Part 20 (2/2)
Besides the above letter, the following appears in the issue of the same paper on the 31st of January, 1865:--
”TO THE EDITOR OF THE 'FRIEND OF CHINA.'
”Shanghae, 26th January, 1865.
”SIR,--I see you say in your 'apology' for rebels that the destruction of the city of Quin-san was caused by the Taepings on their evacuation of it. Such was not the case. The idol temples and official quarters were destroyed or ransacked by them; but the destruction of the dwelling-houses of the inhabitants was the work of the Imperialists. I was one of the first in the city after its evacuation by the Taepings, and what I now state I saw with my own eyes. Indeed, it was, as you have stated repeatedly, a practice with the Imperialists to burn all which the Taepings left. Why they did so I can hardly tell, further than that the men were encouraged to do it by their native officers.
”I am, dear Sir, yours truly, ”LATE OF GORDON'S FORCE.
”P.S.--Ching and Le[57] were the grand devastators, and have to be thanked for the bulk of the misery now so rampant all over the country.”
As the Liberal Government has such a _penchant_ for interfering in the internal affairs of other nations, why has it not devoted its meddlesome talents to killing some one either in Denmark, America, Italy, Poland, or Mexico? Cynical people may well say that the Premier and his colleagues dared not more than bl.u.s.ter in these cases; that in the centre of China, in j.a.pan, Ashantee, New Zealand, &c., they became very brave and officious because they could be so with impunity, and that such disgraceful, unprofitable, and inconsistent, if not imbecile policy, is either the expiring flashes of their administration or the greatness of England.
Although it may be perfectly true that the Chancellor of the Exchequer and his _confreres_ in office have saved the opium trade and the China indemnity (probably also their places in office, by covering the expenses of the last China war, which would otherwise have made a serious cause of opposition), at the immaterial responsibility of the destruction of a few millions of Chinese and the devastation of some districts of China three or four times the size of England, of what benefit has the meddling policy proved to general commercial or mercenary interests? The silk trade, the most valuable with China, has fallen off exactly one half at the present date,[58] since the due effect of driving the Ti-pings from their dominions has transpired. The interior, free and open under the revolutionists, who earnestly desired the friends.h.i.+p of Europeans, has now been closed to freedom of trade or travel by the very Mandarins who have been reinstated to tyrannize over regions their oppression had otherwise lost to them for ever; while the old hatred of foreigners, persistent determination to evade treaty obligations, and the haughty, exclusive policy of the Manchoo has been resumed, since the hypocritical pretence of adopting a more friendly line of conduct, in order to obtain foreign a.s.sistance, has become no longer necessary, by the recoil of the Ti-ping revolt before British arms. Besides this, having broken the political power of the only movement in China which afforded a prospect of improving, pacifying, or Christianizing that vast empire, England has been the means of creating a general state of anarchy. The Ti-pings have simply retreated to the interior and the sea-coast province of Fu-keen, while in every other part of the empire the people, no longer able to look upon the great revolution as likely to overthrow the Manchoo, and being more than ever oppressed by their foreign rulers, are not only driven to discontent but open rebellion. Besides the Ti-ping revolution, there are at the present time three or four powerfully organized rebellions. The ”Nien-fei,” in the north; the ”Honan Filchers,” towards the west; and the so-called ”Mohammedan rebels,” in the central provinces. Elsewhere, the innumerable local insurrections have settled into a regular system of brigandism, because the discontented have no longer the opportunity or confidence to join the diminished forces of Ti-pingdom. These circ.u.mstances, added to the fact that the Imperialist Mandarins are now systematically enforcing at least five times the treaty-legalized transit duties upon merchandise, are not only greatly enhancing the price of foreign goods to the natives, but, of course, considerably limiting their consumption. The only staple article of trade which has not at present decreased in quant.i.ty is tea. Still the price has become higher in China, and the non-diminution of export is due to the fact that the Ti-pings evacuated their former tea districts and captured the famous Vu-e, or Bohea districts, which they held for some time, without much fighting. It would be impossible to say that, since the result of British hostilities against the revolutionists has transpired, our commerce with China was ever in a more stagnant, unprofitable, and generally unsatisfactory condition. So much for the mercenary interests, to aid which England has been unscrupulously dragged into a clandestine and grossly criminal war!
Bad as the preceding effects of the foreign policy of the Palmerston Government undoubtedly are, there is yet another and a far worse consequence to be noticed. Before adverting to the most serious fact it is as well to epitomize the political action which has created it. It has been fondly imagined and fatally supposed by the Liberal ministers themselves, that they, _par excellence_, are the enlightened men of England, the only framers of philanthropical and progressive measures; and, in fact, that their glorious and never-to-be-forgotten place-holding is a Government of ”peace, retrenchment, and reform.” The doctrine of non-intervention having even been especially professed, and having been carried so far as to make a certain n.o.ble lord sacrifice his publicly and officially declared determination that ”Denmark should not stand alone” in the event of certain contingencies, by leaving her to stand alone when those contingencies did come to pa.s.s, and then framing another set of probabilities, about the chivalrous deeds he would initiate if the King of Denmark were to be made a prisoner. Doubtless the admirers of that n.o.ble lord--who once made the astounding and statesmanlike discovery that ”all children are born innocent,”
especially those of his const.i.tuents, whose chubby ”olive branches” were also discovered to be the best and most beautiful in England--considered their representative a marvellously proper man, and his bragging to fight and then retracting a very creditable proceeding, quite in accordance with the useful policy of non-intervention: yet, on the other hand, there are people who have the obstinacy to review this and similar affairs, and deduct therefrom, and observe the fact that in other parts of the world a very different policy has been enacted where it could be done with impunity, all of which affords sufficient evidence that the pretended adoption of a non-interfering policy is neither more nor less than an unprincipled truckling to strong powers, and an aggressive bullying of the weak.
It is quite certain that, whether the rulers of China be Manchoo or Ti-ping, the vast industrial population would still produce tea, silk, and other commodities. Now, the professed motive for British intercourse with China is commercial--that is to say, to buy the above-mentioned articles, and sell the manufactures of the English markets--but not political; for meddlesome interference with the internal affairs of China would prove disadvantageous to both nations, and would certainly be well calculated to bring the Imperial authority into contempt, injure the Chinese organizations in an abortive attempt to subst.i.tute those for which they are not yet qualified, and simply foment the troubles already existing, by the natural consequences of injudicious and unnecessary meddling.
But the British ministers, who would justify their broken pledges in Europe by an appeal to the doctrine of non-intervention, act upon a very different system towards China and j.a.pan. They seem to make it their business, not only to advance trade in the Celestial Empire, but to concern themselves with its private and political disturbances, to judge between the Ti-ping and Manchoo, and then to settle the affair by destroying the one and bullying the other.
In j.a.pan they have attacked feudal chieftains as though no central Government existed in that country; and then, after degrading the Imperial authority in the eyes of the people, force has been used to compel the opening of ports to trade. Thus have British statesmen pursued the best course to increase the animosities already existing, to produce general anarchy, and to establish the violation of all principles of international law, which they are _compelled_ to observe in Europe. The most convincing fact with regard to the folly of interfering in China, is, that _until_ such idiotic, or rather wicked policy was commenced, the exports were largely on the increase, having risen from 9,014,310 in 1859, to 14,186,310 in 1863; while the consumption of British imports has decreased up to the same period--about which time the operations against the Ti-pings were exercising due effect--by more than half a million--567,646. In 1863, the total value of British exports to China was 3,889,927--a sum less than the value of the exports to Brazil; yet for this comparatively paltry amount an enormous military expenditure has been maintained, whilst it is palpable, by the falling off of trade, that the policy has signally failed, and the number of persons who have perished through the mistake would make at least one life destroyed for every pound sterling.
We now come to the most serious point with regard to the war against the Ti-pings. It is well known, and has never been denied, that throughout the country, under their control, the Bible was circulated not only with freedom, but gratuitously, by the Government established at Nankin.
Besides this _unparalleled_ practice, the fact that they accepted the Word of G.o.d in its full integrity is also incontrovertible; and He has declared, ”My Word shall not return unto me void.” Furthermore, it is well known by all who have visited the Ti-pings in their cities and camps, that (so strict an interpretation have they placed upon the Commandments, &c.) they effectually prohibit not only the inveterate vices of the Chinese, and their heathen practices, but the evil indulgences which find full sway even in the most moral State of Europe.
Their abolition of opium smoking; prost.i.tution; the hitherto universal Chinese slave trade; the degraded Asiatic status of the women; the use of torture and bribery in courts of justice; the deformed small feet; the tail-wearing slave-badge of the men--these, and other facts proving their complete superiority to the hopelessly corrupt state of public and private life under the foreign rule of the Manchoo dynasty, we have already noticed. Let us ask, whence these great and glorious changes?
Are they, as Lords Palmerston and Russell, and their correspondents upon anti-Ti-ping Chinese affairs, have repeatedly declared (when obliged to defend their un-English policy) the conduct of the Ti-pings to be, the natural acts of ”bloodthirsty marauders,” ”locusts,” ”merciless brigands,” ”revolting impostors,” ”ferocious hordes of banditti,” &c.?
Or are they not rather the blessings bestowed by G.o.d upon people who, to the utmost of their power, and the sacrifice of their lives, have striven to follow His Word and Law? Man may change the public and outward forms of existence necessary for the body, but only G.o.d can alter the private and moral character necessary for the soul. There is a doctrine of original and natural sin; therefore it does appear presumptuous, if not profane, when people combine together against any vast movement in which the hand of G.o.d is visible--either in the supernatural or the presence of the Bible; especially as they believe that Divine interposition is necessary to convert and save the souls of all men, and as they have neither political nor national interest in the movement to even justify the worldly motives of their interference.
Present ministers[59] and their followers may possibly ridicule the idea, in order to justify their policy towards China, that whatever the Ti-pings might or might not have been--even setting apart the fact of their Christianity--if they have been killed for the sake of British commerce (especially the vile opium trade, which they prohibited), every bale of silk and chest of tea brought into this land bears with it an endless curse; and that these, together with every article of British manufacture forced upon China, are defiled with the blood of the victims who have been slaughtered to prosper, forsooth! ”our commercial inst.i.tutions!” Man cannot serve both G.o.d and Mammon. The efforts of the British Government to wors.h.i.+p the latter have failed most signally; but even had they succeeded in creating the most stupendous trade the world ever contained, do they believe that a righteous and eternal G.o.d has not witnessed the _means_, and that He who notes the fall of a small sparrow hath not recorded the murder of every human being, during their unholy crusade against the unfortunate Ti-pings?
Throughout a vast extent of China the Bible became established; but now, through the a.s.sistance given by the British Government to the Manchoo, the people--even including the little lisping children--have been slaughtered, while the idols of Budha are re-erected, dominating for a season over the desecrated ashes of _our_ Bible.
Nankin, the Ti-ping capital, has fallen, through British intervention, since my arrival in this country; the printing and circulation of the Holy Scriptures have therefore ceased, and the Ti-pings have become wanderers over the face of the earth they would otherwise have adorned.
It is idle and unworthy to cavil at this dogma or that article of the Ti-ping creed: the revolutionists did their utmost to enter into the pale and brotherhood of Christendom. Truly and candidly speaking, the nation solely responsible for preventing so glorious a consummation, is--England.
FOOTNOTES:
[54] The late famous San-ko-lin-sin.
[55] Some people have thought that the four men were executed as a retaliation for the murder of the w.a.n.gs at Soo-chow, because, naturally enough, the Ti-pings considered the Europeans present were responsible for the atrocities. The four prisoners were members of Gordon's force, and it is just possible that they may have been put to death by some of the Soo-chow refugees.
[56] My reader will contrast this with the treatment Europeans received when these districts were in Ti-ping possession.
[57] Ching and Le were the princ.i.p.al Imperialist generals; they were acting in co-operation with Gordon.
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