possible that even this stubborn functionary may have had his doubts on the subject , and been disposed to purchase peace and quietness at the price of so immaterial a concession . But noiv any momentary weakness , if it ever existedwas passed for everA question of policy had been
, . grave raised—an old and much vexed one , in the successful battling of which his predecessors had covered themselves with glory . Moreover , this sudden change of issue rouses the whole suspicious nature of the Chinaman , and he draws an inference somewhat discreditable to us , but not to be wondered at , which he thus expresses in a proclamation issued to the Cantonese : —
\\ hereas the English barbarians have commenced disturbances on a false pretence , their real object being admission into the city ; the Governor-General , referring to the unanimous expression of objection to this measure on the part of the entire population of Canton in 1849 , has flatly refused to concede this , and is determined not to grant thenrequest , let them carry their feats and machinations to what length they will . ' . Thereupon Yeh intrenches himself behind a triple mail of mandarinic pride and obstinacy , and retreats into the innermost recesses of his official dignity , from which we dug him out some fourteen months after . "
There was also a considerable want of skill exhibited in following up the pusillanimous attempts that the British authorities had made to intimidate Commissioner Teh , and in return our representative had only met with scorn , insult , and annoyance , so that when Lord El gin appeared , the balance of the negotiations ivere unmistakably in favour of the Celestials , and Mr . Oliphaut says : —
" From this condensed account , some idea may be formed of the stage which war and diplomacy had reached in the south of China at the beginning of February , 1857 , But little change had taken place in either up to the time of our arrival there , about four months afterwards . The diplomacy remained in abeyance ; the war was apparently being kept up upon very much the same principles on which it had been begun . The Chinese continued to kidnap , assassinate , seize steamers , and annoy us in sundry cunningly devised methods . We continued to hunt them down in creeksburn where
, villages outrages had been committed , and otherwise pay them out to the best of our ability—not , it must be confessed , in a manner calculated to increase their terror for our arms , or their respect for our civilization . Witli the exception of the affair in the Fatslian Creek , no fighting of any consequence , occurred . " It is not difficult to perceive how , under these circumstances , everv month that passed by inspired Yeh with fresh confidence in his own resources , and , inasmuch as we never made a move in advance , with increased for
contempt ours , Never before since the abolition of the old monopoly had Englishman made so poor a figure in the eyes of thc Chinese populace . If one went into a curiosity shop at Hong Kong , he was the object of the quiet irony of the sleek vendor of cawed ivory behind the counter , who informed him that his choice collection was at Canton , and asked , ' Why you no can como to my shop Canton ? alio same for tim ; my gotchie too mucheo olo handset' culio that side . ' The very urchins in the street considered Briton fit subject for
a a ' chaff . ' while their respectable parents took a mercenary view of his head . Hong Kong was neither a safe nor agreeable abode in those days . "It was too late then to consider whether the Arrow had , iu the first instance , been British or Chinese , or whether the claim for redress made eight months previously was just or unjust ; nor did it seem to avail now to discuss the wisdom of the policy which had superadded a second and infinitely more obnoxious demand , just at the period when it seemed most hopeless that ive should obtain even the first . "
Mr . Oli phaut tells us that not only had the British authorities at Hong Kong prepared difficulties for Lord El gin , but they seriously thwarted his plans afterwards . His object was to go to the north at once , by the river Peiho , to ' ' make his way ivith a sufficient force to the gate of Pekin itself , and then sign a treaty whicli should bring him into thc immediate presence of the Emperor . This , however , could not be done without a respectable force
of troops and gun vessels of shallow draft , and these mi ght have been supplied but for the want of energy and skill of those ivho held tho direction of affairs at Canton and Hong Kong , These delays of the gunboats left a very sore feeling in his lordshi p's suite , and having waited for weeks at the mouth of thc reiho , daily expecting thc arrival of the promised gunboats , none came , so : —
"There was therefore no alternative but to await patiently the arrival o £ the admirals , and a larger force—a necessity which ultimately compelled Lord Elgin to abandon entirely his original policy . It had been his hope , when lie proceeded from Shanghai to the north , that at or auoufc the time of his arrival in the Gulf of Pechelee , a force , especially "i gunboats drawing little water , would be collected there , sufficiently ; U'ge to enable him to approach tho capital at once , and to conclude a . wv' - ! _ sueh a P cliod of tlle year as would have admitted of his « S . ) dl 1 before the hot season . -1 this plan hacl beeu carried out , not only would many of the
inconveniences I shall have to detail been avoided , but the difficult question of direct intercourse with the Emperor would have been solved , at a moment when there were unusual facilities for settling it satisfactorily . Unfortunately this hope was not realized . Iu order to employ the time ivhich elapsed before the arrival of the gunboats , it was necessary to spend five weeks iu temporizing at the mouth of the Peiho , during which time the Chinese authorities not unnaturally strengthened their defences , and sent orders to the Braves in the nei ghbourhood of Canton to harass us in our occupation of the city . "
But after a time the English and French admirals arrived , and the work was to be carried on with vigour . Orders were given to force the passage of the river , but at the last moment the plan was postponed , the boats being actually maimed and ready to start when the delay arose . " Thus a second time the policy which Lord Elgin had determined to carry out iu his movement to the north sustained a check . On the first
occasion , in consequence of the absence of gunboats to support him on his arrival in the gulf , he hacl been compelled to invite a Chinese Plenipotentiary to meet him at the mouth of the Peiho , instead of proceeding to some point nearer to the capital—a change of plan which was very injurious , because the mouth of the Peiho was the scene ofthe abortive negotiations of Sir John Bowring , iii 1854 ; and now again , when the Chinese plenipotentaries had failed to produce their credentials within a fixed period , he was thwarted in his desire to foil their attempts at
evasion , by a rapid and immediate move up the country . The consequence of these delays were serious in the extreme . In a military point of view they are graphically described in the Admiralty's despatch of the 21 st May , upon the occasion of the taking of the forts three weeks afterwards . ( From the arrival of the ambassadors ou the 14 th of April , ' says his excellency , ' the Chinese have used eveiy exertion to strengthen the forts at the entrance to the Peiho ; earthworks , sandbag batteries , and parapets for the heavy gingallshave been erected on both sides for a
, distance of nearly a mile in length , upon which eighty-seven guns iu position were . visible ; and the whole shore had been piled to oppose a landing . ' Politically , they were even more disastrous , because , by obliging Lord Elgin to protract , at the mouth of the Peiho , negotiations which ho clearly saw could lead to no good result , they gave to his proceedings a vascillating character , whicli was calculated to strengthen the self confidence of the Chinese diplomatists . "
At last , after three weeks of inaction , dining which time the forts had been strengthened , and the fleet of grain-junks—ivhich Lord Elgin was anxious to intercept—had passed up to Pekin , the naval authorities were ready to force an entrance , ivhich was accomplished with such facility that , the contrast forms a rather strange satire on the attempt so much spoken of , and so signally defeated in the preceding year .
Mr . Oliphaut graphically describes the storming of the forts— . the advance up the river to Tientsin—the five weeks residence there—the course of the negotiations , and the character of the Chinese agents . One of the most curious features of the negotiation was the double play that went on among the Chinese themselves . Two men of the hi ghest rank appeared as plenipotentiaries , and with
them business ivas transacted . But in the course of proceedings another great man appeared on the scene , with a mission and separate powers for Pekin , auomawus in form , and apparently intended to neutralise , in some way or other , any concessions made by the regular plenipotentiaries . This j'ersoiiage ivas one with whom English negotiators ivere familiar , the famous Keying , then at the very extremity of old age . He was to represent the war policy , while the other commissioners were for peace . Keying
had formerly , while treating with Sir IL Pottinger , produced a very favourable impression on tbe English ; but among the many curious papers found in Yob ' s " yamun" at the storming of Canton , was a memorial from Keying , setting forth the most approved way of dealing with the outer barbarians , and showing him to have been no mean proficient in the cunning of diplomacy . He sets forth in it the different expedients he had adopted for " riding and
reining barbarian envoys , " and the means bj' ivhich they were to he "tethered , comforted , ancl pacified , like an animal that is wild ; " the rules to be observed in respect to barbarian dinners and barbarian wives ; the necessity of neglecting forms , which might be of importance to China , for substantial advantages , and of remembering that stiffness in these matters , without " cleaving the dulness" of the barbarian intellect , might only occasion
" rising of the tongue and blistering of the lips . " "In some instances a direction must be given them , hut without explanation of the reason why ; in some , their restlessness can be onl y neutralised b y demonstrations ivhich dissolve their suspicions ; in some , they have to be p leased by concession of intercourse on a footing of equality ; in some , before a result can be brought about , their falsity has to be blinked , nor must an estimate of their faults he pressed too far . " This paper , which is quoted at length by-Mr . Oliphaut—and a very characteristic paper it is—did not make
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Literature.
demands involved the right for all foreign representatives of free access to the authorities and city of Canton . Hitherto the point at issue had been one simply of principle , and turned upon the right of the Chinese government to seine a lorcha under certain conditions . It is just possible that even this stubborn functionary may have had his doubts on the subject , and been disposed to purchase peace and quietness at the price of so immaterial a concession . But noiv any momentary weakness , if it ever existedwas passed for everA question of policy had been
, . grave raised—an old and much vexed one , in the successful battling of which his predecessors had covered themselves with glory . Moreover , this sudden change of issue rouses the whole suspicious nature of the Chinaman , and he draws an inference somewhat discreditable to us , but not to be wondered at , which he thus expresses in a proclamation issued to the Cantonese : —
\\ hereas the English barbarians have commenced disturbances on a false pretence , their real object being admission into the city ; the Governor-General , referring to the unanimous expression of objection to this measure on the part of the entire population of Canton in 1849 , has flatly refused to concede this , and is determined not to grant thenrequest , let them carry their feats and machinations to what length they will . ' . Thereupon Yeh intrenches himself behind a triple mail of mandarinic pride and obstinacy , and retreats into the innermost recesses of his official dignity , from which we dug him out some fourteen months after . "
There was also a considerable want of skill exhibited in following up the pusillanimous attempts that the British authorities had made to intimidate Commissioner Teh , and in return our representative had only met with scorn , insult , and annoyance , so that when Lord El gin appeared , the balance of the negotiations ivere unmistakably in favour of the Celestials , and Mr . Oliphaut says : —
" From this condensed account , some idea may be formed of the stage which war and diplomacy had reached in the south of China at the beginning of February , 1857 , But little change had taken place in either up to the time of our arrival there , about four months afterwards . The diplomacy remained in abeyance ; the war was apparently being kept up upon very much the same principles on which it had been begun . The Chinese continued to kidnap , assassinate , seize steamers , and annoy us in sundry cunningly devised methods . We continued to hunt them down in creeksburn where
, villages outrages had been committed , and otherwise pay them out to the best of our ability—not , it must be confessed , in a manner calculated to increase their terror for our arms , or their respect for our civilization . Witli the exception of the affair in the Fatslian Creek , no fighting of any consequence , occurred . " It is not difficult to perceive how , under these circumstances , everv month that passed by inspired Yeh with fresh confidence in his own resources , and , inasmuch as we never made a move in advance , with increased for
contempt ours , Never before since the abolition of the old monopoly had Englishman made so poor a figure in the eyes of thc Chinese populace . If one went into a curiosity shop at Hong Kong , he was the object of the quiet irony of the sleek vendor of cawed ivory behind the counter , who informed him that his choice collection was at Canton , and asked , ' Why you no can como to my shop Canton ? alio same for tim ; my gotchie too mucheo olo handset' culio that side . ' The very urchins in the street considered Briton fit subject for
a a ' chaff . ' while their respectable parents took a mercenary view of his head . Hong Kong was neither a safe nor agreeable abode in those days . "It was too late then to consider whether the Arrow had , iu the first instance , been British or Chinese , or whether the claim for redress made eight months previously was just or unjust ; nor did it seem to avail now to discuss the wisdom of the policy which had superadded a second and infinitely more obnoxious demand , just at the period when it seemed most hopeless that ive should obtain even the first . "
Mr . Oli phaut tells us that not only had the British authorities at Hong Kong prepared difficulties for Lord El gin , but they seriously thwarted his plans afterwards . His object was to go to the north at once , by the river Peiho , to ' ' make his way ivith a sufficient force to the gate of Pekin itself , and then sign a treaty whicli should bring him into thc immediate presence of the Emperor . This , however , could not be done without a respectable force
of troops and gun vessels of shallow draft , and these mi ght have been supplied but for the want of energy and skill of those ivho held tho direction of affairs at Canton and Hong Kong , These delays of the gunboats left a very sore feeling in his lordshi p's suite , and having waited for weeks at the mouth of thc reiho , daily expecting thc arrival of the promised gunboats , none came , so : —
"There was therefore no alternative but to await patiently the arrival o £ the admirals , and a larger force—a necessity which ultimately compelled Lord Elgin to abandon entirely his original policy . It had been his hope , when lie proceeded from Shanghai to the north , that at or auoufc the time of his arrival in the Gulf of Pechelee , a force , especially "i gunboats drawing little water , would be collected there , sufficiently ; U'ge to enable him to approach tho capital at once , and to conclude a . wv' - ! _ sueh a P cliod of tlle year as would have admitted of his « S . ) dl 1 before the hot season . -1 this plan hacl beeu carried out , not only would many of the
inconveniences I shall have to detail been avoided , but the difficult question of direct intercourse with the Emperor would have been solved , at a moment when there were unusual facilities for settling it satisfactorily . Unfortunately this hope was not realized . Iu order to employ the time ivhich elapsed before the arrival of the gunboats , it was necessary to spend five weeks iu temporizing at the mouth of the Peiho , during which time the Chinese authorities not unnaturally strengthened their defences , and sent orders to the Braves in the nei ghbourhood of Canton to harass us in our occupation of the city . "
But after a time the English and French admirals arrived , and the work was to be carried on with vigour . Orders were given to force the passage of the river , but at the last moment the plan was postponed , the boats being actually maimed and ready to start when the delay arose . " Thus a second time the policy which Lord Elgin had determined to carry out iu his movement to the north sustained a check . On the first
occasion , in consequence of the absence of gunboats to support him on his arrival in the gulf , he hacl been compelled to invite a Chinese Plenipotentiary to meet him at the mouth of the Peiho , instead of proceeding to some point nearer to the capital—a change of plan which was very injurious , because the mouth of the Peiho was the scene ofthe abortive negotiations of Sir John Bowring , iii 1854 ; and now again , when the Chinese plenipotentaries had failed to produce their credentials within a fixed period , he was thwarted in his desire to foil their attempts at
evasion , by a rapid and immediate move up the country . The consequence of these delays were serious in the extreme . In a military point of view they are graphically described in the Admiralty's despatch of the 21 st May , upon the occasion of the taking of the forts three weeks afterwards . ( From the arrival of the ambassadors ou the 14 th of April , ' says his excellency , ' the Chinese have used eveiy exertion to strengthen the forts at the entrance to the Peiho ; earthworks , sandbag batteries , and parapets for the heavy gingallshave been erected on both sides for a
, distance of nearly a mile in length , upon which eighty-seven guns iu position were . visible ; and the whole shore had been piled to oppose a landing . ' Politically , they were even more disastrous , because , by obliging Lord Elgin to protract , at the mouth of the Peiho , negotiations which ho clearly saw could lead to no good result , they gave to his proceedings a vascillating character , whicli was calculated to strengthen the self confidence of the Chinese diplomatists . "
At last , after three weeks of inaction , dining which time the forts had been strengthened , and the fleet of grain-junks—ivhich Lord Elgin was anxious to intercept—had passed up to Pekin , the naval authorities were ready to force an entrance , ivhich was accomplished with such facility that , the contrast forms a rather strange satire on the attempt so much spoken of , and so signally defeated in the preceding year .
Mr . Oliphaut graphically describes the storming of the forts— . the advance up the river to Tientsin—the five weeks residence there—the course of the negotiations , and the character of the Chinese agents . One of the most curious features of the negotiation was the double play that went on among the Chinese themselves . Two men of the hi ghest rank appeared as plenipotentiaries , and with
them business ivas transacted . But in the course of proceedings another great man appeared on the scene , with a mission and separate powers for Pekin , auomawus in form , and apparently intended to neutralise , in some way or other , any concessions made by the regular plenipotentiaries . This j'ersoiiage ivas one with whom English negotiators ivere familiar , the famous Keying , then at the very extremity of old age . He was to represent the war policy , while the other commissioners were for peace . Keying
had formerly , while treating with Sir IL Pottinger , produced a very favourable impression on tbe English ; but among the many curious papers found in Yob ' s " yamun" at the storming of Canton , was a memorial from Keying , setting forth the most approved way of dealing with the outer barbarians , and showing him to have been no mean proficient in the cunning of diplomacy . He sets forth in it the different expedients he had adopted for " riding and
reining barbarian envoys , " and the means bj' ivhich they were to he "tethered , comforted , ancl pacified , like an animal that is wild ; " the rules to be observed in respect to barbarian dinners and barbarian wives ; the necessity of neglecting forms , which might be of importance to China , for substantial advantages , and of remembering that stiffness in these matters , without " cleaving the dulness" of the barbarian intellect , might only occasion
" rising of the tongue and blistering of the lips . " "In some instances a direction must be given them , hut without explanation of the reason why ; in some , their restlessness can be onl y neutralised b y demonstrations ivhich dissolve their suspicions ; in some , they have to be p leased by concession of intercourse on a footing of equality ; in some , before a result can be brought about , their falsity has to be blinked , nor must an estimate of their faults he pressed too far . " This paper , which is quoted at length by-Mr . Oliphaut—and a very characteristic paper it is—did not make