Chapter I: Preface

Reminiscences of the Far East called up by the death of Sir Rutherford Alcock in November 1897 prompted the writer to send a contribution on the subject to 'Blackwood's Magazine.' Being appreciated by the family, the article suggested to them some more substantial memorial of the deceased statesman, a scheme with which the writer fell in the more readily that it seemed to harmonise with the task which friends had been already urging upon him--that of writing some account of occurrences in the Far East during his own residence there. For there was no other name round which these events could be so consistently grouped during the thirty years when British policy was a power in that part of the world. As Consul and Minister Alcock was so interwoven with the history of the period that neither the life of the man nor the times in which he lived could be treated apart. And the personal element renders his connection with Far Eastern affairs particularly instructive, for, combining the highest executive qualities with a philosophic grasp of the problems with which he had to deal, he at the same time possessed the faculty of exposition, whereby the vital relation between the theoretical and the practical sides of Far Eastern politics was made plain. The student may thus draw his lessons equally from the actions and the reflections of this great official.

The life history of Sir Rutherford Alcock is that of the progressive development of a sterling character making in all circumstances the most of itself, self-reliant, self-supporting, without friends or fortune, without interest or advantage of any kind whatsoever. From first to last the record is clear, without sediment or anything requiring to be veiled or extenuated. Every achievement, great or small, is stamped with the hall-mark of duty, of unfaltering devotion to the service of the nation and to the interests of humanity.

A copious and facile writer, he has left singularly little in the way of personal history. The only journal he seems ever to have kept was consigned by him to oblivion, a few early dates and remarks having alone been rescued. When in recent years he was approached by friends on the subject of auto-biography, he was wont to reply, "My life is in my work; by that I am content to be remembered." We must needs therefore take him at his word and judge by the fruit what was the nature of the tree.

In the following work the reader may trace in more or less continuous outline the stages by which the present relation between China and foreign nations has been reached. In the earlier portion the course of events indicated is comparatively simple, being confined to Anglo-Chinese developing into Anglo-Franco-Chinese relations. In the latter portion, corresponding roughly with the second volume, the stream becomes subdivided into many collateral branches, as all the Western nations and Japan, with their separate interests, came to claim their share, each in its own way, of the intercourse with China. It is hoped that the data submitted to the reader will enable him to draw such conclusions as to past transactions as may furnish a basis for estimating future probabilities.

The scope of the work being restricted to the points of contact between China and the rest of the world, nothing recondite is attempted, still less is any enigma solved. It is the belief of the author that the so-called Chinese mystery has been a source of needless mystification; that the relation between China and the outer world was intrinsically simple; and that to have worked from the basis of their resemblances to the rest of humanity would have been a shorter way to an amicable understanding with the Chinese than the crude attempt to accommodate Western procedure to the uncomprehended differences which divided them. It needed no mastery of their sociology to keep the Chinese strictly to their written engagements and to deter them from outrage. But discussion was the invitation to laxity; and laxity, condoned and pampered, then defiant and triumphant, lies at the root of the disasters which have befallen the Chinese Empire itself, and now threaten to recoil also upon the foreign nations which are responsible for them. This responsibility was never more tersely summed up than by Mr Burlingame in his capacity of Chinese Envoy. After sounding the Foreign Office that astute diplomatist was able to inform the Tsungli-Yamên in 1869 that "the British Government was so friendly and pacific that they would endure anything." The dictum, though true, was fatal, and the operation of it during thirty subsequent years explains most that has happened during that period, at least in the relations between China and Great Britain.

A word as to the orthography may be useful to the reader. The impossibility of transliterating Chinese sounds into any alphabetical language causes great confusion in the spelling of names. A uniform system would indeed be most desirable, but common practice has already fixed so many of them that it seems better, in a book intended for general reading, not to depart too much from the conventional usage, or attempt to follow any scientific system, which must, after all, be based upon mispronunciation of the Chinese sounds.

As regards personal names, it may be convenient to call attention to the distinction between Chinese and Manchu forms. In the case of the former the custom is to write the _nomen_, or family name, separately, and the _pre-nomen_ (which by Chinese practice becomes the _post-nomen_) by itself, and, when it consists of two characters, separated by a hyphen--_e.g._, Li (_nomen_) Hung-chang (_post-nomen_). In the case of Manchus, who are known not by a family name, but by what may be termed, for want of a better expression, their _pre-nomen_, it is customary to write the name in one word, without hyphens--for example, Kiying, Ilipu. As the Chinese name usually consists of three characters or syllables, and the Manchu usually of two, the form of name affords a _prima facie_ indication of the extraction of the personage referred to. Polysyllabic names, as San-ko-lin-sin, are generally Mongol.

The sovereign is not referred to by name, the terms Kwanghsu, Tungchih, and so forth, being the Chinese characters chosen to designate, or, as we might say, idealise the reign, in the same way as impersonal titles are selected for houses of business.

I desire to express my deep obligation to Sir Rutherford Alcock's stepdaughter Amy, Lady Pelly, without whose efficient aid the book could not have been compiled. It is a subject of regret to all concerned that Lady Alcock herself did not live to see the completion of a task in the inception of which she took a keen and loving interest.

To the other friends who have in different ways helped in the production of the book, and particularly to Mr William Keswick, M.P., for the loan of his valuable Chinnery and Crealock drawings, my best thanks are due.

A. M.
LONDON, _November 2nd, 1900_.

_Postscript._--The legend on the front cover is a
paraphrase of Chapter xxiii., Book xv., of the Analects of
Confucius, Dr Legge's translation of which has been adopted
by me as the motto of these volumes.

CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME.

CHAP. PAGE

I. THE ARMY SURGEON--
I. YOUTH 1
II. THE PENINSULA, 1832-1837 8
III. ENGLAND, 1838-1844 23

II. SENT TO CHINA 29
FOREIGN RELATIONS WITH CHINA 31

III. ANTECEDENTS OF THE WAR--
I. THE OPIUM TRADE 42
II. THE SEQUEL TO THE SURRENDER OF OPIUM 55

IV. THE FIRST CHINA WAR, 1839-1842 60

V. THE TREATY OF 1842 78

VI. THE FRUITS OF THE WAR AND PROSPECTS OF PEACE 86

VII. THE NEW INTERCOURSE: CANTON, 1842-1847 93

VIII. THE NEW TREATY PORTS--FOOCHOW, AMOY, NINGPO 112

IX. SHANGHAI 124
I. THE TSINGPU AFFAIR 129
II. REBELLION 135
III. THE CHINESE MARITIME CUSTOMS 143
IV. CREATION OF THE FOREIGN CUSTOMS 149
V. MR ALCOCK'S DEPARTURE FROM SHANGHAI 156

X. CONSUL ALCOCK'S VIEWS ON GENERAL POLICY 161

XI. TRADE UNDER THE TREATY OF NANKING 167
I. TEA 178
II. SILK 187
III. OPIUM 191
IV. CHINESE EXPORTS 200
V. BRITISH EXPORTS 203
VI. NATIVE TRADE 207

XII. SHIPPING 211

XIII. THE TRADERS--
I. FOREIGN 248
II. CHINESE 263

XIV. HONGKONG 271

XV. MACAO 287

XVI. PIRACY 299

XVII. THE ARROW WAR 308
I. THE EARL OF ELGIN AND HIS MISSION 320
II. LORD ELGIN'S SECOND MISSION 349

XVIII. INTERCOURSE UNDER THE TREATIES OF 1858 AND 1860--
I. THE DIPLOMATIC OVERTURE 361
II. NEW PORTS AND OPENING OF YANGTZE 369
III. ADMIRAL HOPE'S POLICY TOWARDS INSURGENTS 375
IV. THE LAY-OSBORN FLOTILLA 387
V. THE END OF THE REBELLION 392
VI. EVACUATION OF CANTON 396
VII. DEATH OF THE EMPEROR 397
VIII. INFLUENCE OF THESE EVENTS ON PROGRESS OF
DIPLOMACY 398