Chapter VII: First Mission to China.--Preliminaries (2)

'As soon as the smoke cleared away, the soldiers of the garrison collected there sent up a series of hearty cheers; a moment more and our men were clustered like ants upon the rigging, and, in the energy which they threw into their ringing response, they pledged themselves to the achievement of those deeds of valour which have since covered the Naval Brigade with glory. After the fort had saluted, Lord Elgin landed amid the cheers of the crowd assembled at the ghaut to receive him, and proceeded to Government House, gratified to learn, not merely from the popular demonstrations, but from Lord Canning himself, that though happily the physical force he had brought with him was not required to act in defence of the city, still that the presence of a man of war larger than any former ship that ever anchored abreast of the Maidan, and whose guns commanded the city, was calculated to produce upon both the European and native population a most wholesome moral effect, more especially at a time when the near approach of the Mohurrum had created in men's minds an unusual degree of apprehension and excitement.'

Speaking afterwards of this scene, Lord Elgin himself said, 'I shall never forget to my dying day--for the hour was a dark one, and there was hardly a countenance in Calcutta, save that of the Governor-General, Lord Canning, which was not blanched with fear--I shall never forget the cheers with which the "Shannon" was received as she sailed up the river, pouring forth her salute from those 68-pounders which the gallant and lamented Sir William Peel sent up to Allahabad, and from those 24-pounders which, according to Lord Clyde, made way across the country in a manner never before witnessed.'

[Sidenote: Peel's naval brigade.] [Sidenote: Lord Canning.]

_Calcutta.--August 11th_.--Here I am, writing to you from the
Governor-General's palace at Calcutta! Altogether it is one of the
strangest of the _péripéties_ of my life.... I think my visit has
entirely answered as regards the interests of India. I have every
reason to believe that it has had an excellent effect here. I have
agreed to give up the 'Shannon,' in order that Peel and his men may be
formed into a naval brigade, and march with some of their great guns
on Delhi. Peel, for this work, is, I believe, the right man in the
right place, and I expect great things from him. He is delighted, and
Canning and Sir P. Grant have signified in strong terms their
appreciation of the sacrifice I am making, and the service I am
rendering. They are in great want of artillery, and no such guns as
those of the 'Shannon' are in their possession. The vessel itself,
with a small crew, will remain in the river opposite Calcutta, able,
if need were, to knock all the city to bits. I shall get a steamer for
myself, probably one of the Peninsular and Oriental Company's, to
convey me to Hong-kong, and to remain with me till I am better suited.
Canning is very amiable, but I do not see much of him. He is at work
from five or six in the morning till dinner-time. No human being can,
in a climate like this, and in a situation which has so few
_délassements_ as that of Governor-General, work so constantly without
impairing the energy both of mind and body, after a time.... Neither
he nor Lady C. are so much oppressed by the difficulties in which they
find themselves as might have been expected.

[Sidenote: Treatment of inferior races.]

_August 21st._--It is a terrible business, however, this living among
inferior races. I have seldom from man or woman since I came to the
East heard a sentence which was reconcilable with the hypothesis that
Christianity had ever come into the world. Detestation, contempt,
ferocity, vengeance, whether Chinamen or Indians be the object. There
are some three or four hundred servants in this house. When one first
passes by their _salaaming_ one feels a little awkward. But the
feeling soon wears off, and one moves among them with perfect
indifference, treating them, not as dogs, because in that case one
would whistle to them and pat them, but as machines with which one can
have no communion or sympathy. Of course those who can speak the
language are somewhat more _en rapport_ with the natives, but very
slightly so, I take it. When the passions of fear and hatred are
engrafted on this indifference, the result is frightful; an absolute
callousness as to the sufferings of the objects of those passions,
which must be witnessed to be understood and believed.

_August 22nd._ ---- tells me that yesterday, at dinner, the fact that
Government had removed some commissioners who, not content with
hanging all the rebels they could lay their hands on, had been
insulting them by destroying their caste, telling them that after
death they should be cast to the dogs, to be devoured, &c., was
mentioned. A rev gentleman could not understand the conduct of
Government; could not see that there was any impropriety in torturing
men's souls; seemed to think that a good deal might be said in favour
of bodily torture as well! These are your teachers, O Israel! Imagine
what the pupils become under such leading!

[Sidenote: Fears for Lucknow.]

_August 26th._--The great subject of anxiety here now is Lucknow, where
a small party of soldiers, with some two hundred women and an equal
number of children, are beleaguered by a rebel force of 15,000. The
attempts hitherto made to relieve them have failed; and General
Havelock, who commands, says he can do nothing unless he gets the 5th
and 90th Regiments, the two I sent from Singapore on my own
responsibility. The men of the 'Pearl' and 'Shannon' and the marines
are guarding Calcutta, or on their way up to Allahabad, so that it is
impossible to say what would have become of Bengal if these
reinforcements had not come.

_August 30th._--The mail from England has arrived. No letters, of
course, for me. I gather from the newspapers and Canning's letters
that some troops, though only to a small extent, I fear, are to be
sent to Hong-kong, to replace those which have been diverted to India.
From Palmerston's speeches I gather that he adheres to the policy of
my first visiting the North, and making amicable overtures; and,
secondly, taking Canton, if these overtures fail. I believe I have
adopted the only mode of carrying out that policy. It is rather
perplexing, however, and sometimes a little amusing, to be working at
such a distance from head-quarters, as one never knows what is thought
of one's proceedings until it is so much too late to turn to account
the criticisms passed upon them.

[Sidenote: Return to China.]

There remained now nothing to keep him longer at Calcutta; a body of troops was on its way to Hongkong, to take the place of those that had been diverted to India, and the end of September was the time at which he had arranged to meet Baron Gros in the China seas. On the 3rd of September, therefore, he turned his face once more eastward, to resume the proper duties of his mission.

[Sidenote: Fever.]

_Steamer 'Ava'--September 10th._--I have had a very bad time of it since
I finished my last letter on my way down the Hooghly. Probably it may
have been something of the Calcutta fever brought with me.... But on
the second night after our departure, it came on to blow hard towards
morning. I was in my cot on the windward side. First, I got rather a
chill, and then the ports were shut, leaving me very hot. I remained
all day in a state of feverish lethargy, unable to rise, and
constantly falling off into dreamy dozes; kaleidoscopes, with the
ugliest sides of everything perpetually twirling before my eyes. I
panted so for air that they opened my ports towards evening as an
experiment. It turned out better than might have been expected. A sea
washed in, and filled my cot half full of water, which decided me on
rising. No gentler hint would have mastered my lethargy. After I got
on deck, as you may imagine, it was about as difficult, or rather more
so, to overcome the _vis inertiae_ which fixed me there. So a bed was
made for me under the awning. I remained on deck for four nights; the
fourth, in a cot slung up to the boom, and though I slept little, it
was cool. Last night I came down to the cabin again. I have taken the
turn, and am on the mend, though I do not yet feel the least
inclination for food, and my nerves are so shaky that I can hardly
write. That little pretty book[7] of Guizot's which you sent me, I
have been trying to read, but I find that it is too touching for me,
and I have been obliged to lay it aside.

_September 11th._--I am now at Singapore again, which is my kind of
oasis in this desert of the East; the only place where I have felt
well or comfortable, and where there has been a sort of cordiality in
the people, which makes one feel somewhat at home. I shall stay here
two days, to gain a little strength before plunging again into the
sea.

[Sidenote: Perplexities.]

_Hong-Kong.--September 20th._--I did not attempt to write on my way
from Singapore to this place, because, though we were much favoured by
the weather (as this is the worst month in the China seas and the most
subject to typhoons), the motion of the screw in the 'Ava' is so bad,
that it is almost impossible to write when she is going at full speed.
However, I may now tell you that we made out our voyage in six days of
beautiful weather, and that I have gone on gradually recovering my
health, which I lost between Calcutta and Singapore. I believe I do
not look quite as blooming as usual; but it is of no use my claiming
sympathy on this score, for, as the Bishop of Labuan appears to have
said, I always have a more florid appearance than most people, and
never therefore get credit for being ill, however ill I may feel. I
found two mails from home.... The Government approves of my having
sent my troops to India, and Clarendon's letter seems to imply that
they are not quite insensible to the difficulties of my position....
As it is, I now find myself in a very puzzling position. If I go to
the North I shall lose prestige, and perhaps also time; it is even
possible that I may force the Emperor to declare himself against us,
and to direct hostilities against us at the northern ports, where
hitherto we have been trading in peace. On the other hand, if I do not
go to the North, and make pacific overtures to the Emperor, I shall go
dead against my instructions, and against the policy which Palmerston
has over and over again told Parliament I am to pursue.

[Sidenote: Hong-kong.]

_Hong-Kong.--September 25th._--I used to dislike to begin writing a
letter, when I thought I should receive one from my correspondent
before it was finished; but I have got over all these scruples now.
Our correspondence is kept up in a kind of constant flow, and our
letters so cross each other, that we hardly know where one is begun or
ended. Therefore, although I sent off one this forenoon, and although
I may calculate on hearing from you again before this is despatched, I
feel that it is quite natural to take up my pen, and to have some talk
with you this evening before I retire to my cot. I have been dining
with the Admiral quietly, at 3 P.M., and I went on shore with him
afterwards to take a walk. We strolled through the Chinese part of the
town, crowded with Chinese all returning from their work, and looking
good-humoured as usual. The town is more extensive than I had supposed
it to be; but it was close and hot, and I was rather glad when we got
into our boat again to pull off to our ship, which is lying about 2-
1/2 miles from the shore. It was calm and cool on the water; and after
reaching my ship, I have sat down to my writing desk, having placed
one of the ship's attendants (a disbanded sepoy, I believe) at the
punkah which has lately been fitted up in my cabin. It is wonderful
what a comfort these punkahs are! I was suffocated with heat before my
sepoy began to pull, and every now and then I have to halloo to him
when he seems disposed to take a nap....

[Sidenote: Caprices of climate.]

_October 1st._--What a climate! after raining cats and dogs for forty-
eight hours incessantly, it took to blowing at about twelve last
night, rain still as heavy as ever. Our captain, who is a man of
energy, apprehending that he might run ashore or foul of some ship,
got up steam immediately, and set to work to perform the goose step at
anchor in the harbour. You may imagine the row,--wind blowing, rain
splashing, ropes hauled, spars cracking, everybody hallooing:--'A
stroke a-head! ease her! faster! stop her!' and other variations of
the same tune. All this immediately over my head! After expending the
conventional number of hours in my cot, in the operation of what is
facetiously called sleeping, I mounted on deck at about 5 A.M.... I
wish I could send you a sketch of that gloomy hill at the foot of
which Victoria lies, as it loomed sullenly in the dusky morning, its
crest wreathed with clouds, and its cheeks wrinkled by white lines
that marked the track of the descending torrents. It was still blowing
and raining as hard as ever, but I took my two hours' exercise
notwithstanding, clad in Mackintosh. Frederick and Oliphant, who went
on shore the day before yesterday to dine with Sir J. Bowring, have
not yet returned.

[Sidenote: After the storm.]

_Seven P.M._--The weather cleared about noon. I remained in my cabin
as usual till after five, when I ordered my boat and went on shore.
There were signs of the night's work here and there. Masts of junks
sticking out of the water, and on land verandahs mutilated, &c. Loch
accompanied me, and we walked up the hill to a road which runs above
the town. The prospect was magnificent--Victoria below us, running
down the steep bank to the water's edge; beyond, the bay, crowded with
ships and junks, and closed on the opposite side by a semi-circle of
hills, bold, rugged, and bare, and glowing in the bright sunset....
When we got beyond the town, the hill along which we were walking
began to remind me of some of the scenery in the Highlands--steep and
treeless, the water gushing out at every step among the huge granite
boulders, and dashing with a merry noise across our path. After
somewhat more than an hour's walk we turned back, and began to descend
a long and precipitous path, or rather street, for there were houses
on either side, in search of our boat. By the time we had embarked the
tints of the sunset had vanished, a moon nearly full rode undisputed
mistress in the cloudless sky, and we cut our way to our ship through
the ripple that was dancing and sparkling in her beams.

[Sidenote: Better news from India.]

_Hong-kong.--October 8th._--On the 6th, I went to the anchorage of the
French fleet, about twelve miles off. On our way back we made the tour
of the island. Every spot at the foot of the hills on which anything
will grow is cultivated by the industrious Chinese, whose chief
occupation in these parts seems, however, to be fishing. Last evening
I dined with our own admiral. An opium-ship from India had just
arrived, so we had a plentiful crop of topics of conversation. The
news from India is rather better. The whole of Bengal was dependent
not only on the China force, but on that portion of it which I took or
sent them on my own responsibility. The 5th and 90th regiments are
marching to the relief of Lucknow. The crews of the 'Shannon' and
'Pearl' are protecting other disturbed districts, and the marines
garrisoning Calcutta.... It cannot therefore be said that I have not
done Canning a good turn. I think, however, that there is a
disposition, both in Calcutta and in England, to underrate our needs
in China, and I am disposed to write to Canning a despatch which will
bring this point out.... If we take Canton by naval means alone, we
shall probably not be able to hold the city; in which case we shall
probably occasion a great deal of massacre and bloodshed, without
influencing in the slightest degree the Court of Pekin.

[Sidenote: Continued perplexities.]

_October 9th._--I do not think that the naval actions here have really
done anything towards solving our questions, and perhaps they may have
been injurious, in so far as they have enabled the Government and the
Press to take up the tone that we could settle our affairs without
troops. All these partial measures increase the confidence of the
Chinese in themselves, and confirm them in the opinion that we cannot
meet them on land. They have never denied our superiority by sea.

_October 13th._--No steamer from England yet. I have just despatched
letters to Canning, in the sense I have already explained to you....
General Ashburnham's position is a very cruel one,--at the head of a
whole lot of doctors and staff-officers of all kinds, without any
troops. The enormous amount of supplies sent out passes belief. Oceans
of porter, soda-water, wine of all sorts, and delicacies that I never
even heard of, for the hospitals. I am told, even tea and sugar, but
that may be a calumny. This is the reaction, after the economies
practised in the Crimea, and will be persevered in, I suppose, till
Parliament gets tired of paying, and then we shall have counteraction
the other way.

On the 16th of October the French ambassador reached Hong-kong, having been delayed by the breaking down of an engine, which made it necessary for him to stay at Singapore to refit. The relations of the two ambassadors, at first somewhat distant and diplomatic, soon ripened into mutual feelings of cordial regard.

[Sidenote: Arrival of Baron Gros.]

_October 18th._--The instructions brought by the last mail give me
much greater latitude of action; in fact, untie my hands altogether. I
hope I shall get Baron Gros to go with me; but if not, I shall go at
Canton alone. The Admiral is quite ready for the attempt, as soon as
his marines arrive.

[Sidenote: A sister's death.]

_October 30th._--How little was I prepared for the sad intelligence
brought to me by your last![8] How constantly we shall all feel the
absence of that good genius!--that Providence always on the watch to
soothe the wretched and to console the afflicted. I had never thought
of her early removal by death; and yet one ought to have done so, for
she complained much of suffering last year, and all who knew her well
must have felt that to make her complain her sufferings must have been
great. She is gone; and she will leave behind her a blank in many
existences.... Many years ago we were much together. She was then in
the full vigour of her faculties.... I had ample opportunity then of
appreciating the remarkable union of heart and head and soul which her
character presented. Many of her letters written in those days were of
rare excellence.... I feel for you.

_October 31st._--I shall hardly recognise Scotland without her, so
much did she, in her unobtrusive and quiet way, make herself the point
to which, in all difficulties and joys, one looked.... Poor Maxwell
has the satisfaction of knowing that all that was great and lovable in
her flourished under his protection and with his sympathy. Perhaps
that is the best consolation which a person bereaved as he is can
enjoy. It is not a consolation which will arrest his progress along
the path which she has trodden before, but it is one which will strew
it with flowers.... Already, when this letter reaches you, the green
weeds will have begun to creep over the new-made grave, and the crust
of habit to cover wounds which at first bled most freely. It is also a
soothing reflection that hers was a life of which death is rather the
crown than the close; so that it will not be in gloom, but in the soft
sunset light of memory that they who have been wont to walk with her,
and are now deprived of her companionship, will have henceforward to
tread their weary way. I see in that sunset light the days when we
were much together--when she used to call herself my wife. In those
days her nervous system was stronger than it was when you became
acquainted with her. Her soul spoke through more obedient organs.
Nothing could exceed the eloquence and beauty of her letters in those
days, when written under the influence of strong feeling. She is gone.
I do not expect ever to see her like again.

_November 1st._--Poor Balgonie, too. It is another loss; very sad,
though different in its character. When I saw him at Malta, I had not
a conception that he would last so long.... On _November 1st_ I am
reading your thoughts of _September 1st._ How far apart this proves us
to be!... I sympathise deeply in all those feelings.... To whatever
side one looks there is the sad blank effected by her removal; even in
my public interests, I cannot say how much, since I returned home, I
owed to her thoughtfulness and affection.... Cut off as we are here at
present from all immediate contact with home interests, it is
difficult to realise her removal and its consequences to the full. It
is a stunning blow from which one recovers gradually to a
consciousness of a great and undefined loss. God bless you!... and
grant that you may share her inexpressible comfort.

[Sidenote: Visit to Macao.]

_November 8th._--I have been absent for four days on a tour.... I
liked Macao, because there is some appearance about it of a history,
--convents and churches, the garden of Camoëns, &c. The Portuguese have
been in China about three hundred years. Hong-kong was a barren rock
fifteen years ago. Macao is Catholic, Hong-kong Protestant. So these
causes combined give the former a wonderful superiority in all that is
antique and monumental.

_November 14th._--I have received your letters to September 24th....
The Government approve entirely of my move to Calcutta, and Lord
Clarendon writes very cordially on the subject.

_November 15th._--I have seen the Russian Plenipotentiary.... He has
been at Kiachta and the mouth of the Peiho, asking for admission to
Pekin, and got considerably snubbed at both places, as I should have
been if I had gone there. It will devolve on me, I apprehend, to
administer the return, which is not, I think, a bad arrangement for
British prestige in the East.

[Sidenote: Beginning of serious work.]

_Steamer 'Ava,' Hong-kong.--November 17th._--My serious work is about
to begin. I must draw up a challenge for Yeh, which is a delicate
matter. Gros showed me a _projet de note_ when I called on him some
days ago. It is very long, and very well written. The fact is, that he
has a much better case of quarrel than we; at least one that lends
itself much better to rhetoric. An opium-ship came in from Calcutta
yesterday. It brought me nothing from Canning. It is clear, however,
that things are getting better with him. I think it probable that my
despatch anticipating a favourable turn of affairs there, and founding
on that anticipation a demand for reinforcements, will reach England
at the very time when the news from India justifying that anticipation
will be received.... The Government and public in England would not
believe there was any danger in India for a long time, and
consequently allowed the season for precautionary measures to pass by,
and then made up for their apathy by the most exaggerated
apprehensions. My mind has been more tranquil, for it has not
presented these phases. As soon as I heard of Canning's difficulties,
I determined to do what I could for him; but it never occurred to me
that we were to act as if the game was up with us in the East.

[Sidenote: How to govern a democracy.]

The secret of governing a democracy is understood by men in power at
present. Never interfere to check an evil until it has attained such
proportions that all the world see plainly the necessities of the
case. You will then get any amount of moral and material support that
you require; but if you interfere at an earlier period, you will get
neither thanks nor assistance! I am not at all sure but that the time
is approaching when foresight will be a positive disqualification in a
statesman. But to return to our own matters. The Government and public
are thinking of nothing but India at present. It does not however
follow, that quite as strong a feeling might not be got up for China
in a few months. If we met with anything like disaster here, that
would certainly be the case.

[Sidenote: Description of Hong-kong.]

_Head-Quarters House, Hong-kong.--November 22nd._--I wish you could
take wings and join me here, if it were even for a few hours. We
should first wander through these spacious apartments. We should then
stroll out on the verandah, or along the path of the little terrace
garden which General Ashburnham has surrounded with a defensive wall,
and from thence I should point out to you the harbour, bright as a
flower-bed with the flags of many nations, the jutting promontory of
Kowloon, and the barrier of bleak and jagged hills that bounds the
prospect. A little later, when the sun began to sink, and the long
shadows to fall from the mountain's side, we should set forth for a
walk along a level pathway of about a quarter of a mile long, which is
cut in its flank, and connects with this garden, and from thence we
should watch this same circle of hills, now turned into a garland, and
glowing in the sunset lights, crimson and purple, and blue and green,
and colours for which a name has not yet been found, as they
successively lit upon them. Perhaps we should be tempted to wait (and
it would not be long to wait, for the night follows in these regions
very closely on the heels of day), until, on these self-same hills,
then gloomy and dark and sullen, tens of thousands of bright and
silent stars were looking down calmly from heaven.

_Macao.--December 2nd._--Baron Gros and I have been settling our plans
of proceeding, which we are conducting with a most cordial
_entente_.... As he is well versed in all the forms and usages of
diplomacy, he is very useful to me in such points.... I have been
living here in the house of Mr. Dent, one of the merchant princes of
China. He is very obliging, and I have remained at his request a day
longer than I intended. I return, however, to-day. I like Macao with
its air of antiquity, in some respects almost of décadence. It is more
interesting than Hong-kong, which has only existed fifteen years, and
is as go-a-head and upstart and staring as 'one of our cities,' as my
American friend informed me a few days ago.

_Hong-kong.--December 5th._--When I went out to walk with Oliphant, I
was informed by a person I met in a very public walk just out of the
town, that a man had been robbed very near where we were. I met the
person immediately afterwards. He was rather a _mesquin_-looking
Portuguese, and he said that three Chinamen had rushed upon him,
knocked him down, thrown a quantity of sand into his eyes, and carried
off his watch. This sort of affair is not uncommon. I have bought a
revolver, and am beginning to practise pistol-shooting.

[Sidenote: Preparation for action.]

_December 9th._--Baron Gros came here on Monday. We have been busy,
and all our plans are settled. I sent up this evening to the Admiral
my letter to Yeh, which is to be delivered on Saturday the 12th. He is
to have ten days to think over it, and if at the end of that time he
does not give in, the city will be taken. We are in for it now. I have
hardly alluded in my ultimatum to that wretched question of the
'Arrow,' which is a scandal to us, and is so considered, I have reason
to know, by all except the few who are personally compromised. I have
made as strong a case as I can on general grounds against Yeh, and my
demands are most moderate. If he refuses to accede to them, which he
probably will, this will, I hope, put us in the right when we proceed
to extreme measures. The diplomatic position is excellent. The Russian
has had a rebuff at the mouth of the Peiho; the American at the hands
of Yeh. The Frenchman gives us a most valuable moral support by saying
that he too has a sufficient ground of quarrel with Yeh. We stand
towering above all, using calm and dignified language, moderate in our
demands, but resolute in enforcing them. If such had been our attitude
from the beginning of this controversy it would have been well.
However, we cannot look back; we must do for the best, and trust in
Providence to carry us through our difficulties.

[1] One of his Fifeshire neighbours.

[2] The Governor of the island.

[3] His brother, then Consul-general of Egypt.

[4] His eldest son.

[5] His birthday, and also his father's.

[6] Narrative of the Earl of Elgin's Mission, i. 55.

[7] Life of Lady Rachel Russell.

[8] The death of his elder sister, Lady Matilda Maxwell.