Chapter VI (2)

The fate of the Manchoo rule hung trembling in the balance, and the consciousness of well-merited destruction struck terror to the hearts of the corrupt and sanguinary government. A little more energy and determination at this period would have won the empire; had the first northern army been able to maintain itself at Tsing-hae until the arrival of the second, the dynasty of Ta-tsing would have terminated. The combined forces could assuredly have captured and held Tien-tsin until the arrival of further reinforcements from Nankin, even if the possession of that city, the grand supply depôt of Pekin, had not caused the fall of the capital. The extraordinary northern march, and the length of time that little army was able to retain its menacing position, afford ample evidence that greater strength would have ensured its success. Through neglecting that favourable and momentous opportunity, the Tien-wang forfeited the grand object of his efforts when open to his grasp. That his powerful mind was unequal to the occasion is far less probable than that his expectations of his countrymen were not realized. It is impossible that he could be ignorant of the advantages of combination, and it appears certain that he reckoned upon the general rising of the Chinese, as well as on the omnipotent assistance of God. This is, in fact, manifestly plain from his proclamations, and affords the only reasonable explanation of his sending several small armies unsupported in totally divergent courses, rather than concentrating all his available forces, and aiming directly at the head-quarters of the Manchoo dynasty.

Although several smaller detachments joined the Ti-ping army at Lin-tsing, it was unable to advance upon Pekin again; the favourable moment having once passed, did not return. Several severe actions were contested with no material advantage upon either side, and the semi-steel-clad warriors of inner Mongolia were well matched by the undefended revolutionists. Greatly harassed by the numerous cavalry of the enemy, in May, 1854, the Ti-ping army slowly turned towards the south, continually engaging the Imperialist forces and capturing many important cities to the north of the Yang-tze river.

It is not generally known that Le-hsiu-ch'-éng, subsequently famous as the Chung-wang, was the leader of the first northern expedition; but, during my acquaintance with him, he has frequently reverted to it. From his statements I inferred that he received no particular order to march on Pekin, but simply a general one to conquer the country, and deliver the people from the Manchoo rule. The direct march upon the capital was his own determination, and the reinforcement eventually despatched to his assistance was not at first intended, but was sent to him in consequence of the request for more troops which he forwarded to Nankin by disguised messengers after his passage of the Yellow River. He declared that his troops had been within sight of the walls of Pekin, and that he could easily have captured the city if the reinforcement had joined him earlier; also that his retirement from Tsing-hae was caused entirely by the volunteer troops of the Pekin district, the Mongols and Manchoos being unable to stand against the attack of his men. If this be true, it seems a singular fact that the Tartar dynasty should owe its safety to the Chinese, although in the Pekin district it may fairly be assumed that they have long become entirely Tartarized.

Meanwhile the Manchoos resorted to the most corrupt practices of a most corrupt government, in order to obtain the necessary supplies to make their defence. The sale of titles, offices, and degrees was carried to an enormous extent. Twenty-three notifications were published in the _Pekin Gazette_, putting up for sale every rank, honour, or emolument in the kingdom. Prisoners were allowed to purchase their freedom, exiles their return; functionaries were allowed to buy titles for their maternal relatives, and any one and every one was allowed to purchase for his father a rank superior to his own; in short, a system of entire bribery and corruption was established.

Posthumous honours were also accorded to those who had been killed in battle, extending to the fourth, fifth, or entire generation of their ancestors; while those who ran away to fight another day received every kind of degradation; all the complicated details of cunning deception and bombastic warfare were resorted to by the Manchoo government in its extremity.

The following document discloses facts connected with the troops of the "paternal" government which might well have aroused the people to join the Ti-ping standard of freedom.

Translated by Rev. Dr. W. H. Medhurst, Shanghae, Nov. 1, 1853:[23]--

"The petition of Luh-yu-ch'hang, Yuon-kwei-leang, Yeh-fung-chun,
Chin-sze-hang, Kin-ping-chin, and Wang-keing-chau, with many
others who reside in the various tythings of the 27th hundred,
and have to complain of robbery, rape, murder, and arson,
imploring that steps may be taken to repress further outrage,
and save the lives of the people.

"We, the above-named people, living in the quiet villages of the
various tythings of the 27th, and the 4th tything of the 25th
hundred, two or three miles distant from the city of Shanghae,
depend upon husbandry and weaving for our support, without
mixing in any outside disturbances. But recently, on the 30th of
October last, in the afternoon, the volunteer soldiers belonging
to the contingent from Hoo-kwang, came suddenly in a body, armed
with weapons, and rushed upon our villages, entering into our
several houses, to plunder our property; and when we reasoned
the matter with them they answered with scorn, and proceeded to
ravish our females; when we further pointed out the evil of
these proceedings, they immediately beheaded Wang-chang-kin and
Wang-keau-ke, while they stabbed to death Tsien-king-pang,
Chang-ko-kwang, and How-seih-ch'hang, besides wounding nine
others, both male and female. They then burnt down our houses,
amounting to seventy-seven apartments, a list of which is
appended to this petition.

"Our lives are now in the greatest danger, and the cry of
complaint is heard throughout the whole country on this account.
We have dared to prefix our names to the present petition, and
pray in a body the great officers to compassionate the poor
people, _who are after all the foundation of the country_. We
implore your gracious attention to this request, and pray you to
repress these volunteer soldiers, commanding them to obey the
laws and protect the people. A most fervent petition. Hien-fung,
3rd year, 10th month, 1st day. November 1st, 1853."

The following was the only notice taken of the above petition by Lew, the Imperial commissioner:--

"Such things are doubtless very wrong, but they are the work of
idlers and vagrants, who personate my soldiers. I will issue
strict orders to my troops. Now go and be satisfied. _I hope a
worse thing will not befall you._"

While this was the common behaviour of the Imperialist troops in every direction, the Ti-pings were acting as real deliverers to the people; whatever excesses the besottedness of their spiritless countrymen may at a later period have driven their new levies to commit. I cannot do better than offer the contrast presented by the conduct of the Ti-ping soldiery, in an account the Rev. Dr. Medhurst gives, in a letter quoted in "Impressions of China," by Captain Fishbourne:--

"Having obtained admission into the city of Shanghae this
afternoon, I proceeded to one of the chapels belonging to the
London Missionary Society, where I commenced preaching to a
large congregation, which had almost immediately gathered within
the walls. I was descanting on the folly of idolatry, and urging
the necessity of worshipping the one true God, on the ground
that he alone could protect his servants, while idols were
things of naught, destined soon to perish out of the land; when,
suddenly a man stood up in the midst of the congregation, and
exclaimed:--'That is true, that is true! the idols must perish,
and shall perish. I am a Kwang-se-man, a follower of
Thai-ping-wang; we all of us worship one God (Shang-te), and
believe in Jesus, while we do our utmost to put down idolatry;
everywhere demolishing the temples and destroying the idols, and
exhorting the people to forsake their superstitions. When we
commenced two years ago, we were only 3,000 in number, and we
have marched from one end of the empire to another, putting to
flight whole armies of the Mandarins' troops that were sent
against us. If it had not been that God was on our side, we
could not have thus prevailed against such overwhelming numbers;
but now our troops have arrived at Tien-tsin, and we expect soon
to be victorious over the whole empire.' He then proceeded to
exhort the people in a most lively and earnest strain to abandon
idolatry, which was only the worship of devils, and the
perseverance in which would involve them in the miseries of
hell; while by giving it up, and believing in Jesus, they would
obtain the salvation of their souls. 'As for us,' he said, '_we
feel quite happy in the possession of our religion, and look on
the day of our death as the happiest period of our existence;
when any of our number die, we never weep, but congratulate each
other on the joyful occasion, because a brother is gone to
glory, to enjoy all the magnificence and splendour of the
heavenly world_. While continuing here, we make it our business
to keep the commandments, to worship God, and to exhort each
other to do good, for which end we have frequent meetings for
preaching and prayer. What is the use, then,' he asked, 'of you
Chinese going on to burn incense, and candles, and gilt paper;
which, if your idols really required it, would only show their
covetous dispositions, just like the Mandarins, who seize men by
the throat, and if they will not give money, squeeze them
severely; but if they will, only squeeze them gently.' He went
on to inveigh against the prevailing vices of his countrymen,
particularly opium-smoking. 'That filthy drug,' he exclaimed,
'which only defiles those who use it, making their houses stink,
and their clothes stink, and their bodies stink, and their souls
stink, and will make them stink for ever in hell, unless they
abandon it.'

"'But you must be quick,' he adds; 'for Thai-ping-wang is
coming, and he will not allow the least infringement of his
rules,--no opium, no tobacco, no snuff, no wine, no vicious
indulgences of any kind; all offences against the commandments
of God are punished by him with the severest rigour, while the
incorrigible are beheaded--therefore repent in time.'

"I could perceive, from the style of his expressions and from
his frequently quoting the books of the Thai-ping dynasty, that
he was familiar with those records, and had been thoroughly
trained in that school. No Chinaman who had not been following
the camp of the insurgents for a considerable time could have
spoken as he did.

"He touched also on the expense of opium-smoking, 'which drained
their pockets, and kept them poor in the midst of wealth, whilst
we who never touch the drug, are not put to such expense. Our
master provides us with food and clothing, which is all we
want, so that we are rich without money.'

"I could not help being struck also, with the appearance of the
man, as he went on in his earnest strain. Bold and fearless as
he stood, openly denouncing the vices of the people, his
countenance beaming with intelligence, his upright and manly
form the very picture of health, while his voice thrilled
through the crowd, they seemed petrified with amazement: their
natural conscience assured them that his testimony was true;
while the conviction seemed to be strong amongst them, that the
two great objects of his denunciation--opium and idolatry--were
both bad things, and must be given up.

"He spoke an intelligible Mandarin, with an occasional touch of
the Canton or Kwang-si brogue. His modes of illustration were
peculiar, and some of the things which he advanced were not such
as Christian missionaries were accustomed to bring forward. The
impression left on my mind, however, was that a considerable
amount of useful instruction was delivered, _and such as would
serve to promote the objects we had in view, in putting down
idolatry, and furthering the worship of the true God_."

At this time the city of Shanghae was in possession of the Triad rebels (the society sworn to expel the Manchoos), who have not unfrequently been confounded with the Ti-pings, to the prejudice of the latter.

Late in the summer of 1853, some few months after the capture of Nankin by the Ti-pings, the Triad society, alive to the advantages of the movement, rose up against the obnoxious Manchoos in many parts of the country.

About the end of July, a body of the Triads succeeded in gaining possession of the city of Amoy, one of the treaty ports, meeting with but slight resistance, the inhabitants being glad to receive them. By their singularly moderate conduct, the movement became very popular; in fact, all their supplies were brought in by the country people, and their principal strength was composed of these villagers, who remained and fought against the Imperialist troops as long as the insurrection lasted. Several cities in the neighbourhood were captured, and the wealthy classes remained aloof from both contending parties; their disposition towards the government was far too adverse for them to assist it; but they contented themselves with simply withdrawing their support, well knowing the savage revenge the "paternal" rulers would wreak upon them and their helpless families, if they were to join the rebellion, and it should afterwards fail. The country people throughout the district remained hostile to the Imperialists until their recapture of Amoy, when, to save their own and relatives' lives, they were compelled to return to the Manchoo slavery, those being lucky who escaped the indiscriminate vengeance of the government.

Captain Fishbourne, senior naval officer on the station, was present at Amoy when it was captured by the Triads. He reports:--

"The insurgents having placed guards over the European Hongs,
_there was nothing to apprehend_, so we proceeded to Hong-kong,
when, after landing Sir George Bonham, we returned in the
_Hermes_ to Shanghae."

Upon the 11th of November the city of Amoy, which had been for some time besieged by a vastly superior force of Imperialists, was evacuated by the Triads, who, being short of supplies, marched out of the city in broad daylight unmolested by the cowardly besiegers, who then marched in to perpetrate the most revolting barbarities, in their ordinary manner, upon the defenceless inhabitants. A large squadron of pirates composed the naval force employed by the Imperialists in their siege of the city, in the same manner as in their attack upon Ningpo when held by the Ti-pings, on the 10th May, 1862, although upon this latter occasion the Imperialist pirates were successful, an alliance having been entered into between them and the British squadron commanded by Captain Roderick Dew, R.N.

Captain Fishbourne, who was an eye-witness of the return of Amoy to Manchoo rule, thus describes it:--

"Having engaged pirates, the authority was committed to them, to
sanction the atrocities that these would certainly commit; and,
as if that were not sufficient, they encouraged them to more
than they might otherwise be inclined to, for they promised
them six dollars for each head they would bring in.

"On the entry of these savages, the first thing they did was to
disperse in every direction in search of heads; regardless of
anything save that the people who possessed them should be
helpless; it mattered not to them that they were equally infirm
and unoffending: they had heads--these they wanted.

"All found were brought to the Chinese admiral" (it is said, the
same pirate chief who afterwards became Captain R. Dew's ally),
"whose vessel was close to us, so we saw all that was passing.
He then issued a mandate for their destruction. At first they
began by taking their heads off at the adjoining pier; this soon
was fully occupied, and the executioners becoming fatigued, the
work proceeded slowly, therefore an additional set commenced
taking their heads off on the sides of the boats. This also
proved too slow for them, and they commenced to throw them
overboard, tied hand and foot. But this was too much for
Europeans; so missionaries, merchants, sailors, marines, and
officers, all rushed in, and stopped further proceedings. The
mandarins, executioners, staff and all, took themselves off very
quickly, for fear of consequences they could not calculate upon,
but which they felt they had richly deserved: 400 poor creatures
were saved from destruction; 250 of these were wounded--some
with twenty, others less, but more dangerous wounds. Some had
their heads nearly severed; about thirty died. The Mandarins
then removed their scene of butchery a mile outside the town;
and during the next two days, after having obtained possession,
they must have taken off upwards of two thousand heads, or
otherwise destroyed that number of people. For days bodies were
floating about the harbour, carried out by one tide and brought
back by another, each time not quite so far, so that finally
they were only disposed of by being taken to sea.

"The only feeling the brutal pirates evinced, was that of
disappointment at being deprived (as they said) by us of three
thousand dollars.[24]

"Often during the operations, the poor people complained of the
treatment of the Imperialists; and it was certainly pitiable to
behold the needless destruction of property--needless if the
Imperialists had been soldiers or men--such never won or kept an
empire; _yet none of the Imperial forces are better_.

"Nor can it be said that these were the acts of subordinates,
for which the government was only remotely responsible, for they
were specially dictated by the Viceroy of the province, who was
a Tartar, and an uncle of the Tartar emperor. He even enjoined
the violation of solemn compacts entered into between the
Mandarins and heads of villages, before they would give up the
leaders in the revolt. The Mandarins avowed, that after the
government of Amoy was established, they meant to carry fire and
sword through the surrounding districts, as the people were all
tainted with revolutionary principles."

Well may it be asked--Were the people of England aware of these enormities when they cherished and sustained the Manchoo? It cannot be credited; and, therefore, it is well to point out what kind of government they supported, what description of men they made war upon, and what were the results of their interference.

On the 7th of September, Shanghae, another of the treaty ports, was captured, and several other places in the neighbourhood were attacked by different bodies of Triads. At this city also they seem to have behaved with remarkable moderation, and are said to have found about £70,000 in the treasury.

Although totally unconnected with the great Ti-ping revolution, they still looked hopefully towards it, and, after some little hesitation, sent a deputation, as likewise from Amoy, tendering their allegiance to the Tien-wang. He, however, refused to accept them, despite the enormous advantages he would have derived from the possession of the treaty ports, until such time as they should understand and profess Christianity; and it was probably one of the teachers he sent to them, whose speech was reported by Mr. Medhurst in the letter quoted from a few pages preceding.

Captain Fishbourne reports of them:--

"They know nothing of Christianity, but are very tolerant, and
allowed the missionaries a latitude in teaching, never before
enjoyed. They have lost all faith in idolatry, and no longer
cared to preserve appearances, by continuing idolatrous worship,
though some of them still use superstitions and idolatries. They
have behaved with much moderation, _and the facilities for trade
have been even greater than under the Tartar Imperial rule_. Of
course the import trade has been limited, because of the
disturbed state of the country; the export trade, on the other
hand, had been unusually great, not from any protection or
facilities afforded by the Imperial authorities, but a desire on
the part of holders of goods to realize."

While the Triad insurgents continued to manifest the most friendly feeling towards the European residents at Shanghae, the Imperialist troops collecting to the siege of the Chinese city, in their usual style, became very dangerous and hostile. It was reported by Captain Fishbourne:--

"Thus the Imperial troops made it a habit to place their targets
for ball practice, so that the riding-course and principal place
of resort for all foreigners, should be rendered dangerous, or
impassable."

Several times the European settlement was attacked by them, and was once attempted to be fired; and, at last, so outrageous had they become, that the British and French forces--in all less than three hundred men--were compelled to attack their camp, and drive them further away from the settlement, inflicting a loss, it is said, of three hundred killed; losing themselves only two killed and fifteen wounded.

As it is universally known these Triad rebels were in every way _inferior_ to the Ti-pings, and as they were allowed to capture the treaty ports, and their conduct was always so friendly to Europeans, and so far superior to that of the Imperialists, it _does_ seem a little extraordinary that the British public have not penetrated the falsity of the statement subsequently urged against the Ti-pings, in order to attempt the palliation of the infamous policy of driving them from Shanghae and Ningpo,--that the treaty ports must be held against the Ti-pings, because, if the latter were to capture them, an immense amount of British property and British lives _would_ be destroyed, &c.

During the Triads' occupation of Shanghae, a formidable, though at first secret, opposition was insidiously at work against them among the European community--the hostile intrigues of the Jesuits. These priests, with a constancy and perseverance worthy a better cause, are found plotting and making converts to a pseudo sort of Christianity all over the country. It so happens, that to propitiate the Chinese, or not to shock them by too great a departure from "old custom," they are allowed to retain most of their idolatrous forms of worship, to which are added the usual figures of the manifold saints, &c., of the Romish church. Now the Ti-pings, who are strict iconoclasts, having several times fallen foul of Roman Catholic establishments in the interior, and in each case mistaken the figure of the Virgin Mary with a male child in her arms for the very similar idol of Budha, have naturally confounded Jesuitism with the Budhism it resembles. Consequently, the Tartar-worshipping Jesuits are the most bitter enemies the Ti-pings have ever had, knowing, as they do, that the success of the latter would entirely destroy their work, and drive them from the many positions they hold throughout China. Therefore, when the Jesuits ascertained the Triads not only announced themselves as being about to join the Tien-wang, but had actually sent deputations to, and received instructors from him, they at once commenced intriguing for their overthrow. The French consul and the French senior officer on the station were both priest-ridden and bigoted men, and eventually, for certain valuable considerations, assistance was afforded to the Imperialists, and the Triads were driven out of a Chinese city without the slightest shadow of justice or reason.

Both the English and French authorities deprived the Triads of the duties they were justly entitled to levy on all export or import trade. At last the French admiral, appropriately named La Guerre, determined that the time had arrived to fulfil his own and his Jesuitical colleagues' peculiarly unrighteous intentions. The Triads were suddenly attacked (December, 1854) without having given the slightest provocation, and several of their men, who were engaged constructing a battery outside one of the city gates, murdered by the French sailors. A few days later they surprised fifteen poor rebels asleep in the same battery, and these were also butchered. Two days previous to this, Admiral La Guerre savagely bombarded the city, although it contained upwards of 20,000 innocent inhabitants, among whom the shot and shell committed much slaughter. Allied to the ferocious Manchoo, the French closely blockaded the city, and cut off all communication.

Some people delight in terming the Ti-pings bloodthirsty monsters, &c.; but the following extract proves that the French not only excelled the rebels, but even surpassed the Imperialists in wanton cruelty. In "Twelve Years in China,"[25] by John Scarth, Esq., we find the following episode of the blockade by the civilized and most Christian allies of the Manchoo:--

"The French proclaimed a strict blockade, and shot down all that
attempted to hold communication with the rebels. We _saw_ one
evening a poor old woman that had been attempting to take a
basket of food for some poor person in the city, struck by a
ball from the French lines; her thigh was broken, and she lay
helpless on the ground. How horrible did war appear, when the
sentry levelled his rifle again, and fired at the poor old
creature, driving up a shower of earth close to her side.
Another shot, and another, were fired; at last she was hit again
in the back! she cried to us for help, but we could render no
assistance, except by sending to report the circumstance at
head-quarters. Shot after shot was fired. There were some rebels
watching the butchery from the walls; they could see us
distinctly. We were within rifle distance; and feeling that if I
were in their position, I would shoot at every foreigner I saw,
while foreigners were committing such acts, I went away really
for safety's sake, sick at heart to see such monstrous cruelty.
The woman, it was afterwards reported, lay on the spot moaning
till nearly midnight, when her cries ceased, and it was supposed
_some of the rebels_ had got her into the city out of the way of
further immediate harm."

The French eventually breached the walls, and with their creditable allies assaulted the city, only, however, to be beaten back with a loss of one-fifth their number. The Triads were at last starved out, and upon the Chinese New Year's night (17th February, 1855) evacuated Shanghae, and cut their way through the Imperialist lines. Three hundred, who had surrendered themselves to Admiral La Guerre, were by that officer given up to the Mandarins, and tortured to death. During three days every atrocity was perpetrated by the Imperialists upon the unfortunate inhabitants caught within the city, or the rebels who were hunted down in the country. Upwards of 2,000 were barbarously put to death within three days. As Messrs. J. Scarth, Sillar, and others have written,--"The Imperialist soldiers even burst open the coffins in the burial-grounds, and dragged out the rebel corpses and beheaded them." Women were horribly mutilated and put to death; rebels were crucified and tortured with red-hot irons; some were starved to death in the streets of the city; others were disembowelled, and very many slowly cut to pieces. When the Triads captured the city, they killed only _two_ men, tortured none, and respected private property. The papers at Shanghae stated,--"When the French and Imperialists got possession of the city, however, there was something like slaughter. Heads were hung round the city walls in bunches; the Pagoda Bridge had nineteen on it, and in some places they were piled up in heaps!"

The conduct of those British officials who seemed anxious to carry out the Manchoo-assisting policy of Sir John Bowring, Admiral Stirling, and others, is thus severely reflected on by Mr. Scarth, who was present:--

"The very inconsiderate zeal which characterized the conduct of
Mr. Lay, the then acting Vice-Consul, and Mr. Wade, at that time
one of the officials in the Chinese Custom-house service, and
the open manner in which these gentlemen lent their aid to the
Mandarins, was strongly commented on by nearly all the foreign
community."

At page 217 of his interesting work he says:--

"A schooner going from Woo-sung to Hung-kong was suspected of
being about to take Chin-ah-Lin[26] and several other of the
city people; a force consisting of Chinese troops _and some
English marines, accompanied by the acting Vice-Consul_ (_who
seemed to be imbued with some extraordinary motives_), went down
to search the vessel. This was discovered; but those desirous of
preventing further bloodshed quietly continued, notwithstanding,
in the work they were determined upon, getting the unfortunate
men away from danger."

Some who are acquainted with such matters may understand this "extraordinary" exploit, while those who know little of Chinese affairs may naturally wonder whether the "15,000 dollars" offered for Chin-ah-Lin's head by the Vice-Consul's Mandarin friends had anything to do with it.

Not only at the Shanghae massacre in 1855 did British officials display their taste for the Manchoo alliance. During 1854-5-6 Englishmen continually interfered against the rising of the oppressed Chinese. In 1854 Sir J. Bowring allied the British fleet with the forces of that notorious monster Yeh, and thus contributed to the extermination which desolated the province of Kwang-tung. The city of Canton was almost the only place in the province still held by the Mandarins. It was secured to them by British means, and its security doomed to death more than one million innocent people.

While Yeh busied himself with exterminating man, woman, and child, and razing to the ground nearly every village _through which the rebels had passed_, H. B. M.'s ships of war chased the rebel squadrons along the China coast, dealing with them as pirates, because, forsooth, they were armed, and because they had captured Chinese vessels when endeavouring to force the blockade of Canton; H.M.'s ship _Bittern_ and the steamer _Paou-shun_ hemmed in one division of the rebel fleet in the Gulf of Pe-chi-le, sinking nearly every vessel, and giving up the crew of the only one captured to the Manchoo executioners. Two junks escaped and joined another squadron at Chusan. Yet these vessels shortly afterwards allowed two missionaries to pass their blockade, because, as the chiefs said, "they were good men, and preached the faith of Yesu!" In the harbour of Shih-poo the destruction of another fleet is described in "Twelve Years in China":--

"The junks were destroyed, and their crews shot, drowned, or
hunted down, until at last the whole number, about 1,000 souls,
were sent to their last account,--the _Bittern's_ men aiding the
Chinese soldiers on shore to complete the wholesale massacre!
the _whole_ were not killed; _one_ man was remanded and kept
over for examination! The evidence against the fleet as pirates,
was to be collected _after_ the execution of the victims!"[27]

British policy towards China has, during the last decade, been influenced by men led by a small party of Chinese custom-house mercenaries, who, while hired by the Manchoos, were permitted to bias, not only Sir John Bowring, but even Lord Elgin. The independent and honourable policy of Sir George Bonham and his colleagues gave place to an "interested Mandarin-worshipping" diplomacy that has made England the ally and saviour of the most sanguinary, corrupt, and worn-out despotism in the world. Messrs. Wade and Lay, sometime Lord Elgin's interpreters, and sometime the custom employés of the Manchoo, _may_ have thought the views they imparted to the former were correct; but at all events they were too much personally interested in the welfare of their Mandarin friends to be impartial. The principal effect of this has been that the Manchoo-influenced officials have united the representatives of England with the Jesuit-influenced representatives of France in perpetuating the Tartar cruelties, and in destroying the Ti-ping attempt to liberate China and establish Protestant Christianity throughout the empire.

At Canton, Shanghae, and elsewhere, in 1854, the Chinese would have succeeded in their righteous endeavours to throw off the Manchoo yoke; at Shanghae, in 1860, at Ningpo and Shanghae in 1862, and upon other occasions, the Ti-ping revolution would have succeeded but for British intervention.

FOOTNOTES:

[17] See "Impressions of China."

[18] Alluding to Hung-sui-tshuen's visions.

[19] See Appendix A.

[20] Dr. Medhurst here makes a misapprehension. The Ti-pings believe the Holy Spirit descended into their midst and possessed Yang-sui-tshuen, the Eastern Prince, who became its mouthpiece and medium. This closely resembles revivalist meetings in Ireland, &c.; but the religious metaphorical language of the original Chinese, with its fine subtilty, makes any literal translation impossible; therefore the most limited signification should be placed upon any English version of this, the _bonne bouche_ of the anti-Ti-pings.

[21] See Appendix A.

[22] Copies of the first five books of the Old, and the whole of the New Testament, printed by the Ti-pings at Nankin, are now to be seen in the Indian Court of the Crystal Palace (Sydenham), where they are exhibited by Mr. J. C. Sillar.

[23] Shanghae was at this time in possession of the Triad rebels.

[24] They received ample satisfaction afterwards at Ningpo, when, allied with the British, they obtained 3,000 dollars' worth of heads, with full interest.

[25] Page 207.

[26] The Triad leader.

[27] _Hong-kong Gazette_, 12th October, 1855.