Part 12 (2/2)
”Well, if their lords.h.i.+ps are content to come to this conclusion on this valuable evidence, they are very likely to find out their mistake in doing so.”
After citing proof of the ”very great system in their military department,” the writer of the letter goes on to state with regard to the Ti-pings:--
”If men can thus conduct the details of a military department, is it not probable that they have also the power of conducting the details of a civil department, when the military necessity is past? At Soo-chow, which the Ti-pings have now had for eighteen months, the country people round about are now living quietly enough, and carrying on their usual avocations....
”With regard to the attack at Ningpo, Earl Russell a.s.serts that the Ti-pings first fired on Captain Dew. The fact was, I believe, that the pirate, 'Apak,' anch.o.r.ed his boats near the English s.h.i.+ps, so that in firing at 'Apak,' the shot from the rebel batteries came close to, or over, the foreign s.h.i.+ps. An excuse for attack was wanted, this was enough, and the place was taken.
”The Earl goes on to say, 'It appeared clear from this that there was no chance of our being able to maintain any relations of amity with the Ti-pings; and as they seemed determined to destroy us, all that we could do was to protect our trade and the lives of our merchants.'
”It is not to be expected that we can be on terms of amity while we make Shanghae the a.r.s.enal of the Imperialists, and carry out our intervention on the principle by which it has. .h.i.therto been characterized.
”A most disgraceful affair took place the other day. Nine young gentlemen, members of the Shanghae Mounted Volunteer Corps, went out one afternoon with Captain BORLASE, of H.M. s.h.i.+p _Pearl_, and a party of men, to reconnoitre. They came on a number of Ti-pings, who on seeing the horses, immediately threw away their arms, and ran off half naked. Captain Borlase gave the order to pursue and _to give no quarter_.[33] These young gentlemen accordingly amused themselves that afternoon in cold-blooded murder, and their captain distinguished himself, it is said, by the chivalrous action of killing a man lying badly wounded on the ground. One of the number, a young friend of mine, I am glad to say, refused to obey the order he received. I say that if H.M.'s officers are to be permitted to give such brutal orders, the sooner we cease to talk of Ti-ping cruelties and the savageries of General Butler the better.... A cry has been _got up_ about the cruelties of the Ti-pings, for want of a better war-cry, and our people are taught to ill.u.s.trate Christianity by the perpetration of cruelties, considering our lights, infinitely more atrocious. The conduct of the Ti-pings, notwithstanding all the provocation they have received, towards foreigners who have had to enter their lines on business, contrasts in their favour with our conduct to them.
”From Captain Osborne's appointment, I infer that my friend Lay has been entirely Imperialist in the advice he has given the Government.
”I regret that Osborne should have taken such an appointment, and that Government should have sanctioned it.
”I regret still more that Palmerston should be making what I consider such a grave mistake on this question, and that is one of the main reasons why I write these letters. Another is that I am convinced our present policy will be detrimental alike to British interests, and to the interests of the Chinese people.”
We have seen that Messrs. Jardine and Matheson p.r.o.nounced the policy of their Government ”suicidal.” We have now noticed the important evidence of another of the princ.i.p.al merchants, in whose interest it was alleged to be necessary to slaughter the Ti-pings. The British Parliament was persuaded by fallacies, and the ”Vampyre” fleet was made ready and sent to China, while the British people were led into the belief that it was organized merely to act against Chinese pirates, the Government organs representing the Ti-pings as ”attempting to force a way to the sea coast, where they hope to take to the amphibious life a Chinaman always loves, and prowl at sea or penetrate the inner waters as necessity or opportunity may tempt or dictate.” This, and innumerable similar fabrications, are perfectly astounding by the depth of their untruth and the total absence of any foundation. The above-quoted statement is only surpa.s.sed by another in the same article of the same newspaper:--”It is, however, _the people of China_ who have broken the force of the Ti-pings, and it is under the dread of their terrible reprisals that the Ti-pings are now attempting to force a way to the sea-coast”!!!
This article, so horribly wicked in purpose and so thoroughly false in substance, was one of those written upon the grand meeting held at the rooms of the Royal Geological Society upon the subject of the ”Anglo-Chinese flotilla.” The leaders of the quasi-regenerating expedition here held forth to the scientific gentlemen of the Society, their friends, and sundry members of the Government. The speeches they made, their arguments, facts, and declared intentions, were equally reasonable and trustworthy as the statement in the newspaper article eulogising them, and which, by some most extraordinary perversity of knowledge, represented the bitter and ruthless warfare prosecuted by Admirals Hope and Protet, Generals Staveley and Brown, and others, against the Ti-pings, as ”_the people of China_ who have broken the force of the Ti-pings.” Certes, had such been the case, it required an astonis.h.i.+ng quant.i.ty of British shot, sh.e.l.l, artillery, and men, to enable the Manchoo Government to occupy any single village or foot of land held by the ”broken force!” And one can hardly discover the object of the flotilla if the ”people of China” had already done the only thing for which it was being organized; for which Prince Kung was paying, and Mr. Lay, Captain Sherrard Osborne, and his men, receiving a goodly share of that Manchoo mintage. Five months later, this ”broken force” was found to be so well able to convert its opponents into a similarly unpleasant state, that upon the 9th day of January, 1863, another order in counsel was pa.s.sed, making it ”lawful for all military officers in Her Majesty's service to enter into the military service of the Emperor of China.”
To resume the history of the ”Vampyre” expedition. At the oratorical display of the civil leader and the naval chief, the Chancellor of the Exchequer (with a keen eye to the guarantee the flotilla might afford for the payment of the indemnities by China) was present to see, to hear, to judge, and to wind up in most affecting and impressive style by giving the well-paid, and doubtless well-deserving, adventurers his blessing.
Mr. Lay, with a surprising theory for a questionable purpose, told the meeting that the great cause of the civil war in China was its crowded population, ”which the productive power of the soil was not sufficient to maintain.” Emigration of the Ti-pings (when he caught them) was his remedy. Now, how that clever, though it is just possible, mistaken gentleman, expected to forward the change of habitation with the Armstrong and Whitworth guns, and other deadly weapons of exceedingly killing power he was carefully providing, is by no means clear, unless, indeed, the emigration was to be eternal. Neither is it by any means easy to understand that if the production of the soil was not sufficient to maintain the natives, the distress could be alleviated by making it support, in addition, a large number of very expensive foreign officers and men, besides a costly fleet of steamers.
Captain Sherrard Osborne then succeeded the would-be Dictator General of China, and with no less extraordinary principles than his civilian superior, made the astounding declarations:--1. ”That his first duty in China would be to bear in mind that he was a member of the Geographical Society.” 2. ”That he was going to China to spread peace, and not to shed blood” (with his Armstrongs and &c.s). 3. ”That his object was to teach the Chinese rather the duty of sparing than the art of killing”
(singular that such pains were taken to procure the most effective armament England could furnish). 4. ”And that he hoped to report that Nankin was taken without the loss of one life after the a.s.sault was over.”
1. As the _Daily News_ wrote at the time, ”Though this may be very advantageous for Burlington House, it affords an adequate explanation of the way China is to benefit by his vaunted advent. Perhaps, however, it may be accepted as a proof of his being a philanthropic adventurer; that his first care will be to look after, not the interests of the Chinese Government, which pays him 3,000_l._ a year, but those of a society to whose funds he is called on to contribute.”
4. This nave announcement is a startling one for the ”pirate” dodge of the gallant captain's friends, and proves that the only motive, which, in fact, is admitted by all save a few bigots, was suppression of the Ti-ping revolution.
Of Mr. Lay and his fighting-man, the _Daily News_ well said, ”As these gentlemen seem to have the power of carrying on their scheme for the present, they will doubtless do so, but it is a mistake for them to depart from the policy of reserve which they have hitherto followed.”
In dire alarm and trouble, Prince Kung grasped at the offer of a fleet to save the Manchoo dynasty, as a drowning man will clutch at a straw.
The British Government, wisely thinking that the fleet would guard the treaty ports against the Ti-pings, and thereby protect both the payment of the indemnity and the opium trade at the expense of the Chinese, quickly seized the opportunity it shadowed forth. The justice of their conduct is a very different matter, and it would be interesting indeed to know by what right the capture of Nankin was undertaken,--a city far in the interior of China, the owners of which only entreated the friends.h.i.+p of foreigners, while striving to throw off a foreign yoke and enjoy the blessing of the Christian faith and self-government.
The worst part of the tale has now to be related. Upon the individual authority of Mr. Lay, the flotilla (consisting princ.i.p.ally of British men-of-war) having struck the English flag, hoisted a green and yellow rag, and without commission or any authority to const.i.tute them national s.h.i.+ps of war, proceeded to the high seas in true pirate fas.h.i.+on. The laws of England were unscrupulously violated, her navy indelibly disgraced, and all who took share in the expedition perfectly fooled, by the _unofficial_ countenance of a Manchoo Prince, and the indecent haste of British ministers to comply with his ambiguous request for a fleet, in order to gratify their own ulterior motives.
Prince Kung simply authorized Mr. Lay to buy a number of vessels, but those s.h.i.+ps were despatched from England fully manned and armed, as though they had been duly commissioned, which was not, and never became, the case. Mr. Lay and Captain Osborne, between them, prepared an agreement (that being the authority and regulation upon which the crews were engaged, and merely a private understanding, strangely resembled the bond of a piratical organization), which, had it been carried into execution, would virtually have consigned the destinies and executive of China into their hands. These were the salient features of the agreement:--
”4. Osborne undertakes to act upon all orders of the Emperor which may be conveyed direct to Lay; and Osborne engages not to attend to any orders conveyed through any other channel.
”5. Lay, upon his part, engages to refuse to be the medium of any orders of the reasonableness of which he is not satisfied.”
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