Imatges de pàgina
PDF
EPUB
[blocks in formation]

quarter lent irresistible force to his arguments, this minister was for a time disgraced and deprived of his office.*

The reply of the English commanders to Elepoo's letter had been clear and to the point. They reciprocated the desire of the Chinese officer for the cessation of hostilities; but Her Majesty's Plenipotentiary could only treat with some high official directly empowered by the Emperor to conclude a treaty. Had Elepoo received that authority? If he had not, it was impossible to discuss affairs with him, or to suspend the progress of the expedition. And at that moment he had not the requisite authority, so the English forces proceeded, as we have seen, up the Yangtsekiang, fought the battle of Chinkiangfoo, and appeared in due course beneath the walls of Nankin,† before the happy moment arrived for

* The closing paragraph of Elepoo's letter to Sir Hugh Gough deserves quotation :-"Our two Empires have now for three years been at war; the soldiers and people who have been killed are innumerable, and the misery entailed is unspeakable and grievous to recount. It is therefore requisite, in accordance with the Celestial rule, to feel regret at those evils, and to put down the war; but if one proves disobedient to the dictates of Heaven it is to be feared that Heaven will visit us with punishment, and who will be able to endure this? Your honourable country has hitherto laid strong stress upon commerce, and considered war as nefarious, with the hope of putting a stop to the misery of war, and enjoying the advantages of an open market. Now if this takes place, the people of your honourable country may all return home and enjoy their property, and the men of our own nation could also every one of them go back to their families and gain a livelihood, enjoying the blessings of peace. Is not this far better than to fight for successive years and fill the land with the bodies of the slain!" This letter was written about the first of June.—(Translated by Gutzlaff) "Chinese Repository," vol. xii. p. 345.

† It will be appropriate at this point to give a brief description of Nankin, for a time the capital of China under the Ming dynasty, and which as Kiangning (see ante, vol. i. p. 157) was the chief town of some of the smaller dynasties of the fourth and fifth centuries. The walls, originally erected by Hungwoo, exceeded thirty miles, but the city never 'grew to the extent of its walls. The Tartar city again was walled off from the rest of the town, but the vast extent of the place rendered it practically incapable of defence. Much of the city was in ruins—a fact which induced Sir John Davis to compare it to Rome. There are some fine streets, with good shops and well-paved roads. The principal architectural remains are the Tombs of the Mings and the Porcelain Tower. Dr. Wells Williams describes the former as follows in his

the realization of the pacific wishes to which Elepoo had given expression three months earlier. The next point in the process of conciliation was reached when, immediately after the capture of Chinkiang, the mandarin who had been employed as an intermediary on the previous occasion, arrived in the English camp as the bearer of a despatch signed by Keying and Elepoo, as accredited representatives of Taoukwang, and the direct consequence of this step was that, although the English fleet and army were moved up to Nankin, no further hostilities occurred. In the interests of both sides it was only necessary to give the Chinese no reason to believe that the English could be put off by any deviation from the terms of peace as originally presented; and this end was thoroughly attained by the military demonstrations made outside the city of Nankin while the Commissioners on both sides were employed in the act of negotiating and almost of signing a treaty of peace.

The great minister Keying, who, as the Emperor's maternal uncle, had sometimes enjoyed an ascendency in the Imperial Council, had been ordered, in the month of March, when warlike views were supreme at Taoukwang's Court, to Canton, where he was to assume the command of the Manchu troops, but the greater danger in which the province of Chekiang was placed had led to his immediate transfer to that quarter.

"Middle Kingdom":"Several guardian statues are situated not far from the walls. These statues form an avenue leading up to the sepulchre where the Emperor Hungwoo was buried about 1398. They consist of gigantic figures, like warriors cased in armour, standing on either side of the road, across which, at intervals, large stone tablets are extended, supported by great blocks of stone instead of pillars. Situated at some distance are a number of rude colossal figures of horses, elephants, and other animals, all intended to represent the guardians of the mighty dead." The celebrated Porcelain Tower, which was at this period in a perfect state, was destroyed at a later period by the Taeping rebels. It was built by the Ming Emperor Yunglo in the fifteenth century, and took nineteen years to build. The tower was made of bricks of fine porcelain, and the ornamentation was extremely brilliant. The population of Nankin was about one million, but it suffered greatly under the Taepings, and is only now beginning to regain the ground it had lost. General (Chinese) Gordon considered that this is the natural and safest capital for the Chinese Empire.

TERMS OF PEACE.

137

In March, therefore, he proceeded, not to Canton, but to Hangchow, where he was to put everything in a proper state of defence, and to leave nothing undone for the vigorous continuance of the war; and the disgraced official, Elepoo, was so far forgiven that he was handed over to Keying, probably at his request, as a lieutenant. At first their instructions were simply to make a stout defence, but the gravity of the situation was soon brought home to them by the capture of Chapoo. Then it was that they resolved to conclude an arrangement with the English, and to justify their claims to the title of High Commissioners, to which they had just been raised, by bringing a disastrous war to a conclusion.

In response to the first pacific expressions of Elepoo, Sir Henry Pottinger had felt bound to make a clear exposition of the wants and requirements of the English Government; and accordingly, after the capture of Woosung, he drew up in Chinese a proclamation for the information of the people of the country. In this document the equality of all nations. as members of the same human family was pointed out, and the right to hold friendly intercourse insisted upon as matter of duty and common obligation. "England coming from the utmost west has held intercourse with China in this utmost east for more than two centuries past, and during this time the English have suffered ill-treatment from the Chinese officers, who, regarding themselves as powerful and us as weak, have thus dared to commit injustice." Then followed a list of the many acts of high-handed authority which had marked the term of office of Commissioner Lin, and from which the record of his successors had not been free. The Chinese, plainly speaking, had sought to maintain their rights. of exclusiveness and to live outside the comity of nations, and they had not the power to attain their wish; therefore they were now compelled to listen to the terms dictated by the English Plenipotentiary at the end of a victorious campaign, and not merely to listen, but to accept.

And those terms were as follows: The Emperor was first of all to appoint a high officer with full powers to negotiate and conclude arrangements on his own responsibility, when

hostilities would be suspended. The three principal points on which these negotiations would be based were compensation for losses and expenses, a friendly and becoming intercourse on terms of equality between officers of the two countries, and the cession of insular territory for commerce and for the residence of merchants, and as a security and guarantee against the future renewal of offensive acts. The first step towards the acceptance of these terms was taken when an Imperial Commission was formed of the three members, Keying, Elepoo, and Niu Kien, Viceroy of the Two Kiang. Yihshan retained the rank and name of Principal Commissioner, but he remained at Canton and took no part in the peace arrangements on the Yangtsekiang.

Niu Kien, the junior member of the Commission, made the first definite statement in reply to Sir Henry Pottinger's public notification. On the 29th of July a messenger arrived at the English camp outside Chinkiang with a highly important and not less conciliatory letter from the Governor of the Two Kiang. The letter was important in more than one sense. It held out to a certain extent a hand of friendship, but it also sought to assign an origin to the conflict; and Niu Kien could find no more convenient object on which to cast the odium of the war than opium. There was also the admission that "as the central nation had enjoyed peace for a long time, the Chinese were not prepared for attacking and fighting, which has led to this accumulation of insult and disgrace." The letter concluded with the expression in general terms of a desire for a prompt adjustment of the difficulty. The arrangement of the details for the necessary interviews was left in Niu Kien's hands, owing to Elepoo's absence, and a temple on the bank of the river was denoted as a suitable place for the meeting between the diplomatists of the two countries. In a later communication on the 14th of August Niu Kien wrote that he was fully aware that foreigners residing at Canton had been exposed to "insults and extortions for a series of years," and that the High Commissioners would take steps to ensure that "in future the people of your honourable nation might carry on their commerce to advantage, and not receive injury thereby."

NO HOPE OF VICTORY.

139

This letter showed a great concession of principle on the part of the Chinese rulers, and made it evident that negotiations could at last be commenced on a fair basis and with good prospect of attaining a satisfactory result.

On the 12th of August both Keying and Elepoo had arrived at Nankin, and during the following week several meetings were held between subordinate officials for the purpose of arranging preliminaries, and also with the view of allowing time for a reply to be received from Taoukwang to a memorial drawn up and presented by the Commissioners, stating the demands of the English, and also the advisability, and even the absolute necessity, of complying with them. This important document was of considerable length, and entered into the details of the matters in dispute; and although a Chinese minister was bound in addressing his sovereign to eliminate the harsh language most suitable to the actual position of affairs, the facts were stated plainly enough, and no one supposed that the Emperor had any other choice in the matter than to yield with as good a grace and as promptly as he might. Keying and his colleagues put the two alternatives with great cogency. Which will be the heavier calamity, they said in brief, to pay the English the sum of money they demand (21,000,000 dollars), large as it is, or that they should continue those military manœuvres which seemed irresistible, and from which China had already so grievously suffered? Even if the war were continued, the evil day could only be put off. The army expenses would be very great, the indemnity would be increased in amount, and after all there would be only "the name of fighting without the hope of victory."

Similar arguments were used as to the wisdom of compliance with the demands for the surrender of Hongkong, and of the right to trade with five of the principal ports. The English demanded a great deal more than they had any right to expect, but as they were the masters of the situation, what was the use of arguing the matter with them? Moreover, there was some solace to be gathered in the midst of affliction from the fact that the English were willing to pay duties on their commerce, which would in course of time

« AnteriorContinua »