UNIV

OF GA

THE BEGINNING OF FOREIGN COMPLICATIONS.

139

Captain Elliot's proceedings were marked by the inconsistency that springs from ignorance. The more influential English merchants, touched by the appeal to their moral sentiment, or impressed by the depravity of large classes of the Canton population, of which the practice of opium-smoking was rather the mark than the cause, set their faces against the traffic in this article, and repudiated all sympathy and participation in it. The various foreign publications, whether they received their inspiration from Mr. Gutzlaff or not matters little, differed on most points, but were agreed on this, that the trade in opium was morally indefensible, and that we were bound not only by our own interests, but in virtue of the common obligation of humanity, to cease to hold all connection with it. Those who had surrendered their stores of opium, at the request of Captain Elliot, held that their claim for compensation was valid in the first place against the English Government alone. They had given them up for the service of the country at the request of the Queen's representative, and, considering the line which Captain Elliot had taken, many believed that it would be quite impossible for the English Government to put forward any demand upon the Government of China. The two millions sterling, according to these large-hearted and unreflecting moralists, would have to be sacrificed by the people of England in the cause of humanity, to which they had already given so much, and the revenue of India should for the future be poorer by the amount that used to pay the dividend of the great Company!

The Chinese authorities could not help being en

couraged in their opinions and course of proceeding by the attitude of the English. Their most sweeping denunciations of the iniquity of the opium traffic elicited a murmur of approval from the most influential among the foreigners. No European stood up to say that their allegations as to the evil of using opium were baseless and absurd. What is more, no one thought it. Had the Chinese made sufficient use of this identity of views, and showed a desire to facilitate trade in the so-called innocent and legitimate articles, there is little doubt that the opium traffic would have been reduced to very small dimensions, because there would have been no rupture. But the action of Commissioner Lin revealed the truth that the Chinese were not to be satisfied with a single triumph. The more easily they obtained their objects in the opium matter, the more anxious did they become to impress the foreigners with a sense of their inferiority, and to force them to accept the most onerous and unjust conditions for the sake of a continuance of the trade. None the less Captain Elliot went out of his way to tie his own hands, and to bind his Government, so far as he could, to co-operate with the Emperor's officials in the suppression of the opium traffic.*

*That this is no random assertion may be judged from the following official notice issued several months after the surrender of the stores of opium. Captain Elliot announced, "Her Majesty's flag does not fly in the protection of a traffic declared illegal by the Emperor; and, therefore, whenever a vessel is suspected of having opium on board, Captain Elliot will take care that the officers of his establishment shall accompany the Chinese officers in their search, and that if, after strict investigation, opium shall be found, he will offer no objection to the seizure and confiscation of the cargo."—"Chinese Repository," vol. viii. p. 322.

CHAPTER VI.

THE FIRST FOREIGN WAR.

The Crisis arrived at Last.-No mere Demonstration will suffice. -The Chinese.-Belief in their own Power.-The English Expedition. The Queen's Speech.-Parliamentary Debates. -Rewards offered for Englishmen.-Establishment of a Blockade. The Island of Chusan.-Its Occupation.-Operations against Canton.--Fight at the Barrier Forts.-Their Destruction.-"China must either bend or break."-Direct Communication with Pekin.-Lord Palmerston's Letter.Affair at Amoy.-Taoukwang's Edict.-Blockading of Ports. -Fall of Lin.-Keshen's Representations.-The Fleet at the Peiho. Return to Canton.-Negotiations there.-Alternations of Negotiation and Violence.-Preparations to attack the Bogue Forts.-Sir Thomas Herbert.-Attack.-Capture of Forts.-Occupation of Hongkong.-Taoukwang's Policy. -Keshen's Policy.-Resumption of Hostilities.-Arrival of Sir Hugh Gough.-An Armistice.-Attack on Canton.-Capture of the Dutch Folly.-Proclamation to the Cantonese.The Fall of Keshen.-His Trial.-His Private Wealth.-Reoccupation of Foreign Factories.-Three new Commissioners. -The Emperor still Resolute.-Secret Preparations to renew Hostilities. Taoukwang's Threat.-The Growth of Hongkong. Foreigners to leave Canton.-Sudden Attack.Chinese resume the War.-Their Attack repulsed.-Landing of the Troops.-The Chinese Position on the Hills.-The Battle of Canton,-Incidents of the Fight.-Chinese Resolu

tion.-Capture of the Camp.-English Loss.-Great Storm. -The English Terms-speedily granted.-Military Objections to them.-The Indemnity.-Attempt to surprise Gough's Camp.-Incidents of the Fight.-Tremendous Hurricane. Gallantry of Madras Sepoys.-Threat to bombard Canton.-A Record of British Magnanimity.-A Truce not a Treaty. Sir Henry Pottinger.-His Career.-His Proclamation.-Capture of Amoy.-Its Position.-Considerations of its Necessity.-Military Excellence.-Garrison left at Kulangsu. The Fleet off Ningpo.-Re-occupation of Chusan.Desperate Defence.-Chinhai.-Great Defeat of Chinese.Capture of Ningpo.-The growing Importance of the Question.-Taoukwang still firm.-A Lull.-Attempt on Ningpo. -Other Attempts.-The Battle of the Segaou Hills.-The Imperial Guard.-Hangchow.-Lord Ellenborough's Advice. -Scene of War transferred to the Yangtse.-The Naval Strength of England.-The Affair of Chapoo.-Severe Fighting. Woosung.-Shanghai.-The English Reinforcements. -Chankiang-or Chinkiangfoo. The Chinese Position there. The Battle of Chinkiangfoo.-Sir Hugh Gough's Account of it.-Severe Losses.-Deaths from the Heat.The Self-immolation of the Manchus.-Advance up the Yangtse.-Arrival at Nankin.-Preparations for Attack.The End of the War.-Concluding Reflections.

THE inevitable crisis which had been long foreseen, had, therefore, arrived at last, and the English Government, forced to send an armed expedition to prevent the expulsion of its subjects, could not expect to overawe a proud and powerful empire such as China is, and was, without using the means which it had been reluctantly compelled to invoke for the occasion. The humility of the representatives of the East India Company, and the absence of that naval and military power upon which the Europeans placed implicit reliance, had encouraged the Chinese to proceed to extreme lengths in their attacks upon foreigners, and,

although there is not room to doubt the sincerity of the opposition to the opium traffic on fiscal grounds, the main object with Taoukwang and his ministers became to limit the extent of the intercourse with foreigners, if not to put a stop to it altogether. More than one cause contributed to the result, but in 1840 the question had been reduced to the simplest proportions. The Chinese did not wish the foreigners to remain even at Canton, except in the most subservient capacity. Did the English possess the power and the resolution to compel what the stronger race ever calls proper treatment, and, as it was a contest of wits as well as of armaments, would they show themselves sufficiently diplomatic to obtain from the astutest people in Asia some valid guarantee for the security of their persons and property, and for respect towards their Government, when the naval and military forces that obtained these concessions had been withdrawn? That was the question that had to be decided.

From the outset it was plain that no mere demonstration would suffice. The presence of a few men-ofwar carried no sense of terror to the hearts of the mandarins. The arrival of English soldiers, after many months' delay, seemed only to prove, from the smallness of their numbers, that the Chinese had little to fear from an invasion, and that the victory must incline to the countless myriads of the Celestial armies. Nor are these opinions to be wondered at. The Chinese have never admitted the vaunted superiority of the European. At this time they had had no experience of the advantages he possessed from better weapons,