PREFACE. THE work, commenced four years ago, of narrating the history of the Chinese Empire from the early period at which native chroniclers first begin their record down to the date when, in the full knowledge of Europe, a Chinese Ambassador signed and ratified a treaty at St. Petersburg, is now completed. It may not be a vain hope to indulge that the more important the events of the present century appear, and the wider the influence of China's foreign relations is seen to be, the greater interest will be reflected on those earlier periods when China was still a great empire, and the affairs of the outer nations troubled her not. It may be said with out fear of contradiction that many of the events of those more remote epochs were striking and important, a 2 and but for the unfamiliarity of the names many of the deeds attained the heroic. The events of the present century come under a different category. They rest on a more solid foundation of fact, but at the same time are the subject of greater controversy. I have made it my chief endeavour to give the facts from the official papers and most trustworthy sources of information, without attaching undue importance to the opinions and crotchets that have been based upon them. It is satisfactory to feel convinced, from the survey of the events of the whole period covered by the foreign disputes, that the main object with the English Government was to obtain a position of equality in China, and not to wring unfair advantages from a weaker antagonist. In conclusion, I have only to express my great personal indebtedness to General Gordon, to whose generous friendship I owe the free use of all his letters, correspondence, and official papers, which have been invaluable for the period between 1850 and 1865. At the same time let me state that no one except myself is responsible in any shape or form for the views and opinions to which expression has been given in these volumes. If what has been collected and recorded, not without difficulty and despite the other distractions of literary occupation, should contribute towards making China more interesting, then the toil and anxiety of elaborately treating a subject not yet as popular as it must one day be will have been fully recompensed. D. C. BOULGER. 28th March 1884. |