Part 14 (2/2)
”A miserable apostate, (?) polygamist, _and murderer, too_, to wish to administer an ordinance held sacred by those who practise it. What a sacrilege! But as to that boy, _I have since been told that he evinced indications of life after he was dragged out_, by one who saw him. But I think it would have been less cruel in Kan-w.a.n.g to have smoothly cut off his head than to send him out even half killed, dest.i.tute, and naked, to freeze and starve to death. _Whether the boy was killed directly or not, I cannot esteem Kan-w.a.n.g, and his elder brother, who prompted him to the wicked deed, less than murderers; and hence, in my judgment, they ought both to be treated as such._”
In the pamphlet, ”A Letter to the Bishop of Victoria, regarding the Religion of the Ti-ping Rebels,” the author states, ”Of course you now know that the story of that person's boy being murdered by the Kan-w.a.n.g is a fabrication. 'The Kan-w.a.n.g called on me,' said Mr. Roberts, when I asked him about the matter, 'and desired me to punish the boy. I told him I would first remonstrate with him; and then he, the Kan-w.a.n.g's brother, dissatisfied with my answer, beat him, _as I thought_, to death.'”
[33] This affair happened on the 25th of August, was reported to the Shanghae _Daily s.h.i.+pping and Commercial News_ of the next day, and was widely known in China. A certain Mr. CHALONER ALABASTER, of the British consular service, is mentioned in connection with it.
[34] From the success of the Ti-pings.
[35] _China Overland Trade Report_, February 20, 1863.
[36] Blue Book, China, No. 3, 1864, p. 68.
[37] _Id._, p. 80.
[38] Blue Book, No. 3, 1864, p. 96.
[39] _Id._, p. 162.
[40] Blue Book, No. 3, 1864, p. 163.
CHAPTER XXI.
Personal Narrative continued.--Mr. Lobschied.--His Reception at Nankin.--Press Publications.--Mr. Lobschied leaves Nankin.--Operations before Tait-san.--The a.s.sault.--Act of Bravery.--Route of the Imperialists.--Gordon's Art of War.--Tait-san reinvested.--Siege of Tait-san.--Its Capture.--Manchoo Atrocities.--Treatment of Ti-ping Prisoners.--Mr. Sillar's Statement.--Quin-san captured.--Gordon's Report.--Gordon reinforced.--The Chung-w.a.n.g recalled.--Critical Position of the Ti-pings.--The Chung-w.a.n.g's Retreat.--Difficulties encountered.--Reinforcements.--The Scene of Battle.--Its Horrors.--Arrival at Nankin.--The Chung-w.a.n.g's Army.--General attack.--The Repulse.--The Surprise.--The Night Attack.--The Flight and Pursuit.--Death of Marie.
When at last I became convalescent and able to leave my house in Nankin, for several reasons I determined to take a trip to Shanghae. My wife wished to see her relations there; I was anxious to ascertain the political and practical position of affairs; and, besides, there were many things to be done toward a.s.sisting the Ti-ping cause. The princ.i.p.al inducement for the trip was, however, the fact that my friends, D. and Captain P., had, upon their last voyage, brought me some letters from Chin-kiang (to where they had been forwarded by my agent at Shanghae), stating that the Rev. W. Lobschied, a distinguished missionary, was anxious to visit the Ti-ping capital. I at once decided to proceed to Shanghae and afford him every a.s.sistance by placing one of our vessels at his service for the journey to and from Nankin.
During the last few months of my illness messengers had continually arrived from the head-quarters of the I- and Chung-w.a.n.g's armies, reporting the uninterrupted successes of both. But at the same time intelligence was received of the second capture of Kah-ding and Tsing-poo, the capture of Fu-shan by the allies, and the treachery of the chief in command at the city of Chang-zu, who had accepted the large bribes offered by the enemy, and surrendered the city. Orders were consequently despatched to the I-w.a.n.g's victorious army, already beyond the Po-yang lake, and that chief detached a considerable portion of it to return and protect the threatened districts. This force, at the time I left Nankin (early spring of 1863), was already besieging Chang-zu, having closely invested the city upon every side.
Having embarked with my wife on board our lorcha, the _Anglo-Ti-ping_, we proceeded under sail to Chin-kiang, and then took pa.s.sage in a steamer to Shanghae. A month after our arrival, every motive for the visit being accomplished, and the Rev. W. Lobschied having arranged to accompany me, we returned to Chin-kiang together, and then, getting on board the lorcha, made sail for Nankin. When half-way there I engaged a small steamer to tow us up to the forts, in order to oblige the missionary, who was averse to the delay the calm weather seemed likely to occasion.
In a couple of days we were cast off at our destination, and I proceeded on sh.o.r.e with Mr. Lobschied, introducing him to the Sz-w.a.n.g, who received him very kindly, and immediately sent word of his arrival to the Government inside the city. The next morning horses and attendants were in waiting to escort us to the Kan-w.a.n.g's presence. Upon reaching the palace, Mr. Lobschied met with so warm and friendly a reception from the Kan-w.a.n.g and many other chiefs, that I am quite sure he can never cease to remember it with pleasure, and at the same time with regret that he has not been more energetic or useful to what he knew full well was the cause of Christianity and righteousness. Many of the Ti-pings had known him at Canton in former days, when they had studied the wondrous truths of Scripture, and some, I believe, had been his own converts and pupils. These men were most anxious that he should stay among them, and earnestly entreated him to do so; but the Rev. W.
Lobschied, as he informed me, had to attend to some appointment at Canton, and the wishes or whims of a young wife. Thus the last opportunity for a teacher of the Gospel to support the cause of Christianity in China was thrown away; my trouble lost (not that I cared for ought but the fact that it was not used to advantage when every opportunity was offered); and the visit of the last missionary who came to the Ti-ping capital, rendered utterly fruitless. Something did result from the visit in the shape of the following letter:--
”THE TAEPINGS.
”_A Visit to Nanking, and an Interview with the Kan-Wong._ ”(To the Editor of the _Daily Press_, Hong Kong.)
”SIR.--The dreadful accounts given of the condition and character of the rebels had long made me anxious to visit their capital, and see for myself how far all that has been said of them be true. There is a brisk trade carried on outside the city of Nanking. The fields within the ancient wall were well cultivated, as well as the country around; and wheat, barley, and large beans, appeared to be there in abundance. The people within the city _were certainly looking better than in any town along the Yang-tse-kiang_. New shops and fine buildings were in course of erection, and the people were in general well dressed.
The women moved about performing their daily work as they do here in the South; aged persons were playing with their grandchildren, and wheresoever I came I was treated with respect and kindness. The kings, and particularly Kan-Wong, received me with great kindness, and I felt that I was as safe in Nanking as in any Chinese town I have ever visited. They were anxious to know why England was so hostile against them. 'Have we ever broken faith with foreigners? Have we ever retaliated the enmity of England and France?' said Kan-Wong. 'If they force us to the conclusion that we are to be treated as outlaws, then the day of retribution will come! We are fighting in our own country, and to rid ourselves of a foreign power, and woe to the stranger who falls into our hands after the first shot has been fired against Nanking.[41] We need not then take cities and hold them, or allow foreigners to a.s.sist the Imperial imps in surrounding us; we shall then move in one compact body, ravaging the country and destroying trade.[42] We have not as yet sent men into the foreign settlements to burn and destroy, but have strictly prohibited such acts. Who can prevent us from committing such acts, if we choose? And why should we not make the sojourn of foreigners here intolerable, if they come to destroy us who _would_ and _have_ opened to them every port we hold, and tried to be friends with them? We will spare neither Hankow nor any other place held by foreigners, who will then see the difference between forbearance and determined hostility.' They told me that they had _repeatedly_ applied to the foreign consuls, in order to come to some arrangements, but all their communications had been returned _unopened_, and no reply given. I was present at their religious meetings, which are regularly held every morning and evening, but would not join them until I knew what they were doing. They sang a hymn; and having previously placed three cups of tea on the table,[43] they knelt down, one of them[44]
reading or saying an appropriate prayer. There was _no wors.h.i.+p of Taiping-Wong_. Whilst sitting in the palace, there came frequent orders for books on religious subjects, and, so far as the Chinese care for religion, _these men sang and prayed with a will and with apparent devotion_. As the Imperialists are going to _restrict_ the development of trade on the Yang-tze-Kiang as soon as _Osborn's_ fleet has come out, and as the rebels _are willing to open the whole country to foreigners_, if they will stretch out a friendly hand to them, everybody may judge for himself which party will serve him best. China was conquered by the help of Roman Catholic missionaries, and the Imperial House has for 150 years been under their influence. So long as the Emperors made use of them they prospered; and the moment they expelled them from Pekin, misrule and effeminacy became the order of the day. Sir Frederick Bruce will one day be recalled to give an account of the _ruinous course of policy he has advised his Government to adopt_, and foreign influence will at last prevail in the council of the rebels. But whether that will be upon the ruins of the silk and tea plantations, or upon the graveyards of thousands of British subjects, we shall soon have an opportunity of witnessing. As almost all the officers now in the service of the Imperialists are on half-pay, _and receive besides an enormous salary from the Chinese_, n.o.body need feel any surprise at the strange doings of men worthy a more honourable death.[45] And if _General_ Gordon does receive 1,200 taels per month from the Imperialists, and his half-pay as an officer of the British army, where then is British neutrality?
The proclamation of the Queen is dust thrown into the eyes of Europe and America. But more on this subject for the second mail of this month.
”Yours respectfully, ”W. L.
”Hong Kong, 10th June, 1863.”
The Rev. W. Lobschied, by his departure from Nankin and return to the south of China, sacrificed a glorious opportunity of serving the cause of the Master whose word he came abroad to teach. Had he installed himself at the Ti-ping capital and proclaimed that fact, and then reported the favourable points of their sincere Christianity, friendliness to foreigners, desire for unrestricted commerce and intercourse with Europeans, and general moral and physical superiority, in _all_ the particulars for which the Chinese are condemned, he would most likely have been the means of arresting the interference of England, and purifying the religious errors of the only voluntary native wors.h.i.+ppers of Jesus in Asia.
Had Mr. Lobschied so acted, every mission society and ordained member of the Church of England would necessarily have supported him; this would simply have been their duty to G.o.d. Popular opinion, when fixed by the voice of a well-known divine, speaking the _truth_ from Nankin, and with all the authority of his presence among the revolutionists, and undoubted personal knowledge of them, would almost certainly have compelled the British Government to remain neutral.
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