Part 6 (2/2)
Like all other unscrupulous sources of opposition to the revolutionists, the _Shanghae Daily s.h.i.+pping List_ is sufficiently condemned by its own words. It needeth not a partizan to advocate Ti-pingdom; any person not blinded by prejudice or dollars, and who will take the trouble to study both sides of the question with proverbial English fair-play, cannot fail to become favourably interested in the insurgents, simply through the rabid diatribes which prove the bigotry of opponents and the inadvertent contradictions which prove their falseness.
In order to avoid quarrelling about the plunder, General Staveley and the Admirals entered into the following agreement with regard to the future freebooting exploits. Immediately after the heavily laden heroes, sailors, soldiers, marines, and all had deposited their _loot_ in safe quarters, the triumviri, in solemn conclave, a.s.sembled upon the 22nd of April, and made the following formal regulations:--
”Previous to the capture of Kah-ding and the other towns from the rebels, proper arrangements shall be made ... to collect whatever may be of value, in order to its fair distribution amongst the troops, to whom the same is to be made known before the commencement of the operations.”
Eager to try the merit of their regulated loot hunting, on the 27th of April, the allies again set forth to attack the Ti-pings. Upon this occasion their looting propensities were indulged in at the town of Kah-ding, situate about 30 miles to the N.W. of Shanghae. The allied force consisted of nearly 4,000 men, with 30 pieces of artillery,[7]
a.s.sisted by an army of Imperialist _braves_, under the command of Le, a Chinese general.
The advance guard of the allies having been arrested by two small stockades, defending the water approach to Kah-ding, upon the morning of the 29th, the artillery was brought into play and the defenders of the outwork driven back upon the city, losing some 50 men during their resistance and retreat, the European enemy following in rapid pursuit up to the walls of Kah-ding without a single casualty.
The last day of April was spent by the allies in reconnoitering the city and landing the heavy guns, which had been brought in boats from Shanghae. Before dawn on the morning of May the 1st, the whole of the guns were in position, and the troops safely under cover in the ruined suburbs, ready to pick off the defenceless Ti-pings with their far-reaching rifles. The country traversed during the preceding days is thus spoken of in the _China Mail_, a paper bitterly hostile to the insurgents:--
”After marching along a good road, and through _a beautiful country with fine thriving crops_, the troops reached the southern suburb of Kah-ding.”
Daylight of the 1st of charming May was ushered in by the roar of a large park of foreign artillery. Kah-ding, although a walled town, was undefended with cannon, and its garrison of some 5,000 or 6,000 men were, for the most part, armed with bamboo spears. The European troops having invested three of the city gates, the fourth, the only way of retreat for the besieged, was watched by the Imperialist _braves_, commissioned to cut up the Ti-pings as they fled from the British and French artillery. To the concentrated and terrific fire of thirty pieces of large ordnance, the defenders of the city replied with a brisk though totally ineffective discharge of gingalls. The storm of iron poured upon them soon silenced their fire and drove them from the walls, and with a loss of several hundred, they fled from the town, cutting their way through the Imperialist troops, who watched their only line of retreat.
In order to delay the storming of the city, and so afford time for its evacuation, a small body of the Ti-ping soldierly n.o.bly remained and sacrificed themselves for their comrades. This devoted band, numbering about 130, held their post at the south gate, the princ.i.p.al point of attack, until the European stormers were on the walls, three little 2-pound Chinese guns on the gate tower having been worked till the parapet, overthrown by the crus.h.i.+ng fire of the siege train, fell upon and buried the gunners beneath the _debris_.
Driven back by the overwhelming advance of the storming party, the heroic few retired to the north gate, through which the garrison had made their escape; here to a man they fell, while courageously placing themselves between the foe and their retreating comrades. The greater number of them were mere boys, and from the richness of their dress, evidently of good position among their friends. Three little fellows, each armed with a small matchlock, were seen by a friend of mine to rush forward directly a large sh.e.l.l would knock down a portion of the parapet and fire off their puny weapons at the foe. They were too small to reach the loop-holes, and so waited till the 32-pound shot of the besiegers made a hole for them to use. To avoid the deadly rifles they never used the same hole twice, but nevertheless were all killed, for my friend, when pa.s.sing round the walls, found their bodies lying close together and crushed by a ma.s.s of fallen stonework.
The _China Mail_, in its account of the a.s.sault, states:--
”The scene was now most picturesque. A sh.e.l.l had set fire to part of the city close at hand; the early morning sun was s.h.i.+ning pleasantly upon the fields, _rich with ungathered crops_, and the French band played as the troops scaled the walls.”
The loss of the Ti-pings at the capture of Kah-ding was nearly 500 killed in the city; 2,000 slaughtered while escaping from the murderous artillery, by the Manchoo troops under Le, who had the bodies mutilated, and offered to produce their ears to General Staveley; and about 1,000 taken prisoners, who, although captured by the a.s.sistance of British soldiers, perished in the Manchoo execution shambles.
The stolen property agreement proved very useful at the capture of Kan-ding, nearly 200,000 dollars' worth having been seized in that city without the loss of a single life to the brave allies.
The _China Mail_, in its issue, ”15th May, 1862,” although mistakenly considering the Ti-ping revenue (obtained from taxation, silk, &c.) as ”the poor people's property,” very rightly condemns the wholesale system of brigandage practised by the allies. After referring to the ”mercenary” and ”sordid” nature of the intervention, it states:--
”There is another matter of regret, and that is, that while we are stigmatizing the rebels as robbers and bandits, we should take their treasures and divide it among ourselves.”
Again it continues:--
”It would be difficult to say which are the more shameless robbers of the two, the Taepings who spoil the people, or the English forces who retake the spoil and share it among themselves, while those originally robbed are famis.h.i.+ng in Shanghae. It may well be questioned whether the whole history of warfare can record a parallel example of forgetfulness, utter forgetfulness, of all propriety to this loot-hunting game which Admiral Hope is now engaged in. An expedition against the rebels is now shown to be so harmless to those engaged in it that we may expect to hear of gentlemen giving their wives and sisters a picnic in front of the next town that is besieged, when we have no doubt that much amus.e.m.e.nt could be had among the engineers and artillery by allowing the girls to point the guns. And this is the sort of warfare in which the heart of the jaded and hara.s.sed soldier is to be cheered with _loot_!... There is every reason to believe that England's chivalry is likely to be kept a profound secret from the people of China so long as her affairs are under the present guidance.”
Such is the opinion of a journal always hostile to the Ti-pings.
Having loaded their boats with plunder, and placed a garrison of some 500 European troops in Kah-ding, the British and French warriors returned to Shanghae and vain-gloriously displayed their evilly acquired riches about the rum-shops of that model settlement, while their worthy allies, the _braves_, made a gallant and triumphant entry, with trophies of Ti-ping heads, cruelly hacked from the men vanquished by British and French artillery. When these heads became unpleasant to parade about the foreign settlement, and the _loot_ became exhausted, or the allied commanders eager for more, the combined forces were mustered together for another desolating raid into a country that would have been happy and peaceful but for their wicked interference.
The city of Tsing-poo, situated close upon 32 miles to the west of Shanghae, although falsely represented by officialdom as ”in the neighbourhood,” was next selected for sack and pillage.
Starting from Shanghae in British gunboats (which, by the by, always returned towing long tiers of loot laden boats) upon the 7th of May, the expedition, after being placed in country boats about twenty miles up the river, arrived before Tsing-poo on the evening of the second day.
General Staveley was Commander-in-chief, a.s.sisted by the French Admiral, while the English Admiral, in spite of his wound, was present as an admiring non-effective.
The combined force comprised 2,613 British and French troops, with nearly forty pieces of artillery; about 1,800 of Ward's filibusters; and an Imperialist army of 5,000 to 7,000 men, under their general, Le.[8]
Tsing-poo was garrisoned by some 4,000 Ti-pings, very few of whom escaped.
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