Chapter I: Preface

Having been consulted by the family and friends of the late Lord Elgin as to the best mode of giving to the world some record of his life, and having thus contracted a certain responsibility in the work now laid before the public, I have considered it my duty to prefix a few words by way of Preface to the following pages.

On Lord Elgin's death it was thought that a career intimately connected with so many critical points in the history of the British Empire, and containing in itself so much of intrinsic interest, ought not to be left without an enduring memorial. The need of this was the more felt because Lord Elgin was prevented, by the peculiar circumstances of his public course, from enjoying the familiar recognition to which he would else have been entitled amongst his contemporaries in England. 'For' (if I may use the words which I have employed on a former occasion) 'it is one of the sad consequences of a statesman's life spent like his in the constant service of his country on arduous foreign missions, that in his own land, in his own circle, almost in his own home, his place is occupied by others, his very face is forgotten; he can maintain no permanent ties with those who rule the opinion, or obtain the mastery, of the day; he has identified himself with no existing party; he has made himself felt in none of those domestic and personal struggles which, attract the attention and fix the interest of the many who contribute in large measure to form the public opinion of the time. For twenty years the few intervals of Lord Elgin's residence in these islands were to be counted not by years, but by months; and the majority of those who might be reckoned amongst his friends and acquaintances, remembered him chiefly as the eager and accomplished Oxford student at Christ Church or at Merton.'

The materials for supplying this blank were, in some respects, abundant. Besides the official despatches and other communications which had passed between himself and the Home Government during his successive absences in Jamaica, Canada, China, and India, he had in the two latter positions kept up a constant correspondence, almost of the nature of a journal, with Lady Elgin, which combines with his reflections on public events the expression of his more personal feelings, and thus reveals not only his own genial and affectionate nature, but also indicates something of that singularly poetic and philosophic turn of mind, that union of grace and power, which, had his course lain in the more tranquil walks of life, would have achieved no mean place amongst English thinkers and writers.

These materials his family, at my suggestion, committed to my friend Mr. Theodore Walrond, whose sound judgment, comprehensive views, and official experience are known to many besides myself, and who seemed not less fitted to act as interpreter to the public at large of such a life and character, because, not having been personally acquainted with Lord Elgin, or connected with any of the public transactions recorded in the following pages, he was able to speak with the sobriety of calm appreciation, rather than the warmth of personal attachment. In this spirit he kindly undertook, in the intervals of constant public occupations, to select from the vast mass of materials placed at his disposal such extracts as most vividly brought out the main features of Lord Elgin's career, adding such illustrations as could be gleaned from private or published documents or from the remembrance of friends. If the work has unavoidably been delayed beyond the expected term, yet it is hoped that the interest in those great colonial dependencies for which Lord Elgin laboured, has not diminished with the lapse of years. It is believed also that there is no time when it will not be good for his countrymen to have brought before them those statesmanlike gifts which accomplished the successful accommodation of a more varied series of novel and entangled situations than has, perhaps, fallen to the lot of any other public man within our own memory. Especially might be named that rare quality of a strong overruling sense of the justice due from man to man, from nation to nation; that 'combination of speculative and practical ability' (so wrote one who had deep experience of his mind) 'which peculiarly fitted him to solve the problem how the subject races of a civilised empire are to be governed;' that firm, courageous, and far-sighted confidence in the triumph of those liberal and constitutional principles (in the best sense of the word), which, having secured the greatness of England, were, in his judgment, also applicable, under other forms, to the difficult circumstances of new countries and diverse times.

'It is a singular coincidence,' said Lord Elgin, in a speech at Benares a few months before his end, 'that three successive Governors-General of India should have stood towards each other in the relationship of contemporary friends. Lord Dalhousie, when named to the government of India, was the youngest man who had ever been appointed to a situation of such high responsibility and trust. Lord Canning was in the prime of life; and I, if I am not already on the decline, am nearer to the verge of it than either of my contemporaries who have preceded me. When I was leaving England for India, Lord Ellenborough, who is now, alas! the only surviving ex-Governor-General, said to me, '"You are not a very old man; but, depend upon it, you will find yourself by far the oldest man in India."' To that mournful catalogue was added his own name within the brief space of one year; and now a fourth, not indeed bound to the others by ties of personal or political friendship, but like in energetic discharge of his duties and in the prime of usefulness in which he was cut off, has fallen by a fate yet more untimely.

These tragical incidents invest the high office to which such precious lives have been sacrificed with a new and solemn interest. There is something especially pathetic when the gallant vessel, as it were, goes down within very sight of the harbour, with all its accumulated treasures. But no losses more appeal at the moment to the heart of the country, no careers deserve to be more carefully enshrined in its grateful remembrance.

ARTHUR P. STANLEY.

_Deanery, Westminster: March 4,1872._

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

EARLY YEARS.

Birth and Parentage--School and College--Taste for Philosophy--Training for Public Life--M.P. for Southampton--Speech on the Address--Appointed Governor of Jamaica.

CHAPTER II.

JAMAICA.

Shipwreck--Death of Lady Elgin--Position of a Governor in a West Indian Colony such as Jamaica--State of Public Opinion in the Island--Questions of Finance, Education, Agriculture, the Labouring Classes, Religion, the Church--Harmonising Influences of British Connexion--Resignation --Appointment to Canada.

CHAPTER III.

CANADA.

State of the Colony--First Impressions--Provincial Politics--'Responsible Government'--Irish Immigrants--Upper Canada--Change of Ministry--French Habitans--The French Question--The Irish--The British--Discontents; their Causes and Remedies--Navigation Laws--Retrospect--Speech on Education.

CHAPTER IV.

CANADA.

Discontent--Rebellion Losses Bill--Opposition to it--Neutrality of the Governor--Riots at Montreal--Firmness of the Governor--Approval of Home Government--Fresh Riots--Removal of Seat of Government from Montreal --Forbearance of Lord Elgin--Retrospect.

CHAPTER V.

CANADA.

Annexation Movement--Remedial Measures--Repeal of the Navigation Laws --Reciprocity with the United States--History of the Two Measures--Duty of Supporting Authority--Views on Colonial Government--Colonial Interests the Sport of Home Parties--No Separation!--Self-Government not necessarily Republican--Value of the Monarchical Principle--Defences of the Colony.

CHAPTER VI.

CANADA.

The 'Clergy Reserves'--History of the Question--Mixed Motives of the Movement--Feeling in the Province--In Upper Canada--In Lower Canada--Among Roman Catholics--In the Church--Secularisation--Questions of Emigration, Labour, Land-tenure, Education, Native Tribes--Relations with the United States--Mutual Courtesies--Farewell to Canada--At Home.

CHAPTER VII.

FIRST MISSION TO CHINA--PRELIMINARIES.

Origin of the Mission--Appointment of Lord Elgin--Malta--Egypt--Ceylon --News of the Indian Mutiny--Penang--Singapore--Diversion of Troops to India--On Board the 'Shannon'--Hong-Kong--Change of Plans--Calcutta and Lord Canning--Return to China--Perplexities--Caprices of Climate--Arrival of Baron Gros--Preparation for Action.

CHAPTER VIII.

FIRST MISSION TO CHINA--CANTON.

Improved Prospects--Advance on Canton--Bombardment and Capture--Joint Tribunal--Maintenance of Order--Canton Prisons--Move Northward--Swatow --Mr. Burns--Foochow--Ningpo--Chusan--Potou--Shanghae--Missionaries.

CHAPTER IX.

FIRST MISSION TO CHINA--TIENTSIN.

Advance to the Peiho--Taking of the Forts--The Peiho River--Tientsin --Negotiations--The Treaty--The Eight of Sending a Minister to Pekin --Return southward--Sails for Japan.

CHAPTER X.

FIRST MISSION TO CHINA--JAPAN.

Embark for Japan--Coast Views--Simoda--Off Yeddo--Yeddo--Conferences--A Country Ride--Peace and Plenty--Feudal System--A Temple--A Juggler --Signing the Treaty--Its Terms--Retrospect.

CHAPTER XI.

FIRST MISSION TO CHINA--THE YANGTZE KIANG.

Delays--Subterfuges defeated by Firmness--Revised Tariff--Opium Trade--Up the Yangtze Kiang--Silver Island--Nankin--Rebel Warfare--The Hen-Barrier --Unknown Waters--Difficult Navigation--Hankow--The Governor-General --Return--Taking to the Gunboats--Nganching--Nankin--Retrospect--More Delays--Troubles at Canton--Return to Hong-Kong--Mission completed --Homeward Voyage

CHAPTER XII.

SECOND MISSION TO CHINA--OUTWARD.

Lord Elgin in England--Origin of Second Mission to China--Gloomy Prospects--Egypt--The Pyramids--The Sphinx--Passengers Homeward bound --Ceylon--Shipwreck--Penang--Singapore--Shanghae--Meeting with Mr. Bruce --Talien-Whan--Sir Hope Grant--Plans for Landing.

CHAPTER XIII.

SECOND MISSION TO CHINA--PEKIN.

The Landing--Chinese Overtures--Taking of the Forts--The Peiho--Tientsin --Negotiations broken off--New Plenipotentiaries--Agreement made--Agreement broken--Treacherous Seizure of Mr. Parkes and others--Advance on Pekin --Return of some of the Captives--Fate of the rest--Burning of the Summer Palace--Convention signed--Funeral of the murdered Captives--Imperial Palace--Prince Kung--Arrival of Mr. Bruce--Results of the Mission.

CHAPTER XIV.

SECOND MISSION TO CHINA--HOMEWARD.

Leaving the Gulf--Detention at Shanghae--Kowloon--Adieu to China--Island of Luzon--Churches--Government--Manufactures--General Condition--Island of Java--Buitenzorg--Bantong--Volcano--Soirées--Retrospect--Ceylon--The Mediterranean--England--Warm Reception--Dunfermline--Royal Academy Dinner --Mansion House Dinner.

CHAPTER XV.

INDIA.

Appointed Viceroy of India--Forebodings--Voyage to India--Installation --Deaths of Mr. Ritchie, Lord Canning, General Bruce--The Hot Season --Business resumed--State of the Empire--Letters: the Army; Cultivation of Cotton; Orientals not all Children; Missionaries; Rumours of Disaffection; Alarms; Murder of a Native; Afghanistan; Policy of Lord Canning; Consideration for Natives.

CHAPTER XVI.

INDIA.

Duty of a Governor-General to visit the Provinces--Progress to the North- West--Benares--Speech on the Opening of the Railway--Cawnpore--Grand Durbar at Agra--Delhi--Hurdwar--Address to the Sikh Chiefs at Umballa --Kussowlie--Simla--Letters: Supply of Labour; Special Legislation; Missionary Gathering; Finance; Seat of Government; Value of Training at Head-quarters; Aristocracies; against Intermeddling--The Sitana Fanatics --Himalayas--Rotung Pass--Twig Bridge--Illness--Death--Characteristics --Burial-place.

MEMOIR

OF

JAMES, EIGHTH EARL OF ELGIN,

&c. &c.