Chinese Account of the Opium War

A

Zbe paaofca library IRo.

i.

Chinese Account OF THE

Opium War.

1888.

E. H.

PARKER.

CHINESE ACCOUNT OF THE

OPIUM WAR.

tCbe ipasotw library.

IHo.

Chinese Account OF THE

Opium War.

\S8S.

By

E. H.

PARKER.

t.

Chinese Account OF THE

Opium War.H.

E.

PARKER.

Sbangbai

KELLY

&

:

WALSH, LIMITED,

SHANGHAI-KONGKONG-YOKOHAMA-SINGAPORE.

1888.

I

-

rs >

1

PREFACE. /

"T^HE

following story of the

Opium War

is

to all

and purposes a translation of the last two chapters of the Slimg Wu-ki y or " Militaryintents

of the present Dynasty."

Operations is

Wei Yuan,

a Chinese

who

The author

held, about forty years

ago, the post of Department Magistrate at Kao-yu,

north of

Yangchow and Wei Yuan's ;

followed in the translation. so as to

convey

readers, and

in

European

some cases the Cantonese or other is

and persons well known is

been

Dates have been altered

definite ideas of time to

popular pronunciation

the original

style has

given to the names of places in the south.

In some parts

digested, and wearisome portions

have

been omitted.

The paper

illustrates the extraordinary faithful-

ness with which the

Chinese endeavour to perfect

PREFACE.

11

their histories

;

and

this

national characteristic. riddles of ancient

records

found as

(if

seems to have always been a In the work of solving the

and mediaeval

history, the Chinese

correctly translated)

faithful

as

any,

are

though

to

be

may

be

likely

there

mistakes.

E. H.

PARKER.

CHINESE ACCOUNT OF

THE OPIUM WAR. Manchu Annals

THE

introduce the history of the

English opium war with a statement

in the

summer

that, early

of 1838, the Director of the Court of

State Ceremonial,

Hwang

Tsioh-tsz," represented in

a Memorial to the Throne that the

growing consumpof all China's was at the root opium dollars and coined Silver, proportionately,

tion of foreign

— —was becoming scarce

troubles.

and

relatively dear,

the tael

b having advanced from 1,000 to 1,600 cash in price; the revenue was in confusion, peculation rife, and

trade

Opium, he

disorganized.

came from

;

to

weaken China and absorb her wealth by

England enough

said,

but, though those foreigners were ready

encouraging

its

use,

so

severely

smoking amongst themselves that

did

they forbid

offending

ships

were sunk by heavy guns.

They had possessed themselves of [Koh-liu-pa or c ] Java by this means, and had endeavoured to seduce Ann am, which state, b

Dobell

A.D. 1800. e

S§E

says the

Spanish dollar was worth 750 cash in

Chinese Account of the

2

Opium War.

however, had firmly discouraged any relations with them. They were now ruining the bodies and the fortunes of the Chinese with their abominable poison

;

and the memorialist proposed that the penalty of death should be decreed against

consequence of the matter

to

this the

provincial authorities. those

officers

Emperor

consideration

the

all

at once

of

Without a

recommended

offenders.

the

all

In

remitted the

high

single exception,

most stringent

measures ; and he amongst them who wrote the most a uncompromisingly was Lin TsEH-su,

Hu Kwang, who w as T

at

Viceroy of

once sent for to Peking,

after receiving the

whence, Emperor's instructions, he was despatched as Special Imperial Commissioner to Canton, armed with full Admiral's powers in addition.

A hundred had been

and

fifty

admitted into

years or so earlier, opium China and taxed as an

ordinary drug ; but, previous to the year 1765, the In annual import had never exceeded 200 chests.

consequence of the rapidly increasing number of smokers, the import was

first

forbidden in 1796.

Not-

withstanding this prohibition, the annual clandestine sales had, by the year 1820, reached nearly 4,000 chests.

First stored at Macao, the

opium gradually gravitated to Whampoa; but, after the publication of the first severe prohibitions in the u thirties," it was finally

stowed in hulks lying

off the

6

Ling-ting

Chinese Account of the

Islands, a convenient spot

Ojnum War.

commanding

3

several water-

The foreign ships used to deposit their opium here, and then proceed to the ports with the The Foochow, Ningpo, and rest of their cargoes. routes.

Shanghai junks imported their opium from the high seas, whilst the Canton merchants used to arrange the price in Canton,

At

first

and then bring

it

from the hulks.

there were only five of these hulks, and the

maximum

quantity of opium on board did not exceed from 4,000 to 5,000 chests, so that the whole might

have been

easily

Yuan

a

set

on

fire

;

in order to devise

a plan for driving the hulks away, time until there

were as

many

20,000 chests of opium.

some time

after

the

monthly bribe of

went on

as twenty-five hulks,

and

This was in the year 1826,

Viceroy

Hung-pin

Li.

established his service of cruising junks. for a

Juan

but, as the Viceroy

had asked for some delay,

Tls. 36,0(J0,

b

had

These junks,

allowed the opium

to pass freely into port. It

was

to

was

to

had previously been the rule that no silver go out of the country, and that merchandise be exchanged for merchandise

bullion as

:

as

much

$500,000 a year was brought by foreign

traders to adjust the balance

:

but

to pass that a balance of silver

it

had

gradually came to be annually

made up on the Chinese side. To remedy this, t]ie c Viceroy Lu K'un abolished the cruisers altogether

Opium War.

4

Chinese Account of the

in 1832.

In 1837 the Viceroy Teng T'ing-cheng"

re-established the cruising navy; but the

Han to

Shao-k'ing

convoy

the

&

Commodore

arranged with the foreign ships

opium

a

for

percentage,

which

percentage he represented as being captured opium, and even undertook the import of opium himself.

For these eminent feather,

services he received a peacock's

and was made a rear-admiral

;

in consequence

of which the yearly import gradually reached a The suggestion figure of 40,000 or 50,000 chests. made by certain Peking officials that this opium

should be regularly taxed as a drug was rejected ; and in the spring of 1839 Commissioner LiN

appeared upon the scene.

LiN

called

[Howqua]

upon the hong merchant

Ng I-wo

c

up Chatun^ [Jardine] and who had been for many years in the

to deliver

Tinti* [Dent],

habit of dealing in opium. Chatun, having got wind of this, had already made his escape, but Tinti came

with the English Company's Consul Ilut-^ [Elliot]

from Macao

Canton Foreign Factory. Lin Tseh-su sent a body of soldiers to keep a watch upon them there and to surround the Liptak^ Fort, in the to the

Canton Kiver, with a cordon of rafts, so as to prevent communication therewith. He then ordered the surrender, within a given date, of a

all

the

opium on

mmm mmm u^m *&m mm mm °mm b

e

c

f

Chinese Account of the

Opium War.

5

board the 25 hulks at Ling-ting, and a free pardon, failing which, he threatened to stop supplies of fuel

and water, and the

catechise

He

to prevent trade.

young

proceeded to

gentry attached to the local

and learnt from their unanimous testimony that the failure of the opium laws was entirely owing

university,

to the connivance of the navy.

cashiered at his possible to

deserts,

for the post.

it

was im-

capitally or according to his

as the Viceroy

full

Shao-k'ing was

recommendation; but

punish him

him

Han

Trng had recommended

The "Company's Consul"" was a foreign despatched by the

King of England

official

to superintend

Foreign traders of other nation-

trading operations. alities looked after their

own

trade as individuals.

England alone had a separate company, consisting of the richest merchants in the kingdom, who had subscribed a capital of $30,000,000 sent this consular officer to

manage

;

and the King

the whole concern.

All the holding-out for rights and the overbearing demands made upon China were the doing of this

Consul.

Hence the traders of the other

countries

were as the individual salt-dealers of China, whilst the

Company was

like the salt-monopolists.

Their charter

30 years, but was afterwards renewed for 60 years. In 1833 the Company's charter ceased to be exclusive in China, and there was no longer a

was

first for

Chinese Account of the

6

Opium War,

This was the

Consul at Canton.

When

first

the Viceroy

great change in

Lu K'un

first

foreign

affairs.

came

Canton, he was ignorant of our true interests,

to

gave ear to the suggestions of the foreign traders, and sent a despatch to England directing a Consul to

The

be sent as before.

first

was Lo LuTPi a [Lord

Napier] who forced his ships past the Bogue, began return home. hostilities, and was finally constrained to

The next was Elliot, who had been at Canton for three years when he was besieged in the factory as Within a week or two he sent in above described. offering to surrender the opium as to send back to Canton all the and also instructed, on their way to Japan. The total opium-ships

an

official petition,

number of at

120

chests thus surrendered

catties apiece,

2,376,000

was 20,283,

or,

catties of the drug.

Lin Tseh-su and the Viceroy Teng proceeded to the Bogue to superintend the delivery, which was It was agreed to completed in the month of May. for each one of opium, of tea catties three bestow and the opium was ordered by the Emperor to be

destroyed,

instead

of

being

sent

to

— the object being to impress proposed, this public spectacle.

out at the

Bogue

Peking

as

the people by

This destruction was carried

in the presence of

the Viceroy, and the Governor.

Lin Tseh-su,

At an

on the shore a space was barricaded

in

elevated spot ;

here a pit

Chinese Account of the

Opium War,

7

with opium mixed with brine: into this, again, lime was thrown, forming a scalding furnace, which made a kind of boiling soup of the opium.

was dug, and

filled

In the evening the mixture was let out by sluices, and allowed to flow out to sea with the ebb tide.

Opium [or Patna]

;

is

of four sorts

PakVou

the

and the Kern fa

c

t

ou c

:

1*

the best

is

Kung pan

6

t

ou a

Malwa] comes next, hwa t u or Persian] next

[or

l

\_chin

Besides these, again; each chest containing 40 balls. is a dearer sort called the smaller Kung pan.

there

all

They

At

come from Bengal and

the Indian auctions as

many

sometimes sold in a month. goes to

a

?

Madras]** in India*.

as 12,000 chests are

Though some of

this

to countries farther south, the greater part

goes China, which takes from 50,000 to 60,000 chests in Its price India is about $250 a year.

chest, it

[

which price

reaches Canton.

is

more than doubled by

the time

Thus, the destruction of property

was from $5,000,000

to

$6,000,000 cost price, or

A

over $10,000,000 including the profit. number of traders from other countries came to witness the spectacle,

and composed eulogistic essays upon the

excellence of China's policy in this matter.

Commissioner Lin then issued orders ejection

of

all

the

disloyal traders at

tarry upon Chinese

for the

opium hulks, and also of the Macao, who were forbidden to soil.

Ships arriving with opium

Chinese Account of the

8

would not be interfered with

Opium War.

if

they at once turned

round and went back, and all ships entering port must give bonds agreeing that those found smuggling opium should be confiscated with their cargoes, and that the individuals concerned should be executed

These orders were, however, far too stringent, and, anyhow, contrary to the law which provides that

at once.

u "

Mongols, and other persons beyond the pale of civilization, Shall be at liberty to ransom capital

" offences by a fine payable in cattle." The American and other nations, however, gave the bonds required. On this, Elliot went down from Canton to Macao,

and sent

in a petition asking that a

despatched to

Macao

to

deputy might be

discuss with

him a

set

of

under which a stop might be permanently put to the opium trade; and enlarging upon the abuses rules

He also requested that British be ships might permitted to anchor and discharge at Macao. This was the second great turning-point in

of the hulk system.

foreign affairs. to

this

however,

Lin,

proposal,

grounding

fact that twenty-five ships

sanctioned for not come to

Macao

;

Whampoa,

and

his

resolutely

objections

objected

on the

were the fixed number that,

if the

British did

the Maritime Customs would

have no work to do, nor would there be any means of putting a check upon opium smuggling. To this Elliot replied that, unless permission were granted to

anchor at Macao, there would be no basis for an

Chinese Account of the

understanding.

He

declined either to receive

upon must await instructions from allow ships

could

9

the

him, or to give bonds; and said he

tea bestowed

he

Opium War.

already sent despatches

to

his

Government before Elliot had

enter port.

home by a trading

ship, to

which a reply might be expected in six months, so that a little delay would have made no difference.

But

month of July

in the

there occurred the Tsim-

sha Point a case, in which a Chinese,

named Lin

6

Wei-hi, was killed by a foreign sailor [7th July]. Orders were sent to Elliot to surrender the offender in

— who, however, had no intention of deliberately disobeying — only had up for ex-

satisfaction

;

but Elliot

amination five black barbarians, not the real criminals, whilst he offered rewards to any who should come forward as informers.

Lin and

In August the Commissioner

the Viceroy Teng, in accordance with law,

cut off the supply of fuel and provisions from Macao. They also held that, as the foreigners resident in

Macao were there

for purposes of trade, they

had no

right to tarry at Macao, seeing that they no longer entered port to trade. On this Elliot, together with his

family and compatriots at Macao, fifty-seven families in all, removed from Macao, and took quarters on

board the trading ships at Tsim-sha Point.

Elliot,

now being

exasperated, then secretly sent for two menof-war from the foreign ports, and, with three large a

2S

^ 3§

b

(opposite Hongkong).

$BS

Chinese Account of the

10

Opium War.

up as cruisers, proceeded to under Cowloon, where, pretext of demanding food, he in battle. our force naval Captain Lai Enengaged trading

ships

fitted

tsioh" succeeded in

sinking a two-masted foreign

ship, two sampans, and a Spanish hulk hired by the In the eighth moon [October] Elliot got British.

the Europeans at

Macao

to the effect that he

to

send a message for him, to send away the

was willing

hulks and the disloyal traders, and also that the trading ships were willing to give bonds agreeing to the confiscation of ship and cargo in cases of smug" the gling [opium]; but he objected to the words

" individuals concerned

be executed

at

once."

This was the third turning-point in Canton

affairs.

Lin Tseh-su, however,

to

insisted

upon the

of these words, so that the bonds of

might be alike

;

and, moreover,

all

insertion

nationalities

demanded

the sur-

render of the

murderer. Shortly after this, two English trading ships did sign bonds as required, but Elliot sent two men-of-war [the "Volage" and

"

Hyacinth"]

after

them

to prevent

it.

He

also peti-

tioned us not to attack and destroy the ships at Tsimsha Point, so that he might await despatches from

England: but Admiral

Kwan

his petition because the

murderer was not given up. went to

During preserve

T'ien-p'ei 6 returned

these premises, five of our war-ships

order on the sea-board, and, the petition

Chinese Account of the

Opium War.

11

having been rejected, the English mistook our red for flags for a declaration of war, and opened fire in Europe a red flag means war, and a white one peace. ;

Admiral

Kw an t

returned

their

fire,

—

and knocked

the figure-head off one ship, causing the death

drowning of many European they next

soldiers.

unsuccessfully attacked

of Tsim-sha Point

;

and they feared a

by

In November

our fort

north

we had poisoned the wells, night attack, they made off to

but, as

their ships again.

On

receipt of the

news of the Cowloon

affair,

—

the

Emperor wrote on the memorialists' report: "I do not fear your rashness, gentlemen, so much as I fear 1

'

your cowardice."

the 11th

The Imperial Edict of the 8th of " The English, ever

moon (December) ran

6

since the

'

in their conduct.

6

dignity to trifle of customs duties

i

opium

interdiction,

:

—

have been vacillating

no longer consistent with The continue to permit their trade. It is

is

of no importance to us.

i

Our dynasty,

i

kindness exceeding deep; but the English, instead of being grateful for this, have indulged in ferocious

*

6

'

i

'

'

in conciliating foreigners, has

violence, so that they are in the

wrong

whilst

shewn

we

in

all the world must know. As they have our favour, themselves of outside the placed pale are not to entitled they Let, therefore, the pity.

the right, as

English trade be at once stopped." In the original memorial there was a proposal that those ships which

Chinese Account oj the

12

Opium War.

obeyed the law should receive protection, whilst those which were recalcitrant should suffer by being repelled, on which the Emperor wrote: "They are all men

—

" of the same if they are dealt with country " differently, there must be inconsistency in it." :

The above

the

is

of

history

the

cutting-off

of

to the

opium prohibition'. English trade, owing Meanwhile, one Tseng Wang-yen,** Director of the Revision Court, had recommended the Emperor to close the

Customs Houses, and put a complete stop

to sea-going trade with

was referred

all

This suggestion

countries.

Commissioner Lin, who

to

strongly

arguing that, if those who had not broken the prohibition were excluded from trade

objected to

it,

without reason, they would join in a general attack upon us. The matter then dropped. After the closing of the ports to the English, from

twenty

to thirty ships arrived,

much

allowed to enter,

Elliot now sent

to the

none of which were

chagrin of everybody.

in a second petition, saying that

he had served some years at Canton, and was really desirous of peace that he was very much distressed ;

at the confusion into

which

affairs

had drifted

;

that

he would be very pleased to act in obedience to the laws of the Great Pure Dynasty, so long as he had not to break his own country's laws and he begged that his countrymen might be allowed to return to :

Opium War.

Chinese Account of the

13

Macao pending the arrival of instructions from home, when trade could be re-opened. This is the fourth turning-point in Canton

Lin Tseh-su

affairs.

held, however, in view of the

Em-

peror's recent instructions, that

any divergence thereand therefore repeated the the strongest terms. Over ten ships

from was inexpedient, interdiction in

then weighed anchor and went out to L6-man Shan, a where, in company with a number of new arrivals,

they gave opium in exchange for provisions brought to

them by the fishing boats. Lin Tseh-su was Viceroy, and arranged with Admiral

now made

Kwan

a plan for utilizing the tanka

fishing-craft in

boatmen and

an attack upon the disloyal junks,

the Chinese war-junks being unfitted for the high seas.

A

number of

boats

were

disposed

in

the

was arranged that an attack should be made simultaneously from four

various creeks and inlets, and

directions,

it

going out and returning on one

tide.

Twenty-three junks, engaged in exchanging supplies were burnt at Ch'ang-sha Wan, 6 in the

for opium,

month of March, a number of

disloyal Chinese

burnt in their huts on shore, or drowned or so were taken prisoners.

moved

off to

escape the

The foreign fire-boats.

;

were

and a dozen

ships hurriedly

The eighteen

months' law condemning opium-smokers to strangulation, and opium-dealers to decapitation had now been in

Chinese Account of the

14

and as the watch kept

force the best part of a year, all

Opium War.

over the Empire was very

strict,

over half the

Meantime, the news of the stoppage of trade reached England, and no one would sell the stocks of tea at the various emporia, smokers were already cured.

accumulated until famine prices were reached, so that during this time a profitable trade was done by Canton and Foochow junks with Singa-

which thus

There was no pore and other places in the south. silver available in the capital of London, where the

merchants were obliged neighbouring emporia

borrow large sums from

to

in

order to meet their engage-

Elliot had sent home

ments.

for troops,

and the

Parliament to deliberate upon the The official body, civil and military, were

Queen

directed

matter.

for war, whilst the mercantile interest

was

Discussion went on for several days definite result,

and

were drawn

at last lots

Lo Chan-sz Temple"

for peace.

without any

[? division

before

in

the

the

Lord

Chancellor] and three tickets were found in favour of war,

which was

Queen ordered her [Sir

therefore

Gordon Bremer]

ships under his

decided

to

command,

upon.

The &

relative

by marriage, Peh-xMeh, take a dozen or so of warto

which were added twenty This was reported

or thirty guard-ships from India.

Throne by Lin Tseh-su in the month of June; u What can but the Emperor still said: they do if to the

—

Chinese Account of the

Opium War.

1

5

u we quietly wait on the defensive and watch their " movements ? " During the night of the 9th of the fifth moon [some time in June] Lin Tseh-su sent another naval force to the sea-board off Mo-tau,

and succeeded in burning with

his

fireships

a

two

foreign sampans, besides killing four white foreigner-

j

and one large foreign ship was obliged to escape the Eleven fishing fire by leaving its anchor behind. were burnt, and thirteen traitorous Chinese taken prisoners. Towards the end of June, fifteen

boats

British men-of-war, including three steamers, assem6

bled at the

Cum-sing Moon, the rest remaining L6-man Shan. Lin Tseh-su sent down ten fireships

at in

each pair connected by iron chains, which swept down thus with the tide. The foreign ships all made pairs,

oft*

hastily

:

but two sampans were burnt; and from

time the English did not venture again into port. From the time of his arrival in Canton, Lin Tseh-su had sent out spies daily to get foreign

this

information, and to translate European works. ;had also purchased newspapers,

He

and discovered there-

from that the Europeans held the Chinese navy in the utmost contempt, but were in great dread of our He therefore engaged 5,000 pirates and fishermen. sturdy

men

at

their families,

$6

a month, with

#6 extra

for each of

which sum was defrayed by subscription

amongst the members of the co-hong, the

salt-dealers,

Chinese Account of the

16

Opium War.

He

and the Swatow merchants.

also

extended a

chain barrier and a system of rafts across the Bogue, and set up on both banks over 200 guns which he

had purchased from the different European countries. further hired sixty boats of various sorts, which he

He

equipped for righting, and also prepared 20 ships and over 100 smaller boats to attack foreign ships.

Besides

fire-

the

he purchased an old

all this,

and practised his men in the art of taking her by assault from the windward with the neap tides in their favour. Lin Tseh-su reviewed his foreign ship,

fleet in

person, and offered

$200

for each white

with half the amount for each black

For

Elliot's

head

graduated amounts,

$20,000

was

man

offered,

man,

killed.

with

according to rank, for those of

Every man-of-war would be to the captured prize captors, with the of arms the and ammunition, which would exception The rebe surrendered to the viceregal government. the military officers under him.

sult of this action

was, that the traitorous Chinese be-

came

objects of suspicion to the English, and were all sent away. The river inlets west of Macao and east

of the troops

Bogue were guarded by strong detachments ;

and, as

and shallow

all

for the foreign ships, they

along the coasts

of

the other passages were too rocky

of

China.

went cruising of them

Thirty-one

appeared off the Che Kiang coasts, and five made an attack upon Amoy, but one of the largest [? the

Chinese Account of the

Opium War,

17

" Blonde "] was sunk through the dispositions of the Teng T'ing-cheng [transferred to Foochow Viceroy on the 6th of February]. He also shipped a number of braves on board trading junks, and attacked the For want of wind, these latter foreign ships at Nainoa.

were unable

to get

were unable with

away, and, having no guns astern, alone to injure our junks, pro-

rifles

tected as they were with bullet-proof mantlets of hide.

We

damaged

volley

and treated them

their sterns,

and

of stink-pots

dozen of the barbarian

fire-balls,

soldiers.

[The

killing

to

a

several

" Hellas " was

attacked on the 22nd of

May while becalmed, and her hands were wounded.] On the wind getIn ting up, the barbarian ships managed to escape. all

the sixth

moon

[5th July 1840]

their

whole

fleet

attacked and captured Ting-hai [Chusan] and block-

ading detachments then swept the coasts of

and

Kwang

made

A month

Tung.

Fu Kien

later the foreign ships

a sudden attack

upon the neck of land behind Macao, but several of their small boats were sunk by our guns, and a score or more of their eyes [officers] and men were wounded. A month later Lin Tseh-su, u Enterprise," observing a squadron of five ships [ " " " Louisa," "Larne," Hyacinth ] off Mo-tau, under Smith's a command, sent five junks to sea to annihilate

Captain

each

them,

Ma Ch'en a

6

±$

junk

happened

to

carrying

600

men.

engage [Commodore]

MM

18

Smith's

Chinese Account of the

ship

Opium War.

and succeeded

first,

in

damaging

her bows, so that she reeled over, and some marines were drowned. For a long time we surrounded her ammunition was fired off; her, until all

but the other ships sent a dozen or so of boats surround Ma Ch'en's junk, and, whilst Ma Ch'en

to

was engaged with

these,

Smith's ship managed to

We

picked up several corpses, and captured escape. some arms and a flag the facts were duly reported " had caused the to the Emperor, who said Lin u war by his excessive zeal, and had killed people u in order to close their mouths." The meaning of this was that the Che Kiang authorities were :

totally

unable

to

do

anything

was no

of Ting-hai, and there

for

the

recovery

possibility of anyone

doing so except by fighting at sea, at which exercise the foreign ships excelled us ; whilst it had been whispered to the Emperor that the foreigners might take advantage of China's unreadiness for war to invade the country.

The Emperor had

also

now

heard that, before the opium was surrendered, promise, since broken, had been made to pay for

which was the cause of

hostilities

:

others told

that the Viceroy Teng's report of the

Amoy

a it,

him affair

a

was untrue. lLiPU, Viceroy at Nanking, was therefore sent as Imperial Commissioner to Ningpo, and orders were sent to

all

the Governors of the Coast

Opium War.

Chinese Account of the

19

Provinces to receive at once and report to the Emperor the contents of any letters handed in by foreign

Hwang

The Under Secretaries

ships.

and K'l Tsun-tsao" were sent of events in

August,

Fu Kien

to

Province.

In the month of

Bremer and

the foreign chief

Tsioh-tsz

observe the course

five

ships

arrived at Tientsin, with letters from* the Pa-li-man 6

" Premier of the [Parliament] addressed to the " Great Pure Dynasty," and containing a number of categorical demands. First, he demanded the value of office

"the produce" (as the first " " or "

opium

called

opium

"),

it).

letters

Secondly, he

Amoy, Foochow,

demanded

Ting-hai, and

be opened to trade.

euphoniously styled

(as he afterwards plainly

that

Canton, Shanghai should

terms of equality. Fifthly, that merchants

Thirdly,

Fourthly, a war indemnity.

on shore must not be held responsible for the doings of opium-ships on the seas. Sixthly, the abolition of the

co-hong

monopoly.

These

demands were

Peking by K'ishen, Viceroy of Chih Li, and meanwhile the foreign ships had not come north,

referred to

was hoped that the negotiations for commercial so that, if things had privileges would be successful as

it

;

been properly managed, the treaty would have been concluded on the spot. The Tientsin taotai Lira Kien-

YiNG

f*

represented that the three

first

demands were

the most important, and suggested that the

opium

Chinese Account of the Ojrium War.

20

should be paid for by remission of duties ; that Macao should be an open port ; and that the Hoppo

but that, be placed on terms of equality with them adhering to the principle of rigidly excluding opium, ;

these concessions should be conditional

upon opium

not coming ; and that the abolition of the co-hong question should Tbe referred by them to Lin Tseh-su at Canton.

In

this

way

satisfaction

would be given

without compromising China's dignity. fifth turning-point in western affairs.

This

is

the

However,

those charged with the negotiations thought that they

would not gain

so

much

by concluding an

credit

arrangement at once at Tientsin as if they magnified and dragged on the negotiations and therefore they would give no decided answers to any of the demands. ;

Moreover, in the

it

reply,

was hinted that Lin

Tseh-su would be severely punished if it were found by the Emperor's Commissioner that there was anything crooked in the alleged " delivery-up of the opium"

An

promise of

last year.

K'ishen

Commissioner

as

Imperial edict appointed

to enquire into the matter.

Lin Tseh-su and Teng Tung-cheng were degraded, but ordered to await the result of investigation at Canton. Orders were also given to all the coast authorities not to fire

upon the European

ships.

The

applicants then left Tientsin, and declined to surrender Ting-hai, on the ground that the Chinese Govern-

ment would give no decided answer.

Half of their

Chinese Account of the

naval force

Chusan

left

Opium War.

21

Lin Tseh-su

for Canton.

had represented meanwhile that the other nationalities were very indignant at the prolonged stoppage of trade by the British, and had said that they would send home for armed forces of their own if the

English did not

return

was just what we wanted,

quickly.

—

to set

This,

he

said,

one enemy against

would buy all the and, by thus ships and guns that China wanted

the

Three million

other.

taels

;

imitating the enemy's best methods, to

constrain

him

He

to

%

his

wear himself out

offered to

Che

him with redeem with

Kiang

a

be able

own weapons, and in

allow

seeking to attack

his past errors

view

we should

us.

by proceeding

to recovering

to

Ting-hai.

Emperor, however, would not agree to his In November Elliot returned to Che proposals.

The

Kiang, and had an interview with Ilipu

He demanded An-t'u-te

at Chen-hai.

the surrender of the captured

and

05

chief

also of the

[Captain Anstruther] ; foreign ship ["Kite"] which had been stranded pn a sandbank off' Ningpo in September, together with a score left

or two of white unsuccessful.

Chang-hi b

,

and black barbarians.

He

Ilipu after this sent his slave

with a present of beef " " of the degradation news and wine, and the welcome of Lin and Teng. The foreign chief Bremer shook his head,

to the foreign ships

and a

— "Mr. % m tt said:

Lin

is

one of China's best "

si

*

22

Chinese Account of the 0}rium

War.

"

Viceroys, and an able and plucky man, though he "does not understand foreign ways. You can stop "the opium trade, but you cannot stop all our trade,

" for,

if

you do

"subsistence;

"

that,

will stop

you

our means

and we must struggle

privileges with all our might.

You

for

of

trading

are very

wrong

"if you think we have come here out of any feeling " of Meanwhile hostility towards the Viceroy Lin." the people of Chih Li and Shan Tung vied with each other in their representations of the modest character of the

T

enemy

;

in consequence

of which

a

OHUftPU, Governor of Shan Tung, sent presents to the foreign fleet, and then represented to the ;

Emperor that the foreigners had come ashore and At the same time the made obeisance in a body !

new Viceroy,

Iliang,

&

reported that half of our

which had been thrown out of commission

fleet

at Canton,

In November enemy's hands. K' is hen arrived in Canton and, finding the official

had

fallen

into the

;

despatches from Elliot surrendering the opium, tried to find faults in Lin's conduct; but was unsuccessful.

He

then lost

the

good-will

of the

by proposing to execute the captain who, he made out, had provoked the naval engagement

military as

The consequence of this was that a number of Chinese braves were discharged and by

firing the first shot.

went over

to the English;

nay, even received posts

Chinese Account of the

Opium War.

The sunken

of trust from them.

piles

23

were removed

from the river at Wang-tong, and several interviews were had with Elliot at the Bogue, in consequence rt

of which the foreign ships the river and

out

all

were

able

to

survey

make

charts, not to mention finding about our dispositions. On the advice of the

Wang

& Tuh, the services of all the civil and military officials were dispensed with, and communications were entrusted entirely to a wretch-

Salt Comptroller

ed Chinese traitor named

Pao P'eng, c who had once

been the pet boy of the traitor Deist, and

Elliot regarded

as a menial, conceiving thereupon a

greater contempt for China's resources in

Elliot w rote r

ever.

whom

to

men than

" If K'ishen, you increase

u the number of your soldiers against us, I will not " consent to peace ;" and the result was that we dared not re-engage the

Whenever

discharged men.

the

were denounced, the denouncers were accused of being spies ; and whenever persons offered information about the foreigners, they were told

traitorous spies

:

uI "

am

—

not like Viceroy Lin, who, as one of China's

great officers, kept spying upon the foreigners all "day*" In short, the whole policy of the former

incumbents was reversed. this

was

Perhaps the idea in

to captivate the foreign

mind

;

all

but the real

was that the enemy was manufacturing a still larger number of boats and junks of all shapes and fact

a

««

b

2.m

°mm

24

Chinese Account of the

Opium War,

sizes, besides etc.,

engaging opium-running snake-boats, armed with rockets, stink-pots, ladders, and

all

kind

every

fidentially

Admiral

of equipment.

recommended an

K'jlshen firmly refused,

Kwan

con-

increase of troops that this

fearing

;

but

would

Notwithstanding jeopardise the peace negotiations. an indemnity of seven million taels offered by him for the

K'ishen

opium destroyed, a port was also demanded. at first thought of Amoy and Hongkong,

and consulted Teng T'ing-cheng; but objected to as to

Amoy

as being the

to

the

Fu Kien

latter

and, key this he that island occupied argued Hongkong,

a prominent

and central

position in

;

Canton waters,

from bad weather by the two islands of Tsimsha Tsui a and K'wen-tai Lou, & which, if fortified by the English, would be a perpetual menace to Canton. sheltered

K'ishen had represented

this

to the

therefore could not go back upon his

Throne,

and

own word, and

Correspondence and interviews led to no result; so at last Elliot, on the accept

Elliot's

proposals.

7th of January 1841, suddenly attacked the Sha-kok c and the Tai-kok d forts, the first important line of The guns of the fleet defence outside the Bogue.

—

bombarded

the

forts

in

Chinese traitors scaled the in

the

rear.

A

front, hills

and about

2,000

and attacked them

hundred or more of these w ere

blown up by exploded mines; but the

T

rest, far out-

Chinese Account of the

Opium War.

25

numbering the garrison of 600 men, came swarming up notwithstanding. Two or three hundred more were

by our gingalls but at last our powder was exhausted, and the steam-launches got round to killed

;

Sam-mun Hau, a and burnt our

fleet,

the crews of

which either decamped or perished. The Wangtong, Tsing-yiin and Wai-yiin forts only just managed to escape destruction themselves, and w ere T

unable to offer any succour.

The commandant

Ch'en Lien-sheng, 6 and and the two forts fell into the

son

at

were

Tai-kok,

his

killed,

rebels' hands.

forts, commanded by Admiral Kwan, Rear-Admiral Li T'ing-yu, c and Captain Ma Ch'en had only a few hundred men in them, who could do

The other three

nothing but regard each other with weeping eyes. Admiral Kwan sent Li to Canton to crave more

which request he was supported by the whole official body but K'ishen was obdurate, and troops, in

;

simply spent the night in writing out further peace

by Pao P'eng to Elliot. was in addition to the opium offered Hongkong and the Che indemnity, Kiang [? "Kite"] prisoners proposals, which he sent

were exchanged for Ting-hai. A treaty was made, and K'ishen gave a dinner to Elliot of the Bogue.

On

February the Emperor's refusal to was received, and everything was upset again.

the 11th of

ify

a

HP!p

b

m&n

c

m&m

Chinese Account of the

26

Now, when K'ishen took

Opium War, leave of the Emperor,

he had already been instructed if

that should be

demands were

all

grant free trade,

to

the English asked

was

exorbitant, he

to

but, if their

;

keep them in

good humour, strengthen his defences, and ask for reinforcements but he was never told to discharge :

his

men and

secure peace at

all costs.

The Emperor

was furious when he heard of the capture of the forts and the menacing attitude of the rebels, and said he

would not give a cent

for the

opium nor

yield an

Troops from the south-western proordered to Canton, and both Lin and ordered to associate themselves with

inch of territory. vinces were

Teng

were

K'ishen.

K'ishen, however, would not consult LiN matter and, though the peace negotiations upon any had fallen through, he would not allow Admiral ;

Kwan

to strengthen himself with

the other hand, the

added

enemy

more

enrolled

troops.

On

more men than

equipments, and became a hundred times more ferocious than before. Early in February, the Emperor had launched a decree descanting upon the crimes of the rebels, and ordering the ever,

to

their

Imperial Clansman

Quelling

Yikshan*

Generalissimo.

to

Canton

as Rebel

Yang Fang, 6 General

of

Hu Nan

c President of Province, and Lungwen, Board of the Revenue, were associated with him as

advisers.

K'ikung/ President of

*^m

b

m%

c

mx

the d

Board of

mm

Chinese Account of the

Opium War.

27

Punishments, was ordered to Kiang Si Province to be in charge of the Commissariat. General Fang arrived, after audience, in March but the English had already taken the Wang-tong and Bogue forts on the 5th of the 2nd Moon [the 26th February], when Admiral ;

Kwan was killed. Over 300 guns, together with the 200 or more of foreign guns purchased by Lin, had

fallen into

or

so

were

of at

the enemy's

men

once

The Cantonese

newly sent

by

hands.

arrived

K'ishen

The thousand from to

Hu Nan the

front.

moment the engagement Hu Nan men fought as they retreatfled

the

began but the ed, and half of them were drowned, together with their Commander Siangfuh. a There were only two ;

places on the

Canton River narrow enough 6 defended, namely, Liptak and Ishamei (20 c the east channel, and Tai-wong Kao (15

Yang Fang Yung-fuh^ with 1,000 men the south-west.

to

be

ft)

by

li)

by

Twan

sent Brigadier

to occupy a temple, about three miles distant south-east from Canton, and two miles inland from the river. Another Brigadier,

Ch'ang Ch'un, 6 was

sent to occupy Phoenix Hill,

about two miles behind Tai-wong Kao. In neither to case were measures taken sufficient stop the ships.

At Liptak and Ishamei, though junks

filled

with

had been sunk, there were no soldiers to prevent the ships from removing them. The English stones

a

mm

>-&.%

c

aii &&m gm d

e

28

were

Chinese Account of the

Opium War.

awed at Yang's military reputanot tion, and, knowing what our dispositions were, sent some white foreigners to Phoenix Hill with at first rather

Some

peace proposals.

traitorous Chinese were with

them, and they took soundings Ch'ang Ch'un sent the letter on

meanwhile allowed the

traitors to

as to

came.

they

Canton, and

show the foreigners

over the camp; when, of course, they reported that there were no defences, and advanced, capturing

all

Phoenix Hill and

the

forts

commanding

Liptak

Meanwhile K'ishen was deprived of and honours, and the Emperor was rendered

and Ishamei. his titles

more

furious than ever at receiving from Iliang an

English

"

proclamation," posted at

—

Hongkong

[1st

u As February 1841], saying: ye are now subjects " of Great England, ye ought in right to obey her." K'ishen's family was subjected to a domiciliary visit,

and he himself [12th March]

was haled

in

The English, perceiving the Emand seeing the pass things had come peror's rage, feared that to, peace was farther off than ever, and

chains to Peking.

were most anxious for trade, in order that they

might recoup themselves the great expense of the war: besides, the other countries blamed them for keeping the trade closed for so long.

They therefore American head-man and Howqua, you want peace, and do not press

sent a letter by the

saying

:

— " If

" other matters,

all

we ask

is

trade as before

;

and

Chinese Account of the

Opium War.

29

"

any ships smuggling opium may be confiscated with u their cargoes :" i.e. they dared not ask for either the opium indemnity or for Hongkong, as had been promised to them by K'ishen. Yang Fang ordered to which Elliot them back out of the Bogue " The will retire when the Decree ships replied: " which was duly authorizing trade is received;" Iliang and Yang Fang. Throne to the by reported ;

—

—

The enemy was now

at our gates

;

our soldiers

were routed, the people flying, and we had no arms; and so there was no other way of obtaining a truce

and the retirement of the enemy but by temporarily giving way: and, as neither the opium indemnity nor a port was demanded, China could have done so with

much This

better grace than before K'ishen's degradation.

is

the sixth turning-point in Canton affairs.

Yang Fang, on that peace

was

his

to

Canton, had heard

made;

so that, in order to

way

likely to be

back up K'ishen in anticipation, and secure his own position, he had separately recommended to the Em" haven for stowage should be granted," peror that a which proposal had considerably shaken the Emperor's confidence in him.

And now,

as he did not

take the ground in his reports that the pirates had since been admitted, that he

that

had been defeated, and

some compromise was necessary

to get rid of the

nor the ground that the foreigners were by this time awe-stricken, that China's dignity had been foe

;

Chinese Account of the

30

Opium War,

vindicated, and that affairs had taken a turn of such

importance that further mistakes should be avoided nor,

again,

that

;

were now

defensive preparations

complete, and extermination would at once follow but simply indulged in empty and equivocal vapourings the Emperor put him down as

further outrages

;

;

an unsoldierly, undiplomatic individual, and would not agree to his recommendations.

By

this

time

making a total of

the

Ting-hai

fleet

fifty large ships, half at

and half in the river; and

flags

boats advertised opium for sale

all

had

come,

Hongkong,

stuck up

in the

along the river.

Yikshan remained a while on the Kw ang Tung frontier whilst means of attack were being hurried He, LungweN, and the up from the provinces. new Viceroy K'ikung, arrived in Canton on the 14th r

Yikshan

of April.

Tseh-su

as to

consulted

what was

to

Yang Pang and

Litf

be done, and they both

Canton was entirely defenceless, and that the only thing was to get the foreign ships by some ruse or other outside Liptak and Tai Wong-kao, and said that

then work day and night to block up the river, fortify the banks, and station bodies of soldiers at suitable places, so

avoid being at the mercy of the After re-inforcing and equipping ourcould then (they said) resume the offensive, as to

western men. selves

we

and

seize the

and

tide to attack

first

favourable opportunity of wind This month, fleet.

and burn the

Chinese Account of the

Opium War.

31

however, Lin Tseh-su received orders to proceed to Che Kiang, the Emperor having now formed changed ideas of the respective merits both of

him and of

K'ishen from the reports received from the Nanking and Foochow authorities; and Yuk'ien/ Viceroy at Nanking, was ordered to replace Ilipu as Commissioner.

At

first

Yikshan was

sensible

enough

Yang Fang's advice and not risk a until the new forces should have arrived; to

to listen

second fight

but, yielding a desire for glory, he at last secretly ordered a sudden night attack upon the fleet from three to

different quarters, and only informed Yang Fang when the men had actually left the city. Yang Fang stamped and swore but it was too late. The attack was made by 400 braves from Sz Ch'wan and ;

by 300 Cantonese, who, at a signal from a gun, rushed on the fleet in fire-boats carrying stink-pots, fireballs, and long boarding-pikes. of injury was done to two ships,

A

certain

and

amount

five

sampans and several hundred foreign soldiers were drowned. Elliot managed to effect his escape from the factory where he was, and

after his departure the place

was

completely rifled by the Hu Nan and Sz Ch'wan Several Americans were wounded by missoldiery. take. At daylight the fleet made a movement up to

Canton, and

all the

combustible material, which

32

Chinese Account of the

•had been brought

was

Si,

set

on

down fire

at

such expense from traitors.

Three days

later

in a missive saying that a general

and next

attack would take place the next morning;

day the city

Kwang

by the steam-launches of the

enemy and by the Chinese Elliot handed

Opium War,

was attacked from the three

which

sides

were surrounded by water. The 8,000 catty [five-ton] guns, which had been newly cast at Fatshan, were much dreaded by the foreigners but, unfortunately, ;

no suitable positions could be found for aiming them, Our soldiers, who had either on shore or afloat. been detached, regardless of what Province they came from, in such a way that men and officers were strangers to each

other,

broke and

indulged

fled,

and began to complain about their pay. K'ikung, moreover, was too stingy so that to allow more than one tent to fifteen men in

mutual recriminations,

;

line,

huddled together without discipAdd to around and looted just as they liked.

this,

Yikshan had disposed

the troops were

all

the greater part of his and east sides, the

forces so as to defend the south

mud

north-west being left undefended, so that the heights were taken in one These consisted of the T'ien-tsz Fort under day.

rampart behind the

city to the

with 8,000 catty guns,— which were spiked before they had a chance of firing the

Twan Yung Fuh,

;

mud

rampart under

Captains

Tai Ch'ang*

1

and

Chinese Account of the

Opium War.

33

a

and the Square Fort under Ch'an6 Ch'un, which last commanded a view of the whole city, and had resisted the Manchus for six whole

Liu Ta-chung

;

months when they invested Canton 200 years ago, and the capture of which enabled them at last to It ought to have been razed long take the city. ago, and

all

should have been

approaches to the

hill

But, again, as

three miles

obstructed.

it is

man might mud

the river, and full of crags, one single

have done something

rampart had

to

defend

fallen, the

away from

yet, after the

it;

enemy worked round north-

meeting with any opposition whatever. 100 or so of them had appeared at the foot, when Only

east without

the garrison of the fort

made

being killed by

in

falls

important position without a struggle,

them

so as to

fell

off helter-skelter, several

so

their hurry; into

that this

the foreigners'

and was speedily dominate the helpless city

hands

fortified ;

by which they

proceeded to bombard. On the seventh day the TartarGeneral and his advisers took refuge in the Governor's palace from the missiles which

came raining down

on the south-east quarter of the inner or Tartar city, 6 and, after a consultation, sent the prefect of Canton

Elliot promptly demandopium-money, a war indemnity

outside to propose terms. ed, in addition to the

of $6,000,000, for discussion.

— the question of Hongkong The money was

to

to

remain

be paid within

five

Chinese Account of the

34

Opium War.

days, and the ships were to retire beyond the Bogue as soon as the Tartar- General and the soldiers from

other provinces should have quitted Canton.

were seventy was acceded to ; white

total British losses

All this

on the city walls to

killed flags

[The and wounded.] were exhibited

hong merchants were ordered furnish $2,000,000, and the rest was contributed the

;

by the Treasurer's, Salt Commissioner's, and Hoppo's chests. This was reported to the Throne, omitting

—

all

reference

to

the

opium and Hongkong.

The

foreign Square Fort then rejoined the and Elliot on the Tartar- General and insisted ships, soldiers

in

Accordingly Yikshan

his advisers leaving the city.

and Lungwen retired with

their troops to

Kin Shan

[Cumshan], a dozen miles or so from the river, and

withdrew the left

Hu Nan

Canton

in

to

troops

;

Yang Fang was LuNgwen died

but

maintain order.

of shame and mortification shortly after his arrival at

Cumshan.

Now, on their first arrival in Canton, the TartarGeneral and his advisers had represented to the Throne that all the Cantonese people were disloyal, and

all

the Cantonese soldiers marauders, and there-

fore marines

Kien,

had been brought

to the exclusion of

all

Cantonese

the :

detected were executed without trial

way from Fu

disloyal persons ;

and thus the

Cantonese people suffered from a feeling of

On

the other

hand,

the English did not

injustice. kill

the

Chinese Account of the

Opium War.

35

and always released any local braves which they had taken prisoners, occasionally even attacking parties of bandits, and prohibiting all Cantonese,

looting,

so

as

to

gain

the

sympathies.

people's

Consequently no response was made to the offers of The people had reward for the enemies' heads. witnessed the attack upon Canton from the walls ; and, when several of the city volunteers were unjustly killed

the

by the

Hu Nan

braves, the former rushed, to

number of several hundred,

Examination

into the

Hall to take revenge, and drove the soldiers helter-

Here they were somewhat pacified by Brigadier Twan's being The deprived of his button and feather on the spot. skelter to the

Tartar-General's palace.

foreign soldiers also earned the ill-will of the people

by giving way

to

their

plundering and lust; and as 1,500 the peace, on

number did this the day after way down from Square Fort

of their

to

the

Mud

of Sam-yiin a

the

Rampart, exasperated villagers surrounded and killed 200 of them, including their 6 General, Pehmeii Hapih, whose head was as large as a bucket, and whose baton, orders, and double-

barrelled

Sam-shan h

pistol c

were

also

taken.

The

villagers of

attacked and killed another hundred of

im 1? 11 l|l The first two characters are the same as in Bremer, but this name cannot be identified. Possibly it may refer to Lieutenant Hadfield, who, however, was not killed.

36

Chinese Account of the Ojrium

.

War.

them, and captured two guns and 1,000 small-arms, Elliot hastened to the rescue, and, as the crowds of

became more numerous, had to seek the assistance of the prefect. At this moment only a villagers

ransom money had been paid, and

quarter of the

Fu Kien

marines just arrived that very day. If orders had been given to surround and slay the

the

and take the

soldiers

foreign

we might have

prisoners,

[civilian]

foreigners

held them as hostages,

ordered the ships beyond the Bogue, and then discussed terms at leisure, entirely as it should have This

suited

us.

Canton

affairs.

wit to see

the

seventh

turning-point in However, our generals had not the

this,

is

but sent

the

prefect

to

use his

After a whole persuasive powers with the people. day, he at last succeeded in getting Elliot safely out of the crowd on board his ship. The foreign ships

now

left

one after the other

;

some of the

largest got

ashore, and the country people offered to burn

plunder

them

;

but

K'ikung

and

would not hear of

Notwithstanding, a military graduate" did succeed in blowing up one of the foreign ships at Ch'iin-pi 6 it.

[Chuenpee] by means of some fire-ships he had got Another together, and all the others then made off. success

was that of the Fatshan volunteers, who got

windward of the Kwai-kong c Fort, and killed a score or more of the enemy by throwing a

to the

Chinese Account of the

poisonous dust into their eyes. in routing a foreign

Opium War.

They

"

"

also succeeded

to the rescue.

sampan sent

these facts were duly reported to the sarcastically replied, that the

37

All

Emperor, who

village volunteers

had

apparently been able to accomplish more than the

"whole of the armies of China!"

Elliot, too, was " issued a and proclamation," very much mortified, u not to test the forsooth, calling upon the people "leniency of Great England's officers again!" The

—

"As you propeople sent him a defiant reply saying: "fessthat your ships and guns are invincible, why did "you not "

attack Canton during Commissioner Lin's

other day, when you were could not you fight your way out "surrounded, why "without begging aid from the prefect ? Having now

"

The

?

viceroy alty

entrapped our disloyal statesmen into peace proposals troops, you succeeded in

" and withdrawal of the "getting

"your

far into the country.

in

faces

" assemble

in

the

If

river again,

myriads

" annihilate your ugly

to

burn

you dare to show and we do not your

selves, then

we

ships

and

are not good

Great Ts'ing Empire!" At this juncture there were 36,000 volunteers training night and day in the two Canton districts; and, when "subjects of the

Elliot heard of these preparations, he dared not accept the challenge, but, knowing that it was hopeless

to

policy; and a

regain

month

trade

at

later the

Canton,

Amoy

changed

his

affair occurred.

38

Chinese Account of the

Opium War,

Wei Yuan the historian, in summing up, remarks that

it

was the closing of

trade,

and not the forced

surrender of the opium, that brought on the Canton War, the events leading to which were, the objections, generally, to sign away the lives of opium traders, and,

specifically

deliver

to

over

homicide.

the

[Great Britain had already sacrificed the gunner of " in 1784, and the Americans Lady Hughes

the "

the Italian

Teuranuova

Elliot had not a he offered to agree for the

in

1821].

rebellious to

It is plain that

heart,

confiscation,

inasmuch

as

offered rewards

discovery of the murderer, and wished to

await news from home.

Finally, the laws provide

ransom of Mongols and other uncivilized criminals by a fine in cattle, so that our demands for the

The upon him were altogether too exacting. Eear-Admiral Han should have been executed for his corruption, instead of being

merely degraded.

The Hoppo and his men, whose irregular charges more than doubled the regular import duties, and

who had been

battening for years upon the co-hong merchants, should have been compelled, instead of the latter, to pay for the war. It would have been better to sacrifice the Customs' interests for a time

;

to devote full attention to measures of defence, and,

by abolishing

the.

of

the

good-will

Astronomical

Hoppo's extortions, other

Board

itself

secure the

Just

foreigners.

avails

to

of

as

the

foreign

as-

Chinese Account of the

Opium War.

39

we might have got a few and Americans, Dutchmen, Portuguese to instruct skilled Chinese artificers at Canton in the art of tronomers'

labours,

so

shipbuilding, and have

offered to purchase

foreign

ships, guns, rockets, and powder from any persons Not only could we have obtained wishing to sell.

these articles in exchange for our produce, but might have accepted them in payment of duties. this

way we might have been

we In

content to extract a few

millions only from the co-hong merchants, and in

short time

eign

skill

we should have been

with Chinese

skill.

a

able to confront for-

We

could have leisurely

'

strengthened the walls of outer Canton and the forts

upon the river got our armies properly together, and trained them up to naval tactics, gradually extending ;

the same reforms to

Amoy, Ningpo, and Shanghai which a grand review of all the fleets might have been held at Tientsin, and such a spectacle of naval ;

after

greatness witnessed as China had never seen before.

What enemy would

then have dared to attack us

?

How

could opium then have ventured into China? What slanderers would have then dared to open

their

mouths?

have been what may own house in order first." make a show on the high

This would

be called " setting your

then, the hurry to and abroad? Some say that if the efforts of Commissioner Lin, who preserved the proud integrity

Why, seas

of Canton without charging for a single extra soldier,

Chinese Account oj the Opium War.

40

had been imitated farther north, the Emperor would have had no cause for serious anxiety at all, and the would have been reduced

island pirates

that, therefore,

unfair to lay

it is

all

to

impotence;

the blame on him,

instead of on the unpreparedness in the north, and the

cowardice afterwards shewn at Canton.

Lin earnestly recommended

Moreover,

that foreigner should be

got to fight foreigner after the fall of Ting-hai, and that the integrity of our possessions should be maintained, and the three millions at Canton spent upon ships and guns. What a pity his advice was not tried

Wei Yuan

!

agrees with the popular

verdict that trade should not have been stopped,

— but

with the reservation that opium should not have been included any more in the trade, and that steps should have been taken to prevent the English from taking advantage of the weakness of China's maritime pre-

Hideyoshi" once acted

parations to act as

and Koxinga

6

in

Formosa.

Wei Yuan

in

Corea

here reads a

man

upon the subject of not interfering with the at the wheel, or with the driver of the coach

who

is

lecture

entrusted with the reins

effort of his

in no

way

:

but this literary

concerns the story, and

omitted from this translation.

Mi£

»«&#

is

PART

II.

THE NANKING TREATY.

Chinese Account of the

PART

43

Opium War.

II

THE NANKING TREATY. yielding to terms on the part of the English

THE Canton at

1841 was owing partly to our escape from immediate peril, and

in

May

armies having to partly to the anxiety of the military chest with our

had

enemy

money

leisure to think of trade

foreign soldiers, knowing,

;

to replenish his

so that

neither side

and the arrangements narrow escape :

after their

Sam-yun Village, that they had drawn upon themselves the hatred of the people of Canton, whose ferocity tfyey now had reason to fear, did not dare to at

enter the Canton River any

more

for purposes of

The co-hong merchants were unwilling to go Hongkong on account of the perils of the sea, and

trade. to

therefore it was proposed to exchange Hongkong for Tsim-sha Point and Cowloon. As the IJmperor had

not yet been invited to agree to Hongkong being given up, the Tartar-General and the Viceroy felt that the other two places were still more out of the question, and therefore arranged that [the foreigners]

should come to

But the enemy repair the Bogue Forts, which

Whampoa

would not allow us

to

as before.

44

Chinese Account of the

Opium War,

they razed, conveying the masonry to Hongkong for use there. They also wanted us to remove the piles in the river. Whilst haggling to these trade existed only as on was going points, The prefect had agreed with Elliot to in name.

and other obstructions

pay a military indemnity of

six million

addition to the value of the opium

;

dollars in

but the Tartar-

" balance General called the former sum a owing by the co-hong merchants," and never reported the latter

As soon

at all.

we

as the foreign ships

had withdrawn,

re-blocked the more important river-approaches,

and

rebuilt the forts

;

and, in short, put our defences enemy could not force his

in such a state that the

way

in

as

The

before.

hostile

community now

having exacted another port, that the King of England had a and spread report

blamed Elliot blamed him military

for not

for incapacity,

general

in his stead

and had appointed as Pottinger," who was

going up the coast, and would repeat the demands made last year at Tientsin. [He arrived on the 10th of August.]

There was [21st],

typhoon at Hongkong in July and K'ikung joined Iliang in despatching a

a hasty memorial, which reported that innumerable foreign ships had been dashed to pieces, innumerable into foreign soldiers and Chinese traitors swept

the sea; that

all

their

tents

«mmm

and

mat -sheds, the

Chinese Account of the

new Praya,

etc.,

had

been

45

annihilated;

utterly

was

literally covered with corpses ; and The Emperor thereupon returned solemn

the sea

that

Opium War,

so on.

thanks to

god of the

the

and

seas,

announced

event to the whole Empire. Over a hundred promotions were sanctioned for the gallant defence the

of

Canton;

foreign

ships

had

meanwhile gone was

Admiral Ch'en^

the

whole

the

fleet

Fu Kien and

to

When Amoy

Amoy! year,

— and

of

taken

attacked

the

previous

had

no

time

lost

in

sick-leave. Teng T'ing-cheng and the Liu Yao-ch'un 6 had confined themselves to

obtaining taotai

defending the old forts and piling up ramparts of sand, the natural strength of which kept the

enemy

Admiral Yen Peh-t'ao, on taking over charge, once denounced his predecessor's cowardice in the

off.

at

most furious

Fang

for

terms*,

and likewise K'ishen and Yang

recommending peace

at

Canton: but he was

bragging and self-glorifying fool. Te^g's represented cautious, defensive policy in

in fact himself only a

He

and requested the Emperor's sanction an expenditure of two million taels, to be spent on

slighting terms, to

fifty

new

ships of war, with

which he proposed

to

sweep the English from the seas. He raised 9,000 new infantry and marines, and built three new forts on the

Amoy, all of w hich preparation proved waste labour when the news arrived of the peace

islands off

a

mi%%

r

'®nm

c

Mfem

46

Chinese Account of the Opium War.

negotiations at Canton, and the

On

dismissed.

foreign

fleets

handed

in

a

appeared

document

the port until

all

at Tientsin

new

levies

had

to

be

26th of August, however, the

the

suddenly off

Amoy,

and

the surrender of

calling for

the demands made the previous should have been conceded. The

year next morning the ships sailed into the inner harbour, and began to reconnoitre with steam-launches in order to find out the

range and direction of our guns, which

were ascertained to be

all

fixtures

now advanced

together, and their

our soldiers stationed on Kulang; other islands.

Two

;

after which, of

A

course, they kept out of range.

number of boats attack was met by

Sii

and on two of the

steam-launches and one man-of-

war were sunk, and one mast was damaged

Two fire

or three of their ships

on one

now

fort, and, after this

besides.

concentrated their

had

fallen,

to another, causing considerable loss of

proceeded

life.

Finally great fort was attacked, and our dismissed marines turned renegade and assisted in the attack. Yen and Liu beat a retreat at the same moment ; the the

pirates landed,

and turned our own guns upon the

city of

the public buildings, markets,

Amoy,

etc.,

of

which place were demolished within twenty-four hours Yen and Liu retired upon T'ung-ana city, and Amoy ;

fell

into

killed

the

pirates'

hands,

and seven wounded].

[with

However,

a

loss

of two

the foreigners,

Chinese Account of the

Opium War.

47

having thus possessed themselves of Amoy, did not keep it, but proceeded in a few days with the greater part of their fleet on to Ningpo, leaving only a few

Kulang Sii. Accordingly, about 22nd of September, Admiral Yen reported the

ships anchored off

the

" of Amoy to the Emperor ; but the subrecapture prefect of the place remained in hiding notwith-

"

standing, and did not venture to re-assume his

official

The Emperor degraded the Admiral to the third rank, but left him at his post, and despatched the duties.

under-secretary for his

Twanhwa"

information.

to ascertain the true facts

Meanwhile the foreigners on

Kulang Sii were employing workmen to build for them more boats, with a view to reconnoitring up the river. With thirty of these, and five larger vessels, they advanced up the Muh-chwang Creek, 6 and sank five of our war-junks with their guns. Two of our captains

were

killed,

but a resistance

Admiral and Rear- Admiral

was

offered

in charge,

in sinking one large foreign vessel.

by the

who succeeded

The enemy then

withdrew out into the open sea. They dared not venture up the Five Tiger Passage of the Foochow River, for this only contains enough water when the tide is in.

To return already

January

left

to

The foreign fleet had when Yuk'ien arrived in

Ningpo.

Ting-hai

as Imperial

Commissioner in succession

to

Chinese Account of the Opium War.

48

Ilipu, and the Generals in to repair the walls

and

troops together again.

command

fortifications,

did their best

and

Yuk'ien was

to get their

as hot-headed

Yen

Peh-t'ao, and totally ignorant of warfare he was entirely in the hands of Lin Tseh-su so long as Lin Tseh-su was there but, owing to the Canton as

:

—

:

Salt Commissioner having,

at

an audience of the

Emperor, vigorously supported K'isheN at the expense of Lin, Lin was ordered, first to Kashgaria, and then to the Yellow River works, so that the of

affairs

Che Kiang were left more without a At best Ting-hai was but a ever.

guiding head than

not worth defending at the cost of weakening the mainland armies. To make matters worse, all the three Brigadiers were destitute of solitary island,

military science or strategy, and would have built one great wall enclosing as an hypothenuse the

outer

which was as the inner town, on the other sides by the mountains,

well

as

hemmed

in

had the absurdity of such a system of defence not been dinned into Yuk'ien's ears by the people. The result was that nothing was done at all, let anything sensible. When the news of the peace and orders to disband came, five thousand of the best soldiers were at Ting-hai, four thousand alone

.

more being stationed at Chen-hai and Ningpo. [the

4th]

of

different

About

September the

points

the

foreign

around

beginning ships

[the

Chinese Account of the

" Nemesis "]

first

attacked

Opium War.

Shih

P

a

c

u,

49 but

much damage on account of the cruised up and down for a time, and

unable to do

were

rocks

:

finally they then Our attacked Ting-hai on the 26th of September.

guns damaged one of the steam-launches, which made off at once. Two days later, the whole fleet commenced an attack upon the Hiao-feng Hill, 6 but our troops were protected by the rocks, and a party men who landed in a boat were driven off by

of

Attacks made in other parts of the On the repulsed by our guns.

our gingalls. island

were

also

1st of October, the

pirates

took

advantage of the advance from three

exhausted state of our troops to different points, so as to confuse us

;

and the boats

of one party were sent back, so as to prevent the men from thinking of retreat. As the front ranks of

they were filled up from the rear. Our guns on the heights could not do much against a contrary wind, and by midday got too overheated the pirates

to use.

fell,

The

pirates then recklessly scaled the hills

and entered the their lives in

city, the three Brigadiers all losing the fight: and thus Ting-hai fell a

second time.

[The Repository says that the Chinese defence was very noble.]

With regard to the 4,000 troops garrisoning ChenYuk'ien employed about 1,000 of them

hai, a i

%1 Wi

the scene of the French attack in 1885.

mmm

to

guard

Chinese Account of the

50

Opium War.

° the precincts of the city; the General Yii Pu-yun & occupied Chao-pao Shan with another 1,000 ; and the

Brigadier Sie

Ch ao-en c

defended Golden Fowl Hill

c

Observing a white

across the river with a third. flag hoisted on

Yti Pu-yun was

Chao-pao Shan, Yuk'ieN saw that unfaithful, and did his best to rouse

the

religious

Yti

Pu-yun pretended

that he

could not

solemn

vow.

of

patriotism

that

kneel

Yuk'ien

the

soldiers;

his foot

down

to

reported to

so

him

in

the

join the

whilst

ailed

Emperor

that the foreign ships had, including black soldiers

and disloyal Chinese, a force of quite 10,000 men and that his idea was to defend the several

;

points if the pirate fleet advanced in one

critical

body, and to work

the defences day and night should they defer the attack. He pointed out the at

disadvantages under w hich the Chinese lay in point of discipline and unity as compared with the inT

vaders

;

receive

but vowed not to leave Chen-hai alive, or to

any

account.

On

attacked

the

propositions from the

enemy on

the 10th of October the

above-mentioned

men

three

foreign

that fleet

positions.

without firing a Hill was soon on Fowl the and force Golden shot,

General Yti and his

silenced

and routed.

bolted

Seeing that there was no escape

Yuk'ien sent

his aide-de-camp to the Governor with the Imperial Commissioner's seal, and

for Chen-hai,

Opium War.

Chinese Account of the

51

On the 13th, four drowned himself in a pond. a two steam-launches, and a flotilla of men-of-war, boats appeared before Ningpo, whence Yu Pu-yun followed

bolted,

again

6

prefect

Teng

the

by

and

taotai

T'ing-ts'ai, to Shang-yii city.

the

The

and Yii-yao were captured by small boats, were found deserted by their populaand were plundered and burnt robber tions, cities

of

Ts'z-k'i

:

bands started

thrown

up; a

into

Yu Pu-yun

and the

state

reported

Yuk'ien had been the

of to

whole

panic.

the

first

province was

The

dastardly that

Emperor

to flee;

poor

and spread a

report that the foreigners had attacked

Ningpo

in

order to avenge the death of the white barbarian c Wen-li, whose head had been stuck upon a pole

during the to

presented

at

This

was

re-

Governor Liu

d

but, unfortunately for this argument, had enemy already gone back on his treaty Canton, unsuccessfully demanded Cowloon and

YuN-Ki:-.i~:-Ei

The Emperor deprived Ydkshax of :.t.:-:i! :::>= :.: Li:::~. ll_ ~ll_:-: it.

::-.:-£>;

fjhinw Ace writ of

for

the

n

Opium War.

fa

tho

Oh

p%*

and a number of them arrived

off

Wasting

on the 3rd of the 5th moon ; and on the 5th Niu Kiev received instructions from but, as fleet

Yikkiho

to temporize:

he delayed sending his orders to the foreign two days, it was already too late. The

for

Magistrate of Pao-shan city, near Wusung, had proposed to lay an ambush and entice the foreigners leaving the forts to themselves; but the infatuated Niu Kiem did nothing but allow the

ashore,

remnants of the troops, who had

fled

so ignomi-

niously at Ningpo, to plunder the natives, felt their hearts fill with rancour.

who

thus

On the 1 6th of June, the General commanding tX the opened fire upon the foreign ships, sinking two, cutting in two the masts of two others, and causing

forts

the death by drowning of over 200* foreign soldiers. The foreigners attacked Siao Sha-pei* in boats, routed

with

a

small force the cowardly from contingent Ningpo, landed a few men, killed the general with a cannon shot, and put to flight ridiculously

the several thousa nd soldiers

«The fate* here

who

lined the bank.

forces withdrew

from Chaj/a on the 2Srd May; the appear to be somewhat eonfased, sad cannot be

(dcstiHed, *

So men losses are mentioned in tibe Jteptmbrry.

64

Niu Kien was

fort

Opium War.

Chinese Account of the

.

Kia-ting

abandoned

amount of war

a vast

hands

fled to

also

;

;

and the easternmost

city,

so that

materiel,

Pao-shan

fell

to the great consternation of

place was

at once

city,

Shanghai, which

abandoned by both the

who

fled

with

into the enemy's

civil

and

The

to

Sung-kiang. marines thereupon became bandits, and took to burning and plundering. On the 19th eight military authorities,

Fu Kien

or

nine

that city

foreign

came up

ships

was already deserted.

to

Two

Shanghai, but days

later, the

foreigners" took two steam-launches and four or five

sampans up to a point near Sung-kiang, where they were opposed by 2,000 Shen Si and Kan Suh soldiers, and retired after a protracted fusillade on both sides, repeating the operation with the same results the next

The

pirates

day

next

Soochow; but

;

so that

Sung-kiang escaped.

made a reconnaissance towards

their launches

were piloted by our

fishermen on to the shallows, and had to go back. On the 23rd the ships withdrew to Wusung, intending to enter the Yangtsze.

were

off

Kwa

Chou

they turned to

Hailing,

Manchu

the

;

On

the 18th of July they

but, finding that city deserted,

Chinkiang on the opposite side. Tartar- General 6 over the

Assistant

garrison there, was an imbecile creature,

« Admiral Parker with two small iron steamers proceeded about 50 miles above Shanghai on the 22nd June. Repository, page 676.

—

Chinese Account of the

and Niu Kien,

Opium War,

after failing to close the

65

Wusung

river to attack, should have hastened to Chinkiang,

concerted measures of defence with the Associate

and the General Liu Yun-hiao," and assumed supreme command over the Tartar Hailing if this had been done, the foreign ships would not Ts'ishen

:

have gone straight on to Nanking, and we might to burn them or, anyhow, should have treated with them without being at their mercy. have tried

;

But Niu Kien told

Ts'ishen

fled straight to

and Liu

defend the outer to

leave the

disloyal

city.

city,

to

Nanking, and Hailing him alone and

leave

He would not allow any one and slaughtered a number of

Chinese, thereby exciting a general panic

of indignation.

He made no

preparations, collec-

defence, and made no attempt The thousand or so to organize a volunteer force. of Manchu garrison troops, and the 600 Chinese

no

ted

troops

stores

for

The troops those pirates who had

were scattered about anyhow.

the city kept off landed during a couple of days ; after which the Eng6 whilst making a feint of an attack upon lish, the north gate, secretly sent a body of men to scale outside

the wall on the south-west side, and the city, with a loss of only one

English

first a 1&]

c

burnt the

it

^

the depository says we

c

swarmed

or two men.

into

The

Manchu camp, Hailing b

21st July,

lost 169 killed

and wounded.

Opium War.

Chinese Account oj the

66

falling at the

hands of

his

own men, a and Chinkiang

The plunder and massacre. chieftain Pottinger wished to

was then given over Ningpo barbarian

to

but Morrison proceed thence to Tientsin at once " This is the : prevented him, saying key to Ohina^s ;

—

"

we keep our finger on it, we shall have our own way ;" and. so he did not go. At this moment there were over and

rice-tribute supply,

as long

as

"

the

eighty foreign ships thundering in

reaching up as far as I-cheng,

junks were

set

on

6

where

river,

all

and

the salt-

notwithstanding the offer of

fire,

500,000 on the part of the Yang-chow saltmerchants. On the 9th of August the ships had all

Tls.

reached Nanking, and the Emperor, anxious about the

c

tribute-rice

communications, gave K^i-ying carle blanche to act as he should see fit. The enemy

had already received the King's instructions not insist

if

opium, the

only trading privileges were extended to

other

come

to

upon a military indemnity or the value of the

to

foreign

provinces China.

army

It

left

and no more opium would

;

was

Ningpo

in

"proclamation" going to Tientsin

to seek

reason

May,

that the

and issued a

peace in accordance with the Ilipu now sent Chang Hi d and

« The Repository says he committed posthumous honours.

>&'&

this

Cha-p'u, saying that they were

at

King's commands.

for

c

mik

suicide,

and received high d

mm

Chinese Account of the

The foreign

others to the foreign ships.

demanded (1) twenty place;

67 chieftains

million dollars, to be paid

a period of three years (3)

Opium War.

permission

(2) ;

Hongkong

to trade at

Amoy, Ningpo, and Shanghai

(4) ;

as

up over

a trading

Canton, Foochow, foreign officials to

be on terms of equality with Chinese officials

Chang Hi

the rest as proposed last year.

and

;

said that

$6,000,000 had already been given at Canton last year towards the indemnity and the opium, and

money demand now made was not excessive, and the number of ports named too great Morrison said: " This is the sum we altogether. "require, and, of course, not the sum which China " offers. Moreover, our leading idea now is open " If we only obtain not to get money. and trade, asked

if

the

—

" one or two ports

"

for trade,

herself about the indemnity

the

high authorities,

instead

China

may

decide for

and the opium:" but of giving

a

prompt

and, answer, sent back Chang Hi with a message whilst he was moving to and fro' during a period of two days, the enemy had learnt from disloyal Chinese ;

new troops were being ordered up, and said " that we were only trying to gain time, and that " unless an agreement were come to that day hostilities 11 would commence on the morrow ;" their desire

that

—

being for a speedy peace, as they did not really expect to get all they asked.

But

all

our leaders

now

lost

courage, and sent a reply that night, submitting

to

68

Chinese Account of

the.

Opium War.

everything, and not alluding at all to the rule about opium being excluded from China. The English

were overjoyed, and our leaders followed the example of those at Canton after the Square Fort had fallen,

and reported to the Emperor that the enemy's guns were on Mount Chung, a and that the whole of Nanking rwas

They also pleaded that in times " the gone by Emperor K'ien-lung, when unsuccessful in Burmah, had abandoned 5,000 li of " territory beyond the frontier," thus maligning the acts of past sacred monarchs by trumping up false at their mercy.

parallels

as

for,

;

6

the

T'ung-pih

" China's

a

matter of

Yun Nan

Gate of ends

territory

fact,

"

here

K'aKg-hi, whose maps,

still

accuse his

having

beyond

it

treating

Emperor

successor

of

The enemy

!

of conditions c

of China,

home by steamer that the ships

to

the slab

declaring that

was

extant,

also said

over

put up by could hardly

"lost" that the

must bear the

5,000

li

document

seal

of the

and that they would send it seal affixed, and

have the King's

would only

retire to the sea-board

that their troops at Chusan,

must remain three years,

;

but

Amoy, and Hongkong until

the whole

of

the

should have been paid up, when they would be withdrawn. The treaty was concluded on

indemnities

the 29th of August by a «

^iu

K'mNG, b

Ilipu,

mmm —

See Rescript of 8th September 1842.

and Niu

Repository, page 629,

Chinese Account of the

Kien, who went Pottlnger's ship

Opium War.

person on board " [the Cornwallis"].

in

69

the

enemy

Two

days

Pottinger, Morrison, etc., went into the city and had an interview with our officials at the Cheng-

later

;

For days in succession drafts were kioh a Temple. 6 made on the provincial treasuries of Kiang-ning, Soochow, and An Hwei, and on the Yanorchow, and several millions of

salt

taels

treasury of

were thus

presented to the foreigners. In the middle of October, as the foreign ships were about to leave, a banquet was

given by our leaders at the Temple, and a few days

withdrew to Ting-hai. The Emordered up the Viceroy Niu Kien to be peror punished for not having guarded the mouth of the

later all the ships

now

Yangtsze, and K'iying was appointed in his place. Ilipu was ordered from Che Kiang to Canton as

High Commissioner

the

drawing up of trade Yiksfjan, Yikking, Wenwei, and Yu regulations. Pu-yun were are all cast into the Board of Punishfor

—

ments; but the last-named only was executed, during Punishments according to following winter.

the

their

several

various

civil

deserts

were

and military

also

meted out

officials

to

the

along the coast

who had

lost their towns, and the districts annexed captured places were exempted from the payment of land-tax.

to

the

6

The white

flag

was shewn on the 11th, and there were and afloat previous to the 29th.

several conferences both ashore

Repository.

—

Chinese Account of the

70

Opium War.

This winter there occurred the

demand

for the

Formosa

The year before and the next prisoners. year happened the breaking of faith on the part of the Nepaulese, French, and Americans, and the burning of the factory at Canton by volunteers. The Formosa prisoner case arose out of two reconnoitring visits paid by foreign ships to Formosa in the autumn of 1841 and the spring a of 1842. One was

wrecked during a storm at Tamsui, and the other was led upon the shallows by native fishing-craft In both cases the local volunteers at Ta-an.^ surrounded

and

made

prisoners

of

the

crews

;

captured one large three-masted ship, two sampans, twenty-four white, and a hundred and sixty-five black barbarians, twenty guns, a number of small-arms, and a quantity of Government property taken by the said pirates at Ningpo and Chen-hai. The Brigadier

Tahunga c

and the

taotai

several memorials to the

Yao Ying^

had

sent

6 Emperor on the subject,

spring of 1842 nineteen of the enemy's They were ships went to Formosa to take revenge. our native in but, pirates troops having by piloted

and

in the

;

destroyed the pirate junks, the «

March

10th.

enemy

fired

a few

—Repository, 1842.

" e These were the cases of the ship M Nerbudda and the brig "Ann," the defenceless crews of which were kept in miserable captivity, and finally massacred in cold blood by the order of the Sir Hbjnry Pottingeii's correspondence upon the authorities.

subject

is

contained in the Repository for 1843.

Chinese Account of the

Opium War.

71

from a distance and decamped. The spies which they sent into T'aiwan from time to time shots

taken and decapitated; so that Formosa was The Brigadier and the taotai preserved entire.

were

all

rewards at the Emperor's hands ; but, after the Nanking peace, prisoners on both sides were to be restored, and it was found that received

the

distinguished

the

Emperor had, during

summer, ordered the

decapitation of the 165 black barbarians; so that the

The enemy's eye, white ones only were restored.** Pottinger, then accused the Brigadier and the taotai of having wantonly massacred distressed The peace party

British subjects.

at

Nanking were

jealous of the success gained in. Formosa, whilst the defeated authorities at Amoy felt particularly small.

Rumours thus

and K'iying, acting upon received from the Viceroy 6 and the General at Foochow, accused the Brigadier and taotai flew about

;

private letters

of obtaining unfair credit. The new Viceroy was ordered to proceed to' Formosa and report, when it

Brigadier and the taotai had simply quoted the statements sent in by their sub-

appeared that the ordinates.

As

it

was impossible

to convict

on

this,

pressure was put upon the Brigadier and taotai to force them to own up, in order to appease the for« Six

whites and

three natives of India were restored.

Repository, 1842, page G48. * :

53i

3£

?

evidently brother of the Censor.

—

72

Chinese Account of the Opium War.

eigners

The

;

and they were both summoned to Peking. became mutinous on hearing this news

soldiers

;

but the accused themselves prevailed on their troops to remain

The Viceroy resigned, and his the correspondence up to Peking ;

quiet.

successor sent

all

when

the Emperor, seeing how unfair it was to blame the Brigadier and the taotai, did not punish them severely, and soon restored them to favour.

The Ghoorkas are south-west of

and con-

Tibet,

terminous with the British East Indian possession Bengal, with which district they had a standing feud.

Hearing in 1839 of the British raid, they represented Resident in Tibet that " they were neighbours " of the a tribe to and were

to the

belonging

P'ileng

"

always

being

" now being "

"

insulted

at

by them;

in

possessions

" chastisement."

the

that,

war with a metropolitan

they, the Ghoorkas, Tili

Tili,

to

order

the

assist

If only our ministers

6

possession,

would be glad to

Tili

attack the Celestial

had known

anything about geography or foreign politics, and allowed them to create a diversion, then England's Indian troops w ould have had their hands full at home, and could not all have come to China. This r

was our

first

offer

of assistance from abroad

our ministers, not knowing that the

Tili

:

but

were the

P'ileng was Bengal, and that the Possession was Canton in China, reMetropolitan that

English,

a

b

i&ffi

mm

c? Demi).

Chinese Account of the

Opium War.

73

" the Heavenly Dynasty never concerns with the mutual tiltings of savages;" and

plied that

"

itself

thus the Ghoorka barbarians abandoned the idea of

attacking India, and the soldiers with which England raids entertained no uneasiness about India

made her at

all.

After the

Nanking peace

in the

autumn of

1842, the British on their return to India ironically " come on :" the Ghoorkhas asked the Ghoorkhas to

then turned upon the Residents, whom they addressed The Eesidents only in very insubordinate terms. to a nominal to them allegiance. just managed keep

France and America are both powerful countries of the west, and, like the English, trade at Canton.

They are hereditary enemies of England, but very The previous year, when the obsequious to China. English attacked China, and stopped

all

trade

by

blockading the coast, the other countries were very indignant, and said that, if the English did not return

home

soon, they

Canton and

w ould

call

r

them

up men-of-war to as Lin Tseh-su account,

also bring to

twice represented to the Emperor.

Lin Tseh-su was

—

All of a sudden

cashiered, and K'ishen thought of

nothing but peace;

so

the

matter

fell

short.

In

March," when K'ishen was marched off a prisoner, the American head-man came a few days after to try and arrange matters. Hence came the suggestions that trade and no other demands be should

nr.T

1 6 1972

-^

MAY3 0?ooa r

•

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